I See Red

Harry Potter prequel

For those of you interested, the 800 word Harry Potter prequel can be read here.

Rowling writes short Harry Potter Prequel

JK Rowling has written a short 800 word prequel to the Harry Potter series.  It will be auctioned with all proceeds going to charity.  And for those eager for the next movie installment, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will be out in NZ in December.

New Blog - Thinking Long Term

It's good to see some good centre-left women getting involved in the political blogosphere.  For too long it has been dominated by angry white right-leaning men.

New blog - Thinking Long Term

Almost new blog - Ex expat

Harry Potter - final book cover

The cover of the final Harry Potter Book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" has been released.  Only four months now and we'll all get to read how it all ends...

My dominant tribe

Your dominant tribe is Grey Lynn
You're dedicated to the idea of making a difference and living in a principled way. You love culture and ideas.

You can find your own tribe here by answering a few questions. 

My dominant tribe is Grey Lynn, but also a high percentage of North Shore, with some Raglan and Cuba Street, Otara, and Papatoetoe thrown in for good measure.  The dominant tribe of the rest of my extended family would be Papatoetoe and Balclutha, so own my personal journey has me shifting quite substantially in the past 7 years.

8 Tribes - the hidden classes of NZ

8 Tribes, a book by Jill Caldwell and Christopher Brown "calls an end to the myth of the “typical New Zealander” and gives us a new vocabulary to talk about New Zealand in the twenty first century. This snapshot of contemporary New Zealand explores our unspoken class system and the hidden social boundaries that separate us from each other". 

8 Tribes provides an interesting and useful analysis for politicians and political parties - those seeking to appeal to specific 'tribes', and those seeking a broader appeal.  As pointed out in this book review, it was National (or Brash depending on your perspective) appealing to his own tribe (the North Shore tribe) and neglect of the "Grey Lynn" tribe that prevented them from winning the last election. A summary of the 8 tribes can be found here.

It also complements my own thinking around what I have called the new New Zealand - the emerging majority diversity coalition of C21st New Zealand.

Wicked

One of the books I read over summer was Wicked, a novel by Gregory Maguire.  It wasn't a fantastic read (the pace was a bit slow) but it was very interesting.  Basically it is the Wizard of OZ story told from a different perspective.  The retelling (which doesn't contradict anything in Baum's original The Wonderful Wizard of OZ book) turns everything on its head and gives the story a new context.

The novel is a political, social, and ethical commentary on what good and evil really are (and makes you think about similar differently perceived good/evil leaders like Bush/Osama). It takes place in OZ before Dorothy arrives and follows Elphaba, the misunderstood green-skinned girl who grows up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. 

If you'd like to read more there is a short description of the five sections of the novel on Wiki (including the struggles of Elphaba, her sister with no arms - the Wicked Witch of the East, her friend Galinda, her becomes Glinda the Good Witch etc).

You'll never watch the Wizard of OZ in the same way!