Marcus knows best

Some thoughts on boycotts for Gaza

What annoys me is that boycotting was so much easier in the Apartheid days, perhaps because it had an easy name. Perhaps we need some marketing dudes to get their asses on this.

Now, recently there has been a spade of cultural boycotts (since boycotting Israeli product most likely will only add to the suffering of those few Palestinians who still have the permit to work outside their "borders" ^(*), naming a few:

• Israelis won't be reading new Iain Banks material in Hebrew: but wouldn't taking steps to actually making sure no titles in whatever language are sold in Israel be more productive as boycott? Won't they just buy English? Unless of course he's planning another Feersum Endjinn
• Flocks of artists have canceled concerts in Israel, amongst others, Gorillaz (wtf? is this the man that tried to get music fans' conscience back on tracks during the acceptance of Gorillaz's first MTV award in 2001?) and and The Pixies (whose ethics apparently need a bit of blood before action is called for).

Then there is Elvis Costello, who was well ahead the game when he canceled his dates.

All in all, who am I to criticise? Every good deed done is one good deed done. All you can do in the crazy muppet show the world is, is stand your own ground, friendly and without arrogance, understanding full well that a man is worth as much as his deeds ⁽²⁾.


Belgian elections
Don't do it if it's not fitting, don't say it if it isn't true. Always keep your own purpose and resolution free from compulsion and necessity. Consider the true nature of everything you see and hear, dissect it in cause, matter, meaning and intent, and ponder upon its expiration date. ⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾

So, Sunday is the big day. I've looked at party statements, and am saddened by the absence of real important stuff. Comparing statements of (verbal) communications is sometimes clearer: CD&V (Flemish Christian democrats, never get my vote FYI) talk about keeping retirement pay manageable, SPa (Flemish socialists) talk about having worthwhile retirement pay. It's the little stuff like that that makes the difference.

But after studying all the talking heads, I must conclude that I'll stick with the socialists this time, even if I'm greatly vexed that they're more concerned about making life a breeze for mums and children (hello baby-boom? Is that really what we need? Again? Isn't that exactly the cause of the current retirement pay problem?) instead of real structural changes. Like most parties--left, center or right--they have become terribly complacent. I agree with Peter Singer on this: the left hasn't really evolved since the 19th century, unlike then ideas of the right. Perhaps I should buy a box full of copies of his on a Darwinian Left and send them to lefty parties for free. It will be too late for this election, but it is never too late to change the world.


Wildheit @ Psychoshop
So the site is somewhattish back on its feet a bit, and this time I've made sure the SQL database gets automatically backed up. Murphy proof! Or so I hope.

There was this stuff I wanted to add to the site but I got completely lost in my terribly well-organised bookmarks ==> procrastination of the worst kind!

One cool design aid link: Online Color Scheme Designer

But all that getting lost in digiland made me think of what some smart ancient dude⁽¹⁾ once said (or hath sayeth or something):

Be not deceived; for thou shalt never live to read thy moral commentaries, nor the acts of the famous Romans and Grecians; nor those excerpts from several books; all which thou hadst provided and laid up for thyself against thine old age. Hasten therefore to an end, and giving over all vain hopes, help thyself in time if thou carest for thyself, as thou oughtest to do.
~ Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book III.14

So there, Marcus knows best, and I'm off to continuing some work. It will be hard, because as my recent false starts with the new books I bought prove: Cow Watcher is working on SF, so I can't read SF. So I guess I better find something fantasy amongst my projects that needs working on in the mean time...


^(*) bracketed because the Israelis don't seem to grasp the definition of "border": when its between them and the Palestinians its their border, if its between the Palestinians and the world it is their border (and not the Palestinians). That's like agreeing to the border between Belgium and France, but saying Belgium has a right to intervene on France's border with Spain, because it's our border too. Plus: agreeing on a border is agreeing to stop changing it.
⁽¹⁾ intentional use of ignoramus phrasing
⁽²⁾ a rephrasing of: Public shows and solemnities with much pomp and vanity, stage plays, flocks and herds; conflicts and con tentions: a bone thrown to a company of hungry curs; a bait for greedy fishes; the painfulness, and continual burden-bearing of wretched ants, the running to and fro of terrified mice: little puppets drawn up and down with wires and nerves: these be the objects of the world. among all these thou must stand steadfast, meekly affected, and free from all manner of indignation; with this right ratiocination and apprehension; that as the worth is of those things which a man doth affect, so is in very deed every man's worth more or less ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book VII.3
⁽³⁾ a rephrasing of: If it be not fitting, do it not. If it be not true, speak it not. Ever maintain thine own purpose and resolution free from all compulsion and necessity. ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book XII.13
⁽⁴⁾ a rephrasing of: Of everything that presents itself unto thee, to consider what the true nature of it is, and to unfold it, as it were, by dividing it into that which is formal : that which is material: the true use or end of it, and the just time that it is appointed to last. ~Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book XII.14

grrr Murphy's stupid law

And then I find out that I didn't even save the copies of text I had for all that shit.

So I'm starting over...

Some quick notes

Whilst procrastinating with website stuff, I came across this list of webpages. It's student reference materials for lectures given by one Sandra Shaw, pictures with just a remark, no text or explanation. Cannot say whether her lectures are interesting or not, but the juxtaposition of old art versus quick sketches (like here) and the historical overview in images got my visual muse all aflutter. So there.

The story between the story. As in comic books (the narrative existing literally between the panels of a page and not in the panel itself, like in the space between panels, and drawing inter-"textual" lines from one panel to another). Also in TV series. Lately, been re-watching old series on DVD in high speed; and no, not as in increased frame-rate, but in increased episode-rate. Dark Angel vs. Buffy, averaging on two weeks per season, which is of course not the way they were meant to see. As it happens, it has some strange effects, concerning story-telling: Dark Angel just creeps along its uphill romantic struggle with some ass-kicking thrown in. There are temporal leaps between episodes, but not really. Seen back-to-back, the string of episodes become this one long-assed story, and also... boring. And here I liked Dark Angel so much back in the days, even if the plot suffered from floppy-hat syndrome. But hey: things were coming together towards the end of the second season! I remember being very pissed when they scrapped the show.
Buffy on the other hand makes these subtle little jumps between episodes. The hubby and me often frown and mutter: "This happens already? I thought it took at least five episodes longer before [Angel shows up, Angel leaves, whatever]" See, that's because we're remembering the narrative of the series, which isn't congruent with the actual story told in every episode. The narrative is more than a plain sum of the episodes. Good trick, that. Well done.

I was going to add how this applies to writing, but see, I'm just going to let y'all fill in the narrative yourselves.

shtuff

Rebuilt my website; hopefully I'll manage to keep it up to date this time. There's still lots of work to do, but it functions and, well, I must keep the procrastination in check., because I should direct some effort into finding a job.

Ha, you thought I was going to say writing, didn't you? Though I have been doing writer's stuff; it's not all been site site site. I've done the groundwork for agent-querying, but I need a break from the query and selections, let the illusions evaporate. Then reread, rework, and push the button. Also did a quick review of two WIPs.

But since I have been procrastinating with the site, I'll now have to fill in the break with job hunting, which is in a way not far away enough from prepping a query to constitute a *break*.

I need a break, seriously. My head is all jumbled with words/definitions, and it's making me nervous. Definitions, by definition, should be fixed, but I did a lot of query-prepping, attentively, and started to notice words being used differently while meaning the same the thing, so obviously the definitions are not as fixedly defined, and this is very confusing if the language isn't yours to begin with. I'm not even going to add in the connotation of a word.
So I can't stop thinking, with chills running down my spine, about how the definition of a word is just other words, and before I know it I'm gonna end up in that horrible abyss where words have no meaning at all and that's no place to be for someone who defines reality by stringing up words into sentences and paragraphs and whole chapters.
Been there, done that, need a break.

Or a job.