From The Morgue

On Sunday, Jenni’s wedding happened, to Lee, who it turns out I have met just like everyone kept telling me, what can I say, the brain it plays its tricks on me. There is a sekret kastle in the hills of Wellington and it was there, which was the perfectest place for it if you ask me. And I was delighted by the unpicking and restitching of wedding tradition into new forms for their simple, wonderful ceremony.
It’s wedding season for me. I’m down for something like seven or eight weddings this year – blimey. That’s a lot of matching going on.
Weddings are endlessly fascinating to me. I love finding the way meaning is shaded and assigned in a wedding. A wedding is a public act that is loaded with ritual power, and it’s bloody fascinating to see how the symbols of marriage are reconfigured to suit each couple’s personality, beliefs, spirit, and will. There’s so much depth in the way a true commitment made between two people resounds through their own lives, the lives of family and friends, and indeed throughout society’s structure and experience. Different weddings create different echoes and different marriages.
Of course, every marriage is different, because no two people are ever like any other two people. And that’s the beauty of it. In the end, those teenage musings that marriage was submission to a prestructured life collapse. Each couple’s relationship is unique, and marriage is a consecration of that uniqueness.
(Additional bonus wisdom: if you are wearing a kilt on a very windy hilltop, go inside.)

Today, February 6, Waitangi Day, Bob Marley’s birthday. I like the juxtaposition.
I like the way Bob Marley’s birthday has been co-opted to serve as an oblique approach to one of New Zealand’s cultural flashpoints.
I like the way the highest ideals of his music are set in dialogue with the ongoing exploration of our national identity.
I like dancing to the Black Seeds on a bright summer day.

(That’s How We Roll in Seattle Baby)
slef-rlefection
To be honest, I’m not too impressed with my blog so far this year. It doesn’t feel like it’s there yet, wherever it is going. In the next few weeks I’m going to see if I can figure out what it should be.
I haven’t been talking about Teh World or Teh Politics much, and that’s probably part of the vibe of not-there-yet. The G8 thing is still hanging over me – so much more to say, but not feeling it at the moment. It’s part of coming to rest, I guess, still feeling disconnected from all of that.
And, kind of self-critical. I have done so little to change how I live. Just because I’m still in a kind of flux doesn’t mean I can excuse myself for failing to explore and get tenacious about environmentally-friendly practices, for example. But instead of working out simple, practical steps to take, I write empty blog entries.
(Huh. Writing that paragraph, something else just fell into place. Good. I have plans in embryo, developing. They will be exposed here in the fullness of time.)
teh writxor
I’m spending my days and nights writing.
Current projects on the desk: Join Us article for Signs & Portents; Straight to Video playscript (long-unfinished, new inspiration); Ron the Body structural development prior to second draft.
Completed: structural overhaul/2006 remix of first novel in move; script for first issue of Groundwork comic (now looking for artist).
Several other things waiting in the wings, too.
it blog it talk
It blog, it also talk of what happen. So:
Last Sunday I was massaged in a hot tub. There were hot chicks. ALSO, ULTIMATE FRISBEE.
Aaand,
end.

If Orange Customer Services say they will get the information to you in 7-10 days then they really mean 20 days.
If someone goes to the races wearing only a G-string and a paint job, then her photo will appear in the paper every day for the coming week.
If GWB in his State of the Union talks about breaking the US’s oil addiction, then we are clearly already screwed. The only question is just how badly we are screwed.
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Bonus Stupid Letter!
‘Granted there are many Kiwis returning downunder. But, like the people featured in your article, they are returning to raise families or be closer to family, rather than to further their careers or develop a business or artistic venture. Does this mean New Zealand will end up like a very large retirement village – a safe and politically correct place to live when you no longer want to achieve highly?’
from Jane Piper in Zurich, published in the North and South Magazine’s Feb 2006 issue

The Alligator and the Guru
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This is Aaron ‘Alligator’ Andrews, our man in Seattle. We met in Portugal in ’02 and instantly hit it off. When I visited him on his home turf in September last year, we dropped in on one of his regular bars, where I met a great bunch of people and played some amusing pool.
A highlight of the evening was finding a stack of very dubious vinyl in a corner, and coming across the outstandingly cheesy cover image for the Guru Josh album “Infinity (1990s… Time for the Guru)”. Here, Aaron gives his best rendering of the Guru’s cover pose.
Yeah, this image is in here simply because it makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. Share the love, baby.
Hey – anyone ever heard of Guru Josh? I’d love to actually hear some of his music, although I suspect it’d be more properly referred to as “music”.
(Incidentally, Aaron’s now perhaps the only person in North America with a copy of Cow, that silly and fun card game by Matt and Debz. You reading, Matt and Debz?)

One of the things I’ve rediscovered is just how thick on the ground our culture is in Wellington. It’s everywhere. There’s

• great theatre going on all over the place
• The New Local Music being heard at many venues throughout town every night of the week and available in abundance at local music shops
• wicked local flavours in clothing available all up and down Cuba Street
• the big table of NZ books in Unity and around and about
• local magazines and local indie zines
• the rack of Kiwi comics inside the door of the comic shop
• dance and orchestra and jazz and other performance in their little hideouts
• a steady stream of NZ films on the big screen
• galleries of local artists all over the place, not to mention the cafe-gallery phenomenon
• there’s cultural events both centre (ethnic food festivals) and edge (goth balls and suchlike)
• And, of course, there’s the indie-est of indie art, roleplaying at the cutting edge. (Indie-er than thou, per MC Frontalot? But that’s another post.)

It’s wonderful. It’s also quite unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The networking in Wellington is what sets it apart – other places might have as much or more going on, but the Welly creative scene works with a lot of intense interconnections that you don’t get elsewhere.
It’s an observation I’ve made a few times about this city – it’s a great size, because it’s large enough to support all these fascinating subcultures, but small enough that interconnectedness isn’t just encouraged, it’s necessary.
Tonight, I went with Cal to see ‘Golden Boys’ at Circa, which I went to see because of its director being a friend of mine. It was good – might write about it soon – and it was cool getting to say hi to David afterwards and offer some congratulations for his successes in the past year.
Then we wandered up to Fidel’s Cafe, and there ran into Billy and Darryl. I’ve just finished reading Billy’s newly-finished novel manuscript. His band Idle Faction play on Thursday. And Cal had just advised me that she had an impossible-to-get first-pressing copy of the Dukes of Leisure EP for me, this band including Darryl as a member.
All this cool culture, happening all around me. Plus, some classic Wellington bumping-into-people. (It was a good night for that – prior to this I’d run into the elusive Lena, and also Rachael who I know from Edinburgh.) Good people doing good things = precisely why this is the greatest place to live in the whole damn world.
—
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, they did Warpcon. I wish I coulda been there too.

[I know there are a bunch of new people reading. I’ve a longstanding interest in Palestine/Israel, and visited there over Easter 2004. If this stuff grabs you too, I urge you to check out the account of that visit, including photos and supporting discussion, over here.]
I think the election success of Hamas in Palestine is a great thing.
Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Let’s make no bones about it – at the highest level it supplies logistical support to attacks against civilian targets. This is completely unacceptable.
Its rhetoric is that of endless war, to be satisfied only with the complete destruction of Israel.
However, the support for terror and rhetoric of violence can easily disguise a more pragmatic appraisal of what Hamas is and what its election means.
Many people have made the comparison of Sinn Fein and the IRA, where involvement in government eventually disenfranchised the armed struggle. I think it’s an appropriate point of reference. It should also be emphasised that Hamas has already been moving on the political track for a while, respecting ceasefires and constructively involving itself in negotiations.
As has been extensively noted (except in the more frothing right-wing outlets), Hamas was not elected for its Islamism or its policy towards Israel, but for its demonstrated achievements in social support throughout Gaza and its appearance as a legitimate alternative to the deeply corrupt Fatah – elements of protest vote and positive support are both at play.
However, it would also be wrong to wave away the Hamas policy towards Israel as unimportant. This policy has now been electorally endorsed, for good or ill.
Hamas’ policy towards Israel is premised on the claim that Israel is an illegal occupier, and they assert the right of armed resistance as a result. This is a claim I have some sympathy with. Armed resistance, of course, does not mean acts of terror against civilians; and moreover, while I accept their right to armed resistance, I do not support such acts – I’m still fundamentally pacifistic, and believe that even in a situation as mired as Palestine that diplomacy is the way forward.
It is in the diplomatic sense that I support Hamas’ militarism. Its belligerent stance towards Israel is a source of focus and pride for many Palestinians, and is a significant bargaining chip in negotiations. Israel (and the US) traditionally welcome Palestine to the bargaining table only in the stance of the defeated – abject and powerless. This, of course, is a diplomatic trap – if such a stance is accepted, then Palestine is only in a position to make concessions, rather than seek them; if it is not accepted, then Israel can claim that it Palestine is not entering into negotiations with sincerity or goodwill or whatever the wash of the day might be. If Hamas lays down its arms, it should only do so in return for a similar, significant, concession from Israel.
(Similarly, the Roadmap To Peace is stalled because Israel demands that Palestine make the first move, even though as the far-stronger partner it by rights should be the one making the first sacrifices; it would be madness, in the face of continuing land confiscation in the West Bank, for Palestine to make itself even weaker in the hopes that Israel will follow through on its promises.)
Hamas has, throughout the intifada, been open to negotiation and diplomacy, its rhetoric notwithstanding. (The division between rhetoric and action is well-appreciated by Israel when it suits its purposes – namely, its accusations that the Palestinian Authority talks of peace but acts destructively. The reverse division is in place here, where a destructive rhetoric disguises a practical engagement with peace negotiations. Unsurprisingly this division is rarely mentioned by Israel, although we can and should hope it is recognised internally.)
Furthermore, I have more faith in the ability of Hamas to represent the people of Palestine than those of the corrupt Fatah. I think this leadership will have a street legitimacy in Palestine that has previously been lacking. Corruption will hardly disappear overnight, as the Palestinian Authority is a larger institution than Fatah and many of its practices and personnel will remain in position through the changeover, but it is certain that much will change. Hamas will almost certainly be more responsive to the needs of Palestinians.
This also works in reverse – if Hamas will be more responsive to the Palestinians, so the massive mandate of support will mean the Palestinian people will be more responsive to their government than they have been for some time. This will pay dividends when the different parties sit around a negotiating table, because Hamas will be able to follow through on promises made more easily than Fatah (while this will make negotiations inevitably more tortuous, as Hamas will not make concessions as lightly as Fatah sometimes did, the fact is that Hamas can back up the talk more than Fatah could. This will in turn restore legitimacy to the peace process in the eyes of Palestinians.)
The way things will develop from here remains unclear. I will be intrigued to watch as Hamas moves into power and begins to make crucial decisions, and, crucially, to watch what Israel does in response (behind the wall of bluster it will certainly maintain to shore up the vote at home). I am optimistic, however, that Hamas in government will find itself pulled towards the centre. The vast majority of Palestinian people are more than ready to negotiate in good faith in order to end the occupation. Numerous vexing questions remain, principally the refugee problem, but there are ways out of the mess. A solid, democratically elected, popularly legitimate representative government of the Palestinian people is a crucial step on this journey.
I sincerely hope I don’t look back on this in a year’s time and shake my head at my foolishness. I have no illusions about how bad this could be – but my best reading of the situation is that this really is a very positive outcome. Let’s hope so.

All day I’ve been thinking about (and talking about) the Hamas victory in Palestine’s elections. But I’m not really up to talking about that right now. It’s 2am and I want to do some writing. So instead, I’m going to ramble about something only mildly less controversial: livejournal.
I have a livejournal. I also have a friends feed, where I read livejournals kept by my friends.
I wonder, sometimes, about how I can get people who read this to go and explore my LJ buddies. My non-LJ buddies are listed off to the side, individually, for easy reference. (Except for the Stonesoup crew, who are bundled together.) I like this because I know people use the front page of From The Morgue to access other blogs, and to browse through the chatter of other interesting people. This is good.
Now, the LJ crowd are all hidden under one heading of ‘Livejournalists’. There’s a lot of people under that heading. I hate that they hold a lower status on the page than the individually-listed people; but I’m not sure adding 100 new entries to the sidebar is the best way to equalise things.
Any ideas from the floor, amigos? How can I ensure that my LJ friends are loved and respected as much as my non-LJ friends? How can I make it easy for people to explore the LJ land as easily as the non-LJ land? Hmmm?
—-
As a token gesture, I’m gonna pick one of the LJ friends I have and say something about them, so you’ll all gasp and be fascinated and want to go and read more.
And because I have distinct geekish tendencies, and there’s 100 of them, I’m going to roll percentile dice to choose who gets the moment of glory. And… I roll a 54! Now, on my userinfo page, friend #54 today is…
…huh. It’s mearls. I already did a blog entry on the subject of mearls being my LJ friend. What are the odds, huh? I guess that means I get off easy this time.
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This post was, of course, inspired by the recent actions of the redoubtable Gar Hanrahan to syndicate this blog on to LJ, so anyone with an LJ can get all my posts here to just pop up automagically on their friends page. The syndication feed is at
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/fromthemorgue/

Whoa. Severe case of the macaroni feeling today.
The macaroni feeling is this weird altered state I slip into sometimes. My senses all kick up an extra notch, and every sound seems to come with exclamation marks, not excitement but intensity. Everything is very intense. It’s not easy to describe. Like – take a pause now, and breathe really hard through your nose, inhale exhale repeat – hyperventilation kinda thing. When I have the macaroni feeling, everything is like that breathing. Imagine a conversation where everything everyone says is like that breathing. Now imagine that cars going past, the washing machine going, even music has the quality of that breathing. It’s weeeird.
It’s a feeling I get now and then, have done since I was a kid. I call it the macaroni feeling because mixed up in my childhood memories of it is the idea of dried macaroni. I don’t know any more than that.
I slipped out of it eventually. Set about distracting myself into doing some home-reorganisation and that did the trick. Parents are back from the UK, so I’m having to actually accommodate them in their own home – how about that? But I now have a work area set up, the first since leaving my last permanent residence back in August. It’s pretty cool to have a home base again, actually.
C’est tout.

Flora in a Garden, Aguascalientes
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Aguascalientes was a lovely, mid-sized town in the middle-north of Mexico. I went there to visit a group of very friendly locals who I’d met previously on the streets of Zacatecas. Cain and Diana gave me a tour on my first afternoon/evening, and we walked through a lovely city garden, a square of cultivated greenery in the heart of the town grid. We had coffee in a great cafe right next to the garden. It was a wonderful evening.
I really liked the garden, and whenever I was wandering down that end of town on my own explorations I always went through it. I decided I’d try and snap some photos that captured the feel of the plant-life there, and this is my favourite – it has the lush feel of the Mexican flora, the bright colours and the heavy light.
On the route I walked between my hotel and the garden was a small bar where all the mariachis hung out. They were always impeccably dressed, with the smart embroidered suits and shining-clean boots, and they stood around on the street outside the bar, with their instruments at their sides, smoking and drinking.