Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’

Recession? What recession?

Just back from holiday. It went quite well, very relaxing, and the the weather seemed to be moderate than usual.

Weather was not the only thing that went well. Economy.  NZ as a whole, despite the worries,  spent more compare with the last holiday season. Even me, a typical Chinese who loves to save rather than spend, nearly exhausted my purse.

However, it doesn't mean that I and other shoppers have full confidence on the economy, instead, I feel exactly the opposite. That's why I have spent most of my money on  stocking up  clothing,  small appliances and  other stuffs I really need rather than luxuries,  so I don't need spend another cent on non-necessities until the next Christmas.

Most businesses fully realised this kind of thinking among the shoppers.  They also need  to  keep themselves alive in 2009,so there was also an urgency for them,  that they need to convert stocks to cash as soon as possible before the recession hits them hard.

It's kind of a win win situation, both shoppers got what they want in the holiday.  Actually I'm now starting to think that recession isn't that bad as I first thought - reduced price on food, oil ... nearly every thing, aren't those what we wanted a year ago? This sounds more like greedy businessmen's recession, rather than the one for the general public.

For those who are likely lost their jobs in the new year (National predicts that will be about extra 4% of the work force), a comprehensive and working social safety net is where their confidence lays.People know the state will help them if they found themselves in trouble, so when come to spending, they were less hesitated to open up the purse.

off topic ...

I've been blogging serious topics for too long (especially in my Chinese blog), and the atmosphere is starting to make me choke. Not that bad, but the recent topics really made me want to keep myself away from here for a bit, nobody always "on" forever.

I think its time to go off topic a bit. What I usually do in my Chinese blog is to dig up some video clips from youtube, and introduce them here. I tend to turn my attention to the ads on TV ... for no apparent reasons.

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First one is a promo from National Geographic Channel Australia. If you watch other versions of the channel, the chance is, you have never seen the following clip before as it is for the Australian version only.

This is the most beautiful, in fact, most elegant piece of art I've ever seen on all the television channels you can get in New Zealand. But sadly, as a lot of wonderful things in New Zealand, this promo is also made in Aussie.

Second one is an ad of gorilla drumming and trying to sell you ... Cadbury Chocolate.

I understand this "gorilla campaign" débuted in the United Kingdom some time in 2007, and New Zealanders saw this ad on their tellies a year later. The ad was a huge success in the UK and it was so prominent, there is even a Wikipedia article for it. In New Zealand, the ad helped the song in the ad (Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight") re-enter the NZ singles chart and briefly reached #1.

However, I am still having difficulty of understanding how this ad is suppose to work. What's the connection between a gorilla drumming and chocolates? This ad appeared on TV many times but I still cannot recall which brand the ad is for before the brand name appears at the end.

Third one is a Kiwi classic - "we don't know how lucky we are". I doubt if there is need for me to introduce this song to New Zealand audiences.

This is a remake version as no original version is available on youtube at the moment. Sadly, again, as a lot of good things in New Zealand, they are either made in Australia, or become Australian later like John Clarke.

The last one is an example of how not to do your TV ads. It's in Chinese so I'll explain it a bit later.

If you were suspecting your computer crashed like how a video tape jams a player, you are far from alone. It's in Chinese, and there are basically three parts:

恒源祥，北京奥运会赞助商，龙龙龙！

Heng Yuan Xiang, sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, dragon dragon dragon !

First part is the brand name, second part is very self explanatory. The phrase has been repeated 12 times in the ad, and only the last part is different in every loop. Like in the example, the ad went on to read every Chinese zodiac animal three times in every 'loop". Hardly innovative, but highly annoying. When this ad first appeared on Chinese TV, most people I know got up from their couch and had a very close inspection of their TV just to make sure it is still working.

There were also people who went further and called their local TV Stations, besought the station to take off the ad. I wasn't in China at the time but I understand for the business, it was a huge campaign and the ad appeared in almost all channels.

Xue's currently seeking bail

Most people who know me well in person know that there's a group of professions which I have no fond feelings - lawyers, real estate agents ...

Xue Nai Yin's Lawyer, is seeking a bail for his client. It's not because Xue paid him enough money so the lawyer worked hard to try to get him out, it's exactly the opposite   - Xue's run out of money, his lawyer needs to get him out so he can work and pay for the fees.

See.

Another victim under the RMA?

Eden Park Stadium upgrade  may not be completed in time for the 2011 rugby world cup.

I wasn't watching this case so there isn't much I can comment on. However, it still serves as a notice to all the developers out there - plan early, give the process plenty of time, and ... bug National and ACT to let them get away with any necessary democratic and judicial processes, as NZ Herald reports:

"The stadium still needs consent for its final stages and the Eden Park Redevelopment Board is concerned this could get bogged down in delays and appeals ... "

"The Government would therefore give "serious consideration" to legislating "'because that is the option that delivers absolute certainty, and certainty is what we need.'"

So the circle of life continues

I come from a very low decile secondary school  - budget blow out is kind of school's "regular" thing because most of the students are too poor to pay the "donation", and quite a lot of them come to school with an empty stomach, because their family are either too poor or just cannot bother to make a breakfast for their kids. Because of that, low decile schools usually have a special feature that cannot be found elsewhere - free breakfast for everyone, which itself isn't too bad really.

But anyway, these are also the common characteristics of the low-performance students.

So will increased fines for parents who allowed their kids to wag make any difference?

Well, it's that kind of National style "economic" thinking - like let the children wag is uneconomic to parents so the wagging won't happen. This is the part I don't agree with National Party: the world just doesn't run purely on economics, there are lots of other factors involved. For example, fine a beneficiary $3,000 dolloars for not registering their kids does nothing more than put another $3,000 dollars on taxpayers' account -  it's like transferring taxpayer's money left pocket to right pocket.

right hand give way rule

I don't know much about rest of the world, but as many reported, in western countries, especially countries where people drive on the left, only New Zealand got this special rule, and 2/3 of the Herald readers think it should be scrapped.

Here's how I take this issue - just consider the following questions:

1. Which one is more dangerous for driver and other road users -  hanging in the middle of the road waiting to turn right, or turn left?
2. Which one is expected to take more time to complete? Or let's put it in another way, which one is likely to hold up the traffic?

I think the whole debate is a no brainer. I just don't understand why so many people out there find this rule "confusing" - what part of the "give way to your right" is too hard for them to understand? If they don't understand traffic codes, who let them pass the tests?

Or those people just want to take less attention while driving?  As I understand, this right hand give way rule does  require extra caution from drivers - check whether there is any cars there waiting to turn right, and check mirrors to see if there's any traffic on inner lanes.

But paying your full attention to the road isn't what you are suppose to do while driving?

I think this rule is a classic case of kiwi ingenuity - solve right turn problem with one simple rule.  The real problem is not the rule, is the drivers we have on the road.