From The Morgue

Back in University in the mid 90s, a large chunk of my social life was built around “the BBS”. It was a bulletin board system for Vic students (and ex-students), and it was a virtual hangout for an awful lot of cool and interesting folk. An important element that sets it apart from every other virtual community I’ve come across was the amount of crossover into real life – most people on it knew most other people on it in the real world and BBS parties were commonplace.
I loved the BBS. I met many wonderful people, had many preconceptions challenged, had my first and only “e-romance”, was introduced to The Onion, and learned lessons about online discourse that have served me well as the entire world has gone digital…
…but this isn’t a general nostalgia trip. This is about something specific.
Somewhere along the line, the BBS ended up celebrating Hug Day. This was basically an excuse for going around and hugging other BBS members in real life, because Hugs Are Good. Somehow or other I became the flagwaver for hug day in the BBS’s latter days (the BBS was shut down for good in 99 – or 2000? – a shadow of its former self due to member attrition and the rise of so many other avenues for online entertainment and community).
Anyway, today I’m thinking about hug day, and that excuses to hug other human beings are far too infrequent. So, promise me that today you’ll go out and hug someone you normally wouldn’t hug. Your excuse can be this: “I promised Morgan.”
And you wouldn’t want to let me down, would you?
(I can’t remember the time of year in which Hug Day fell – late in semester 1 I think. Doesn’t matter much. Every day is Hug Day!)

In my last post I wondered at the failure of the internet to stay on top of the prison story as compared to slow-coach television.
I neglected to mention that the first I saw of the prison story was in Idiot/Savant’s No Right Turn. So the internet won the race (like Vortox, the internet always wins) but Old Media won the, erm, the discus and the javelin and stuff.
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And the internet has provided my new favourite thing:
people who have had control devices implanted in their brains by the New World Order have set up an online questionnaire to be filled out by the perpetrators.
“While we all want the torture you are heaping on us to stop, at the same time, we would like to know something about you as well.”
(Found via the delightful Making Light, still essential reading for writers of all stripes.)

So I was planning a happy-skippy blog entry about how I’ve been really busy knocking off dozens of items from my post-Palestine to-do list (no exagerration – the list came to 40 items and I’m down to the teens). And talking about Kill Bill, because I saw part 2 and feel I have Things To Say about it. And making wry comment on the coverage that sheep and that budgie have been getting all around the world.
But I’ve just seen the coverage of the Iraqi prisoner abuse.
First thing – it’s on TV way before the net. Discussion boards have the story but the mainstream newssites and big blogs aren’t covering it yet. Weird – TV ahead of the internet – I can’t think the last time it happened to me.
Second thing – oh my lord. Of course, it’s one incident and it’s being dealt with and it’s not a general situation – but there have been so many reports of this kind of thing in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Gitmo. It is a sign of a general culture. This kind of activity is the outgrowth of the rhetoric surrounding the US military effort and ‘clash of civilisations’ and war on terror etc. It’s *inevitable*. It was predicted. It has been reported before. But photos tell a different story.
Third thing – it’s been a rough two weeks for the Arab world (which does exist as a collective entity on some level, if only because the rest of the world keeps lumping them together) – Bush supporting Sharon, Fallujah being bombed, and now this. If you’re already feeling victimised, this run of events certainly looks like the West is prepping for a fight to the finish with the Arab Middle East.
Fourth thing – the grinning thumbs-up may be familiar to anyone who’s been paying attention to the war-blogs for the last few weeks – the ‘Boudreaux controversy’ has been argued all over and made it into Salon.com a few days ago. Basically, its a photo of a grinning GI next to an Iraqi kid holding a sign – but there are two versions of what the sign says, one sickening and one heartwarming. Obviously one, or both, was photoshopped for political reasons. I think psychological logic supports the idea its the negative one, but it’s impossible to prove. This prison activity will lend more weight to this logic, because its premised on the fact that some soldiers in Iraq are happy to humiliate the Iraqis. And now we see that this is indeed the case.
Christ. Things are going to get worse before they get better.
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I did like Kill Bill 2, for what its worth.

Beautiful run of days lately. Sweet. *Puts global warming thoughts aside*
Yesterday I sat in the Meadows under pink-blossomed trees and read Russell Hoban’s Angelica’s Grotto, and wrote in my travel journal of Palestine. I’ve written about twenty pages and I’m at the start of the first full day in-country. It’s taking a long time to process.
I’m trying to get writing happening again but this has stalled it. Gah. Soon, though. Ron the Body is aching to be written.
My friend Tina is back in Edinburgh. She was my best friend at work and she dematerialised to England, but has come back. We had a nice wee drink at our local pub on Saturday night, which was sort of a new experience for me. Very cool though. Apart from that it was a weekend of sunshine and roleplaying. Too much roleplaying! But it’s all good stuff. I want to make the most of my time with the Providence Summer crew before they scatter to the four corners of the earth; and the Ottakar’s Club isn’t quite ready for me to walk away from it, though it’s close. I have a number of usurpers who are pretty much running things now – we just need a few more people running games to take the pressure off.
I have been saddened to note the gender balance of the Ottakars group has slipped markedly. Our women have left the country and no new ones have joined. Bums. But what can you do? At least GEAS is a very healthy demographic variety. That’s the way we like it.

Still drifting, just a little.
Haven’t yet come to terms with Israel and Palestine, in that I haven’t turned it into something I can tell stories about. It’s too big and complex. There’s a couple I am comfortable with, but most of it is just too much. Tomorrow I plan on sitting in the Elephant House after work and writing down everything I can about the trip. That should be a good start.
We have some great photos at least. These will be shared shortly.
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Just saw Shaun of the Dead. It’s a solid 4-star effort, well worth the cash but no groundbreaking classic. And given that my criticism is “but no groundbreaking classic” you can imagine how much I enjoyed it. (Lots.)
It was effectively scary, and very funny. Filled to the brim with easter eggs for horror trivia fans. (Name of the restaurant Shaun rings to make reservations: Fulci’s.) And the gore, while infrequent for a zombie movie, was very effective – in fact, I think it’s the best disembowelling-by-crowd-of-zombies I’ve ever seen. (Maybe Day of the Dead tops it. Maybe.)
Which reminds me, it’s Dead by Dawn this weekend at Filmhouse. I forgot to book tickets in advance AGAIN. Dammit. Last year Freddy Kreuger elbowed me and I saw Bubba Ho-tep. Not sure what I might make it to this time around. Maybe nothing. I feel much, much busier this time out.
Beltaine celebrations are coming, and they’ve put an attendance limit on it for the first time. Calton Hill will still be the venue and thousands of all ages are expected. Should be great.
Gah. Sleep needed. Zombification imminent.

Nothing has seemed real today. Back to work. It was like floating.
I’ve spent most of the evening churning through the chaos of our home to make it tidy and suitable for doing all the things I urgently need to do. There are so few spaces that are usable… I still can’t quite deal with the absence of tables. The laptop is on a small card table. There’s the coffee table. And that’s it. It doesn’t seem right.
I’ve accumulated a lot of books. Dammit. That wasn’t meant to happen.
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A new batch of Leon testimony is up at Leon’s God page. A couple of new commandments too. Get on the Leon train, it’s the hottest ticket in town…
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I won’t post the subservient chicken link, even though it amused me far too much, out of some faded determination not to participate in viral marketing. I’m sure you can find it if you don’t know what I’m talking about and care enough.
I will post this link, to a dog on a skateboard. At Frank’s place on Friday night this provided endless entertainment. Well, to me at least. He’s so cute, riding around on that skateboard! Look, he thinks he’s people!
No link to Stone and Parker’s Princess, our other main entertainment on Friday night (well, apart from Leon). Children read this blog and that little bundle of love is NOT FOR KIDS. If you think South Park is restrained, Google for it – it’s out there.
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It was great to catch up with some of the Londoners over the last few days. Sorry I missed those I missed. London is still a crazy town.

Radio silence has been due to a week spent in Israel and Palestine. Wow. More to come.
Currently in London. All is good. Back in Edin Sunday evening.
Leon-worshippers, be advised your testimonies will be added to the site as soon as I get home to do it.
Peace, everyone.

The time has come.
The stars are aligned.
Let the truth be known…
LEON IS TO BE A GOD.
(This, of course, follows on from this blog entry.)

On Friday night I gathered some folks together at Palmyra, which is a tiny Lebanese takeaway joint with some tables for eating in. We took over these tables. I love Palmyra – it’s wildly cheap and the staff are tremendously friendly. Most visitors to Edinburgh who stayed with Cal and me will have been taken there at least once. Brad – you introduced me to the place, I hope you have a smile at these photos…

Continue reading Birthday at Palmyra