Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Kiss Me, You Animal!*

*this has nothing to do with the actual post, I just really enjoy saying it and my friends, family and the Pilot are kind of over hearing it and apparently saying it to Cute Reporter is 'inappropriate' and 'not productive,' to which I say, whatever. (And also I say, please do not fire me, stray blog-reading workmates, hopefully none of whom are Cute Reporter, because that would be awkward. And also I say, speaking of animals, on Oct 30 Pets N Vets in Chch is having a Halloween party and you bring your pet and both of you wear a costume and there is a prize and does anyone want to go with me?)

I'm not really sure I have the post to follow that intro but in a world where Justin Bieber is launching a range of nail polish, what do any of us really have any more? Certainly not the freedom to visit the museum at any time of the month. (Those of us who are ladies. Dudes, you may go to the museum whenever you please, which in my experience is "not very often.") I know this has been splattered over the news like spaghetti sauce on the inside of the microwave, but for those of you living in caves/not New Zealand, we have an exhibit in our national museum that the preggers and the menstruating are not encouraged to visit.

I was going to rant on about that for a while in an uninformed, vaguely femiracist manner but became distracted because I just realised that the 'chef de mission' for something like, say, the Commonwealth Games is not actually a food chef, but the dude in charge. I am not kidding. I did not know that. I have wondered before why the opinion of the NZ team's chef for the Olympics was so important, and always kind of assumed it was because management were too busy to comment on stuff and he was the only guy around. Oh my God, how embarrassing.

...

I'm going to go and sit somewhere peaceful and think hard about my future now, but before I do I'll leave you with this clip of a panda throwing a tantrum. (If you're at work you might want to turn off the volume, although personally I think the overexcited commentary adds to it. Also I embedded it a bit wrong but whatever, it's still panda tantrum time.)

Kiss me, you animal!




10 comments:

Sueann said...

I feel like that panda sometimes!! Where is my tree branch!!??
Hugs
SueAnn

Katie, Interrobangs Anonymous said...

You know, as a museum professional who works with American Indian sacred and funerary objects, I understand where the Te Papa is coming from. We have several rooms of collections where pregnant women are asked not to go at the request of the tribes for the women's safety. In the tribe's eyes, there is medicine (power and spirit) in that room that can harm the women and their children, so it's culturally taboo.

I appreciate the Te Papa's honesty in their policy, and their request that the public be honest as a sign of respect to Maori beliefs.

Andrea Eames said...

The whole thing is really interesting. I would love to hear from someone who has worked in a museum with tapu objects to know if they ever experienced/observed anything strange or inexplicable happening around them. I'm not sure what to think about this debate, really. Am torn.

IT IS ALLY said...

SueAnn - You know, I bet there are trees all round your house. This one is in your hands, lady! Hehehe. Make sure someone takes a video. Actually, maybe I will have (and film) a tantrum of my own!

Katie - Thank you for your comment! Although the policy doesn't sit hugely well with me on a couple of levels, I absolutely see your (and the museum's) point too - which I think is why I didn't go down the road of discussing it - it's just not a topic I know enough about, and I would probably have been insensitive on a number of fronts. Nice to hear from someone who does know about it! (Also the interrobang is my favourite punctuation mark in the world ever, so, you know, ten points to you right there.)

Andrea - Same here. We should ask them.

Gorilla Bananas said...

I'm not kissing any human unless buy me dinner first.

Kat said...

If the exhibit were on public display, then we might have a right to complain, but it's an invitation-only display and full of cultural significance.

It's not my place to argue with other people's cultures. If you go to Dubai, you wear clothes appropriate to the region - a policy which I believe is female-only.

Not only that, but if you ARE pregnant or menstruating, they let you come back at another time.

It's not a pulic display, you can visit the rest of the museum even if you are in labour with your waters breaking on the shaking house exhibit, it's a cultural thing around a very precious Maori collection, and really, people are being pricks suggesting that we force another culture into conforming with what we deem 'right' - what we deem right is simply OUR culture, and it's a bit colonial and backward to think we have the right to push that on anyone else.

I know you shied away from it, and usually I love this blog, but I just feel we need to get over it and let it be.

Also, I love that the word verification for this comment is 'luvin' (true story)

IT IS ALLY said...

Gorilla B - OK. Fair point.

Kat - Yeah, that's exactly why I shied away from it, because I'm not in a position to comment on other people's cultures. I don't even necessarily disagree, I just think it's interesting. Also, there's been a hugely skewed view presented by the media - everyone is up in arms against it - so it's good to hear the other side of the story! My wv is 'edisill' which is not as exciting as luvin. (It is the windowsill of Edward.)

Angela said...

OMG! I totally thought I was the only one who only just realised (about 2 weeks ago for me) the chef de mission isn't really a chef!!!

Shame shared is shame halved :)

Andrea Eames said...

Kat - Ally said that she didn't know the whole story and, accordingly, wasn't going to rant on about it - she was simply mentioning it as an interesting news story. I think you can continue to 'usually love this blog' with confidence. :)

Andrea

Troutie said...

I was so blown away by the Bieber nail polish thing that I didn't consider the more serious aspects of this post. Like the Panda. Sorry. I also have to confess that I had only heard of Bieber and never seen a picture of him. Thanks for your link. I now know who he is. But why is everyone going on about him???? He looks like any other person on the TV. He must make some freakin' amazing nail polish........