Evey Hammond

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

This is said by V in the movie V for Vendetta released in 2006. It's based on a graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. The story is set in a futuristic world where America has been ravaged by plague and war and the United Kingdom is ruled by an ultra conservative and totalitarian government. V for Vendetta focuses on Evey Hammond who by chance meets up with V. V has a drastic plan to change things and Evey gets swept along and finds her own truth as well.

The film struck a chord with me in the way which anything or anyone different - such as different religious views or sexual orientation - is seen as disgusting, immoral and corrupt. The people have given up all of their human rights to this high chancellor in government. It goes as far as that all their calls are monitored and censor boards have made many books, songs and films illegal. The police can grab anyone in the night, torture them and make them disappear. What was scary was how easily this change had happened - how easily people had accepted this as the norm.

I love how the film explores these political and human rights concepts. And how a single idea or symbol can be so powerful and can bring about so much change.

Local elections are coming up in South Africa. I never thought I would be advocating this, but use your vote. It's one of our most important rights and one we often take for granted without even thinking.

Of course, the fact the V kicks ass accompanied by classical music only made the film so much more awesome :-).

Driving Skills

During my first year as an exploration geologist, I was working in Limpopo (northern province of South Africa). As I've mentioned before, I had a 4-by-4 bakkie (truck) which I travelled with daily in the Bushveld. My driving skills have improved since then, but I had a few near-misses in the beginning.

Tracks left by my driving skills a day later

It was early one morning and I was using one of the main dirt roads between farms to get to the area where we were drilling. It had been raining heavily the previous night and day and the road was very muddy and clayey. As I was driving, I could feel the bakkie weave left and right over the road, but I could manage it. Farmers were zipping past me of course, but I didn't want to radio my manager to let him know I had flipped the company vehicle and kept a nice tortoise speed.

Suddenly, the bakkie began sliding with it's nose to left. I tried to bring it back, but didn't want to pull the steering wheel too hard and end up spinning. I saw a tree coming closer and gently lifted my foot from the petrol. The bakkie continued sliding off the road, but very slowly. When I came to a stop, I was horizontally across the road and thankfully had stopped before hitting any farm fences. I really did not want an irate grey-bearded man yelling at me for letting his cows get loose :-).

A bakkie stopped with a man and his small son. He asked if I (girlie) was all right. I laughed and replied everything's fine - I just needed to reverse and get back on the road. Luckily, the bakkie stopped nearby some giraffes. They were quite close to the fence and if I hadn't slowed down I would have missed them between the bushes.

Yay for advanced driving skills!

Debut of Pink Girlfest

This weekend was the first Pink Girlfest. It was a women-only festival which took place over Saturday and Sunday in Volksrust, Mpumalanga. Activities included self-defence and mountain biking workshops as well as a gardening and DIY workshop by Tanya Visser (well-known in SA). There were also bands playing like Margaret's Daughter and Cortina Whiplash. One of the highlights was Karen Zoid on Saturday evening.

Since this was the first Pink Girlfest, a few minor teething problems were encountered. The horse-riding was more of a pony affair and due to bad weather the paragliding had be cancelled. The marketing could also have been a bit better - I and many others I chatted to only found out about the event about 1 or 2 weeks back. The venue also had be changed at the last minute because of some very ignorant townsfolk who protested when they found out their town would be overrun by lesbians. Sigh.

I've been a fan of Karen Zoid for some time and love her music. She's quite the legend in the South African music industry and is such an awesome artist. Her music moves from rock to poetry effortlessly. Karen Zoid has an amazing presence on stage and is hilarious with the anecdotes and thoughts she shares. She very aptly described the festival as Oppipoppi (on the doll) in reference to Oppikoppi (on the hill) a well-established annual music festival. Hopefully the name sticks :-).

A huge thank you and congratulations to Kerry Knowles and Judith Nel, the event organizers. They did an excellent job the first-time around and managed all the minor hiccups very well. I look forward to next year's Pink Girlfest.

Long live Oppipoppi!

Catching Fire

The Hunger Games is the first book in a trilogy of the same name. Suzanne Collins wrote the series with Catching Fire being the second book and Mockingjay the final. The story is scary in that it feels like it can happen in the real world as well.

The first book was published in 2008, but I only came across the series end of last year while I was roaming through a bookstore in Sydney. When I got back home I immediately got hold of all 3 books and started reading.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a central government rules over 12 districts. The president not only has an iron fist but also keeps everyone in check with The Hunger Games. Participants are randomly selected from each district and then made to fight each other in a greatly popular and highly publicized game. There can be only one survivor and they win food and prestige for their district. The poor are exploited since they can enter their name for the selection process more than once in exchange for extra food.

The main character is Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take her sister's place in the games. The books follow her through the games and it's consequences.

When I first read the blurb for the books, I was reminded of Battle Royale, a Japanese book (also adapted into a manga and movie). In this story, a group of students is forced to fight each other to the death on an island. This is meant to keep the population in check since the class of participants are chosen randomly and at any time during the year. The Hunger Games trilogy takes a slightly different route, but with great effect. How the characters handle the situation is so real that I had to take a break from the books every now and then.

What made it so more real is that reality shows such as Survivor and Big Brother are a step below The Hunger Games. The amount of publicity and television coverage the games garner is tremendous. What also struck me is the fact that many people only saw the games as something on television - that children were being killed wasn't real to them. Like a puppet theater arranged by the government. Very scary.

The books are planned to be made into a film, but I'm not sure if a movie can truly capture the trilogy. My imagination went wild thanks to the great writing. I hope the film can do The Hunger Games justice.

Coraline

Coraline is a novel written by Neil Gaiman and isn't like other fairy tales. You have a girl going into another world and tempted by an evil witch, but there's so much more to Coraline. The novel was published in 2002, and I read the graphic novel based on the book.


Coraline book cover (2002)

Coraline, the title character, gets involved with this evil witch and then has to defend herself and her family from the consequences of her actions. The story includes two aging actresses, a cat who can move between worlds and a mouse circus. Need I say more :-).

A film based on the book was released in 2009 and used stop-motion 3D techniques. The film did change some things from the book, but brought Coraline's world to life with amazing effects. The colours and the music is brilliantly done and recreates Neil Gaiman's world perfectly (I thought so at least).

I love this kind of narrative - the off-beat, alternative fairy tale. Taking true and tested story stereotypes and turning them on their heads.