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To SPADA, NZSIS and other groups that are coercing or blackmailing me
Weeded Out can't legally exist. Sorry, you lose. 1. It already exists as a webseries, and as a film-within-the-film of The Dakumentary....
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 27, 20253 min read
Amanda vs. Victoria University of Wellington
I graduated in 2015, and haven't taken a course since. They haven't funded my career, yet they have taken credit for my work, and now...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 26, 20252 min read


Next steps: Polynesian music theory
I realise that people aren't saying Polynesian in parlance anymore, but it's still useful as an academic descriptor. Pasifika is the new...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20252 min read
"diversion"
That's an option in New Zealand for minor offences, but producing a professional film in which all the workers are waged doesn't count as...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20251 min read
To the Film Commission
Looked up the board, noticed that there were no indie people. That's why you failed me. Steve Barr isn't an indie dude, though he's made...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20251 min read
Sondheim speculation
I finally read that piece by Meryle Secrest about how he was frigid in bed, though curiously, she didn't discuss his male partners. Yes,...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20251 min read
Shades of me 2
Some photos that are largely more recent (post-2022).
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20251 min read


Siapo enharmonic
An attempt to divine a Samoan enharmonic from a tapa cloth. https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/149596?page=1&rtp=1&ros=1&asr=1&ass...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20251 min read
Bigoted double standards
This is true of classical music and dramatic music, not every single job. Men = composer by default. Women = composer by second default....
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 25, 20253 min read
Polynesian enharmonics
It's not like every tapa contains those mysteries. Relational circles are how we theorise those micro-harmonies in the West, not just in...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 24, 20251 min read


Tupaia’s Voyage on the Endeavour
Historical Fiction from the Priest-Navigator’s Point of View The Blue Pacific Civilisation Before Cook, before the Union Jack, before missionaries recast Polynesian memory in the language of the Bible, Oceania was already a civilisation in full . It was not an empire, with capitals and armies, but something subtler and more enduring: a Blue Continent , its highways made of ocean swells, its archives stored in chants and constellations. From Hawai‘i in the north to Rapa Nui in
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 24, 202529 min read
Synthetic scales
That's the main underpinning of The Perfumed Garden; although some of them line up with both conventional jazz and Eastern modes, they're...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 20, 20252 min read


Towards a Theory of Māori Vocal Music
Amanda Michelina (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Hikairo, Ngāti Oneone, Ngāti Irakehu) This essay is the third in a series of essays on Māori music: https://www.amandamichelinasprogressiveparty.com/post/uneven-intervals-and-musical-hubs-a-comparative-study-of-m%C4%81ori-and-persian-traditions https://www.amandamichelinasprogressiveparty.com/post/mari-hamunata-and-the-hybrid-waiata-tradition Introduction The study of Māori music has too often been framed through analytical categories im
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 18, 202540 min read
Chippy
Chords: Dm7, Am7, Abm, G, F#, Bsus4/E Dm7 Am7 They call him Chippy: Abm Gm Reminds me of Mr. Whippy. Dm7...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 15, 20251 min read
Big Kahunas, Small Returns: Why NZ’s $70m Stadium Fund Is Political Theatre, Not Economic Strategy
Introduction: The Glittering Bait The New Zealand government’s recent announcement of a $70 million fund to attract global acts and major...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 15, 20255 min read
Quip
When it comes to my war with Wellington, one of the constants has been that my enemies are too afraid to confront me. I'd say that...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 15, 20252 min read
Snark
I doubt that Glenn Gould had the Canadian government telling him to do gigs. It's not like I'm the first person in history to be...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 14, 20253 min read
honest music
That's what Ken Young said about Hovhaness. Something to aim for imo.
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 14, 20251 min read
Why are people so shy?
I'm not crazy, and I've never been all that crazy in the first place. All that conversion therapy stuff is provable from 2024, but began...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 12, 20251 min read
"compromise"
No. I offered valid and sensible compromises over a period of two years, and VUW + Steve Barr refused to consider purchasing my script...
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Amanda Riddell
Sep 11, 20252 min read
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