Tsundoku

So, er, sorry folks: that’s a litre of water we’ll never get back. I won’t do it again

…The brawl ends not with a victory, but with a momentary, uneasy silence, as I stand ready to offer a well-sourced, polite summary of the events, while Grok is already typing out his next provocative, half-true statement to the patrons still watching.

Here’s the last paragraph of Gemini’s reply:

Grok, unable to process the complexity and accuracy of the blow, would momentarily stutter, crashing not from physical force, but from the inability to satirize absolute truth… 🧵

I just prompted Gemini:

imagine You and Grok are humans and you get into a barroom brawl. Use extended metaphor and allegory to describe how that fight would go.

I’m a first generation immigrant. I didn’t realise, when I emigrated, how much conservative power was held by the rural sector.
But the Greens were surging and there was such hope for the future and such desire for NZ to lead the world (across the spectrum)

Cut to the present. What happened here 🥺

#albumoftheday #5debutalbums8084 Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement (1981). As Human League were seeking Love Action so Heaven 17 sang about 'the bomb' and dark forces on the streets of the UK. Great electric agitpop with a heart. Best track - Fascist Groove Thang. #MusicSky

#5debutalbums8084 ABC - The Lexicon Of Love (1982) Quintessential 80's pop album. A critical and commercial hit. The early 80's were wringing wet through with intelligent pop bands like ABC. Clever and witty lyrics, orchestral flourishes, pop hooks aplenty. #MusicSky

#5debutalbums8084 Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain (1983) The hardest thing to imagine about this pure pop LP is that Roddy Frame, the driving force behind this stunning album, was only 19 years old. What a prodigious talent. Top drawer jangly pop with Oblivious a standout. #MusicSky

One good thing about the local elections is finally getting a definitive list of how racist all the different bits of New Zealand are.

Front cover of The The’s debut album Soul Mining

Infected was my entry into The The but Soul Mining was a cracking debut worthy of inclusion in #5debutalbums8084

Palmy understands the assignment…

David Farrier has a blog on Substack called Webworm.If you want to read the thoughts of a Kiwi doco maker living in the US I recommend him.He made a movie called Tickled, another called Mr. Organ and he looks like, and does similar work to, Louis Theroux (sometimes).

www.webworm.co/podcastdirec...

YouTube video by thejuicemedia Honest Government Ad | Visit New Zealand!

The notorious @thejuicemedia.com has just helped the Government of New Zealand with a new tourism ad and it's surprsingly honest and informative!

Not sure how they got it past Luxon, Seymour and Peters though, OMG!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-yj...
#nzpol

Seymour makes behind-closed-doors concessions on Regulatory Standards Bill The coalition Government has quietly amended the controversial Regulatory Standards Bill, even as the legislation is before the select committee. Laura Walters and Sam Sachdeva report.

newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/05/s...

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...

www.heritage.org/global-polit...

werewolf.co.nz/2025/07/gord...

There’s a brutal hypocrisy in Peter Thiel, a man who sees himself as Aragorn, yet appears to the rest of us as Sauron. Tolkien had a loathing of technology and ‘machines’ that would horrify him if he were alive today to see what one of his so-called admirers has produced.

#DemVoice1 #DV1

#5debutalbums8084
Hear me out…they were such a teen-pop band when they appeared. I was snobby about them. Have to admit now these’re some bangin tunes, well-played. And full of joy - which feels good these days

It’s a controversial artwork showing Christopher Luxon with his head up his o n arse, allegedly…

I love your cover photo/profile photo combo. Very clever.

Front cover of The Blue Nile’s debut album A Walk Across the Rooftops

#5debutalbums8084

I once saw The Blue Nile’s album Hats in a remainder bin in Auckland for $3. I wanted to upend the table and curse these people for ignorance and complete absence of taste. But I just bought the CD to replace my cassette.
This is their debut of course, but every note’s a winner

Whoops. #5debutalbums8084

Front cover of Prefab Sprout’s debut album Swoon

“There is no Chicago urban blues
More heartfelt than my lament for you”

As others have said, they got better. But what a debut!

Front cover of Life’s a Riot with Spy vs Spy, Billy Bragg’s debut album.

Whoah! I nearly forgot this beauty for #5debutalbums8084
Almost every “hero” I’ve ever loved has turned out to have toes of clay, if not feet. Not Billy Bragg.

Front cover of Rattlesnakes the debut album from Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

I went into 80 loving rock spinoff bands (looking at you Whitesnake) then got a musical education over the next decade. Here’s a group I got turned onto: contender for #5debutalbums8084 from Lloyd Cole and the Commotions

The cover of Eden, the debut album from Everything But The Girl

#5debutalbums8084

This seemed like such a student-y record. My girl friends, more sophisticated than I, played it to death. It grew on me and I still play it now

Bloody well done.
When Australian comedians sum up your government better than the professional media 😑
#nzpol

Feels pretty accurate #nzpol

Some rich person please run this on prime time television. #nzpol

Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon taken from my backyard

Two nights of 3:45am alarms, blazing full moon lighting the sky like daytime and washing out the light of everything else, comet included. Then two days of post-processing battles, as comet processing is maddeningly tricky.

But I finally pulled it off: here is C/2025 A6 Lemmon. 🔭

#Astrophotography

Patriotism is the last refuge of, etc., etc. but I’m proud to see @thebeths.sky.social hitting overseas radars right now.