Another 
Kiwi movie which I will see as it is filmed on Waiheke Island where I go regularly to see Norma. It is about the wealthy and the poor, an enormous separation on this millionaire hideaway.
Kiwi movie which I will see as it is filmed on Waiheke Island where I go regularly to see Norma. It is about the wealthy and the poor, an enormous separation on this millionaire hideaway.
A rare photo of two real Kiwis... I have never seen a live Kiwi! Off to the zoo.
Last night at the National Library I witnessed an interesting phenomenon. The young French writer, Nicolas Fargues, was interviewed by an older francophile Kiwi librarian, and his answers just didn't cut it. He stumbled a little with his English but he didn't answer anything properly, he just veered away in his own direction. A piece of his work was read rather incoherently by a Québecoise woman, and it sounded not very exciting at all, perhaps lost in translation but I doubt it. His style and content are not of our generation and I feel he relies on sensational personal revelations like the story of his former Cameroon wife beating him up in gory detail, with blood on the walls. He was making a big statement about interracial marriages and mixed-blood childrem, which is very 'ho hum' in NZ where it is practically the norm.
His posture on the stage said it all. Slouched in an armchair not standing once during the talk, and taking refuge in not finding the right word.
When it was thrown open to the public for questions later, I resolved to ask a question if there was time, and the mike was given to me to ask the last one. It was about the recent Place de la République student night demonstration called 'Nuit debout' - standing up for the night. I asked if there was a possible parallel with the all-important May '68 student revolution at which I was present, and his answer was a waffling response about the French always demonstrating about the laws going wrong.
Not once did he even look at me although I was in the front row in his direct eye-line. A very unsatisfactory reply, it was as though he hadn't heard of the 'Nuit Debout' at all, which accoring to the Guardian is the biggest threat to the French Givernment since May '68. It is social media at its healthiest and most powerful. This young man is out of touch and certain in my opinon not deserving of his Writer in Residence status in Wellington. But then he is purported to be nominated for the major French Literary Prize the Prix Goncourt, and that says it all. How the French have fallen in my estimation!
Below a photo proving my point...
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