After 5 months of faffing around trying to get evidence, my application for an NZ partnership work permit has been processed and approved in 24 hours.
Pretty good for any immigration agency eh?
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Remembrance, white poppies and the 2-minute silence fad
Okay this is something I feel quite strongly about and I have things to do, so I'll keep it short.
Today is 11th November, where people in the UK and around the world mark Remembrance Day, remembering those who have fallen in both World Wars and other wars. This is a good thing and I definitely think a few moments' silent reflection are a good thing. However there are a few things about the way it's all done that I don't like.
Silences in recent years have jumped from 1 minute, which was fine for most of the 20th century, to 2 minutes. All "serious" events now have 2 minutes of silence, as if 1 minute is somehow not respectful enough. But I'm surely not the only person who thought 1 minute was fine.
Silences are also thrown around far too much, like it's the only way we can come to terms with anything. The Friday after 11th September 2001, we had a 3 minute silence in school. Someone somewhere thought it was of such gravity that it needed 180 seconds. Not only was it unnecessary, it was also inescapably political - we marked it because it happened in America, and because it was terrorism. Vastly higher numbers died in the 2005 Asian Tsunami and when Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, and I don't remember any silences then; the event was elevated to some higher status because these dead people had been killed by Muslims. September 11th was horrendous and I don't wish any disrespect to anyone over it, but it's a mark of personal shame that I didn't walk out of the classroom. I was in the supermarket when a national 2 minute silence was being held after the 7th July 2005 bombings in London, which were also shit, but I carried on walking around doing my shopping because I don't see why we stop for some things and not others.
Secondly, I dislike the requirement of wearing the red poppy for 2 whole weeks before Remembrance Day itself. It's like Christmas in the UK - somehow we can't just mark an event on the day itself. With the run-up to Christmas it's a commercial thing to sell more stuff; with the poppy 2 weeks, it's again some kind of competitive grief, like the jump from 1 minute of silence to 2 minutes. Any politician (or any person on TV) seen not wearing it during this 2-week period would get instantly shot down for being "disrespectful". I understand the poppy as a symbol for remembrance and the Royal British Legion, but it's just a symbol.
People should be able to mark their grief in their own time and way on the single day we have without facing anger or abuse.
Finally, I also dislike the overly military aspect of Remembrance Day. Yes, it is kind of about the military, and it is good that we recognise soldiers who have died in just wars to protect our freedom (e.g. World War 2) and other stupid wars where they should never have been sent to their deaths (e.g. World War 1, Iraq War). But there is no recognition for the civilian cost of war and there is no recognition that war is a bad thing; if anything, Remembrance Day comes across to me as pro-military and wrapped up in outdated ceremonies that have no relation to the real wars going on right now. This is why I approve of wearing White Poppies for peace, as a way of marking Remembrance Day. The White Poppy movement symbolises both remembrance and an awareness of the need to campaign for peace. It's surely just as important to remember the dead as it is to stop making more of them.
http://www.whitepoppy.org.uk/
Today is 11th November, where people in the UK and around the world mark Remembrance Day, remembering those who have fallen in both World Wars and other wars. This is a good thing and I definitely think a few moments' silent reflection are a good thing. However there are a few things about the way it's all done that I don't like.
Silences in recent years have jumped from 1 minute, which was fine for most of the 20th century, to 2 minutes. All "serious" events now have 2 minutes of silence, as if 1 minute is somehow not respectful enough. But I'm surely not the only person who thought 1 minute was fine.
Silences are also thrown around far too much, like it's the only way we can come to terms with anything. The Friday after 11th September 2001, we had a 3 minute silence in school. Someone somewhere thought it was of such gravity that it needed 180 seconds. Not only was it unnecessary, it was also inescapably political - we marked it because it happened in America, and because it was terrorism. Vastly higher numbers died in the 2005 Asian Tsunami and when Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, and I don't remember any silences then; the event was elevated to some higher status because these dead people had been killed by Muslims. September 11th was horrendous and I don't wish any disrespect to anyone over it, but it's a mark of personal shame that I didn't walk out of the classroom. I was in the supermarket when a national 2 minute silence was being held after the 7th July 2005 bombings in London, which were also shit, but I carried on walking around doing my shopping because I don't see why we stop for some things and not others.
Secondly, I dislike the requirement of wearing the red poppy for 2 whole weeks before Remembrance Day itself. It's like Christmas in the UK - somehow we can't just mark an event on the day itself. With the run-up to Christmas it's a commercial thing to sell more stuff; with the poppy 2 weeks, it's again some kind of competitive grief, like the jump from 1 minute of silence to 2 minutes. Any politician (or any person on TV) seen not wearing it during this 2-week period would get instantly shot down for being "disrespectful". I understand the poppy as a symbol for remembrance and the Royal British Legion, but it's just a symbol.
People should be able to mark their grief in their own time and way on the single day we have without facing anger or abuse.
Finally, I also dislike the overly military aspect of Remembrance Day. Yes, it is kind of about the military, and it is good that we recognise soldiers who have died in just wars to protect our freedom (e.g. World War 2) and other stupid wars where they should never have been sent to their deaths (e.g. World War 1, Iraq War). But there is no recognition for the civilian cost of war and there is no recognition that war is a bad thing; if anything, Remembrance Day comes across to me as pro-military and wrapped up in outdated ceremonies that have no relation to the real wars going on right now. This is why I approve of wearing White Poppies for peace, as a way of marking Remembrance Day. The White Poppy movement symbolises both remembrance and an awareness of the need to campaign for peace. It's surely just as important to remember the dead as it is to stop making more of them.
http://www.whitepoppy.org.uk/
Monday, 9 November 2009
In Defence Of Flyposting
So yesterday I went flyposting in the bustling metropolis of Wellington city. I was putting up posters for my book launch and it was good to see my posters up with others for various events. I was going to write this blog anyway, but felt it was more important after coming across this blog describing why "flyposting is evil". Not just discourteous or even wrong, but EVIL!
Let me describe 3 places I have lived:
Chelmsford - flyposting not allowed, very little flyposting. You can get a good picture of Chelmsford from reading a previous blog entry - it's middle class, relatively clean, and rather dull. There's very little flyposting, although to be fair, there's hardly any cultural scene to poster about.
Bristol - flyposting not allowed, but lots of flyposting. Bristol has a thriving music, arts and cultural scene, and clearly has a lot of people who don't care about breaking the law putting up posters. This isn't to say that they go up anywhere - the council is quite hot on it, and even idiots are respectful enough not to post straight onto the Wills Memorial Building. But admittedly some parts of the city centre look less than tidy. I found it hard to feel angry though, as these posters described and showed a busy cultural scene I'd never seen before, and in a public way - and what alternative when there is no proper official place for local community advertising?
Wellington - flyposting is accommodated and allowed, there is lots of it. Wellington City Council in their wisdom has set up big drums and boards dedicated for flyposting. This gives a proper and legal outlet for Wellington's busy arts and cultural scene, with professional posters for big council-associated events side-by-side with DIY posters for local gigs and events (such as mine). True, flyposting does go outside this, but it mostly happens on abandoned properties and dilapidated shop fronts - and I would argue that these properties look better and are more useful with posters than without.
Personally, my argument for flyposting is roughly the same as grafitti - it shows a town or city has life and events and soul, while banning it makes a place look sanitised, clean and boring. Okay, I haven't lived in some dodgy towns in the North of England where the flyposting is out of control and the grafitti has no talent, and grafitti should always be either artistic or political (unlike the tagging and pointless shit varieties you get).
On a more political level, I have to agree with this article by Urban75 and Naomi Klein's 2000 book No Logo. The plain fact is, big corporations have huge amounts of money to put their images and their messages telling you to buy their products all over public spaces, and the only differences between their legal billboard advertising and the flyposter's illegal A3 posters are a) having huge stacks of money and b) having an authorised space to do it. In so many places, local bands and artists and promoters and theatres and individuals have no place to post messages and events about their local community. Just to bring the point home, the entire purpose of corporate advertising strategies is to sell products and make money, nothing else. Local posters are often about making money too, but they also have a number of myriad functions about enriching the local community and keeping people informed. (Plus the money made also stays in the local economy!) While out yesterday, I saw a poster on a wall - not an official board or drum - entitled "POETRY READING AT PEGASUS BOOKS". The message wasn't "buy this shit, it will improve your social status", it was "come and hear poetry read in a local bookshop". Anyone who thinks that flyposter is evil and/or should be criminalised is heartless and, worse, thoughtless.
However, I'm not advocating breaking the law, and you shouldn't have to - ironically I roughly agree with Bigmouth's blog on the subject of following the European model, which is what they seem to have done here in Wellington. As with grafitti, providing a proper authorised outlet fulfils a number of functions:
-Restricts the amount and mess of unauthorised flyposting on private property
-Encourages the arts scene by providing legitimate advertising for local people, groups and events
-Shows members of the cultural scene and flyposters that the council want to co-operate rather than punish
So there it is, my case for flyposting legally and sensibly. If your local council doesn't have boards or space for local people to post local events, ask them why not.
By the way here's that image I sent from my phone the right way up. Not sure if I can rotate photos on my phone!
Let me describe 3 places I have lived:
Chelmsford - flyposting not allowed, very little flyposting. You can get a good picture of Chelmsford from reading a previous blog entry - it's middle class, relatively clean, and rather dull. There's very little flyposting, although to be fair, there's hardly any cultural scene to poster about.
Bristol - flyposting not allowed, but lots of flyposting. Bristol has a thriving music, arts and cultural scene, and clearly has a lot of people who don't care about breaking the law putting up posters. This isn't to say that they go up anywhere - the council is quite hot on it, and even idiots are respectful enough not to post straight onto the Wills Memorial Building. But admittedly some parts of the city centre look less than tidy. I found it hard to feel angry though, as these posters described and showed a busy cultural scene I'd never seen before, and in a public way - and what alternative when there is no proper official place for local community advertising?
Wellington - flyposting is accommodated and allowed, there is lots of it. Wellington City Council in their wisdom has set up big drums and boards dedicated for flyposting. This gives a proper and legal outlet for Wellington's busy arts and cultural scene, with professional posters for big council-associated events side-by-side with DIY posters for local gigs and events (such as mine). True, flyposting does go outside this, but it mostly happens on abandoned properties and dilapidated shop fronts - and I would argue that these properties look better and are more useful with posters than without.
Personally, my argument for flyposting is roughly the same as grafitti - it shows a town or city has life and events and soul, while banning it makes a place look sanitised, clean and boring. Okay, I haven't lived in some dodgy towns in the North of England where the flyposting is out of control and the grafitti has no talent, and grafitti should always be either artistic or political (unlike the tagging and pointless shit varieties you get).
On a more political level, I have to agree with this article by Urban75 and Naomi Klein's 2000 book No Logo. The plain fact is, big corporations have huge amounts of money to put their images and their messages telling you to buy their products all over public spaces, and the only differences between their legal billboard advertising and the flyposter's illegal A3 posters are a) having huge stacks of money and b) having an authorised space to do it. In so many places, local bands and artists and promoters and theatres and individuals have no place to post messages and events about their local community. Just to bring the point home, the entire purpose of corporate advertising strategies is to sell products and make money, nothing else. Local posters are often about making money too, but they also have a number of myriad functions about enriching the local community and keeping people informed. (Plus the money made also stays in the local economy!) While out yesterday, I saw a poster on a wall - not an official board or drum - entitled "POETRY READING AT PEGASUS BOOKS". The message wasn't "buy this shit, it will improve your social status", it was "come and hear poetry read in a local bookshop". Anyone who thinks that flyposter is evil and/or should be criminalised is heartless and, worse, thoughtless.
However, I'm not advocating breaking the law, and you shouldn't have to - ironically I roughly agree with Bigmouth's blog on the subject of following the European model, which is what they seem to have done here in Wellington. As with grafitti, providing a proper authorised outlet fulfils a number of functions:
-Restricts the amount and mess of unauthorised flyposting on private property
-Encourages the arts scene by providing legitimate advertising for local people, groups and events
-Shows members of the cultural scene and flyposters that the council want to co-operate rather than punish
So there it is, my case for flyposting legally and sensibly. If your local council doesn't have boards or space for local people to post local events, ask them why not.
By the way here's that image I sent from my phone the right way up. Not sure if I can rotate photos on my phone!
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Reasons I might, or might not, get published one day
Okay, I like lists, and I like writing bad things first so you end on the good things. Let's begin!
- I do not give a capital shit about what's trendy, or what's in, or how to style myself in the "current market". I don't give a damn about schoolboy wizards or teen vampire dramas* or whatever new fad the creative world wants to market. If I wanted a job where I had to act like someone else and produce work I didn't like, I'd work in advertising. Pursuing a career is about compromise, but there's a difference between being practical and selling your soul. Which is all very principled ... but it's hardly going to help in the world of The Publishing Industry.
- I don't go in for "conventions of the industry" as one agent said in an interview, listing things she liked in new authors. I am committed and dedicated and professional, and none of these things require the arcane traditions of any industry's conventions such as schmoozing with the right people or restricting who, how, where and what you talk about. Which is again great ... but not helpful.
- I'm outspoken and stubborn. I reserve the right to speak my mind, especially if I'm being bullshitted or taken for a ride. This doesn't engender me to anyone in a professional industry who's looking for a safe working relationship. I'm unashamed about this, and stand by outspoken comments I've made - whether slating a truly awful nu-metal band in a 2002 music review, or describing how a music promoter took our money and did something completely unacceptable to our original agreement - but it's not going to help me.
- I'm outspoken and political. Professional agents and publishers who want to maintain a sleek public relations strategy probably don't want a client bleating on about Palestine and Westminster and the UN.
- My writing is unconventional. Even my newest books, which are my best and most engaging work so far, are set in a bizarre fictional world I conjured out of my head/arse. The Publishing Industry will tell you they want originality, but what they really want is saleable, conventional orignality that strays from the norm just enough to give it a catchy soundbite.
- I live in Wellington, New Zealand. While I love it here, I can hardly have coffee with darlings in London or New York.
- I write science fiction and fantasy (often shortened to SF), which is by no means a busy market, and establishing a name for yourself as a credible SF author is hard.
Okay, so that's quite a negative outlook, and it's not even an exhaustive list. It also looks quite angry, which I'm not, just passionate. Okay maybe just a little angry :)
Anyway, here's the positive stuff. I'm looking forward to this!
- I'm YOUNG. There's no shelf-life like there is in rock music - I have a long, long time to become an author.
- I'm a musician as well as writer. I can, and will, and do cross-promote myself in both fields - and the more I produce in each field, the better the promotion.
- I am tech-savvy and internet-friendly and I love engaging with people online and offline. I combine the patheticness of an internet geek and the glitter of a real-world socialite in one buzzing ball of self-promotion, both online and offline.
- My stuff's good! Okay blow-your-own-trombone time, but I've had an energetic buzz from seeing people reading this trilogy and enjoying it. I think it's largely down to adding surreal-yet-casual comedy in the vein of Hitchhiker's Guide or Terry Pratchett, and I shall be working more on the humour in future works.
- I'm original. Noel Gallagher was asked once about pop music, and his reply was something like, "well I'm laughing, cos I write all my songs, so in 15 years I'll still be getting paid". In the long run, it's original people with new ideas that make progress and see the rewards.
- I don't necessarily need to beg and plead for a leg-up from The Publishing Industry . In the 21st century world of internet ideas and personalities, I may easily be able to gather enough intial success and momentum - enough to get noticed - all by myself.
- As much as it looks like I dislike anyone or anything associated with "the industry", if anyone actually came to me and convinced me they a) liked my stuff and b) understood it, I'd be over the moon and a keen, engaged, co-operative partner. These people are out there. I just have to find them.
So, a whistlestop tour round the feelings, worries and hopes in my mind of attaining a professional, realiable writing career in the future. Personally, while I realise being a stubborn little gobshite puts me at a distinct disadvantage, I'm hopeful that my dedication and self-belief will get me somewhere. It's the only thing that's got me here so far.
Oh, and the quality of my work. But that was never in question, right?
*I am a fan of good, original vampires though, such as Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.
- I do not give a capital shit about what's trendy, or what's in, or how to style myself in the "current market". I don't give a damn about schoolboy wizards or teen vampire dramas* or whatever new fad the creative world wants to market. If I wanted a job where I had to act like someone else and produce work I didn't like, I'd work in advertising. Pursuing a career is about compromise, but there's a difference between being practical and selling your soul. Which is all very principled ... but it's hardly going to help in the world of The Publishing Industry.
- I don't go in for "conventions of the industry" as one agent said in an interview, listing things she liked in new authors. I am committed and dedicated and professional, and none of these things require the arcane traditions of any industry's conventions such as schmoozing with the right people or restricting who, how, where and what you talk about. Which is again great ... but not helpful.
- I'm outspoken and stubborn. I reserve the right to speak my mind, especially if I'm being bullshitted or taken for a ride. This doesn't engender me to anyone in a professional industry who's looking for a safe working relationship. I'm unashamed about this, and stand by outspoken comments I've made - whether slating a truly awful nu-metal band in a 2002 music review, or describing how a music promoter took our money and did something completely unacceptable to our original agreement - but it's not going to help me.
- I'm outspoken and political. Professional agents and publishers who want to maintain a sleek public relations strategy probably don't want a client bleating on about Palestine and Westminster and the UN.
- My writing is unconventional. Even my newest books, which are my best and most engaging work so far, are set in a bizarre fictional world I conjured out of my head/arse. The Publishing Industry will tell you they want originality, but what they really want is saleable, conventional orignality that strays from the norm just enough to give it a catchy soundbite.
- I live in Wellington, New Zealand. While I love it here, I can hardly have coffee with darlings in London or New York.
- I write science fiction and fantasy (often shortened to SF), which is by no means a busy market, and establishing a name for yourself as a credible SF author is hard.
Okay, so that's quite a negative outlook, and it's not even an exhaustive list. It also looks quite angry, which I'm not, just passionate. Okay maybe just a little angry :)
Anyway, here's the positive stuff. I'm looking forward to this!
- I'm YOUNG. There's no shelf-life like there is in rock music - I have a long, long time to become an author.
- I'm a musician as well as writer. I can, and will, and do cross-promote myself in both fields - and the more I produce in each field, the better the promotion.
- I am tech-savvy and internet-friendly and I love engaging with people online and offline. I combine the patheticness of an internet geek and the glitter of a real-world socialite in one buzzing ball of self-promotion, both online and offline.
- My stuff's good! Okay blow-your-own-trombone time, but I've had an energetic buzz from seeing people reading this trilogy and enjoying it. I think it's largely down to adding surreal-yet-casual comedy in the vein of Hitchhiker's Guide or Terry Pratchett, and I shall be working more on the humour in future works.
- I'm original. Noel Gallagher was asked once about pop music, and his reply was something like, "well I'm laughing, cos I write all my songs, so in 15 years I'll still be getting paid". In the long run, it's original people with new ideas that make progress and see the rewards.
- I don't necessarily need to beg and plead for a leg-up from The Publishing Industry . In the 21st century world of internet ideas and personalities, I may easily be able to gather enough intial success and momentum - enough to get noticed - all by myself.
- As much as it looks like I dislike anyone or anything associated with "the industry", if anyone actually came to me and convinced me they a) liked my stuff and b) understood it, I'd be over the moon and a keen, engaged, co-operative partner. These people are out there. I just have to find them.
So, a whistlestop tour round the feelings, worries and hopes in my mind of attaining a professional, realiable writing career in the future. Personally, while I realise being a stubborn little gobshite puts me at a distinct disadvantage, I'm hopeful that my dedication and self-belief will get me somewhere. It's the only thing that's got me here so far.
Oh, and the quality of my work. But that was never in question, right?
*I am a fan of good, original vampires though, such as Brian Lumley's Necroscope series.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Getting published? Um, yeah, or nah...
A question I get asked very often when I tell people I write books is "oh are you published?", after which I usually explain what Print On Demand is and that's how I make/sell my books. Ideally, I've wanted to become published ever since I started writing when I was 10, but it's a goal I've become more realistic and even a bit cynical about.
Getting published by a real publisher is like an author's equivalent of getting signed - and I've been there, in a band where the goal was to get signed. In that circumstance, being honest, it was pretty shit, because when the industry rejects you, you blame yourself for not being good enough or for not working hard enough. There's also the angle of how (un)commercial you are, which shouldn't matter but it does, and it's another thing you can (and I do) blame yourself over. The mission to get signed was one of the pressures that contributed to the band splitting up, and my goal since then has been never to let that kind of pressure and self-blame affect what I do.
It's a feeling I took with me changing my focus from music to writing, and it's why I like print-on-demand - I can write my books, make them available, do a little promo, and leave it at that. I'm not desperately hawking my wares round agents and publishers, getting rejection letters after my work's chucked in the slush pile or not even looked at. That goes especially for this trilogy, which - despite being roughly a combination of Terry Pratchett and Iain M. Banks, two hugely successful authors - is even more unconventional and arguably uncommercial than a political indie-punk-rock band.
But this comfy situation has started to change. My wonderful girlfriend has seen me writing, not just the books but other bits too, and suggested that I look up some journals to write for and send stuff off to publishers. This is great - before now, I've never had someone special to give me that kind of support, even if it is a little scary pushing myself back into that zone again. And secondly, the other day I saw the film Julie and Julia, where there are two stories of writers becoming published - one the old-fashioned way back in the 60s, the other through simply being a blogger with a popular and saleable idea. It made me sad watching it with the background feeling of never being published, and I was thinking up a self-pitying blog to explain why I'll never get published, before realising how much of a wanker I'd be if I did. You don't want to read it and I don't want to be that person. So I've decided to get back into it, to try and climb that impossible mountain.
Expect a follow-up blog with more soon.
Getting published by a real publisher is like an author's equivalent of getting signed - and I've been there, in a band where the goal was to get signed. In that circumstance, being honest, it was pretty shit, because when the industry rejects you, you blame yourself for not being good enough or for not working hard enough. There's also the angle of how (un)commercial you are, which shouldn't matter but it does, and it's another thing you can (and I do) blame yourself over. The mission to get signed was one of the pressures that contributed to the band splitting up, and my goal since then has been never to let that kind of pressure and self-blame affect what I do.
It's a feeling I took with me changing my focus from music to writing, and it's why I like print-on-demand - I can write my books, make them available, do a little promo, and leave it at that. I'm not desperately hawking my wares round agents and publishers, getting rejection letters after my work's chucked in the slush pile or not even looked at. That goes especially for this trilogy, which - despite being roughly a combination of Terry Pratchett and Iain M. Banks, two hugely successful authors - is even more unconventional and arguably uncommercial than a political indie-punk-rock band.
But this comfy situation has started to change. My wonderful girlfriend has seen me writing, not just the books but other bits too, and suggested that I look up some journals to write for and send stuff off to publishers. This is great - before now, I've never had someone special to give me that kind of support, even if it is a little scary pushing myself back into that zone again. And secondly, the other day I saw the film Julie and Julia, where there are two stories of writers becoming published - one the old-fashioned way back in the 60s, the other through simply being a blogger with a popular and saleable idea. It made me sad watching it with the background feeling of never being published, and I was thinking up a self-pitying blog to explain why I'll never get published, before realising how much of a wanker I'd be if I did. You don't want to read it and I don't want to be that person. So I've decided to get back into it, to try and climb that impossible mountain.
Expect a follow-up blog with more soon.
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