mexirish...nz

An article on the Washington Post website asks : What is your vision of heaven? What images from scripture, tradition or your own personal experience describe it best? The answer given by Paula Kirby seems to me to be the best, most well thought out response to a question such as this. I recommend you read it, but to summarize,  she says: To a Christian, the only point of life is to win a place in heaven to be with God for ever. But what is the point of that ? Apparently it is to praise God for his goodness in sending Jesus so that we could be saved from the eternity of torment that would otherwise have awaited us in hell (and there's another preposterous idea that has caused more than its fair share of avoidable human misery, but perhaps that will be a subject for another day). and... Fortunately, there is not the slightest evidence that points towards the existence of heaven, for it would be nothing but unspeakable tedium. I can't help thinking that the people who find

This past week, Wellington has been host to La Révolte des Mannequin . La Revolt des Mannequin, or The Revolt of the Mannequins , is a set of French art installations.  Around the town, several shop fronts are installed with Mannequins posed and doing various things. Each day, they appear shifted to a new pose, giving the impression that they're moving. And thus a story is told. There where ten of them in the CBD area, but the first that caught my attention was called Nightmare of the Puddle and featured a man enjoying a drink on the first day.  But as the days progressed, the man appeared to be melting form the feet down, forming a large puddle of plastic. By the end, he had practically disappeared completely, and a cleaning lady was mopping up the remains into a blue plastic bucket.  On the last day, she throws the contents of the bucket at the window. Another excellent one wasn't hosted in one shop.  It was called the Inspector and the Sniper.  It featured a sniper

These days, Jacqui drags herself out of bed at about 6.30am to get out in time for the 7:25 bus. I'm an unemployed bum, so I stay in bed. So, this morning she managed to grab this outstanding photo of sunrise over the eastern hills. Breathtaking.

Saturday evening was spent at Neil Gaimans 's talk.  It was his part in the New Zealand International Arts Festival . We went with our friends Jen, Dom & Jordan.  The compere (she seemed nice) introduced him as the Amadaus Mozart of postmodernist literature.  Aside from the fact that I usually detest the term "postmodern" when assumed to mean anything (can you define it satisfactorily?), I thought it was quite a clever description. The talk itself was excellent - he read 3 short poems. I can't remember the order, but they were: 1) A story called "My Last Landlady" about a murderous landlady in an unnamed English seaside town.  Sounds like Brighton. 2) A story about the bones of Saint Odhrán buried under the church on the Island of Iona which is just of the west coast of Scotland.  Downpatrick , the town I went to school in, gets a breif mention :) 3) A beautiful poem (which he described as his credo) about reading Goldilocks to his daughter.

Well, Richard Dawkins was in Wellington last night to do a talk as part of the NZ International Arts Festival . Jacqui and I had bought tickets as soon as we heard he was coming (months ago!) and were amongst first in line to get to a good seat. our friends Raquel and Cristina were with us. We settled about half way back, not so close as to be craning our necks; not so far as to be unable to see.  The view from our seats.  I put the phone away when Richard came on to the stage. The room was filled almost to capacity.  This, I remind you, is not a rock concert or a famous actor.  This is a talk by a scientist.  And the room is filled to capacity.  I hope this is a sign of the times.  I hope that scientific literacy is improving.  10 years ago, I don't think a science writer could have attracted such a large crowd in a small city like Wellington.  Perhaps we're putting myth, superstition and religion behind us.  Perhaps. The talk started with a short introduction by a l

As you probably may have gathered from reading my other posts, you'll know that I have little respect for religion. I'm proud to call myself an Atheist, and think that's it's probably the only philosophy worthy of respect in a sea of morally bankrupt religions. Christopher Hitchens seems to live in the same moral sea as I, and in keeping with this he's written a nice little article for Vanity Fair about the 10 "Commandments" - the moral framework set forth by the judeo-christian god. He goes through all the biblical commandments one by one and deals with them as one would given today's ethical environment.  I'm always horrified by people who treat the biblical commandments as if they're in some way a moral high point. They're really not, and I admit to being further horrified by the glaring omissions (genocide, rape, child abuse and care for the environment.  Wouldn't an omnipotent god have known about these too?) So check out h

I was browsing the old intertubes today and happened upon a guitarist.  He was showing the qualities of a brand of guitar amplifier on Laney's website and I was quite impressed with the guy playing the yellow guitar. I went along to the youtube page (where the video is hosted) and discovered that he was a French guy called Christophe Godin , and he's remarkable.  Seriously good doesn't even begin to describe his style; I thought I was quite good, but I now realise that I have to work alot more to get anywhere near this guy.  His style reminds me of Joe Satriani, but he's interesting and pleasant to listen to (unlike Joe, who isn't either). I read further and discovered that he's mostly known for playing in French band called Metal Kartoon, who I must admit I've never heard of.  There's no sign on iTunes, so I may have to dig a bit deeper.   Rockin' Out! Go to his website and have a look at his videos.  It's all in French, but really it do