Posts by BenWilson
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Busytown: Sons for the Return Home, in reply to recordari,
I hope not, but I haven't met her, and one thing I've learned from PAS is not to form judgments on people from their writings. There is very often an inversion - the most extroverted writers can be deeply introverted people. Similarly with good public speakers (which great introverted writers often are, but obviously not always). It's one of the great curses of the professional writer, that people expect a whole lot from them in person that they often can't give.
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Busytown: Sons for the Return Home, in reply to recordari,
I still reckon half the problem is that telling a good story is still an artform. Good material helps, but it's not enough, the world is full of stories. I've heard very good stories told by people who have spent most of their lives on their farms, and shockingly boring stories from people who have traveled the world endlessly. And vice versa, of course.
I think NZers are especially harsh audiences because NZers are prolific travelers. Everyone has been subjected to a lot of travel stories.
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Hard News: LATE OCTOBER: Life in the…, in reply to George Darroch,
Giovanni deconstructs an ideal that disempowers.
I couldn't decide if it was disempowering. Nor could I actually be sure Gio was deconstructing it. Nor even if he intended to. But it's interesting, as you say.
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Busytown: Sons for the Return Home, in reply to Jackie Clark,
I blame Dr Ropata.
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Hard News: Chill out: it's a party, in reply to Paul Williams,
Yes, that's my take, precisely. I've got a lot of time for Australians, because they have a lot of time for NZers. Of course they give us shit, but they give each other shit. They believe in the giving and receiving of shit as a form of social bonding.
I'm biased on account of being married to an Australian, but, all other things being equal, I will usually cheer for them against any other nation except NZ, and perhaps our little brothers/sisters in the Pacific.
However, I also prefer that the best team wins, and the underdog upset by Ireland on the weekend had me dancing around too. But I don't care to read too much into it so far as Australia's chances are concerned. They are still one of the most dangerous teams and we've got a good chance of squaring against them in the semis, after they knock South Africa off. I would much rather that happens, actually, especially since we would meet them in Eden Park for the unofficial third match of the Bledisloe Cup.
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Hard News: LATE OCTOBER: Life in the…, in reply to Andrew E,
And observing the matter may alter its/your state?
Yes, the waveform of you identity collapses on observation. Certainly I've felt such a crushing effect from people's observations on my identity. I find myself wishing for the dead cat bounce.
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Can I suggest that you make sure to make contact with as many friends as possible. You want an instant social life, it really softens the blow. Don't forget the PAS peeps!
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Hard News: LATE OCTOBER: Life in the…, in reply to 3410,
Quantum theory of identity?
You can know either what your identity is, or where it's going, but not both.
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Busytown: Sons for the Return Home, in reply to George Darroch,
My own parents lived from a van during the 1970s, a single suitcase in Hong Kong during the early 80s, and an entire family in a four door Cortina with a trailer during the early 90s. (We also lived in houses, and accumulated things too, of course). It may simply be culturally inculcated.
So you're a gypsy and your home is the road?
Joseph Conrad had an interesting insight into sailors in Heart of Darkness. He said they were the biggest home-bodies of all, so much so that they took their home with them everywhere they went.
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Busytown: Sons for the Return Home, in reply to Paul Campbell,
I have a US accent in NZ, even after so long back, and a somewhere-maybe-british accent in the US - there's nowhere on the planet I don't have an accent
I think of it as the "international accent". Hordes of children have this, even without leaving home now, but it used to be the sound of children of ambassadors and diplomats and other semi permanent ex-pats.
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