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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Tommy Kapai: Who cares about 'Brangelina'?

By Tommy Kapai
Bay of Plenty Times·
26 Sep, 2016 01:19 AM4 mins to read

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HEADLINE CRASHERS: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's divorce announcement has taken over headlines.PHOTO/FILE

HEADLINE CRASHERS: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's divorce announcement has taken over headlines.PHOTO/FILE

Well, boo-blingin-hoo, the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie break up has hit the headlines.

But who cares?

Quite a lot it seems, if you add up the Hollywood hacks and gossip gurus - plus a couple of kids from around the corner who live for the lives of the rich and famous.

Turns out just like in the real world the rest of us live in, what you see on show out there in the public eye isn't what is going on back in the whare.

Far from it, and if ever I have learned a lesson from working for the rich and famous for a decade it is, you see the true colours of a couple when no-one is watching except the hired help.

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So Brad and the gorgeous - and in my opinion, rock of the relationship Angelina, have hit the rocks.

Has it changed the world? Kao, nope, not at all.

You have to have a black belt in bull**** to survive the surreal lives of the rich and famous and what you see on the outside splashed across the headlines is as far from the real world as are the lives of Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, and Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, from the tragic real world of the lives their own people suffer in today.

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It's borderline criminal the picture these perfect couples portray to milk the headlines and thus increase the value of their brand, especially when there are so many worthy headlines to carry hope to hopelessness out there in the real world.

So what were the real headlines worthy of front page news here in our own Bay back yard?

For a start our own star studded diva of Maori Music, Moana Maniapoto, was inducted into the Music Hall of Fame last week.

A gifted tamariki of Te Arawa and Tuwharetoa, whose poppa must be so proud. Moana has given her life to spreading the gospel of Maori Music, via the wonderful waiata she not only penned, but performed across the globe.

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From Russia to Ruatoki, and every bus stop and international airport in between, Moana's music has a huge following.

If you want a class act couple who make Brad and Ang look like dress up dolls from the Warewhare, then Toby and Mo are it and who our tamariki should be looking up to.

Living in the real world is all about putting people first and if the Koro of korero down in Parliament, Winston Peters, has any understanding of he tangata, he tangata, he tangata, it is people who matter most, then his actions of putting his own personal mana munching politics first, before the 400 whanau who travelled to Wellington last week, then his headline grabbing days belong with Brad Pitt.

If there was an ounce of respect I had left for Winitana then it left our house when he left so many standing outside the house.

Colin Craig seems to have been suckered by his own five minutes of fame headlines with little chance of him appearing on the cover of any magazine.

What a waste of editorial headlines and we still have a few more weeks of crouch and hold - but no touch, to look forward to.

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What seems to have slipped under the headline radar is International Peace Day this last week.

If ever we needed a reminder of the real-world then surely this is the day.

What is happening right now in Aleppo as its own leader annihilates his own people sits alongside Hitler, Hussein and Idi Amin as it does Isis, and it is almost too painful to watch it each night on the six o'clock news.

What is equally disturbing is there is bugger all we can do right down here at the bottom of the world but pray, and believe a better real world will one day show up for Syria and indeed North Korea.

Hopefully it will be in time before it turns to total custard and the casualties are counted in the millions not thousands.

Time and a dollop of democracy are the precious commodities that no amount of Hollywood gloss or goss can replace.

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One thing is for sure nothing changes when nothing changes and right now we need to save our boohoo for the real tragedies happening on the planet and make sure to do everything possible to make our own back yards a safe and happy place for our kids to grow up in.

Far far away from the unreal world of Hollywood and Brangelina headlines.

• broblack@xtra.co.nz

Tommy Kapai is a best-selling author and local writer.

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