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.

++


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.

+++

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).

A Post-Christmas to-do list

Not sure what to do between Christmas and the New Year ... here's a list (via the Chicago Tribune) of things to do before the end of the year.

1 Get unplugged. Take a deep breath and have some fun.

2 Get inspired.

3 Get focused. Play a game with me. It is Dec. 22, 2010. You've brushed your teeth, turned off the lights and are almost asleep. You think back over 2010 and feel a sense of excitement, accomplishment and happiness. Answer this question, "What happened in 2010 for me to feel this way?" Now you know what to focus on next year.

4 Get gratitude. "What's next?" I know I find myself asking this a lot. But in your quest for new and more, take a step back and consider everything you have to be thankful for. Are there problems in your life? Of course. But I guarantee there are some gems. I bet that if you thought about it for 30 seconds, you'd have a list that would surprise you. Try it.

5 Get generous. This doesn't mean you should buy a bunch of stuff. It means you give something of yourself. That could be your ideas or a shoulder. Who has had the greatest impact on you this year? Call them and say thank you.

Finally - don't worry about 2010 -- it will come without your help. Spend the next few days enjoying what's left of 2009.

not sharing...

Interesting to read this piece (SMH) about the sharing of Christmas news - and there's defnintely something in sharing the ups and downs of our year -- though I wonder how likely we are to write openly then, if it seems we find it hard to share what's happening at other times too. How to write 'mass communication' is something to think about - in terms of how much detail to share, and the authenticity of what we share. And maybe there's something about readers only wanting to see the 'good news'.

Friendship and a few bonuses...

One of the trends of 2009 was the growth of social-networking sites - this atricle is a great read about the changing nature of friendship. Another Christmas article, this one's about the 'christmas' songs we could do away with -- (via New York Times)

A final one - about the impact of MySpace - which is a great way to introduce yourself to music (as they often have songs streaming on their pages).

The Child in the Manger (the King on the Cross)

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. (Rev 1:12-19, ESV)

Christmas

A couple of Christmas pieces from the herald today..


Did Jesus come to make us fat and greedy... (on the prosperity gospel).

And  John Dickson's piece on the Christmas narrative.

Music for 2009...

As the year winds its way down, I thought I write about a few of the artists I've encountered during 2009.

Amy Dickson - A classically trained Saxaphonist now based in the UK. Her latest album includes recordings of recordings of Tavener, Nyman and Glass. Really enjoyed it.

Sara Groves - Christian singer-songwriter. A really enjoyed her lyrics (which are so honest, and real).

Gemma Hayes / Lisa Hannigan - Two awesome Irish singer-songwriters. Lisa until recently sang with the awesome Damien Rice. I'm almost ready to admit that the best musicians come from Ireland (or maybe the UK and Ireland :-).

Noah and the Whale - Another British group, kind of folkish, I love the name :-)

World Cup - Draw.

The groups have been set: New Zealand will face, Italy, Slovakia and Paraguay; Australia has games against Germany, Ghana and Serbia. The full details are here.

Dates for the diary:
Tuesday, June 15, 9.30pm, AEST, NZ v Slovakia, at Rustenburg
Monday, June 21, Midnight, AEST, NZ v Italy, at Nelspruit
Friday, June 25, Midnight, AEST, NZ v Paraguay, at Johannesburg

2010 -- World Cup Draw

Tonight, we find out the Groups for the World Cup, perhaps unfortunately Australia and New Zealand can not be in the same group. The way the draw will work is that the 32 countries participanting in the cup are divided into 4 pots of 8 teams.

Pot A (seeded teams): South Africa (hosts), Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England.
Pot B (Asia, Oceania, Concacaf): Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Honduras, Mexico, USA, New Zealand.
Pot C (Africa, South America): Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay.
Pot D (Europe): Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland,

Can you imagine the headlines if Italy or England are drawn into the Australia's group. As for NZ, I don't really mind :-)

revolving doors...

Its amazing to realise, but NSW has had five four Premiers in 5 years, and with a inevitable cabinet reshuffle, I think it will be six treasurers in five years. The best comment I've seen was that:

"a Party that [clearly] cannot govern itself, cannot govern a state".

I'm not sure if its constitutional valid, but it would have been wonderful if as well as making the speech he made yesterday, Rees went to the Governor and forced an election.

Given the last 6 months, its no certainity that Kennelly will be there on election day.

The Andrew Ollie Lecture '09

I recently read the Andrew Ollie Lecture, this year given by Julian Morrow (of The Chaser) . It was a fascinating to see him speak candidly about comedy and its audience (including the Chaser show earlier in the year).

The key argument was that "independence of mind also by definition means independence from the audience and "the inevitable corollary to freedom of speech is that there is no such thing as a general right to not be offended".

time taken...

When everything is settled, when everyone has gone their seperate ways and finally stop long enough one day to glance back, one day when slowness is upon us and time allows the view, the question we ask is the question that will nags again and again and again: did we hear the music of the years? Did we see the fiddler's hand, bowing it higher and higher through days emblazoned with wonder, or were we looking away?

(The Time We Have Taken - Steven Carroll)

50 most important recordings... (NPR)

Here are the 50 most important recordings of the last decade, put together by NPR's All Songs Considered. The list is alphabetised. Anyway, a list like this is probably as notable for what it leaves out, as well as what it includes.

01. John Adams: On The Transmigration Of Souls
02. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
03. The Arcade Fire: Funeral
04. The Bad Plus: These Are The Vistas
05. Beyonce: Dangerously In Love
06. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
07. Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
08. Burial: Untrue
09. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: S/T
10. Kelly Clarkson: Breakaway
11. Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head
12. Danger Mouse: The Grey Album
13. Death Cab For Cutie: Transatlanticism
14. The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
15. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP
16. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
17. Osvaldo Golijov: La Pasión Segun San Marcos (Saint Mark's Passion)
18. Green Day: American Idiot
19. Iron And Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
20. Jay-Z: The Blueprint
21. Norah Jones: Come Away With Me
22. Juanes: Fijate Bien
23. LCD Soundsystem: Sound Of Silver
24. Lil’ Wayne: Tha Carter III
25. Little Brother: The Listening
26. M.I.A.: Kala
27. Yo-Yo Ma: Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
28. Mastodon: Leviathan
29. Jason Moran: Black Stars
30. OutKast: Stankonia
31. Brad Paisley: 5th Gear
32. Panda Bear: Person Pitch
33. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
34. The Postal Service: Give Up
35. Radiohead: In Rainbows
36. Radiohead: Kid A
37. Shakira: Fijación Oral, Vol. 1
38. Sigur Ros: ( )
39. Britney Spears: In The Zone
40. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
41. The Strokes: Is This It
42. The Swell Season: Once Soundtrack
43. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate: In The Heart Of The Moon
44. TV On The Radio: Return To Cookie Mountain
45. Various: Garden State Soundtrack
46. Various: O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack
47. Kanye West: The College Dropout
48. The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
49. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
50. Amy Winehouse: Back To Black

God and the state ..

Last Monday night my new local member; Joe Hockey gave a fascinating address (at the Sydney Institute, http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/ ) Describing his view on how faith and politcs relate. Read it here.

One of the things he said which intrigued me was that the "Christian pie is not getting bigger; rather how it is sliced up is changing". I am intrigued why some the churches that are growing - what characteristics do they have.. The two reasons which quite often come to my mind are the community aspect; maybe tied to community is belonging. (and I'm always wondering how much church growth is believers "shopping around", and how many 'believers' chose not to identify as part of "a church" ). I have read somewhere (but can't recall where) that the Evangelical churchs are growing.

The other point made by Hockey which resonated with me, was his view leaders who are fake; will be shown to be without values.


While I wasn't in agreement with all of his views, it was interesting hearing another one of our politicians talk about 'their faith'.

Update: Interesting to read this article by the Dean of Sydney about Hockey's speech.

South Africa here we come...

So, after a break of 27 years, the All Whites are back in the World Cup. 

Last night, in front of a sellout crowd in Wellington the All Whites held on for a deserved 1-0 win. Here's the match report from the NZ Herald , BBC, and the NYT.

The next key date is Dec 4, when the draw from group stage will be made. Wouldn't it be funny if the Socceroos and All Whites ended up in the same group.
 

Notes from the Decade

Given that its almost the end of 2009, I thought that I'd put my list of my top 5 albums for 2000-2010. Perhaps lists like these are becoming more pointless, as the way we listen to music has changed. More often than not we listen to music shuffled. I'm old fashioned in that I like listening to albums from start to finish. Before I get on to my list, here's a discussion piece about the trends which have defined this decade in music (via NPR). NPR will have a list of the most influencial albums of the decade online on Monday (I think), I'll post the link once I find/hear it.

With the provisio that they may change from time to time here's my top five albums from the decade. My honorable mentions are: No Line on the Horizon and I'm Wide Awake it's Morning.

5. Limbs and Branches - Jon Foreman
During 2008, Jon Foreman the lead singer of the Calfornian band Switchfoot released a series of EPs titled Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. The album Limbs and Branches is a compliation of songs from these EPs. The most striking thing about these albums, are the faithful yet not preachy lyrics.The album gives Foreman the opportunity to display his craft with music.

4: Good Monsters - Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay were the first Christian band. I'm not sure whether Good Monsters Jars of Clay's best work, especially given the release earlier this year of The Long Fall Back to Earth. Both albums are perhaps more complete works than the their earlier albums. Good Monsters provides an account for our capacity as humans to be equally good and depraved.

3: Albertine - Brooke Fraser
I remember when I first heard the title track. The words and music blended together to create an athmosphere of urgency -"Now that I have seen - I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead". Quite a challenge. I'm impressed with Brooke's honest and thoughtful lyric's which quite easily cross to the mainstream. At the moment Brooke is posting articles on songwriting on her blog, which are worth a read too. Brooke Fraser isn't on this list just because she is a Kiwi, but it sure helps. Aside: Brooke is in the process of writing her third album.

2: Kid A - Radiohead
I wasn't so sure of this one when I first heard it, but it has really grown on me. It was quite a change following the critically acclaimed OK Computer, but now its one best enjoyed through earphones, and perhaps from start-to-finish. "How to Dissapear.." is such a hauntingly beautiful song.

1: The Swell Season - The Swell Season
The Swell Season is a collaboration between the lead singer of the amazing Irish band the Frames - Glen Hansard, and Marketa Irglova (a pianist from the Czech Republic). The highlight of this album to me is the harmony between the voices of Marketa and Glen and how well they compliment each other. In some ways the story has been part of their (broad) appeal, Glen Hansard with the band The Frames were searching for success, and then through the film 'Once' made for less than $200k, they were thrust into the spotlight. Hansard since then has had fun dealing with how the "whole word" has turned and noticed them. more here. As I wrote earlier their 2nd album 'Strict Joy' is not suprisingly almost as beautiful - you can read the poem that inspired the title.

First listen...

For those who don't know, NPR's website offers an exclusive first listen to some albums prior to their release date. Last week, they began streaming The Swell Season's second album 'Strict Joy' in full.

Strict Joy is a follow-up to their self-titled debut release in 2006. It is sad that none of the press around the new album mentions this cd, focusing on the soundtrack to Once instead (which features a number of the same songs). I would encourage anyone who liked Once or intends to buy Strict Joy, to buy The Swell Season too. You won't regret it.

My first impression of the record was that I had been reacquanited with an old friend, (or I was sitting with two people as they sang about their experience of life) The lyric of the album are so genuine. As in their debut record, the lyrics are laid on a foundation of acoustic guitar, strings (mostly).

Glen Hansard has a beautful way of communicating emotion and connecting to experience. The tracks Fantasy Man and I Have Loved You Wrong, give Marketa opportunity to sing the lead vocal. The album is a sparkling gem and has grown on each listen. The album is released on October 23rd. (via Spunk Records).

One more on the World Cup - Qualifiers

According to FIFA's website there's just about 240 days to the next Football World Cup. Thursday morning is one of the key days. Thursday will see most of the qualifers finalised Here's an overview of the possibilities, (and more helpfully probabilities).(from the BBC). The full list of teams will be determined after the playoffs end on the 18th. (Then the real build-up can begin).

Update: Here are the qualifers at October 14.

90 minutes (or so) to go

While Australia has qualified for the next world cup already, New Zealand faces a two legged play off against Bahrain to get there. The first leg was played in Bahrain in the early hours of this morning, it seems NZ acquitted themselves well (the game finished 0-0). On Nov 14, in Wellington, the All Whites play their most significant football match since 1982.

If they win this match, they will join Australia (and others) at South Africa 2010, and if they lose the road starts again in 2012 (and maybe with Australia in the Asian confederation).

Stop worrying.. and love the internet

This piece from 1999 is a great ..

"Because the Internet is so new we still don't really understand what it is. We mistake it for a type of publishing or broadcasting, because that's what we're used to. So people complain that there's a lot of rubbish online, or that it's dominated by Americans, or that you can't necessarily trust what you read on the web. Imagine trying to apply any of those criticisms to what you hear on the telephone. Of course you can't  'trust' what people tell you on the web anymore than you can 'trust' what people tell you on megaphones, postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do. For some batty reason we turn off this natural scepticism when we see things in any medium which require a lot of work or resources to work in, or in which we can't easily answer back – like newspapers, television or granite. Hence 'carved in stone.' What should concern us is not that we can't take what we read on the internet on trust – of course you can't, it's just people talking – but that we ever got into the dangerous habit of believing what we read in the newspapers or saw on the TV – a mistake that no one who has met an actual journalist would ever make. One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no 'them' out there. It's just an awful lot of 'us'."

[Read more here]

Tread Softly ... [A Random Poem]

A classic poem from WB Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[WB Yeats, 1888]

More on technology...

A couple of interesting pieces about the use (and mis-use of the internet), from the New York Times.

:: On the use of twitter, apparently its not the young who are using it.

:: On the model and the blogger, (freedom to speak, and license to offend?)

:: On the (over) use of email. [The Independant],

And, via the BBC, ten lessons from losing...

Tomorrow's too late ...

A really sad story, and a reminder to reach out to your friends ... today ... because tomorrow it may be too late.

Strict Joy..

I was stoked to visit the NPR Website, and watch a Tiny Desk Concert - featuring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova performing six songs from their new album (to be released in October this year). Some of these songs were played during their tour at the beginning of the year.

The only problem with watching it, is that it has made me hungry to hear the album now.

Facebook [undermines] Friendship

It saddens me when I read things like this comment about Facebook and virtual community. I am sure that there is a grain of truth it what he is saying, but I'd love to hear more positive comments perhaps embracing it as something that the church can use.

neuro-music...

Here's a link to a great interview with Oscar Sachs - the author of Musicophillia - about the neuroscience of music. He made an interesting point about - given "we are now able to listen to anything we like on our iPods, we
have less motivation to go to concerts or churches or synagogues, less occasion to sing together", and how this is unfortunate, "because music-making engages much more of our brains than simply listening".

The full interview is worth the read.

Guidance from Culture..

Loved this article from the Herald earlier in the week about getting guidance from Albus Dumbledore, and the premise of a the book Slack is working on called What Would Dumbledore Do? - a self-help guide to living in the world according to the tenets of Albus Dumbledore.

It reminded me of a book that I read some time ago now called "I learned Everything I know from Watching Star Trek". There is some fun in this book but not sure there's any more than that.

It's a strange world

It was quite intriguing over the past few weeks to read how the British backpacker may well have "faked" his survival story. The Herald yesterday had a great piece by Richard Glover about cynicism in the Specturm. Perhaps unsurpsingly I find it quite easy to agree with him, I think its really sad that its so easy to be cynical, and perhaps there is a price we pay for this.

"And cynicism exacts a terrible cost- in terms of cruelty towards the people we accuse; in terms of our own sense of the world and its possibilities [...] But bleakness pessimism and cynicism create a worldview just as limited, just as one-note, as the naive optimism they were said to challenge... Its just flipside Disney ... How do you change the world for the better if you assume the worst about everything and everybody? And why are trust and optimism the worst crimes of them all."

As for me, I know which way I'd rather fall: I'm a naive optimist.

New music from The Swell Season

I am excited by news that The Swell Season, are putting the finishing touches on ‘Strict Joy,’ (Sept 29/Anti- Records), the tracklisting is below, and the album includes some of the songs played on their tour earlier this year, and a few new ones.

1. Low Rising
2. Feeling the Pull
3. In These Arms
4. The Rain
5. Fantasy Man
6. Paper Cup
7. High Horses
8. The Verb
9. I Have Loved You Wrong
10. Love That Conquers
11. Two Tongues
12. Back Broke

Bad...

Bad (from The Unforgettable Fire) is one of my favourite U2 songs, and this performance, from their Vertigo tour, was one of the highlights of the two shows I saw in the US.

search for a new Messiah

There is something in the article here, the hunger we have for something, or someone bigger than us.In the article Howard talks about the outpouring of emotion for Michael Jackon and more broadly celebrities.

Some decent, humane sorrowing over that – a life gone nowhere, for all the fame; a life lived in desperate confusion – would not be inappropriate. And a little soul-searching, as well, on the part of those who must idolise before they know they are alive. This, too, has been gone over and over all week – the hellish compact between a star and those who worship him. We destroy those we inordinately admire. That is the cliche. I would put it differently. Those we inordinately admire destroy us.

It has been said that Michael Jackson changed the lives of millions of his fans. But I have yet to read an account of what he changed them to. Yes, he gave them songs to sing. Few of them remarkable. And he gave them a dance to dance. I can see with my own eyes that he moved unusually. So let's say he taught others to move unusually too. Perhaps we can say he liberated them into a bodily vitality they hadn't known before. That's not nothing, if it's true. But if it is true, you wonder where all that bequeathed vitality has gone to. After you've done your moonwalk, then what?

And there is certainly a lesson from his final line..

We should revere less and forgive more. There are no gods among us, and few devils. If we must do huge, let's do benign scepticism, hugely.

Cocoon of Silence

A fascinating and challenging read about the impact we all can have in diminishing the impact of hateful beliefs.

The authorities won't be able to stop every "lone wolf" with a gun and a gripe. But we, as a society, can do a much better job of creating an environment where hateful beliefs are never ignored and suspicious behavior never goes unreported.

In 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in a letter from a Birmingham jail, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." That's still true. Hateful people are loud — to disguise their cowardice and shame. But good, decent people are by far the majority, and we dare not be silent. There can be no family too close and no friend too dear for hatred to go unchecked. Allowing it to do so diminishes the better, more noble parts of ourselves. These confrontations won't be easy, but doing the right thing rarely is. There is someone reading this column who knows someone who could be the next shooter. What will that reader do?

On Michael Jackson

I don't thnik that Michael Jackson's impact on music can be understated, and I can't say it better than these words from Andrew Sullivan below.

"There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal
life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for
his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for
so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again. "

~~~~

Confederations Cup..

So, New Zealand's time in the Confederations Cup is over. They played three with 2 (heavy) losses and a scoreless draw against Iraq, and it tonight was the only night they looked like scoring, but fluffed so
many chances. The man of the match would have to be Glen Moss (their goalkeeper), who made a couple of miracolous saves. But to be honest, given what we saw over the last week, I'm not sure that we'll see the All Whites in the World Cup. They play a challenging two legged play-off against Bahrain or Saudia Arabia, but we'll see.

On the upside, the New Zealand women's T-20 cricket team play England in the final tonight.

Silencing your inner critic

I really identify with the article, I'm quite likely to give myself reason to doubt what I've done or doing. The article also outlines some steps to assist in dealing with your "internal critic".

The holiday feeling..

I enjoyed reading this article offering some tips about extending the holiday feeling. I know reentry can be difficult, but here's a few tips to help.

1. Start with a virtual vacation.
Explore the place you are going to online, and build some anticipation.

2. Wash the dishes before you leave. Make the bed. Close the drawers and closet.
You'll be more able to hold onto the holiday feeling if you come hope to a, moderately, clean home.

3. Leave your bad habits behind.
4. Leave your bad habits behind, part two.
Or basically, a vacation isn't just an escape from a place, it's a chance to escape from your routine.

5. Try something new on vacation. Or something old that feels new.

6. Sleep.

7. When you and your dirty clothes get home, hang on to your best
vacation habits for at least a day or two.
This is one that I think I should work on, while you are holiday you are often on a different rountine, and you're able to do different things. One of the things that I was keen to do after we got back from
Japan last year, was to spend more time reading, and I've more or less done that (so far).

8. Be wary of souvenirs.

9. Don't forget that the place you live is also a vacation destination.
I like the idea of being a tourist in your own city. Explore parts you have't been to, or haven't been too for a while

10. Resume your virtual vacation.
Great idea to go back to the website, and rekindle the holiday buzz.

the fixture super-computer

I found this article "Secrets of the fixture computer" (via the BBC) about how the fixtures for the premier league are set to be quite fascinating - I never realised that by changing one - you could impact as many as 48.

For those who are interested the fixture list for the 2009/2010 Season come out this Thursday (our time).

On the Football

It's great to see Australia has qualified for the Football World Cup in South Afrca next year, but in November this year, the New Zealand All Whites have a chance to join the Socceroos.

Currently standing between the All Whites and the World Cup, is the winner of a two legged play off between the two third place teams - likely between Bahrain (or Uzsbekistan)  and Iran (DPR Korea or Saudi Arabia). The teams involved in the playoff are determined on Thursday morning, and the play off held during September, before the tie with New Zealand in November. (See here for the dates).

But before all that the All Whites are playing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa with guaranteed matches agains European champions Spain (tomorrow morning), Iraq, and South Africa, we'll see how they go..  but given their performace against Italy (they lost 3-4) they should give a great account of themselves.  It was sad to see the All Blacks lose over the weekend. At least it doesn't look like they'll peak before the Rugby World Cup in 2011. 

The New Zealand Women's T-20 team are undefeated after beating the West Indies and Australia in the Women's T-20 World Cup (the Kiwi men got thumped by Pakistan overnight too...)

Great Expectations?

I found the piece in answering the question do we expect to much from our leaders a great reminder about why how we act matters. 

If the people who govern us set a fine example then it must help the rest of us. If we see and hear examples of our leaders behaving well despite temptations to do otherwise then it should encourage us all. We'll never have a society free of crime and dishonesty and petty cheating, but we can have one in which the norm is truthful and honest, and in which most ordinary people feel that they are letting themselves and everyone else down if they avoid a train fare, leave out some earnings on their tax return, or exaggerate their insurance claims. Such a society would be much better than one in which everyone is trying to get round the rules when they can and seek maximum personal gain at every opportunity.

This motivates whom I vote for. I want the chance to vote for people who will provide that moral leadership, who will work for a country in which honesty prevails over cheating and will not only govern the rest of us, but will infect us with the idea that behaving honestly is the norm and we should all be doing it. Will there be any such people to vote for next time around? I hope so.

In our growth group at church we've just started reading Paul's leter to Titus where he tells Titus to look for character in those who we lead, as its in actions that words are given context.

++

I also like this piece - Sad? Watch TV

Human off the field

A really interesting article from the Australian yesterday placing this weeks stories of Andrew Symonds and Chrs O'Brien together. Symonds whose international cricket career has probably come to an end
(due to his reckless actions), O'Brien whose life was tragically cut short.

The article makes the point that Australia should resolve to end a "mindless obsession with sportsmen as moral leaders and recognise that their principal role in life is to enjoy and entertain." It is a sad indictment on Australia if it is true that while "we have punched above its weight in terms of scientific innovation, these achievements are still a mystery to most of our countryfolk".

I think Penberthy makes a valuable point that we should keep national recognition (through Awards such as Australian of the Year) was "kept sacrosanct for those who have made a material contribution to the
wellbeing of others, rather than giving us the odd feeling of exuberance or joy while we sit in front of the plasma with a tinnie in our hand" (our sportsmen and sportswomen).

I'd also agree that if ever there was a argument for a posthumous Australian of the Year, O'Brien could be it.

A Year to go..

In 2005, when John Aloisi sent his penalty kick into the net Australia was the final team to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. After the Finals, Australia moved to the Asian Confederation, and with a scoreless draw this morning against Qatar, Australia was one of the first teams to qualify for the 2010 World Cup (in South Africa), and the first time Australia has qualified for two consecutive tournaments.

During the qualifiers this morning, the hosts South Africa were joined by Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Netherlands. Hard to believe that the next World Cup is only 53 weeks away.

The Romance of Sport

Here is two lovely things about sport... the first being Federer making the final of the French Open and having the opportunity to equal Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles, the second being that there is another man on the court - another man who will plays a role in the story. As the Netherlands proved last night, in sport anything is possible. In their match against England in the Hit and Hope World Cup, the Dutch needed two runs off the last ball, and they got the winning run off an overthrow. Here's the reason why its hit, hope (and giggle), New Zealand's match with Scotland has been reduced from a 20 over game to a 7 Over match.

Couple of Random Shorts..

I just finished reading Chris Abani's "Song For Night" last night. I linked to an excerpt from his address at the Brisbane Writers Festival last year. The address, along with this book is well worth a read. The story is the journey through a warzone from the perspective of a child soldier.

"Every star is a soul, every soul is a destiny meant to be lived out. They fill the night sky, revealing like a diviner's spread the destiny of those gifted in reading their drift, their endless shift, like a desert, revealing and burying the way alternatively.

I have killed many people during the last three year. Half of those were innocent, half of those were unarmed -- and some of those killings have been a pleasure. But event with all of this, even with the knowledge that there are some sins too big even for God to forgive, every night my sky is still full of stars; a wonderful son
for night." [page 59]

~~~~

On my travels through the papers was this piece by Richard Glover about how lives are governed by a web of rules, and this interesting article about research addressing a couple of paradoxes puzzling social scientists.

The first paradox is the widespread perception among Americans that the US is a politically polarized country, when in fact ... research shows that most Americans are neither consistently "liberal" nor "conservative." In fact, among self-declared Republicans, 85% take a non-conservative stance on abortion, affirmative action, or government support for health insurance. Similar counter-intuitive results can be found among self-declared Democrats.The second paradox is that people also tend to think that their friends' beliefs are more similar to their own than they actually are—suggesting that people don't know their friends as well as they think they do. [from Friend Sense]