Posts by Emma Hart
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Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
I’m sure Burns and Wagner are hoping the specials definitively break their way, and only saying that to my ear ( IMO, YMMV and there’s nothing wrong with that, of course ) it would have been more edifying if he’d not gone so heavy in the media on the “my voters left town” angle.
Except the observation Burns made is perfectly correct. And I've got no problem with it. I'd be very surprised if the specials don't break Burns's way, for exactly the reason he's given. The biggest factor against him may be simply the weariness that Hebe was talking about, making the effort of casting a special vote just seem like too much. Especially in an electorate that nobody was talking about as a marginal before the election.
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Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Steve Barnes,
I hope you all choke on the babies you intend to eat for lunch.
Yeah, because fuck it, lefties who live in Chch Central and lost their homes should be required to vote for Burns even if they feel he did sweet fuck all to help them when they needed it most. Because their votes, it turns out, belong to Steve.
At some point you're going to come clean about which party you're actually campaigning for, right? Because from the effects? It cannot seriously be Labour.
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If the projection holds, it would be Mojo Mathers in as the 14th Green MP, and National’s 60th MP, Aaron Gilmore, out of Parliament after one term
I don't think you have to be either from Christchurch or connected to the Deaf community to really hope this happens. Couldn't be better, really.
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Hard News: The Solemnity of the Day, in reply to Hebe,
Nice. I’ll have to watch for that.
It's all the winkling, probably.
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Hard News: The Solemnity of the Day, in reply to James Butler,
I'll be scrutineering, and I need something to read on my phone during the boring bits.
Is there anything but boring bits when you're scrutineering?
I have to have my phone off from 8am to about 10pm. I dunno how I'm going to cope. I need someone to sneak me count updates from Ohariu.
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Muse: Friday Fluff: Shelf Life, in reply to Islander,
However – what books would you really like your family/beloved others to read – is a-erm- whole different ballgame? And one that could be usefully explored?
Interestingly, for me it's a question with a completely different answer. A book for a loved one would be something I would think they would enjoy - it'd be all about them. So the answer would be completely different for every person.
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Muse: Friday Fluff: Shelf Life, in reply to Jackie Clark,
The word "lover" possibly needs exploring as it obviously means different things to different people.
I'm using it to mean "someone I'm having an ongoing sexual relationship with". Not neccesarily someone I want to mawwy and have bubbsies with, but more than a one-night stand.
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1) What are you reading at the moment?
I’ve just finished Jim Butcher’s Dead Beat, and just started Murakami’s The Wind Up Bird Chronicles. Rob’s above comment about variety has my full support.
2) As a child, what did you read under the covers?
Nothing, I was never told to stop reading and go to sleep. If I had, it would have been the collected works of Diana Wynne Jones.
3) Has a book ever made you cry, and if so which one?
All the time. Particularly this last year I prefer books that make me laugh. But one of my all-time favourite books is A.S. Byatt’s Possession, which makes me weep like a 16 year old emo chick.
4) You are about to be put into solitary confinement for a year and allowed to take three books. What would you choose?
Pride and Prejudice, because of its immense re-readability. The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to keep my spirits up. Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart. Because of Reasons that will be obvious if you’ve read it.
5) Which literary character would you most like to sleep with?
I’m on a roll here, so we’ll go with Melisande Shahrizai from the Kushiel books. Beautiful, clever, cruel, and far more morally complex than she at first seems.
6) If you could write a self-help book, what would you call it?
Just Stop It. Now.
7) Which book, which play, and which poem would you make compulsory reading in high school English classes?
Guardian of the Dead is too good a suggestion not to steal. Lady Windemere’s Fan, because you can discuss social issues while laughing. This Be the Verse, Philip Larkin. This is a world, remember, where I can set texts for teenagers.
8) Which party from literature would you most like to have attended?
I’m tempted to say ‘the Box Hill picnic’, in a probably futile attempt to stop it being so awful. I think we all know I’m prevaricating.
9) What would you title your memoirs?
Mingers I Have Known, Munters I Have Slept With: Turns Out I Can Keep a Fucking Secret After All.
10) If you were an actor, which literary character do you dream of playing?
Elizabeth Bennet. The vivacity, the lip, the fucking shit up and owning it.
11) What book would you give to a lover?
I think books are for lovers, and vice versa. Reading is a passion not entirely divorced from the physical. Were I to take a lover now, who didn’t know me very well… probably the above-frequently-mentioned Kushiel’s Dart, because they would need to be able to understand that head-space to some degree. And its reception might also be an indication of the presence of tiresome genre-snobbery.
12) Spying Mein Kampf or Dan Brown on someone’s bookshelf can spell havoc for a friendship. What’s your literary deal breaker?
We’re all being so fucking arch about this. But yeah, variety. I can forgive about anything on a bookshelf if it’s accompanied by a wide range of other stuff. But if it’s all Ayn Rand and Andrea Dworkin I’m probably going to discreetly slip away at some point. Though I probably never would have got up there to start with.
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Muse: Friday Fluff: Shelf Life, in reply to Lilith __,
Dammit, this takes some thought! Perhaps in the morning.
It totally does. I only haven't done it yet because I'm too busy over-thinking it.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to Russell Brown,
It was brutal -- especially the tottering-off-into-the-distance shot at the end.
I can't help thinking that Duncan Garner might just be the happiest person in the country right now.