- Auckland (/ˈɔːklənd/ AWK-lənd; Māori: Tāmaki Makaurau) is the most populous city of New Zealand and the fifth largest city in Oceania. It has an urban population of about 1,478,800 (June 2023). It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, and which has a total population of 1,739,300 as of June 2023. While Europeans continue to make up the plurality of Auckland’s population, the city became multicultural and cosmopolitan in the late-20th century, with Asians accounting for 31% of the city’s population in 2018. Auckland has the fourth largest foreign-born population in the world, with 39% of its residents born overseas. With its large population of Pasifika New Zealanders, the city is also home to the biggest ethnic Polynesian population in the world. The Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki Makaurau, meaning “Tāmaki desired by many”, in reference to the desirability of its natural resources and geography.
- Barry Lyndon (allthetropes.org)
Barry Lyndon is Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 period piece, widely considered one of his most underrated films. The film concerns the life of Irish peasant-turned-adventurer-turned-aristocrat Redmond Barry, who leaves his Irish home after his family con him into leaving alone his cousin with whom he is besotted. The first half shows how he then goes on to be a British deserter of the Seven Year’s War, a Prussian conscript, a spy and then a traveling dandy. The second half, however, is far more downbeat and involves his quest to become an aristocrat, which eventually merely leads to tragedy as he spurns his beautiful but fragile wife and brings his stepson to hate him with a passion.