Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: About Occupy Wall Street

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  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to DCBCauchi,

    Up for the count...

    It’s time to stand up and be counted.
    It’s what makes sense.

    Surely that makes Census!
    :- )
    But hopefully, ultimately - consensus...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Lilith __,

    I’m so sad about that building

    +1
    I've never grown to like the new building - but I'd been away from Chchch for many years before that was built-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • DCBCauchi,

    And let me be absolutely clear, just in case I have to.

    Yes, I do have something called common-sense nihilism. And, yes, there is a Common-Sense Nihilist Party. These are art works, and I am an artist. You can’t convert to common-sense nihilism, by internal definition. I am the only member of that art movement. By definition. And there is no mechanism to join the party. The founding members have the cards I gave them, and that’s it.

    I’m into this thing because I think it will work. I want to help make it work. I have something to say. That’s it. No hidden agenda. Definitely no fucking converts!

    I'm an artist. I want to make the best paintings I can make. And I can't do that while the world goes to wrack and ruin. But that's all I want. To make paintings. You never know. You might like looking at them.

    Now, I didn’t really need to say all that, did I? Can we just get on with it now?

    Since Feb 2011 • 320 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to DCBCauchi,

    I’ve lived through despair. That sucks.

    You think no one else has!

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • DCBCauchi, in reply to andin,

    You think no one else has!

    I think everyone does.

    Fear, hopelessness, despair.

    But I also know how to turn that into something productive. It’s what keeps me going.

    I might sound like I confidently know all the answers, but I don’t. I know nothing. I’m just muddling along best as I can.

    But I’m an artist. It’s my job to look around and put down what I see. Confidently. So I do. Something productive.

    All I’m suggesting is that we all look at the world as artists do. See what happens. What have we got to lose? Those in charge seem like they’ve a really good grip on things eh?

    We got into this mess by listening to the supposedly sane sensible ones. Well, I’m an insane artist. I wouldn't know what's sensible if it smacked me in the face. I reckon you should listen to people like me for a change. What have you got to lose?

    Since Feb 2011 • 320 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    n 60s/70s very white-bread Dunedin I doubt anyone thought of this as being a Maori thing –

    Rather a large number of my whanau in Dunedin were using eh? during my childhood ( some 20/30 years earlier than your's - as were the Pakeha side of the family there, and elsewhere round the South-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • DCBCauchi,

    Let me just say this now, if this thing fails through timidity, timidity!, you will never hear the end of it.

    Since Feb 2011 • 320 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to DCBCauchi,

    I reckon you should listen to people like me for a change.

    I dont think those in charge have a fucking clue for a goddamn second.
    And I listen all the time, thank you very much.
    It's not about listening, or dredging thru the past.
    The problem, is , and has always been us...people.
    We have a wealth of information all around us yet we still screw up.
    your move...

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • DCBCauchi, in reply to andin,

    We have a wealth of information all around us yet we still screw up.

    One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping that this time the outcome’ll be different.

    Why do we keep screwing up? What are we doing or not doing with that information?

    I have a strong intuition it’s to do with how we look at things. But I can’t put it into words. I reckon someone (Bart?) was on to a winner earlier in this thread speculating about the differences between short term and long term thinking. That’s what I meant by listening to people like me for a change. A bit of speculation. Even wild speculation. Especially wild speculation.

    But that discussion kind of stopped. I hope it’s not because of me and my big mouth. It’s always getting me into trouble. But I’m paranoid (and, as my partner loves to tell me, somewhat grandiose). I can’t tell. So I'm going to go away now. The paint's dry anyway. Time for the last glazes.

    And I do think it is to do with dredging through the past. Looking for things to learn and use.

    Since Feb 2011 • 320 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Oz Rock...
    Further to the off-thread Australian
    Aboriginal art/archaeology topic
    - some links of possible interest:
    Ubirr in Arnhem land painted for millennia...

    Moving rock art destroys spatial references...

    Rio Tinto has a Cultural heritage specialist!...

    Half of all ancient Aboriginal art could disappear in next 50 years...

    OK not Australia but addresses the heart of art...

    and this one grabbed me - Proof of Italian vampires existence:

    Archaeologists have unearthed the skeletal remains of an 800-year-old woman with nails driven into her jaw in what could be a 'witch's graveyard' in Italy.

    You'll note it's not 'the 800-year-old skeletal remains of a woman' but 'the skeletal remains of an 800-year-old woman' - scary stuff!

    ...tip of the hat to the great Archaelogica site

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • DCBCauchi,

    Imagine walking through pretty much any central or northern Italian town in the mid-15th century. Not necessarily Florence. The Renaissance is in full swing, and people are busy all around you. New buildings are going up everywhere. Bold new buildings. Clean, airy, and classical, not dark, poky, and gothic. The streets are lined with open workshops. People making everything from scratch. But with a new way of looking at things.

    They had plagues, wars, famines, pestilence to contend with, and a very imperfect knowledge. And they did something great. Why can't we?

    What the hell are you moping about for!?!

    Since Feb 2011 • 320 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to DCBCauchi,

    We got into this mess by listening to the supposedly sane sensible ones. Well, I’m an insane artist. I wouldn’t know what’s sensible if it smacked me in the face. I reckon you should listen to people like me for a change. What have you got to lose?

    Well, I'm another not quite-normal/sane creative, extremely sensitive, and sensible enough ( especially about food & fishing) but I think, from our various knowledges & experiences, we can offer better ideas for futures than - politicians or bureaucrats.

    We used to be called tohuka: now we are called kooks-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • bmk, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    I have really gotten into Alternate History lately too. The ones you mentioned are great. I also really like The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. And the Eden trilogy by Harry Harrison (what a name!) made for good light reading.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Simon Grigg,

    I've often looked at very old people in China and pondered just what they might have seen across their long years. Much of it is likely beyond my comprehension.

    And probably even more so mine, as I've spent less time there than I might wish to. Mo Yan's novels open a tiny dizzying window into a not-so-long vanished world that's probably almost as alien to present generation Chinese as it is to me.

    I once saw a woman with bound feet in Penang. It was 1975, she must have been almost the last one left. Embroidered slippers, like hooves, giving her the aspect of a little grey-haired satyr in brocade jacket and pants. On a family outing with what were probably her grandkids, she scampered about like someone half her age.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • hamishm,

    It would be quite something to have been born in 1900 for what you would have seen, provided you got through it all. And, as Joe says, even though it is our culture, some of it would be completely exotic to us.

    Since Nov 2006 • 357 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Ubirr in Arnhem land painted for millennia…

    "Pre-Estuarine rock paintings also include depictions of extinct animals and enigmatic beings that combine the features of humans and wild yams"! How amazing!

    All great links, thanks.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    Great to have that Ubirr ref Ian -
    Bradshaw paintings are very different again-

    one day I will learn to cut & paste - meantime just google or wiki-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to Islander,

    we can offer better ideas for futures than – politicians or bureaucrats.

    We used to be called tohuka:

    The offer isnt the problem it's who will take it up. Dont care about what people call you, as long as you know

    (and, as my partner loves to tell me, somewhat grandiose). I can’t tell.

    You cant tell? oh dear lord!

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Lilith __,

    tuber or not tuber...

    ...combine the features of humans and wild yams

    The lost McCahon? "I Yam, (what I Yam)"
    give that man a Segar...
    (and sling some arrows...)

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to andin,

    The offer isnt the problem it’s who will take it up

    True.
    It does seem that certain kinds of abilities are now considered redundant.
    Okay (shrug) -so, I bequeath a library to my literate & sideways thinking own/whanau? Could be much worse things to leave 'em, eh?

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • andin, in reply to Islander,

    so, I bequeath a library to my literate & sideways thinking own/whanau?

    They will share more with you than a stranger, one hopes.
    And I hope there is at least one who knows how to appreciate it, put it to some use.

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to andin,

    The problem, is , and has always been us...people.

    Mate, you're making an old cynic like me feel like a veritable pollyanna. And I really can't be having that - the position of house nihilist is already taken, thankyou very much.

    So, to mashup my metaphors and aphorisms: since no single snowflake blames itself for the avalanche, become the change you want to see in the world.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Grevers,

    Simon, I think the one child policy is causing a monumental change in Chinese society. Suddenly, all the aspirations of two or three older generations become focused on one individual. We've observed this first hand through a number of homestay students we've hosted - it can manifest as stress, escapism and a sense of entitlement. And can lead to beliefs that any means justify the end, as exhibited in our news headlines from time to time.

    New Plymouth • Since Jul 2011 • 143 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Grevers, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    You’ll note it’s not ‘the 800-year-old skeletal remains of a woman’ but ‘the skeletal remains of an 800-year-old woman’ – scary stuff!

    After reading the article I'd attribute that phrasing to a journalist who doesn't know the difference between the two.

    New Plymouth • Since Jul 2011 • 143 posts Report Reply

  • Richard Grevers, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    Occupy Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and, er, New Plymouth.

    Don't mock New Plymouth! We have more than the usual share of multinational corporates active locally (e.g. TAG Oil), and are one of the bastions of unsustainable WTO-dictated agriculture - palm kernel is one of the major import flows through our port.
    From the emails I've been receiving, protesting the Food Bill will be one of the focuses here.

    New Plymouth • Since Jul 2011 • 143 posts Report Reply

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