CYBERBULLYING

The final stage of The Plaza redevelopment

Stage 3, the final stage of The Plaza redevelopment finally opened today so we went to check it out this afternoon. And I’m not as impressed as I thought I would be. Sure it’s bigger now and the new Farmers looks quite flash, but most of the new stores are just these “fashion” stores which mean nothing too me. Here are some of the names of the new stores: Dotti, Hartleys, James & August, K&K, Lippy, Max, Merric, Shanton, Shoe Connection, Temt, and Valleygirl. I mean, who cares! Why do there have to be so many fashion shops for women?? Well there’s a Subway in The Plaza now, but there’s a Subway within walking distance of my house, so I don’t really care about that. The Chocolate Lounge sounded nice, but the prices in there are just ridiculously exorbitant! Same with the handmade chocolates place called Munchkins. We bought two little chocolates and it cost us about $3.50 – you could eat them both in about two bites! Talk about a rip off! At last there’s a bank in The Plaza – Westpac. But most other shopping plazas I’ve been too have many banks in them and a post shop too! The “fly over” over Ashley Street isn’t that impressive – you can only see out of one side of it – the Church Street side. A view over the Fergusson Street side would have been much better. Although there is one store coming soon which I’m really excited about – JB Hi-Fi. I’ve heard good things about that store, especially the cheap prices. So I’m looking forward to that one! By the way, even though the new Farmers is very nice, it’s actually a combination of their two old stores in the city – the one on Broadway, and the Home Centre on Church Street – so the new store is much smaller in floor space. I’ve seen much bigger Farmers than this one!

When we visited The Plaza this afternoon I decided to take a few photos. However, after a while Paul Blart Mall Cop came up to me and said “Why are you taking photos? You can’t use a camera in The Plaza.” What???!!! It’s not like I’m the only one and it’s not the first time. Why am I taking photos? Because I want to promote your Plaza to people online with some nice photos – that’s why! What a frickin idiot! Your loss mate, not mine!

Even though The Plaza is bigger and flasher it’s still pathetic compared to other shopping centres I’ve been to around the country. Sure many of these are in bigger centres, but I’m sure PN can do better. Except for Farmers, The Plaza is only one level! And another thing that is pathetic is the charging of the car park. At the moment it’s 2 free hours, but after the 3rd of May it will only be free parking for the first hour! Good grief. That’s Palmerston North for you – always after more money from your pockets! Most shopping centres I’ve been to around the country have free parking such as Sylvia Park in Auckland, Westfield Chartwell in Hamilton, and Westfield Queensgate in Lower Hutt (which is free parking for 4 hours!) I know Centre City in New Plymouth charge for their parking, but it’s very cheap.

So go and check out the new stage of The Plaza, but don’t hold your breath!

My top 10 movies of 2009

Here it is folks, my top 10 movies of 2009. These are movies that were released this year that I have seen


1. Star Trek

2. Avatar

3. 2012

4. Up

5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

6. Angels & Demons

7. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

8. Monsters vs. Aliens

9. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

10. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

No more Santa Cave after 90 years

As you may have already heard the Santa Cave in the Farmers department store is closing after 90 years. This is because Farmers are moving to their brand new building at The Plaza next year. The Santa Cave is an institution in Palmerston North as it has been around for so long. Both my parents went to it as children, I went to it as a child, and I have taken my own daughter to the cave – that’s three generations of my family that have been to this Santa Cave as children! So today three generations of my family visited the Santa Cave for most probably the very last time. The cave hasn’t really changed at all throughout my lifetime and I’ve been happy with that. It’s good that it has stayed the same (and it has only cost 50 cents each to get in for as long as I can remember).

The building was originally Collinson & Cunninghame and this is what I remember it as when I was a child. In 1983 Farmers took over the building and decided to keep the Santa Cave more or less exactly the same as it was. But now that Farmers is moving next year the Santa Cave is no more. I’m not sure what is going to happen to the building. But all is not lost. The Santa Cave is moving to Te Manawa – Manawatu’s Museum. This will be a great new home for it and I hope they keep it as close to how it is now as possible.

So make sure you go to the Santa Cave in the Farmers with your kids before Christmas as it may be your last opportunity to see it as it is. Photos and a couple of video clips from today will be posted on my Facebook profile soon.

CNN Political Ticker

Newstalk ZB or Radio Live?

I like listening to talk radio so I can keep up with the issues of the day. I usually listen to Newstalk ZB, as I’ve tried to remain faithful to them as they are a part of The Radio Network and I used to work for this company a few years ago. However, recently I’ve been giving Radio Live a go. This is the other news and talkback radio network in New Zealand. This is for the following reasons:

1. Newstalk ZB appears to have far too many commercials, especially during the news. And they appear to repeat the same ads too often.

2. I don’t like Leighton Smith too much. He’s far too right-wing and some of his ideas are just absolutely crazy!

3. Newstalk ZB is only on AM in Palmerston North; meanwhile Radio Live is on FM

4. Radio Live broadcasts 3 News at 6pm every night which is very useful if you’re out and about

5. There’s far too much sport on Newstalk ZB in the weekends – isn’t that what Radio Sport is for??

Newstalk ZB always does much better than Radio Live in the radio listening surveys. For example in the last survey in the Manawatu, Newstalk ZB rated 8.6% and Radio Live only 5.5%. Nationwide Newstalk ZB is the number one station with 12.9% and Radio Live only 3.4%. Now this could be because of what I call the “TV One Syndrome” where people listen to Newstalk ZB because it’s always been there and are unwilling to change for any reason – just like TV One viewers. I used to call Radio Live “Radio Dead”, but now I’ve decided to see what it’s like. The new survey results come out at the end of this month so it will be very interesting to see if there are any changes in the ratings.

Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont?

Someone I know has gone up to Taranaki for the weekend and they sent a txt back to us saying "I can see Mt Egmont today". Now I don't like this name but apparently that's what their family and friends up there still call the mountain. I prefer to call the mountain Mount Taranaki as this is it's original name.

Time for a little history lesson. For many centuries the mountain was called Taranaki. Captain Cook named it Mount Egmont in the 1700s after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont. John Perceval was a British politician, political pamphleteer, and genealogist. He was one of Captain Cook's corporate sponsors, and a syphillitic Lord who never set foot in this country! In other words Captain Cook thought he should name something after one of the people who helped pay for his trip! What a crazy person for a marvellous mountain as this to be named after!

In the 1980s it was ruled that the official name is Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont. However, I think the mountain should be called Mount Taranaki - it's original name. It gives the mountain the mana that it deserves (a weird name like Egmont certainly does not!)

Trouble buying Freeview

I'm looking at buying myself a Freeview box for my current good old CRT TV. And for something that's supposed to be "free" I'm not having much luck finding one at a decent price. I went to Dick Smith, Norman Ross, Harvey Norman, and DTR and prices for satellite and terrestrial boxes ranged from $230 to $500!! To me that's not a very cheap alternative compared to Sky TV. One guy said they aren't getting many Freeview boxes in now because TVs are coming out with Freeview built in. That's fair enough, but I don't have a spare $2000 right now to buy a new TV! Some of us have to pay rent and buy food! And why are TVs with Freeview built in about $1000 more than TVs that aren't - doesn't seem quite right for something the is supposed to be "free"!

In the USA they have already switched off all analog TV broadcasts and all their TV now is digital. This is going to happen in NZ within 3-5 years, so prices of Freeview boxes and TVs need to come right down if everyone has to switch over to digital. In the States people were able to get a voucher from the government to buy a digital box which covered most of the cost. I'm sure this will happen in NZ too - yeah right!

By the way, I'm keeping my CRT TV for a while. My picture quality is much better than what I have seen on some of these new LCD TVs!