Lots of church stuff discussed including how Sunday mornings are going re kids being in most weeks for May-July.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Football: Barcelona 3-1 Man Utd (Champions League Final)
Watched this with Isaac. Barcelona again scarily good!
Barcelona delivered a masterclass to inflict another Champions League final defeat on Manchester United as Lionel Messi inspired an emphatic victory at Wembley.
BBC match report
Lionel Messi, right, scores Barcelona's second goal past Manchester United's Patrice Evra, centre, and Rio Ferdinand.
Guardian match report
Cooking Again
Every so often I get the urge to do a ham and this afternoon I did the Hairy Bikers’ honey and marmalade glazed gammon as per this post. Great tasting food and must be easy as I can do it!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Saturday Shopping
A rare trip to White Rose shopping with Isaac to Game for a new Xbox game for him, a failed attempt at getting the “Away We Go” DVD for Culture Club and a food shopping trip for hams.
Back for the football – Champions League final.
Coffee: Kenco Millicano
This is new to me but is delicious coffee highly recommended – wholebean instant.
Loving the TV ads:
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Film: The Way
Heard lots about this film from Nick Pollard (whose Damaris organisation was contracted to produce support materials for the film) at this year’s Spring Harvest.
Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of St James. Driven by his profound sadness and desire to understand his son better, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage, leaving his "California bubble life" behind.
Armed with his son's backpack and guidebook, Tom navigates the 800km pilgrimage from the Pyrenees, to Santiago de Compostela in the north west of Spain, but soon discovers that he will not be alone on this journey. While walking The Camino, Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world, all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives: a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen) a Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irish writer (James Nesbitt) who is suffering from a bout of "writer's block".
From the hardship experiences along "The Way" this unlikely quartet of misfits create an everlasting bond and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again, and discovers the difference between "The life we live and the life we choose". THE WAY was filmed entirely in Spain and France along the actual Camino de Santiago.
(Icon Films site on YouTube)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Life Group: Meeting Notes (Listen Up #8: How to listen to bad sermons)
8th and last in the series looking at “LIsten Up: A practical guide to listening to sermons”. I led this session with Tracey, Joly, Lynsey, Dave E, Ben and Maria.
Started by playing the last section of Danielle Strickland’s Creative Bible Reading #1 from Spring Harvest 2011 Minehead Week 3 on Malachi. Another great response to her teaching.
Then covered the content from the book on how to listen to bad sermons including:-
- how to listen to a dull sermon
- how to listen to a biblically inadequate sermon
- how to listen to an heretical sermon
- how to get better sermons
Although we did not agree with some parts of the book over the series, we had some great discussion on subjects that we do not normally talk about and a commitment to start applying what we have learned to encourage preachers/teachers and to talk more about the sermons we hear and not just moving on rapidly to day-to-day matters.
Finished off the input bit with a clip of Gerard Kelly also from the same Spring Harvest week talking about his use of Google Images in prep-ing sermons. Great stuff.
Worship and prayer time to conclude the meeting.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunday with the church family
A good day of chilling with the church family.
Got to church for 9am to set up for All Age Worship event. Breakfast in and amongst that.
One of our best All Age Worship events for content, the message and response. Great stuff.
Out for lunch with Sue, Anthony, Ben, Dave and Joseph at the Brickworks carvery. Great atmosphere and company.
Joseph came back to ours to play on XBox with Isaac as did Ben.
Ann and Dave round to pick Joseph up and stayed for tea.
A good day and great to be part of the church family.
All Age Worship: The Christian Olympics #2 – Spectacle and Competitors
The 2nd in our series on the theme of The Christian Olympics looking at the parallels between The Olympic Games and the Christian faith. We are using SE Gregg’s The Christian Olympics book to prompt us for ideas.
Running order:
Clip from the film Cool Runnings: the scene where a meeting is called for those interested in competing in The Olympic Games as part of the Jamaican bob sleigh team, starting with a full room who then saw a former bob sleigher show the dangers and ending with just 3 in the room with a 4th member showing up late.
Song: Our God
Self-running presentation with a soundtrack of Linkin Park’s New Divide:
- Today’s Olympic theme is “Spectacle and Competition”
- Spectacle (pic of Kara Tointon wearing specs in publicity for the Specsavers' Spectacle Wearer of the Year 2011 competition
- Definition: spectacle: anything presented to the sight or view, especially something of a striking or impressive kind; a public show or display, especially on a large scale
- pic of firework going off at a display
- pic of Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton
- pic of U2 360 Tour set with venue full and the band playing
- “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.” (1 Corinthians 4:9-10)
- As Christians we are being watched by … The Universe (pic f solar system)
- As Christians we are being watched by … Angels (pic of an angel)
- As Christians we are being watched by … People (pic of crowd at a music festival)
- I'm watching you, <fill in your name>. Always watching. Always. (pic of Roz from Monsters Inc)
- In the Christian race, who is the competition?
- Definition: competition: the act of competing; rivalry; a contest in which a winner is selected from among two or more entrants; a competitor or competitors offering opposition
- pic of new Transformers
- pic of a Liverpool and a Man U player squaring up to each other
- pic of Mr Incredible and SynDrome
- pic of Federer and Nadal before a match
- pic of Batman and Joker
- pic of UK political leaders Top Trump cards
- Ryder Cup 2010 logo
- “Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11) - pic of armour of God soldier
- “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. (Galatians 5:17) - pic of Eve and the apple
- “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (Galatians 5:17) - pic of Times Square at night with the advertising neon lights
- know your enemy
Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 4:9-13
Suffering Church re being a spectacle to the world, interview with the late Pakistani minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti speaking of his likely death shortly before being murdered:
Craft: making specs
Video clip from Cool Runnings, the clip showing the team training in a souped-up engine-less go kart
Songs: In The Secret, Don’t Let My Love Grow Cold
Famous Olympian: Seb Coe: video clips:
Bible Readings: Eph 6:11-13; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 John 2:15-17
Video clip from Shrek (Donkey saying “Pick Me” as Shrek asks for companions on his quest)
The power of advertising via 2 ads:
TV clip from Gladiators of the gauntlet:
Song: Rise Up (Doug Horley)
Talk: about the battle and the need for us to support each other in the battle and the things that confront us re Satan, the flesh and the world
Video clip from Cool Runnings, the clip showing the team as they arrive at the Olympics in front of the other teams with their very old and clunky looking bobsleigh and then a 2nd clip as they compete in the Olympics to try to set a final qualifying time
Handout: everyone was given a laminated business card-sized card which had a replica of a Beijing Olympics event spectator ticket and on the reverse side an athlete running number (encouraging people to keep the card as a reminder to ask the question “am I a spectator or a participant?”)
Song: Our God Is Love
Song: Fight The Good Fight
Benediction
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday stuff
Early start to be first in at barbers for hair cut. Solo Mcd’s for breakfast with paper.
Ballet run with Isobel followed by a bit of a shop at Morrisons.
Majority of rest of day doing all age worship slides, vids, music etc off and on.
Rachael not well so did the cooking for the day.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Thai Takeway
Really fancied some Thai food this Friday night. Got home to a flyer from a local Chinese that included a Thai page. Ordered 4 Thai curries with boiled rice. Cheaper than advertised and more knocked off as they were later than their confirmed time, which I was fine about. Very tasty, not the best Thai though but great anyway and as always some left over for work lunches. Will be back.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Obituary: Alan Barber, his work transformed the fortunes of Britain's public parks and green spaces
Alan Barber, who has died of cancer aged 68, was Britain's pre-eminent campaigner and advocate for public parks, a passionate believer in the positive effects of green spaces on society.
But he was also a gifted strategic thinker and a firm believer in research, arguing that if just 1% of parks spending was allocated to research, it would enable the better expenditure of the other 99%. He was fond of saying that the only reliable statistic we had on park use was that "the Garden of Eden contained two people". He was also fervent in his wish to see a national agency dedicated to public parks, and through his tenacity, significant progress was made in both these areas.
Guardian obituary
Interview: Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare
Don't think of Foursquare as a game
The web entrepreneur reveals the lessons he learned from Google, the difficulties of expanding a startup, and why the location-based service is about more than points-scoring and mayorships
Guardian interview
10 years of the iPod
It's 10 years since Apple's original iPod shuffled on to the scene, changing the way we listen to and buy music for good. But could it soon be time to hang up our white headphones?
Guardian article
Film: Killing Bono
Two brothers aspire to rock stardom but find themselves in the shadow of their old school friends U2
Guardian film site
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Film: Source Code
Source Code is about conspiracies, altered minds and altered states, far-fetched in the most elegant and Hitchcockian way, and the sheer outrageousness of it all is muscular and streamlined. The film is about modified reality and inner space, and there are points of comparison with Christopher Nolan's Inception. But the world of Source Code seems to me more interesting, and more able to incubate real drama, real suspense and even some real humour.
Guardian review
Film: Oranges and Sunshine
The film tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the scandal of "home children", a scheme of forcibly relocating poor children from the UK to Australia and Canada. Margaret reunites estranged families and brings worldwide attention to the cause. Deported children were promised oranges and sunshine but they got hard labour and life in institutions.
Wikipedia entry
Film site
Guardian film site
Interview with Jim Loach (Director)
Obituary: Edward Stobart, he reinvented the image of the road haulage business
They celebrated his business with pop songs, a fanclub of tens of thousands, souvenirs from Corgi toys to oil paintings, and there were cartoons and television series about his huge, lumbering juggernauts. Yet Edward Stobart, who has died aged 56 after suffering heart problems, was the antithesis of a big, brash, Yorkie-bar trucker. A small, neat, self-effacing man, with a pronounced stammer, he had a vision of an ultra-reliable operator with smart and disciplined drivers, working to tight margins that enabled him to transform a handful of lorries doing local fertiliser runs into a 1,000-vehicle logistics business by the time he sold Eddie Stobart Ltd in 2004.
Guardian obituary
Book: First Ladies (Kay Burley)
What happens when the power of love challenges the love of power?
‘So, have you met the Prime Minister before?’ Suave PM Julian Jenson has just been re-elected. The nation’s darling, he has an elegance and natural charm in public. But in private the cracks are starting to show. At his side is his wife, Valerie. Trim, tall, well educated but deeply unhappy – with her son and daughter away at school, alcohol is becoming a trusted friend. Sally Simpson is at the peak of her game. Powerful editor of the bestselling magazine Celeb, she can’t wait to take her rightful place by Julian’s side. Sexy TV reporter Isla McGovern has caught Julian’s eye, and she will do anything (or anyone) to get to the top. When the three women meet, so begins a perfect storm, and only one can emerge as the First Lady
Publisher’s book page
Reading a Guardian article on First Ladies by Kay Burley prompted conversations about bonkbusters and bodice rippers. Reviews indicate that this may be a bad addition to the genre …
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Elders Meeting
Discussions about working relationships in the centre and pastoral issues in the church re leavers and joiners. Good discussions as always. Interesting to hear fellow leaders’ views and change your own view as things are discussed.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Obituary: Nikolai Andrianov, one of the greatest gymnasts ever, he won 15 Olympic medals
The popularity of gymnastics boomed throughout the 1970s, as the television public fell in love with the Olympic exploits of Russia's Olga Korbut in Munich in 1972, and then with Romania's Nadia Coma˘neci four years later in Montreal. Gaining less acclaim was the man who, throughout that decade, was the world's best gymnast. Nikolai Andrianov, who has died aged 58, was arguably the greatest gymnast of all time. He won a total of 15 Olympic medals for the Soviet Union, including seven golds, a men's record that stood until the swimmer Michael Phelps won his 16th medal at the Beijing games in 2008. A Russian female gymnast, Larissa Latynina, holds the overall record, with 18.
Guardian obituary
Obituary: Paul Baran, co-inventor of packet switching, a core internet technology
Paul Baran, who has died aged 84, was one of the two inventors of packet switching, the technology that underpins the internet. The origins of the internet go back to the 1960s, when scientists at the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa) were wrestling with the problem of how to connect many geographically dispersed computers. Unbeknown to Arpa, the problem had already been solved several years earlier, in an entirely different context, by Baran, an unassuming and greatly admired engineer who made his scientific breakthrough at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, and went on to found several hi-tech companies.
Guardian obituary
Obituary: Harry Coover, chemist who invented Super Glue
Sometimes it seems as if a few drops of Super Glue can fix almost anything we break. The adhesive has become a part of daily life, and the image used to promote it, which shows a car being suspended in mid-air from a crane, to which it is attached by only a few drops of glue, is one of the most iconic in advertising. This ubiquitous adhesive was discovered by accident, the result of the thoroughness of Harry Coover, who has died aged 94.
Guardian obituary
Wikipedia entries for Super Glue and Harry Coover
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Church Breakfasts
As part of doing things differently in May, June and July at Holme Christian Community on Sundays, we have been having breakfast together before the meeting. This Sunday was the first one where I tried a long table in the hall rather than us being in the cafe with smaller tables and people being in smaller groups. I was triggered into this by clips from Two Greedy Italians (see 2 pics below) and our experience of working with a church in France a few years ago. Much better re community feeling.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Iranian Evening
A family night at Holme Christian Community for an Iranian evening hearing about the challenges of life in Iran generally and as a Christian. Included some Iranian food – lots of it and very tasty. This was part of the celebrations for the dedication of the family’s son tomorrow morning. A good night of fun and seriousness – always a good combination.
In praise of … porridge
A dish once more important than bread, and in more recent decades a well-known Scottish substitute for central heating
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
Film: Route Irish
Route Irish is a 2010 drama-thriller film directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty. It is set in Liverpool and focuses on the consequences suffered by private security contractors after fighting in the Iraq War. The title comes from the Baghdad Airport Road, known as "Route Irish". The film was selected for the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Wikipedia entry
Obituary: Terry Ball, reconstruction artist whose drawings grace many historic sites and guidebooks
For the millions of people visiting ruined medieval castles and monasteries each year, reconstruction drawings can reveal the former glories of the architecture and throw light on the vanished ways of life within their ancient walls. Terry Ball, who has died aged 79, was one of Britain's best-known and most influential artists in this field.
Guardian obituary
In praise of … the voice of experience
Ministers who have never seen active service should pay heed to the words of those who have
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
Athena Tennis Girl makes cheeky comeback – in the name of art
Classic poster will feature in Birmingham exhibition exploring lawn tennis as fine art
Guardian article
Wikipedia entries for Athena and the tennis girl poster
Obituary: Ron Collins, advertising creative known for the Cinzano television campaign
Ron Collins, who has died aged 72, was one of the most successful creators of TV ads during the heyday of British advertising in the 1970s and 80s. He was perhaps best known for his long-running series for Cinzano in which the actor Leonard Rossiter invariably spilt his drink over an immaculately dressed Joan Collins. Initially directed by Alan Parker, the advertisements ran from 1978 until 1983.
Guardian obituary
Men’s Breakfast
HCC’s turn to host. Reasonable turn out. Mark led us through a lively discussion of some quotes from Bill Johnson’s book “When Heaven Invades Earth”.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Obituary: Sir Arthur Bryan, innovative and highly successful chairman of Wedgwood Pottery
Sir Arthur Bryan was the first and only non-family member to become chairman of Wedgwood pottery in the two centuries between its founding by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759 and its sale in 1986. A hard-driving salesman, in 18 years he doubled the company's turnover, and doubled it again through acquisition of smaller pottery companies, but eventually found himself compelled to find a buyer after the company had gone public.
Guardian obituary
Book: The Prime Ministers Who Never Were (Francis Beckett)
In The Prime Ministers Who Never Were Francis Beckett presents intriguingly imagined counterfactuals, assessing how things might have turned out under different circumstances.
How, for example, would Britain have fared in the Second World War under the stewardship of Lord Halifax and not Winston Churchill? What if Aneurin Bevan had beaten Hugh Gaitskell to the Labour Party leadership in 1955, or where would New Labour have been if John Smith had lived to claim election victory in 1997?
Entertaining and thought-provoking, The Prime Ministers Who Never Were is a collection of fascinating historical flights of fancy.
Publisher’s book page
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
Film: Submarine
Submarine is a 2010 coming-of-age comedy-drama film adapted from the 2008 novel of the same name by Joe Dunthorne. The film is directed by Richard Ayoade and stars Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine. The film is Ayoade's directorial debut
Wikipedia entry
Portrait of the artist: Hermione Norris (actor)
A big fan of Hermione’s from Spooks and Outcasts.
'I'm embarrassed daily on set. My job is a series of humiliations, peppered with moments of getting it right'
Guardian article
Book: You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto (Jaron Lanier)
For the most part, Web 2.0--Internet technologies that encourage interactivity, customization, and participation--is hailed as an emerging Golden Age of information sharing and collaborative achievement, the strength of democratized wisdom. Jaron Lanier isn't buying it. In You Are Not a Gadget, the longtime tech guru/visionary/dreadlocked genius (and progenitor of virtual reality) argues the opposite: that unfettered--and anonymous--ability to comment results in cynical mob behavior, the shouting-down of reasoned argument, and the devaluation of individual accomplishment. Lanier traces the roots of today's Web 2.0 philosophies and architectures (e.g. he posits that Web anonymity is the result of '60s paranoia), persuasively documents their shortcomings, and provides alternate paths to "locked-in" paradigms. Though its strongly-stated opinions run against the bias of popular assumptions, You Are Not a Gadget is a manifesto, not a screed; Lanier seeks a useful, respectful dialogue about how we can shape technology to fit culture's needs, rather than the way technology currently shapes us.
Amazon.com (includes author interview)
Book: Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler)
Based on exciting discoveries in mathematics, genetics, psychology and sociology, ‘Connected’ is an innovative and fascinating exploration of how social networks operate. Think it's all about who you know? It is. But not the way you think.
…
Our connections – our friends, their friends, and even their friends' friends – have an astonishing power to influence everything from what we eat to who we sleep with. And we, in turn, influence others. Our actions can change the behaviours, the beliefs, and even the basic health of people we've never met.
In this brilliantly original and effortlessly engaging exploration of how much we truly influence one another. Pre-eminent social scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler explain why obesity is contagious, why the rich get richer, even how we find and choose our partners. Intriguing and entertaining, with revelatory implications for everything from our notion of the individual to ideas about public health initiatives, ‘Connected’ will change the way you think about every aspect of your life, and how you live it.
Amazon UK
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Life Group: Meeting Notes (Listen Up #7: Do what the Bible says today – and rejoice!)
7th in the series looking at “LIsten Up: A practical guide to listening to sermons”. I led this session with Dave E, Ben, Joly, Tracey, Lynsey and Jon.
Good discussion on practically applying what we hear in sermons immediately and not putting it off until tomorrow or later. INcluded a chat on procrastination (love the acronym DIN, Do It Now).
Also started playing Danielle Strickland’s teaching from the Creative Bible Readings at Spring Harvest 2011 Minehead Week 3. Great stuff and a good response from the group.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sunday, May 08, 2011
An All Day Church-ey Day
Breakfast at HCC.
Jon G preached on the names of Jesus in the New Testament with loads and loads of Bible verses. I just about kept up.
Lunch at church as we planned for the next All Age Worship event.
Dave played the Trent Live at Spring Harvest CD – loads of great songs on it.
Straight up to Wyke for their 187th Anniversary celebration.
Long and a busy day but a good use of a Sunday re Sabbath.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Saturday Activities
Took Isaac to school for Alton Towers trip with the school choir for all their hard work rehearsing. Rachael poorly and in bed all day.
Morrisons shopping with Isobel.
Pasta and pizza for lunch with the girls.
Nachos for tea and a TV night.
Sainsburys TV ad for clothing
. . . following Marks and Spencers lead, saw this ad on TV earlier in the week with a soundtrack of At Last sung by Etta James.
TV: Two Greedy Italians
A wonderful cookery programme exploring different parts of Italy and looking at different aspects of changing Italian culture.
Chefs Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo return to the Italy they left more than 40 years ago, to discover what has changed in Italian culture and how that has affected the way Italians eat
BBC programme page
Obituary: Seve Ballesteros
“Severiano Ballesteros was one of the sporting world's greatest and most iconic characters and one of golf's most prodigious talents.
Known the world over just as "Seve", the Spaniard became synonymous with flair, passion and magical shot-making from the moment he burst onto the international scene in 1976.
His swashbuckling style, astonishing vision and sublime skill brought a fresh, radical and exciting approach to the game of golf.
There was a zing and panache in his shots that transformed his movements from the merely mechanical to the magical. And his magnetic charisma and unwavering spirit endeared him to fans around the world.”
(BBC obituary)
Wikipedia entry
Iain Carter’s blog post (Radio 5 Live)
Life in pictures
BBC career retrospective
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Song: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
As I left work for the Easter break a couple or so weeks ago, I started singing spontaneously “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” as I got in the car in the work car park. Where did that come from? Must have been a joy thing . . .
It turns out that the song is a Disney song from the film “Song of the South” which I never knew and as far as I can remember I have never seen.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
In praise of ... 'Whispering' Ted Lowe, snooker commentator
Commentators, take a tip from the master, and keep both the volume and the word count Lowe
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
Obituary: Henry Cooper, boxer
British heavyweight boxing champion known for his warmth, indomitable spirit and a left hook dubbed 'Enry's 'Ammer
Guardian obituary
Ania’s Birthday Lunch
A reasonably rare trip out for lunch from work. This time to belatedly celebrate Ania’s birthday – the actual day was Royal Wedding day. Went to Salts Diner as the Business Systems team plus Andrew, Rob, Jo and Tracy.
I had a parma ham, garlic mushroom and olive pizza. Very tasty,
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
TV: Exile
I always try to watch anything with John Simm in, always delivers tremendous performances.
This was a 3-part BBC drama series broadcast on successive nights Sunday to Tuesday.
Exile is a British psychological thriller television series dealing with the topic of Alzheimer's disease against a background of corruption.
Wikipedia entry
BBC press pack
BBC programme page
Difficult viewing at times with the Alzheimer’s story line but it was riveting viewing with great performances from all the leading actors.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Obituary: Osama Bin Laden, leader of al-Qaida and the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks
Osama bin Laden, who has been killed at the age of 54 by US special forces at a compound near Abbottabad, a town about 50 miles north-east of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, was one of those rare figures whose actions changed the course of history.
Guardian obituary
Bank Holiday Monday
Lots of people took 3 days off to get nearly a fortnight off given the bank holidays, Easter and Royal Wedding etc. This was the last day of my holidays too but I did work last Tuesday-Thursday.
A great 4 days off.
Costco shopping trip with family and Grandma Jean including a very tasty Aberdeen Angus cottage pie and beans. Back to Bradford for a rare shopping trip to Waterstones. Bought “Reality is Broken” and the girls got books too (used my birthday book token). I was also also tempted by a couple of other books re social networking and technology but resisted.
Obituary: Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistani minorities minister
Pakistan's Christian minister assassinated for his opposition to blasphemy laws
Guardian obituary
Pakistan minister Bhatti predicts own assassination:
In praise of … In Our Time (Melvyn Bragg, Radio 4 series)
It is a perfect fit of format and presenter, a kind of jeu sans frontiers of the mind
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
The history of ideas discussed by Melvyn Bragg and guests including Philosophy, science, literature, religion and the influence these ideas have on us today.
BBC page
Film: Fair Game
Fair Game is a 2010 biographical film drama directed by Doug Liman and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is based on Valerie Plame's memoir, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.
Wikipedia entry
Obituary: Betty Smith, trailblazing female tenor saxophonist and vocalist
Betty Smith, once billed as ‘the girl with sax appeal’, was always willing to come out front and play
The presence of female instrumentalists in jazz ensembles is no longer a matter for comment, but half a century ago it was far less usual. This made the achievements of the tenor-saxophonist Betty Smith, who has died aged 81, all the more remarkable. Where the occasional female trumpeter or saxophonist might be spotted playing section parts in a big band, Smith was always a soloist, ready and willing to come out front. During the 1950s she shone, playing Dixieland with the Freddy Randall band. Then, with the Best of British Jazz all-star mainstream outfit, she carved out a vital role for herself as both instrumentalist and vocalist. She later fronted her own bands, touring widely until she was incapacitated by illness.
Guardian obituary
Word: educationist
A new one on me.
educationist
a specialist in the theory and methods of education
dictionary.com
Obituary: Eric Robinson, visionary educationist and driving force behind polytechnics
Eric Robinson, who has died at the age of 83, played a major role in the development of British higher education policy. In the 1960s, as adviser to Anthony Crosland, the education secretary, he was instrumental in the creation of polytechnics and all that they symbolised in terms of opening up higher education to the wider population.
Guardian obituary
Also noteworthy for me is his Christian background and connection with Bradford.
Obituary: Tessa Sidey, curator and art historian
This obituary caught my eye as “curating” worship has been a topic of discussion re worship recently.
Curator adept at promoting fine art in Birmingham
Guardian obituary
In praise of … manuscripts for the nation
To be able to trace the way plot and character have evolved in novels is an invaluable legacy
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
Loved the line “Like castles and cathedrals, manuscripts should be recognised for what they are – part of history”.
Unreal cities: Sohei Nishino's magical photographic maps of London, Tokyo and utopia
Japanese photographer Sohei Nishino's dioramas, painstakingly created from thousands of images, take us all on a journey of the imagination
Guardian article
Telegraph video and article showing how the map was made
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Culture Club: Clash of the Titans (film)
Led the latest Culture Club meeting, the fifth one of the year, when we watched the film “Clash of the Titans”. Good mix of ages present, attended by Isaac, Steve/Colleen and their kids, Dave and Joseph, Hilary and Anthony. Great discussion too on all sorts of subjects including gods, fathers and sons, sacrifice, what do gods need from us, teams, men becoming gods, and Jesus.
I enjoyed the film much more on this 2nd showing and would watch again.
Meeting details here.
Quotation: Caius Petronius (Roman Consul, 66 A.D.) on reorganisation
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.? I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation.
Petronius
Obituary: Ken Hickman, stylist of the Lotus Elan sports car and whose Workmate proved highly popular for DIY
The prolific designer and inventor Ron Hickman, who has died aged 78 after a long illness, made his fortune from an idea for a simple but multifunctional bench with a gap down the middle to grip wood. The Workmate enabled DIY enthusiasts to saw through pieces of timber without using the edges of chairs and tables for support. The idea had come to him in 1961 when he accidentally sawed through the leg of an expensive Swedish chair while making a wardrobe. Nearly 70m Workmates have been sold since Black & Decker put Hickman's design into mass production in 1973.
Guardian obituary
In praise of… the Workmate
Those that know me will be surprised I posted this as I am not a DIY-er and we do not own a workmate . . .
Ron Hickman's invaluable invention embodies a spirit this country needs to see more of
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
In praise of… a grand national holiday
Even though I worked the 3 days last week, it has still been a great fortnight including a week at Spring Harvest at Minehead.
Three days off work for two weeks' holiday? This seems an ideal opportunity for a mass downing of tools
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series
In praise of … the graceful retreat
Was David Cameron happy with his forestry policy? He wasn't; and now he has ditched it.
Guardian lead article in the regular In praise of … series (from back in February)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
