boy

no post last night, for a couple of reasons. one was that i'd had another one of those sleepless nights the previous night, where i tossed & turned til about 4am. so not in the mood for using my brain. the other reason was that i'd been leant a dvd copy of "boy", which i had to return today.

i have to say that i really loved the movie. i was getting a little bored at about two-thirds of the way through, but it really picked up at the end. i loved the subtlety of the messages, the authenticity, well everything about it really. if we're going to be spending millions of dollars supporting and building local talent, then this is the kind of project we should be putting public money into.

here's the clip for poi e, still one of my favourite songs:



from the original clip of this song, i still remember the close-up of the young maori kid who looks so happy (a little bit of that is included in the new version above). i used to look at it in a sad kind of way, thinking about how very few spaces there were at the time for maori kids to feel proud of their heritage & culture, to just feel completely comfortable with who they were. even now, the level of hostility that will come bursting out when something like the te papa issue is raised, it's scary & pretty difficult to live with, especially for kids at that age.

on a possibly related note, i've got a post up at the hand mirror about a strange stance taken by the office of ethnic affairs. i also wrote on monday about a clueless employer in the waikato who thinks it's ok to discriminate against women.