Blogs / Jordan Watts

The Selwyn 21sters Ball and the Dance

2010-10-21T19:05:00.015+13:00

This is going to be my last post for the year and i just wanted to say that I hope you like what you've seen of Selwyn 2010! Selwyn is probably the greatest Residential Hall in existence, (And I'm not saying that from a biased point of view!) and applying to stay here during you're university year will be the best decision you ever made! Hopefully these blogs have given at least a glimpse of some of the odd, quirky and magnificent things we get up to in the College.

The 21sters ball is a special ball held towards the end of the Selwyn year to honour those turning 21 (Though the number is very minimal nowadays) and give everyone a chance to dress fancy and party in a more formal context than one would see at the Orientation Ball during O-Week.

On another note, more than about a month ago the last Nevill Cup event, the Dance was held. Though Selwyn didn't win the Nevill Cup this year, the dance was quite simply, the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I've embedded the video of Selwyn's performance below.

The Selwyn ANZAC Concert

2010-10-15T22:13:00.006+13:00

The ANZAC concert is another one of those great old Selwyn traditions. Its been going for as long as anyone can remember and when it boils down to it is just a method of friendly, funny, social correction.

All the floors respectively get together and make up a floor skit that is generally pretty funny. The skits range in length but usually include a song and dance number, a bit of acting and recreations of silly, stupid and just downright wrong things some people have done throughout the year.

This year my floor (the Richardson Building) took out the top prize, oh yea!

The Lindski Battle

2010-10-15T21:54:00.008+13:00

Given that its time for exams and everything, I thought I'd work on something I've been procrastinating about half a year, the dreaded blogs!

This blog is going to focus on one of Selwyn's quirkiest traditions, the Selwyn Lindski Battle.

An experience unlike any other, the Lindksi battle originated as a battle against the Lindski Knights, a group of hardcore, serious cardboard fighters who took their roles very seriously. Recently though it is the ex-residents of the college who have been fighting the current, and the matter is still one of hilarious seriousness.

The rules are simple; the men of the college dress up as knights in shining cardboard armour and fight the Exies to the death. When someone dies, the women of the college (dressed up as nurses) bring the knights back to life to fight again... and again... and again.

These pictures were taken by Lindsey Horne and I think they document pretty well the awesomeness of Lindski Battle.

Squash vs. Knox

2010-09-26T18:31:00.005+13:00

The squash was positively awesome. With the Selwyn Boys securing an easy victory and the girls team coming a close second against rivals Knox College

Netball vs. Knox

2010-09-26T18:30:00.009+13:00

The Netball was a few months back and unfortunately those dirty Knoxies scored themselves another victory over the girls in the Netball and though I wasn't there I was told it was pretty close. Also for the past few years now there has also been a hilarious warm-up game played by an all male teams. These photos were taken by Thomas Moore as I wasn't able to make it.

Re-Orientation Week, Selwyn Style

2010-09-26T18:27:00.008+13:00

Re-Orientation week was a special event for Selwyn, where, much like Orientation our Social Representative on the Committee Hanafi Zwart organized an amazing week of partying to get everyone back into a friendly mood and gearing us all up for what Semester Two would bring. Definitely my favourite nights were the Barn Party and the back 2 Skool hop, coming in with quadstock taking the third place.

These photos encompass some of the best moments of re-o-week. They include Quadstock, Barnxico, Back 2 Skool and Flat Golf.

Volleyball vs. Knox

2010-09-26T18:26:00.008+13:00

The Volleyball was an extremely good double victory for Selwyn in the Cameron Shield contention, with Selwyn even having its own cheerleading team doing a number during the Girls and Boys matches. Here are some good moments from a great day...

Basketball vs. Knox

2010-09-26T18:18:00.006+13:00

The Basketball against Knox was utterly amazing to watch. First up was the girls who lost the game just at the very last minute. Secondly was the boys who won a comfortable ten points ahead.

Catching Up!

2010-09-16T12:37:00.000+12:00

A lot of things have happened in my absence from blogging and unfortunately a certain computer crash/water damage has deleted about ten blogs I was planning to do, however you are in luck! Plenty of things have happened in the last month, with good and bad results...

BLOGS!

2010-08-31T17:08:00.002+12:00

To all those who watch/read my blog. Unfortunately I haven't posted anything recently thanks to a smal problem of water damage to my laptop. Hopefully I can catch up with recent and past events if nothing on my harddrive is destroyed. Sorry for the major delay! New blogs coming very soon!

The Selwyn Ballet

2010-06-27T05:31:00.005+12:00

Every year the annual Selwyn ballet is performed as part of the capping show, this one will be the 83rd year its been performed and is definitely one of the colleges more long lasting traditions. I took these photos while they were preparing backstage.

Rowing

2010-06-16T10:02:00.004+12:00

While neither a Cameron Shield event nor a Nevill event. Rowing is still a big thing in Selwyn. The competition this year was fierce, with spectacular performances from all of Dunedin's hallowed residential halls. In the end Selwyn got the wrong and one of our best players couldn't actually fit in to race, and we came an extremely close second to university college, a valiant effort all around.

Athletics vs. Knox, Catchup Time

2010-05-05T23:06:00.011+12:00

Well with my exams over I thought It would be necessary to catch up on the last few months of Selwynography. I think i said last time that I would be doing this as well and ended up, not. However! I shall endeavor to fill you, my viewers in! so here goes...

Athletics.
What can you say about athletics? Human beings at peak physical fitness racing other similar human beings, it was always going to be a tight race against the dirty Knoxies. The final score? THe girls dominated all their four events, while sadly the boys only won the most important race, the 100 metres, stalemating the day with Knox.

Billiards vs. Knox

2010-05-04T23:52:00.004+12:00

Tonight was positively awesome. Much like the dungeon setting of chess, billiards proved to be a similarly haunting experience. Selwyn came out with the win in the end, a fantastic finisher by Thomas 'Brick' Blockley put away the Knox team for 2010, we won by around 30 points, which, in a games where the first team to reach 325 can take over 4 hours to complete, one can understand the exhaustion Knox must be feeling after putting up such a good fight. The game started at around 6.40pm and finished at about 11:10. Overall both teams played fierce, and Selwyn simply fought harder for the win. unfortunately I arrived too late to get any pics of our #1 Ben, oh well.

Amish April

2010-05-03T14:24:00.010+12:00

Oh Amish April, your influence has been over Selwyn the last month, making it impossible for one to shave their manly beards, and who would want to? One must strive to look like the others in America, stoic, unclean and stern.

Such is the life begotten upon someone who may not shave for a whole month. And the loser of the following Rock Off? Second to last place gets to grow a beard for another mighty month, first place gets to shave only half for the rest of the month.

So yea Amish April came to an end, and this is well, the end result. The one wearing the suspenders in the middle had the manliest growth, the one to his right had last years greatest beard, brilliant.

Instrumental vs. Knox

2010-05-03T14:19:00.003+12:00

Our fourth Nevill event, instrumental went excellently. We played in the Knox grand hall, a fantatsic venue. In the ned we lost out by a very slim margin, despite the fact that our two pieces only had four people in each, which was opposed to Knox's full 15 strong orchestra. I was so transfixed by our first performance I didn't take any photos, I only took these three because I was prompted too, it sounded that good, overall a fantastic effort and a big thankyou has to go coach Cassy who produced one of the finest instrumentals we've had in years

Chess vs. Knox

2010-04-27T02:01:00.005+12:00

The third event for the Nevill cup was chess. This was one of the better instances of chess I'd seen in recent years, as I've only seen two and this one was better. We played in the dark which provided an excellent tense atmosphere. The end result? A draw, 2 wins, 2 losses and a stalemate.

Tennis vs. Knox

2010-04-27T01:57:00.006+12:00

Recently we had a cam event, Tennis against Knox. To put it simply, the competition was furious, and in the end Selwyn came out drawing the men and losing the girls, absolutely fantastic play though, and a joy to watch

Wine and Cheese + Selwyn vs. Knox Theatresports

2010-04-27T01:42:00.004+12:00

Traditionally I think of wine and cheese as an upper class thing where people pretend to be aristocratically based and pretend to know the best the two can offer and have an infinitely unmatched palette, well, we tried to do that, and it seems everyone just had a whole lot of wine and compensated with cheese, cheddar style.

So the second Nevill event was held well over three weeks ago at Otago universities own Castle building, an ideal location for another cultural square off with Knox. The result? Selwyn came out victorious once more 20-0 to us, fantastic play. Definitely some of the highlights included the rampant scoring of our members, the character stereotypes and the fun everyone had watching Selwyn's best defeat the dirty Knoxies once more, relish in these photos, I took way too many of course!

Mid-Semester Antics

2010-04-20T18:51:00.011+12:00

This photoblog is an accompaniment to Jimmy's blog about Mid-Semester Antics. I have to say this was probably the best week off I've ever had in my life, with a multitude of activities to do with a small group of people. A bonding experience not to be missed, I recommend that people stave off visiting their parents for a week in the middle of a semester and have a great time in Selwyn.

Swimming

2010-04-20T00:45:00.007+12:00

As anyone would be able to infer from this blog title the event was Swimming and it was against Knox. We won both the girls as well as the guys events putting us 5 points ahead of Knox for the shield after the loss at cricket. The Cameron Shield goes way back, but I'm not very lectured on it, perhaps just check the Selwyn website out, theres information somewhere.

There were a few firsts at the swimming. The first time for 2010 we won a cam event (after only two) and the first time each respective college revealed their Hakas to one another, and being a part of that was amazing, there was a lot of energy and fierceness, which only heightened the level of competition. These photos were taken by Lindsey Horne as I was doing the Haka at the time, great snaps Lindsey!

Debating

2010-04-20T00:36:00.005+12:00

Right before the Mid Semester break Selwyn had its first Nevill Cup event against Knox College.
But what exactly is the Nevill cup you say?

Introduced in 1997 the cup is designed so that Selwynites can compete against Knox on a cultural scale as well as a sporting one, which the Cameron Shield is all about. Run over ten events throughout the year the Nevill cup has been lost from Selwyn for two years now, and were thirsty for it once more...

Anyway the Debating was something fantastic, it came very close, but Selwyn pulled out a win and a massive thanks surely has to go to the team comprising of Tiho Mijatov, Maria English and Alice Marsh, with Managers Alex Carswell and Sam Poole providing support, and coach Matt Dodd leading them into a great win to kick off the Nevill Cup for 2010. These are the photos I took (Yes I took them this time!) Buuuuuuut, my battery ran out right before Alice Marsh's speech (Sorry Alice!) and some of them are blurry, sorry?

College House Exchange

2010-04-20T00:19:00.004+12:00

Well about a month ago Selwyn had its annual Cultural Exchange with College House, and the competition was fierce.

This year College House came down to Dunedin to compete as it switches every year, which meant the Health Science students didn't miss out on their pitiful %5 test, something any B.A. student would gladly skip for when Selwyn needs them, but to be honest there was nothing on during the test so they only missed out on Instrumental, the first event of the day. Though both Colleges played some amazing pieces, it was clear that College House had come out with the win at the end of the performances (Unfortunately these are also the only photos I have of the day, taken by Sam Timbs and Lindsey Horne)

Afterwards we fought them in Debating and Theatresports, winning both, then the choirs which we lost, this led us into the ultimate showdown of the bands at Monkey Bar. The final result came within 3 points difference, Selwyn winning out due to the Band's originality, something no one doubts secured them the win, despite College House's crowd favourites, meaning Selwyn won the coveted Principal's Cup for the first time since 2006.

In the end big shout outs have to go to Duncan Ballinger for organising College House to come up, Rob from Monkey Bar for letting us use an awesome venue for free, and the heads of both colleges for making sure everything ran smoothly.

Cricket!

2010-04-14T01:00:00.008+12:00

Well a while ago we had a pretty massive cricket game against Knox. What made the game more important was that it was our first foray into the battle for the Cameron Shield, the trophy given annually to Selwyn or Knox depending on who wins the most sporting events held throughout the year. We put up a valiant attempt, but ultimately lost out in the end giving Knox a good head start towards Cam (Its okay though we crushed them in swimming and our now in the lead once more).

Citrus turned out in force to cricket, we provided an annual citrus break during the drinks break, offered banter and just in general had a good day on Opoho field. So below are some shots of the day, with my personal favourite picture being the top one, but I particularly enjoy the sequence shots of first Chris Brewer and then Chris King bowling, there is a lot of movement involved in Cricket and its fantastic to see broken up.

Edge Ballet Performance

2010-04-12T20:22:00.004+12:00

Well this blog is chronologically the second oldest, but the fourth in my attempt to catch up to the contemporary. Towards the start of march the edge approached Selwyn and asked us to perform the Selwyn Ballet. Unable to say no the dodgy men involved in 2009's spectacle travelled down to the Octagon and put on a sterling performance, even though some technical difficulties proved to be a hassle, the Selwyn Ballet is always amazing, and its organised every year by the Internal Affairs Rep, a position on our committee where it involves taking care of Selwyn's greatest traditions, such as our Haka/Waiata and Ballet.

Big thanks has to go to the Edge for the wonderful offer and whoever took these photos on my camera, I don't know who you are, but you do, and its good you did because I was too busy to attend! There is some video footage also coming on the YouTube page that takes forever to be uploaded too!