Australia and refugees

It's no crime to seek a better life... (interesting piece on Australia and refugees). I think that its time to rethink our policies (not a fan of Tony or Julia on this at the moment).

On Christmas

Thought this piece in The Age today made for interesting reading. Here's an one excerpt to ponder (which
kind of summarises the point of the article).

Finally we could all do well to heed the advice of Michel Leunig's Vasco to Mr Curly "What is worth doing and what is worth having?" asks Vasco of his friend Mr Curly. 

"It is worth doing nothing and it is worth having a rest," advises the sagacious Mr Curly. "In spite of all the difficulty it may cause, you MUST rest Vasco — otherwise you will become RESTLESS!".

Music

Here's a list of artists of grown to love during the course of 2010, which I hadn't heard much of before:

• Josh Ritter, I really love his song "The Curse".
• Gemma Hayes, at least I think I first listen to her earlier this year. 
• Rosie Thomas, one of the girls in our bible study group introduce me to her (and a few other similar artists, Melaine Doane and Sarah Harmer).
• Brian Eno, I've known him as a genius producer, but this year I listened to one of his records for the first time. 
• Midlake, Deb introduce me to this group when she was in Sydney earlier this year, and I've really enjoyed their new record: The Courage of Others. 
• Noah and the Whale

and, briefly thinking about 2011, I'm looking forward to the new CDs from Bright Eyes (February) and R.E.M. (March) at the moment (I'm sure they'll be more, but that's a good start).

No leave no life(?)

Here's an interesting article by Ross Gittins on our leave balances(via the SMH), and the interesting contradiction between how we would prefer additional leave to additional pay, yet so much leave in Australia is just accumulating. (some research suggests it could be in the order of 117 million days) for the proverbial rainy day, Worth thinking about.

page turning..

It has been quite a while since my last post. Have been quite busy with work.

On the recently read list, I finished Paul Kelly's March of the Patriots, a fascinating book about the time spent in government by Paul Keating and John Howard, it was a little eye-opening reading their accounts of policy decisions. It did remind me of parts of our recent history which I'm not sure I entirely agree with, and to that end I'm kind of interesting in reading the autobiography of John Howard.

I also finished The Winter of our Disconnect (Susan Maushart), how one family with without their technology for, about three months, and what they discovered in the process. It would be great to take up the challenge, and go without my ipod; facebook for a while, and I wonder what I could do with the time I save :)

Samuel Huntington's book 'The Clash of Civilisations' was a book I encountered doing a global politics course while at University, and had been meaning to read for a while. It was written in 1996, yet given recent history, it seem more relevant now, even if we're not embracing the thesis totally.

I also have two books at on the go at the moment: Jostein Gaardner's Through a Glass Darkly, and a book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn - Half the Sky, which details how the great struggle we face today is how women, and their children are treated. It is a heart-breaking read, but there is also hope, as the stories also share how some women have used the circumstances as an opportunity.

Disconnected ...

This looks like a fascinating book; its about declining community engagement in Australia. Robert Putnam wrote a similar book called Bowling Alone, about the same trend in America.

Faith and morality ..

Here's a few pieces from the Guardian on Faith and Morality, without God.  With faith, I actually think its the object of your faith which is the issue, I'd argue that everyone believes something. Be it in the truth of the gospel or that religion is dangerous, or that they just aren't sure.

Thought that these were interesting responses to the questions, and revealing how those of "secular" faith respond to these questions.

Faith in decline in the UK ...

A UK survey, suggests that God is disappearing, here's the article and three responses.

• 'Indifference' may be church's best hope.
• Christianity in France is fading.
• Better to be hated for the right reasons than ignored.

turning the page

We visited the library last weekend, and a got a few books to keep me going. I borrowed Nice Work by Jana Wendt.  For the book Jana interviewed a series of people about the work they do, including a Catholic Priest, a boxer, a forensic scientist, the CEO of a major cruise company, volunteers (at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum), and a few others. Its a fascinating account of how people think about the work they do. [read more], next in the list is another of Malcolm Gladwell's books The Outliers, which sounds fascinating.

While we were in library I placed holds on Half the Sky (read more here), and Committed, (the sequel to Eat, Pray, Love) -  , which also sounds quite interesting.  Speaking about Eat, Pray, Love, I saw the film last weekend, it was beautifully shot (in Italy, India, and Indonesia). It was quite an enjoyable film, and at the same time it did have a message in it too. 

Hope to go and see The Social Network next... 

more dangerous ideas

Over the long weekend, Sydney hosted the (I think, second) Festival of Dangerous Ideas ...  not to be out done, SMH columnist Richard Glover offers some more dangerous ideas for us to ponder.

• The bad public transport in Sydney is not the fault of the NSW government
• Wikipedia is accurate
• Most of the ways Australians describe themselves are not true
• Books are great but . . .
• We don't mind the ads on TV
• Mainstream media is not dead
• Parking meters are a good thing
• Personal privacy is overrated
• Plastic bags are not so bad

He's got a point with a few of them. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the talks from the Festival on ABC's Big Ideas (given how enjoyable the Q&A episode was).

Sunday morning shorts..

On Music 

For those like me who have been missing The Frames, here's a link to their recent set at the Electric Picnic in Ireland.

Belle and Sebestian have a new album out this week - Write about love - have a quick listen here. (Thanks NPR).

I listened to the new album by Hillsong (Beautiful Exchange) this week -- and really love this song "Like Incense/Sometimes by Step". Not just because Brooke Fraser Ligertwood sings on it, but it also features the Rich Mullins song - Sometimes by Step, which is just such a beautiful song.

On writing

I'm sure I've written about this before, but I feel like I need to pick up a pen, and write a letter ... Has anyone seen the collected emails or tweets of Jo or Joanne up for sale?

On "Noise and our communication age"

Here's an article by Kate Crawford (based at UNSW) on "listening to networks". She's part the way through a fascinating project looking at the uses of social media ... (listen to her talk about the project here). 

The Artist's desire ...

Fascinating post on the Artist's Desire ... well worth the read [from the Rabbit Room]

Religion and Extremism..

A couple of interesting pieces from the Guardian in the UK.
:: Recent research shows that the long decline in church attendance [may have] has finally stabilised
:: Apparently societies without God are more benevolent.

I really liked this piece from Nick Kristof from the New York Times - arguing that if we want moderate muslims to denounce extremism, then we should similarly apologise. I reckon he's got a good point.

Beyond the Eleventh ...

In the New York Times, there's a great piece "The Healers of 9/11", speaking about the work two widows have been doing since 2001. It was a refreshing read.

We Used to Wait -- Arcade Fire

I saw the "video" for the new song by The Arcade Fire 'We Used to Wait' ... go this site and have a look. (You can also read about how the did it here. It was quite amazing.

Thieves in the temple

Fascinating op-ed in the New York Times (more on clergy burnout here), in central point of the article is that there's fundamental problem [for clergy] that no amount of rest and relaxation can help solve: congregational pressure to forsake one's highest calling. Church goers want pastors to soothe and entertain them rather than change them to live their confession.

Here this conclusion:

Ministry is a profession in which the greatest rewards include meaningfulness and integrity. When those fade under pressure from churchgoers who don't want to be challenged or edified, pastors become candidates for stress and depression. 

Clergy need parishioners who understand that the church exists, as it always has, to save souls by elevating people's values and desires. They need churchgoers to ask for personal challenges, in areas like daily devotions and outreach ministries.

[Read more on G. Jeffrey MacDonald's website here].

page turners ...

Recently read ..
Musicophilla - Oliver Sacks - found this to be a fascinating read about how our brain interprets music.
Post-birthday world - Lionel Shriver - about the nature of choice.

Currently reading..
Mao's Last Dancer - Li Cunxin - really enjoyable read .. almost done.
March of the Patriots - Paul Kelly - I've been taking my time reading this, but its a good look about PM's Keating and Howard time and the links between them.

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And U2 resumed their tour today .. here's the songs they played, a few surprises...

Some more random pieces

• Dispelling Myths about 'Boat People (from the CASE Blog, and links to this interview on the UNSW website)
• Brooke Fraser ... Something in the water - the base line is reminiscent of Albertine; will have to listen to it a little more to understand what she is singing about. The album "Flags" is out on October 12, and listen online now.
• via NPR listen to the Swell Season (from the Newport Folk Festival) and Arcade Fire's 'The Suburbs')

on the poll

Interesting piece by CPX's Director John Dickson in the SMH on the Christian vote, here's a four key points:

• First, a Christian vote is a vote for others. It is basic to the Christian outlook that life is to be devoted to the good of others before ourselves.
• Second, the moral health of our community will provide another motivation for the Christian vote.
• Third, Christians will think of promoting the Christian message.
• Finally, Christians will mainly have in mind the poor and powerless.

I also found this point interesting: Christians should be willing to change voting patterns after Christian reflection on particular policies. A believer who cannot imagine voting for the ''other side'' has either determined that only one party aligns with the will of God or, more likely, is more attached to their cultural context than to the wisdom of scripture.

Will be interesting to see what debate this stirs in tomorrows paper.

++++

Wednesday's paper had a great piece on 15 questions which won't be addressed by the election ... well worth a read.

August 21 ...

It's on (a five week campaign)  ... here's hoping its a positive campaign about what the Australia become..  but we'll see.

The key slogan for the Labour Party is: "Moving forward together to a Stronger and Sustainable Australia".
[Gillard's speech] - via SBS

The key slogan for the Liberal/Nationals is "A great people deserve a great Government not a Gillard Government."
[Abbot's Speech] via SBS

So at the moment, it looks like the Coalition will run a negative campaign -- you can't trust this government; will Gillard serve a full term, and the Labour party (at the moment at least) is talking about moving forward.

the octopus and August 21

Given this article (sadly Paul was unavailable) it looks like Labour and Gillard will win the election. So, can we spare the expense and not worry about the next five weeks and just move forward? ;-)

World cup

I haven't posted this just yet .. but given the world cup has now finished, I can say that only one team went through undefeated ..  [drum roll]  New Zealand. The coach Ricki Herbert reflects on the campaign here. And no, he won't coach Australia ;)

"Westerners on white horses..."

Fascinating article by Nick Kristof from the NYT's about how he, and I guess at lot of western journalists, report about Africa.

Never tear us apart

Here's a great cover of INXS's Never Tear Us Apart by Beck's Record
Club (featuring St. Vincent, Liars, Os Mutantes)

technology is oh-so "creepy"

I am not ready to accept that a person's online profile - be it on Facebook, a dating site or some other manufactured and commercially constructed environment - can ever be a substitute for a way a human presents themselves in person.

What is diminished when we filter our personalities through the interweb is the essential stuff of humanness - a person's capacity for empathy, their uniqueness and idiosyncrasies, the quirky way they respond to a social environment. [SMH]

I think there may be some truth in this...

an election on the horizon...

Here's an interesting piece by Ross Gittins wondering why Gillard has to run to the poll. Especially given the start Gillard has made. But its also might be totally irrelevant given the news headlines today.

Time to seek the lost?

Greg Clarke and Simon Smart (CPX) on refugees. interesting read. Need to take some to think about the issue some more.

Some random shorts..

On the world cup -- one of the good pieces about the world cup was how the players who were featured in the Nike advertisement all had "ordinary" world cup...  I'm hoping for a Netherlands v Spain final given that neither Spain or the Netherlands have won the world cup yet..

On the next challenge for Julia Gilliard -- how will she look at the issue of refugees

On faith and politics ... how to churches understand government ... and how the government understand churches (in the UK)

The Romantic Comedy ... (for men)

As you'll know the World Cup is currently being held in South Africa ...  and one thing I've often thought is that sport could well be described as a romantic (perhaps tragic) comedy for men ...  reading this, it seems I'm not the only...

And, in terms of the on field action ... I couldn't be happier with how the All Whites went, three draws is a respectable performance.  Australia did okay, I think the most dissappointing thing was the way they played during their loss to Germany, it was almost as if they weren't giving it a go.  It doesn't do Auatralia (or England) much credit when they blame the referee for their results. The ref doesn't ruin the game with his decisions, its what makes sport, sport. I'm not so keen on goal-line technology (or video replays) - leave the decisions to those on the field..

As for a winner ..  I'd say now its pretty close between Argentina and Brazil, but we'll see, as it has been a tournament of shocks.

June shorts ...

I've been watching the Football World Cup. Been quite an exciting ride so far with a few of the big names not getting out of the group stages, and New Zealand's performance (two draws, against Slovakia and Italy) has been great. It was funny to find out that if both Italy (v Slovakia), and New Zealand (v Paraguay),  have identical draws (ie 1-1); the team to progress into the second round will be decided by the toss of a coin~! (Not that this will actually happen mind you).

Its been quite an interesting with the media circus around that Australian team; the implosion of both the French and English teams. (I'm thinking the favourites to win would be Brazil, Argentina and maybe the Netherlands). Here's who could qualify for the second round .

I just bought a DVD of U2's concert from Pasadena last year ... I've literally just got to fourth song, but its been quite impressive so far ... the stage is amazing. Tthe new songs have grown on me too. Will write more on this once I've seen the full concert. 

I've also been able to read a couple of Neil Gaiman's books (Stardust and Coraline), both of which I really loved; and I also read Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell) which I found a little tough going in places, but worth it ...  just started The City and The City (by China Melville)

In Brief ...

on the soccer .. so the socceroos went down 4-0 this morning. Sure its a touch dissappointing, yet the Aussies are exactly where we expected them to be. The Germans are not one of the best in the world for no reason, and there performance this morning was awesome. Will be interesting to see how the Kiwi's go.

Via NPR, I've been listening to a few performances from Bonnaroo. So far I've heard Tori Amos and Mumford and Sons, which have both been great. Look forward to seeing what else is there.

Also am interested in reading the new book by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen - Worse than War (on Genocide). (Here's more about the book).

To finish, here's an article on Facebook and its impact on young people.

Christian music on the radio

Was intrigued by the fact that: "forty-eight of the top 50 Christian songs in the last decade were by males, a figure primarily determined by women who listen to Christian radio. Why don't they want to hear their female peers on the air?".

Weekend recap

Been a great weekend, after a wet week we made the most of our Saturday and spent the day in the Blue Mountains. On the agenda was a little walk to the Bridal Veil Falls at Blackheath, and just a little
bit of window-shopping. Today, I went to the special Survive Past Five service at Barneys which aimed to celebrate, raise awareness and pray for mothers and children particularly those around the world whose expectations are vastly different to ours. It was a really challenging morning. Read more about the Millennium Development Goals here; and here.

Since then, I've just been watching the Swan's win against the Bombers (quite an exciting game -19 lead changes), and catching up on a bit of reading. Here's a couple of pieces which have been sitting on my web-browser for a while. In the first of these David Brooks writes about the limit of policy, given cultural differences. The second is about umpires and "errors". I'm all for keeping the human element in sport; and not going down the path of replays for everything. With the World Cup now only 6 days away - here's a piece on the experience many in Australia will have, over the next month or so.

Petro Georgiou's Valedictory speech

I have been impressed with Petro Georgiou, the Liberal member for Kooyong, particularly how the took on the rights of refugees during the final years of Howard's Government. Unfortunately he is not standing this
year, but his final speech is great reading. (Here's how the SMH reported it).

On Coffee

So it seems, my morning coffee may not have the effect I think it does ...

Leviathan ... and other pages

Just finished reading John Birmingham's Leviathan; which is a biography of the city of Sydney. It was great to learn more about the history of Sydney; and it doesn't just focus on the positive character of the city. Well worth a read. I'm now starting to read Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the bit of which I read is beautifully phrased; before diving into: Battlelines (Tony Abbott); Stardust (Neil Gaiman); and Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell).

It will be interesting to read Tony Abbott's book; I haven't agreed with him on a number of key policies (eg Immigration and refugees), but it will be interesting to read how he thinks about these issues. A few of my friends have always raved about Neil Gaiman, so I will be good to read another of his; and David Mitchell was another recommendation. It is so great living close to a great library.

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And on another note ...  I'm not one to read much into these things, but in a friendly last weekend, New Zealand beat Serbia 1-0 in a game of Football. It is only the second time that the All Whites have beaten European opposition.

The Curse ...

Here's a cool clip for the new Josh Ritter song, "The Curse", which is a love story between the archeologist and his mummy... (Also on NPR you can hear two songs from the new Arcade Fire album).

Graduation speeches ..

I'm not sure if I've linked to these before, but here's two 'great graduation speeches', from Bono and JK  Rowling. (Along with the "anti-U2" stuff in the comments, which I don't get, there's a few other speeches to read as well).

weekend reading ...

While reading the Spectrum last weekend during I noticed an interesting article on evil by Terry Eagleton. Here's a couple of links to look over; I think, the fascination of evil was reprinted in the SMH.

:: The Fascination of Evil
:: Of men and monsters

Last week I also went to a lecture at UNSW on refugees - (here's the audio). It was quite sad to realise that just after I starting working at UNSW (in 2001), I sat in the same room listening to Ruddock outline the government's policy on border protection. During the lecture last week, I heard the Director of the Centre for Refugee Research, Eileen Pittaway, tell a different story from her experience in refugee camps. It was quite disheartening to realise how little has changed, and perhaps the obligation we have to do more to protect those who have displaced; and move away from the dialogue based in fear, and the language of queue jumpers, and 'illegal immigrants'. Perhaps the only resolution is the unachievable 'peace', but that doesn't mean we shouldn't advocate for change now.

Less than three weeks...

So, tonight in Melbourne New Zealand played Australia in their last game at home before the World Cup. Such a shame that it wasn't on free-to-air, but ABC Radio was broadcasting the game. I was encouraged
in spite of the result. (a 2-1 loss - with the winner scored from the last kick of the game), and if you read this report it looked like the All Whites played a great first half. Not sure it is as dire as that for Australia (but would be interesting to read Craig Foster's thoughts).  NZ has two more games before the World Cup against Serbia and Slovenia; while Australia will play Denmark and the US, but I can't wait for it to start on the morning of June 12.

Happiness conference...

Earlier this year there was a conference on Happiness ... who knew that there was a conference on happiness. There was a piece in Thursdays paper about Hugh Mackay's presentation ... where he reminded the delegates that "through sadness, disappointment, grief, failure, and doubt that people learnt and grew". The idea that we need to fail to learn how to cope (and to my mind find success), resonated along with the comment that if he had to wish anybody something it might be "Be whole' since wholeness strikes me as a far healthier, more realistic goal than happiness."

The Truce

Over the last week I've read If this is a Man // The Truce and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi; a survivor of Auschwitz. Hasn't been the most pleseant reading ... The Drowned and the Saved talks of memory and how the will and spirit of prisoners was broken; I found how he writes of himself as a witness rather than a judge intriguing. If this is a Man / The Truce was more autobiographical, as he wrote more about his time in the camp; and his journey home from the camp. Its intriguing to read how he answers the questions about how he feels towards the Germans; and whether or not they knew.

He also writes of what he witnessed and seeks to understand what enabled him to survive. The books are a reminder of the nature of evil - and as Levi says - that we can not understand it, as to understand is to contain; and "almost to justify", and to keep reminding our conscience, that this could happen again.

So the world runs away - Josh Ritter

I've been listening to the new album by Josh Ritter via NPR this morning. I first heard of him when I read that he was supporting The Swell Season on their American tour. The album echoes the style of both Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan (in terms of both the poetry of the lyrics and the style of music). I found it really easy to get into. Ritter has a beautiful songwriting craft - the playful Lark, the melocholy Folk Bloodbath. I really love Another New World. The preview is available until the album is released on May 4th.

Read more at his MySpace page.

Little bit more on music ...

Recently via NPR, I've listened to concerts by Jenny Lewis, Joanna Newsom, Josh Ritter, Rachael Yamagata, The Arcade Fire and Neko Case; and Jonsi's new album (the lead singer from Sigur Ros). I'm looking forward to hearing Josh Ritter's new album (from Tuesday).

The Jonsi album which is a number of great and catchy pop tunes. One of the highlights of the Jenny Lewis concert (thanks Deb, who recommended her to me ages ago), was her version of Handle with Care (a Travelling Wilbury's cover). Rachel Yamagata on was great, her latest album has two discs, the first is mellow and acoustic, which highlighted her voice (which reminded me of Jennifer Knapp - who as an aside has a new album due out in May), the second disc is a little bit more edgy. I enjoyed listening to these concerts and the new albums. NPR will be great to keep a watch on especially given some of the names on the Metacritic site (though I'm not holding my breath for the albums on the list to come out (or be on NPR if they do)

Along with NPR, I've also enjoyed keeping an eye on daytrotter - which has also opened my ears to a few other bands -- I really loved the Session's of Noah and the Whale, J.Tilman, Josh Ritter, and Lisa Hannigan (who toured with Damien Rice).

I am enjoying the new albums from Laura Marling and Broken Bells. Broken Bells is the singer from the indie band The Shnis and Danger Mouse, it has a great-catchy sound. Laura Marling is more folky which
really appeals to me (as you can see from the bands I've recently started listening too.

The Storm...

So, the biggest sports story this week is the story of the Melbourne Storm. The only thing I would say is that, it would have been great if the leaders of the NRL had taken 48 hours, or more to think through their decision and especially the penalty. As it stands, a team is being sent out to play in effect for nothing, yet with an "illegal roster". Imagine this was a sprint, and the Storm are a team caught before the race taking steriods - would the officials let them run? In any event, I think that its important for the NRL to have a team in Melbourne.

Lest we forget..

On this day, with sorrow and thankfulness, we remember before God all those who in time of war offered their service for the protection ofour land and liberty, and especially those who gave their lives that we might live in freedom.

And we pray to Almighty God for those who have given all, that we may so follow their example of faith, that both in life and death, we may live forever with Him, whom to know is life eternal.

A fresh look

I figured that it was time to update my blogs look, so I've used one of the new templates on blogger to do this. They do have a few good options to chose between. (Hope you all like it!).

In other bits of news:

We haven't got up to too much, went out to "Fat Noodle" for dinner last night (Fat noodle is a Vietnamese resturant in Star City - its run by the same people who run Red Lantern in Surry Hills)


I also caught a little bit of the Sydney Swans game against North Melbourne today. It was a pretty solid win - Sydney's started the year beautfiully with wins against Adelaide (in Adelaide) and Richmond, and a close loss to the Saints

Tomorrow, we're having lunch with Fi's family which will be great. 

While I've started talking a little bit about sport - this week should be great with the first legs of the  Champions League Semi Finals. They promise to be great with - Inter Milan playing Barcelona and Lyon tackling Bayern Munich. (Wednesday and Thursday morning).


I'm also meaning to write a little about some new music I've been enjoying at the moment, but I'll save this for another time.

London..

I finished Edward Rutherford's London today. It is the kind of book that I love - telling the history of a place, through the events in the lives of families. I guess even though I did find the stories a little 'soap-opera-ish in parts, that's actually what history is filled with too ... our personal history. It was really interesting how much he wrote about the history of the Church in England.

Anyway, here's a little section which kind of sums up what I like about the book:

"Imagine", he had said, "a summer. At the end of it the leaves fall. They lie on the ground. They almost dissolve, you might say, but not quite. The next year the same thing happens again. And again. Thinned out, compressed, those leaves and all the other vegetation build up in layers, year after year. It's the natural process. Its organic. 

"Something similar happens with man, and especially in a city. Each year, each age, leaves something. It gets compressed, of course, it dissappears under the surface, but just a little of all that human life remains. A Roman tile, a coin, a clay pipe from Shakespeare's time. All left in place. When we dig down, we find it and we may put it on show. But don't think of it just as an object. Because that coin, that pipe belonged to someone: a person who lived, and loved, and looked out at the river and the skiy each day just like you and me. 

"So when we dig down into the earth under our feet, and find all that is left of that man or woman, I try to remember that what I'm seeing and handling is a huge and endless compression of lives. And sometimes in our work here [Muesuem], I feel as if we've somehow entered into that layer of compressed time, prised open that life, a single day even, with its morning and evening, and its blue sky and its horizon. We've open just one of the million and million of windows hidden in the ground."

 And how in the artefacts of each age we open windows into our shared history. I'm looking forward to reading Dublin, Ireland and New York.

page turning...

One of my idle thoughts for this year, was to read more; especially seeing as I've been blessed with more time in which to do it. I will attempt to write a little bit more later about my thoughts on these books.

Finished ... Ian McEwan - Saturday
Phillip Roth - The American Pastoral
Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Kirsten McKenzie - The Chapel at the End of the World
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The Thing Around Your Neck
Joseph Conrod - The Heart of Darkness (and a few other short stories)
Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point

Still working on ... Edward Rutherford - London
Paul Kelly - March of the Patriots

Then... Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach
Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace
Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers, or Dog.
...  and leave a recommendation or two. 

The Apple Isle...

Cradle Mountain

Been a while since that I've written a newsy blog entry. I probrably write more that link to other people's thoughts, which seems quite easy to do. But given I've got a little bit this afternoon I thought I would take some time to write down what's been happening. I should note that during March this year, we celebrated 20 years in Australia. In some ways now, it feels like I've always been here. But yes, I still support the Kiwi's. :-)

In March, Tasmania was added to the list of Australian States we've been to. We did the traditional circuit: Hobart > Strahan > Cradle Mountain > Launceston > Freycinet > Hobart. I think my favourite stop was Cradle Mountain. The drive in seemed so out of this world. We did a few great walks - up to Crater Lake, around Dove Lake. Along with great weather, we also were blessed with the opportunity to see Tasmanian Devils (both in a wildlife park, and outside of one) up close. It was also surprising to wallk around the corner and see a Wombat.

I found it quite like NZ in that you'd drive for a couple of hours, along widing roads, and watch the countryside change a few times. The two drives which stood out was the drive from Hobart to Strahan, which though a little bit hairy in parts (like heading towards Queenstown) was great. It gave you an impression about how isolated the West Coast is. The drive from Launceston to Coles Bay and then to Hobart was beautiful as you drive through the forest, down the pass and the along the coast

In other news ... Barneys, now not only has a DA approval for the new building, a demolition contract for the old building; and we are working on getting builders. Our prayer, is that we'll be home for Christmas next year (2011). Please pray for us and that God would lead us to our new Pastor.

Since we got back from Tasmania, we went down to Canberra for Easter. It was lovely to spend time with Fi's family. While we were in Canberra we went and saw The Last Station, which though it took a little bit of time to get going, it showed me a little bit more of Leo Tolstoy's life. I've added his books to my reading list, and with that I'll say goodbye, for now. 

Good night, and joy be with you all - The Swell Season (Sydney, April 5)

On Monday we went to The Swell Season at the Opera House. There's something unique in seeing The Swell Season, its like two (or three) concerts in one. The three things I love about The Swell Season, are Glen and Marketa's ability to tell a story through song (and also in introducing songs); the genuine humility they seem to have about how fame struck them, and how they introduce people to the music they like. In addition to the songs they normally play, they invited LJ Hill onto the stage to play a song, they heard him him play at the Blues and Roots festival and were captivated by his songs. He played a song called 'The Pretty Bird Tree' which was just beautiful (and fitted into the night so well).

The highlights, in terms of the songs they played ... (that I expected and and the surprises) -- Gold (from Once); and two songs original recorded by The Frames (Lay Me Down; and Red Chord) and Marketa's performance of I Don't Know How to Love Him; in terms of the stories he told (about buying a grave, a tough man and tears on a plane ride, and the 'Irish' farewell), and just their presence on stage. It might have been me, but it seems that Marketa has got a little bit more comfortable, and is starting to talk a little more, and introduce songs with stories as like Glen with stories, before she introduced Fantasy Man she spoke of a Czech Easter tradition. It was quite sweet how he thanked the band, for letting him have time off to follow this road (and come along for the ride).

My recollection of the setlist is below, though I'm sure the order is wrong, I think all the songs are there:
Gold / Low Rising / If You Want Me To / High Hope / The Rain / In These Arms / Say it to me now / Lay Me Down / Leave / Astral Weeks / Fantasy Man / I Have Loved You Wrong / The Pretty Bird Tree [LJ Hill] / Feeling the Pull / Back Broke / The Court of New Town / When Your Minds Made Up // I Don't Know How to Love Him / Falling Slowly / Lies / Red Chord-Hey Day-Parting Glass.

In sum, I'd see them again tomorrow night, and love it just the same. I wonder whether the future has another Frame's album and tour in store... will be great to find out.

google and intelligence..

Here's a article responding to Nicholas Carr's articlce asking if google is makng us stupid.


via the Pew Reasearch Centre

beyond good intentions

I found this to be an interesting piece about how we often do bad by our intent to do good.

.. belief and unbelief in Australia ...

Not so long ago, I read Tom Frame's book Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia. Its a fascinating look at the church and its influence in Australia. As part of the Sydney Writers Festival, ABC arranged a discussion what it is about religion which still fascinates. One point which struck me from the discussion, though perhaps its a semintic distinction, between the problem of evil - a language which highlights the possibility of a solution; to a language evoking the current reality of "evil". One of the panelists goes on to speak about the inherrant cruelness of nature (citing an example of a parastic wasp) . I'm not sure we can go this far, but it is hard to believe that we can educata towards a more moral society.

Give the olympics a home...

There's an interesting thought - should we give the olympics a [permanent] home, and stop the electioneering every four years. I'm not sure it will resolve the issues of cost, and environmental impact. I do enjoy the thought of the Olymics rotating. It was great to see parts of China in 2008, and Vancouver this year. Maybe reducing the number of sports is a way to go.

Internet ...

Here's a lovely piece written by Clifford Stoll about the internet in 1985 (via Roslyn). Maybe he's wrong on a few minor points, (online sales for one example). But some of the issues he raises, are still issues. I'm gradually warming to buying my music online, but not so keen on reading on a kindle. It is also true to the internet has added and subtract from our social communications.Like everything, there's enoromous positive and negative potential in technology. Anyway,, have a read of the artilcle here (and a reaction to the article here).

Learning From the Sin of Sodom

This is a fascinating article about religious and secular groups and aid; drawing the conclusions that more good would probably be done if both groups put aside their different approaches and worked together. Kristof comments on a (challenging) section from Richard Stern's book (The Hole in Our Gospel) :

"What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?" he writes. "Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these 'orphans and widows in their distress.' (James 1:27). Shouldn't the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion? "How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?" Mr. Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy. He writes laceratingly about "a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics." In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn't so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were "arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49)

Read more here.

new sounds

Here's some interesting news ...  Thom Yorke premiering some new songs..   (via NPR). I really like 'Give up the ghost'. I'd love to see either Thom Yorke and his band (now Atmos for Peace) or Radiohead come back downunder.

Church and state

There was an interesting article in The Australian today about politicians and faith. The article was in response to the question of whether politcians need to 'leave their faith at the door of parliament once they are elected'.

I'm not sure that it is a realistic request - in the sense that what we believe is a significant part of our character, and our view of things. Perhaps theres something in Rawls argument of public reason, that arguments should be made which would appeal to those who are religious and those who are not. But is governing and legislating morality something the church should be concerned with.

art

 I read this interesting article about art in Australia. It does't really seem surprising that people may have a range of tastes. One of the points that reasonated with me is the quote by Catherine Lumby.

"Television, particularly interactive forms like reality TV, are the Shakespearean drama of our time," she says. "That's not saying that Big Brother housemates speak in soliloquies, they don't. But in the broader sense, it has the same appeal of the theatre and human drama. She says the blurring of the lines between high art and low rent has been particularly strong in the virtual world. Video-sharing sites such as YouTube give anyone the opportunity and the power to produce their own works of art, she says.

That every can write; or produce content is great... and that content can be seen by so many people is great too -- without the internet I would not have found much out about Paul Potts and Susan Boyle (and yes there is negatives there too). Perhaps thats the beauty of art, its a matter of taste, there's something for everyone.

olympics..

Its no secret that the worst thing about the Olympics, is the commentators, actually its probably one of the most frustrating things about sport is the inane comments made by those who are describing it to us. But in Vancouver, on of the stories is the Canadian figure sakter Joannie Rochette, whose mother passed away a few days before she was to skate. Here's a great piece about her story. I can't say that I'd be skating in her circumstances.

Other than the figure skating which is always great; I've enjoyed the Ice Hockey, the sliding sports, and the distance ski-jumping..  I actually think its been more fun to watch than the summer games. :-)

Cause of Crime...

I don't find this particularly surprising ... the root cause of crime is opportunity.

"200"

Wow.. it was always only a mattter of time before a man managed to score 200 runs in a one-day cricket match. [Australia's Belinda Clark already acheived that]. I had to admit that I always thought that Adam Gilchrist would have been that man. But last night, and I guess its fitting, Sachin Tendulkar became the first to score 200 runs in a one-day international. (And as a bonus here is a list of some of his other great innings).

Q&A

I watched the Q&A tonight, where a large group of 18-25 year olds, were given the opportunity to ask questions of the PM. There was something inspiring about this, our elected leader, standing in a room, respondng to questions. A two way conversation between the elected leader, and the electors is a great exchange of information. I'm not sure whether it would impact or influence the PM's mind, but the dicusssion is valuable, hopefully the young people in the room left feeling their PM was accessible. Flowing from this - I'd love to see a situation like in the US, where the President took questions from the opposition. I don't know how or even if it would work, but the example of dialogue it would set if it did, would be great.

Reading..

So one of the joys after having moved north is that I now have a 60 (or so) minute trip into work. Combinig this with the wonderful local library has done wonders for my reading. I've been trying to read a good mix of fiction and non-fiction books. So far in 2010 I've read:

:: Stephen Carroll - The Lost Life; The Time We Have Taken; The Art of the Engine Driver; The Gift of Speed and The Lover's Room.

:: Sam Harris - The End of Faith.

:: Tim Keller - The Reason for God

:: Tom Frame - Losing my Religion - Unbelief in Australia

:: Ted Kennedy - True Compass.

:: Alister McGrath - The Dawkins Delusion.

:: Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair.

:: Jacqueline Kent - The Making of Julia Gillard

:: Orson Scott Card - Magic Street

:: Currently: I'm reading Jonthan Freeman's Shrinking the world and Paul Kelly's The March of the Patriots.

I'm heading back to the library soon, so any suggestions of what to read next?

++

briefly on the tennis. While I would stop short of calling Federer a hero, there is something in this artilcle.. (comparing him with other freakishley talented sports-people such as Warne and Tiger). There was something refreshing in the way he answered Jim Courier's questions following his quarter
final and semi final wins. I'm looking forward to the final on Sunday
night.

Another few articles

The first one, which may not surprise you Cricket Australia's research indicates that the team is not well liked it seems that there's more the public want than just winning.

And another article about how social networking sites are being used...

Favourites from 2009 ...

Hard to believe that we are now in January 2010.  Doesn't seem so long ago that I was pondering what 2009 would bring, and writing about the happenings of 2009. I think that the only music I was expecting was the new U2 record (and rumour has it 2010 may see their next one...)

On to my top five... the contenders are ...  Strict Joy (The Swell Season), Backspacer (Pearl Jam), Fireflies and songs (Sara Groves), Hello Hurricane (Switchfoot), Long Fall Back  to Earth (Jars of Clay), No Line on the Horizon (U2), Outer South (Conor Oberst), Glass, Tavener, Nyman (Amy Dickson). A couple that I need to listen to more - Golden Rule (Powderfinger), As Day Follows Night (Sarah Blasko).

Its thougher than I thought to pick between them this year. I had pretty high expectatons with both U2 and The Swell Season, and The Swell Season got closer to delivering than U2.

No Line on the Horizon - well while I still don't like Get on Your Boots, the album has grown on me quite a bit (not that its in my top three of their albums).

It was always going to be hard for The Swell Season to match their first record (which was pretty close to perfect). The highlights are Marketa's singing on Fantasy Man and I Have Loved You Wrong. The songs speak of the experience of break-up (and seem to ring true).

I had heard a lot about Sara Groves before, but hadn't listened to any songs. Last year she release Fireflies and Songs - filled with quite a number of personal reflections (I love the story behind 'It's Me" - which opens the lid a little on conflict in marriage. Jars of Clay new record, similarly focuses the eyes on relationships using the metaphor of planes landing in 'Safe to Land'.

Backspacer is one of Pearl Jam's stronger records (and better than their self-titled pervious record), tte stand out tracks for me are Unthought Known, and Just Breathe.


So the top five:
5 - Swtichfoot - Hello Hurricane
4 - Pearl Jam -  Backspacer
3 - Jars of Clay - The Long Fall Back to Earth
2 - Sara Groves - Fireflies and songs.
1 - The Swell Season - Strict Joy
--
The few that I'm looking forward to at the moment are Broken Bell, and the new Elbow and Arcade Fire records. I'd like to hear are Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons which were released last year.

Newsprint...

A few random bits a pieces, from the newspapers for 2010...

Tweeting... an interesting (and negative) take on twitter...

Kindle... I'm old fashioned, clearly...  it doesn't really matter how good the screen is, how many books you can get on it and how cheap it gets, I'm just not so keen on the kindle. I was tyrying to read something off my screen the other night, and realised I just wanted to print it out and read off the paper.

Avatar.. (though to me I can't be sure its not true for alot of movies.. like Star Wars, maybe even Lord of the Rings...). Still haven't seen the film, seems to get some mixed reviews. Will write more if/when I see it.

(and acting... - and the 'harder' roles).