Let me define mixed feelings for you. It's sitting on the bank at the Basin Reserve hoping to see Brian Lara regain his magic - but also hoping that he's not so magical as to snatch away a test match that New Zealand will, weather permitting, win to wrap up the series.
In the end, we needn't have worried. Lara played a hopeless shot to Nathan Astle - a bowler he used to hit all around the ground - and was caught at backward point for one run in what is presumably his last dig at the Basin.
I was able to get to the ground for a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday, and it was most congenial. A good crowd (and apparently a knowledgeable one) both days, and some good cricket. Fleming batted beautifully all the way to 97 runs on the Saturday, before playing a glory shot and being caught on the third man boundary. The absence of a replay screen rather added to the old-school atmosphere.
I was in Welly - yet again - to chair a Readers and Writers event with Joe Sacco, who has almost created his own medium: serious journalism via comics. I'm a complete convert: in his book-length works Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde (which has an introduction written by Christopher Hitchens, possibly after a few drinks), Sacco achieves things that simply aren't possible in either prose writing or photojournalism. Plus, he's a fan of The Saints. How could you not like the guy?
In the event, the Sunday session with him was highly enjoyable - I let it roll on until the festival staff started making throat-cutting gestures - but you'll have to have been there to hear it. The Lumiere guys have an interview with Sacco and there are the notes of a presentation similar to the Wellington one that goes into more detail on how he carries out his work.
I took me a while to find a copy of the John Howard "apology" last week, mostly because all the links I found were dead - the domain name of the site it was on, johnhowardpm.org, wouldn't resolve, which was weird. Now it's apparent why. On the orders of the Australian government, the domain was shut down, without reference to its owner, Richard Neville. Lame excuse: it might have been a "phishing" scam. What a lot of bullshit. I think this is appalling.
On Kete Were, Paul looks at New Zealand First MP Barbara Stewart's Electoral (Reduction in Number of Members of Parliament) Amendment Bill and concludes - in part on the basis of this hilarious Scoop interview - that she simply has no idea.
And Adolf salutes Maori Television's Judy Bailey deal for Anzac Day as a bravura bit of guerilla warfare.
Meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld is "not competent" to lead the US armed forces. But don't take that from me; refer instead to Paul Eaton, a retired US general who was in charge of training the Iraqi army in 2003 and 2004. Eaton lacerates his former boss in a column for the New York Times.
First, his failure to build coalitions with our allies from what he dismissively called "old Europe" has imposed far greater demands and risks on our soldiers in Iraq than necessary. Second, he alienated his allies in our own military, ignoring the advice of seasoned officers and denying subordinates any chance for input.
In sum, he has shown himself incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically, and is far more than anyone else responsible for what has happened to our important mission in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld must step down.
Meanwhile, this just in from liberated, democratic Iraq: Ayatollah Sistani, the most powerful religious and political figure in the country, declares that homosexuals should be "Punished, in fact, killed. The people involved should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing."
Gee. Not just killed, but killed really horribly. It would be ironic if Salam Pax, who defied Saddam's security apparatus to write his blog, should be forced out of the new Iraq on account of his sexuality, but it doesn't seem unlikely given his promience.
New sport: digging up instances of jeering, insulting - and somewhat premature - declarations of victory in Iraq by bloggers and media pundits. There seems to be plenty of material.
And, finally Riverbend writes of life on the third anniversary:
The real fear is the mentality of so many people lately- the rift that seems to have worked its way through the very heart of the country, dividing people. It’s disheartening to talk to acquaintances- sophisticated, civilized people- and hear how Sunnis are like this, and Shia are like that… To watch people pick up their things to move to “Sunni neighborhoods” or “Shia neighborhoods”. How did this happen?
I read constantly analyses mostly written by foreigners or Iraqis who’ve been abroad for decades talking about how there was always a divide between Sunnis and Shia in Iraq (which, ironically, only becomes apparent when you're not actually living amongst Iraqis they claim)… but how under a dictator, nobody saw it or nobody wanted to see it. That is simply not true- if there was a divide, it was between the fanatics on both ends. The extreme Shia and extreme Sunnis. Most people simply didn’t go around making friends or socializing with neighbors based on their sect. People didn't care- you could ask that question, but everyone would look at you like you were silly and rude.
The fact that she can write this is a victory in itself; there is no doubt that speech is freer in Iraq now than it was three years ago. But what creeps me out is the way Riverbend's experience echoes the de-socialisation process Joe Sacco describes in the Bosnian conflict, in Safe Area Gorazde. Your neighbour isn't your neighbour any more: he's the other; and then maybe he's your enemy.
On more trivial matters, the Blues won, but I continue to sink like a stone in Virtual Super 14. Nic Jones and Ross Hawkins keep the top slots on the Public Address leader board, but Satboy, Paul Kennedy and the Hood are charging. And RDU's Wammo and TV3's John Campbell continue to let the media down …