Arthur C. Clarke Joins the Cosmic Dust

Arthur C. Clarke, writer of the classics 2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, and dozens of novels and short stories, passed away today. It's too bad that during his lifetime he didn't get to experience contact with another alien civilization, as he so desired.

Here are some excerpts from his 2008 "Egogram", reflections on his 90 years, and plans for the future. I love the Rudyard Kipling quotation. Prescient.


EGOGRAM 2008 - Sir Arthur C Clarke

Friends, Earthlings, ETs -- lend me your sensory organs!

I send you greetings and good wishes at the beginning of another year – and we’re getting closer to 2010, 'the year we make contact' (according to the movie 2010: Odyssey Two).

Making contact, or at least receiving some evidence of extra-terrestrial life, was one of three wishes I included in a short video released online in December reflecting on my 90th birthday. I said: “I have always believed that we are not alone in the universe. But we are still waiting for ETs to call us – or give us some kind of a sign. We have no way of guessing when this might happen – I hope sooner rather than later!”

Completing 90 orbits around the sun is a suitable occasion to reflect on how I would like to be remembered. As I said in my birthday reflections video:
“I’ve had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Of all these, I want to be remembered most as a writer – one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.

I find that another English writer has expressed it very well.

So let me end with these words of Rudyard Kipling:

"If I have given you delight
by aught that I have done.
Let me lie quiet in that night
which shall be yours anon;

And for the little, little span
the dead are borne in mind,
seek not to question other than,
the books I leave behind."



Arthur C. Clarke
Childhood's End One of my favourite stories.
Arthur C. Clarke Foundation His projects, philanthropic endeavours, and bio.

Why the "Unborn Victims of Crime" Bill is a bad idea

How did it pass under my radar that Parliament passed Bill C-484 last week, just in time for International Women’s Day? This is big news. This is a big issue. Everyone should be talking about it. I’m not even going to get into the fact that the NDP allowed this to pass, and that Stephane Dion wasn’t even present to offer a “yea” or “nay”. Really, you care that much?

Bill C-484, the so-called “Unborn Victims of Crime Act” is a private member's bill from Conservative MP Ken Epp. Its stated purpose is to change the criminal code to ensure that someone who has harmed/murdered a pregnant woman is also accountable and punishable for the loss of the fetus.

On the surface, this may sound like a good idea. All murder is tragic and disapproved of, but the violent murder of a pregnant woman in particular, a culturally constructed symbol of purity, beauty, and life, is always taken by the public as one of the most abhorred tragedies. Everyone agrees this shouldn't happen, and I'm sure we've all imagined vigilante justice against those calmly arrogant husbands who deliver teary-eyed pleas to news crews, then lead the search party to the body three days later.

It is notable that Epp is an MP from Edmonton Sherwood. Edmonton saw two pregnant women murdered by their partners in the past two years. It is an issue that touches everyone in a community. However, MPs should be pushing preventative measures, not adding more punishment for crimes already committed. I haven't even gotten to the MAIN glaring problem with the bill:

Bill C-484 is a reactionary, anti-choice band-aid that will do NOTHING to curb the occurrence of domestic violence, or stop men from killing their pregnant partners. The Bill directly contravenes the current Supreme Court of Canada ruling that a woman and her fetus are considered “one person.” Not only is it an unproductive paper-based policy, it is sneakily and smugly worded using anti-choice terminology that allows Harper’s government to underhandedly legislate abortion (something Harper has promised not to do) without actually having to go through the process of overtly re-criminalizing it.

This Bill WILL NOT protect women from violence and murder.
It will only allow for loopholes to challenge a woman's constitutional right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy (a pregnancy that often further endangers her if she is in an abusive relationship).

It enforces already existing stratification of victims, adding pregnant/unpregnant to a list that differentiates “high-risk” women (i.e. sex workers), whose bodies currently dot both urban and rural wildernesses, from other women (you’re telling me that living with a violent/abusive man is not high-risk?). We do not need a valuation system that says a murderer should get less time for killing an unpregnant woman.

Before couching protectionism in anti-choice rhetoric, we need solid measures taken
- to ensure that women can escape abusive relationships,
- to ensure restraining orders are taken seriously and enforced,
- to maintain funding of shelters for women and children,
- and to provide resources to social aid workers/physicians, etc, to spot the signs of abuse and prevent the escalation of violence once a woman becomes pregnant (which is often when day-to-day abuse and bullying turns to violence).

Bill C-484 is meaningless without these measures.

(image source Prevention Ads)

“Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.” source

"newseason" net art by Kristy O'Leary

newseason is Kristy O'Leary's latest art piece, located on the web.

The piece is an online environment, based on deconstructed topographic maps, where one can listen to elders from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia reveal their memories of weather and their observations of climate change.

The site itself is a simple, one page affair. Hover your mouse over different parts of the map to activate the voices.


Kristy O'Leary (b. 1977, Perth Ontario, Canada) works in installation, audio, web design and single-channel video. Her work has been exhibited at The Kyber Centre, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery and The Anna Leonowens Gallery. In 2003 Kristy received a degree from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario) in Political Science. She then went on to complete her BFA, Media Arts from NSCAD University in April 2006.

Kristy will be at the Eastern Edge Gallery in NFLD
Saturday March 8th
2-3pm IWD panel
Kristy O'Leary and Kristin Ivey discuss feminist, environmental and new media issues and thematics.

NB next of kin rules relaxed: excellent news for common-law and same-sex couples

The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission announced Monday that all eight regional health authorities have agreed to allow a patient to give the person of their choice the power of attorney for personal care.

This action comes after a human rights complaint was filed in 2003, when a patient's same-sex partner was denied the ability to make decisions on his ill partner's behalf. Until 2000, NB common-law partners were also in the same illogical situation.

With the new process, a member of the NB Health Authority's quality and safety department will visit the patient in person, review the power of attorney, and oversee the signing of the appropriate documents.

It is so affirming to see changes being made that reflect the growing number of people who opt to form relationships outside the defined and legally approved roles.

See full Daily Gleaner article here

keeping up

I haven't written personally on this blog in a while, and thought maybe I'd check in with an update.

On the horizon:

I have invited Canadian art filmmaker Bruce Elder on behalf of the NB Film Co-op's Experimental Film Program to deliver a lecture about his work and filmmaking process. He will be in town on March 27th at Marshall D'Avery Hall 8pm, with films in tow, to talk about his work and:
"Cosmological Themes and New Media Technologies: The Body and The Celestial Dance."

Bruce was one of the recipients of the Governor-General's Award for Visual Arts in 2007, and has an immense body of work starting in 1975. He currently teaches film at Ryerson, and is Director of the Communications and Culture Program.

Bruce Elder's Lecture will be the final one in a series that began in January and included Barbara Sternberg, Andrea Dorfman, and a screening of Canadian Short Experimental Films. The community's response has been so positive, and I'm hoping we can fill the auditorium for our final big event.

Our screening on January 11th included (from CFMDC):
Brakhage, Stan “Mothlight” 4 min.
Brown, Carl “Drop” 4.3 min. 16mm
Daniel, Mary J. “Confessions of a Compulsive Archivist” 7 min. 2004
Gruben, Patricia “Before It Blows” 1997 8.3 min video
Hoffman, Phil “?O, Zoo! (The Making of a Fiction Film)” 23min.
Hoolboom, Mike “in the dark” 8 min.
Mitchell, Allyson “Precious Little Tiny Love” 4.5 min
Pruska-Oldenhof, Izabella “fugitive l(i)ght” 9 min.
Sternberg, Barbara “surfacing” 10 min.

See also Fringe Online, an assortment of Canadian Filmmakers homepages.

Some of other excellent online resources for film art:
Ubu Film (got this bookmarked to Maya Deren...
Video Data Bank
NFB Animation dept.


Having just returned home from the face-creasing but amazing "There Will Be Blood", must add that two of my favourite features of the year were def The Secret Life of Words, Red Road.