mediatree

embarrassing aunt?

2012-01-16T00:21:00.003Z

Dad remarked the other day that he could tell how busy we - Mrs H and myself - were in preparing to leave the country (on Wednesday coming) by the fact that he'd never known me to be online less, as evidenced by Facebook, Twitter and this blog amongst others. And it's apparently true, as nearly two months have lapsed!

But yes, we're leaving for Niger on Wednesday (18th January.) We've a blog specifically for that on Wordpress.

Anyway, it was my longsuffering Auntie Jane's 50th birthday party on Saturday, and here's an embarrassing video of her as a child. (Apart from the clip 2/3 of the way through in a pram, which is, in fact, my father. But he picked out the clips!)

feverish

2011-11-16T13:46:00.004Z

In preparation for heading away next year, Mrs H and I have both been going through the classic routine of getting all the rights vaccinations up to date. Mrs H got her few outstanding ones in one go; I, on the other hand (a) needed twice as many, and (b) am a big wuss around needles, and so have spaced mine out much more.

Anyway, was back at the GP on Monday for the penultimate round: in this case, a second dose of rabies in the right arm, and a diptheria, tetanus and pertussis jab in the left. Having never had much of a reaction to any jabs before, I was fairly surprised to come down with a heavy dose of something viral that evening. Cue sleepless nights, blown capillaries (a side effect of violently talking into the Great White Telephone throughout a sleepless night...) colossal aches, and sweating for Ireland. This was all a bit of a new experience, and so is pretty intriguing. Apart from the bit where I managed to vertically faceplant a wall yesterday - that was just weird.

48 hours on, it's mostly passed, bar the headaches (and the sweating - in what is at best a fairly cold office, and am down to T-shirt and still feel roasted) but I still find it weird not quite being able to process what people are saying to me...

get a grip

2011-11-03T11:12:00.002Z

Just a quick plug/review of a short book I recently picked up - Get A Grip, published by the ongoing BibleFresh initiative, as a spin-off of a current speaking tour they have travelling Great Britain.

The book collects 17 short articles (500 words or so) from a few notable names in UK evangelicalism, which tackle passages of Christian scripture divided in to two categories: lesser-known ones which may give valuable insight, and all too well-known ones which tackle subjects we might wish weren't in scripture at all. I must admit it was the latter of these which drew me in.

I greatly 'enjoyed' the challenge of tackling genocide in Sunday school whilst still there at the start of the year, and will admit I probably learnt a lot more in preparing that session than the kids probably got from me burbling my way through it. I find an awful lot of good can be found in trying to meet these theological brain-melters head on, and I was intrigued to see how far respected thinkers might go on such matters.

Before purchasing, I asked Krish Kandiah whether he thought the short essays were able to tackle subjects like genocide and corporal punishment. 'Pithy but chunky,' came the reply. It might sound more like a good soup, but I reckon that's actually a pretty good assessment.

They're by no way exhaustive - a few of them come across as they only can, as introductions to a topic. But for the price of a cup of coffee, there's a great range of conversation starters. Plus, the whole thing is built around Bible translation and so £1 from every purchase goes straight to funding work in Burkina Faso.

If you're interested, you can pick up a copy direct from the website. Anyone else come across it yet?

the crudest equations of faith

2011-10-25T12:59:00.003+01:00

Followed a Facebook link down (or up? I can never decide) the garden path to this article by Tim Stanley for the Telegraph, about Richard Dawkins' apparent refusal to debate the theologian William Lane Craig. Whilst it's a pity that Dr Dawkins has declined this particular sparring invite, I can't admit to being too bothered in the grand scheme of things. (If you do like a good argument, I believe the twelve rounds Dr Dawkins went through with Alistair McGrath, author of one of the more useful books I've ever owned is well worth a googling.)

Rather, the reason for blogging about it, dear readers, was this rather succinct observation the author makes:

[We might assume] that [Dawkins] doesn’t understand Christian apologetics, which is why he unintentionally misrepresents Craig’s piece. The most frustrating thing about the New Atheism is that it rarely debates theology on theology's own terms. It approaches metaphor and mysticism as if they were statements of fact to be tested in the laboratory. Worse still, it takes the crudest equations of faith (total submission to an angry sky god) and assumes that they apply to all its believers at all times equally.

Good point, well made?

labels

2011-10-20T10:46:00.005+01:00

I've a long-running, occasionally dipped-in-to discussion with the man-myth-legend Bob about the definitions of things. In life, we don't like labels. I think a major reason for this is because the moment we find one that seems to fit us, we invariably then find ten other people, none of whom we would ever want to have anything to do with, who seem to be appropriating the same label.

Perhaps I'm being harsh here, but then when we have this discussion, it's usually against the backdrop of theological nomenclature. That is, the labels placed on us as members of the worldwide body that comes in the wake of God's ongoing intervention into humanity's history. Reformer, catholic, non-subscribing, presbyterian, anglican, baptist, anabaptist, calvinist, arminian, pentecostal. The list goes on. All of us who belong to the Church in some way or another assume a label, even it's hermit, agnostic, or survivor. It could be argued that none of these are permanent for us; in our meandering journey of discovery, our figurative walk with God, be that left, right, towards or away from, we exist in a constant state of flux between these labels.

I find one I struggle with the most to be 'evangelical'. Hit up Wikipedia and you'll get the four 'key commitments' of the Evangelical movement, born in the British Isles in the mid 18th century:

- 'The need for a personal conversion to the Christian faith';
- A high regard/respect for the authority of the Bible (note that this does not necessarily equivocate to infallibility, but more the notion of biblical inerrancy)
- 'An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the saving death and resurrection of' Jesus Christ, recognised as the Son of God;
- 'Actively expressing and sharing the gospel'

If you're not a God-botherer, then you might well say that sounds broadly like all Christianity. It actually doesn't, but that's a statement for better thinkers than I to tear apart.

But there's a problem. I would strongly identify with those statements. Does that make me an evangelical? It sounds tempting. But you know all those right-wing types in America? Well, they're evangelicals too. They voted for Sarah Palin. I know. Know those churches that seem to exist in a parallel universe from the neighbourhood they're in? They say they're evangelical. The church I grew up in would claim some evangelical types, and there's freemasons on the vestry. Evangelical - really? You still want to be one of those, part of a body that includes Tea Party activists and closet believers and cultish types, churches which spend £30,000 on a new porch when there are kids destroying themselves nearby for the want of someone to actually give them some guidance in life?

But there's a problem with that too, because of course, that's not what the word means. More, like everything it life, it's what we as the people who embody it have become. In many ways, I desperately want to admit to calling myself an evangelical, but the baggage that comes with that (much like calling yourself a Christian) that stymies the words before the make it out of my mouth.

This morning (with a h/t to the Rend Collective's twitter feed) I came across Greg Fromholz attempting to deal with this discussion. It's great to have creative, left-brain thinkers like Greg attempting to deal with this stuff in a way that we normal folk can engage with, so I've shamelessly republished it here. But I'll throw in a heavy plug for his digital book, Liberate Eden which will mess with your head in amazing ways.

--

deserting

2011-10-07T12:23:00.003+01:00

In January, the good Mrs H and I are hoping to head to Niger, West Africa with the mission agency SIM. Which is all very exciting, if also terrifying in equal abundance.

Nonetheless, as I'm going to be working for SIM Niger as a communications coordinator (whilst my dear wife is busy with, y'know, saving people's lives and all that) it would seem to be fairly conceivable that such things should, of course, be documented on a personal level for all and any interested parties to be able to follow our progress.

However, we deemed that as people who would wish to read about that thing may not necessarily also wish to have their minds populated with movie trailers, rants, getting @gmsythftw elected, video production commentary, theological rants and journal publishing (their loss) we've set up a new blog elsewhere.

Desert Hueys - I know, I KNOW, but YOU try and come up with something better - will document our time up to and whilst we are away in Niger. I hereby promise it will be fascinating, if you like that sort of thing.

Over the next couple of months we're going to try and get as much information out as possible, but DH (as I already affectionately think of it as) may be the primary source for up-to-date knowledge. There's also info about signing up for the more "official" updates, and no doubt this humble blog will remain an outlet for all other stuff that ~~my wife won't let me publish in her name~~ appeals to a wider audience.

Thanks to those in the offline world who have already been so supportive, and hopefully online folks may also find their interest piqued by some of the unique and challenging prospects that Niger holds.

the brothers bloom

2011-09-26T12:25:00.003+01:00

Having watched it a couple of weeks ago and being bowled over by its unexpected brilliance, I had been meaning to write a short post to point interested travellers towards the 2008 film The Brothers Bloom. I sodding loved it, as did my good wife - a rare bit of concurrence in itself, and testament to the work in question, if nothing else.

However, on a trip to YouTube to find a trailer to embed - well, it became a reminder that more often than not, the guys who cut trailers can be really, really annoying. Somehow, the committee that came up with this one took something that was more up the Wes Anderson line of aesthetics, and turned it in to Ocean's 13.

I can't really emphasise enough how different the pacing of the actual film is. The narrative clips along at a right old pace - it is a con caper, after all - but the extra beats inserted, particularly after gags (which often just occur without any build-up) are completely absent from this trail. And all the other trails I found in my short browse.

It's pretty much an advertisement for a completely different film, to my mind. I wonder if anyone else seen both and can offer a reaction...

an evolving account

2011-09-05T11:59:00.005+01:00

Had a minor scribbling fit on the train last Friday as I was attempted to formulate my issue with an article which appeared in The Times that day. Friday's paper contained the always readable Eureka science supplement; one thing I like about The Times is that they include things like this.

The lead article in Eureka was promoting Richard Dawkins' new book, The Magic of Reality. The supplement's leader compared it to Ernst Gombrich's magical A Little History Of World, in which the author distilled human history down to a few hundred, child-friendly pages. Dawkin's has attempted to do something similar for fundamental science, which is commendable.

What is maybe not so commendable is his aggressive pushing of his religious beliefs through it, but we'll come to that later.

As is usual with such things, an article in the main paper was tenuously linked to the supplement as a trail. The article in question, written by the excellent Will Pavia, was entitled 'Professor quits because he can't Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,' and can be read in its entirety on the Langaa website. (Fortunately, as the Times paywall prevents linking it up there.)

Pavia reports that Professor John Schneider, of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan (alma mater of Cornelius Van Til, for all you fans of presuppositional apologetics out there - don't worry, I didn't forget you) is to leave his post in the theology department after coauthoring papers 'noting that it was becoming ever harder to maintain that all humans were descended from Adam and Eve.' He goes on to describe the events in detail.

However, this is not what I was making notes about, nor was it what the broader theme of this particular article was. The byline on the article declared "Evangelical Christians are facing a "Galileo moment" over the literal truth of the Bible...' That is, a moment compared to the moment that Galileo singularly proved that the world revolved around the sun, and was not the centre of the universe (which, you may recall, the Vatican did not take too kindly to.) It is seen as a defining turning point as European society began to look beyond the academic church for knowledge, and science became independent of theology. Fair enough.

Pavia indicates that if science proves that the Genesis accounts of creation and the fall are proven to be impossible as literal records, evangelical Christianity will be torn asunder. And this is where I have to step in. Now granted, I probably wouldn't take much issue if that byline I quoted had had an additional word: say, 'American Evangelical Christians are facing a "Galileo moment"...' I have no doubt that, in the battle between Creationism and Evolutionism for the minds of America's classrooms, such a proof would be a body blow for the so-called Christian Right.

But here - well, here on our side of the pond, I'm not so sure. Of course we debate creationism - but being crafty Europeans, we can handle subtext. We don't do shock and reaction so immediately. We like to sit in our cafes, chew on our cheeses, and mull over things a bit more.

(I appreciate the irony of a Northern Irishman writing those words, but bear with me, please. The humourous post about the leaflet that came through our door from the gospel hall is coming later in the week to make up for my apparent blindness.)

So here is what irked me. Ken Ham, President and CEO of the organisation Answers In Genesis, is quoted towards the end of the article. Mr Ham's organisation focuses partiicularly on promoting Young Earth creationism (that is, that the Earth in its entirety is no more than several thousand years old) and, obviously therefore, a completely literal interpretation of Genesis. Being much better read than I, such thinkers can give strong arguments for this, but you can find out about those yourself, dear reader. Mr Ham is quoted reacting to physics lecturer, Karl Giberson.

Giberson, 'who taught physics at Eastern Nazarene College in Boston but eventually felt pressured to leave, said:"It's clear to more thoughtful Christian scholars that Adam and Eve simply can't be historical figures and we have to deal with it. The donors who fund Christian colleges are not always very intellectual. Of course every biology department teaches evolution, and every religion department teaches a literary interpretation of the Bible. They just can't own up to it."'

For what it's worth, I think what Karl Giberson says is about what departments teach is broadly true. Mr Ham also agrees, but does not take well to it.

"'[Answers in Genesis] published a book called Already Compromised, which look at what's being taught. The majority were teaching evolution," Mr Ham said. He described scholars such as Mr Giberson as "wolves in sheep's clothing". He said, "They are undermining the gospel. If Adam and Eve aren't literal, Christianity is totally meaningless. You might as well through the Bible away."'

My apologies to readers of a sensitive nature, but at this point I have heavily underlined and circled that quote in the paper, with a tactfully massive 'WTF?' beside it. And here is why.

Let's set aside the longstanding argument that the Genesis accounts (note the plural, as it can be said chapters 1 and 2 are two separate accounts, and not a continuous narrative) were added as a prologue to the Torah by rabbinical scholars, in an attempt to distill hundreds of years of storytelling and teaching. Whilst worth pointing out, that's an article of it's own right - see the short footnote to this article for more.

As I mentioned, yes - it is damaging to the Creationism drive, particularly Stateside, if Genesis 1-3 can be proven conclusively to be non-historical. But how can Ken Ham claim that this would render Christianity to be "totally meaningless"? For even if the creation is a parable, a fable, an allegorical representation of reality - how does that in any way damage the story of Christ?

I'll give you an example from Biblical theology. Any time a prophet gets started in the old or new testament, things can get a bit... freaky. You get visions of all sorts of things. Four headed beasts. Voices out of nowhere. Heavenly fire. Inexplicable, incredibly powerful, signs and miracles. But take the Revelation of John at the very end of the Christian Bible. In that book, John records a vision he has of heaven, in which Jesus reveals signs to him - of the end of an age, an empire, maybe even the world itself.

Not this sort of description: 'I heard beyond me a loud voice like a trumpet...' (Rev. 1:10); 'I turned around to see...someone like a son of man' (1:12-13); 'His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace' (Rev. 1:15); 'His face was like the sun... (Rev. 1:16). [Italics added.]

It's (pretty much) universally accepted that John did not actually see a vision of Christ with bronze feet, a shiny face, and a voice that sounds like a trumpet. Rather, he is attempted to find some possible way of putting in to words the brillance that he witnessed. He's attempting to describe the indescribable. Augustine of Hippo famously noted that, as God is beyond our understanding, if we can comprehend 'it' fully, then the 'it' in question cannot be God. Thus, in Scripture, John of Patmos, like many Biblical writers, attempts to record his revelation in the best way he can.

And because it is inspired Scripture, we know it is true. It may not be completely literal (though there is literal truth - John had a vision; Jesus spoke to him; He told him things and so on) but it is truth in its entirety.

With me so far? You may see where I'm going with this.

I want to believe in a literal Adam. Of course I do, if it is completely literal, then it means I have a comprehension of one of God's greatest works, and the events that then transpired.

But I fear that this may be another Biblical instance where the true course of what transpired - over a week, over years, over millennia) is so mindblowing, so huge, and so much bigger than we fallen, limited people could even begin to understand the reality of, that God has instead given us this short, inspired text so that we can understand the complete truth instead.

For either way, I would argue the truth of Genesis remains the same. Regardless of exactly how it happens, we people are created in the image of God. But we are fallen, incapable of self-redemption, corrupt and bent on our own self-destructions. One does not have to look at the world long to realise a truth in that. And either way, regardless of Mr Ham's apparent blustering, Christianity is even more meaningful. We 'might as well throw the Bible away'? No, sir, we need to hold on to its core for dear life. Because regardless of how we got 'here', there's only one way out for our sorry souls.

As you can tell, I'm still fairly livid about a 'Christian leader' saying such a thing. He certainly does not represent me.

Here's what I know: like the Ark, like the Lion's Den, like the miracle of feeding the 5000 - after time has ended, after the earth has been consumed by an exploding sun, or destroyed by man ourselves, we will have an opportunity to find out the answer to such things. But you know what? I reckon we probably won't care so much about what will seem fairly trivial, in the light of the glory we might behold.

---///---

Back to Mr Dawkins to finish. Ah, Mr Dawkins. I do think his new book is, in principle, a marvellous idea. As a child, I went through several phases as many boys do: dinosaurs; astronomy; blowing stuff up. Science seems like a world of possibility and cool stuff (long before secondary school sucks all the fun out.) That someone would take the time to try and distill science's myriad, humungous, and most important theories into understandable language is brilliant.

My problem with Dawkins, sadly though, is that you don't just get that. You also get his own personal slant. His preaching, you might say. Now, I've just written what could be construed as a short sermon above - but I would argue I'm fairly open and unashamed about my motivations for doing so. Mr Dawkins, not so much when it comes to aggressively attacking one faith in order to push his own, but under the guise of... well: "Won't somebody think of the children?"

He opens his short article in Eureka with the following: '"Please tell me something I can tell Daddy, which he doesn't already know." The heartfelt plea of this child from Northern Ireland is the more poignant because his father happened to be a devout Christian - as is common in that unfortunate province. What nonsense might this boy have been fed...?'

And later: 'No educated person believes the Adam and Eve myth nowadays...'

Dawkins is crusading against parents who would even consider telling their children about what they believe. I'm all up for children learning about evolution, I am. And I'm not in favour of it being left off the curriculum altogether and replaced with a theology. But why do we have to insist that 'we' know best?

I reckon I am reasonably educated, and I definitely believe the truth of the Genesis accounts, as I've described. I studied sciences and maths for A Level. I was invited along to Scripture Union. I was allowed the opportunity, in this very 'unfortunate province' indeed, to make up my own mind. What more could I ask for?

The problem with the New Atheists is, like the Christian Right, having come to their realisation that their own theologies, or sciences (depending on their choice of words) are absolute and correct, and that therefore all others must be wrong, they then set forth to attempt to disprove, laugh off, and wipe the other off the face of the Earth. And one is as bad as the other.

In my line of work, it's considered a weakness to ever admit that you don't know something. Just say you can do it, and then figure it out afterwards. For the most part, that's ok - we all grow through it. But life should not be the same.

When it did become not OK to just admit: "I don't know the answer?"

We'll find out afterwards, anyway.

telling the truth?

2011-08-24T15:14:00.004+01:00

As the summer begins to draw to a close, Issue Four of The Lawkit hit 'the shelves' of the internet today. Initially I had decided not to contribute, but ended up with something wholly suitable more or less by accident. (A blog post which was far too long, essentially.)

I chose to write in this issue about narrative and storytelling, and the crucial role I believe it plays in humanity's essence. Funnily enough, I was about to write a few lines here about something completely different, but an obvious link was prompted in my mind.

I'm currently up in the tower, cutting away at footage from Monday's Refresh Belfast event in the Black Box - an event that went almost went pretty flawlessly. I'm pleased with how the raw footage looks (believe me, I would not mention it, even in this small corner of the internet, if I wasn't, and particularly not pre-release).

However, gremlins do rear their head; though freshly charged and thoroughly tested, the speaker's nifty headset mic decided to fall over half-way through. Not a problem, as we had a spare beside him, ready to go - barely a stumble in the live sense.

However, in the video and out of that context, I'm presented with an editing dilemma. Here's the sequence of events: speaker pauses; begins to make his next point; mic crackles a bit and dies; speaker looks a little confused; speaker is handed a fresh mic; speaker continues, more or less exactly where he left off.

The obvious thing is just to cut the incident out completely, right? And join up the two ends? But this is where my loyalty to narrative kicks in.

Crucially, in a visual sense, things have changed: the speaker now has a mic in his hand, and is seated in a slightly different position. There's no match cut; instead, there's a fairly clear jump in positions which jars. So whilst you don't lose anything content wise - there's nothing to lose - something is different.

My inclination in these situations has become to leave the incident in - to inform the viewer why things have changed. (See, for example, the mildly infamous 'Chris groping Tim Van Damme' moment from Build last year - and it wasn't even our equipment he was fixing!) This may seem unnecessary. However, I feel it actually helps with the 'story' that's being told. Rather than a viewer spending a couple of minutes puzzled by the jump cut, and thereby potentially being distracted from the narrative that's being told, they walk through alongside the teller. No confusion, no distraction - just a little incident, right?

---

a forfey postcard

2011-08-09T14:37:00.003+01:00

Featuring a sign, some sunflowers, the cows, a load of tents, Adam Currie and his Yaschia 635, wellies, microphones, More Than Conquerors, Farriers, Wondervillains, Rams' Pocket Radio, a brace of trout, printing, Andy and Old Toby, a crowd, Kasper Rosa, Katie & The Carnival, Duke Special Jr. looking a bit lost, an important sign, some umbrellas, a lot of rain, Feldberg, an interesting choice of headgear, Simon Newell's epic boatmaking skills (tested by Kerry), a double rainbow, a barbeque (before and after), a kid dressed as Spiderman (look carefully), a hipster racoon, a literally knees-up, Master & Dog, Daithí Ó Drónaí, a nice candle, Captain Cameron, and Tim Doak looking slightly bemused at Matt's big head.

dinosaur office

2011-08-01T15:07:00.001+01:00

(h/t to @todaysbigthing)

call for support

2011-07-29T10:08:00.004+01:00

Just had a slightly unusual bit of cold calling - from Tearfund. Or rather, a telesales agency working "on behalf" of Tearfund.

But keep that righteous indignation in check for a minute. Though clearly reading from a script for most of the call, the polite (and noticeably, less aggressive than is typical) lady on the other end did not deliver the usual telesales jargon. She finished the call with:

"Just to make clear, I am working for a company engaged by Tearfund for fundraising, and though we are being paid £24,000 for this contract, Tearfund hope to make £270,000 over the next four years from these commitments."

I did not ask for this information, and it left me with a very different impression than I had, say, mid-call. As an irregular Tearfund supporter, I appreciate being an obvious port of call when the time comes for an appeal, and remain interested in what is going on even if I choose not to support them in this way. For that reason, I listened to her entire pitch before responding (rather than interrupting and ending the call straight away, as I would if she were selling windows/insurance/phones/hovercraft/whatever).

And it leaves an interesting discourse to my mind. I am generally divided over how charities should spend their money. On one hand, I love the fact that some, such as charity:water, guarantee that 100% of public donations go to the causes advertised, committing to pay for admin/operational costs through corporate sponsorship.

On the other hand, for the majority this just isn't possible; as Mrs H and I continue to build towards the potential of a year away next year, I'm only too aware that we will ourselves need to fundraise to cover some of the costs of our missional efforts.

Is it admirable that Tearfund are investing money donated to them in this way, and being so upfront about it? I rather think it might be. But I wonder if others may be miffed that their gifts and donations have not gone straight to the third world. We humans are funny like that.

back to the grind

2011-07-26T09:51:00.004+01:00

Back in Box42 HQ after a couple of (long) weeks on the road this week; between Summer Madness and New Wine, an awful lot of sleep has gone missing somewhere!

In fact, even though we got back from NWI over a week ago, I'm still recovering. So rather than a lengthly discourse on good times had, here's Story House's cracking video from SM of Rend Collective hammering out their new version of a much-loved hymn. (Which we, of course, contributed to - a whole tripod... where's our royalties, Chris?)

award! award!

2011-06-23T14:15:00.002+01:00

It's not quite a Golden Cleric, but to some amusement, the Valley of Angels team sidled out of the Bangor Business Awards on Monday night past as recipients of the Best Creative Industries Award.

There's a bit of explaining required here. The inaugural Valley of Angels festival took place in Bangor, Co. Down, at the start of May. There's a lovely website which can explain a lot more about it in particular, and is worth your time for the music videos alone. But then I would say that, as I put them together,

The festival, conceived by audio overlord Les Hume (of EMS Audio and Dawson's Music, both in Bangor) was hauled into shape in as little as two months. For us (that is, Box42) Andrew and myself got stuck in as well to try and cover as much promotional and technical ground as possible. The resulting weekend went well, and all were very pleased.

However, it was only as yer man off the radio was reading out the judge's (admittedly blown-up) comments at the awards on Monday night that I really sat back and realised just how much had been achieved in the first year. For a start, this wasn't just a music festival - we had arts (the Firsty? Pop-Up Exhibition), schools involved (colour-in competition!) massive engagement from local churches (including Psalmody and the set-piece closing event, where Iain Archer, Captain Cameron et al sent spine-tingling waves throughout the unique, epic confines of Bangor Parish). Not to mention the ice-cream eating contest, or the guided tours, or the visit to the Avalon guitar factory, and so on and so on...

Turns out, we did ok. And more importantly, Bangor seems to want more. It'll be great to see where the Valley of Angels goes next.

at first he died... now, he dead!

2011-06-15T11:43:00.002+01:00

Reginald D. Hunter was on BBC Breakfast this morning. He funny.

death and dying: terry pratchett's choosing to die

2011-06-14T09:32:00.004+01:00

Across the media this morning, folks are talking, writing and blogging reactions to Sir Terry Pratchett's documentary which aired on BBC2 last night (Monday 13th June.) However, I feel like adding my insignificant two cents, as it is a subject which has always had a profound effect.

Sir Terry, himself suffering the onset of Alzheimer's disease, is personally conflicted. On one hand, he is in favour of the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK. On the other, on travelling to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, he does not see it as a black and white issue.

Terry Pratchett is to me, as to many, a literary and creative hero and inspiration, and this was an compelling piece of film making. Really, you might ask? Well, for example, I believe this could have been a very one sided programme. But rather, I felt that, although he himself clearly had an agenda in making it, the documentary gave a strong voice to both sides of the debate around the morality of assisted suicide. Sir Terry spoke about the horrors of covering suicide as a journalist, and how repulsive he had found it; how he would not wish such an ending on anyone. His PA, Rob, clearly expressed how difficult he found the idea; though loyal to his employer and friend, he came across as strongly opposed to the notion, voicing a clear moral opposition, and from a secular standpoint.

And yet Sir Terry was, himself, exploring and considering his own desire to choose how he should die. Clearly fearful of the loss of his capacity to communicate in particular, he expressed his wish to set and predestine his death. He met others in similar situations; in particular, the charismatic and gentlemanly Peter Smedley, whose death it was which was aired at the climax of last night's programme. In his seventies and beginning to suffer the severe onset of motor neurone disease, he had chosen to complete the Dignitas procedure: we watched as he was examined over the course of a week to ensure that he was capable of making such a decision for himself; as he was asked, repeatedly, if he was sure that he did not want to leave and go back home; and, at the last, as he was allowed to take the two 'medicines' required, and slowly slipped off into a deep sleep as his body was prevented from respirating by the concoction. It was

I don't wish to spend time giving a full airing to both sides of the debate; much of the BBC's airtime on radio and television this AM is dedicated to that, and I commend them for it. (Even Stephen Nolan is currently presenting what is actually a balanced debate on the subject, which must be a first for him.)

But from my own perspective, I struggle greatly with assisted suicide. Dignitas's founder was convinced by the UN Convention on Human Rights that people do indeed deserve to choose how they die: after all, that charter enshrines Article 8: The Right To Self-Determination into law. I then realise that my personal faith contradicts this: in one sense, I have no conflict over the issue, as I do not believe that the moment at which I die is my decision to make, but rather that of the God who made me. And yet even in that, it is not a simple, harsh point to be made.

Most of us have met or know someone who passed away, seemingly confident that they were 'ready to die'. At the funeral of the grandmother of a close friend a few years ago, it was clearly articulated that she had felt she was ready to die for years, as she had suffered a lot of physical pain and exhaustion in later life. Our response to this is one of appreciation: we do not question her statement. And yet we would not offer her the opportunity to decide to do just that prematurely.

There was a fascinating moment last night when Terry Pratchett spoke to a doctor, who was employed by Dignitas to assess the mental capability of clients to make their own decisions. If she had said no, for example, Peter Smedley would not have been allowed to access the toxins required to kill himself. This is reasonably common practice across Western Europe, where in many countries assisted suicide is legal in certain situations. And yet this same doctor articulated that she could never actually administer a lethal dose herself, and that she would be completely morally opposed to it.

Rob, Sir Terry's assistant, kept coming back to his point that as clients at Dignitas had to be mentally and physically capable of kiling themselves, they were therefore all in situations where they usually had many years left to live. Surely, he insisted, did they not want to live those years? When Andrew, a 42 year old man with heavy MS, spoke the day he died of still wanting to explore parts of Zurich, where he had only just arrived, Rob blurted out, "Well, let's go then! Let's go see these places tomorrow," Andrew merely shook his head, resigned to the decision he had made to take his own life instead.

I fear death. I don't think I fear anything as much. That may sound hypocritical from someone who increasingly bangs on about a God so much, but it is nonetheless true. And of all the possibilities for my later years (assuming that I get that far) I don't believe I fear anything more that a death plagued by Alzheimer's, dementia or similar. I feel I would rather be physically incapacitated, but still have my mind, than the other way around. And so I appreciate greatly that a relief, any relief, even the starkest, from this is so tempting for someone in Sir Terry's situation, or in that of any of those featured last night. And yet I know that regardless, with or without faith, I thoroughly believe that we should squeeze as much out of this life as possible. But I cannot currently imagine ever saying I would be 'ready to die'.

And I fear greatly for some of those who would. It was very telling, as Rob told us in last night's show, that according to Wikipedia,

'21% of people receiving assisted dying in Dignitas do not have a terminal or progressive illness, but rather "weariness of life".'

Having known some who have attempted to take their own lives in the past, and often the regret they express afterwards, or the battles with depression others have faced, I am terrified of this possibility being available to anyone.

I fear that this is a debate which is growing. I have some confidence that, certainly in my lifetime, some form at least of assisted suicide will be legalised in the UK. I do not know how I will face it if I ever encounter it amongst anyone I know. I am 99.5% against, for moral, spiritual and practical reasons. And yet that 0.5% of pain remains, as my heart goes out to those faced with the possibility of ending their own suffering. We owe it to ourselves to deal with dying better.

In truth, if you or I am opposed to assisted suicide so strongly, we need to make our case: not in words or statements or even articles of religion, but in comforting, in dedication, and in sympathy for those how suffer. How far we are, as a society, from being able to do that, I can only begin to imagine. The vulnerable and the suffering need a reason to keep living, and only we, their fellow humans, can show it to them.

---

and the rains came

2011-06-02T15:36:00.004+01:00

A couple of weekends ago, a bunch of lads went for a stroll up some big hills in Co. Down. What ensued was an awful lot of being battered and drenched by the elements. But surprisingly, spirits were high throughout the day, night and following morning until we strolled back down again.

Anyway, one of the minor miracles involved was that we managed to navigate our way up and down a new route, despite visibility dropping to... well, very little in places. It's also hard to keep an eye on a (non-existent) horizon when you're struggling just to stay on your feet. So, for the benefit of the other gents, I took a moment the next day to sketch out the route we took. (Original map courtesy of HM The Queen and suchlike, reproduced without permission because she surely wouldn't mind.)

Mr Jonathan Kirk compiled a small Facebook photo album, but you may need to befriend him in order to see it.

rod liddle and smug humanists

2011-06-01T12:57:00.002+01:00

Whilst no saint himself, I greatly enjoyed Rod Liddle's column in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago.

On the morning after the apolocalypse was predicted to have occurred, Rod's commented on the events surrounding Harold Camping's failed prediction of armageddon. He may have made a couple of disputable points, which are only to be expected: "Yesterday was supposedly the date of the Rapture... according to millions of born-again Christians across the globe..." Errr, no actually, just a highly misled old man from the States and his - albeit large - band of followers. However, his tempered vitriol is reserved for those who sneer from the other side of faith's Great Divide.

I've taken the liberty of transcribing a large portion of his column: obviously, none of it is my own.

Armageddon and smug humanists: as awful as each other

"It will be a slight disappointment to me if yesterday wasn't actually the end of the world, frankly. It would at least wipe the smile off the faces of those jeering humanists who are busy organising ironic pre-Rapture parties. I suppose schadenfreude and spite are poor reasons to yearn for the utter and complete destruction of mankind, but I cannot help myself. I want to watch the look on Dawkins's face when a giant hand comes down and pokes him in the eye, booming, 'Bad call, science boy.'

"There is something insufferably arrogant and aloof about humanism, its presumption that we represent the bes that there is to offer, that there is nothing more powerful than us. Most of the humanists holding parties over the weekend probably still have the trestle tables left over from their hilariously ironic Not The Royal Wedding street parties, and probably some fo the food too (hummus, I would guess... and organic pitta bread.)

"Dig beneath the surface and you'll find that a fair few of the also believe the end of the world is coming, maybe 30 years or so in the future, the consequence of another foreseen Rature, global warming, with its terrible herald of forlorn-looking polar bears marooned on melting icebergs. Floods, famine, pestilence, drought - the prophecies of the global warming movement's militant wing all have an agreeably biblical ring about them, don't you think?

"One way or another there is something inside many of us that yearns for annihilation and is convinced that it is indeed coming very soon, if only the ignorant masses would listen. I suppose it is a form of narcissism, that we have been singled out for special treatment either because of our own piety, in the case of the evangelical Christians, or the ignorance of others, in the case of the global warming millennialists."

Indeed.

appetite for destruction

2011-05-18T16:44:00.003+01:00

Permit me a short rant.

Lovers of Patrick: The Movie will remember the Patmobile - which, R plates and all, was in fact the Ford Escort Osprey I inherited from the Old Man (he of 60's public indency fame). It was clapped out, it had 235,000 on the clock, and after the water pump went it sat in my mother's yard for a year. As she prepared to up sticks last October, the end was nigh.

So I found a local breaker, and send it off for destruction. I asked if I needed to do notify anyone, and was assured it was all in hand. And, I'll admit, I left it at that.

But apparently, I should have notified the DVA of such things. Which makes sense when you think about it, but I did not. I guess in the same way that, upon buying a car, the new possessor is obliged to fill out the page in the log book and send if off, I assumed that the folks who took the Escort away would do the same. They did not.

And may I add - completing an Out Of Court Settlement with a Visa Debit card just seems wrong.

thank you for giving

2011-05-16T11:21:00.003+01:00

Over the weekend, Mrs H and myself finally managed to organise a particularly special delivery.

Upon getting hitched nearly three months ago, we had decided to nominate a particular cause, rather than setting a wedding list. The cause in question was SIM's (Serving In Mission) Hospital in Galmi, Niger, where Ruth had served as an STA in 2008 and 2009. A quick refresher of a few of Niger facts:

- Niger is in central West Africa;
- It is the third least developed country in the world;
- Its main (and frequently, only) export is uranium;
- It is about twice the size of the US state of Texas, is 88% desert;
- it has a recent history of civil war and insurrection.

Fun times. But despite all of that, Ruth found Niger an truly wonderful and awesome place. As is often the case, behind a few hairy facts lies a welcoming, if harsh, place. In particular, the rural (i.e. it's in the desert) hospital at Galmi is crucial in many ways. For a huge swathe of the country it offers the only real medical support, particularly for any kind of specialist care. Moreover, as a hospital with a strongly Christian ethos, it can provide a level of compassionate care the few others can ill afford, and is able to bring in international doctors to help out.

But to the golden envelope. The point of this post is to say that thanks to the overwhelmingly generous donations of family and friends to mark our wedding, we have been able to give in excess of £2000 directly to Galmi. A fantastic total from some fantastic people, and we would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to all who gave in any way.

So thank you for giving.

lawkit: issue one available now

2011-04-13T12:07:00.004+01:00

From today, you can download or view your own personal copy of the Lawkit from the shiny new (minimalist) website.

It's deliberately published as a PDF. The layout is minimalist but key. This isn't a blog. It's not a cobbled together list of bullet points. Lawkit is centred on the written content, and it is given priority on every page.

I'll be blunt - I'm spectacularly proud of those who contributed effort to the launch issue. Ever since I appealed for contributions a little over a fortnight ago (the lawkit: a call to arms, March 22nd), more than enough people stepped up to the plate, each not really fully knowing what they were getting themselves in to but more than happy to be a part of it.

And what a result. I'm not going to give much away here, but despite having read, re-read and edited all the text content previously, I still sat down for a full read-through this morning and was still gobsmacked. And so, a few thanks to the contributors for Issue One: Andrew Neill, who was first to submit; Jonny Kirk, who produced a piece with exactly the tone we've come to expect from his writing, and on a subject dearly close to his heart which shines throughout; the indefatigable Graeme Smyth, who applied his unique style to great effect (if you know GS, then you will find reading him akin to listening to him pontificating splendidly); and Matt Gamble, who's article was, I'll admit, an easy choice for the front cover - and which, the first time he recounted the anecdote to me, completely blew me away.

And of course, the biggest thanks go to David Lowry, frequently of this parish, for pulling it all together, not to mention hosting the blooming thing. Top notch.

OF COURSE, this is just the start. Now we've done One, we must do Two. And anyone can contribute. See the back couple of pages of the current issue for the necessary information - there's not much to it!

Most of all - please enjoy. This is (hopefully) just the beginning.

nearly there

2011-04-07T11:13:00.003+01:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks, mostly spent working on three separate projects, both in and out of work.

First things first: no, the first issue of the Lawkit is not online. (As you can see.) But it will be soon. Very pleased and excited with the way things have progressed; the text and contents are set, just a few graphical tweaks remain.

Another website still under work, but with much more to look at already, is for the Valley of Angels festival in Bangor next month. It's a fairly unique proposition - bringing together a diverse set of musicians and artists for a mixture of either free or very cheap events in some interesting venues... my pick of the events announced so far are the Avalon Guitars factory tour and the Centre Stage event in the Flagship Centre, both of which are free in. There's also an obscenely large prize in the busking competition on the Saturday. It'll be worth keeping an eye for the Knights In The Round gig, which the line-up has not yet been officially unveiled for. (It's a good one, trust me.)

Of course, though it's great to be so heavily involved in something, I am somewhat gutted that the same weekend sees the quiet visit of Kate Rusby to Belfast as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. Having never been able to see Kate live, I would probably have sold my granny to have been there anyway. (In fact, I've just spotted the evening gig is sold out already. There's an afternoon one though.) Kate is, quiet rightly, the first lady of folk music, and an unmissable talent.

Finally, there's an election on - and d'workplace has been no exception when it comes to getting involved. We've got on board with Stratagem to ask some of the biggest observers in Northern Ireland for their thoughts on the past and present of the NI Assembly. The first episode is due online tomorrow - watch d'twitter for that one, no doubt.

the lawkit contributor's guide

2011-03-23T11:20:00.007Z

Further to the previous introduction (and as self-elected editor-in-chief) I've taken the liberty of drawing up a few guidelines. Now, traditionally a publication's style guide sets out their rules for language, grammar, formatting and so on. This post is not one of those.

Rather, I want to offer a context and some parameters, which should assist potential contributors in understanding the tone we're going for. In terms of the practical elements of formatting, I'm largely happy to satisfy the English teacher part of me in correcting the small things. The important thing here is to get across the potential style of the publication itself.

I should also mention that some of the ideas here were inspired by this excellent article on A List Apart by Erin Kissane, which the ever-pedantic @djlowry was kind enough to draw my attention to.

THE LAWKIT CONTRIBUTOR'S GUIDE

- Apparently, you should never read a book by its cover. However, you can tell a lot about the tone of a publication on first look - that's the point of marketing. To that end, the mock-up shown here gives a fair idea of the sort of style currently in the works. Minimalist but striking, letting the content do the talking. I've come up with some multi-coloured nightmares over the last while as I've been thinking about this, but after the epiphany that was the name, the style wrote itself.

- Lawkit should read like a collection of well-written blog posts. Think of your favourite online articles. What makes them so readable?

- The best way to pin down your subject matter is to start with our subject list. To complete an issue, I'd like to gather articles which collectively cover the majority of these. (Potentially, the blog would note which topics were already "taken" for each issue as well.) Currently, the list is:

Politics
Technology
Outdoors
Film
Music
Faith
Science
Sport
Gadgets
Life

- What's the point of Lawkit? It's about Life As We Know It. It's about sharing knowledge. But you don't have to be an expert to write on something, as long as you are interested in it - because if you are interested in something, you'll be interested in telling others about it. To that end, don't try to argue a point you don't believe in.

- Knowledge is king, but knowledge can also be useful. Able to write a How-To guide for something? Then do it.

- Don't be afraid to be specific or niche.

- Be clear about your subject from the start: 500 words and no waffle is highly preferable to 1500 with - and it'll get cut anyway. Slaughter your babies - omit needless content or someone else will.

- If you only have twenty minutes to bang out something, go for it all the same.

- So knowledge is king, but clarity is Grand High Poobah; you can speak a bit academically and still stay accessible to the casual expert. There's nothing more irritating than being obtuse for the sake of it, and you know it.

- This isn't to sell stuff (yet.) So don't do it - unless you're willing to give something in return for advertising (in which case, let's talk.) That said, if you're involved in something that you feel people might like to hear about, please tell us.

Got all that? Then get scribbling.

the lawkit: a call to arms

2011-03-22T15:41:00.004Z

Interested in writing - about anything at all?

Two weeks ago (in Carried Along, March 10th 2011) I mentioned a desire to write more. It's been bugging me since.

When I was at school, I pestered a teacher to let me publish a newsletter aimed at our SU. The idea was I'd gather up three or four people every now and again and get them to write something meaningful. Then I'd pull it altogether in a Microsoft Word template, slap in some clip art, and get it photocopied en mass. It would be a bit of reading material for the bus home, would cost nothing to produce, and would maybe even offer a pause for thought.

Then, second or third issue in, the whole thing nearly got pulled after, for badness, I wrote a lengthly editorial questioning seven day creationism (which came straight after a lovely mild-mannered contribution from our headmaster.) I was harangued by a few peers, clearly distressed at my ability to think independently.... no, I'm winding. Although, encouraging, the aforementioned teacher grinned mildly and let me carrying on publishing for the best part of two years.

I have never lost the hunger for writing or editing. Although I ended up focusing on directing photography and editing, my initial drive for studying film at degree level was to write. One of the best parts of studying the day release couse this year has been the chance to write. And so, in the kind of epiphany one can only have spacing out in a lecture (no reflection on the lecture itself, mind) I had an idea, and the Lawkit was conceived.

The idea is to publish, initially online, a journal featuring concise-ish articles about Life As We Know It (hence, Lawkit). I'm looking for articles, reviews, thoughts, testimonials, essays, whatever. And they can be about anything...

...as long as you are passionate about it. For example: politics, entertainment, music, film, science, technology, faith, life, mild musings - whatever. 300-3000 words on something you think is important. Maybe something you hate. Maybe something you think others should find out about. It could be something you write in a few minutes or a few hours. It could be "Why You Don't Need An iPad to Function." Or "Why People Should Care More About Sheep." Or even "Why University is Pointless." How about "Why Lionel Messi is Just a Poor Man's Andrei Kanchelskis." Tell me.

Now, Google Analytics tells me a fair number of people are still reading this blog several years on. I even have a notion who a few of you are. And any of you could write something. The presentation won't be smashing - I'm not claiming much talent as a graphic designer at all - but if there's one thing I've learnt in life, it's that everyone has something to say. And with a little effort, we can collectively get it to an interested audience.

Tweet me @mediatree, or e-mail me for more info. Let's make it happen.

---

EDIT: Read the Lawkit Contributor's Guide for more inspiration.

---

love wins?

2011-03-16T16:52:00.004Z

Only a short discourse here, as I'm not going to tempt fate by saying much on the topic (or for that matter, showing my hand much.) So Love Wins is out Stateside, soon to come here. Pastor Rob Bell, known best this side of the pond for that friend of the youth-worker-at-a-loose-end, the Nooma series of short videos, has finally done the rounds on the national press, plus the launch interview, to put forth his argument, and in doing so attempt to enter dialogue with the huge swell of criticism that has come his way over the last few weeks. (Interestingly, when I went to link to it on Amazon.co.uk, I found that the UK edition of the book has a completely different cover and subtitle. It's still published by Harper but under the HarperCollins label, and not HarperOne as in the USA.)

Of course, I say dialogue, but he remains suitably vague as ever. (Not an un-Christlike quality, I should hasten to add, but that is in no way to compare Rob with Christ!) And I say criticism, but, in classic conservative American style, that would be putting it politely.

I don't want to agree or disagree with Rob Bell's theology: firstly, as I haven't read Love Wins yet, but probably will at some point soon; and secondly, because of my firmly held belief in the conversational nature of theology.

That is to say, I firmly hold that, in the same way to rule on a case, a court must hear arguments and evidence from all sides concerned, I believe that if we want to try and discern the true nature and purposes of God, we must spend - quite literally - our lifetimes trying to discover them. Like it or not, it is not often disputed that the Bible cannot comprehensively provide to us a full picture of God. It just can't physically fit in. The Bible is snapshot - the trinity is not, as some might seem to hold at time, the Father, Son and Holy Bible. Only from God's own self-revelation can we try and behold His glory.

(That sounded very evangelical. My apologies. Time to get back on track.)

I'll say one thing. I was very, very disappointed in the now-infamous John Piper tweet. You can be damn sure Jesus wouldn't have made that quip. Piper is a great theologian and teacher, but you can't account for a very human case of the headstaggers I guess. Put me right off my quest for more gelato for at least thirty seconds.

Here is my real point though, and it has troubled me for the past couple of weeks. I have no doubt that there's the possibility of cavalier attitudes going on in Bell's latest discussion. I lend some credit to Mark Driscoll for his explanation as to his symbolic departure from the Emergent Church circle - that, although there is value in asking doctrine-shaking big questions, there is a point which you should not pass, Biblical truths that are axiomatic. I would dismiss the extreme of American conservative Christianity in its criticism, because of course as Europeans we are above that level of knuckle-dragging thinking. (US readers please note: this is what we older nations call "humour". Spelt correctly too, mind.) But I would question that the same neo-Calvinists, and in particular the Gospel Coalition style folks who have been especially voracious in their opposition. And this is why.

The typical position for the criticism has been that Bell is heretical. That he is wrong. I don't mind that. But how do you, dear critic, know he is wrong? And this is the crux of what bothers me. Those who are most famously criticising the likes of Bell, McLaren, Campolo et al on their theology speak from the position of this troubling statement:

Because if you disagree with what I am saying, then you disagree with God.

That's it. End of discussion.

But what position does this place the speaker in? Are those critics claiming to have the complete definition of God's character? Perhaps they would argue that the only knowledge they need for these arguments are those axiomatic truths we just referred to, those obvious Biblical facts that are so fundamental to the Christian faith, they cannot be questioned. Perhaps. But I wonder.

Anyway, I'm done. Kevin DeYoung has posted the definitive Gospel Coalition review of the book online today. However, for balance - and I would strongly urge you to take a few minutes to read this - Prof. Eric Kaitan has written a short essay articulating, amongst other things, a similar idea to what I have tried to put forth, and some Biblical questions to consider when approaching Bell's controversial work.

Will faith overcome in all this? I doubt it in terms of the debate. But thankfully, I don't think God is too bothered by our quabbling. Mercifully, regardless of the holes we dig ourselves in to, Love does, in the end, Win whether we realise it or not.

keep on rocking?

2011-03-15T16:23:00.003Z

I was a Guitar Hero addict for a while. You know the type (certainly, if you were at my stag do, this is DEFINITELY going to resound with you.) After a while, I don't just play. I go nuts, jumping and throwing shapes and generally doing my best possible uncoordinated-white-boy-thang. And whilst recent games have not matched the initial euphoria, and have resulted in the axing of the Guitar Hero series, today's announcement from Ubisoft has got me a little a-quiver.

You see, Ubisoft's Rocksmith game takes it all to a whole new level - because you can use your actual guitar to play actual music.

My mind has just interrupted me here and said, yes - and if you got a band together again you could do this with actual people...

But that's not the point. Guitar Hero and Rock Band, among other things, introduced an awful lot of people to some awfully good music. And whilst the quality of track selection in the last few games has been increasingly poor, I will forever cherish pushing Paul Reddan around his living room to Welcome to the Jungle and Killing In The Name, hammering multi-coloured plastic buttons into Kingdom Come. So to restore that kind of experience, and to be able to plug in my own (lefty!) Strat to do it...

..it'll either be brilliant, or completely pants.

carried along

2011-03-10T15:36:00.004Z

We got married a fortnight ago, and it's been understandably crazy since. In the midst of it all (it's still going on in it's own way, to a certain extent) I've been sitting working to try and finish off a paper on the theology of work. Ironically, much of this has been done today in the Box42 office, the most peaceful place I could find to work as my coworkers are both out and about. And a pleasant distraction from that, for the five minutes I'm allowing myself, is to contemplate writing topics for the future.

Whilst we were away in Florence for a pretty fantastic honeymoon (even managed to get to the Odeon Firenze twice - The King's Speech in a cavernous theatre was quite brilliant) one of the topics of conversation was writing. I am a big writer, scribbler, whatever. I would believe that the vast majority of it is absolute pap, which is conveyed somewhat in the fact that my blogging, for example, is less than frequent - keeping to a regular one a week for the last few months has been struggle enough. Not, I suppose, that there wasn't anything to share, but rather my usual terror that it's nothing but psychobabble. Which, if you were to spend a couple of moments in our office, listening to me mumble my way through the narration of a morning's e-mails, for example, you would probably appreciate all the more.

But I do love to write. And so, whilst getting carried along by all the palaver of the last few weeks, I am starting to slump down the other side and considering making one of the aspects of this new chapter.... to write.

But what... to write?

doctrine #7 - freedom

2011-02-02T18:09:00.003Z

Editor's note: was tempted for this week's post to be the "I'm getting married and you're all invited..." post. But I'm going to save that for a few days. But I am and you are. And if you hunt for a whole two or three clicks, you can find the other website that's all about it. Anyway, with some irony...

Question: What does it mean to have freedom in Christ? How does this shape your life?

Selecting my words carefully, I have decided to add a short introduction to my original reflection/answer to this statement. Firstly, I understand that the sentiments expressed below are incredibly loaded. I do not say them lightly. But sometimes you just have to show your hand. Evangelism is still not a natural position for me - which might sound strange as it's not exactly a secret that I recently worked for a church. Perhaps in reaction to the famous Northern Irish Christian culture - not subculture, as for so many it dominates, but a culture in its own right - I tend to shy away from the declarations and the decrees that some would favour.

Thankfully, the 21st century has seen many Christians realise, among other things, that just because Jesus is declared perfect does not mean that they are too. This realisation is not a new phenomenon: it is cyclical in church culture, just like so many mindsets and the need for renewal are across so many sectors and cultural ages. However, I will not seek to apologise for the many failings of Christianity, The Religion. These little academic exercises have never been about that. And frankly, The Religion is a waste of time and effort, a human construct of laws and axiomatic principles built up, fundamentally with the best of intentions at times, but the worst of builders - us.

Rather, as this series is permitting, I am attempting to share a short insight under the cover to some of the more fiddly aspects of christianity, The Life. And central to that life is The Word himself, as we shall now briefly explore.

Pause for breath.

I feel there is remarkable comfort to be found in the confidence of Jesus' central work: our redemption in God's sight by His selfless act. The freedom this grants can be not only life-changing, but in some sense, unbounded – though still afflicted with having to deal in a day-to-day sense with what we (as a race) have made of this creation and all its sorrows, we know that we are secure in what is to come.

The obvious thing might be therefore to sit back and simply wait upon Armageddon. After all, the story is over, isn't it? Despite what some churchgoers seem to think, not quite.

Both John Calvin and Martin Luther correctly identify justification as central to Christian teaching; but, as Calvin stresses, this is not where our effort ends. Rather, as believers we receive a 'double grace'; both our justification, and the ignition of an ongoing process of personal regeneration. That is to say, sanctification: the changing of our very self, our nature and behaviour. To many, Christians are easily identifiable as 'different', and unfortunately in many cases, this is not in a positive light. But in truth, Christians are indeed called to be different – as recipients of the person-changing acts of the Holy Spirit, we are to be shaped more and more to conformity with Christ's example of the redeemed life (McGrath, 329).

Inevitably, bound by the millstone that we are still human, we can never reach this conformity, but nonetheless we would be mistaken not to still strive for it. Why? Because in doing so, regardless of our failings, we can still achieve some small measure, if even just a glimpse, of the level of holiness and relationship that God has intended for us. And if that is not something worth shaping our lives towards, I don't know what is.

Bibliography
A McGrath, 'The Doctrine of Salvation in Christ', Christian Theology: An Introduction, fourth ed. (Blackwell 2007) pp. 326-60.

J Calvin, 'Christian Freedom', Institutes 3.19

things i learnt #3: stage directions

2011-01-26T18:20:00.004Z

'Things I Learnt' is an occasional blog series, highlighting some of the less obvious knowledge learnt at school that's still useful in everyday life today - for this author anyway. To read previous posts, click here.

Something learnt at school, relearnt at university, refreshed when I returned to education as a secondary school teacher, and still hounding me (at least) weekly are four words: stage left, stage right.

You think it would be simple, as the diagram above illustrates (which I'm almost considering getting tattooed on the inside of my wrist at this point.) But the problem has always been that the wires between "house" and "stage" in my brain seem to get tangled. A lot.

I remember learning basic blocking at age 11 or 12 in drama class. Now, my junior school Drama teacher was an interesting fellow. He was also our cricket coach (I say "our" - I mean the 10-15 or so of us who were actually interested, come the summer term. It's the only school sports team I was ever guaranteed a place on. But that's another story.) He seemed pretty prolific when it came to organising the school drama productions. However, in the classroom, he seemed a bit less interested. Mind you, years later as I was attempting to teach junior school Drama in the same room to the same age group, I had a lot more sympathy - not to mention even less patience. Again, another story.

And so he would write the directions on A4 pages, and stick them on the relevant walls. Then we played games akin to the church hall favourite, Port & Starboard. Often at the start of every lesson for a few weeks. And yet can I remember? Can I heck.

Several years later, and I'm attempting to completely bluff my way around a production meeting with some actors on a short film. Getting carried away, I think I've convinced one of the leads to do exactly as I want him - but crucially, as he blocks it out, he keeps coming from the wrong direction into frame. I'm getting more and more exasperated, and he's getting more and more confused. Eventually, he realises I've got the directions the wrong way around.

Never give an actor the upper hand, because you'll never get them back.

Another couple of years on, and I'm about to play the Port & Starboard game with my own Second Form class (that's Year 9 for those from normal schools.) I stick up Upstage and Downstage. And then I'm suddenly standing in the middle of the room with Stage Left and Stage Right signs in my hand. I haven't a clue.

I end up asking the class if anyone wants to show if they can remember which is which. I think it worked. I still wasn't sure.

Stage directions are from the perspective of the stage. But then, how come stage up and stage down don't seem to correspond in the same way? And so I get stuck, time and time again.

Technically therefore, I'm not sure if it counts as a 'Thing I Learnt'. Really, it's a 'Thing I Am Still Learning Again and Again and Again...'

Exit stage ~~left~~ ~~right~~ SIDE...

doctrine #6 - contextualisation

2011-01-18T12:55:00.004Z

Full credit to the continuously magnificent Jon Birch @ AsboJesus

Question: What are the limits of contextualisation and inculturation?

Contextualisation of a church and its theology is somewhat of a balancing act: on one end, the Word; on the other, the indigenous culture; and at the pivot, the fledgling body of believers trying to make sense and gain an understanding of it all. I can immediately envision three key problematic areas in this.

Firstly, the more a church adapts to a specific culture, the more danger there is of it becoming homogeneous – that is, composed of elements specific to that culture, logically therefore running the risk of being closed to those from other backgrounds. A church must always maintain a welcoming, all-inclusive nature ahead of giving any population complete ownership.

Secondly, there is the issue of syncretism – the attempt to reconcile contrary ideas, and melding practices together despite opposing practices. In some areas of the church, fusion of methodologies should not be problematic, such as finding a good style of music for a worship setting. But there has to be a limit. For example, different methods of leadership may be appropriate and recognizable to different cultural settings; indeed, a missionary may wish to structure a congregation in a way that reflects local tradition. But consider if oppression, even violence, towards women was prevalent locally – this is not something the leadership of a church could reflect in its decision-making, as it goes directly against Christian values

In truth, we realise that on our seesawing scales of Word and culture, the poles are not really balanced – and so thirdly and finally, inculturation must be limited, with the one fluctuating pole (culture) in practice filtered out by its steadfast opponent (the Word). I therefore conclude that although methodologies can always be contextual, the Word is not; and like so many things, the real balancing act is not to find a line down the middle of the two poles to deliver a message, but to, in fact, keep that very message – the Gospel message – central at all costs.

Editor's note: There was a bibliography for this essay, but the named articles are not freely available (journals, etc.). Boo, and indeed, hiss.

doctrine #5 - person of Christ

2011-01-09T19:19:00.004Z

Question: How recognisable do you think the Christ of orthodox Protestantism would have been to the early church?

Initially, it is pleasing to note some difficulty in pinning down some of the specifics: perhaps we have not warped the message over time as much as we sometimes think. As the Council of Chalcedon (451) indicated, provided Christianity recognizes the twofold nature of Christ being “truly divine and truly human” (McGrath, 273) there is a much lesser importance to how people explore or articulate it. Indeed, it appears many models of contemporary thinking are shared with the church of Acts: recogising Jesus as Messiah, as Saviour, as Son of God – terms all used by Paul and other NT authors. Equally, the 20th century rediscovery in recognition of Jesus as the bearer of a new relationship to the Holy Spirit (McGrath, 300) holds forth strongly in post-Pentecost Acts.

However there remain sore points of conflict (Gunton, 245-72.) For example, though Luther declared Christ’s legacy was both pro me (for me) and pro nobis (for us) it appears that we Protestants continues to skew pro me, with a heavy emphasis on personal relationship – leading to the emotive thinking that Scripture must speak to us as individuals for us to truly believe and accept it. Equally we can be tempted to equate our God-consciousness with how Jesus related to God – something Friedrich Schleiermacher was conscious to try and differentiate, and perhaps the apostles would have been shocked by, having walked with Jesus and known his perfection in the flesh. Whilst of course relating to God is a matter of a personal heart – for only we know our own minds – it is often key to reflect on the corporate reverence the early church held Christ in.

Though we might think nothing of calling Jesus God, the NT writers were all too conscious of just how much weight this statement carried – and so on the three occasions it clearly appears in Scripture, the words are picked and chosen with extreme care (McGrath, 281.) Perhaps we would do well to think the same.

Bibliography
K Tanner, ‘Jesus Christ’ in C Gunton, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, (Cambridge: CUP, 1998) pp. 245-72.
A McGrath, Christian Thelogy: An Introduction, fourth ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) pp. 272-305.

the greatest song ever

2010-12-31T16:58:00.005Z

I had been planning to take a break from the lofty thinking and compose a top ten of the year. But it got annoying. And I've still got Bon Iver and Kate Rusby on repeat from last year anyway. So, in lieu of being able to make any kind of decision, I have at least come to one realisation recently.

The most perfect song I've ever heard? It's not Crash Into Me. Nor is it bluegrass or acoustic-alternative. It's not even at the other end of the spectrum in rock-land. Instead, oozing passion and soul from every pore, plus a kick-ass bassline, it's this.

doctrine #4 - humanity

2010-12-20T19:28:00.004Z

What does the meaning of ‘Original Sin’ imply for Christian engagement with the societies we inhabit?

The biblical truths that we are created by God, both imago Dei and imago trinitus* logically lead us to perfect examples for us to aim toward – both in the perfect man (Jesus), and the perfect relationship (the Trinitarian Godhead.) We therefore have, according to Kevin Vanhoozer, three ethical imperatives: to aim for righteousness, to work and steward creation, and to rest and feast (Gunton, 165.) However, in realising that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) surely we must also accept that this is a hypothetical – and one we are doomed to miss.

But consider the Pelagian controversy (McGrath, 362-8.) As humans we are used to choice: what to wear, what to eat, who to talk to, what to buy. Choosing how to act or to relate to people falls naturally into the linear stream of decisions we make – and so, when society keeps inconveniently plumping for the most negative option every time, as Christians we find ourselves either peering down from our ivory towers in despair, or - if we dare admit it – languishing in a pit of self-pity, beating our chests in realization that surely we will never be good enough, different enough, strong enough. Pelagius taught that choose equally between good and evil. However, Augustine of Hippo disputed that this is simply not the case. Because of Original Sin, we are beings limited in our free will by our inherently sinful natures. We cannot, as Pelagius believed, just choose goodness – our stained hearts are not capable. In truth, as Luther insisted (McGrath, 374) “God is active, and humans are passive, in justification.” We are justified purely “by grace through faith” – a perspective, which when applied to how we view society around us, might not only aid us in relating to those we would seek to save, but might just help us save ourselves.

Bibliography
Holy Bible, New International Version (London: Hodder & Staughton, 1998)
K Vanhoozer, ‘Human being, individual and social’ in C Gunton, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, (Cambridge: CUP, 1998) pp. 158-88.
A McGrath, Christian Thelogy: An Introduction, fourth ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007) pp348-74.

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*Editor's note: I couldn't find a succinct enough definition of this to link to, so I will quickly highlight that this term refers to "the image of the trinity" - and therefore, that we are not only created in God's image, but furthermore in the image of the trinitiarian relationship. So although human relationships cannot compare, through the process of sanctification our relations to each other, and more fundamentally to God, will grow to reflect how the three 'forms' of the trinity relate to each other - that relationship being perfection.

doctrine #3 - creation

2010-12-06T11:19:00.003Z

Question: How does a Christian’s understanding of creation affect her/his relationship with the created order and their efforts to understand it?

Creation can often be seen as the single most divisive doctrine between rational, contemporary society and the outmoded, misinformed Christian faith. However, my most focused point of reflection this week is that this division itself is a misconception. On examination, the simple theological truth is that Christian creation gives us the Why, but never actually lays claim to the How. (Although, it should be said, history shows that the church of the past and present may have claimed to have all the answers, but digging itself into this particular hole was perhaps as much precipitated by the rush to defying heresies and threats to growth.)

However, though the Bible cannot give all the answers, it can still claim to proclaim the truth – a truth manifest in all things. For all that God created was good – a statement at odd with everything from ancient Greek philosophy to Gnosticism, which recognized matter as inherently evil (Gunton, 143.) The Hebraic creation story** differs greatly from its contemporaries: here, we have a single deity creating order out of chaos, whilst simultaneously remaining both unconfined and entirely separate from it. This is not an enforced, dualistic separation though. Yes, God created and did so from nothing: but again, Christianity differs from other faiths. God is not withdrawn and absent from His creation; no, our God is in relationship with, transcendent over and immanent in His creation – with Christ as the ultimate proof of this relationship between God and man, according to T.F. Torrance (Gunton, 154).

Moreover, the concept of ex nihilo enhances further this sense of purpose, for if God created something from nothing as an action of personal will, it must logically therefore have a purpose. Any issue between persons and/or creation must therefore be viewed in light of God’s purpose in redemption and perfection of all creation, and so - to paraphrase Spiderman - from that great power comes great responsibility for all of us as part of that created order.

Bibliography
C Gunton, ‘The Doctrine of Creation’ in C. Gunton, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, (Cambridge: CUP, 1998), pp. 141-57.

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** Editor's note: I was going to link to Wikipedia here for 'Hebraic Creation', but discovered that Wikipedia, like many sources, makes an assumption which I believe to be mistaken - that Genesis 1 and 2 are part of the same narrative. Many theologians would argue that the first and second chapters are, in fact, different versions of the same story - evidenced by how much they seem to overlap. Therefore, the first account ends at Gen. 2:3, and the second begins at Gen. 2:4 ("This is the account of the heavens and the earth..." (NIV)) It has been put forward that as the Old Testament canon was put together by Hebrew leaders, this first account was actually a late addition, a prologue added for clarity, as it was felt that the Gen. 2 account did not emphasise strongly enough God's hand in creating every single individual part of creation (it focuses mainly on the creation of man.)

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doctrine #2 - the trinity

2010-11-28T14:19:00.003Z

Question: How has the concept of the Trinity in Christianity affected relations with other monotheistic faiths?

In considering and reflecting on this question, it seems prudent to identify the two other major monotheistic faiths as Islam and Judaism – both of which consider Christian Trinitarian doctrine heretical, and therefore a severe stumbling block to relations at this level.

Islam apparently focuses on Deuteronomy 6:4 (McGrath, 247), where the Hebrew God clearly indicates that the Lord is one. The assumption is, therefore, that by proposing that Jesus and the Spirit are both God also, Christians accept a tritheistic stance. However, this assumption is obviously flawed and counter to accepted theology: Tertullian, in particular, hammered out the axiom that the Trinitus is made up of three personae with unius substantae.

For Judaism, the Christian Trinity has an immediate heresy: that of recognizing Christ as the Son, and therefore the Messiah. Interestingly though, the Law and the Prophets – that is, the Old Testament Scriptures – lay down firm foundations for Trinitarian Doctrine (McGrath, 248; De Colle, 122) through three personifications of the God of the Hebrews: the personification of Wisdom (especially in Job, Proverbs etc.), active in creation; the Word of God, going forth into the world to confront man throughout the OT; and the Spirit of God, His presence and power within creation. If only Judaism paid heed to the Johannic Logos – where that very same “Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” (John 1:14) they might recognise Jesus for what He was – begotten of the Father, who with that same Father and the Spirit make up our triune, paradoxical Godhead.

Bibliography
R De Colle, ‘The Triune God’ in C Gunton, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, (Cambridge: CUP, 1998), pp. 243-71.
A McGrath, Christian Thelogy: An Introduction, fourth ed. (Oxford: Blackwell 2007) pp. 243-71.

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doctrine #1 - scripture

2010-11-24T15:45:00.004Z

Since September I've been dropping in at Belfast Bible College once a week, invading a degree course module called Framework of Christian Thought. It's been a bit mind-blowing so far: a rapid fire journey through the histories and philosophies which modern churches hold dear/are founded on/denounce each other over (delete as appropriate.)

Anyway, as part of the study we're required to submit weekly reflections on each topic. Rather than trying to condense down an overall reaction to each week's tutorials, I decided early on to make the personal reflections exactly as described - a personal reaction, where I would reflect primarily on the points which had struck me the most, on a heavily personal level. I was a little concerned that I might be off down the wrong path completely - but happily, the tutor marking them has been giving great feedback so far.

To make up for the lack of meaningful blogging of late, I thought it would be interesting to begin dripping these online every few days - I do like a good stir. They're obviously heavily contextual, but I've attempted to include as much linkage as possible to allow the discerning reader/debater/firestarter (delete as appropriate) to get involved. I'm calling the series doctrine, but not in an attempt to bear any relation to the Mark Driscoll tome of the same name (though it might end up counterpointing that one as much as complementing. Certainly, this'll be an awful lot more succinct!)

One further note: the set texts for the course are cited and linked to at the bottom of this article. The Colin Gunton book is a bit dense, but Christian Theology: An Introduction by Alister McGrath is a fabulously easy-to-read textbook covering all the major aspects of Christian doctrine. I heavily recommend it to anyone wanting to ever debate anything with me ever again, believer or otherwise.

As will be apparent, these reflections are incredibly short. More space for arguing in the comment section afterwards, I reckon.

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doctrine #1: scripture

Question: What role does Scripture have in God’s ongoing revelation to the world?

Francis Watson indicates (Gunton, 65) that the primary access to testimony of God is through his revelation in Scripture - and, therefore, that the reading and interpretation of Scripture must be theology's primary task. Whilst this makes a lot of sense, there is also an immediate danger in setting this thinking up as rigid parameters in isolation - namely, that our understanding of God will rely entirely on text. I therefore believe that John Wesley was on to something with his eponymous Quadrilateral (McGrath, 146): that our theology must be sourced on a grouping of Scripture, tradition, reason and personal experience. And though I would hold that Scripture takes a strong primacy, we should not attempt to explore it in a manner divorced from the other three.

In constructing our personal theological hermeneutic (Gunton, 71) it really is important to avoid the traditional OT/NT divide in interpretive structures. I personally hope to angle towards the “new hermeneutic”, attempting to read Scripture through the magnifying glass of Christ, and therefore the idea that the entirety of Scripture is therefore Christocentric. A reassuring implication of this to me is that it offers some relief in the challenge of interpretation. That is to say, if Biblical hermeneutics is concerned with using the light of the clear to interpret the murky, one can now approach the whole of Scripture using the testimony of the Gospels to illuminate God’s ongoing revelation through the canon.

Bibliography
F Watson, ‘The Scope of Hermeneutics’ in C Gunton, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, (Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 65-80.
A McGrath, Christian Thelogy: An Introduction, fourth ed. (Blackwell 2007) pp. 121-152.

breaking the mould

2010-09-29T22:43:00.003+01:00

At the moment we're going through one of those (suprisingly frequent) times of upheaval at the moment; the family homestead is being vacated and I seem to be spending all waking hours working at wardrobes/drawers/shelves/light fittings/loft flooring (delete as appropriate); I've started a day a week at BBC (no, not that one) - more on that soon; and, after a stall on funding at my previous post, I've been back freelancing for a month on and off. And it's the latter of these things that is in my mind tonight, as I clear out much of the clutter in what has been our home office for the best part of a quarter century.

On the back wall, above a bookcase full of my VHS collection, remain stuck three pieces of paper, which were assembled during my PGCE year as mementos. One is a thank-you card from a secondary school class, the other a picture drawn for me by a seven year old - deluded people, perhaps. However, the third is maybe more unusual: a small, yellowed rectangle of newsprint, torn from a copy of The Guardian I had picked up in a cafe.

From a column called My Mentor, the Children's Laureate Michael Rosen - he of the legendary We're Going On A Bear Hunt - recalls a teacher who inspired him.

The secondary school I went to was a pretty dull and staid place until Barry Brown, a new English teacher showed up. He was just out of university and can't have been more than 22, which made a change. He came from Manchester - this was Harrow in the 50s, we hadn't even heard of Manchester - and he wore dark brown suede shoes, had longish hair over his ears, put his feet up on the desk and walked down the corridors with his hands in his pockets. There were all these rumours flying around about affairs he was having, which added to his kudos.

My parents were both teachers and so I'd been read to a lot and taken to the theatre so I wouldn't say that he sparked a love of literature in me, that was already there, but he felt dangerous and subversive. He would start off a lesson quite conventionally, perhaps reading round the class but would interrupt us, encouraging us to read with expression. Then you could see him getting bored and he would suddenly throw the book at someone. He was provocative and off the wall. He would pace the room and use it like a stage.

He would come into the classroom and, like all teachers of the time, be wearing a gown, except his would be all wrapped up around his shoulders like a shawl. Schoolboys were always complaining about how cold the classrooms were but teachers would tell us it was good for us, made us healthy. Barry Brown would come into the class and say, "This room is freezing!" and kick the radiators, which made it feel like he was on our side.

I remember once he was on the way out of the class and stopped and said, "Oh homework tonight, write a ballad about Robin Hood," and left the room. We were all left looking at one another, shrugging our shoulders. I went home and my mum and I sat at the kitchen table writing this ballad about Robin Hood and it was just great fun. I was desperately keen to please him, to write things and show him them and he was enthusiastic in his response. He put on plays in the school and encouraged us to join in, even taking parts himself and just generally creating an excitement in us all.

It wasn't that he was imparting great pearls of wisdom, but simply that he presented himself in a way that was completely different from anyone else I'd ever met. From him I glimpsed that there are different paths in life you can go along, that you don't have to plod along the well-trodden path, and at 11 years old, that was hugely exciting. Looking back, there are lots of people who go into the mix, who influence who you eventually become, and he stands out as someone who sowed seeds and helped me grow.

(Taken from Guardian.co.uk.)

For many people of a certain age, it would seem everyone had that one teacher like this - the maverick guy who seemed to rail against how he was supposed to do it, and instead won loyalty through the inspired, or random, or compelling methods they used combined with their unique personalities. At the time, this was exactly the kind of teacher I wanted to be.

A few years on now, and every time I find myself at an employment crossroads, the inevitable is asked: why not give teaching another stab? I fumble through several, reasonably honest, excuses: I found the curriculum, particularly GCSE English, mind-blowingly pointless and stressful; the workplace politics in some schools a little intimidating; difficult pupils hard to relate to. Fundamentally, I was frustrated with the paradox that yes, many teachers do little and get on fine, but that in order to be a great teacher, you needed to work your ass off. "But if you're this stressed, just do enough to get by," some might say. But I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do the best I could.

However, tonight I sit and wonder if all of these do, in truth, pale in comparison with a realisation I have had as I reread Michael Rosen's tale from above. Barry Brown sounds like exactly the type of teacher I wanted to be - but after a year of teaching, I think what I discovered most was that in our society today, this would never be possible. And for all that is changing in life and our culture today, I cannot think of many things sadder.

above and beyond

2010-09-20T21:23:00.002+01:00

I used to complain profusely about my vertigo when required to go and fiddle with cables and such in the gantry at the Odyssey Arena. This guy, on the other hand...

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

sudan365

2010-09-19T22:13:00.002+01:00

In January, the people of Southern Sudan go to the polls, in a referendum to decide whether the war/poverty-torn country should remain as one, or become two separate recognised states. It could bring peace; but it could equally end up in even more violence. Very few people are really informed enough to know, and the Sudan365 campaign is an attempt to rectify that by drawing attention to the (still) ongoing plight of Africa - and the Arab world's - largest country.

As always, it's questionable how much impact lots of middle-class Westerners wringing their hands can really have on a situation where tensions - political and tribal - remain so high. But at least we can keep pressure on the UN to do the right thing and be ready to deal with whatever outcome early next year.

And to keep it in the public mind, here's one of those videos where lots of musicians from lots of places do something funky. John Bourke would approve this message.

what i am

2010-09-14T15:31:00.003+01:00

I have a rant about BEP's megahit I Gotta Feeling. It's the same as the Transformers one, only with less Shia LeBoeuf (Even Stevens was his peak. Should've retired from acting after that.) Ironic, then, that I'm about to applaud marketing genius Will.i.am for doing a great thing, and in this instance, selling an incredibly important message to d'kids. Well done, sir.

it's a book!

2010-09-08T13:39:00.003+01:00

I haven't blogged since May. There are various, pointless reasons for this. But instead of letting me bore you with that, enjoy this instead. (h/t to @commentisfree and @heathercorinna.)

things i learnt #2: overarm bowling

2010-05-31T14:30:00.002+01:00

Again age 12, but this time Games (separate from PE!) and Overarm Bowling.

Now, you might think, hold on - I thought you said we were discussing things used on a regular basis? But bear with me.

So, part of my current profession is to teach children useful things. The joy of working in the voluntary sector when approaching this, as opposed to my previous deviation in the teaching one, is that these things are actually Useful Things (as opposed to observing osmosis in rods of potato, or how to read the top quartile of a bell curve.)

This year, it has included everything from Where Plants Come From, through How To Make Paper Airplanes, to How To Climb A Wire Fence To Get To The Football Pitch. (Don't ask, don't tell.) And so, since Easter I've been turning up weekly at a local primary school (which, I must say, is arguably one of the best in all the land) to play Kwik Cricket with the P5-P7s. And in last week's session, I began passing on, almost verbatim, the principles of overarm bowling, which have stuck with me since third year of secondary school.

Now, it may surprise most people to find out that I'm not much of a sportsman. However, the joy of turning up to a school with the Children's Worker hat on is that it is automatically assumed you are an expert on everything. But let me tell you - whilst this might facilitate easier ways to get out of arguments ("Why?" "Because.") it does come with the caveat that you need to make sure you actually are right - for it shall come back to bite you on the backside. So, as the self-appointed cricketing guru, I've been relying mostly on the fact that I can, at least, bowl a decent fast-medium ball over a good length. And there's a couple of tricks, learnt all those years ago, that have helped ensure this - both at the start of the movement.

Firstly, get that second arm up. As you wind up and release, that arm needs to go straight down the line where you want to bowl, and you need to be looking behind and through it before you release. This makes a massive difference when you uncoil, as it makes sure that your shoulders are in line as your bowling arm comes over the top of your head.

Secondly, "bite the apple", as the original teacher in question insisted again and again. Don't hold the ball somewhere around your chest before your unwind - get it right up beside your mouth so you can smell it. That initial push forward your bowling hand makes whenever you release will therefore add power as the ball makes its journey down past your waist.

And thirdly, release at two - o'clock that is. A lot of the kids I've worked with so far let it go whenever their arm is perpendicular - possibly as an unfortunate product of one of the drills I've been using for fielding, which resembled something for tennis ball boys. Alternatively, you don't want to be releasing too late either, or it'll go straight in to the ground - a problem I'm having currently as I try to learn how to bowl right handed (being a natural southpaw). Two o'clock, at full stretch when you release, and that ball is going right down the batsman's throat. Howzat?

things i learnt #1: twelve-bar blues

2010-05-26T17:06:00.008+01:00

Recently, I've been reflecting a lot on my school experience. With that in mind, I've been inspired to try and specify knowledge or skills learnt which were not only major, but life-changing - things which are still used regularly.

Of course, reading and writing are pretty obvious, so I've ruled those out along with basic mathematical and scientific knowledge. I've still managed to compile quite a list so far, so it occurred that perhaps I should spout about them online and see where we go.

And so we come to age 12, Music class, and Twelve-Bar Blues.

Junior school music can be a pain for everyone involved. For non-musical pupils, it's something close to torture. For pupils who have been learning an instrument up to a certain level, they are often frustrated by the lack of any new knowledge. For the teacher, it's something you have to endure - trying to cater for both groups, whilst actually keeping yourself sane.

My secondary school music teacher was pretty adept at this. There were, in no particular order, xylophone, drum, comprehensive theory, CD design, rapping, and cinematic music lessons. But the one which, on reflection, had the biggest long term repercussions, was when we got to basic song writing, and the twelve-bar blues.

Now, outside school, I have been learning piano four about five years, so there was nothing new in playing chords. There was, however, the shock of the new when it came to playing something I actually gave a toss about. So the sudden revelation of just how simple it could be to play basic songs was life-saving. Three chords, the most basic theory, and you're away (and probably ready to be a stand-in member of Status Quo.)

Taking the key of the music (say C) and take the tonic - 1st - major chord, which is C; the subdominant - 4th - chord, which is F; and the dominant - 5th - chord, which is G, and you're almost there already. Structure around a a walking bass rhythm, and voila! You're like a slow-learning Ray Charles.

The knock-on effect of this may not have been obvious, but it was there. A year later, I started to learn guitar, and from that point painful, PAINFUL song-writing became a viable option. I would claim to be an outstanding musician, but subsequent learning and the ability to play by ear would, I am certain, never have come about if my enthusiasm had not be saved by the sudden, drastic appearance of the twelve-bar blues.

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POSTSCRIPT:

Whilst searching my school files - yes, I kept them all (a decision to be vindicated by this series, perhaps!) - for the scanned piece of work above, I came across possibly one of the greatest exam answers I have ever made. I have, obviously no memory of giving the following answer, and so can only hope I was being funny. (As the answer to the question above referenced Keanu Reeves's acting, I'm willing to believe that I must've been on a roll that day.)

Enjoy.

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predestination

2010-04-24T16:58:00.006+01:00

It's the biggie: the make or break one for a lot of people; the theological hot potato that no-one really wants to discuss. Many a sleepover/retreat/overnight has been ruined by it; heck, countless churches have been torn apart by it. But for the first time ever, I have an answer that satisfies me. So although I would usually shy away from expressing an opinion on most theology on record, I think it's interesting enough to share.

Having taken a wee bit of time to study it this week, I came across this sermon from Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, Seattle. Mark, referred to occasionally times in this blog, has a good ministry and good teaching. I feel he can often be OTT or "a little too Calvinist'. A bit like John Nixon. (But without the glorious facial hair or winning smile..) But he absolutely nailed this one. Out of the park, with one a couple of seconds in the whole thing which I might choose to disagree with.

So I decided to share what I'd learnt, in the form of what I've called a "stream of discussion" - what was one massive bit of meandering photoshopping, which I've carelessly now lopped up into six. You can access the Picasa gallery below - I recommend slideshow mode or download for reading.

Predestination: A Stream Of Discussion

I shall await your wrath with great anticipation...

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jennifer knapp: coming out and letting go

2010-04-13T22:56:00.002+01:00

It's the hottest, and arguably most divisive, topic of Christianity over recent years: homosexuality and what place (if any) those who come to it could find in an increasingly tumultuous Christian sub-culture. And let me tell you: I've already encountered the debate three times today alone! It is one that I dare not express an opinion on, because I genuinely don't know where to fall. On one hand, it seems so black and white; on the other, Christ, whilst on earth, showed love and embraced everyone who came to Him. Absolutely everyone.

I'm not ashamed to highlight that members of my extended family are gay, and interestingly their experiences are hugely different. But it is a debate I would rather leave God to continue to reveal love and solutions in and to, as time passes. Not that I don't recognise the damage the same debate causes; I was listening to an old Mark Driscoll sermon from a couple of years ago, where he mentions that the moment when he decided to get out, of what would go on to become the Emergent Village, was the moment whenever cemented, solid doctrine was being questioned casually. He highlights some examples: things like Jesus' divinity, the reality of hell, and the Biblical response to homosexuality.

It is that big a struggle.

Huge respect, then, to Jennifer Knapp for her heart-rendingly honest and open interview with Christianity Today for the April issue, available online in its entirety. I knew a bit of Knapp's work, most notably her duet with Mac Powell for the song, Sing Alleluia, which has the dubious honour of being a worship record that I don't completely hate. (Because I'm so cool, so I hate all you weak Christians and your poorly-structured, rambling choruses. Joke.) However, I wasn't previously aware of her disappearance, seven years ago, off the face of the earth, burnt out from touring and in need of a long break. But in the sudden peace and solitude, with time to deal with having a personal life and relationship with God again, this inspirational, multi-award-winning, hugely popular Christian singer-songwriter revealed she had an even bigger struggle to work through: she was a lesbian.

And while it had not factored in her decision to go on hiatus, she knew when she came back it would have to be dealt with - and she does so openly and honestly. I won't comment on her personal journey in faith, but I admire immensely the volume to which she refers to God's grace and mercy as she discusses it in the interview. To have returned to the Christian culture in the States with such a sack to drag around, she has also demonstrated huge courage.

To be Christian, and a Christian in such a public area of ministry as performance, and to have to cope with such a hindrance (for others, mind you, not her) could arguably give her an incredibly important testimony. But we can be sure that for many evangelicals, particularly in the States, she might as well have become a Jihadist.

The machine rages on.

(Massive hat-tip to the great @JesusNeedsNewPR for the linkage to the article.)

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a power to change

2010-03-28T14:11:00.006+01:00

If you looked back over the last couple of years, you could be forgiven for thinking I'm getting obsessed with Dr. Paisley. In truth, I'm definitely fascinated; in particular, his interview for The Today Show with John Humphreys this week, where, among other things, he tries to explain forgiveness to Humphreys - who doesn't get it.

Click here to listen to the BBC's interview.

Paisley also comes very, very close to expressing real contrition for some of the rhetoric he was responsible for 40 years ago; but for me, that he can explain and express true forgiveness for Sinn Fein after his personal conflict for decades, speaks volumes - the number of times he in fact, defends the reformed republicans to Humphreys questioning is something his former followers would do well to pay heed to.

"But (Martin McGuinness) has never repented...."

"But you are not God! You do not know..."

or also

"I'm just a sinner saved by grace... (and changed by God)."

"Why didn't God change you earlier?"

"You'd better ask Him that when you see him!"

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a song for sao paulo

2010-03-25T12:16:00.003Z

The great Andrew Neill reflects on his time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, two years ago. His reflections resonate greatly with my own!

Massive kudos for Summer Madness for getting this project, Tales For The Unexpected, up there. And all the better for having got the awesome design skills of Studio Stereo on board (responsible for that brilliantly-coloured promo for RCE's 'Movements' a few months back) and even throwing a bone to friend of this establishment, Dave at infinity21.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, however, Andy is undertaking a wee bit of fundraising at the moment. CAF, the Brazilian foundation which founded the orphanage we worked in, have come to the end of their link with Tearfund, and due to the global financial situation, are finding themselves very, very stretched. Neiller has decided to try and raise a bit of dosh for them, through his project fivetofivehundred. Take a whole minute of your life and find out how you can help with just a couple of clicks!

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next steps

2010-03-14T13:10:00.003Z

Whilst it's no big secret that yes, myself and herself are now formally engaged to be married (as an alternatively to the previous arrangement, whereby we were just planning to be!) it hasn't been dominating my thoughts this week as much as it should - to the end that, whenever someone congratulated me before a church service this morning, it took me a minute to realise what he was talking about!

However, after all the fuss this morning, it was one quiet moment that really hit me hard. It being Mothering Sunday AND therefore Mother's Day (Two separate holidays from two separate origins! Blame the Americans) after the family service in Maghera this morning, we decided to buy in a consignment of potted primroses, "one for everyone in the audience" style.

As the mums were picking and choosing on their way out of church, one lady picked up an extra one to give to an elderly gentleman coming behind her - a small gesture, as his wife has passed away. Almost wordlessly, he stood for a moment and then proceeded around the side of the church, in the sunshine, to set it on her grave. As someone I would regard as an elder statesman of the parish, it was humbling to see his small action weighted with huge emotion, as he privately illustrated where his thoughts and heart still lie. For me, the challenge in such an act is immense, and it's a moment that, I hope, will stay with me throughout the upcoming madness.

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this too shall pass mk II

2010-03-12T13:43:00.002Z

In the aftermath of the astounding 'This Too Shall Pass' promo from OK Go, (featured below) it's worth reading this interview at Gigwise with bassist Tim Nordwind reveals just how hard it was to pull off the massive Rube Goldberg machine featured - including the admission that it took sixty attempts to get just three that worked!

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save 6 music?

2010-03-06T10:35:00.002Z

Apart from the Adam & Joe podcasts, I've never listened to BBC 6 - and yet I felt a bit irked this week at the news that Auntie is pulling it, along with the specialist Asian Network. Personally, for what it's worth, I think they maybe would have been better (remit wise) pulling 1Xtra, but that's just because it really, really annoys me...

Anyway, Paxman tore Mark Thompson (his Director-General) several new ones on Newsnight during the week, and those clever people at the Chance Collective did the appropriate thing and got Malcolm Tucker, Ollie et al in on the action.

this too shall pass / you bled

2010-03-03T19:17:00.004Z

I've seen two music promos this week that I've loved. One is ridiculously complex...

...the other beautifully simple...

...and both were breathtaking!

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i 'ate them!

2010-02-14T12:42:00.002Z

I know I know... this was the big skiing in-joke, from one of my favourite DVDs of all time. I love that Dylan Moran himself has trouble keeping a straight face delivering his French sketch. Go on... watch it one more time...

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kids, (please) don't break my heart

2010-02-10T18:58:00.004Z

Might get in trouble for saying this but... had seen the trawl for extras for the video for A Plastic Rose's 'Kids Don't Behave Like This' last week, and then today caught a shuftie of the latest Bandwidth 'In Stores Now', wherein Will basically took advantage of everyone coming down for the APR shoot to nab a good crowd for The 1930s to perform to...

...the 1930s one is a much better video! But perhaps I'm just not down with it anymore - judge for yourself. (They're both great tracks anyway.)

The APR sequence perhaps just suffers as an ambitious, creative concept that is let down by some particularly crap filming and post-production. I wanted to follow, but kept skipping forward. And the audio's really off with the miming in a lot of places - unless you can get it accurately folks, don't bother, please. It looks like someone's Moving Image Arts (that's an A Level, kids) coursework.

Whereas the 1930s one is an aging concept, but looks like the dog's unmentionables, despite being a one-take joyride.

IN STORES NOW#31: THE 1930s from Bandwidth on Vimeo.

Yer man should perhaps stick to the (undeniably kick-ass) photography.

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there is a green hill...

2010-01-22T21:35:00.004Z

Listening to a fascinating conversation between William Crawley and the Rev Dr Ian Paisley, hosted at Queen's this week past which Crawley has blogged about on his BBC page. Having just returned from a week far from these complicated shores, I nonetheless find myself picking up a train of thought that I hung up before I went; a further reconsideration of the legacy of the Big Man.

A couple of weeks ago, I did the unthinkable, and sat on YouTube for a while listening to sermon snippets from Dr Paisley. The man has, over the years, irriated and yet interested me; and now, at a point in his life when he is only heard from publicly in reflection, it seems to be a legacy that continues to become more and more favourable. I still find some of his past politics completely implorable, and his methods harsh; but the man is brutally honest, and seemingly more Christ-centered as the years roll on (in a way that resembles the Christ of the Bible, as a contrast to the Christ perhaps mirrored by uber-conservatives.)

I wonder, if the Reverend Doctor had remained an independent or Presbyterian preacher right up to this point and was only now to found a church, how it might differ from the sometime-divisive Free Presbyterian model. I await with anticipation what might happen if Big Benny XVI himself rolls onto these shores in the next couple of years; will Paisley be there, bellowing at the 'Antichrist?'

Perhaps, in the end, powersharing politics went some way to take a firebrand of a man and calm the flames enough that we could all stand a little closer. Or perhaps it is only now he is letting us see him for his true persona, and not what he would have presented to stir and encourage the inclinations of his disciples. There's certainly no denying that, re: the Chuckle Brothers, the Deputy First Minister seemed to find a man he could come alongside - and who of us ever really thought we would see that to begin with?

You can jump straight to the full interview here.

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YES! YES! YES!

2010-01-12T17:12:00.003Z

A-Team teaser trailer is online... and it's freaking AWESOME! Watch it here.

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playing for change

2010-01-10T19:52:00.003Z

Amazing - even with Bono involved!

War/No More Trouble - Song Around The World from Playing For Change on Vimeo.

Find out more about Playing For Change here.

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mr smyth at christmas

2009-12-25T11:45:00.004Z

There's not much to say really, other than we did have to twist his arm a little after the last time... but he's always game to parody himself, the political situation, and in this case, Christmas messages. ("Parody"... hmmm. But I have to write that in case his boss is reading.) That, and the original - with "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" over the start - got pulled immediately from d'Tube. So congrats to them for their apparently now automated detection.

For more on the GSFTW Campaign, click to the facebook Page.

Well done, sir.

the drums, the drums...

2009-12-24T10:54:00.005Z

Whilst numbed of mind and lacking any motivation, I've stumbled across some I lost the link for in April (and despite my best googling efforts, I couldn't recall.) Jimmy Eat World's twitter gave us Ron Winter's Electro Drum Kit and I'm posting it here merely so that (a) you too can have this much fun, and (b) it's saved in as many places as possible.

Enjoy!

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Shoeboxes and Stripes

2009-12-21T13:49:00.003Z

The videos from a week ago are starting to make their way up to t'interwebs, and can be found over on their own Vimeo channel, loosely entitled "Shoeboxes and Stripes". If you've no idea what I'm referring to (and you may not, and that's fine!) then head that way to check out some great wee tunes; don't let the one-camera capture put you off some fantastic (and award winning) musicians. If you are familiar with it all, or even were there, then I hope the stuff put up over the next few weeks will go some way to faithfully record the stories and songs shared - all feedback appreciated.

Anyway, in the meantime, here's my favourite so far.

Shoeboxes and Stripes - Part 11 - Pete MacDonald - Yellow Raincoat from Peter Huey on Vimeo.

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low rising

2009-12-17T23:44:00.003Z

Good week for music videos I guess; on the downside, it contains 100% less people from Bangor than the previous post. However, on the upside, I can't remember seeing a non-performance Frames/Swell Season video (if we disregard everything lifted straight from Once since 'People Get Ready' - which seems a lifetime ago. Good to see them back in action; is there something wistful in their ultimate embrace? Or do we just want there to be? (Or do we still even care...)

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movements

2009-12-16T00:14:00.004Z

For a couple of years, it seems like half the country has been waiting with baited breath to see what would become of Rend Collective Experiment. There's never been any doubting the talents involved; as a teen I was in in awe of Gareth Gilk's drumming, for example (and made a right arse of myself the first time this came out when we were supporting Numinous back in the bad old (read: MNC) days!) There was just too much quality shining out of the first two ORGANic Family Hymnal EPs. (In fact, for two years consecutively we somehow managed to get them to keep donating their wares to the church 21 promo videos. Add to the fact that they're some of the nicest folks in the industry, and it meant there was basically automatic euphoria whenever the news came out last year that they had finally been snapped up by a label. And not just any label, but Survivor Records, best known as one leg of the behemoth that is Kingsway Music. (Kingsway has many legs; if it were a minibeast, it would probably be a short centipede. But anyway.

The album seems epic already; take, for example, the revamp of original Rend track "Faithful". How to make it a full-throated reworking? A genius bit of inter-label management and the pulling in of a guy who's sure to shift a few thousand copies: Mr David Crowder (check it out on their myspace.) You'll remember that we love the Crowder around here so much that we think nothing of insulting his whole band to their megastar faces. So that call works for us.

Anyway, all this is merely a HUGE build-up to the highlighting of their first biggish budget video for (the single?) "Movements" off the new record (released in the New Year, which is, I believe, quite soon.) The pretty colours. HD loves well turned out girls and boys, eh?

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upcoming dates: dec-jan '10

2009-11-25T22:13:00.005Z

I always swore I'd never do it here, but then I thought... I never get to see many people anymore that are (I hope still) casual readers of this particular corner of the t'interwebs. (And if you're not, then me analytics have a lot of explaining to do...) There's no Pet Polar gigs planned in the next couple of months (mind you if you're looking, we're willing if it can be fitted in) but I've a couple of worship-leading appointments coming up which I would recommend. If that happens to be your inclination, anyway.

Having worked with the CIYD folks in the past I can heavily plug their upcoming Reflect conference for Young Leaders - ideally if you volunteer with a church or community group and would love a retreat aimed squarely at you, then this is the one, details after the jump above. It's 8-10th of January and is something like £30 for the entire weekend's bed and board - bargain.

Also, Sunday week (that's Sunday December 6th) I'll be (as is growing less frequent as we age, folks) dropping in to the evening happenings at the Church of the Res at Queen's. It's always a little weird returning and not knowing anyone there (such is the turnover of residents at the COISC) but having loved the atmosphere for praise for three great years, it takes all of thirty seconds usually to slip right back in to the vibe. I believe it's a couple of sessions with a load of coffee and buns etc. in between, so should be fun.

Hopefully see you there!

stick it in the five hole!

2009-11-24T16:46:00.003Z

Sometimes, Lego is still just as awesome as it seemed fifteen-odd years ago.

Fleury or Shanahan? I can't decide.

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now i can talk

2009-11-08T15:01:00.002Z

Let's be honest here: an awful lot of Northern Irish indie bands sound the same. Scratch that: they nearly all sound the same (the "Belfast sound" as it was referred to as a few years ago, still going strong.) And fair enough in some ways - we're all the sum of our creative influences, and if we all spend all our time playing with everyone around us etc. etc...

Two Door Cinema Club have repeatedly skirted this definition carefully. And you know what? The new single is great. But it's the video that is particularly epic. First 30 seconds are outstandingly mind-destroying in particular.

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oh my god

2009-11-01T16:20:00.004Z

Filmmaker Peter Rodgers is asking just one question: What is God?

This is my first encounter with this upcoming film, but there's a really interesting interview with the documentary maker over at Rainn Wilson's home of left-field existentialism, Soul Pancake. I'm already looking forward to finding out more about this project.

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ah, nostalgia

2009-10-22T00:12:00.004+01:00

Not being in the city anymore is really kicking in again; feeling out of the creative loop a bit, more than anything else. But anyway. Was reflecting on listening to half of the fabulous Maguire & I talking about their next wee bit of recording (unsolicited shameless plug for them, see right, be there or miss out.) Was wandering about on myspace and ended up on the MNC page, and took the time to watch the below video for the first time in a very long time. It made me chuckle, I must admit - last ten seconds in particular.

The current song set (of the longrunning acoustic-y project that has finally been tentatively named Pet Polar) couldn't really be any further stylistically from the MNC stuff if I had deliberately tried, but I do get a little regretful when I think about how damn good we were, how many great opportunities we got, and how we more or less blew the whole thing. Yeah, we shifted a few hundred records, played a lot of great gigs, a (thankfully lower number of) few crap gigs, got to team up with some great bands and artists, and had a couple of years of on-off mayhem. But we could've done so much more. We pushed ourselves quite hard when we wanted, but it just wasn't ever as much as we could have. I wonder if it was that we didn't take it seriously enough; who knows.

I'm regretful further because no matter how much it is talked about, it's been a few years since I seriously sat down in a studio setting as an artist and actually laid anything down, beyond recording crap multi-instrument demos in our back room at home. I'm fearful of forgetting how to play songs; I know there's MNC songs I've forgotten, and any time I do manage to churn a good one out now I have the same fear; that it'll never make it to being recorded, and so be forgotten.

Anyway, the video made me laugh. Coincidentally, the song in the background - Walk Away - came from a test recording we did in the first hour in the studio, hence how appalling it is - but I think I included it just because it never made it to the setlist for the fateful EP.

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play that funky... eigenharp?

2009-10-20T23:18:00.002+01:00

This post is more or less entirely for the pleasure of Jonny Kirk - but I'm sure others may also appreciate it. This BBC Online report has David Sillito interviewing a group of musicians about the Eigenharp - a "revolutionary" new musical instrument that does sound pretty cool. A little too cool. Wait a minute. About thirty seconds into their demo and I closed my eyes... and all of a sudden, it's the last level and Mr X is asking me to choose!

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it's just part of the job

2009-10-20T18:53:00.003+01:00

I guess this clip is a few days old but I just caught it over at Joseph Gordon-Levitt's tumblr. It's Barack Obama's straightforward answer to this kid's question: "Why do they hate you so much?"

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Well fielded, sir. Jed Bartlet wouldn't have done it much differently, I hope.

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Frank's story

2009-10-19T17:43:00.003+01:00

A brilliant two-minute anecdote from @Glinner - posted originally here - as told to him by Frank Kelly, better known to non-islanders as Father Jack Hackett. I find Linehan's storytelling is enhanced even further by closing your eyes and pretending he's actually a deadpan Gerry Ryan!

Listen!

losing our religion

2009-10-16T19:38:00.009+01:00

Just finished watching last Monday's BBCNI doc Losing Our Religion, presented by the excellent William Crawley and knocked out by Belfast's own champions of one-offs, DoubleBand Films (ever see their Maradona one? Google it, it's a cracker.) The one-hour documentary dealt with the issue of religion in Northern Ireland, why and how it had come to dominate life, and why now it seems to be increasingly fading from significance. With more emotive language and OTT photography than you could shake a stick at, this was clearly a piece that was prepared to not only deal with it's topic, but both channel it and tear it apart as well. And whilst Crawley's own nostalgia and wonder at the faith he questions seemed to ensure he remained respectful, he managed to tease out an awful lot of food for thought.

Crawley, previously a philosopher, theological lecturer, university chaplain and now in his own words a "lapsed Protestant" and his journey were very much a focal point, but all around was a wider discussion, between the gods of tradition, the god of the adapted 'church', the unknown god and... well, humanism. So whilst I'm not even going to begin to give a weighted version of my two cents, here are two or three lines that sat with me.

A little way in, Crawley visited the Belfast Islamic Centre (down behind the Welly Park, lads, where I recall spending a while sitting one night while Dave's row of flats were evacuated during a fire alert.) Against, whilst there's a whole discussion on why increasing numbers of Northern Irelanders are turning to the Islamic tradition, an interesting line from future Imam Malachy Moustafa was his assertation that (to paraphrase) "we won't change our fundamental beliefs to suit the times." In contrast, I got the impression that up at Causeway Coast Vineyard (which came across very well) Crawley felt there whilst the delivery method had been adapted to suit the times, there was perhaps a question of whether the language and theology might have been also - which I would probably disagree with (as a very irregular Belfast City Vineyard frequenter), but could accept as an impression.

It's a point worth noting though: as Barry Moore, the Canadian Evangelist (whose altar call had led Crawley to faith as a teenager) stressed at the conclusion: you can "poke holes" in the hypocrisy, the human failings, the cult-like natures, the demands of Christianity as acted out by its followers - but "you can't poke holes in Him (Jesus)" I don't claim to work for the most emergent of churches (being Anglican in Mid-Ulster) but by the same rod, like many forward thinkers we seek to outwardly demonstrate inward faith in as many relevant and contemporary ways as possible. But is there a danger in this that we change the Message as well?

Astronomer Terry Mosley came out with another great thought:

You cannot believe the Genesis account when you look at our universe; it is so big, so vast, so many stars in it... it just doesn't make sense to have all that out there, just for our benefit. (What is the point?)"

But then he himself started off the answer:

The sheer majesty of it all, the size, the beauty of it all...

I'm about to do something quite dangerous. This is a blog about many things (once described as "Dali-esque!") It was originally about film production. It is sometimes about current affairs. Occasionally, it is personal. Most of the time it is links to videos. But something I've always been careful about is talking about faith. It's no surprise to most that I work in Christian Ministry (capital letters!) and so faith often comes into my common conversation (as it does for most people - whether they realise or not!) but I don't preach verbally. I'm very careful about it, and I'm very conscious of it. This is because I don't consider myself a preacher, but a ranter. And ranters turn people off - for reference, see the legalistic Judaism that one particularly famous rabbi came up against in Israel a couple of millennium ago.

However, I shall break this self-enforced axiom for once. For as Terry Mosley questions, what would be the point in a universe that is so large and so majestic, that proves the laws of physics only to break them, that baffles and astounds... what is the point of all of that if it is created entirely for man's benefit?

Mr Mosley, that is ENTIRELY the point.

'God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground... God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.'

Whether you take the Genesis account of creation as literal or figurative, the message there is clear; that creation was made, and given over for stewardship, to man. And throughout the OT this imagery continues, of a creation which God constructed for man to reflect on and steward over. But why? Why purpose does this amazing tapestry of life serve?

I could (and am willing to) give a straight answer to this, but we're on food for thought talk here, remember? So instead, I refer you to Rob Bell's Nooma 'Whirlwind' - find Parts One here and Part 2 here. (Aside: Job FTW.) Creation both honours and displays YHWH to us - as in the book of Job where, for example, God himself uses it to answer and comfort his tortured but loyal follower.

"I began to understand faith as a set of questions, rather than a set of answers," says Crawley wistfully. With some joy I would argue that that is entirely the point. The hole in the human condition is Jesus-shaped, and God is indeed that fabled refuge and strength; but many Christians are shaken and perturbed that, on exploring faith, they are instead left with a whole set of new and seemingly unanswerable questions. Perhaps the biggest faith killer, the greatest sin of our churches, the entire key to this debate is this: whenever a question is asked, the easiest thing to do is say, "We don't ask questions, we're supposed to believe." NO! A hundred thousand times, no!

For if you are not asking questions, you are not thinking. If you are not thinking, then you are not engaging. If you are not engaging, then what is this faith you profess other than something you store up in your ivory tower and defend against all assailants - and there will be many, because your faith is not alive and active, but rather a steady and rather small rock you cling to. You might make it in the end, I really genuinely hope and pray that you do, but what a waste. What a waste.

Faith is ENTIRELY about questions. And whilst I would not demean you, dear reader (if you're still with me - and it's brilliant if you are) or insult your intelligence by simply trying to enforce mine on you, I would encourage you to reflect on these things. Most of us have been to that place where it just doesn't seem to make sense, and that's fine. Most of us have also been at the point where we are adamant that life is nothing more than what we have, and it makes absolute sense that there can be no god but Man, if that is what we should call it. But the dangerous thing is to stay in one place. I admire Crawley in that sense: he had no faith, he found religion, he resigned from it, but continues, as he says, on a journey - open and inquisitive, and maybe even a little amused, as to where he will end up.

Whatever you do, remember this: it is never wrong to ask questions. And if I catch you not doing it, I'll have your guts for garters.

Here endeth the lesson.

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no such thing as too scary

2009-10-14T21:34:00.002+01:00

Blog-tastic day today: @djlowry tweeted this at me earlier, from Daring Fireball:

Reporter: “What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?”

Maurice Sendak: “I would tell them to go to hell. That’s a question I will not tolerate.”

Reporter: “Because kids can handle it?”

Sendak: “If they can’t handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered.”

Damn right.

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no fee for 3D

2009-10-14T17:43:00.004+01:00

A healthy mixture of congratulations and sarcastic only-too-rights for Northern Ireland's own Movie House Cinemas, who have just announced their decision to drop any excess charge for viewing films in 3D at their multiplexes, becoming the first major chain in the UK to do so. And whilst this film graduate is still heartily in the "3D's-not-new-the-industry-has-tried-it-several-times-before-and-no, it's-not-the-future-of-cinema-no-matter-what-Disney-try-to-tell-you" camp, I might finally go and see a 3D film now. Maybe. Let's face it, with Up, Where The Wild Things Are and Fantastic Mr. Fox all out this month, there'll be plenty of opportunity.

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rockabye baby, don't say a word...

2009-10-14T17:30:00.002+01:00

This is just too mental for words...

I can just imagine a team of guys sitting around, silently doubled over with laughter as one of their number painstakingly whacks out "Sweet Child O' Mine" on a xylophone.

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up

2009-10-04T22:33:00.003+01:00

Who was it would originally hypothesised that there are only seven storylines in all of literature? Whenever I see a new Pixar trailer, I always think the same thing: there's seven boxes of plot for us, and one secret one that John Lasseter keeps all for himself.

New Pixar "Up" Trailer
Uploaded by crimfarstein. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.

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"get him tied down, dear..."

2009-10-03T14:27:00.002+01:00

Spare a thought for Belfast's own Jonny Evans this week. Evans' star is still on the rise at Old Trafford, not to mention that he's becoming a reliable presence in the Green and White Army's defence to boot. However, there was literally nowhere he could hide his face when the Gaffer started doling out relationship advice at this week's UEFA pre-match conference. Bless.

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forfey

2009-09-24T17:51:00.002+01:00

Haven't got a chance to get down to Forfey yet, was a little disappointed this year but all my holidays were spent on Camp. Having seen this wee mini-doc from Babysweet, I now wish I'd been there even more.

FORFEY (fawr-fee) from Gregg Houston on Vimeo.

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"sorry we were going to eat you..."

2009-09-11T12:33:00.002+01:00

..."we didn't know you were a King!"

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help! iDVD won't open! i'm ruined!

2009-09-08T20:13:00.005+01:00

Every now and again - and they really are few and far between - I do bother to blog about something technically useful. So here's this term's attempt.

A while ago, to my horror, I received feedback from a client that noted how pleased they were with their product (in this case, a double wedding DVD - wedding and reception, full day of shooting plus ridiculously time-consuming cutting.) However, there was one minor complaint - I had made a common spelling error with the bride's name, not only on the printed skin of the DVDs themselves, but also on the menu of both DVDs. I was pretty horrified, as you can imagine, so set about to rectify the problem. That is to say, it went on the page stuck to the side of one of the machines with "Unavoidable problems" on the top. A couple of weeks ago, I went about trying to rectify the problem, only to discover - to much deeper, further horror, that iDVD - which I had cheated a bit and used to compile the DVD designs together - was refusing to speak to me. Icon would jump, 'iDVD' would appear in the menu bar for a few seconds, and then it closed.

What a situation - many arghs later, I began trawling the 'net for solutions. I was originally running IDVD 6; iLife has never been a priority upgrade for me, particularly in this case as I've been forcing myself to use DVD Studio as much as possible. Two weeks later, and the situation has been solved.

Apparently, this is bit of a common glitch that appears from iDVD 6.0 right through to 7.0.2. No-one seems to know where it came from or what it's doing. All they have are several different ideas about how to fix it. Honestly, you'd think we were talking about Vista here.

One of the most common starting points is to Repair Permissions for the drive, which takes 2-3 minutes via Disk Utility. It's probably a good idea to delete the Application preferences from your Home>Library whilst your at it. However, in this case, nada.

Next up, into Home>Library again and to locate the very fiddly 'com.apple.iDVD.plist' file. Out the window with that, and we were at the point where iDVD would stay open until the menu appeared.

In frustration, I nabbed a Family pack of iLife '08 and install the upgrade. However, as the error was already know to be common to iDVD 7, it persisted! However, having located an Apple Support post that was actually written by someone who understood the problem, I upgraded all the way to 7.0.4, and by a miracle, the issue has disappeared for now.

It's the first time I've encountered such a problem with Mac software. I've come across some random crashed before - Safari is the most obvious culprit, but grown-up programs like Compressor and LiveType have also been know to topple down pretty quickly in my presence after a long day. However, for a complete shut down to be caused by something as simple as a preferences tweak or a misplaced font (so says the gospel according to DJ anyway) is really a bit irritating. But I guess it's the small price we pay for using an OS structured the way it is. It could be worse. It could be Vista.

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professional envy

2009-08-31T12:04:00.002+01:00

Right McConnell, that's it. Whenever my regime take power, you and your success will absolutely be the first against the wall. Z1's at the ready...

Read the entire post and download the videos over at the Bandwidth site.

I swear this is the last time you're getting a mention for a while... seething, I am...

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we should shoot it in space

2009-08-28T20:40:00.003+01:00

Will Ferrell/Adam McKay's Funny or Die is usually a great source of self-deprecating A-List humour (see 'Bat Fight', May 14th 2009), and this one's no different!

The Kevin Bacon Movie Club from Kevin Bacon

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trying to pull myself away

2009-08-23T13:07:00.004+01:00

As an addendum to the last post: as I was falling over myself to compliment Lisa et al I forgot to mention a brilliant quote from Glen Hansard which really struck me. Glen is famed for his legendary audience interaction - to the point where at the last couple of gigs I've been too I've found the heckling OTT. Along with feeding off those listening, he has a wonderful habit of explaining the meaning behind each song before he plays it, in a way similar to a musician who's assuming his or her audience are hearing this piece for the first time. For many this would come across as quite pretentious; with Glen it always seems quite genuine, even when you've heard it a few times!

Before playing the uber-successful Falling Slowly however, he said something a little different. It's a song that I, like many long-time Frames fans, can feel a little robbed of. Mr. Reddan often remarks how, on the occasion of the pulling together of a uni supergroup to play at the QUB St. Patrick's festival several years ago, we covered the song to a room of unrecognising faces, pleased with ourselves to have found something so stonkingly good that so few people had heard. Now, even those who couldn't pick a Frames song out of a lineup can recall hearing it on Cool FM. Frames fans in Ireland seem to be a tight-knit community of thousands, where instant bonding is made through our loyalties; thus, to have the Swellies escape the pen with Once and become recognisable to millions almost hurts a little. "They're mine!" we scream, "I was there first and I'll be there when you're gone..."

And like I described when talking about Lisa Hannigan, the boys and Marketa still seem to possess that same sense of humble bewilderment when dealing with their fame. It's reflecting on that, then, that Glen came out with this great quote (I'm paraphrasing from memory.)

This next song... I guess, here's the metaphor for this next song. It's like when you get your football, and you're kicking it at the wall in the garden behind your house. And you get a really good toe into it - you know, really get a good hit. And the ball... the ball goes over the wall, you really got a good toe in. But it goes right over the wall, and then over your house, and then out of the town. And that's kinda how I feel about this song. Four fifths of me is going, "That's amazing! That's absolutely amazing! I can't believe I just did that! That's my ball... that's incredible."

But then there's still that fifth of me going, "I want my f***ing ball back."

splishy splashy

2009-08-20T15:39:00.006+01:00

Was up in the Maiden City a couple of nights ago to catch The Swell Season/The Frames at the Millennium Forum, as they head off to tour promoting their sophomore effort (as the Swellies entity, not counting the Once soundtrack.)

Been fortunate now to see the guys in their many guises four or five times now, which puts them into a box with a few other lovely bands; like a my favourite pair of trousers, they're exceptionally comfortable and familiar, but every time I put them on I stick my hand in my back pocket and pull out a mixture of magical old bits and bobs, and something strange and exciting that I didn't know was even there! (I know what you're thinking - where does he get these magical trousers? These days, it's M&S - but that's another rant for another time.)

The real treat of the evening though was one I'd been looking forward to immensely; finally getting to see Lisa Hannigan, who was providing the support for the evening off the back of an incredibly successful push across the US with her debut record, Sea Sew. Hannigan has had a bit of a funny few years; after being fired backstage in Germany by Damien Rice, she went off, found herself, regrouped and turned out what is my record of the year so far. (The Mercury Music Prize nom goes some way to vindicate me in this one!) Coming across as somewhere between pretty awkward and ridiculously 'arty' (you know what I mean), she seemed immediately likable as an artist - and that's exactly as she came across on stage. (I've referred before to her apparent brilliance on this very blog, in fact.)

After the Swellies had taken the roof off the place (including finally playing Heyday in my presence - been quite literally waiting years for that one, we hung around for a while as Lisa & co. came out to do a signing. Having acquired a digital copy (cough) of the record a while back for sampling's sake, I felt I owed it to them to buy it, so decided to stick around and get it inked.

Maybe I'm ridiculously polite, or just lazy, but I found myself drifting around the periphery of the scrum and realised I was standing among Hannigan's band, who were off to one side, looking amused and having a sneaky drink from the bar. Ended up being literally the last person there after getting stuck into talking about glockenspiels and touring with the great Donagh Molloy, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. Came to the conclusion that the band are just annoying: I was under the impression that the unwritten rule of celebrity was that they're supposed to come off as friendly in public, but be twisted and insecure in private. Lisa & Co. bucked this trend; they were all fantastic. Lisa was really warm, and the guys were all a bit of a laugh to boot. After only mocking me mildly for being last, and apologising to the better half (who had spent this whole time tapping her foot and fixating on the huge drive we had yet to do), we did the photos thing, talked a bit more, and then cleared off just as an irritated looking member of staff was walking across the foyer with a big bunch of keys. A very pleasant experience was had (and more importantly, no repeat of the infamous Crowder incident! (see 'The (in)glory of it all', June 6th)

They'll go far, those lads (and lass.) Highly recommend scooting over to YouTube for some videos and to Lisa's own site for lots of random niceness - including some interesting sounding cake recipes!

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as the arrows fall

2009-08-19T17:24:00.005+01:00

Just snapped an eyeful of Will's latest output over at Bandwidth Films. (That man does churn them out at a shocking rate: you'd think the government were funding him or something. Oh, wait...) Perennial favourites Maguire & I are, it would seem, getting around to making a bit of a push to get 'out there', and lo and behold, they pop up in the latest installment of the "In Stores Now" series.

IN STORES NOW#10: MAGUIRE & I from Bandwidth on Vimeo.

I'm a big fan of Will's work on his music videos; on one hand he seems to have been profoundly scarred by Russian Ark, but on the other any slips in the long shots are compensated for by some great work with colour on the post-production side of things. The sound is almost always top notch too, just to add to the insane jealously. I think we've all forgiven him for the pretention-fest that was Either/Or (which I've seen at least three times in varying forms... for my sins.) He seems to have gotten over it well.

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show me the money

2009-08-17T13:55:00.003+01:00

Having not blogged in several weeks, I'm at that horrible point now where there's too much to talk about to say anything, and therefore it's easier just to pretend none of it ever happened. This includes, but is not limited to: New Wine Ireland, Camp Alliance '09, more gigging, the better half now being a doctor, leaving Belfast, and fixing a car with plastic glue (again!). Perhaps I shall recap these at some point (there's two or three points of note that are worth highlighting - two words: "sky lanterns".)

However, one other thing casts a lengthly shadow over all of these things: I started a new (non-videography related!) job. It's very nice so far: today I've mostly been considering funding for a trip to an open farm and catching up on some reading about Baptism theology. Something though that has been a pain in the rear - enough of a pain in the rear to motivate me to write, in fact - has been money.

It's fantastic to be in salaried, contract, relatively secure post. Brilliant. Proper job, in fact. However, despite having departed my previous employer in June (having ceased actually working for them in April) I still have not received a P45. Several phone calls, much buck passing, and a couple of very annoying people at the tax office later, and STILL no P45. Which leaves our poor treasurer, who obviously didn't know me from Adam previously, trying to figure out from some scant financial details, how to stop me having to pay through the nose.

This isn't my only irritating experience of HMRC recently though - oh no. July 31st saw the due date for claiming Tax Credits pass. On behalf of another family member, I had undertaken to inform the HMRC of a change in circumstance that would remove eligibility. Fair enough. At the start of July I tried to use the online system. The form didn't work. Tried again. Failed. Fair enough, I thought - I'll just phone this nifty helpline. Surely even the civil service can't get that bit wrong.

But here's the REALLY ANNOYING bit. It's one thing being put on hold for a while. It's another sitting on it for 25 minutes. So I gave up. Tried a few more times in the following three weeks. Same again.

Is this office being manned by a lone chimpanzee? Is the entire province calling at the same time? Is it my fault? Was it something I said?

With only five days to go, I was getting a little worked up. But hurrah - when I phoned this time, the messages and automated system had changed. Fast tracking had begun. 3-4 minutes later, and I was following all the little instructions to perfection, merrily tapping away. And now surely, to finally speak to a personal advisor.

"Sorry, but all our staff are busy at the moment. Please try again later." CLICK.

The machine cut me off! I tried again - surely, it's possible to speak a person at some point... CLICK! What?

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This morning, we received a letter to say we were no longer eligible for Tax Credits, having failed to report it.

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I hold out little hope for my P45.

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summer (madness) in the city

2009-07-08T23:36:00.006+01:00

Reflecting on a long weekend, in and out of a hectic Summer Madness festival in Belfast. Between hanging out with some of the youth from my new place of employment (eek!), stalking and annoying all the tech folk I could find, getting some video and playing, I was wiped out for about 72 hours straight!

There were a few highlights though - many revolving around the same venue, actually. Christian Aid in Ireland has had a tough few months due to the death of the Celtic Tiger, but a bit of collaboration and enthusiasm can go a long way, and there was quite a bit of time spent haunting their stage - firstly when we played on the Sunday. It was all a bit hectic and we started late with little - scratch that, no - foldback, but I'm told it sounded pretty great!

Always good to get to play with folks, (other than just "himself" - see right - not that it's not always pleasurable too!) Have been frustrated at late by being able to churn out quite a few 'finished' numbers but unable to come up with any more that have that extra push; however, this can be ignored when helped when there's a few folk floating around who know some of the ones we've been playing for longer!

A random footnote - met at least three people at SM that I didn't recognise straight off, only to discover they'd been present at T in the Barn last year. Get in! Motivation is in place to do it all over again... watch this space, perhaps.

There was one other real high though, and strangely it came in the same venue. I turned up to have some fun and fellowship with the great Psalm Drummers (see 'Coleraine House of Prayer', Jan. 15th 2009) only to find them down a sound guy. Having played the day before I'd had a chance to get reasonably familiar with what was what, so I jumped on the desk.

Looked up a couple of minutes later to be confronted by the sight of Carl Albrecht taking the stage. Unless you're a worship drummer you might never have heard tell of the man, but I'm betting that's mostly down to his own modesty. Carl has played on some huge worship records, and was brought to Madness this year playing for Paul Baloche. He also tours extensively and has turned up on everything from African Jazz to Leann Rimes. He's ridiculously talented, hugely experienced and an absolute gentleman - and I was still terrified about screwing up what was really a basic drum mic setup! Though I'll admit, in this task I was greatly hindered by the disappearance of most of the mic holders - duct tape to the rescue. It was a powerful session.

A final noteworthy item was the prevalence across the festival of your friends and mine, Maguire & I. They played more than Paul Baloche did! Was really pleased to see the guys getting a great reception the couple of times I saw them, and hopefully it'll get the a bit more publicity for one of Belfast's best-kept wee secrets.

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the way you make me feel

2009-06-26T00:16:00.005+01:00

A million bloggers are frantically typing up hasty tributes right now, so I'll add my two cents before hitting the sack tonight. The world's greatest pop icon has died.

Everyone of my generation and upwards has a story about a Michael Jackson song. Mine is a carbon copy of a guy the BBC just interviewed at Glastonbury: at age five or six, my first pop music cassette tape was Bad, swiped from my mum and stuck on repeat beside my bed.

One of my surviving memories of my grandfather, who passed when I was ten, goes thusly: "Why, who's your favourite musician?" "Michael Jackson." "Och, why are you listening to that rubbish?"

Unlike most, Thriller never did it for me. My Jacko was, to my loss perhaps, the later one, the eccentric white guy, the guy who sang huge modern anthems like Smooth Criminal and Black or White, whose every performance was bigger and better than the last one, to the point where he seemed unstoppable. But I don't think I lose out for this; he still defined that type of pop music for the 90s, as he had done for much of the 80s with the funkier, bigger stuff. And regardless of the horrific personal side of his existence, the lasting effect of Jackson the icon, Jackson the musician, Jackson the cultural phenomenon, is given no more fitting tribute than the way that the world is at this moment standing still to acknowledge him.

But when it comes down to it, it's really all about a little boy listening to a cassette tape, chanting every word along to Man In The Mirror, pulling silly faces, and then doing it all over again. The man - and his problems - are gone; but the music will really live on.

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ball games

2009-06-25T13:19:00.002+01:00

Wimbledon is back, and with it an excuse to slope off to the TV every hour for a quick top-up of volleying and grunting. A great story from yesterday caught my eye though - the second round match between Michael Llodra and Tommy Haas had to be abandoned shortly after Llodra was unable to stop himself hurtling into a ball girl, clipping her and smacking himself into the umpire's chair. She was fine and Llodra tried to return to playing, but had to retire.

With proceedings brought to an unexpected halt, Tommy Haas saved the day by continuing to play with each of the ball boys and girls in turn around the court. I don't think it was an attempt to look good, though he did - just a nice guy giving some young adults an amazing opportunity. This clip from the BBC coverage is fantastic -I particularly love how the commentary team and the producers, clearly recognising that this was both great TV, and a bit of unique kindness, are so complimentary to the kids and the circumstances. The first boy is my favourite - he looks like he's just won the lottery -and been told he can blow the lot on toys and gadgets.

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long may you reign

2009-06-24T14:59:00.006+01:00

One man production machine Will from Bandwidth Films seems to churn out material at a rate of knots these days - far from those lazy spring days of uni when we all seemed to only be in it for the raw inspiration. [This clause neither makes sense, nor has the redeeming feature of being anywhere close to true.]

Following a theme that I came across in the great Lisa Hannigan video for I Don't Know [posted here, June 11th], they're currently doing a series of videos called 'In Stores Now', where fine Northern Irish talent set up shop in... well, shops... and indulge in a bit of guerilla music video production. My favourite one so far is this week's - John Shelly & The Creatures in a chip shop. The eagle-eared out there might recognise the song from the recent Discover Northern Ireland advert (you know, the painful one with the muppet taking his girlfriend to the North Coast to propose...)

IN STORES NOW#3: JOHN SHELLY & THE CREATURES from bandwidth films on Vimeo.

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postbox artwork

2009-06-17T13:40:00.004+01:00

Writer and cartoonist Andy Riley has done an awful lot of work, but for me he gets the elevation to some level of genius for two or three projects: the third season of Black Books, and his two sets of books as a cartoonist, the Bunny Suicides, and Great Lies To Tell Small Kids.

So I was pretty thrilled when something popped through my letterbox this morning...

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moyles on church

2009-06-16T12:39:00.003+01:00

Someone had mentioned this to me previously, but I just came across the video via Super Simbo's shiny new blog. Check it out: The Chris Moyles Show team discuss a Pentecost Sunday service Chris had seen the day before on BBC1. I watched a good bit of said service, and it was indeed pretty representative of many bigger modern pentecostal or Christian Life churches. It's really interesting to hear Chris's honest perspective, particularly as his (dire) autobiography made reference to a very traditional Catholic upbringing, against which he reacted.

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reasons to go to church

2009-06-14T23:28:00.003+01:00

Great video...

...but I'm not impressed by the message, graphics or intentions alone. I'm impressed because they're from Vegas!

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EDIT: Ooh-err... this other one sadly hints a bit of Prosperity Gospel... but maybe that's just my mistake.

If you're not sure what I mean by that phrase, the Prosperity Gospel is the idea that, "now I believe in God, Jesus is going to make all things well."

This is such a falsehood I won't even begin to try to expand it - but it's particularly popular in many American churches (see the phenomenally tool-like (I mean that as an elaborate insult) ministry of Joel Osteen, or much of the GOD channel's output. These guys are my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I say that through gritted teeth.) In fact, I'd go as far to say - though this is me saying it - that once you get God, things can be harder than you could ever imagine. I know they have been for me and many I encounter... but if you want to discuss that, we need a couple of sofas and a whole lot of hot chocolate up in here.

I realise the edit is now longer than the original post, so I'll stop. For an interesting, if not completely understandable if you have no faith background, great wee explanation of this notion, check out this video which uses a John Piper soundbite.

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i don't know

2009-06-11T16:27:00.002+01:00

Saw this and had one thought: Andy Good would like it! Perhaps the guys can utilise the ethos on their upcoming trip to Nashville, Tennessee.

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it might get loud

2009-06-09T23:50:00.003+01:00

It Might Get Loud is an upcoming doc starring Jimmy Page, Dave "The Edge" Evans and Jack White; the three come together to talk about guitars.

That's it.

Sounds frickin' awesome, and looks frickin' awesome too.

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get stuck in a (picture) book

2009-06-09T18:40:00.006+01:00

A couple of thoughts, charged by the annoucement today of Anthony Browne as the new Children's Laureate. A good choice; Browne's Gorilla book in particular is one I remember myself from my early years, and judging by the number of awards his works appear to have won, familiar to many of you good people as well.

Browne comments, in the BBC clip I've linked to above, about the idea that illustrated childrens literature is disappearing from the lives of many little 'uns, as parents move them on to reading denser texts at a younger age. It's a horrific thought; can you imagine growing up with The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Maybe you can - maybe you did! I certainly didn't. We had a good stack of picture books when I was wee, bolstered by myself and my younger sister being close enough in age to be tossing them around at the same time. It is a love that stayed with me - see my excitement regarding the upcoming Jonze-fest that is the filmic Where The Wild Things Are (published April 13th, 2009). I continue to often give grown-up people quality picture books as gifts - as my better half can attest to, as she has quite the stack (including a couple of hand-drawn efforts) at this point.

Picture books are magical. The immense talent it takes to fuse understandable but exciting narrative with great artwork is more or less beyond me. But more fundamentally, they introduce young and old to a world they will not access, creative thinking they will not be used to, if they stick with purely written word. Observing, processing, and visually testing material are conscious and unconscious processes that educators and workers strive to instill in the young - but picture books can do this. If you ever spend any time with little people, or have enough good fortune to have grown some of your own, just think of how many times kids return to their favourite picture books. It's not just familiarity and comfort that kept me agog at everything from Peter Rabbit to TEN YEARS worth of subscribed-to Beanos. (Still have them all! How sad of me.) It is the fact that every time, and at every stage in my early development, I was challenged to find something new in the pages of these awesome works.

Of course there are some that are terrible - usually ones tied in with TV (unless it's Pocoyo! Best. Show. EVER. Or certainly the best narrated by Stephen Fry, anyway.) But some are amazing. Significantly, there have been some great new ones over the past few years.

Fan favourite for me and her (as a qualified filmmaker/teacher and doctor respectively!) is the glorious canon one of Northern Ireland's finest, Oliver Jeffers. If you haven't read one of his titles, do so. Soon. Or maybe you caught the animated version of his most famous work, Lost and Found on the TV at Christmas - don't worry, it's the new Snowman and will no doubt be repeated every year for the next decade anyway. Jeffers, a professional artist and photographer (and graduate of University of Ulster! You didn't see that coming, I'll wager...) has already won a truckload of awards and captured the hearts and minds of kids and parents alike. Absorbing pictures and the simplest, most random of storylines combine for a highly provocative experience. Go on - have a gander next time you're in Waterstones.

But, as Anthony Browne has shared with us, none of this may matter much as less and less children are coming into context with these little glories. And as a result, they're drawing less, they're struggling more with creativity, and they're becoming generations of mind-washing, boring (and ironically) Media students - I know, i studied with many of them and have taught a few more. It's part of a larger endemic problem, that as a society we're all too aware of, but still do little to react to.

And with that in mind, I fancy a round or two of this 'shape game'...

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gta: lego city

2009-06-07T23:30:00.002+01:00

Genius... I'd never come across this before, though it is a few years old. I'd buy it!

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the (in)glory of it all: update

2009-06-06T14:26:00.006+01:00

Semi-redemption?

Ha.

[Original story published earlier today - read it here.]

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going dutch

2009-06-06T12:12:00.004+01:00

Only got to see this today: the Netherlands sticking it to a shellshocked England in the first match of the T20 tournament. "Cricket is no longer boring!" reads one Dutch article.

It's been hailed as the greatest day in the history of Dutch cricket. I'm currently reading Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, which is all about a Dutchman playing cricket (sort of. It's not really, but it's the Maguffin and that's enough for me to say that.) I feel this gives me enough of an affinity for the Dutch side to be able to rejoice. That, and they whacked the English.

The Irish have a tricky one against Bangladesh on Monday and a colossal game against the team I predict to win the championship, India, on Wednesday. If they could get past the former and make it to the Super 8 stage it would be a great achievement in itself. But if they fail, I'll be backing the Dutch for their stay in the tournament.

Go on, you Oranje!

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the (in)glory of it all

2009-06-06T01:03:00.005+01:00

So, last night I did something so henious, so unforgivable, so sadly-in-character that I fear I must let it out, for fear of containing it and the implosion that would occur shortly after.

Went up to Fuel 09 in Ballymena: good idea, though I was only interested in one thing on the bill: the David Crowder* Band. DCB hold the much-coveted second place (second only to DMB, equally awesome) in my last.fm stats, and for several very good reasons. There's a lot of Christian music out there. The vast majority has great meaning and is genuine, but musically can lack a little (in my humble yet mighty opinion.) DCB transcend just about every genre to bring music that is compelling, brimming with enthusiasm, painfully perfected and... and this is the important bit... kicks ass. It really is that good. But, having never managed to make the trek over to Frenzy in Scotland, I had never got the chance to see them live.

They were fantastic, as expected and more. Completely engaged in equal measures of praise and joy, encouragement and entertainment (and that's a debate for another blog, Seranus!) Fuel is relatively intimate, so no detail was missed and Crowder's energy and interaction is a lesson to any worship leader on How To Do It. I don't say that to idolise them, but rather in that if I had to point to a guy and say This Is The Attitude I Would Like To Have, then that would be it.

But, then the kicker: after Third Day had wrapped up the night, a surprise - DCB were doing a signing. Would I queue? Yes I would, and screw my dignity. Having engaged with a lot of Crowder and the DCB's work, most recently Crowder and Mike Hogan's excellent Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven... ("And So I Watch You From Afar", April 16th 2009), I had so much to draw on that I could ask the guys. And then there's B-Wack and Hogan and the obsession with musical experimentation. Or the band's return to recording a conceptual album with the upcoming Church Music. This was too good an opportunity to miss.

But then something horrible happened.

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I was talking to my Dad on Tuesday night about job interviews. There's an occasional moment we all encounter, when it all goes horribly wrong. We see ourselves saying or doing something, almost as if Out-Of-Body, and we are powerless to stop. And it keeps happening. And we don't stop.

Please, please, my consciousness screams. Stop. Please. Now.

But we don't.

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As you can tell from above, I know quite a bit about the David Crowder* Band. A lot of this has built up from regular/occasional web encounters mostly, be that their Twitter, YouTube or own outputs. They're a band that engage and play a lot with new media, and if you're bored you can find out a lot... so I did, when I was bored.

And now, all of a sudden, instead of saying something useful, or offering something of interest, I turned into public enemy number one: Barely Restrained Fanboy.

And so this is what happened...

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Pete and Sensible Friend are queuing. B-Wack (drummer) sticks head around the corner of the tent.

B-Wack: Hey, guys, how's it going?

Pleasantries are exchanged and Stuff To Sign offered.

B-Wack: ....yeah, we were at the Giant's Causeway today... it's weird... did you do that?
Pete: Personally? No. I did kick it once, but, you know...

There is some banter around this and then a pause. That joke went down ok. This was probably a Bad Thing.

Pete: So where else did you guys get to see?
B-Wack: Oh man, I can't remember what any of the places were called.
Mark (guitar): Yeah...
Pete: Oh ok. I saw a TwitPic earlier of Jack sitting behind some big random table...

No! Stop talking! Please! Don't reveal anymore. You sound like a stalker already!

B-Wack: Hmmm... oh yeah, that must have been at the hotel.
Pete: Anywhere good?
B-Wack: Can't remember.
Mark: The Gul.. Galgorm? Is that right?

Sensible Friend says something sensible, and hands her stuff on to Mike D (bass) to sign. Hogan's (DJ, Violin and more) not paying attention, so Mike hands it to him first.

Hogan: Oh ok, sorry...
Mike D: You're not paying attention.
Pete: It's ok, got it sorted now, you're back on the wagon...
Hogan: Yeah, I guess..

On to Crowder... this is it brain, don't let me down. Say it! Tell him you liked the book! Tell him it really helped!

Crowder: *Takes stuff" Hey, here we go: going to get some top quality ink down here.
Pete: *speechless*

Crowder hands it on to Jack. Jack signs and returns. Thanks and turn to go, but then...

Pete: Hey Jack...
Jack: Yeah?
Pete: Saw the rockumentary, and I just have to say: no matter what the others say, you shred if you want to.
Jack: Oh yeah?
Pete: Yeah, you do it man.
Jack: Oh good; that's like I've got permission now.
Pete: Yeah.
Jack: Great, thanks.

Exeunt.

--------

I'm really, really sorry guys. I just glad I was probably instantly forgettable, because five minutes later I felt that creeping sense...

...but that's how it goes with hero worship. I need to lie down, put my earphones in and let Pastor Mark chastise me for a bit I think.

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nixon night: 8th june

2009-06-05T11:49:00.003+01:00

I'm afraid this one speaks for itself: as part of the continuing wave of frenetic passion that is the Smyth 2010 campaign is having a little bit of a night of celebration, before our man with the plan heads off for a month touring the USA's eastern seaboard.

Mr Smyth has many unfortunate heroes, and none are more controversial than Tricky Dick himself, the 37th President of those same United States. If you've ever been in at 'Campaign HQ' for more than five minutes and heard myself and the candidate going at it, you'll know that the bizarre humour often revolves around former incumbents of the White House, and R. Milhous Nixon is certainly one of the most popular. To that end, we have resolved to put on the not-exactly-impartial epic that is Oliver Stone's 'Nixon' starring everyone's favourite repatriated Welshman, Anthony Hopkins as the man himself.

I'm not going to say it's open invitation because our living room isn't that big, and our audio system in particular could do with an overhaul; but nonetheless, if you also would enjoy three hours of non-stop Nixon action, drop us a line and we'll see about getting you in past the Secret Service...

smyth/huey 1; purnell 0

2009-06-04T23:05:00.002+01:00

You may recall - or then again, may not - my 'calling out' of the ignominous goon, rickety oaf and plainly, twaddling wally that was Work & Pensions Secretary James Purnell ('An open (informal) letter to James Purnell', 10 December 2008). Well, clearly someone was listening: namely James himself, who has just announced his resignation to demonstrate his opposition to the failing leadership of our unelected PM, Gordon Brown.

(I realise I already sound like a toryboy here. I'm really not; I just really dislike James Purnell!)

Of course, that's the official reason the man is giving. But, here at Smyth 2010 campaign headquarters, we all know the truth: his obvious terror at the momentum-gathering wave of change, sweeping this nation like a bleached mop of justice, was just too much for this Blairite featherweight. No doubt confronted by the jackboot of reform, he clearly decided it just wasn't worth it.

Victory is ours!

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