Blunders are funny. Leave them alone.

TVNZ is a funny thing. Owned by the government means that it is obviously got some bias, it's impossible to escape that. But I don't think it very fair that they get to tweak bits of their broadcasts in order to cover up little mistakes.

The 2008 Olympic games were the last games that TVNZ had the broadcasting rights to (Sky TV has them for the London 2012 games, and will be playing them on Prime). This was supposed to be a huge swan song for them, a chance for them to go out all guns blazing (excuse the cliches if you will), instead, one of the major things coming out from TVNZ's broadcasting at Beijing was how terrible it was. The commentators have copped a lot of criticism. No one more so than Peter Montgomery though.

Montgomery was one of the main commentators for the Rowing and Sailing. His voice is synonymous in New Zealand with Yachting, having commentating on the America's Cup races of the past. However, his performance this time around was questionable. Has the old guy past his time?When calling the Women's Double Skulls Final, featuring our own Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell, Montgomery called the Germany first, Britain second and New Zealand third. In actual fact it was too close to call between Germany and NZ, thus they had a photo finish, which eventually showed NZ to have won.

Montgomery's initial blunder didn't stop there as even when his co-commentator, Mike Stanley, first said that Germany and NZ were having a photo finish, Montgomery said "They've got that wrong." Turns out he got it wrong. And TVNZ have since tidied the dialogue up on the video, making it appear as if Montgomery never got it wrong. But it doesn't change the fact that quite a few New Zealanders were watching the final that night, and can still remember what Montgomery initially said.I think they should have left it. Why change it? It's kinda funny now. Frustrating then, but funny now.

TVNZ have only made things worse by trying to so obviously cover things up. And it was picked up by the New Zealand Herald.Nevertheless, like the rest of us Montgomery is only human, and mistakes are inevitable really. Shame on TVNZ for trying to fix the blunder I say.

American Politics

I'm going to begin this blog by saying that I am in no way a Political expert nor do I try really hard to try and understand what Politicians are trying to say. In fact, I don't really have any personal political thoughts. And I don't think I will ever understand the way Americans and their political choices so greatly affect the rest of the world.

True, there are many possible and plausible reasons for their domination but I don't want to accept it. Surely there must be some way we (the rest of the world) deny them their power? We are the ones that let them bully us, aren't we? Maybe not New Zealand (think saying no to Nuclear testing back in the 1980s), but those that have a bigger voice, like Britain and Australia seem to go merrily along with the Americans. Or have I got this all wrong?

The United States Presidency race at the present moment, has been watched more closely by the rest of the world than that of any other. This could be for a number reasons. Firstly, the incredible advancement in technology and the accessibility of information via the web can be easily accountable for how popular the American President race is. And also America's control over Oil and all that hoohar (?). Then there's George W. Bush as well. We all have our own opinions of him and his political expertise (or lack there of), and his ability to say some rather suspect things sometimes. (For some classics check this site out.)

This time around we've got John McCain, supported by Sarah Palin on the Republican side, and Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the Democrats. It is easily arguable why one side should win over the other but it is only up to the American voting public. The question I pose is, do we trust them?

At the risk of sounding comepletely biased, I don't have complete faith. I have some, but a news story I witnessed on the news one night showed Hillary Clinton supporters dismissing Obama and saying that they will now vote for McCain. What?? Are they not democrats if they support Clinton? I'm confused.

I could write so much more on this topic but to save myself from blabble and frustration I'm going to end this particular blog post by saying if you're as curious about the American election as I am, read this article from the New Zealand Herald.

Bring on the New Zealand Election!