Rayles01 - Cool Stuff

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein (via thecalminside)

Review: New Statesman Presents “An Evening With Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer”, Hackney Empire, London, May 28th 2015

As will soon become clear on this blog, I am a huge Amanda Palmer fan. I make no denials or excuses. I am also a fan of her husband, Neil Gaiman, in a slightly less obsessive fashion. So when it was announced that they would be putting on a one-off evening at Hackney I was overjoyed. I was expecting an average “Evening With…” which seems to consist of Amanda playing a handful of piano songs and a handful of ukulele songs, Neil reading a handful of poetry and short stories, and the two of them answering questions together. Instead, we got so much more. It was later announced that the evening was being held in support of an issue of New Statesman that was to be guest-edited by Amanda and Neil. The theme of the issue: ‘Saying the Unsayable’ - hitting on themes of offense, censorship, and freedom of speech.

Amanda and Neil walked out on stage, Amanda waddling along in her 6 month pregnancy. Neil opened reading a short poem about ideas; more specifically, how we should allow even the most “offensive, stupid, preposterous or dangerous” ideas, but that we should “argue, explain, clarify, debate, offend, insult, rage, mock, sing, dramatise and deny.” In short: freedom of speech for all, not just the speech you agree with. And so, the tone of the night was set.

Apart from Amanda and Neil, various guests emerged during the night. Radio 4 satirical comedian Mitch Benn sang a protest song following the Charlie Hebdo shootings. Activist and author Roz Kaveney read a poem about life as a trans woman. Transvestite metalhead vegan Andrew O’Neill performed a short standup routine. Writer Hayley Campbell read a story about a terrifying future in which every draft tweet ever saved is sent, exposing humanity’s true nature. These guests were intertwined with various contributions from Neil and Amanda; Neil reading an article about the PEN award boycott, and ‘the only story I have ever written that has disturbed me’, while Amanda played just a handful of songs, and read a new poem.

And I think what worked the most was the sheer variety of what was happening, all tied together through a common theme. There was a factual article, followed by a satirical song. A song about abortion, followed by a poem about the Germanwings plane crash. And, of course, the evening was greatly aided by the sheer amiability of our hosts. In the way that Neil gazed at Amanda as she banged out the chords to The Killing Type, or how Amanda confessed she was now making ‘involuntary old man noises’ every time she has to get out of a chair, they came across as two genuine people who wanted to hold an important social discussion.

It did become apparent very quickly that the evening was not wonderfully organised; Amanda and Neil attempting to introduce the night while reading from a sheet, checking offstage before introducing guests, whispering to each other on stage to cut short a question session. Now, I am accustomed to Amanda Palmer concerts. I’m accustomed to her tangential monologues: I’ve watched her “just give a short introduction to this song because we don’t have much time” that lasts longer than the song itself. I’ve seen her and her band decide on stage that they want to cover a song, and so they learn and practice then and there in the middle of a concert. But despite the disorganisation, tonight felt structured. There was a point to everything, and despite occasionally going off-track, Amanda and Neil did it with a grin which just brought home the integrity of the show, and in fact brought some lightheartedness to what could have otherwise been a heavy show. It was a variety show of chaos, and it worked.

The evening ended with the 6 people sat on stage in what Mitch Benn described as “the weirdest episode of Question Time ever”. They had an open floor discussion about offense, censorship, and the internet, and just hearing what they had to say was inspiring and thought provoking, yet also hilarious (as you would hope with two comedians on stage). 

And this is how it should be done: activism and social change doesn’t have to always be heavy and weighty. I would argue that it can’t always be heavy and weighty, because you just get depressed and cynical and fed up with everything. But if you take some of the serious with some banter and jokes, the message is a lot more effective.

The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one.

William James (via philosophybits)

Night Shift Brewery

Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. ― Joseph Campbell

Brother 'proud' of killing Pakistan social media star

The brother of Pakistani social media star, Qandeel Baloch, says he's proud he killed his sister, claiming he did it because "girls are born to stay home."

On the list of 145 countries featured in the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Gender Gap Report, Pakistan is second to last with regards to gender disparity.

According to the Independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, violence against women is rampant, with as many as 212 women being killed in the name of ‘honor’ in the first five months of 2016.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has vowed to tackle the problem but critics say few concrete steps have been taken.“There is no honor in honor killing, in fact there can be nothing more degrading than to engage in brutal murder and to refer to it as honor,” he said in a press statement six months ago.

On the morning Qandeel was murdered, she shared a picture of herself staring defiantly into the camera, wearing a pair of leopard print pants and a black tank top.Despite reports that she was scared for her life, she wrote that she was a fighter.

“I will bounce back,” she said, adding that she wanted to inspire women who have been “treated badly and dominated by society.”

No words.