Will there finally be (some sort of) compensation for the people left who still suffer the legacy of nuclear testing by the British Government in Australia during the 1950's?

Who needs police when you've got YouTube.

24 October 1929: Black Thursday plunged the world into its darkest time in modern economic history. Flash forward 2009 – the world goes into a global recession.

When The World Breaks looks at creativity and survival in desperate times, specifically during the Great Depression of the 1930s, drawing parallels to our current recession.

Extreme times bring heightened creativity and innovation The Depression-era saw burgeoning art, cinema, literature, music, architecture, entertainment, culture, and politics. By looking back, we discover new ways to see ourselves today. When the world breaks, artistic revolutions erupt and people awaken to become stronger – and more expressive.

Filmed across the United States and Japan, the film includes rare film images from the period, when amateur and professional
filmmakers were experimenting with brand new technologies and methods to tell stories.

When The World Breaks takes audiences beyond the bread lines and dust bowls into a vibrant story of one of the most formative
decades in American history. Director Fjellestad interviews celebrities and people who lived through the Depression from
writer Ray Bradbury to actress Phyllis Diller. The audience also hears from contemporary experts in the Depression era.

V48HOURS is the hugely successful annual filmmaking competition that celebrates chaos and creativity during one weekend each year. V48HOURS returns for its 8th year, attracting everyone from skilled filmmakers to enthusiastic newcomers.

This year over 650 team leaders will assemble squads (of up to 9,000+ people) to create 650 short films in just one weekend. Past winners have gone on to create acclaimed short films, feature films, television shows and even an Oscar nomination. V48HOURS shorts are first screened in heats throughout New Zealand cinemas, before the best are selected to compete against Peter Jackson's Wildcard picks on a two-week C4 television series that builds to a Grand Final, with just one film being crowned the Grand National Champ, winning a monumental package from a $100,000 prize pool. Registration begins on March 1st online at (www.48hours.co.nz)

V48HOURS past winners have included the talented likes of Taika Waititi (Eagle Vs Shark, Boy), Gerard Johnstone (The Jaquie Brown Diaries) and The Downlow Concept (7 Days). 2010 is going to be a sensational year and not just for that fact that Taranaki has now joined the regional line up. In the words of event director Ant Timpson;

"Each year it keeps growing and each year it produces a couple of works that can proudly stand alongside shorts made for tens of thousands of dollars. This year I'm really hoping some of the long term teams push themselves and produce works that subvert and deconstruct. Anything that results in highly original and maybe even visually deranged shorts is good in my book. We are at the edge of the digital frontier, so teams should be firing creative flaming arrows and burning down the status quo. Taranaki teams have participated previously but this year we're opening the floodgates to all teams from the region to showcase the considerable talent with their own competition".

V Energy, the long term partner of the event have decided to sign on as official naming rights sponsor for an additional three years, which in these recessionary times is a show of remarkable faith for the event and the talent that is being fostered.

Last years winner of the competition, the animated short "Charlotte" was picked up by the New Zealand Film Commission, who have come back onboard again with increased financial support for the competition and prize pool. NZFC CEO Graeme Mason explains

“The NZFC is proud to support and be a sponsor of V48Hours. V48Hours’ philosophy is very much in line with our own philosophy, shown in our new Escalator scheme, that is, when teams of a like mind get together they can achieve great things in a short time with limited resources.”

Teams that are feeling the burn of the recession may have found their goodwill angel in our Gold Partner Vodafone who are offering to refund the full cost of registration to the first FIVE teams who register on the official site from Monday March 1st, 10am sharp.

V48Seconds the annual warm up competition is back for 2010, calling for all filmmakers to choose an epic movie clip from films past, reshoot it in 48 seconds with a savvy ‘V’ twist, and slap it up on You Tube. V48Seconds attracts anyone from amateur filmies through to those using it as warm-up for V48Hours. The competition is FREE and open to anyone – you can even film it on your mobile phone! There are tons of prizes up for grabs so make sure you get your skills ready for the V48Seconds launch on March 15.

V48HOURS Official Website : www.V48hours.co.nz

Official VRepublic Site : www.vrepublic.co.nz

Registration for 48HOURS finishes on April 5

Shoot Weekend : April 16-18

City Finals :May 8/9

This week:

Free insulation for all Australian homes... Seemed like a good idea, so why has it bitten Environment Minister Peter Garrett on the arse?

Has the (SA Premier) Mike Rann/Michelle Chantelois affair spelled a paradigm-shift in the way private lives of political figures are reported in the media?

Mike talks to Ed Stack from goTender.co.nz - a new company offering a FREE service.

They run a traditional kiwi honest box so if a tradesperson or service provider is awarded a job they pay a $25 success fee to one of our charities KidsCan, Cancer Society of New Zealand and SPCA or else they carry out a Random Act of Kindness. .

Anyone can post any job on the site. No more searching the yellow pages looking for tradespeople who don’t stick to their quotes. Now you can tender your work and then rate the service, you get the best job done for the best price, with savings of up to 30%.

For more info and to check it out, head along to gotender.co.nz

This week:

The song "Land Down Under" judged to have been plagiarised, what does the author of the song think about that?

And it's one year since those horrific bush fires!

He's flamboyant, sexy, rude, wild, he's the one and only Lord Bishop.
Lord Bishop could be called the original punk, resuming where MC5 left. He's filled with the energy of black rock icons like Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. Lord Bishop is playing deliberately with clichés, hiding his cultivated and intelligent inner self behind a shocking stage persona that is as acutely sexist as it is radically anarchist, when it comes to political points of view. I know a lot of people who absolutely hate everything the Lord does, but I know just as many who adore his shameless take on punk and rock'n'roll. There is no middle ground possible here, and I am proud to tell that I belong to the latter group.
For the first time ever Lord Bishop Rocks! will be rocking New Zealand, doing a full national tour. Playing live and touring is what the Lord does best. He plays up to 200 shows a year and is a rock icon in Europe.

Lord Bishop will be here in February 2010 as part of his world tour.

Auckland--Bacco Room. Wednesday 10th Feb with Surf Friends & The Dirty Sweets
Devonport, Auckland--Masonic. Thursday 11th Feb with Seeds Of Orbit
Palmerston North--The Royal. Friday 12th Feb with Royal Wolf & Quick Brown Fox
New Plymouth --The Basement. Saturday 13th Feb with Birth Of Sol
Greymouth--Frank's Cafe. Monday 15th Feb
Invercargill--Saints & Sinners. Tuesday 16th Feb
Port Chalmers, Dunedin--Chicks Hotel. Wednesday 17th Feb with Squirm
Christchurch--Al's Bar. Friday 18th Feb with The Sexy Animals
Lyttleton, Christchurch--Wunderbar. Thursday 19th Feb with The Sexy Animals
Wellington--Mighty Mighty. Saturday 20th Feb with Seeds Of Orbit & Double Ya D
Wanganui--Eye Of The Night. Sunday 21st Feb with Royal Wolf & Sets