MMP: It's about fairness

Two politics posts in a week, sorry. I better be careful, anyone would think I am actually interested in the stuff or something!

Anyway, my issue today comes from the right wing Kiwiblog. In this post he goes through the scenarios if New Zealand had been operating under Supplementary Member instead of MMP since 1996. Basically the conclusions are: Bigger parties would have been bigger, Smaller parties would have been smaller. What he doesn't point out however is that this is unfair - the percentage of seats parties received wouldn't have been as close to the percentage of votes that they got as it would have been under MMP. That's basically my point, so I'm just going to leave you with the numbers - have a look at them if you have trouble getting to sleep tonight.

The Music Box [Girls' Generation]

At Dinosaurs and Dandelions, one of our main goals is to expand your tiny, tiny worlds, so each week or so here in The Music Box, I will post a different music video of a band or artist you probably haven't heard before. These will consist of bands or artists of various genres and from all over the world so stop by regularly, and you may find something that you like, or at least something that will entertain you for two or three minutes. Or maybe not... but you won't know if you don't try it, right?

To get you started, a South Korean, all girl group called 소녀시대 [Girls' Generation], with their song 오 [Oh!]. Enjoy.

Cooking with Matthew

Hello there, and welcome back to the award winning show Cooking with Matthew. Feedback from you over our last recipe was overwhelming, it seems that many of you are now having a go in the kitchen. Excellent!

After a week of toast, we thought you might be ready to try something new. So today we are going to try a classic 1950's Asian dish, Noodles.

On the merits of FPP and MMP: A full analysis and in depth discussion.

Well, I was going to explain FPP and MMP using pasta, but this post will instead have to do.

First of all I just wanted to show you a very cool video from a group in the United Kingdom that shows why there First Past the Post system is flawed:

Top10 with Pez [TV Shows Of The 90's]

As the chief compiler of Top10 lists here at Dinosaurs and Dandelions, it is my duty to compile lists of the 10 top examples, which best represent their chosen category. This week we will start off with a topic everyone will be familiar with.... Except maybe people who don't have televisions. Oh, and people who are to young to remember the 1990's. And communists. Please note: This list is not based on how many times the show has been rerun. Ok, here goes:

Feedback, Comments and more! Oh My!

Since D&D started a week and a half ago the volume of feedback we've received has been overwhelming. So, today being Sunday and all, I decided to dedicate a post to you, the sad little person that actually reads the crap we put out.

Kick-Ass: surprizingly Kick-Ass.

For those unfamiliar with its comic book source material, Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave Lizewski, an average, kinda nerdy, [and apparently a little nuts] teenager, who sets out to become a superhero... of sorts.

Dave Lizewski is, as he puts it, the kinda guy who doesn't even stand out among his own, unspectacular friends. The averagest, of average. But that all changes after he and a friend are mugged, while an onlooker does nothing. With his favourite comic book heroes swirling around his head, he dons a mask and a... well, a wetsuit, and goes about kicking some ass... eventually anyway. Along the way he meets a couple of more serious masked vigilantes and gets mixed up in some heavy shit.
Do not be fooled by what sounds like a cheesy plot, this is serious stuff! Okay, a bit cheesy too, but in a good way! And with an R18 rating, it's no Spider-Man. The movie mixes epic superhero action with teen comedy angst in a surprisingly successful manner. Think Superbad meets Watchmen... if your brain can comprehend such a pairing...

There's obviously no deep and meaningful storyline or anything, but the plot is solid enough and it manages to genuinly keep you guessing. The young leads all put on a good show, especially the two main kids! Aaron Johnson, as Dave Lizewski [aka Kick-Ass] is awesome and Chloe Moretz will blow your fucking mind, as Hit-Girl. [Seriously! I can't say much more without ruining it, but what the fuck!] Some good showings from the supporting cast as well, including Christopher 'McLovin' Mintz-Plasse as Red Mist and even Nicolas 'why did they cast me' Cage seems to fit his role as Big Daddy.
In conclusion, go see this movie! I mean you know, if you're into that kinda thing... or even if you ain't! Would highly recommend as a first date. Epic as fuck. Oh, and did I mention it has cool tunes?

Rated: R18 [unless you're Canadian, then you can take your kids to see it] Contains strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and drug use.

A Rugby League Rant

Well, it's not going to be the usual subject matter, because most of you don't really give a shit - but I'm overdue for a post on my favourite sport, especially after what happened YESTERDAY. But anytime the NZ Herald has my favourite sport as its headline, then you know Dinosaurs and Dandelions is overdue for a League post. The second half of this post is what I was angry about earlier this week, the first half is shocking breaking news - delivered only days later than everywhere else.

Scandal!

"What's the difference between the Melbourne Storm and a toothpick? The toothpick has two points."

Eat Weeds.

Be sure to check out the april edition of New Zealand Gardener Magazine, everyone! This months edition contains a special 'Eat Weeds' section which includes some nifty recipes for dandelion tea and jelly! And, win 1 of 20 autumn rakes!! What are you waiting for!?

Lemons

Never one to shy away from a challenge, today's educational blog post is about Lemmings.

Lemmings are small rodents who live in the Arctic region of this earth, something that I was previously not aware of. Lemmings was first published in 1991 by what is now Rockstar North. Since then the population of lemmings has increased enormously, perhaps because Lemmings surprisingly don't hibernate in winter. Following this success, a sequel was then released in 1993. Lemmings are related to other rodents, but especially the Vole and the Muskrat.

There are three wonderful myths associated with Lemmings. The first is that they fall out of the sky during stormy weather and then die suddenly when the grass grows in spring. First proposed in the 1530's, Carl Linnaeus worked very hard and proved this myth false in the late 1700's. Well done Carl.

The second myth is that Lemmings enjoy to commit mass suicide when all else fails. This myth has been around, well forever, but was popularised in the 1950's by the evil Disney corporation. It is true that lemmings do migrate in mass groups and can swim. This may have contributed to the myth, much like how Olympic swimmers are known to be prone to jumping off the side of buildings. But really, poor little lemmings just aren't that smart ok, so leave them alone!

Finally, the third myth is that Lemmings is possibly the greatest school game of all time. This is blatantly false, we all know that that was the Oregon Trail - which someone still hasn't lent me.

And that, is really all you ever needed to know about Lemmings. Unless someone asks you the average weight or length of a Lemming. In that case, consult Wikipedia.

Cooking with Matthew

Hello there, and welcome to Cooking with Matthew. As a self rated five star chef it will be my job to walk you through the finer tips in life, so we can all have gourmet meals at our dinner tables. But enough about me, lets begin your voyage to a taste sensation!

Today my children we are making a little recipe I like to call “toast”. Toast is a Mediterranean dish, but stick with me and you too can learn how to create this simple meal! Heres how;

Oh, why hello there!

Welcome to our blog, Dinosaurs and Dandelions. I'm Matthew, he is Pez and we will occasionally post things. Occasionally they will be wonderful things, but we make no promises. Some will be YAWN-esque, some will be serious, most will be frivolous, some will be simply links to music or videos. Pez will provide some delightful rants about those stupid earth-humans and there stupid earth-human ways. Occasionally I might get mad and go on a long political rant, but that's unlikely; the Warriors are more likely to make me mad and get me ranting.

We never totally gave up on YAWN, it is fun to write but hard to publish. Hopefully this will be easy to write and easy to publish. Maybe we will get around to putting up some un-released YAWN articles, maybe they should be assigned to the dustbin.Whatever we end up putting here, I am sure it will be entertaining. We don't really know ourselves yet, so it will be a bit of an adventure - one that we are going to share.

Personal Disclaimer

While my colleague and dear friend, Matthew, covers the important issues like dinosaurs, health care, global warming and which celebrity had cornflakes for breakfast, I will be taking care of some of the lighter stuff.

My posts will most likely consist of film and/or music reviews that you will not care about, random poetry and/or drawings you will not understand, and possible outbursts of frenzied ranting and/or raving about things I know nothing about.

My taste in film and music is rather varied and sometimes obscure, so any reviews I write will be my personal opinion and entirely based on my personal tastes. Therefore, I take no responsibility for any money spent and/or time wasted by any person or group of people, based on anything I write here. Similarly, if you strongly oppose anything I write, or I insult your favourite band or movie, it is not a personal attack on your poor taste or judgement, it is simply my own misguided opinion… and possibly in some cases, an attack on your poor taste or personal judgement…

K, thats it.
Love, Pez

Delicious Dandelions: An introduction

Hilarious and Educational:



That's R U D E R A L.

Toodlez!

The Ankylosaurus

Hello World. 

Do you like dinosaurs? I rather like dinosaurs. Lets start with A shall we? Great. A dinosaur that starts with A is the Ankylosaurus. Like me, you may have previously heard of the Ankylosaurus because it is "often considered the archetypal armored dinosaur" (Wikipedia, 2010). 

The Ankylosaurus is noted for its big fuck off shell, which is believed to have protected it from enemies. This armour consisted of "massive knobs and plates", and yes I just included that bit to mention knobs. Besides its shell, it also had a big fuck off tail club. It is unknown if this was used in defence or in combat. Personally, I would use it both ways if I had a tail club, but maybe that's just me.

Surprisingly, no full skeleton of this wonderous beast has ever been found. But that doesn't mean they haven't been looking, no sir! The beast was named in 1908 by a chap called Barnum Brown who had found a partial skeleton in 1906. He also found at least two other partial skeletons and many other isolated bones, armor plates and teeth have been found over the years by others.

Sadly, Jurassic Park never returned the Ankylosaurus' phone calls and it is still waiting to become a big time movie star.