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- Date published:
5:30 pm, July 13th, 2026 - 21 comments
Categories: Daily review -
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Daily review is also your post.
This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/361005656/actor-sam-neill-has-died
RIP you wonderful man………..
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Just a nice bloke. A real Kiwi hero. Was always so nice to my Grandmother, and would pop in for a cuppa tea with her when he had the chance.
Hello there just before you disappear out of sight Sam. It was nice to have you around.
Rotate Sir Ed off the $5 dollar note for a few years, give Sam Neil a turn.
Sam Neil always "one of us".
An important article explaining the court battle and background around Simeon Brown's and NZF's transphobic political agenda and their war on young people.
In no way should politicians be so involved in clinical decisions, but here we are:
So Brown's ban was supposed to be in place in December but brave court action has stopped such Christo-facist ideology from taking effect in New Zealand. Bravo.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/patha-challenges-the-puberty-blocker-ban-in-high-court-judicial-review/3GC5RJHWW5GYJPWSJ3XZXDR3QI/
Looks like the Cass Review passed you by.
There is no good evidence that chemically castrating young people with "off brand" medications improves their mental health.
There is also no evidence at all that any person is "born in the wrong body".
https://glaad.org/understanding-anti-trans-tropes-chemical-castration/
The court case is about puberty blockers – which have been safely used on a short term basis for 40 years.
What does hormone treatment have to do with off brand medications?
There is no evidence that same sex desire is based on physiology. But so what.
Chief nut job, David Farrar, has commented on Sam Neill. If you didn't already guess he struck RW bingo and vomited up that well worn conservative caveat in asserting that 'he didn't agree with Sam's politics but that didn't take away from his legacy'.
So Farrar couldn't bring himself to just pay tribute to Sam Neill, a man with 1000 times the achievement and worth than himself, rather he just had to inject himself and his politics into his pathetic obituary.
Not posting a link, you know where to find such revolting drivel.
What makes a great actor? I asked Google. I have been an amateur actor for fifty years so I know a good answer when I read it. This is what came back.
"Great acting comes down to deep empathy, emotional authenticity, and the ability to disappear into a character. Exceptional actors don't just recite lines; they understand human psychology, master vocal and physical nuances, and bring a compelling, lived-in reality to the screen or stage.
A blend of several key elements elevates a performer from simply "good" to truly great:
Emotional Depth: The ability to access genuine feelings without imitating them, drawing from keen life observations.
Active Listening: Truly reacting to other performers in the moment, rather than just waiting for their own cue.
Vulnerability: Putting aside personal ego to embrace complex or difficult characters with complete honesty.
Discipline & Craft: Combining natural talent with dedicated training, physical control, and the professionalism to collaborate seamlessly with directors and crew."
I'd expect that some of those traits needed- vulnerability, emotional depth, true listening-I’d add self reflection, understanding the character being portrayed even if, and no matter how deeply, flawed- those traits don't come easily to those with a limited social sense such as many on the Right can possess.
I'd not see those attributes amongst many on the Coalition benches…..
Spoiler, the reg flags are Vietnamese people…
I find it incredible this article is still up on TVNZ's website and that it was allowed to be published at all.
A bit late for that, darling, because you and TVNZ just threw the entire Vietnamese community under the bus.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/05/the-red-flags-landlords-should-look-for-when-vetting-tenants/
The Vietnamese bore great travail and triumphed at the end. But still have to interact with the monetised world, from being a peasant-oriented people I think.
This latest is how the world is going:
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2607/S00033/trump-digs-up-graveyard-builds-golf-resort-in-vietnam.htm
Vietnamese managing to survive in ways that differ than what we like, are not dissimilar to the USA approach.
No Right Turn reporting that we won't be getting to the bottom of the issues around Smith v. Fonterra lawsuit before the election:
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2026/07/another-outrageous-abuse-of-oia.html
Brown Wayne says:
I guess for daft, white, old farts nearing the end of their life "future-proofing" is a stupid would because they are not part of the future. They will be dead when the benefit of properly done projects is realised for the actual people of the future.
Stupid, decrepit clown got skinned by the journalist after bringing up the Auckland Harbour Bridge clip-ons as the right way to do infrastructure. Idiot.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-expresses-mixed-feelings-about-city-rail-link-opening-questions-future-proofing/SPG3CWDP2VGRRJUWVZTQFDAQK4/
Is W Brown not overseeing money being spent in large quantities now? Rich farts are looking for long periods of preferred status as beneficiaries from supposed state infrastructure for 20, 30 years after doing stuff that wouldn't have been afforded before they got invited to the table by Alice's pollies.
We would have been sleepy dormouses before then, but hey we still are with most not affording access to the said infrastructure but having a debt burden that strips us of fur and we no longer can sleep at the table as a disparate group, now it's only for the similar elite and we are desperate.
First, VS’s statement that gender-affirming care is chemical castration is false.
Second, the Cass report has been since superceded by significantly better reviews by France, Austria and Utah State that did not show Cass's political bias.
In the French review, 'Addressing the long-term effects of hormonal treatments, the guidelines emphasise that “no severe adverse effects have been reported to date,” while noting that “the long-term medical and psychological effects must continue to be evaluated. The experts argue that the benefits of gender-affirming care outweigh the potential risks, stating: “A wait-and-see attitude in adolescence does not reduce psychological distress, increases the risk of committing suicide, and can affect psycho-affective and cognitive development.”
A 1000-page report by the State of Utah made these conclusions:
"Banning medical care for trans people is not supported by evidence…Physiologic changes (e.g., bone density, lipid profiles) remained within normative population ranges…Discontinuation of medical care is uncommon and often tied to external barriers, not regret." Among those who do stop, many later restart. The data supports persistence of affirmed gender identity among adolescents accessing medical care…"
In other words, trans identity is real, there is more harm in banning gender-affirming care for adolescents, and the standard procedures are safe.
The German-Austrian review is sharply critical of the Cass report, and also supports continuing current practices (outside those pushed in the UK and the US) for trans care for adolescents.
https://www.mambaonline.com/2025/01/04/new-french-guidelines-support-gender-affirming-care-for-trans-youth/
https://www.queercme.com/blog/%2Fblog%2Futah-evidence-review-trans-healthcare-2025
https://register.awmf.org/de/leitlinien/detail/028-014
…sharply critical of the methodology of the Cass report, I should add, that it was badly made.
A current court case.
PATHA is an interdisciplinary professional organisation that promotes the health, wellbeing, and rights of transgender people.
The issue is not the original purpose (temporary), but the latter expanded purpose and duration of use. As to a range of potential negative physiological impacts (generally related to growth and brain development).
And the involvement of non medical perspectives in decision-making.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/patha-challenges-the-puberty-blocker-ban-in-high-court-judicial-review/3GC5RJHWW5GYJPWSJ3XZXDR3QI/
The full movie is playing on TVNZ+.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/movie/sleeping-dogs-1
I remember watching this in my mid-teens and being impressed. Sleeping Dogs really was the start of the modern NZ film industry, in the quality of the acting and of the screenplay adaptation of Smith's Dream. The only other NZ film I'd seen was To Love a Maori only a few years older, yet much crappier, seemingly home-made. SD had a maturity and a laconic understated style that came to be a feature of many NZ films.