Latest news with #Frankenstein-looking
NZ Herald
24-04-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Boxthorn battles: Taranaki's thorny icon and innovative hedge cutters
If you take a look at its botanical name, Lycium ferocissimum, it means a thorny shrub that is ferocious. You will find that it certainly does not let its name down, as it is exactly that and more. It grows vigorously and produces the nastiest, strongest, thickest, needle-looking spines. It will grow in any soil, more or less, and when fully grown, which only takes a couple of years, no animal big or small would even contemplate making an escape through it. The thorns are prone to getting stuck in the hooves of cattle, puncturing tractor tyres, and even piercing through the soles of gumboots. Then there is the battle of keeping the boxthorn under some sort of control. Until the middle of the last century, you didn't want to be the unlucky person chosen to trim the hedges with a hand slasher. Horses were used to pull the slashed pruning from the hedge, which ended up in piles to be burned. Producing ways to keep boxthorn under control has resulted in some rather wacky ideas. I read that a farmer in Pātea used an old sword to keep the hedge around his house trimmed. Another adapted a hay knife. An adaption of the Swiss Army knife? Then in 1941 came a Swiss-born Inglewood engineer named Lou Butler, who decided to mount a large revolving three-meter blade on a Fordson tractor. Hey presto, Taranaki's first mechanical hedge cutter was born. And what a daunting, almost Frankenstein-looking machine it was. Butler wasn't new to engineering. Before building hedge cutters, he produced a variety of inventions such as a turf cutter, sheep sling, articulated trailer, trench digger, butter box press and the auto hay sweep. Advertise with NZME. If a labour-saving device was needed to be designed, he was the man. Butler and his sons became well known in the Taranaki district for their hedge cutters. All were home-built and were beasts of machines, having been adapted and modified on trucks, tractors, Army tanks and even Bren Gun Carriers. With boxthorn hedges getting out of control – and with the availability after World War II of numerous ex-NZ Army vehicles – their fleet of hedge cutters grew. If visiting the Tawhiti Museum in Hāwera, you will find in the Farm Power Hall tractor display a collection of the Butler Brothers' early hedge cutters, created from a wide assortment of WWII service vehicles. Among them is a rare survivor worldwide: a Local Pattern Observation Post Wheeled Vehicle. Seeing these machines working in Taranaki caught the eye of another contractor, Frank Hooper, who grew up in Taranaki but moved to Hawke's Bay, where the orchards were surrounded by shelter belts needing trimming. Five years of planning and four engineers went into designing the first hedge cutter suitable for the large hedges encompassing orchards. In 1965, Hooper's bespoke model started trimming shelter belts on orchards. While a gun carrier was suitable for the boxthorn in Taranaki, a Ford tractor was all the machine needed to be mounted on and enable it to manoeuvre around the tight spaces in an orchard. Without the vision of both these men when it came to hedge cutters, we could have been in a much pricklier situation nowadays.
Fox News
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
‘Minecraft' movie mayhem raises alarms for America's youth, ‘bad for society': expert
"A Minecraft Movie," the big-screen adaptation of the popular video game "Minecraft," has been packing theaters with rowdy kids and teens since its release this month, spurring a social media phenomenon and sparking concern for America's youth. Videos on social media show young theatergoers huge reactions to one key scene, where one of the film's stars, Jack Black, yells out the phrase "Chicken Jockey!" as a small, Frankenstein-looking creature lands on top of a chicken in a boxing ring to face off with co-star Jason Momoa. The scene has prompted excited fans to scream, shout, throw popcorn around, jump up out of their seats, and in one instance in Provo, Utah, toss a live chicken in the air during a screening, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Springs Cinema & Taphouse in Sandy Springs, Georgia, told FOX 5 Atlanta that its staff has had to clean up popcorn, ICEEs, ketchup and shattered glass. "The movie-going experience has changed a lot since I was younger," Josh Gunderson, director of marketing and events at Oviedo Mall in Florida, told FOX Business. "And TikTok has changed that quite a bit." "There's a part of me that says this is just dumb fun. There's another part of me [that says] for the poor people who are there at the movie theaters having to clean up this mess, it's a disaster," Raymond Arroyo, Fox News' contributor and host of the "Arroyo Grande" podcast, told Fox News Digital. "And obviously, you know a safety hazard, because … anytime you get 200 young boys in a room, and they're all yelling and jumping in 20 directions, it's sort of like, you know, a social media 'Lord of the Flies,' that's what this is. And I get why they're calling in the cops. I get why some theater chains are saying you can only come with a parent because you can't have that kind of mayhem every day and at every showing." Arroyo added, "I think, if anything, it shows the deep passion and the connection that these boys feel to this video game, and therefore they've carried over to the movie. And that's part of the reason it's such a big hit." "…anytime you get 200 young boys in a room, and they're all yelling and jumping in 20 directions, it's sort of like, you know, a social media 'Lord of the Flies.'" WATCH: KIDS CAUSE CHAOS DURING 'MINECRAFT' MOVIE VIEWINGS "A Minecraft Movie" has earned $557 million worldwide so far, led by the established fandom of the games and the social media buzz created by filming videos related to "Chicken jockey" and other meme-able moments related to the game. The movie's director, Jared Hess, spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the chaotic screenings. "It's been way too fun. People are sending me these really hilarious speeches that a lot of teenagers are giving right before the movie. It's so hysterical, man. I'm staying up way too late," he said. Some screenings have had police called to break up the antics, which Hess thinks is a little much. "It's weird when you're having too much fun and the cops get called," Hess told the outlet. "It's funny because I think it's just literally cheering and throwing popcorn, which is so funny to me that cops are getting called for popcorn. Yeah, it's hilarious. I've seen so many funny videos. It's great, especially when people are climbing on their friends' shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments. It's like this crazy anticipation. But, man, I'm just glad people are making memories with their friends and families." Arroyo is "all for engagement," comparing the theater experience to that of midnight screenings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or sing-alongs to "Grease." "Singing along or clapping in unison or doing silly things at a certain point in a movie everybody knows and loves … throwing popcorn, throwing live chickens, throwing the guy next to you up into the air, I'm not sure that's the best way forward. "If there can be a more contained audience participation, I think everybody would be on board. But the moment you are [causing] a mess and injuring people, that turns into something very different, and I get why they don't want to tolerate that. It shouldn't be tolerated." Arroyo also sees it as an opportunity to instill some life lessons in young boys. "Boys need an element of freedom, and they need to be a little wild. That's a good thing," he said. "On the other hand, they need to know how and when to rein that in and to discipline themselves, and I worry that when you let this kind of mayhem just go on and say, 'Oh let them throw the popcorn, we love it,' like the director said, that may be good for the ticket sales, it's bad for society. Boys need to learn how to control themselves in public settings. The world is not your rec room." "I worry that when you let this kind of mayhem just go on and say, 'Oh let them throw the popcorn, we love it' …that may be good for the ticket sales, it's bad for society. Boys need to learn how to control themselves in public settings." Jack Black recently attempted to dissuade audiences from bad behavior by popping up at a screening in Los Angeles to deliver a warning. "For today's presentation of 'A Minecraft Movie,' please no throwing popped corn, and also no lapis lazuli… and absolutely no chicken jockeys!" he said in a video shared on social media. "I love the Jack Black public service announcement," Arroyo said. "I think he's worried, too, about their welfare. These are young kids for the most part. And you can see how excited they are because it's a big part of their lives." Arroyo further explained why the "Minecraft" mania has been sweeping the nation. "I think a way to put this in context, so everybody doesn't freak out, what the Barbie movie was for girls and women, this movie is for young boys and teens. It strikes a deep chord, it's something that's part of their growth and childhood and everyday life. It's also how they communicate. A lot of [kids], they put their headsets on, and they're talking while they're playing 'Minecraft.' So it is a… touchstone for them." He continued, "It's an exciting moment. It's like Hollywood validating their lived experience, so that's why you're seeing this level of excitement, I think. And it's a callback that they feel is only theirs, it's their own little personal thing. So it becomes kind of a communal ritual almost for them. That's what this is. This is a communal ritual of young guys saying, look, we all play this, we get the reference even though these idiot parents and everybody else don't. "But there is a level where you have to say, 'Guys, you've crossed a line here.' You need an adult in the room," Arroyo added. National theater chain Regal Cinemas is trying to manage some of the excitement by offering "Chicken Jockey" screenings on April 20. "Customers are invited to dress up as their favorite 'Minecraft' characters, whoop, yelp, clap and shout 'Chicken Jockey!' There are some rules we don't break. So here's the deal: build excitement? Absolutely. LOL with friends till you're rolling in the aisles? Totally. But please don't go full Creeper in the auditorium," their website states. Representatives for Warner Bros. Pictures and Cinema United (formerly the National Association of Theater Owners) did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Arroyo noted that the hype for the "Minecraft" movie appears to be part of a cultural shift in taste from the superhero domination of the Marvel movies to an upswing in video game-based stories. "This is the prevailing culture among young people, particularly for boys. 'Mario Bros' was a big hit. You saw 'The Last of Us' on HBO, 'Fallout' [on Amazon Prime]. These are all video games that have spawned spin-offs. Some of them good, some of them not so good. But there's this built-in IP and what novels and stories and Broadway provided in years past to Hollywood, now video games are furnishing with IP and storylines that are already well-known enough that it diminishes your risk when you bring it to the big screen." He added, "That is dying out, and we just imagine kids remain excited about that. I don't think they do. It doesn't hold the same fascination it held for us."
