Thinking about La Bola Negra

Thinking about: La bola negra 🍿

I went to see “La Bola Negra” - the Black Ball - at the New Zealand International Film Festival. It was one of the closing night films - along with Coward - also an amazing film about which I’ll have more to say.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about “La Bola Negra”. Its epic scope, its amazing cinematography, genuinely moving performances, and a script to die for. But most of all, its relevance to today’s world, where hate and violence towards gay and queer people is once again on the rise. This story out of the Spanish Civil War couldn’t be more relevant, and connects us to the loss and suffering of queer people in that era.

It is so vital that these stories are told and heard. The loss of Lorca and so many other gay and queer people, the literal and figurative burying of their stories, the heartache and violence - all need to be recovered, remembered and drive us to action.

When this movie comes out in cinemas, go and see it. Then think and talk about what it is saying, and act.

Mycenaean Linear B / Pylos Collection

Excited that my collection of books about Mycenaean Linear B and Pylos is now complete. Linear B was the late Bronze Age (c1300–1170 BCE) writing system used by Mycenaean Greek palace kingdoms to record people, obligations and transactions within those kingdoms. It is the earliest form of European writing, subsequently lost after the late Bronze Age collapse (c1177BC).

Linear B was famously deciphered by Michael Ventris, a British Architect, in 1956. This opened up a whole new window on the late Bronze Age world. Amazingly new insights and discoveries continue to be made 70 years later.

The collection now includes:
- Documents in Mycenaean Greek (Ventris & Chadwick, 1956) - the original publication which shared the decipherment with the world. I’m delighted to have an first edition of this.
- Documents in Mycenaean Greek (2nd Edition) (Ventris & Chadwick, 1973) - expanded version published by John Chadwick after Ventris’s untimely death in 1956.
- The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek - Volume 1 and 2 (John Killen (editor) 2024) - includes updated scholarship on Linear B over period from 1973 to today.
- The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia: Volume IV - the Inscribed Documents - Parts 1 and 2 (Bennett, Melena, Nakassis et al 2025) - A full reproduction and transcription of all of the Linear B tablets found at Pylos. The first time these have all been published.
- The Kingdom of Pylos - Warrior Princes of Mycenaean Greece (Stocker, Lyons, Davis & Militsi-Kechagia 2025) - overview of early and middle Bronze archeology of the Kingdom of Pylos. Accompanied an exhibition at the Getty and Hellenic National Museum 2026.
- Individuals and Society in Mycenaean Pylos (Nakassis 2013) - Innovative prosographic analysis of the names found on the tables of Pylos, identifying which relate to the same individuals.
- A Companion to Linear B - Mycenaean Texts and their World (Duhoux & Davies, 2008 - 2014) - 3 Volumes. A series of academic essays on analysis of the Linear B texts found at Pylos, Knossos and other sites.
- The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (Cynthia Shelmerdine (editor) 2008) - provides context for the Linear B texts and late Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece.
- The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (Eric Cline (editor) 2010) - complimentary overview of Aegean Bronze Age.
- The Man Who Deciphered Linear B - the story of Michael Ventris (Andrew Robinson 2002) - story of the decipherment, strongly focused on Michael Ventris.
- The Riddle of the Labyrinth (Margalit Fox 2014) - provides a broader analysis of solving the riddle of Linear B, including the key contribution of Alice Kober, who sadly died in 1950 before full decipherment was achieved.

For more information, see my Library catalog for “Mycenaean”.

‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian’

He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’

Edmund White

Vale Edmund White (1940-2025), prolific, highly talented and sex-positive gay author. His “A Boy’s Own Story” was seminal for many of us in the 1980s. His most recent memoir “The Loves of My Life”, published only this year, is a perfect capstone for a man who loved men, and wrote about them so well.

Pairing this year’s Okham Prize winner for Best Illustrated Non-Fiction, the extraordinary “Toi te Mana - an indigenous history of Māori art” with “65000 years - A Short History of Australian Art”.

#art #indigenous #arthistory #aotearoa #australia #bookclub

New book stand (featuring “Atlas of the New Zealand Wars, Volume 1”)

Hapua Street Anzac history

Local ANZAC history - a selection of write-ups of the stories of those from a small selection of Hataitai streets who participated in the world wars. Placed in the Hapua St bus stop.

A brilliant humanisation of the impact of war on a local community.

#history #localhistory #anzac #wellington #wellingtonnz🇳🇿 #pƍneke #aotearoa

Birthday book haul

Thanks to Mum, Dad, and Bill for the Unity Books vouchers đŸ„°

Today’s mail

Man Alone (John Mulgan)

A Queer History of the United States (Michael Bronski)

Faithbreaker (Hannah Kaner)

At Swim, Two Boys (Jamie O’Neill)

I was this many days old when I realised that this was the origin of the saying “a day without Lesbians is like a day without sunshine”.

Anita Bryant, singer and anti-gay rights crusader, dies aged 84

“Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.”

Seems vaguely relevant.

#book #fallofcivilisation

Cover of “Fall of Civilisations”

Book of the Day - “The Future is History” (Masha Gessen, 2017)

Subtitled “How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia”. A warning we need to heed.

#books #history #booksky #totalitarianism

Glorious day in Pƍneke the day before the hikoi mƍ Te Tiriti hits town.

It’s going to be a fascinating day tomorrow.

Long weekend reading collection. Connected and contrasting themes - history, philosophy, cross-cultural exchange, reflection, and ancient thought.

Larco Museum , Lima PerĂș - www.museolarco.org/en/

First archaeological site in PerĂș - Huaca Pullcana adobe-brick pyramid of the Lima culture (cAD200-700).

Extraordinary dinner at Osaka Nikkei restaurant.

Ramses exhibition at the Australian Museum

Key Lime Pie - from Hƍkio limes. #limes #pie #keylimepie #billhastings #family #familydinner

Key Lime Pie with fresh green lime zest. A box of limes.A slice of Key Lime pie.

Successful book haul from Abbeys Bookshop in central Sydney đŸ“šđŸ›ïžđŸ˜œđŸ˜ł

So many great history books!

(Some pre-planning may have been involved
)

collage showing Abbeys Bookstore and six history books purchased