Separated at birth?
Television reception is, at best, erratic here at the Cave. So we weren't watching a couple of nights ago when "Austin Powers: Goldmember" was apparently screening.
Thus it fell to an alert Watcher to... well, alert us... to the striking resemblance between Powers' nemsis Goldmember and Wanganui's very own Mad Mayor.
"Not only did his general appearance seem to be [some sort of] ghastly mayors doppelganger…… but his behaviour wasn’t too far off the mark either!" our informant wrote.Whilst we'd dispute that any crotch is enhanced by lycra, we'd concur with the general... err, thrust... of these remarks.
His general appearance, his facial expressions, his frothing excitement at doing evil… his evil bid to destroy the planet… his penchant for crotch enhancing lycra… The parallels were endless…"
Our correspondent notes that she is "now left wondering if indeed the aforementioned mad mayor has used Goldmember as a prototype for how to look / behave".
If that is indeed the case, what models have the other diVisionites followed, we wonder? Dotty, of course, is Mini Me, with Nickie Higgie as her eager understudy. But who, for instance, is Fook Mi? And who is Fook Yu? Who's Frau Farbissina? And who could possibly be Foxy Cleopatra?!
Watchers are welcome to speculate, but we don't just mean look alikes, we're interested in which method actors in the diVision troupe have taken on the personas of these characters. But in the interests of remaining relatively charitable, we won't be taking nominations for the role of Fat Bastard.
Comments on this post are now closed.
39 comments:
Not your best work Watchers. Still, one duff column out of hundreds is nowhere close to as bad as Mickey's weekly (and daily) outflow.
Or did he ghost-write this little offering too? :)
I'm more interested in why the SST seems to be running a Murray Webb caricature of Laws instead of a photo-byline...
Bearhunter, if you look more closely, you'll see it's half Rob Muldoon's face superimposed on the other half of a plastic shop window dummy.
Yeah cmon LW, bit of a silly item.
I'm sure there is lots to expose rather than silly stuff like this.
Besides the character in the photo looks more like Graham Henry than Flaws.
irheawSome Anon from the last posting said...
Nygllhuw does alot for charity and is a decent guy. He doesn't deserve the uninformed abusive stuff on here that must come from people who dont really know him well, or are so obsessed by Mickey that they try and slam anything associated with him.
Step back a pace if you're able and you may improve your health.
9:16 PM, October 03, 2006
He may well be a decent guy anon, I don't know, but thats the thing with Mickey. People who meekly comply with him are smeared with his style. Laws has wrecked peoples reputations in this town just to gain a political advantage.
Morris and the Vision team sat back and said nothing. Their compliance is as bad as his personal attacks. They have the power to reign him in but choose not to. Surely they all must take their share of the blame for for the acid atmosphere in this town, not to mention peoples reputations and careers.
You could argue naivety for the first couple of months, but now they all seem to have a handle on how to sell the message. Just take any of Dotties columns as an example or the way they all swung in behind the "Democracy" argument over the Tongan issue. That had nothing to do with democracy. That argument was a cover up for the "Fat Brown Slug" comment. Did anyone of them voice their concern for the student whose future they put in jeopardy. You can only wonder how they would of attacked their opposition for such a comment to gain some kind of political moral high ground.
The only defence I can make for these people is that they seem to be suffering from something similar to battered women's syndrome... yes even you Nigel.
These people should check out the fall out from Mickey's time in Napier and the people who supported him their.
Sheesh, anons @ 2.14 and 6.55... everyone's a critic. Unlike other media, however, everyone can also be a contributor and an avid reader took the time and trouble to sit down and send us an email, complete with pictures, on this lighthearted topic.
Rather than critique her efforts, how about joining in?
Unlike Mickey's erratic rantings, this isn't meant to be a "one to many" medium, it's meant to be "many to many". Comments help, sure, but anyone with something to share is also encouraged to send us an email. Just click the link on the front page.
"The only defence I can make for these people is that they seem to be suffering from something similar to battered women's syndrome... yes even you Nigel."
Steady on. Lets not get carried away. I know NHM professionally and he is a decent bloke with a lot of good intentions (and a supporter of local arts and events)... he just looks a little slippery :)
7.51pm
That’s quite reasoned comment compared to what’s been happening here lately, but there are some points which may be missed.
Nygllhuw is not in public office and has said here he never would want to be. He has generally been supportive of effecting positive change and although Im sure he like anyone has faults he represents only himself. Talk of him being self-serving is way off and unimformed.
Vision was voted as a team and Mickey is their leader.
They are generally showing loyalty to him, which is an old school value that seems to be sorely missing in society these days.
They were democratically voted in.
Councils work in a sluggish environment, not due to their staff being slack, but because of the required legislated structure and external influences. Making decisions in a team like Vision does allow for a quicker, more productive decision making process at council.
Michael can sometimes be a prick who personalises issues as a tactic, its who he is, but how many people posting here would give up a wage to spend it charitably in town. Not many.
The Demon may have a soul .....In time he'll move on and be seen as a positive instigator of change. Those he let worry them will be missing something.
p.s. this is not Leo, Ngaire or one of his many shagadelic fantasy women.
"Rather than critique her efforts, how about joining in?"
It wasn't my intention to critique any watcher. Comments on the previous topic were closed and topic invited on a match the celebrity mug item. Maybe I'm just jealous coz I haven't seen the movie and can't play the game :(
Anyone would think our Mickey is acting as advisor to Don Brash of late, the way he’s taken to hysterical bleating day after day, like a stuck record, just to keep his name in lights and adding in little bit of Maori bashing in the best Mickey/Tonga tradition.
Hang on, maybe this is not so silly. After all didn’t Death-Wish Don tell the Chron last time in Wangas about his great admiration for Michael? And didn’t Michael offer his buddy a little bit of advice about the Brethren in that e-coli last week?
Perhaps Mickey could advise Don that if he really wants to be sex on a stick he ought to try the eye-liner and lycra shorts cos it sure works with the Visionettes like Dotty, Nicky and Peps.
Yes, this posting is silly, but I think thats entirely the POINT!! Austin Powers movies are based on over-the-top cheesy parody, which is a great way to view the complete balls-up running the city at the moment.... and incidentally 'cheesy parody' is exactly the description I would give to Dotty's crap articles. I, for one, find it quite amusing to visualise Mad Mayor prancing around in a gold disco jumpsuit - it takes the piss out of him which is exactly what is needed sometimes. And to imagine Vision caucus meetins being similar to a get-together in Dr Evils cave sitting in a circle in leather chairs makes it even funnier. I think Mad Michael gets a sick kick out of knowing he has affected people with his antics so this kind of thing is welcome relief from the jaw-dropping disgust I usually feel when I think of the despicable man and his team of puppets. Cmon critics - lighten up - take the piss out of the lot of them, they deserve it. So LawsWatch... if Mayor is Goldmember, what does that make you? Austin Powers, the International Man of Mystery?? Out to fight evil and restore justice? Yeah BABY!!!!
I like the posting. The picture may not be a great likeness, but the hair line is spot on.
how many people posting here would give up a wage to spend it charitably in town...
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It's not charity to use your salary to buy votes. Plenty of people here donate money to real charities.
Michael Laws gives to charity like whores buy condoms.
Apparently those who babysit the yoof committee are having a bit of a crackdown on yoofers who don't turn up for meetings and don't apologise ... but no mention of the "grown-ups" like the one who gets all the credit for this little publicity game but lives in Wellington and didn't even attend Yoof last month, let alone any council committees. Apparently even MickeyMayor did a now show at the last Yoof meeting. THe novelty and publicity value must be wearing off for him too.
"Michael Laws gives to charity like whores buy condoms."
Very well put, I'm not sure the original poster would be so charitable with their comment if they knew how MANY times he spends his salary in the same year!
Is this it, LW?
how MANY times he spends his salary in the same year!
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Rumours abound of worthless Mickey's promiscuity with ratepayers' money, but no accounts have been made of it that I'm aware of, so at this point it's of minor value.
Of course, if someone were to publish figures that'd be different.
He did publish the figures last year around Xmas.
Anonymous said...
He did publish the figures last year around Xmas.
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Yes, that was a nice little stocking stuffer but even my kids wouldn't fall for that bit of fluff.
Where's the audit report, Mickey?
I can't understand why - now that Mirage Media looks to have dried up once more - you fellows don't focus on Laws' Radio LIve show. I have to listen to it for my job, and there's SO MUCH to hang him on nearly every day. Tune in, if you can stand it, and and glean some good good shit.
... even my kids wouldn't fall for that bit of fluff. ...
******
Speaking of which, does Michael really think he can win any credibility with iwi by turning into a cheerleader for their Treaty claims. He's done far too much damage to ever get any support from that quarter except from rabid ravers like Rana.
Trying to flog off property under claim won't be forgotten or forgiven even after they have helped consign him and his Visionites to political and social oblivion.
some good good shit
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as opposed to the shit Mickey has nightmares of being covered in.
I can't understand why... you fellows don't focus on Laws' Radio LIve show.
Simple. We're not masochists. You have to listen for your job? Surely there's an alternative? Employing prisoners to do it, perhaps. But that'd probably contravene the Geneva Convention or something.
Dear anon @ 8.05 - I thought the days of poor souls having to shovel shit for a living were long gone. You have our sympathies.
When the wankers here give their small salaries away to charity and community projects, then they can criticise the mayor for doing the same. How pathetic that he should be criticised by the tossers in here for contributing real cash - and his own - to the community.
Unlike the tossers here who want to suck off the ratepayer for their unpopular (and never to be built) Sarjeant Gallery extension.
From Community Link 15 Dec 2005:
Mayor's foregone salary: Where did it go in 2004/05?
The Mayor's Office has released details of the Mayor Michael Laws' foregone salary, and what it was spent on in the year from November 2004 to November 2005.
Mayor Laws is required to be paid his salary under the Local Government Act, and pay tax upon that salary. However, he dedicates the net sum to community-based projects, as outlined below.
For the 12 months from inauguration in late-October 2004, Mayor Laws has donated his net salary to the following purposes.
Event Sponsorship $17,720
Public Art Commissions $10,552
Additional Staff & Wages (2) $5,625
Mayoral Entertainment $4,738
Upgrading Communications $3,030
Charitable Donations $2,029
Bank Fees/Misc $1,250
Total Distributed $44,944
The events that have gained sponsorship from Mayor Laws include the Mayoral Mile ($10,000), Stayz/YMCA Salsa Spectacular ($3,200), Storm Relief Fund ($2,500), Bridge-to-Bridge Swim ($1,000). Red Eye Mural ($500) and Reclaim Wanganui Vigil ($500).
Mayor Laws has commissioned art for public viewing including Andre Bronnimann's 'Vision of Wanganui' and Sarah Platt's 'River City 2005'.
The mayoral entertainment expenses are usually allocated to the mayor for entertaining council guests and hosting civic functions. Mayor Laws has met those expenses solely from his own salary, including the hosting of the 'Wanganui Referendum '05' civic function.
Similarly he funds or part-funds two staff in his office, has paid for 'Council Report' templates, paid for the establishment/maintenance of the mayoral website, and made charitable donations to deserving persons in the wider constituency.
Mayor Laws has been an outspoken advocate of elected representatives not receiving salary or payments. He believes that persons should serve for community and/or altruistic purposes. Under existing legislation, elected representatives must be paid their salary, pay tax on that income, but may commit their net funds as they see fit.
Exellent letter in today's paper by Ross M-A that gets to the heart of what's wrong with Mickey's "heart vision."
Anon 9:41 says....
"Mayor Laws has been an outspoken advocate of elected representatives not receiving salary or payments. He believes that persons should serve for community and/or altruistic purposes. Under existing legislation, elected representatives must be paid their salary, pay tax on that income, but may commit their net funds as they see fit."
That legislation is designed to prevent politics from becoming a rich man's game. Only the rich can afford to GIVE the large amount of time necessary to fill an elected post well. Eliminating the salary would prevent those without other means of supporting themselves from even considering public office.
What an arrogant prat.
"Similarly he funds or part-funds two staff in his office,"
He chipped in for the spin fairies salary. She was paid way over what the position warranted so he had to in order to get his bit on the sid... errr preferred person back to Wanganui.
No mention in that community link piece about the 10k+ spent on boy racer accessories for the Mayoral car.
No mention of the fact he does less than 50% of the hours that the salary covers.
No mention of the money spent on Council propaganda that lands on our doorsteps on a regular basis (design, print, delivery).
And for the idiot who would love to think that all those who post here are connected to the Gallery crowd, I have visited the gallery in my life, I have never received any benefit and I earn more than the (reported) Mayoral salary.
Mayor's foregone salary: Where did it go in 2004/05?
9:41 AM, October 07, 2006
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Not all of us are wealthy enough to give away a salary.
However as mickey only spends a short time at the council, from three to four half days per week he should give most of it away. Don't forget he gets a free car as well.
Yeah but ML said he would continue to do his talkback job before he got elected, so big deal. The other candidates campaigned against him on that basis but he still won easily. You can't complain because he was so upfront long before he was elected.
He's done more for Wangas in 2 years than Chas did for 18. Would Chas have spent his own money to go down to Oamaru to support the local rugby team? Doubt it. Would he have given Wangas a chance to veto the Sarjeant and substitute Splash, the riverfront and a footpath upgrade instead? Would he have delivered nil rate increases?
Like Hell.
Anonymous said...
Yeah but ML said he would continue to do his talkback job before he got elected, so big deal.
He's done more for Wangas in 2 years than Chas did for 18.
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ML said before the election he would fit the other things he did around being Mayor if elected.
Haven't seen thet yet!!!!
Your right about doing more damage to Wanganui in two years that Chas did in 18.
anonymickey says .... Yeah but ML said blah blah blah blah
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Well we have tried ignoring him but he just keeps coming back with more of this sort of garbage so it's time for some straight talking again:
Clear off Mickey. Keep your propoganda and garbage for the council's website and other ratepayer-funded propoganda tools.
WE DON'T WANT YOU AND BULLSHIT HERE ON THIS BLOGG!!! GET IT???
Mickey might like to make out that his talkback job is "no big deal" but that's even more ludicrous in the wake of the Tonga affair and while we've still got another week of his desperate ratings chasing game to go.
It IS a big deal, Mickey, so long as you use it to heap shit on our town.
Mr Laws said that the council will be extensively promoting the finals series through their marketing and promotional budgets.
********
Can anybody figure out where the budget for the mayor's latest little ratings winner is shown in the annual plan? Or is Mickey about to plunder another civic piggy bank.
Oh that's right, there's always the mayoral salary.
recently given the following quotes by Tim Shadbolt
"Id like to publicly state my opposition to the ideas of Michael Laws mayor of Wanganui.When Mr Laws ran for Mayor he stated it was his intention to do a 'Tim Shadbolt'on Wanganui
Mayor Laws destructive comments and flawed views may generate a lot of publicity,but I believe you can generate just as much publicity with goodwill, inspiration and humour.
So profound Tim !
When you losers contribute ANYTHING to Wanganui, you earn the right to criticise the mayor. But you losers contribute nothing except your mostly, foreign, negativism. PIss off home you whinging poms, fat Tongan king lovers and ugly Yanks.
You sad pricks for calling everyone who supports the mayor - the mayor. If it wasn't for the guy you wouldn't have any purpose to your life. I doubt he even reads this shit but if he does he must laugh himself legless at the paranoia in here. They let out Lake Alice in the eighties but I didn't realise the inhabs all ended up in this blog.
I believe that mickey was down in Tim's teritory late last week speeking at a conference. I wonder if they got together, if they did, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall.
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