FEMINISTA

Sr Paula Brett-kelly died this week after a long struggle with cancer. She was an amazing woman and Catholic nun who devoted her life to service in the community. Sr Paula worked for the AIDS Foundation for several years and established the first Womens Support group for women affected by HIV/AIDS, initially this was women whose partners were diagnosed with HIV, or family members and friends. Over time it grew to include women also diagnosed with HIV and Sr Paula's love and affection spread throughout the queer community. She was actively involved in supporting the sex worker community and encouraged other churches to work together for the decriminilisation of the sex industry. She also worked closely with Tom O'Donoghue who established the People Living with HIV/AIDS Union. Sr Paula spoke to many church and community groups to open peoples eyes and hearts to those living with HIV/AIDS and to accept family members from the queer community. Her work lives on in the people ...

Last Monday I had the privilege of interviewing the lovely Sima Urale as part of the WIFT panel at the International Film Festival. It was a great night with Sima just pouring out stories left, right and centre. Her vivacious manner made interviewing her so easy and she really made filmmaking sound easy! Her film, Apron Strings, opened the Ak Film Festival and screened across the country. This was Sima's first feature film, having already risen to fame with her short film, O Tamaiti and subsequent documentaries (Velvet Dreams) and short films (Coffee & Allah) amongst others. It was a small but appreciative crowd and we moved on afterwards to a great dinner at CHOW - which was 2 for 1 night, so we had to wait a bit for a table but as always, the food was worth it!

I was invited to MC a panel in Auckland last week, Writing for New Media, by Simon at Script to Screen. The panel was made up of interactive media producer, Bevin Linkhorn from Gibson Group , game designer, Maru Nihonioh of Metia Interactive. Ana Samways, of the blogosphere, SpareRoom and journalist and internet writer/raver Nigel Horrocks (whose day job is at The Herald ). It was a wild ride across new media design, production and devleopment and with a small but eager crowd, we covered a lot of ground in a couple of hours. These sessions are regular gigs organised by Script to Screen, in support of promoting debate and dialogue about the changing world of media and narrative. Simon was a great host and took us all out for dinner, except for Maru who had to get home to her kids....but a great night was had by all. Thanks Script to Screen!

Well, although this blog officially started off as a new technology, new media thinkpiece from a feminist perspective,it's morphed into a kind of 'whatever i'm doing and thinking' blog which is o.k. as thats what the beauty of the web is, right. That it can change and evolve. So, last Friday night we went to see The Datsuns at the San Francisco Bathhouse and it was a totally hot night, featuring the Dirt Bombs from Detroit as the support band. Once again SFBH did it's thang and offered up a great venue for the punters and although most of them were slightly - well, a lot, younger than me....a great night was had by all....including the Dirt Bombs drummer who hung upside down at the end of the gig and kept drumming while the rest of the band body surfed into the crowd.... ahh yes...rock and roll will never die!.....

Well, no geek talk - just holidays, beaches, swimming and listening to music. Waiheke, Papamoa, Foxton Beach, Breaker Bay...bliss. Back to work creating content for the NZ On Screen project - www.nzonscreen.com nothing there yet, but there will! Hope you all out there had a great xmas and new year and look forward to touching base on the web or face to face out and about...enjoy 2008! over and out...

Well, Chris Knox does it again - attracting an eclectic mix of old and new fans to the Wellington City Gallery to hear his xmas special. I havent got the sound that goes with it but i have some great pics...just working out how to add the whole album but in the meantime here is the maestro...

WIFT again proved it could create a fab night out with all the other guilds and here are the photos to prove it. Note the line up of the ukelele players.... Merry Xmas Everyone ...