Eastenders vs. Saint of Killers

“Last Friday’s episode of “EastEnders,” the popular British soap, took a slight detour, as one of the characters spent three minutes extolling the virtues of the “Preacher” comics.”
(Rich Johnston)
“Then on Thursday Stephen (“I was a womb-shooting nutcase last year but I’m all better now.”) spends one whole minute discussing the popular but unpleasant comic Preacher with Stacy. The way he described it was clear that is was written by someone who’s read most of the Preacher story-arch.” (LJ of “Skitster”)
About Preacher.
Heh.

Gaza: Something You Can Do

I haven’t been blogging much on the middle east lately, but I’ve been following the news threads as solidly as ever. The latest violence in Gaza is worrying. Only a week ago it was a peaceful protest against an economic blockade; now there’s been escalation and invasion, and civilians are dying. This is all the more concerning because it is out of step with what ordinary Israelis want, according to this Haaretz account that says most Israelis support ceasefire talks with Hamas.
If this concerns you as well, here’s something you can do right now: sign the Avaaz petition.
Out of all the organisations I’ve seen trying to turn online presence into real-world influence, Avaaz is easily the strongest and most successful. They essential work through online word-of-mouth, like this, to push very targetted issue-specific petitions. Their first big one was to the 2007 G8 about global warming, and since then they’ve kept an eye on numerous human rights and climate change issues. They do good work and are the best channel I’m aware of for turning your concern at your computer screen into something that key decisionmakers will actually see.
At the petition page you can see how many have signed, as the bar creeps toward their target. The petition will be delivered to the Israeli government and to Hamas to call for an immediate ceasefire. It’s something.

Leapday Linky

This is probably my favourite video on the internets, evar. Watch it. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again. The cats are great.
Via some Wellybloggers, a mesmerising short film portrait of Wellington by Massey Design student Richard Sidey, his showpiece at the end-of-04 exhibition Exposure (which is always worth a look if you’re in Welly in December). It’s an awardwinning film, and watching it you’ll see why. Timelapse reveals new rhythms in familiar spaces. It’s wicked. Music by Dubtown’s percussionistas Strike!, and also featuring calligraphy by Stan Chan.
Via Svend, a deeply weird true-life mystery – nine experienced skiers, out camping in the mountains, who didn’t make it through the night. But what the details suggest about what happened will give you shivers.
Via Hottieperm, Stuff White People Like. It misses as often as it hits, and “white people” seems to mean “urban liberals”, but its dogged commitment to that one joke is pleasing to me.
I wish you a Very Leapy Friday.

In Community

Yesterday, while I missed the Wellington Bloggers gathering, I did manage to spend a couple hours with the other moose. It was really good to spend some time catching up. There have been some pretty major developments in both our lives since we last had a catch up worthy of the name – him more than me, which is saying something.
One thing we talked about was community, and I realised that I’m finding the community scene in Wellington to be different for me now than it was back in ’02, when I hopped a plane to the UK. Then I felt plugged in to a solid and powerful network of people and there was some cool stuff emerging out of the collective. Now… not so much. Still all the awesome people there were then, but the way the connections work has changed.
There are communities here now – but I’m choosing to float on the edges of them, even the ones comprised of many people I am glad to call friends. The communities that I was massively invested in before have either disintegrated or ceased to call to me in any powerful way. My social relationships are defined primarily as one-to-one things instead of by membership in many-to-many nets.
Partly this is the shift in my cohort to babies and suburbs. But only partly; there’s something else going on. Not sure what. Perhaps there was a direction, or a counter-direction, that we once had and that is now lacking?
And underlying all of this, of course, is the fact that I am ridiculously busy right now. Pushing hard to get RtB tightened up, at the same time as pushing work to get $$ under control, at the same time as pushing study to get MSc on point… My former data point has been the number of emails I have building up unreplied-to. That stack has got ridiculous now. New data point: I am actually relieved that my finger is busted taking me out of sport for two months, because it means I get a few more hours in the day.
Strange times. I would benefit from more time to reflect than I’m currently getting. But at least I have my priorities straight enough to blog, right? It’s pretty much the only contact I have with most of you after all..

[mediawatch] ObamaMania

The DomPost Monday led its World section with the headline ObamaMania: Cult-style fervour and fainting at Obama rallies comes under fire.. Big above-the-fold placement with lots of art, it was presented as a big deal and worthy of serious attention. Looking a little closer, it just started to look like a beat-up.
It’s a Sunday Telegraph story – you can read the original online – subedited to about two-thirds the original length but keeping the original’s tone. The guts of the story is in the lede:

…for a growing number of Barack Obama sceptics, there is something disturbing about the adulation with which [he] is greeted as he campaigns for the White House – unnervingly akin to the hysteria of a cult, or the fervour of a religious revival.

It goes on to present evidence that the Obama campaign is on the brink of becoming a cult. Among this damning evidence:

  • large numbers of people wait in line to see him!
  • sometimes people rush the stage!
  • people chant his slogan and it sounds rhythmic!
  • sometimes people faint!

Yep, that sounds like a scary cult to me. Or perhaps any rock concert ever. And let’s look at the people expressing concern in this article, in order of appearance:

  • Joe Klein (a Clinton-linked “fake liberal“)
  • “a senior Obama official, who would talk only on condition of anonymity” (mm-hmmm)
  • “Dr Sean Wilentz, a Princeton historian and stern critic of the current administration of George W.Bush” (according to Wikipedia, a family friend of Bill Clinton – see also this and this)
  • “New York Times columnist David Brooks” (who is always wrong)(see also this)

It doesn’t come to much. This is an attempt to spin enthusiasm into a scary “cult of personality” charge, using lots of loaded terminology like “messiah” and “hysteria”. And is it really that hard to think of reasons why voters would be enthusiastic about Obama – say, the fact that for the last 20 years every PotUS has been either family Clinton or family Bush? Or, the fact that Obama made his name standing against Bush and the war in Iraq when hardly anyone else was making noise? Or, just the fact that he isn’t another in a very long series of white guys?
Even the weirdest-sounding bits in this piece are just noise.

“…volunteers are schooled to avoid talking to voters about policy, and instead tell of how they “came” to Obama, just as born-again Christians talk about “coming to Jesus.”

This sounds dramatic but it’s absolutely unremarkable marketing.

A brilliant speaker, Mr Obama often uses the rhetorical trick of rapidly repeating words and slogans and using catchy phrases that tend to attract young Americans, while having very little substance.

Every politician in the US wishes they could do the same – and besides, catchy slogans can sit alongside sound policy easily enough.
Finally, 700 words into the 1,000 word piece we get someone offering the sensible counterpoint:

In Mr Obama’s defence, Robert Caro, historian and biographer of President Lyndon Johnson, said: “Today, attacks on the cult of personality seem really to mean attacks on the ability to make speeches that inspire.”

Overall it’s a pretty rubbish article. The pity is that it’s been so eagerly propagated all around the world, and of course to the usual sewer.
The author, William Lowther, is no political shill – witness this revelation of a Cheney administration attempt to spark war with Iran. But I just don’t buy that this story emerged out his journalistic instinct. He was handed a story on a plate by someone wanting to get this message into circulation. The ‘catchy slogan, no substance’ bit is perfectly on message for the Clinton campaign. Dollars to donuts this is a Clinton staffer’s PR angle.
Lowther wrote a stupid article. It certainly shouldn’t have made it into prominence in the DomPost. We deserve better from our newspaper than this nonsense dressed up as current affairs journalism.

Wellington Bypass: One Year On

It’s been over a year since the much-maligned Wellington Bypass was opened. How does it stack up?
“The bypass” as it is invariably known was a motorway extension that knocked through one end of central Wellington’s bohemian arm to smooth out the east-west crossing. I wrote about it before, first back in Sept 2004 and then again when it opened this time last year. I also made a post that linked to a a good roundup at BuzzAndHum.
In the 2004 post I was a bit florid, but I still agree with what I wrote. Here’s the key bit in terms of what I expected would happen:

Cuba Street is the seat of the city’s creative energy, its endless innovation, its diversity. It is the city’s soul… [The bypass] will carve a symbolic wall through Cuba Street itself and cut it off from the extensions of the Cuba-Street-idea – places like Aro Valley, Brooklyn. It will have a huge effect on the city.
Now, I’m not saying that the bypass will definitely change everything or will definitely be the tipping point. There’s no way for us to know that. But it will cause significant change, of that we can be certain. If it comes to pass, Wellington will not feel the same. The balance will be shifted. If worst comes to worst, the balance will be completely upset.

(I also took a couple paragraphs to ridicule the pro-Bypass argument that it would add to business productivity by getting staff to work a few minutes earlier.)
I hit the same themes a year ago:

This is a significant step away from the kind of Wellington I feel we should have towards one that we should avoid… [The arguments against the new road are] speculative and subjective. There is no set of facts that could convince a Bypass-backer that the new road creates an unpleasant psychological barrier or squanders the area’s value. However, it is crucial to remember the other side of the coin, which is that the rationale given for the bypass was, and is, nonsensical. The bypass will not significantly improve congestion in the city, as car traffic will expand to meet the available roadspace. The bypass will not improve the productivity of Wellington’s business community, as was so earnestly claimed and debated in the Council Chambers. These claims are, quite simply, ridiculous. And they have cost us $40 million, and one more chunk of the city’s soul.

So, one year on, and Wellington’s new road is heavily used. I notice myself how it is now easier and faster to get from the motorway to the basin reserve; I wonder, however, how much of that is due to the rolling green lights that you always get on the bypass, rather then the new route itself.
I also notice how it’s made many other journeys through the city more annoying. Heading east from Aro is a nightmare, for one thing. The lanes and lights in many of the changed streets are a real nuisance. Crossing the bypass in either direction is usually a hassle.
However, I’m not a heavy driver and especially not in peak traffic times, so I can’t speak to the ultimate success or failure of the time-saving claims that built the bypass.
What I can say is that the bypass has indeed torn a swathe through a part of Wellington with a lot character. Upper Cuba and upper Willis, in particular, show the effects of the Bypass. The Bypass itself is lined with scenic gardens that no human will ever use, and beautifully restored residences that no sane human will want to live in. It’s notable how lifeless the bypass is, compared to all the other streets around it. It’s a corridor of dead space.
Overall, while I’m glad that I get to drive across town more easily, this increase in ease is hardly compensation for what has been lost. (And considering the environmental impact of driving, making it easier to drive is hardly a straightforward positive.) I feel that one year on, the key fears of the anti-bypass campaigners have been realised. A chunk of Wellington has been sacrificed for something that is, ultimately, of very little worth. The money should have been spent elsewhere, for example on public transport – Wellington’s public transport system is massively in need of investment.
That’s my take on the bypass, one year on. What say you?