Born on State Highway 1

I ride around a little 100cc scooter, and it is pretty awesome. Many things that bother other people about traffic and driving and parking and stuff don’t bother me, but then there’s the down side. Here’s a list of pros and cons of using a scooter (in Auckland/New Zealand).

Read more »

I’m not a huge console game player. I know, many console game players are huge, partly due to sitting in front of a console game for so many hours of their lives. However, watching this guy’s reviews almost makes me want to play games he’s convinced me I’ll hate just so I can hate them as much as he hates them.

My favourite so far is the review of Fable 2. Fyodor Dostoyevsky?

Freak Angels is an almost-daily-updated online graphic novel by Warren Ellis. You may know him as the author of sci-fi gonzo-journalism comics Transmetropolitan, or hands-down-fucking-awesome Planetary. I’m enjoying Freak Angels so far, and I’m very happy I’ve so much left to read.

An odd thing indeed. Several odd things combined. Firstly, The New York Times printing an op-ed by Muammar Qaddafi? Qaddafi proposing a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestine Conundrum? Entitled simply The One State Solution, Qaddafi very briefly lists the legitimate grievances of both the Jewish and Palestinian peoples, points out that they’ve got on pretty well in the past, and echoes Chomsky in claiming that a two-state “solution” is not viable.

Thus the Palestinians believe that what is now called Israel forms part of their nation, even were they to secure the West Bank and Gaza. And the Jews believe that the West Bank is Samaria and Judea, part of their homeland, even if a Palestinian state were established there. Now, as Gaza still smolders, calls for a two-state solution or partition persist. But neither will work.

I find myself more or less agreeing with him. Of course, as an anarchist, my ideal would be the no-state solution. And, as someone with too much time on his hands, I would prefer the name “Canaan” to Qaddafi’s proposed “Isratine”, which to me sounds like something you ask-your-doctor-about-and-may-cause-drowsiness-and-breathlessness.

But it’s just interesting to see Qaddafi continuing his recent trend, which kind of began with him declaring and ending his WMD programmes, of engaging more with “the West”. His argument also has hints of a story told about a figure common to both Judaism and Islam – King Solomon. The old “cutting the baby in two” show. Of course, not actually like that at all, when you think about it.

I grew up on Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, GI Joe and I sort of follow politics. So if you were going to buy me a toy, what would it be? It would be a toy with which I could tell the following story:

After a hard day of shooting motherfuckers, chopping motherfuckers up with goddam swords and defeating Darth Vader with a lightsabre, Barack Obama likes to relax with some sit-ups while resting oranges on his lap.

And the toy would be made in Japan.