from the morgue

History of an ORC

ORC, the roleplaying club I started in Edinburgh in 2003, had its fifth anniversary this weekend gone. I allowed myself a moment of pride for kicking the whole thing off, then felt even better that so many wonderful people had picked up what I'd done and taken it even further.

Over on Gametime, the NZ groupblog of roleplaying discussion, I've been talking about the process of getting ORC going in the first place. It was quite an important time of my life, putting into practice something I'd only talked about before. Its something that is still important to me, and I'm sure it isn't the last time I do something like this.

One thing I don't talk about in those posts is the commitment involved, though. It was a big deal - for the first year, nearly every Saturday afternoon I'd be down at ORC teaching people how to roll a d20. Even after the first year I still attended far, far more than I missed. While other Kiwis on their OE took weekend trips to Europe, my weekend trips were to the Fantastic Realm (a.k.a. the Caffe Nero on Rose Street). Bless Cal for putting up with me!

Anyway, if you want to read about my experience starting a club from scratch, the first part is here, and the second part is here, and the third part isn't written yet.

First Assignment Complete

So that thing GMail does where it autocompletes the email addresses? Handy, except when it tricks you into emailing an assignment to the wrong person.

But imagine my surprise when the wrong person replied, attaching an assignment that was completed by their 6-month old son...

See how Dom did here

And we're off!

The 2nd year Social Psyc class I'm TA for just had its first lecture.

My intention is to try not to get thrown off the racehorse. Staying on track = bonus.

Drinking Liberally: Nicky Hager

Went along to Drinking Liberally on Thursday night, a packed house (including a couple of MPs) for NZ's great investigative journalist Nicky Hager. Cal and I were both pretty under the weather so we didn't stick around afterwards, but it was good to hear him talk.

Hager talked for a while about how he is frustrated by people who say the public is apathetic about politics, saying his experience is that people everywhere, at all levels of society, are interested and have opinions that go beyond pure self-interest. He blames the political process for making people feel excluded and helpless. Crosby-Textor, the "evil agency" employed by National to help with their campaign, were paradigmatic examples of this. They are carefully structuring National's campaign to shut down anything that is interesting, so people experience the substance of politics as boring and have to focus on personality. The strict insistence on repeating the same statements over and over is rendering the political conversation empty, and that is the cause of perceived public apathy

He spoke mostly about the National opposition and its many sins, because it was a liberal crowd, but made a point of Labour's failures and wrongdoing as well - he identified Labour's years of shutting down debate, and (most damningly) its failure to build up a credible liberal community in New Zealand. It held on to power too closely and as a result, now that the wind is coming out of its sails, there's no support ready to come to its aid.

He made a bunch of other interesting points (noting how fundamentally right-wing NZ is was one of them that struck home to me), but reserved most of his ire for the media, whose reactive press-release driven mode of operation clearly drives him to distraction. While careful not to attack them too overtly ("I have to work in that world", he said) it was clear that he places huge accountability on the news media for the sad state of political conversation here (and presumably overseas as well). Why, he asked, had no media representative asked John Key if he was employing Crosby Textor? It had been a major issue for his predecessor in the role - and yet not one Kiwi journalist fronted up to Key and asked him if he was taking a different course.

That is why Nicky Hager is so valuable. He's a legend, in my book. Kudos.

(I'm going to see the movie of his revelatory book on the last National campaign, The Hollow Men, in the film fest. Should be fun. Really should read the book, seeing as I've seen Hager talk about it, seen the play of the book, and will shortly see the film of the book...)

Side note: it does puzzle me why the DomPost, among other papers, happily publish ridiculous letters to the editor like today's asking for Hager to be prosecuted for being in possession of leaked emails. Surely the capital city newspaper doesn't think reporting on leaked documents is a crime? Why, then, do they allow such attacks to get into print at all? It surprises me.

Friday Linky *cough*

Notice all the meaning signified by that cough? If I whack it at the front, like so:
*cough* Friday Linky
Then it means something completely different to when you put it at the end.
And if you put it in the middle - well, you've all seen The Movies, and if a character EVER coughs in the middle of what they're saying they have A Fatal Illness and will be tragically deaded by third reel! WOES!

Anyway, I've got that cold that I knew was coming. Suxxor. Am concentrating on getting over it in time for Rumpus!

Now, your linky for today:

100 year anniversary of the Tunguska event, complete with new scientific explanation (When you're a little kid and you think UFOs are awesome and you want to know everything you can about them, Tunguska is like the next level of knowledge above Roswell.)

Why I Write, another from the "get around to adding to your blogroll you lazy morgue" pile. This is by Sean, a stand-up gent and very clever fellow, and each post he discusses a reason why he writes/is a writer. Highly recommended for all, but particularly for those writery types among us.

This entertains me on some irrational level and I'll be quoting it for years. If whales talked like Kiwi boys, this is what it would be like. (The accent is a bit wonky in places, but the vocab is pure New Zild.)

Afrodisiac takes on Dracula in this 70s comic pastiche from the Meathaus crew. "Dracula's hold over Afrodisiac's women wavers in the presence of Big Daddy Bad Ass!"

And finally, this video: Where The Hell Is Matt - has been doing the rounds and it deserves to be seen by all. This guy Matt goes places and dances and makes short films out of it. Just lovely, guaranteed to put a smile on your face this Friday.

Have a great weekend. Don't forget to have yourself a rumpus, wherever you are!

New Job Rumpus

Just signed contract for my new job. I'm now the manager of the Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research at Victoria University, very conveniently located in the same department where I'm doing my Masters.

So the freelance gigs and casual stuff are now thoroughly on the backburner. I start Monday. It's only part-time of course but, yeah. New job! Neato.

I shall be celebrating on Saturday night at Rumpus 08: Rumpus vs Episode. You should come too, if you are in Wellington this weekend. The Rumpletron lives again!

(Have I ever admitted that the name Rumpus comes, not from Where The Wild Things Are, but from Miller's Crossing?)

Good and Mindfood

[Missed Malty Media again last night. Cal has the cold and needed tending. Expect to come down with it shortly.]

You know that a social change has hit when it gets represented in the extremely challenging mainstream magazine market. In the last few months, there have been two major magazine releases in NZ with a focus on sustainability/eco-living. (It's yet another sign that the debate's been won, for those keeping track.)

Mindfood is big and glossy, one part Vanity Fair and one part Cleo. Its an NZ/Aussie release by an NZ team, and has made a point of loading its cover with glamour shots of Hollywood celebs who get interviewed inside. It has an enviro-responsibility message scored through it, but expressed through all the expected dross of a squarebound glossy - fashion, beauty, wine, etc. It's not quite "save the world through conspicuous consumption" but its not far off, either. The website is as good an indicator of its ethos as any - "environment" (including a tab for "global warming and climate change") is just one site area, listed after health, food, travel and society. The first issue caught my attention for being the first of its kind, and for boasting an article about Ed Hillary written by Fearless Leader Helen Clark (or, more probably, her Beehive 9th floor staff). I didn't buy it, though, because something about it seemed off to me. I think the environmental content sits uneasily in a magazine that is so traditional in every other way. The whole seems contradictory, as though sustainable living is something that can be seamlessly and simply integrated into our current consumerist lifestyle. That said, it's mere existence is a step in the right direction. It's $10 and available in every magazine shop in NZ.

Good: New Zealand's guide to sustainable living is a quite different beast. It's a new launch, the first issue is on sale now, and it pitches similar to NZ current affairs mag North & South. (It has NZ TV icon Robyn Malcolm on the cover doing the "I'm naked with an apple" bit, which is a bit odd because Eve shouldn't have eaten the apple but here it's pushed as "eat fresh and eat local", so they clearly haven't thought through their image too deeply.) Good was put together by Kiwi magazine entrepreneurs Martin Bell and Vincent Heeringa, who throw props at some of the key organisers of the Communicating Climate Change conference I went to a year ago. Good boasts it is NZs first carbon-neutral magazine, and features interviews and advice pieces about living sustainability. Unlike Mindfood, it is thoroughly dedicated to this subject and attacks it with energy and enthusiasm. The first issue takes pains to avoid seeming speechy or demanding, but it's a tough line to walk - I'm not sure whether they'll be able to keep Good as an approachable and friendly voice without running out of things to talk about. Still, the HB guys know magazines, so I expect they wouldn't have launched if they weren't confident about the content keeping up. I enjoyed Good, and unlike Mindfood it didn't make me feel vaguely uneasy. Its not as available as Mindfood, but if you find it it's $8 - or you can download the first (and maybe subsequent?) issues at the website, as well as read all the articles online. Definitely worth a look.