Celebrate Pasifika Month 2009

Yes yes Celebrate Pasifika is Back again!!!

So much is happening. To me Celebrate Pasifika is every day because I am Pasifika - its also about celebrating the spirit and the culture of what Polynesians have brought to Aotearoa, New Zealand.

So much is happening like Polywood films, Vibrant South Auckland Poets, Music and Artists and not to forget the most massive and rich event Pasifika. Check out the Sounds, the Food, the arts and plays, the richness of the flavourism creativity of the bountiful Pasifika.
Check out www.celebratepasifika.com you can also find more through www.aucklandcity.govt.nz

Choo hoo!

NZ Music Month

Yes that's right May is here and it's NZ Music Month...

What is NZ Music Month?

NZ Music Month began back in 2001 when, despite the good music that was out there, Kiwi tunes were woefully under-represented on our airwaves, TV screens, and charts – barely reaching a double-digit percentage of content on air. Aiming to correct this reliance on imported music, NZ Music Month gave our media a chance to showcase homegrown talent that may not normally have reached the public. In the process a bunch of stars were uncovered, and New Zealanders' taste for their own musical heroes confirmed. Over the past couple of years the focus has moved to include the public as much as possible in what has become a truly national celebration of our favourite artists.
NZ Music Month is a partnership between the NZ Music Commission and a number of other organisations including songwriters' association APRA, Independent Music NZ, NZ On Air, the Radio Broadcasters Association and the Recording Industry Association of NZ. Whether they are hearing Kiwi music on the radio, seeing it on TV, or – better still – live in person, New Zealanders across the country experience more of our very own homegrown talent on our airwaves and stages throughout the month, showing their support for local music by coming to one of the official events, buying a Kiwi CD, attending one of the hundreds of other gigs that take place, or pulling on a NZ Music Month t-shirt from Hallensteins.
So this May check out our gig guide (thanks to Mukuna) to see what's going on all around the country, hit up your local record store for new releases or shop online, start soaking up the massive amount of local tuneage that'll be all over TV and radio in coming weeks!

My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a

Another new poem,
This talks about journeys of those polynesians who travelled from island to island. Searching for new land, new homes. This also reflects of My Vaka and where I have travelled and future sites..
enjoy.



My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a
carries my ola from mystical shores
as far as the east
as deep as the south

My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a
is of wood from the motherland Samoa and Tonga
an island surrounded by wild fish,
Exotic perfumed flowers growing towards the la

My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a
carries the hopes and dreams of my people
in search of more land,
in search of new homes,
following the bright stars

My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a
arrives to a place of the Long white cloud...
where my aiga nestles in the nu'u of Magele, Aucklani
metal vechicles puff out black smoke and drive on painted cement and rail way lines.

My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a
I carry in me. I am the canoe that floats amongst the streets of Aukalani
I have three baskets for all my journeys
A basket full of aiga for support in doubtful moments
A basket full of culture tattooed on my left arm
A basket full of alofa for moments where love does not exist at all

My Vaka, My Waka, My Va'a
Follows the stars of polynesian sky
Travelling back and forth to the Nu'u of Wellintoni , Nelsoni and back to Aukalani
Breathing in the cultural richness of the diversities in others
Appericating my lines of culture and all that it has to offer.

Crossed Cultures: Blackmail Press Launch

Friday 18th April 2008

Friends, family and poetry lovers joinned us for the launch of "Crossed Cultures", a Blackmail Press special issue.

Blackmail Press, edited by Doug Poole (Samoan and European descent) is a dedicated e-zine dedicated to spreading the voice of established emerging poets.

The Crossed Cutlures issue, guest editied by Renee Liang, is an exploration of the diverse voices heard in our international community today, 47 poets from 15 countries explore the theme of crossing cultures, weaving a tapestry of shared experience and reaching out over cultura divides.

A fab evening of poetry. It was my first ever poetry performace as well, so I was really nervous. Kicked off with DJ Kamali - who sung. He totally rocks, and then followed by Doug sharing a few words and making the official Launch! I'm looking forward to out next poetry performance, it was really inspiring.

Thanks to my possie: Katie, Susie, Karen, Samantha, & Johnny for coming along - you guys rock! Next time remember to bring the Banners! lol

Web #23 The End! Fa!

Runs to the finish line .... woo hooo!

I've made it to the finish line and man what a cool joy ride. I did learn quite a lot. Web 2.0 is an execrise I think would help a lot of information services and in schools too. There are so many fun and cool ways of reading and sourcing information. I must say Web 2.0 has defintely got our staff in the department puzzled and stressed out. But not me! LOL.

nah but seriously. There are a sites I would use again and again. RSS feed I will continue to use, its a good tool use and getting updates on your selected topics. Del.icio.us Which I just love. I think i'm an addict lol.

Wiki - you gotta love the wiki. Its the most interesting and contervisal site to be in. Also keep in mind to always do research the information produced especially if you're a student and wanting to quote something.

Online generators using imagechief.com I've showed this site to my nephew who just thought it was the coolest thing ever. E-books I will always continue to use especially since i've got free membership (thanks to ACL). I think I'll keep my face book page and continue getting vampire bites and free gifts from my friends.. hehehe

I think this programme was a good execrise especially in developing our interest in new sites and way of searching and sourcing out information weather it be for leisure or for academic reasons!

Owesome stuff!!!

Island flavour signing out! Fa!

Web 2.0 #22 e-books

#22 NetLibrary, e-books

Woo Hoo...
I've always had a netlibrary account. I consistently use it because of my studies on New Zealand education. It's a great tool to know how to use and read online. Because most of my books I was looking for were older publications finding them on NetLibrary was like someone had just saved my life. I have a long list of my favourites list. One being Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson which is a gem, makes me think of my great great grandparents and how they use to live their lives before Samoa was exposed by the Germans, British and the New Zealand government. Best thing about it. Is that its in full eContent which was fantastic!
You can also listen to audiobooks on this site which is avaliable to you, and journals as well.
Another thing to note is that if you're thinking that you can copy and paste the answer is you can't! I had a customer say that they wanted to copy and paste but couldn't. I would recommend this site to anyone especially if you're studying!

Web 2.0 #21 Podcats

Podcats are cool! and no you don't need a ipod.
Really simple to add. I visited podcastalley.com and yahoo podcasts (which I already use). I've stumbled across podcast which i thought would never exsist. There's the chess club. One really cool one i've subcribed to is Learn French with daily podcasts and then there's a the religious podcasts ie Jesus Geek, and also podcasts related in subject interests. There's also one called 'Lube it up or loose it' which ummm sounds a bit dodgey lol. So it does cater for all. There's so many so go crazy I say. When I did joing bloglines I added RSS feed to podcasts so I constantly get updated material of podcasts. I've been brushing up on my spanish that I've subcribed too. And there are a few african american poetry podcasts you should check out!! I would recommend!