In which she turns red for Canterbury
Mar. 18th, 2011 07:22 pmBefore I continue I need to ask: Is this cool or is this an Onion spoof? (I'm voting for option one.)
Anyway. So![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rumpelsnorcack and keieeeye and I arranged to go to the memorial service together, despite mutual dissatisfaction with the excessively Christian (brand=Anglican) trappings. What made this even cooler was the (re)discovery that, like cyphomandra, rumpelsnorcack was also at my friend's sf-themed birthday party last year. I'm coming to the conclusion that almost everyone worth knowing in Christchurch was there. Also I'm looking forward to confusing him again when I casually mention it (or when she does. Whichever of us first mentions it should probably attempt to have a video camera casually running).
Buses weren't as ridiculously packed as one might fear, though it was certainly standing room only. I took a couple of bags full of everything I might possibly need except for sunglasses and sunscreen. (It had been foggy in the morning, and I forgot that foggy mornings this time of year get burned off to bright summery noons.) Fortunately when we got there (and wandered through the park and met up via SMS exchanges)rumpelsnorcack had spotted that there was free sunscreen at some official tents, so I availed myself of some.
Unfortunately I missed a patch. Also I think my tears and tissues may have been responsible for cleaning away these streaks under my eyes. These patches are now fantastically red. (Reading Twitter, sounds like I'm not the only one. Ouch ouch.) Currently applying cold cloth and will in due course add more aloe gel.
At the time, of course, I was blissfully unaware of this. We had (as already intimated) fantastic weather. There were apparently about 30,000 people there (about a 10th of Christchurch's population); it was certainly a great sea of people. But it was well-organised, with many large screens and loudspeakers, and toilets and water stations and St Johns ambulances and the aforementioned sunscreen. There were paths marked on the grass to divide the audience area up so people could get in and out easily.
As to the service, Psalm 23 is a cliche and wasn't even read well. (If anyone reading this has any involvement in organising my funeral, please choose any psalm but that. So boring.) That other cliche, Amazing Grace, was sung nicely but was wildly inappropriate. I feel Amazing Grace makes no sense for any funeral anywhere; I suppose it depends on your brand of theology, but it doesn't really fit the mainstream Christian denominations in New Zealand, and it especially makes no sense when probably the majority of the people being remembered weren't Christian at all. There are so many more songs (and hymns, if you must) that would have suited the occasion better. Whakaaria Mai may admittedly be a bit of a cliche too, but at least it's a New Zealand cliche.
"God Save the Queen" was endearingly old-fashioned. I wonder if Prince William gets sick of hearing it.
The service as a whole wasn't quite as Christian-centric as the programme had made it look, but it was far more so than it should have been. (The rationale was allegedly that 'most' of Christchurch is Christian. I hope the people saying that noticed the stream of people leaving as things got more and more Christian-focused.) Someone's early mention of (paraphrased) "people of various faiths, or of no faith" wasn't I think the best way to phrase that but at least it acknowledged the matter; unfortunately it went downhill rapidly when the person giving the "Reflection" (aka sermon) put it as (again paraphrased) "people of faith or of no faith yet) and went on to "This isn't an altar call but" (something like) "everyone look into your hearts and you'll see this has made you want to be Christian". Seriously, WTF WTF WTF??? <head-desk> Also, I've never felt as weird reciting the Lord's Prayer in my entire life. It just felt wrong.
The 14 minutes before the service proper of footage from the CBD was excellent. Still not as visceral as being there would be (it takes a long time, looking at ruins on camera, to recognise what they used to be, so panning rather than cutting is vital to give viewers sufficient context; the camerawork sometimes recognised this but not enough) but I hope it'll lay to rest at least some of the burgeoning conspiracy theories. (Ah, the 14-minute video is now at TVNZ.) Even more excellent was the "cleanup" montage afterwards - though I laughed when I recognised the music (it's used as the theme tune for the Canterbury rugby team - does someone know what it actually is?), still it is beautiful music and worked perfectly for this: available from TV3 and well worth it. First sustained applause is for the official rescue efforts; second is for the student army; the guy in the orange jacket demoing portaloos etc is the mayor, and his sign interpreter got his own Facebook page; the cricket match (and I presume the rugby match) were, like the various bakesales etc, charity events. A few points, especially the end, show the crowd in the park today.
We left through the park with streams of others. We feared the buses would be utterly packed and impossible to get on, but someone had organised them fantastically well and all went perfectly smoothly. Home past orange cones and fencing and hazard tape, and detours over roadworks and abandoned shops proclaiming "New stock arriving daily" and army cordons that have developed little hardboard shelters since I last saw them.
Anyway. So
rumpelsnorcack and keieeeye and I arranged to go to the memorial service together, despite mutual dissatisfaction with the excessively Christian (brand=Anglican) trappings. What made this even cooler was the (re)discovery that, like cyphomandra, rumpelsnorcack was also at my friend's sf-themed birthday party last year. I'm coming to the conclusion that almost everyone worth knowing in Christchurch was there. Also I'm looking forward to confusing him again when I casually mention it (or when she does. Whichever of us first mentions it should probably attempt to have a video camera casually running).Buses weren't as ridiculously packed as one might fear, though it was certainly standing room only. I took a couple of bags full of everything I might possibly need except for sunglasses and sunscreen. (It had been foggy in the morning, and I forgot that foggy mornings this time of year get burned off to bright summery noons.) Fortunately when we got there (and wandered through the park and met up via SMS exchanges)
rumpelsnorcack had spotted that there was free sunscreen at some official tents, so I availed myself of some.Unfortunately I missed a patch. Also I think my tears and tissues may have been responsible for cleaning away these streaks under my eyes. These patches are now fantastically red. (Reading Twitter, sounds like I'm not the only one. Ouch ouch.) Currently applying cold cloth and will in due course add more aloe gel.
At the time, of course, I was blissfully unaware of this. We had (as already intimated) fantastic weather. There were apparently about 30,000 people there (about a 10th of Christchurch's population); it was certainly a great sea of people. But it was well-organised, with many large screens and loudspeakers, and toilets and water stations and St Johns ambulances and the aforementioned sunscreen. There were paths marked on the grass to divide the audience area up so people could get in and out easily.
As to the service, Psalm 23 is a cliche and wasn't even read well. (If anyone reading this has any involvement in organising my funeral, please choose any psalm but that. So boring.) That other cliche, Amazing Grace, was sung nicely but was wildly inappropriate. I feel Amazing Grace makes no sense for any funeral anywhere; I suppose it depends on your brand of theology, but it doesn't really fit the mainstream Christian denominations in New Zealand, and it especially makes no sense when probably the majority of the people being remembered weren't Christian at all. There are so many more songs (and hymns, if you must) that would have suited the occasion better. Whakaaria Mai may admittedly be a bit of a cliche too, but at least it's a New Zealand cliche.
"God Save the Queen" was endearingly old-fashioned. I wonder if Prince William gets sick of hearing it.
The service as a whole wasn't quite as Christian-centric as the programme had made it look, but it was far more so than it should have been. (The rationale was allegedly that 'most' of Christchurch is Christian. I hope the people saying that noticed the stream of people leaving as things got more and more Christian-focused.) Someone's early mention of (paraphrased) "people of various faiths, or of no faith" wasn't I think the best way to phrase that but at least it acknowledged the matter; unfortunately it went downhill rapidly when the person giving the "Reflection" (aka sermon) put it as (again paraphrased) "people of faith or of no faith yet) and went on to "This isn't an altar call but" (something like) "everyone look into your hearts and you'll see this has made you want to be Christian". Seriously, WTF WTF WTF??? <head-desk> Also, I've never felt as weird reciting the Lord's Prayer in my entire life. It just felt wrong.
The 14 minutes before the service proper of footage from the CBD was excellent. Still not as visceral as being there would be (it takes a long time, looking at ruins on camera, to recognise what they used to be, so panning rather than cutting is vital to give viewers sufficient context; the camerawork sometimes recognised this but not enough) but I hope it'll lay to rest at least some of the burgeoning conspiracy theories. (Ah, the 14-minute video is now at TVNZ.) Even more excellent was the "cleanup" montage afterwards - though I laughed when I recognised the music (it's used as the theme tune for the Canterbury rugby team - does someone know what it actually is?), still it is beautiful music and worked perfectly for this: available from TV3 and well worth it. First sustained applause is for the official rescue efforts; second is for the student army; the guy in the orange jacket demoing portaloos etc is the mayor, and his sign interpreter got his own Facebook page; the cricket match (and I presume the rugby match) were, like the various bakesales etc, charity events. A few points, especially the end, show the crowd in the park today.
We left through the park with streams of others. We feared the buses would be utterly packed and impossible to get on, but someone had organised them fantastically well and all went perfectly smoothly. Home past orange cones and fencing and hazard tape, and detours over roadworks and abandoned shops proclaiming "New stock arriving daily" and army cordons that have developed little hardboard shelters since I last saw them.
