FEMINISTA

Well I missed two significant events in the last week just because i couldn't pack everything in. The 10 year anniversary party of Sidhe Interactive, New Zealand's largest games studio and the launch of NEXTSPACE, a new R & D lab for virtual reality and next media....i guess photos of the party will be on www.sidhe.co.nz and photos of the launch will be on www.nextspace.co.nz So, anyone who went to either - let us know how they went! and in the meantime check out this interesting little creative publishing software, UMAJIN, by Palmerston North company, Unlimited Realities. www.ur.co.nz Its got some great little features - they've used it with a number of schools and focus groups and are keen to see what people do with it... let us know what you think...

Moving on from the sexism of Convergence 07 to a strong female progatonist in childrens telveision - last night I went to a special WIFT event where the creators of Jane & The Dragon previewed some wonderful design and development processes that Weta Workshop were involved in in the devlelopment of the kids animation series, Jane & the Dragon. Wow, the dragon is a pretty cool character and if anyone wants to take on Jane, they better be ready for a feisty red head.. Stereotypes have been criticised in the past, but red head power rocks in Jane & the Dragon. Weta Workshop have really come up with a wonderful array of characters with series writer and creator Martin Baynton and we will see it soon on TVNZ this weekend. Watch out for it and log in to the website for many more additional features. Go NZ content! Clare

Hi Well i"ve just been to the Wireless/Broadband convergence Oceania event and was horrified to see NO women on any panels. What's with the IT industry? Are all you guys still stuck wearing black suits and white shirts and where are all the women ? I'm sure they are out there. Women In Technology were there - but Carol Lee hosted the IT leaders breakfast - it was as though no women were involved in the creation of applications or services and yet, 'wives' were mentioned throughout as users of broadband services...get with the programme guys - y0u have to talk to women as peers if you want to know where the future lies.... Clare

Bevin, producer of "My Story' mobisodes at Gibson Group has totally moved into a new space for television production, introducing a new short short genre of soap opera style mobisodes with thriller overtones. My Story was launched at Gibson Group last week to accolades from the viewer audience and claps on the back for innovation and risk taking in this new digital era. As the more mainstream broadcasters work out what digital means for them, Dave Gibson has been brave enough to show that if you give the younger generation their creative head, they will come up with the content that younger viewers want. A deal with both major Telcos, Telecom and Vodafone show that collaboration with competitors is possible, not to mention the spin off relatioship with Family Planning to integrate safe sex messaging into the programme as well as into the additional web based material provided around this youth oriented programme. Watch this space in terms of what will come next.... mobile tv,...

On the day of Wai's funeral a visitor settled on the rocks at Breaker Bay, farewelling her as people came to the Breaker Bay hall to say goodbye. Arohanui Wai....

Well, now that Margaret Bazley's report has finally come out its not surprising that what we have known about a few cops goes a lot deeper into the sexism, misogyny and 'power over' tactics of police culture in the eighties. It mirrors what has happened to Maori and Pacific Island people at the hands of police also...(see full report at www.cipc.govt.nz ) or press release at http://www.stuff.co.nz/4015111a10.html American feminist Adriene Rich talked about the collussion through silence of abuse in our society in her book, 'On Lies, Secrets & Silence ' in which she says: "The liar has many friends, and leads an existence of great loneliness..." This is the tip of the iceberg...the eighties was a period in our social history where cops were disempowered by the power of the people, the Springbok tour, the rise of feminism and the Maori renaiisance influenced peoples perception and knowledge of social power dynamics, class consciousness within a New Zeal...

Well, it's a momentous day in the history of television. TVNZ launched its ONDEMAND service where you can view classic television, download favourite shows and catch up with all those shows you missed in your busy week. After TUI, the 14 year old schoolboy on www.throng.co.nz TV Watching community accessed his favourite Shortland Street episode on the beta test, maybe it fasttracked the launch date. So here we have the beginnings of interactive television - innovative narratives to follow... watch this space... www.tvnz.co.nz