Seriously, I'd pay good money to read this.

One example of a Christian charity doing something just slightly iffy

2012-01-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

Back in the 90s –

WOW – can I really say that now, like the 90s was a long time ago??? Blimey.

Um, sorry. Let's continue.

As I was saying, back in the 90s I worked for a Christian charity that worked with children on a poor estate in South Wales. This charity was run by a couple who had a real passion for Christian community lived out for real in and amongst the people God wanted to reach. For a time, it was a terrific ministry that made an impact on 100s if not 1000s of lives.

Unfortunately, over time things turned sour. The work of the charity was endless (because there was so much need), while the money, people and resources were severely limited. This put enormous pressure on the leaders and as the outfit grew they found it difficult to let go and trust newcomers to their 'baby'.

While working for the charity, I met my future wife and for several years we stood by it even though things got harder and harder (and weirder and weirder).

Eventually, we recognised that things weren't right and decided to get out a fast as possible (almost ten years ago, in fact). It was only several years afterward that it dawned on us that the whole outfit had become something of a cult. A mild form of cult, admittedly, but a cult all the same. The two leaders wielded too much control, there was scant opportunity to challenge decisions and tasks had to be completed exactly according to the wishes of the leadership without deviation. When one of the two leaders left due to the overwhelming pressure, things really should have ended there and then.

Unfortunately, the charity limped on for some time longer – finally giving up the ghost when financial matters forced the hands of the trustees.

Well, that's the way I understood it. I may have got some of the details wrong, but I think I got the essence of things right.

Anyway, I have many vivid memories of my involvement with this particular charity. Some good, some not so good. There were numerous times when things happened which should have alerted me to the dangers of where the charity was going. Unfortunately, being a bit naive back then, I was oblivious to it all and didn't say or do anything (maybe because I'd been conditioned not to question authority).

One occasion really sticks out.

The female matriarchal leader – let's call her Sharon for confidentiality's sake – led a bible study one evening that involved watching a film. Nothing wrong with that, you might say, except she decided to show us Devil's Advocate, starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. Now, it's a decent film I admit, but as an 18-rated film it does have a hefty amount of bad language, sexual content, satanic goings-on and general unpleasant stuff. This was over ten years ago now, so that film would probably have gotten a mere '15' certificate nowadays, but even so, it was a difficult film to watch in places. The movie makes a good point about the choices we make and how it's not the devil forcing us do bad things. Rather, he makes suggestions to us and ultimately it's our decision to decide whether or not we respond to them and sin.

An important subject for a bible study, but I feel that Sharon was irresponsible in showing it to us in the first place. Firstly, we were a mixed group (ok, I was the only guy but that's not the point) – I don't think showing something with explicit sexual content is appropriate for guys and girls to watch together. Secondly, there was one girl in the group who was a very young and immature Christian. She was a sweet girl who was quite innocent, and had found working on the Cardiff estate a real eye opener. Still in her teens, I think she may even have been under 18 making it even more of a no-no.

By her own admission, she'd never seen an 18 before and certainly never watched anything that was remotely scary or gory. To be fair, Sharon did warn us about the film before she hit play, but from what I recall didn't give much of a chance for us to raise objections. In any case, she had such an influence over all of us that none of us would have dared to scupper her plans for the evening.

So the lights went off and we watched Keanu battle it out with beelzebub.

And then the lights went back on again.

I can still remember that girl's face after the film. She looked like she'd seen the devil himself.

I don't care that the message of the 'bible study' that evening was an important one about who we give our soul to and how we wield our free will. I don't care that we were grown ups and had a choice not to watch it. That girl was pretty much forced to watch unpleasant stuff she didn't have to. I would go as far as saying a large part of her innocence had been taken away that night. Even now, it angers me that she had to go through that (and that I didn't speak up on her behalf).

She didn't stay working for the charity for much longer after that. I don't know what became of her. I don't know if she continued as a Christian or lost her faith.

I'm pretty certain that she remembers that experience vividly and that it has affected her walk with God to some degree, which is a tragedy because this didn't need to happen. With a little bit of common sense and pastoral understanding it never would have happened.

Oh well, God is bigger than all these things, which is good to know. I'm just relieved that the charity eventually died off the way it did rather than become a monster, which it easily could have been (although I suspect that once the leaders chose to ignore God and do things their way, he simply chose to withdraw from it which is why it ultimately failed). The sad thing is, if God has just been allowed to do his thing maybe it would have grown in the right way and made a huge difference to countless lives.

I guess that's the risk that God takes when he asks fallen people like you and me to do His work.

Movie Review - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2012)

2012-01-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

So here's my second movie review of the year. Something a little bit more up to date with a film I saw in the cinema recently.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - US Version (2012)

First of all, I'll start by saying I haven't read the book. Having seen the film, I probably never will.

I'm not saying the book's no good – I'm sure it is. Personally, I'd only read the book if the film totally blew me away, and unfortunately it failed to do that.

So let's start with the good points. Rooney Mara is stunning as the mysterious, tortured emo heroine Lisbeth. Her character is a force to be reckoned with and her anti-authoritarian streak is demonstrated numerous times during the film. It's not hard to empathise with this computer-hacking, messed up 20-something and you can't help cheering her on as she inflicts revenge upon her abusive social worker.

David Fincher does a good job of telling a story that is quite complex at times and successfully builds the tension as the lead characters delve deeper into the history of a hugely dysfunctional business family. The backdrop of Sweden is as you'd expect: cold and clinical yet stylish, demonstrated wonderfully when we see one character's uber-Ikea-esque hilltop lair.

It has all the ingredients of a tense, edgy whodunnit. Being set in a European country (where very few Hollywood blockbusters are ever located) adds a renewed freshness to a well-worn genre.

This film, however, just doesn't quite live up to the hype for me.

I've not seen Daniel Craig in a huge amount of films, but whenever I do he seems to be playing the same person – a bit of a George Clooney. His portrayal of Blomkvist was adequate, nothing more, and I just know that he could have given it that little bit extra (like he did in Layer Cake).

And then there's the rape sequence.

Why are producers and directors intent on pushing the boundaries like this? In my opinion, this scene was totally unnecessary and highly exploitative. It is possible to convey events without actually portraying them onscreen, and that can sometimes be more powerful. Sadly, it seems that some viewers revel in the fact that such scenes make it into the final cut. Describing the film as 'gritty' or 'visceral' simply doesn't excuse or justify the filming of such scenes (but then maybe I'm just an old fart!). Saying all this, I shouldn't have been surprised by the content – it is an '18' after all.

So, in conclusion, I was disappointed with what could have been a far more interesting and challenging film. Fincher delivers something far too mainstream – which is odd given his history – and fails seemingly fails to play to his strengths.

I give this movie 5 out of 10.

Movie Review - The Golden Compass

2012-01-18T14:31:00.000-08:00

I've decided to break my 'Movies I've seen of late' blog posts down into the individual films as it will feel like I'm being a bit more regular with my blog (!). Also, I can be a bit more in depth than previously. The one thing I will be doing is ensuring I review any and every movie I see meaning, it will be a varied mix of old, new and nearly-new.

So, on with the first review of 2012!

The Golden Compass (2007)
This is a good film to watch in the run up to Christmas, mainly because it's an 'epic' film with a lot of, um, snow in it. Unfortunately, Compass fails to compare to the source material and is merely a paint-by-numbers adventure that could have been so much more.

I enjoyed the Dark Materials books, which were refreshingly innovative and exceptionally well-written. They received a huge amount of criticism, mainly from the Christian community for being anti-religion, but I personally think that's a good thing. Religion can easily get in the way of a genuine faith and can be the source of much negative aspects of humanity including guilt, abuse and corruption. I think that's what Phillip Pullman was really attacking in his books (even if his target was meant to be 'God').

As for the film, The Golden Compass (which should have been entitled 'Northern Lights', but that's the US market for you) is an enjoyable story in itself which follows the original plot relatively closely,
with good performances from Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman (not forgetting Dakota Blue Richards as the heroine Lyra). The costumes and sets are remarkable, successfully imagining Lyra's steampunk alternate universe.

What is obvious is that the studio was hoping for another Lord of the Ring trilogy (just look at the cast list – the producers clearly believed that hiring a bunch of well-respected British actors would lead to box office success). What they failed to do, however, was respect the book and the director who was trying to realise it on the big screen. This is odd given that New Line also made LOTR. Chris Weitz didn't have a particularly easy time making the film, and was quite open about the studio's interference in post-production.

And that's probably why Compass is lacking any heart.

Apparently the studio opted to keep the running time down in order to maximise profits. This is unbelievably short-sighted and cowardly. Even though the movie managed to make its money back internationally, had it been a better-made film it could well have spawned two sequels (which takes the story to even more bizarre and interesting levels), earning New Line even more cash.

So we never will get to see Lyra fulfil her destiny on the big screen (unless someone tries an ambitious reboot in twenty years time or something). This is a shame because Compass really only gets going at the end. Most of the film is devoted to setting everything up, so when you reach the final act it all seems to finish rather abruptly because there's still a lot more for Lyra and her gang to do.

Hats off to Chris Weitz for getting through a difficult shoot and making a film that, while flawed, still makes some kind of sense. It's just disappointing to know that it could have been a far greater piece of work.

Verdict: 5 out of 10.

I'm an El Gordo Spanish Lottery Winner!

2012-01-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Wow – I just received a letter in the mail. It's addressed to me and is from Portugal. Weird, I don't know anyone who lives there.

Let's open it and see...

Letterhead says El Gordo Spanish Sweepstake. Hmm.

"Final Award Notification.

We are pleased to inform you the released Results of the EL GORDO SPANISH SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY/INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM held on the 22nd December, 2011. Your name attached to the Ticket number 510-2101-039 with serial number 6155-08 drew the lucky numbers 53-404 which consequently won the lottery in the 2nd Category.

You have therefore been approved for lump Sum pay out of 1.250.000€ (ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND EUROS ONLY) in cash ..."

Woah – I've won a lottery I didn't even enter! That's a-mazing. Fantastic! I'll never have to work again. Woohoo!!!!

Wait a minute, I'd better just check this isn't a scam.

Y'know. Just in case.

Opening up Google....

I'm sure this is real. The way they've designed the logo and watermark is really convincing. There are a few spelling and grammatic errors, but for goodness sake it's from Spain. I mean, I couldn't write a letter like this in Spanish.

C'mon Google. Show me I'm rich.

Right – just typing in El Gordo Sweepstake. Let's see what comes up....

Oh.

Crap.

So, I'm not rich. This is all a scam. Thousands of people have received the exact same letter.

All my hopes and dreams have been dashed forever. I suppose I'll have to go back to my soul-destroying job with no pension and lack of prospects. Perhaps I'll end up sad and alone in a damp bedsit in Slough, still wondering what might have happened if that whole stupid El Gordo Spanish Sweepstakes had been real.

And then I'll die of pneumonia and the police will find my decomposing body three months letter, my dry bony hands grasping that preposterous, badly-written and poorly-designed letter from El Gordo Spanish Sweepstakes.

Why I'll never be a church leader

2012-01-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

As I've pondered what to do with my life, I've occasionally wondered about being a vicar/pastor/minister or some kind.

In fact, a friend of the family who passed away several years ago (she was an octogenarian who attended the church across the road from my parent's house) always used to tell me every time we met that I should become a vicar.

I'm actually quite attracted to preaching. I see people giving their sermon on Sunday and think 'I could do that'. Whenever I do one of those 'ideal job' questionnaires, because of my temperament and skillset I always come out as a person best suited to teach (preaching with a different name). Unfortunately, I just don't feel up to the job. Now, I know most vicars/pastors/ministers probably feel like that a lot of the time but I really don't feel up to the job, mainly because preaching tends to involve more than just standing behind the pulpit – often you have to do a bit of pastoral care as well.

You have to, er, spend time with people.

If I was given a church to look after with a reasonably-sized congregation I'd probably drive them all away within three months, unless every member of the church was normal. And that's the problem. Most churches are made up of a bizarre mix of people, many of whom aren't normal (albeit perfectly harmless). I don't mean to disparage church in any way, but it is a natural place for loonies to gravitate towards because Christians are, on the whole, tolerant and loving people.

And the thing is, I just couldn't cope with these people on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I have a sociopathic side to me which means I have a low weirdo-tolerance-threshold. I like people, I really do – it's just that I don't like spending extended lengths of time with them (especially the loons). I like my space and need time to myself. Being in church leadership requires a lot of contact with, y'know, people. A lot of the time.

And that's not conducive to my sanity.

So, maybe my current vocation (being behind the camera or locked away in an edit suite) is most appropriate for me. I don't actually get to 'preach' as such but maybe one day down the line I will, using my filming skills and experience.

Then I will get to communicate God's Word – without the need for dreaded human interaction, of course.

My review of 2011

2012-01-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

For me, dear reader, 2011 has been a year of change – or at least anticipation of change (isn't every year, though?).

The big change for us is the fact that wifey is pregnant with JC no. 2. After several failed attempts at fertility treatment, we were surprised to learn that it had worked after the third and final go. Of course, the main change will come in March when the little one is born, but it has given us the impetus to get on and do things (such as clear out a big pile of junk from the soon-to-be babyroom!). Second time round doesn't feel as emotional as before. I guess having done the pregnancy thing before makes it seem less of a big deal. Even so, I'm looking forward to the challenge of another addition to the family (in a weird, masochistic kind of way!).

In terms of work, I have witnessed the business swing from barely existing to making a profit (and sustaining both me and my business partner). This can be largely attributed to the good fortune of meeting Eileen Younghusband and publishing her book. Without her, I'm not sure if I'd be doing the same thing right now and I'd probably be working in McDonald's. We are by no means out of the woods, but I have a positive feeling about things to come in 2012, in spite of the doom and gloom of the current economic woes.

I have been pondering about long-term things and can't stop thinking about the big 40 looming ever closer. While I am happily married with a terrific son, living in a nice house with supportive friends and family, I still feel the itch of not feeling totally fulfilled. I'm pleased about the business, and I'd like it to grow in order to be sustainable, but whatever happens I'm probably best off staying put – keeping my head down and trying to earn a living while the world sorts it self out (if it ever does). Time and time again I have come across the big question that has plagued my life – what do I want to do? My fear is that, by the time I've figured it out, I'll be ready for retirement!

Wifey bought The West Wing boxed set before last Christmas and we have been slowly working our way through, making 2011 our year of West Wing. There was one point when we were watching four episodes a weekend (that's 3 hours worth). It has to be one of the best TV shows for a long time, with witty dialogue, interesting characters and engaging storylines. Everyone says that after Aaron Sorkin left the show it went downhill, but I disagree. I think the stories have been pretty strong all the way through. The question is – what TV show do we watch next?

Back in the summer, we took in a lodger. He was the son of a friend who was homeless – out of work and sleeping on friend's sofas. As Christians, we felt it was the right thing to do, offering someone a chance to get their life back on track by providing accommodation free of charge. It has meant a big change for us as a family, and we're not naturally hospitable people but we feel it was a sacrifice worth making. In anticipation of a new sprog arriving on the scene, however, we simply can't support another grown up in the house so he won't be staying with us for much longer. Our hope and prayer is that he can find somewhere stable to move onto without too much difficulty.

I wasn't surprised to hear in October that Steve Jobs had died. Ever since he'd had his transplant he never looked particularly healthy and when he stepped down as Apple's CEO in August I knew he didn't have long. As an Apple fan, I did find his death something of a shock, but it was curious to see the public's display of grief and also how people clamoured to revere him as a god-like businessman. I don't doubt his intellect and applaud his success as an entrepreneur, but the truth is he was a tyrannical boss who didn't believe in giving to charity (two big negatives in my book). I love Apple products, but I am not one of those weirdos that believe Apple is perfect. Apple has made mistakes and will continue to do so, and now Steve is no more there's a very good chance that they will make even more. I look forward to Apple's next move with interest.

Faithwise, it has been great to continue to worship at Woody's (www.woodybap.org.uk). I really believe that, as a fellowship, we are maturing year on year and I hope I don't come across as smug or proud about it, it's just the way I see it. After all, a spiritually mature church is a good thing. Yes, we still have our faults and a long way to go but at least we're not going backwards or stagnating. There is a lot of growth from within, which is interesting. A lot of couples have settled at church after university and are now starting to breed(!), which means our children's work is going to get busier over the next few years (again, a good thing). Personally, I've been challenged on a number of issues – most notably social justice – and desire to do more for God on a day-to-day level. I still regard my ministry to be work and family. Both have proven a struggle for me in different ways, but then a calling is never meant to be easy. Also, I have taken more of an interest in theological matters (especially concerning the prophetic) and hope to go deeper in this area in 2012 (if the imminent family changes make it possible).

So that's the year just gone.

2012 will no doubt be dominated by work and the birth of our second son. The rest of the 12 months is up for grabs.

Whether I will have any energy or sanity to maintain this blog after that remains to be seen...

Happy New Year!

My New Year's Resolution

2011-12-31T12:59:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Richard Wiseman, I've decided to only have one New Year resolution for 2012. Here's why one is more than enough:

I am thinking of focusing on my health for the next 12 months. Even though I have been cycling to work most days, I still don't seem to be getting any thinner and I really need to get my waistline down a bit.

I suppose what I really need to do is focus on what I eat since I am prone to munching on all sorts of rubbish.

So, here's to 2012 – and a fitter, healthier me....

What can Christians do about injustice?

2011-12-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

My good friend Jon has been on a bit of a 'Righteous Rant' of late in his blog, and I have to say I pretty much agree with most of what he says.

You can read his stuff here:
http://pantperthog.blogspot.com/2011/12/political-comments-that-may-well-upset.html
http://pantperthog.blogspot.com/2011/12/david-camerons-christian-country.html

It has prompted me, as a Christian, to consider what I can do to respond. I too have been angered by the current government's attitude towards the poor, needy and underprivileged, and am compelled by my faith to do something.

The trouble is, I feel somewhat helpless: It seems politics is no use anymore as it has been reduced to two sides slugging it out against each other over every single issue, without any significant difference in ideology. I am not hugely wealthy so can only give so much to a limited number of causes. My week is taken up with trying to earn a living running a business and spending important time with my family so I feel like I have little time for campaigning or protesting outside City Hall like some people.

Where, indeed, do I start?

Well, just because I have family commitments doesn't mean I should wash my hands of everything. A lot of the worst cases of evil in human history only ever happened because a large amount of people didn't speak up and do something about it. Jesus was a powerful voice for the oppressed and risked his own life and reputation for the less fortunate and marginalised of his time, so his example needs to be followed.

In spite of the prevailing apathy within western society, I believe it is possible to do something and make a difference (even without protesting in the freezing cold with placards and risking pepper spray in the face). So, I've had a think about what I can do about social injustice in my own little way.

Here's my top ten tips for being an armchair activist:

1. Write to your MP
If something is making you angry, write to the person who was elected to represent you. In spite of what I said above I do believe that if people make enough of a noise, politicians will take notice. Too many people don't get that this democracy lark is about more than just voting for the least slimy/obnoxious/irritating candidate every four years. The only way for it to work properly is if people hold their representatives to account on a regular basis. If politicians don't know there's a problem, how can we expect them to do anything about it? It's now easier than ever to lobby lobby MPs, local councillors, AMs, SMPs, MEPs or any other official representative. Websites and organisations like Avaaz, Greenpeace and theyworkforyou.com are great at making it easy to campaign.

2. Talk about it
Social networking has become an integral part of how (most of us) communicate these days. We can reach a wider circle of contacts quicker and easier than ever before. Use Facebook, Twitter, Blogger or YouTube for good by sharing links or posting information and make your views known. Chances are, likeminded people will pass your message down the line. Also why not use old-fashioned face-to-face contact to get things off your chest? It beats wingeing about the latest X-Factor scandal.

3. Give money
This is an easy one, assuming you have some spare money available. Charities are feeling the recession squeeze (source: Guardian) and yet they are the organisations keeping the worst-off in our society clothed, fed and supported. Usually giving is the first thing to go when people start tightening their belts. Of course, one has to feed their family and keep the roof over their heads, but it shouldn't mean giving up on giving altogether. In our family, we believe the Bible is quite clear that God commands us to give, but we don't believe it should be restricted to the often-quoted tithe of 10%. We believe God expects us to give 10% as a minimum. We therefore give 10% of our income to church (our tithe) and in addition give to other charities or individuals we wish to support. This is usually a fixed monthly gift but it doesn't mean we stop there – we try and give ad hoc gifts when and where we can. This is a principle we follow which helps us to ensure we don't neglect our giving duties, but gives us flexibility to respond to need if we can.

4. Research your subject
Don't just trust one website. Check the facts. On more than one occasion, I've researched a claim that's been doing the rounds on the internet and discovered it's either a hoax or complete misinformation. That's the problem with the Internet – it's easy for anyone to write about a subject as if they're some kind of expert. Also, if you get into any kind of heated debate, it's worth knowing your subject in case someone tries to argue you into a corner. Unfortunately, with most issues you can argue and counter-argue until the cows come home but at least with a bit of backing you can give your opponent a run for his money.

5. Support charities in other ways
Okay, maybe a bit too similar to number 3, but there are ways of helping charities other than by donating money. Just buy an extra tin or beans or carton of juice when you're out shopping and donate it to Foodbank which will then distribute the food to people who can't afford to eat. They're also on the lookout for volunteers on an ad hoc basis to help with food collections or sorting in the warehouse, just for a few hours. Helping charities out doesn't necessarily mean an onerous commitment. Also, you could lend your skills – being a videographer I've done some filming for my church, which admittedly isn't directly related to saving the world but I can see how beneficial it would be to a good cause by offering the use of my time and equipment if the opportunity arose.

6. Share the satire
When UC Davis Police officer Lieutenant John Pike decided to pepper spray a group of peaceful protesters in full view a large crowd, his badly-judged delivery of riot-cop justice was quickly picked up by social networking sites and broadcast across the world. Amid the public outcry, he was subsequently disciplined and suspended (although he probably should have been sacked). What soon followed was an internet meme poking fun at the psycho-cop. I think satire can help a message spread as well as take away some of the negative power of the situation, so it's good to share it round. Amidst all the crap, it helps to keep laughing at the world.

7. Buy locally / Fairtrade
I'm not very good at this, I admit, but I think it's obvious that we should do all we can to source purchases locally. This means buying food from local grocers, farmer's markets and small independent shops. The likes of Tesco and Asda have a stranglehold on local suppliers, but by avoiding these mega-retailers hopefully we can loosen their grip slightly. I'm not against big business per se, just as long as their operations don't smother smaller ones (which, unfortunately, they generally do).

8. Change your bank account
A few years ago, we moved all our accounts to the Co-operative Bank. The main difference between the Co-op and most other banks is that the customers are the shareholders. The bank is also committed to being an ethically-run, environmentally-friendly company. Oh yes, and their interest rates are higher than the big banks. It's ironic that Barclays, the bank that screwed us over the most, coasted through the recession without blinking and has the most customers. This is because most people are like sheep. They choose the biggest and most well-known because it's 'safe'. Well, the Co-op is just as safe and transferring accounts is a doddle. Yes, it's a bit of a hassle and something minor may go wrong along the way, but that isn't a good enough reason to not invest in an ethically-motivated business.

9. Write to companies
The one thing that impresses me about most companies is their commitment to customer service. They have vast teams dedicated to resolving complaints and sorting out problems. Of course, we all have stories of incompetent customer service but I think, on the whole, company management teams are not stupid and want a satisfied rather than a disgruntled customer. So, it's worth writing to a company to ask them about their environmental policy or campaign for them to put people before profits.

10. Have a clear out
Easy peasy, this one. Just give your old junk to to charity. They make a bit of money and you have a de-cluttered house - everyone wins!

So, that was my ten top tips. Okay, it's more than just 'how to be an activist'. I guess it's the kind of things we as Christians should be automatically doing – even though many aren't.

I know I'm far from perfect and can't honestly say I'm doing all of these things completely, but it's good to at least have something to work with.

What do you think? What else should we be doing to save the world from total meltdown??

I'm in need of some inspiration...!

2011-12-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid I'm not feeling very inspired at the moment when it comes to blogposts.

That's not to say I don't have anything to write about - it's just that I'm finding it difficult to find the time to write anything with any depth.

Even so, I refuse to give up on this blog so will hopefully be writing some stuff over the Christmas period and get back into more regular posts in the new year.

In the meantime, why not watch a little video I put together for our church recently?

Films I've Seen of Late -

2011-09-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Seeing this after watching the recent BBC drama based on the same Baker Street-sleuth meant I inevitably drew comparisons. The style, pace and approach to the character of Sherlock is virtually identical - save for being set in different time periods - meaning this blockbuster interpretation didn't feel particularly fresh or new. Of course, Guy Ritchie got there first, so I shouldn't be criticizing him for his efforts. Both versions should can at least be applauded for returning to the guts and heart of the character rather than rely on victorian stereotypes. (8/10)

UP! (2009)

Yet another Pixar film to add to the list of films I've seen of late (thanks, JKY!). This is an oddity - very unlike Pixar films in my opinion. It's quite grown up in some ways, but also very silly in others. JKY didn't really like it the way he enjoyed Cars, and I myself came away not quite sure what to think of it. Having said that, I think it's a very imaginative and poignant film with some clever ideas and funny dialogue. I just don't think it's the masterpiece that everyone thinks it is (perhaps I need to give a few years to mature).

(7/10)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Oh. Dear. Indy - what have you done? I know exactly what you've done - you've let George Lucas and Steven Spielberg gang rape a much-loved franchise that should have been left alone. Okay, maybe that's a little bit strong, but it's really obvious that Lucas & Co. were more interested in making money than making a good movie. Now I know that all three Indy films have numerous flaws (and Temple of Doom is choc-a-block full of 'em), but they were of a time when blockbusters couldn't reply on CGI to blind the audience, and things were just a little bit more innocent. If Crystal Skull had been released in 1991 or something it probably would have fitted nicely with the other films - but waiting 17 years was just too damn late. Please, Harrison, don't do any more.

(5/10)

Cars 2 (2011)

Initially, I thought this was quite good fun, but on reflection came to realise that Pixar finally dropped the ball. I guess they had to, eventually. Having said that, they only did it a little bit (Cars 2 has easily made its money back and is doing quite nicely on the merchandising front). Michael Caine steals the show as the British secret agent Finn MacMissile, but the film has too much violence (albeit in a car-based form) and espionage-speak to be a proper, quality kids animation. The story is muddled and contrived, failing to equal its predecessor which, admittedly, was a tough act to follow. Let's hope the team at Pixar learn their lessons before they finish Monsters Inc. 2.

(6.5/10)

Source Code (2011)

Jake Gyllenhaal tries to prevent a terrorist attack on Chicago by doing some quantum-mechanics timey-wimey stuff that doesn't make much sense. With a window of only eight minutes in a Groundhog Day-style time replay scenario, he has to suss out the nasty terrorist while trying to get it on with a girl who thinks he's someone else. Did you get all that?? It's complicated, but actually very watchable. Surprisingly short - only 89 mins long - it's a tight and lean piece that leaves you wondering at the end how it all fitted together. Some great performances from Gyllenhaal and the luvverly Vera Farmiga.

(8/10)

Kill Bill Vol 2 (2004)

Another oldie this one, but one I'd been meaning to see for ages having seen Vol 1 a couple of years ago. I think it's fair to say that the two films are very different animals. Vol 1 is very much an Anime appreciation flick, while Vol 2 nods towards Kung Fu with elements reminiscent of Pulp Ficiton. Even though it's slower, I prefer Vol 2 because it seems to focus more on the characters rather than rely heavily on gore and violence. Tarantino is firing on all cylinders in these films - I just find the swearing and violence a bit too much sometimes.

(7.5/10)

One Woman's War - something I've been involved with at work

2011-09-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

My company, Candy Jar Books, launched a new book, called 'One Woman's War' back in July. Written by a World War Two veteran callend Eileen Younghusband, it is a collection of her memories from the war and how she took part in the top secret Filter Room, part of Fighter Command's Radar Defence system.

Eileen is an incredible woman - having just turned 90, she still has all her faculties and is passionate about telling people about the Filter Room. Her role was pivotal in assisting Radar Command during key moments during the war, and she feels it has been largely ignored by historians and the general public alike.

Amazingly, we managed to get her onto BBC Breakfast last week. She did really well and we're really proud of her. See her in action here...

www.onewomanswar.co.uk

The end is nigh...

2011-07-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

Blimey - I haven't blogged for almost 2 months! Better get on with it...

My colleague was chatting to a guy at a birthday party recently and it turned out that he worked in high finance. They were discussing the current economic situation and the finance guy was just explaining how, from his point of view, things were pretty bad - but also getting worse. He then said something quite chilling:

"My advise to you is to stock up on food, and get a gun. People will be rioting for food and you will want to defend yourself."

Right.

Ummm, okay...

Now, maybe this guy had drunk a bit too much and just wanted to sound cool by scaring people. Maybe he actually worked in a tiny accountancy firm and had no real understanding of global markets and fiscal stimulus packages.

But what if there was an element of truth in what he was predicting? What if he understood things better than most people? Could we really see food riots on the streets of Britain in 12 months time? Ironic that we witnessed rioting in London a few weeks ago. Okay, they weren't motivated by food shortages, but you can't help but blame the economic climate as one of the (many) causes.

Personally, I don't think we'll ever see food riots here in the UK. I think the government - however stupid and inept we think they are - would never allow such a situation to happen. We have the resources and know-how to cope alone. Maybe not forever, but for the short term at least. I think the fact that we're an island also helps.

Of course, recent events in Japan demonstrated the fragility of highly efficient supply chains. Everything fell apart once disaster struck, and in no time people were queuing for food in the very supermarkets that were, only a few days before, brimming with produce.

The only difference is, I'm not thinking about a natural disaster here. If that were to happen in the UK, I don't think we'd cope much better than Japan - in the case of a severe economic crisis, however, I believe things would happen gradually so the powers that be would see it coming and be able to react accordingly.

What has struck me, however, is that you wouldn't know we were facing hard economic times if you wandered around city centres. In Cardiff, people are still out shopping. Cafes are doing a roaring trade in lattes and cappachinos. Egad, the council is still paying for buggies to drive disabled people around the shops! Sure, there's the odd empty shop unit - but there always has been. You may not see Woolworths on the high street any more, but Home Bargains tooks its place easy enough.

Maybe we're all kidding ourselves and living it up while we can. Maybe the economic 'tsunami' is around the corner and we're drowning out the roar with the sound of celebrity TV shows on our flat-screen TVs. Maybe the zombiepocalyspe is just an incompetent lab technician away from becoming reality.

Or maybe people who work in finance should shut up and talk about the weather instead.

Making Money out of Economic Misery

2011-07-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Aloe Blacc has done well out of his latest single. It got to Number 2 in the UK charts and has gone Platinum in, er, Switzerland.

It's a catchy number that taps into the current economic-woes zeitgeist, singing from the perspective of some poor guy that's been laid off and winds up drinking away his problems.

Is it a political statement, standing up for the everyday man suffering because of poor financial decisions made by bankers and governments?

No, not really.

Aloe might like to think it is, but I very much doubt he's investing his royalties in feeding programmes for the unemployed, drug rehabilitation units or job creation schemes. He and his writers have just done what all songsmith and lyricists do - take inspiration from current events and themes in order to create their music.

In some ways, you can't blame them - I just think it's ironic that a song about poverty has probably given Aloe Blacc, his writers and his records company a nice, healthy bank balance.

No, Aloe. You don't "need a Dollar". You're doing just fine.

The rest of us, however ... we're screwed...

Packing for the Apocalypse

2011-06-03T11:35:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but every time I go away somewhere - whether it's on holiday, to visit friends or for work purposes - I always have at the back of my mind a peculiar thought:

What if World War III starts and I never make it back?

Now I could have easily substituted a nuclear holocaust with Zombie Plagues or Alien Invasion, but essentially I always end end up packing a spare pair of pants or socks just in case something awful does happen to our calm and peaceful society.

I know what you're thinking: It'll take more than a spare pair of socks to be able to fight back the undead horde. True, but I suppose I'm also balancing my thoughts with the reasoning that it's very unlikely such terrible things will happen. I mean, don't get me started on zombies.

Seriously - don't.

Also, I guess I'm kind of assuming that, being the resourceful guy that I am, I'll manage to cope somehow when civilization starts to crumble. I'll just commandeer a 4x4 vehicle, raid the local Asda and get as far away from the madness as possible (I've seen plenty of movies to know what one should and shouldn't do in these situations).

Having an extra clean set of undies will just make the end of the world a little bit easier to bear.

The Loss of Mac Exclusivity

2011-05-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you go these days, there's an Apple piece of kit somewhere to be seen. Whether it's an iPod, iPhone, iPad, Macbook Air or even just a plain old iMac - you can't move for one of Jonathan Ive and Steve Jobs' beautifully geek-chic offspring staring at you smugly with its little Apple logo. They're in cafes, restaurants, and cool clothing shops. You see them on trains, buses and planes. Schools use them. Universities use them. Even boring blue-chip companies use them. Not only that, but a disproportionate number of characters in the movies use them as well.

In case you didn't realise, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has pretty much done the miraculous and cleaned up. Apple is king. It may not be the largest company in the world, but it ain't far off. It's cool, sexy and making a shedload of money despite the recession. Apple has a firm grip on the music industry, and has helped to revolutionise the way human beings consume, share and create media content.

If you'd told this to a Mac geek ten years ago, he/she'd pretty much laugh at you.

A lot.

And then walk away nervously.

You see, the spirit of the Mac has always been that of the underdog. Not mainstream. People who weren't in the know saw Apple computers as strange and alien - incompatible, so therefore mostly useless. Macs used a different Operating System to everyone else, so worked differently. There was a lot less software for Macs, and what was available didn't work with the PC alternatives anyway.

Macheads didn't mind those problems, though. They were happy to put up with the inconveniences because they believed their way was better. Macs hardly crashed (not quite true), didn't get viruses (largely correct) and had a longer lifespan than other computers (I think that's pretty true, also). Sure, they were more expensive - but at least you had a reliable machine that would serve you well for a good 5 years before you had to contemplate an upgrade.

Owning a Mac was like belonging to a secret club - one that was friendly and inviting, but one that required a commitment to the Way of Apple: accepting the computer's shortcomings and learning to live with derogatory comments from PC users and non-techie people alike. Owning a Mac was worth the pain because it took you to a higher plain of computing.

Well, sort of.

Mac owners used to spend a great deal of time bemoaning the mass market products that were the alternative to Apple ones. Namely, Windows PCs in all their beige plastic glory. Windows (or Windoze, as Mac addicts jokingly called them) machines were laughed at as being unreliable, clunky and lacking any aesthetic properties. Macs, on the other hand, were quietly uber-stylish - self-importantly smug as they hummed away on people's desks.

By the early 2000s, though, Apple computers were creeping into the mainstream. Steve Jobs had come back to save the company from ruin and had turned things around dramatically. Apple had a broad range of cool computers, and was making its mark as the creative professional's tool of choice. It wasn't, however, impacting the computer market as it would have liked. Windows PCs were still the dominant platform with the Mac having less than 10% of the worldwide share. Apple needed to up its game and be seen as a serious choice. It needed a saviour.

And lo - the saviour was born...

The iPod.

It changed everything.

People looked at it with a sense of confusion and awe. What was this thing? You could play music on it? But where did you put, like, y'know....the CD?

MP3 players had been around for years, but Apple knew how to do them better. As is common at Apple, they took an idea and Apple-ised it. They made it sexy, but most importantly they made the damn thing work. Alongside the iTunes application, where people could get hold of their favourite music at the click of a mouse, Apple turned the tables on the big media companies - just as they were slowly beginning to realise that the internet was going to permanently change the music industry.

This little white hunk of plastic and metal opened the floodgates - slowly but surely, people began migrating to Mac computers via the iPod. It was known as the 'halo effect': get people to buy one Apple product and they begin to fall under the Apple spell and want to buy more. They get seduced by the sexy styling, nifty interface and tech-kudos that only Macs have.

So now, after the iPhone and iPad hitting the mainstream and doing better than the iPod it seems everyone owns at least one Apple product. For goodness sake, even my mother has an iPhone! (in fact, she got one before I did!!). Apple has managed to remain cool despite huge success and occasional PR disasters (cracked iPhone glass, anyone? weird antenna issues?).

In conclusion, I'm a little saddened at Apple's success. I can no longer enjoy being a little bit smug about owning an Apple. People no longer go 'What's that? An Apple com-pew-tur?', they go 'Oh yeah, I got an iPad 2 for my birthday'.

What I'd like to point out is that people like me took the plunge way before the masses began following like robotic sheep. I had to endure the pain and anguish that came with buying a Mac. I was a loyal and faithful Mac Geek.

The question is - after all I've said, am I going to abandon the Mac?

Well, no - not really.

Windows is still, in my opinion, a bit rubbish. Linux is beyond most normal people with social skills. Google Chrome is a young upstart with a long way to go. There is nothing else to choose from.

I'm going to stick with the Mac until something better comes along (which probably won't). I shall continue to pour my hard earned greens into Apple's coffers, and encourage friends and family to give up their Windows woes and convert to the Church of Jobs. Even though it pains me to do so.

Who knows, maybe Microsoft will one day be the underdog.

If that happens, I just might renounce my religion...

A little story I wrote a while back.

2011-05-04T12:38:00.001-07:00

Desperate to quickly update my blog with something I turned to some short stories I wrote a while back. Here's one about iPods (yes, I'm that sad) which I wrote five years ago. Interestingly, I had to amend it slightly to reflect some changes over the last half-decade. Left in its original form, it would have sounded very dated.

IN IPOD WE TRUST

The train doors slid open and Jerry lumbered out, fighting against the flow of passengers trying to get on. The commuter cattle didn’t bother him too much – he was too engrossed listening to 84’s latest spell-beat remix of Thirteenth Hour. He’d downloaded it earlier that day and was beginning to enjoy the tune so much that he'd adopted a slight wiggle in his walk.

Jerry was on his way to meet Pardip by the newsagents owned by that crazy Taiwanese guy, Mr Li. Jerry regularly stopped by the small shop and so had come to know Li quite well over the years. Li always had an opinion on something, and Jerry ended up taking the full brunt of it. Not that he minded – Li’s outbursts were usually quite funny, and he always had a serious point.

‘You read this?’ shouted Li as he held aloft the Daily Express. ‘Bloody Politicians! This new law stupid!’

Jerry took out his earphones and sat on a stack of The Sun as he grabbed the offending paper off Li. The headline shouted at him ‘Pod crime man convicted!’ with a picture of the familiar little music player being held aloft by some bimbo celebrity. In the corner was a grainy black and white passport photo of the poor sod referred to in the title.

‘Bloody disgrace! Can’t believe it! I not use those thing!’

Jerry read the article intently. Of course, he’d known about this all morning. His first act of every day – after taking a leak – was to switch on his iPad and surf the news sites while munching on a bowl of Frosted Malt Pods. He was a man of habit, grateful for the technology that kept him informed and up to date, 24-7.

‘Well, that’s the new century for you,’ offered Jerry.

‘New century? New century? You bloody mad! You bloody lost it, mate! You plugged into those thing – they burn your brain!’

Li disliked the small devices immensely. He always sneered at customers who possessed one, which was pretty much all of them. Even the old folks – listening to their favourite audiobooks – were keen Podders. Such colloquial terms grated with the Sony execs (as well as Pardip, who worked at their European office on Belvedere Road). The world was divided into two types of consumer – those that had an Apple iPod, and those that had a Sony Walkman (Walkie). Two mega-corporations were constantly at war: battling it out on the world stage for consumer domination.

Sony tried ever so hard to weave their Walkman into the zeitgeist, but Apple had beaten them to it with their sleek, sexy and clever devices. Only after several years of ruthless marketing and price-cutting did Sony manage to claw its way to an equal number one spot. Even so, they never managed to influence culture quite the way Apple did. Sony followed, it never led, and trying hard to change the status quo made it even less likely that the electronics giant would ever succeed.

Whether it was an iPod or a Walkman, they were usually referred to just as pods. No longer confined to playing music, the most up to date pods now doubled up as phones, personal organisers, game machines, voice recorders, cameras and even miniature masseurs.

Jerry was itching to listen to the 84s again, but Li went off on another tantrum about pods ruling the world and causing brain cancer. Jerry nodded absently as he re-read the article - describing the actions of a Winston Smith who’d failed to wear his personal pod to work. The new laws were getting more and more strict. Now it was an offence not to have a personal device on show. Jerry looked up at Li who shouted at some random passer-by giving them a serious fright.

‘The last thing I do is wear a pod! You unnerstan’ me, boy? I a free man!”

As the rant continued, Jerry’s fingers danced over his iPhone, sending off a text message. Looking up, he saw Pardip in the distance and went to greet him.

‘See you later, Li.’

‘Mister Li to you, boy!’ screeched the old man. He gave Jerry a fierce stare before melting into a toothless grin. He began to cackle, laughing at his ludicrous over-reactive self. ‘It hard work bein’ mad,’ said Li before muttering quietly ‘Say hi to your frien’ for me.’

‘Will, do,’ smiled Jerry.

Pardip waved to Jerry, laughing as he noticed Li wander back into his kiosk. Pardip figured he'd just missed a ‘Mr Li Rant’.

‘Hey, man. Li giving you a hard time again?’

‘Nah. Just the usual,’ replied Jerry. Pardip chuckled.

‘Ok, you ready? The presentation’s startin’ soon. I wanna get a good seat.’

‘Just a sec,’ Jerry nodded in the direction of where he’d just been. ‘I need to see this.’

Out of the horde of commuters, six dark shapes appeared. Kitted out in full riot gear, the Podcops made their way to Mr Li’s shop. There were raised voices and then a commotion, with Li shouting furiously and lashing out with his spindly arms. No-one around seemed to notice – either they didn’t care or were afraid to show any kind of concern.

One of the Podcops produced a baton and brought it down heavily onto his victim, bringing a sudden silence from the Taiwanese man. As his limp body was hauled away, the crowds snaked past mindlessly. It was over in an instant.

Jerry and Pardip turned and headed for the exit.

‘You do that?’

‘Yeah – couldn’t stand his anti-pod attitude,’

‘I hear ya. Why can’t people just get along with technology?’

They clambered up the steps into the gleaming sunshine just as Big Ben clanged the bells for midday. Jerry breathed in the atmosphere as he popped the small white earbuds into his ears.

‘It is, after all, the twenty-first century.’

‘Amen to that. People should just accept it.’

Jerry pulled out his pod, deftly selected the 84s and pressed play. He had to hear that song – just one more time.

Films I've Seen of late - April

2011-04-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a movie review for a while and thought it was about time I shared my recent movie consumptions. Here goes:

SALT (2010)

Angelia Jolie gets on my nerves most of the time, mainly because she's always adopting kids while looking ridiculously beautiful at the same time. Even so, her performance in Salt was pretty good. Actually, the story was the thing that made this film work for me. It was a clever re-work of the overdone contemporary-lets-not-be-james-bond-spy-thriller with lots of interesting twisty turny bits. Surprisingly good! (8/10)

TRON (1982)

Actually, this isn't a new film to me. I saw it when I was a kid ages ago and seem to remember it being really really awesome. Sadly ... times have moved on and Tron just looks really really dated. It's also feels really really short.

Luckily, rather than having my happy childhood memories erased with depressing adult ones I can still appreciate it for what it is. Although a flop at the time, Tron did a lot for the sci-fi genre and can forever be filed under 'classic' films (for my generation anyway). The upshot is, I'm glad I have it in my DVD collection, but my hopes for Tron Legacy (which I haven't seen yet) are not very high. (6/10) *ouch!*

ZOMBIELAND (2009)

I have a love/hate relationship with zombie films. I'm not a fan of gore and think the whole concept of zombies is just plain silly. Plus it's been done to death (excuse the pun). However, the ever-popular apocalyptic sub-genre is always fascinating to me and I just can't help myself. I am, therefore, grateful to the makers of this excellent zom-com for proving that there is still life in the zombie film yet. Woody Harrellson and Jerry Zuckerberg are the perfect dysfunctional duo journeying across the USA to find sanctuary from the America that has become Zombieland. Witty one-liners, great set-pieces and the perfect balance between comedy and horror make this an example of doing zombie films right. (9/10)

TOY STORY 3 (2010)

Yes, I cried. Let's just get that out of the way, shall we? TS3 has been known for making grown men cry, and I was one of them (not that I'm ashamed, of course). We bought the Toy Story trilogy box set for JKY (he's watched them about 70 times already), but also so I could get to see the third part of the series which I hadn't managed to see in the cinema. Thankfully I never got to see it in atrocious 3D, which would probably have ruined it. Pixar can never do wrong it seems and they demonstrated yet again that they are first and foremost masters of storytelling - computer animation is just a tool they use to do it. (9/10)

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA : VOYAGE OF THE DAWNTREADER (2010)

I so much wanted this film to work, but overall it was a bit disappointing. Perhaps the distracting veneer of 3D (see above) put me off. In spite of a good, strong cast (although Prince Caspian inexplicably loses his spanish accent from the last film) it just didn't seem to have any meaningful purpose or drive. The story lumbered from one scenario to another in a kind of uninspired painting-by-numbers sort of way. I'd be surprised if Walden Media ever get to make any more Narnia films, but if they did I think they should just cut to the chase and get on with making The Last Battle. Surely, no wrong could be done with that story... (5.5/10)

Getting along with the Cantelon

2011-04-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've been really getting into worship music of late. This is mainly because I felt God prompting me to spend more time worshipping Him (which is fair enough, I suppose). For a while, I've been listening to Ben Cantelon on Spotify and finally got round to buying his album 'Running After You'.

Ben has managed to come up with a worship album that is beyond your typical 'crowd-pleasing' 10-track CD. It's got a couple of popular songs that seem to be doing the rounds in the churches at the moment, but also has a number of tracks that are less mainstream and just good music. Ben has managed to get the balance right between good music and soulful adoration of the Lord - something I don't think happens all the time. Sometimes musicians fall into the trap of going all soppy in their worship, which grates with me sometimes (not that I have a problem with most Christian artists per se).

This album is full of genuine love of God, and is not ashamed of it either. The lyrics are soulful and earnest, yet edgy. I fully recommend it to anyone looking for worship music that isn't just 'more of the same'.

A sad indication of the economic times...

2011-03-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Birthday Card Fun 2

2011-03-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

And here's another cool Birthday card - but this time from my brother.

He's an artist.

I think that's all I need to say....

OERO GOODNESS

2011-02-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at the stats for my blog, and was surprised to see that the most viewed blog post ever was the one about getting Oreos for Christmas 2009 (a whopping 908 page views).

Really?

I don't claim to be the world's greatest wordsmith, but I thought I'd written more poignant and heartwarming stuff in other posts.

Maybe it was the combination of Christmas and Oreo that flagged it up in people's Google searches. Maybe the suits at Nabisco/Kraft have people tracking every Oreo mention that comes up on the web. Maybe it was pure fluke.

Either way, I've discovered what keeps my readership happy. If they want blogs about Oreos, then so be it. Who am I to question the masses?

So, as I get my thinking cap on and think about what Oreo articles I could write, here's a cheesy 1980s US TV ad for an Oreo variant that proved too unhealthy - even for Americans. Enjoy!

Birthday Card Fun

2011-02-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Here are the pick of the funniest birthday cards I got this year...

NUMBER PLATE FOR FERTILITY DOCTORS

2011-02-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

This car was parked outside the fertility clinic we are currently attending.

I'm not joking.

You'd think, though, that there would be better options for a personalized plate such as: SP3RM, 5PERM, F3RT1LE or ZYG0TE. Maybe they were already taken by the other BMW-driving fertility consultants and S4ERM was the last one left...

GREAT COMPANY NAMES No. 347

2011-02-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

This sure did make me chuckle when I saw it.

Separate hot and cold taps is a stupid idea

2011-02-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

This was once pointed out to me by a bunch of foreign students who were on an 'orientation' training weekend that I was teaching at. They couldn't understand why we had separate cold and hot water taps. Surely, they argued, you don't want either your water scalding hot or freezing – you want it somewhere in the middle.

They had mixer taps everywhere on the continent, apparently, which seemed to make perfect sense. Perhaps it's a hangover from our colonial past, or some weird puritan approach to water taken by whoever was in charge of the water board back in the 1950s. Or perhaps we never actually thought about mixing hot and cold together.

Of course, I've have actually seen mixer taps in Britain. They aren't exactly new – but it's surprising how much we still rely on the old way of doing things.

Above is a picture of the sink in our local library.

It was refurbished about three years ago, which just shows how modern and forward thinking our councils really are...

American Vacation?

2011-01-31T14:52:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with my brother at Christmas and discussed how much holidays people usually had in the States and I was shocked. Typically, the average hard-working American is entitled to two weeks vacation. This is compared to an average of four in the UK.

Not only do we Brits get substantial holidays (plus sick leave and usually even special leave for family emergencies), but we also get bank holidays off. In the US, only a select few employees get those days off (banks and government agencies, for example). For everyone else, it's business as usual.

Plus - and here's the worst bit - if you work part time you are not automatically entitled to any annual leave. Not pro rata, not one bit.

According to a 2007 report by CEPR, "...the United States is the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation or holidays. As a result, 1 in 4 U.S. workers do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays. The lack of paid vacation and paid holidays in the U.S. is particularly acute for lower-wage and part-time workers, and for employees of small businesses."

Does this seem fair? How can one of the major world powers get away with treating its citizens like this?

One could argue that working its people so hard is what has kept America on top, but given its current economic woes I'm not convinced. The reality, I suspect, is that politicians in the US have their hands tied in terms of introducing any kind of legislation that would make paid annual leave compulsory. They are obliged to keep those companies investing billions of dollars in the American economy happy, and forcing them to give paid leave to employees would not go down very well with big business.

The idea that giving people more time off would lead to lower productivity and effectiveness (which is, presumably the fear of US companies) is daft. In fact, I suspect productivity would increase as people become more energised with their time off. At the very worst, things would stay the same - but at least people would be just that little bit happier with their lives.

Time off is one of those things I think we should hold sacred in a civilised society. It gives us a chance to switch off, unwind, smell the roses and just 'be'. While work helps to define us and gives structure and meaning to our lives it's only a part of who we are. We are also defined by our relationships - our family and friends. If we work all the hours God sends and don't get to spend any time with those we love and care about - well, what's the point?

Not only that, but time to ourselves is also vitally important. A chance to walk in the woods or stroll along an empty beach alone gives us a chance to reflect and ponder the bigger issues, to clear the cobwebs from the mind and dream a little.

Isn't that what being human is about? Isn't that one of the things that separates us from the animals?

The Greatest Disappointment In Cinematic History

2011-01-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Did you realise that all three Star Wars prequel films are complete rubbish and merely a cynical attempt at milking as much money as possible out of a much-loved and respected franchise?

I didn't ... until I saw Red Letter Media's scathing, but very accurate, analysis of the films (see below). NB: Contains swearing and weird, unnecessary references to kidnapping ... you kinda have to skip over those bits.

Painful though it is to admit ... we were all duped.

I remember as a young adult coming out of the cinema after seeing The Phantom Menace and feeling confused. I think that, deep down, I knew I'd just seen a pile of crap - but because it was, y'know, Star Wars - well, it couldn't be true. I wanted to like Phantom so much that I wouldn't accept that it was a pile of turd.

What is embarrassing is that, being a film and media student, I should have spotted the glaring errors, plot holes, character inconsistencies and failure to follow normal film grammar.

I have every intention of sitting down with JKY one day and watching Episodes 4, 5 and 6 with him. I look forward to that, cos I think he'll really enjoy them. I don't know if I could ever bring myself to letting him watch the first three, though.

I suppose I could just point out every flaw and plot-hole along the way.

I'm sure he'd enjoy that....

WE'RE SELLING OUR CAR! SKODA FABIA 2003 (£1,550 ONO)

2011-01-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

I thought I might as well exploit my blog to sell our car. There's no point spending loads of money advertising it if I can make people aware for free - makes sense, doesn't it?

So, in case you or anyone you know is interested, here are the specs:

2003 (53) Skoda Fabia 5-door Hatchback 1.2 HTP 12v (64bhp) Petrol Classic

PAS, Air Con, Airbags, ABS, Immobiliser, Single CD Player / Radio, Adjustable steering wheel, Trip Computer, Electric Front Windows, Remote Central Locking, Height-adjustable driver's seat, Silver

6 months MOT

Only 79,000 miles

Full Service History

This car has had one owner since new. It has the usual signs of wear and tear for a car this age. Notable bumps are on the boot door and with a scuff on the nearside rear bumber.

The rear wipe screenwasher does not work but this is easily fixed.

A great, fun car to drive that's solid, reliable and cheap to run.

This really is a great car, which has served us well for over seven years. We're sad to see it go but need the cash and can't really justify running two cars considering where we live. Oh yeah, and it's bad for the environment.

What's your takeaway pseudonym?

2011-01-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

When I last went to Domino's Pizza, as usual I offered my name after giving my order so they could call me up when the cholesterol-infused discs of dough were ready for collection.

I have decided I need a cool name to give with my order, rather than my own which, frankly, isn't particularly cool. The idea is that when the spotty teenager behind the counter announces my food is ready, fellow grease-munchers will be struck with fear and admiration at my name. I will then stride out of the fast-food establishment in slow-mo like in some kind of John Woo film.

Here are a few examples of what it could be:

- Nighthawk

- Master Blaster

- Locutus

- Dreadlock

- Captain Sinister

- The Rock

- Asbo

- Raptor Man

Of course, I'd probably need an outfit to go with my super new cool name - but perhaps that's going a bit too far...

A Facebook Fast

2010-12-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

After a few days into my Christmas hols, I decided to avoid Facebook and Twitter at all costs. It just didn't seem very Christmassy.

I'll get back on the insidiuous social networking bandwagon soon enough, but for now I'm just going to enjoy the silence...

JC's Best and Worst of 2010

2010-12-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well, 2010 sure was an eventful year. Against the backdrop of a global financial meltdown, I have had my fair share of ups and downs. So here comes my best and worst bits in nice, easy bitesize chunks (for your convenience, of course...):

BEST

1. New House!

We finally moved to Roath after nearly two years waiting. It has been a big risk for us - particularly given my self-employed status - but it was worth the wait, and even though we still have tons to do we love the place. The only sad part is that the purchase was only possible because of Wifey's inheritance from her mum :-(

2. JKY in his new skool

The little boy is growing up fast and loving going to school (albeit nursery at the moment). He'll be off to Uni before I know it...

3. Matt Smith

I have a strange relationship with Doctor Who - sometimes I love it, and sometimes I think it's absurd. Matt Smith took a bit of getting used to but I really like what he's doing with the character and look forward to the next series.

4. Holiday

We did a cheap as chips seaside holiday in July and thoroughly enjoyed it - sometimes you just need to get away and do something simple together as a family. I'd happily do it again in '11 if necessary...

5. Healing On The Streets (HOTS)

I signed up to a Healing On The Streets initiative at church and although it's been a slow start I'm getting more and more comfortable with the idea that God can and does heal on a regular basis. I expect to see the miraculous someday soon.

6. The West Wing

Bartlett for president! Wifey and I have rediscovered this TV classic after buying the box set (all SEVEN series!). Truly masterful writing with witty dialogue and thought provoking subjects, we easily get through four episodes in a weekend - it's 'Friends' for grown ups (as my father-in-law put it).

7. Succumbing to the Jesus Phone

Yes, I bought an iPhone 4 and it has transformed my life (including how I spend time on the loo). No longer am I embarrassed to write a text message in public due to my crusty old mobile or am I stumped on that elusive bit of trivia while out in the park. I can, however, confidently predict that in six months my gadget/baby/saviour lump of plastic and metal will be superseded by a newer, sexier and faster version.

WORST

1. Screwing up big time

I did this thing at work. I can't really talk about it. It wasn't exactly my fault ... but could have been the end of my career. I thank the Lord we managed to fix it, but at one point I was a complete mess and didn't know what to do.

2. Economy

Thank you global banking system. Thank you greedy capitalists. Thank you impotent financial regulators. You have messed up the world economy good and proper. It will take ten years to put things right, by which time everyone will have forgotten and make the same mistakes again.

3. Stagnant Faith / Dissatisfaction With Church

I've been meaning to blog this, but haven't had the time to do it justice. Basically, I don't feel like I'm particularly moving forward in my faith, and I'm getting tired of church (not that I've got a problem with the people - they're all great). My hope is that doing something practical and real (ie HOTS) will jump start my faith again...

4. Noisy neighbours

We moved into our lovely new house and a few weeks later some lovely neighbours moved in next door. Unfortunately, they work unsociable hours and keep me awake at night. They aren't rowdy or anything, it's just the walls are too thin. Trouble is, I like my sleep.

5. Not having another baby

We've been trying to conceive for a couple of years now. With time against us, it's becoming more and more frustrating. Even fertility treatment has failed us this time round. I know we should be eternally grateful for what we've got in JKY, but that doesn't take away from our longing for another child.

6. Moving house

We moved house this year. Twice. Once into our rental in Roath and then again into our purchased house. I don't want to do that again for a long time.

7. Living from month to month

I have said umpteen times on this blog that running a business is hard work. It is also stressful and unpredictable. We are just about surviving from month to month, but that's not good enough. A breakthrough is needed in '11.

Er - that's it. I actually had to scrape the barrel a bit there for the worst bits - I wanted seven points just so it was even (my latent OCD just kicked in), so actually 2010 wasn't too bad a year.

I'm quietly confident and optimistic about 2011. At least we don't have to move - stability is a good thing.

Happy New Year people!

Here's a pic of our snowman from the recent arctic conditions

2010-12-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

He kinda looks like he knows something you and I don't ...

HEALTH AND SAFETY ALIVE AND WELL IN CARDIFF

2010-11-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

COFFEE CUP SKYLINE

2010-11-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Terry noticed this on my coffee cup while we were in Newcastle promoting Kangazang. I just had to take a picture of this coffee-coloured skyline:

Spotted on Bute Street....

2010-10-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Bring your hard hats, ropes and boots - we'll bring the grub!

This is cool

2010-10-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

Church and 30th St. San Francisco MUNI Construction from Ken Murphy on Vimeo.

A Social Experiment

2010-10-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we decided to have a housewarming for our new home. The plan was to have an open house over the weekend in the hope that this would maximise the number of people who could attend.

Rather than just invite friends and relatives, we wanted to use it as a way of also meeting the neighbours, so a fortnight in advance of the weekend we posted invites to the houses on our 'block'. The invite was thrown together pretty quick, rushed through on our printer, and just said that we were new to the area and wanted to say hello.

We had a really nice time, although at one point it was crazily manic as a load of people descended on us all at the same time on Saturday afternoon. Most of these, however, were not strangers from the block.

Of the 45 invites dropped through letterboxes, a total of 8 people came over (representing 6 households). That's a response rate of 18%, I think (I never was very good with percentages so correct me if I got that wrong). Not bad, I suppose, although I was hoping it would be more.

In fact, I did worry that the entire street would pop in all at the same time, but obviously that would never happen. Also, if you take into account the fact that a lot of houses in our area are student-let (therefore not necessarily being rented out yet), and people only had two weeks notice then the turnout rate seems even better.

Wifey and I are really passionate about community because we believe it's a force for good that ultimately keeps us safe, sane and happy (and is a reflection of what God wants for humankind). People have hundreds of friends on Facebook across the globe but hardly know their next door neighbours. This 'experi-party' was our little attempt at trying to kickstart a bit of community lovin'. Whether it worked or not remains to be seen.

Obviously, you can't expect to see relationships blossom and communities form all because of a one-off event. The hard bit is taking the time to develop those encounters into something more meaningful and long-term.

Maybe we need to have another party ... mince pie, anyone?

The best thing about Inception was...

2010-09-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

We saw Inception last night and it was ruddy brilliant!

What made it even brilliant-er was the SNOW-TRACK HUMVEE!!!

What a cool piece of kit.

Oh yeah...

2010-08-09T14:41:00.001-07:00

... how could I forget??

We have sweated blood, cried sweat and bled tears to get it out there. Many men and women have fallen by the wayside to make it a reality.

Let's just hope their sacrifice wasn't in vain and that people actually buy it! (hint hint)

It is the sci-fi phenomenon (try saying that after a few pints) known as Kangazang. Read by former Doctor Who Colin Baker, it comes in a 3-Disc boxed set with bonus DVD all for less than the price of a round of drinks. Bargain? I'll say!

It's been sixty-five million light-years in the making ... take it away Mr Cooper:

Here we go again...

2010-08-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

Who says moving house can't be fun?

In four days time we shall be doing the last final push to move into our new house, while my business partner and his family move into our current house the day after. I kid you not. It's complicated.

So if you don't hear from me for a while - I'll be moving stuff and unpacking boxes in our new home.

Did I just say our new home?!?

(I'm just gonna let out a little woohoo ...)

Woohoo!

Meanwhile, on holiday....

2010-08-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

The beach was deserted. Nothing but the rolling surf to keep me company as I ambled across the shingle. I was having a bit of downtime on holiday. JKY was asleep, Wifey was doing her crossword, so I went for a stroll to enjoy just chilling out by the sea.

Looking for something interesting washed ashore, I never expected this:

Sometimes you just can't avoid being reminded of work ... wherever you go.

DREDD IN WEIRD TREK CROSSOVER THINGY

2010-07-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Seems Karl Uban is keen to play Dredd in the new movie. Great - I think he'll do a good job going on his performance in the recent Trek reboot, although topping Stallone from the '95 movie shouldn't be too difficult.

Why they are bothering to do it in 3D is beyond me - seems daft to waste all that money on a gimmick when they could use it for sets or SFX.

All this made me come up with this strange Trek / Dredd mashup:

Carpets, Bees and Smoke Bombs

2010-07-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

Ripping up the carpets in our new house was a truly liberating experience.

It also helped me to feel a bit more settled about having a new house. Strangely, I think the reason for feeling so odd about it was that it felt like we were intruding on someone else's property. Technically it is ours - every brick, floorboard and lightswitch - but I guess it takes time for the reality to sink in.

As we set about making our mark on our home, we noticed a droning, buzzing sound coming from under the ground floor.

Wifey waited for the pest control guy to come round and, sure enough, there was a colony of potentially angry bumble bees right underneath our feet.

Oh dear.

If we'd pulled up a floorboard they probably would have swarmed to protect the queen and done some serious stinging. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Sadly, the bees just had to go. Apparently, pest control prefer to leave bees - they're an important insect to the ecosystem and don't cause any bother unless aggravated. Unfortunately, having them living right beneath was dangerous. It was either us or them.

The bees had several hundred stingers, an acute sense of direction and dynamic flying capabilities at their disposal. Us humans, on the other hand, had two smoke bombs.

The battle was swift and bloody. In a matter of minutes, the colony had fallen and the bees were no more. Wifey found the bee's reaction to the attack quite upsetting - she said she could hear their screams of pain as they died. Sob.

I do feel bad about what we did, but then I'm glad we've been spared the fate of Macaulay Culkin from 1991's My Girl (oops - spolier! sorry!).

Rest assured, to atone for our sins we'll probably make a donation to some bee charity.

The emotions of house buying

2010-07-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

I know I am incredibly fortunate (not that I believe in luck per se, but to save lengthy theological debates etc let's just go with it, shall we?), but I am feeling slightly unsettled about the fact that we have finally bought our house.

After over a year of house views, endless frustrated phone calls and many hours spent imagining our dream home we finally have the keys and have stepped over the threshold into our new possession.

The problem is, I don't feel ecstatically happy. I feel guilty. I feel anxious.

Maybe it's because I don't feel I deserve it. Maybe I feel bad that other, more worthy people are not in the position to buy a house like ours. Maybe I feel sorrow about a sorely missed Mum and Granny whose death made it possible for us to afford our new home.

We've still got one month left on our rental before we have to move out. So, while this transition period is extremely useful in terms of doing up the house and moving in gradually it's probably contributing to the unsettled-ness. We are, after all, occupying two houses for the moment.

Hopefully once we've made the final push I should feel more at peace about things.

Hopefully....

My Obituary

2010-07-04T05:57:00.001-07:00

Moving house has prompted us to have a good de-clutter/sort out, which has involved various trips to cash generator, charity shops and the tip. We've also managed to burn about three trees-worth of paper (I think it's OK to do this - I'm pretty sure burning paper is carbon neutral).

I've kept several shoe boxes of correspondence and random bits of paper over the years and when going through this found my obituary.

Yeah, that's right. My obituary.

Unfortunately, this isn't one of those time-travel Doctor Who-esque stories with a shocking twist at the end. Back in the late 90s I'd decided to write a slightly tongue-in-cheek obituary for myself - probably because I was bored.

Here's how it goes:

"Obituary, The Times. 20th April 2075.

Sir Justin Chaloner MBE, OBE

Just a couple of months after his 100th birthday, Sir Justin Chaloner surprised many by dying at such an early age. Not only was he physically fit for a centenarian, but possessed all of his faculties right until the moment of his death. Indeed, his last words summed up many things about his life: 'I hope I did my best...I'll try harder in heaven!'

Film Director, Artist, Actor, Poet, Diplomat and an inspiration for a whole generation, Sir Chaloner was living proof that determination and a strong spirit can get us all through the hardest of times.

Born in Wales in February 1975, Sir Chaloner had a relatively normal up bringing. He never talked much about his childhood and some say this was because of dark secrets he wished to conceal. His wife once said, however, 'It was a part of him he wished to remain private.'

His first glimpse of fame arrived when he was 29, after his first major film for Miramax broke all box office records for a British production. Entitled, Razor Edge, it was a witty action thriller to rival Tarantino and Rodriguez. He later went on to make only a handful of films, as he divided his time between more diverse pursuits.

His success as a poet began after publishing a collection of his works in 2003, which attracted critical acclaim and demand for more. In line with his style, however, Sir Chaloner opted to try something else, and no further poetry was ever published.

A keen supporter of human rights and equality, Sir Chaloner was always willing to lend a hand to protests against individuals or organisations which failed to treat people fairly. He even risked arrest when Cardiff Council threatened to cut spending on homeless support.

By his mid 40s, Sir Chaloner had earned a reputation for being an effective diplomat and was employed by the UN to negotiate several international disputes - including the famous Argentina Crisis of 2023. Some say had it not been for Sir Chaloner, we would have been plunged into World Was Three.

By the time of his death, Sir Chaloner had appeared in three films, has his artwork displayed in the Tate and has helped to end worldwide poverty. He leaves behind his wife, three children, Samson the labrador and Fuzz the cat."

Hmmm - no pressure then. I'm only slightly behind on a few things.

If you don't hear much from me over the next few weeks it's because I'll be busy figuring out how to end worldwide poverty while coming up with a hit movie script. Oh yeah - and brushing up on my Spanish....

Cloudbusting

2010-06-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

I consider myself privileged to have been alive when the Michael J Fox Sci Fi Romantic Comedy Back to the Future appeared in cinemas. I was about ten years old when I went to see it with my cousin while visiting him in London during the holiday, and I vividly remember the excitement and awe of watching that film.

I also remember the video* for 'Cloudbusting' by Kate Bush which was shown at the beginning:

At the time, I couldn't quite understand why they showed the whole thing - this was a cinema showing films, not Top of the Pops! I just wanted to get on with watching the movie.

Having said that, I did have some appreciation for the steampunk cloudbusting contraption (not that I had any idea what steampunk was back then), as well as the story involving mysterious men in black coming to kidnap the mad professor-type dad (kinda fitting for the film that followed, I guess).

All this was, however, wasted on my impatient youth. It wasn't until I'd grown up that I came to appreciate the song for what it was. It's one of my favourite Kate Bush songs - Bush's haunting voice and the rousing orchestration make it one of those anthemic, epic songs that is timeless.

So even though, at the time, I was frustrated by having to sit through seven minutes of warbling, the marketing pulled off. The seed had been sown, and over time I grew to love a song that once I had resented.

Who would ever employ a marketing strategy like that these days? No-one, because nobody is prepared to wait that long anymore.

*points of interest: the father was played by Donald Sutherland and the song is based on the true of story of some fruitcake psychoanalyst who believed in a cosmic energy called Orgone

On being follically challenged...

2010-06-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

It's time for a change.

A few years back I shaved my head to raise money for Soul in the City, and while Wifey was less than keen she let me it do it because it was, you know, for 'charity'. I soon let my keratin-based growth return to normal but must confess I missed the freedom of a dome-shaped bonce. Not having the wind transform my hair into some form of ungainly shrubbery or spending ten minutes each morning glooping sticky gel or wax into my mane was great - it let me focus on more important things in my life like curing cancer, negotiating peace talks with Iran or coming up with alternative new words for 'fickle'.

Unlike most normal people, my hair grows like it's on steroids so ideally I need a cut every fortnight, but as a compromise I aim for once a month. Trouble is, my hairdresser has been off work for a few weeks after breaking a bone in her foot, and I've been really busy so my hair has just been getting longer and longer having not had a cut for at least two months.

So tonight I decided to take the plunge and shave it all off again. Not for charity this time, but just for the hell of it (I know, I really live life on the EDGE don't I?).

Less insulation on top makes the summer just that bit bearable, but no doubt I'll be back to see my hairdresser soon. After all, I'll have a full head of hair in no time and it'll need chopping again.

Change is good - but only for a short while.

Someone shoot the graphic designer

2010-06-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

I saw this logo for 'Total Filtration' on the back of a van while driving to work.

When I think of filtration, I don't necessarily picture a man carrying his suitcase and a Cuban cigar walking past the terrifying 'Tunnel of overflowing Turds'.

Maybe I'm wrong ... but if I've missed something here, please tell me....

PC World can't spel proply

2010-05-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

You'd think PC World - with all that hi-tech equipment at their disposal - would be able to use Spell Check for their signs.

The weirdness of Gumtree

2010-04-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

I don't use Gumtree much, but have just advertised some old magazines I'm giving away. Go here and here to get your hands on vintage Empire and MacUser literature - no seriously! I'm NOT KIDDING!!!

Anyway, while browsing, I came across this ad in the Freebies section:

pain in the butt girlfriend
she is lazy, unwilling to work, no fun in bedroom, answers back, moans all the time. answers to the name of LOUISE please try and keep the same name as shes a very dim 29 year old. thanks for reading

Oh dear - someone needs a bit of relationship counselling...

First ever YouTube video

2010-04-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

Back in the olden days, there was no YouTube. Cyberspace was a pretty dull place.

Then, in 2005 a couple of guys came up with the idea of a video social networking site. The rest, as they say, is internet history. Or something.

Anyway, I was amazed to see the first ever upload from one of YT's founders. It's pretty bland and yet typical of the kind of content YT is riddled with. If only they'd thought about filming the elephants taking a dump, or someone getting attacked by a monkey.

No doubt cyber-archaeologists will be searching for this historic gem in centuries to come.

ABC Warriors

2010-04-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

Being a geek who used to read 2000AD avidly each week when I were a wee lad, I was very excited to come this short animation of the ABC Warriors on Vimeo.

Sadly, it's way too short - I'd love to see more of this.

2000AD ABC Warriors from Firestep Films on Vimeo.

Meltdowns and parenting

2010-04-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Over Easter we went to the National Railway Museum in York. It's a very impressive place to visit, and I don't think you have to be a trainspotter to appreciate it. I particularly enjoyed sitting in the cabin of the famous Mallard (the fastest steam locomotive in history).

Unfortunately, JKY had a complete meltdown in the middle of the museum because he wasn't getting his own way. This was a Force 12 tantrum with foaming mouth, drooling snot and serious lashings out of extremities.

It lasted for 15 minutes.

As we tried to to calm him as patiently as we could, many many members of the public walked past (mostly families and older people). Although I tried to ignore them, I couldn't help thinking that as they walked past staring at us they were quietly judging our parenting skills and thinking things like: 'Just give him a big slap.', 'Don't pander to him', 'You're not doing it right', 'This is really spoiling it for the rest of us', 'Give him some chocolate or something'.

I'm sure in actuality, most of them knew exactly what we were going through and were just glad it wasn't them. However, it didn't feel like it at the time.

So, the next time you see one or two parents trying to calm down a screaming toddler, please don't judge them and bear in mind the following:

- Every child is different. What works for one child in terms of discipline probably won't work for another. God in His infinite wisdom made us unique - right from the moment we pop out of our mummy's womb. That's what makes parenting challenging sometimes - ultimately, it is up to the parent to try and figure out the best tactic for their little one.

- Toddlers are incredibly immature emotionally. They see things very black and white - plus, in their mind the entire universe orbits around them 24/7. You cannot reason with them in the way you can with a seven-year old, hence the stormy tantrums.

- Smacking or hitting a child is not necessarily the best option. I have become increasingly anti-smacking the more I have learnt about what is teaches to young minds. By hitting a child, you're basically saying it's OK to use violence to resolve an issue. For example, if a child hits you and you hit them back as a punishment, surely you're giving a confusingly mixed message and presenting yourself as a hypocrite).

- Youngsters over the age of two are constantly testing boundaries. It is their way of figuring out their place in the world around them. If boundaries exist in a family set-up they feel secure and protected (testing these boundaries are a way of checking they are still in force and that the security continues to exist).

- Bribing children with chocolate etc in order to behave sets a problematic pattern of behaviour for the future. It may make things easier in the short term, but will make life a lot harder later on. Children should simply do as their parents say with no answering back and no bribes. This is admittedly a high standard to expect but is at least something to aim for. (by the way, I'm not saying we've never resorted to a wee bit of bribery in the past but we at least try and keep it to a minimum!).

- Sometimes, the best-intentioned and most loving parent in the world will either get it wrong, forget to do the right thing or just be at the end of their tether. It happens to us all.

(By the way, I am not in any way writing this as if I'm some kind of authority on parenting - believe me, I'm not. I'm just making some observations based on my own experience, that's all.)

When a family is struggling in public with a tazmanian devil of a child, on the whole they are usually loving parents who are trying the very best to bring up their child in the right way. Only the very tiny minority of parents are neglectful or cruel to their offspring.

I think we handled JKY's behaviour as best we could. I can't think of how we could have done it any different without compromising our principles or losing it completely. So what if our son was screaming for 15 minutes? Eventually he calmed down and we were able to carry on.

No doubt there will be many more meltdowns of this scale to come (especially if we are blessed with another wee little one). I guess it's just part of earning one's Parenting Battle Scars.

Parenting Battle Scars - yeah! That makes the whole experience seem almost worth it!

Sickening Stuff

2010-04-11T08:54:00.001-07:00

Why oh why has Thorpe Park launched new rides based on the Saw movies??

It beggars belief, it really does. As far as I understand, the Saw movies centre around the exploits of a serial killer who enjoys putting people in traps where they have to cut off various appendages in order to stay alive. Er - great fun...

I think the whole Saw phenomenon is indicative of a sad society which revels in gore, violence, pain and death. I can just about bring myself to appreciate some horror films as well-made pieces of artistic filmmaking - Jaws or The Shining spring to mind. Most, however, are exploitative and tap into the dark side of humanity too easily (they also tend to consist of bad acting, a poor script and a total lack of imagination).

Theme Parks are meant to be fun and family-oriented. These new rides that glorify horror are contrary to this notion.

The thing about Trek....

2010-04-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

I got Star Trek (the 2009 JJ Abrams version) on DVD for my birthday and even though I missed it at the cinema, I knew it would be good. Abrams really nailed the sci-fi re-boot which was a fun, action-packed, old fashioned adventure that managed to respect the source material while still setting itself apart as something new and fresh.

It was one of those films that I wanted to see again straight away, and couldn't wait to get into the DVD extras. For me, that's a rare thing indeed.

One thing Abrams said was that the challenge was to re-invigorate the franchise and in so doing make it possible for anyone (from the hard-core Trekker right through to the completely uninitiated) to enjoy the film. That's a tall order, but in my opinion Abrams and crew managed to pull it off. Let's hope the sequel does away with the so-called 'odd-number Trek curse':

So now I'm all excited about things of a Trek nature, I think I should point out that I'm not a Trekker. I've always had a bit of a love hate relationship with the Trek. I'd always considered myself more of a Star Wars kind of guy, but thanks to the betrayal/fiasco/letdown/pig's ear of the Phantom Menace and Abrams' directing efforts on the new film my loyalties aren't quite as clear as they were.

This is difficult for me as my gripes with Trek are many and varied:
- Why have the bridge on top of the ship's saucer where it's easy shooting for would-be baddies. Surely, the bridge on a starship should be right at the core of the craft? They have video cameras in the future as well, you know.
- The Next Generation was all a bit dull and relied too much on characters employing convenient science mumbo jumbo plot devices in order to resolve any problems.
- Trek technology is never quite convincing enough. We have phones that can communicate across the planet and it's only 2010. It will be another 200 years before Kirk and crew get to lark about in space. Surely the Federation will have come up with something infinitely more advanced than our humble iPhones.

- The writers too often use time travel in the story while having little concern for the repercussions. One example of this blatant disregard for all things chronological is in the new Trek film which (here be spoilers!) completely obliterates an entire timeline (and therefore perhaps negating every Trek series or film that was ever made previously).

Having said all this, I do have a small amount of affection for things Trek-related. There is something endearing about the comradeship that exists among the crew of the various vessels, plus if you take away the sci-fi nonsense, Trek is essentially a human story where men and women overcome great obstacles all for the greater good of humanity (or something like that anyway). The notion of what Starfleet represents (i.e. an intergalactic humanitarian peace-keeping force) is also quite laudable.

One can't deny the cultural impact Star Trek has made over the last few decades. Most people, I think, are familiar with aspects of the Trek universe - and I'm sure the sci-fi show has inspired countless inventors and scientists to go on and do what they do.

So am I about to commit my life to the ways of the Trekker? Actually, no. In my opinion, the hard-core Trekkers who are out there have a quai-religious attachment to Trek - meaning their loyalty to the franchise is unflinching and non-critical.

They also prance around in Trek uniforms which is just silly*.

So that kind of devotion is totally out for me. All I can say, however, is that I have a new-found healthy respect for Trek and recognise its worthy contributions to all things sci-fi.

Well done, Gene Roddenberry!

*however, if anyone bought me a miniature Enterprise for my birthday I would be inwardly very excited...!!

SONAR ANIMATION

2010-04-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

This is quite mesmerising...

Sonar from Renaud Hallée on Vimeo.

Random Thought - Ice Magic

2010-03-29T14:32:00.001-07:00

My childhood back in the 80s was peppered with long-forgotten foodstuffs such as Pacers, Top Deck and Smith's Salt n Shake.

Today I had a random flashback about Ice Magic. This amazing chocolate sauce turned hard when poured over ice cream (hence the 'magical' properties - although surely that's just boring old physics at work).

It was a veritable treat back in the day, but can be easily achieved in modern 21st century life by simply melting chocolate in the microwave and pouring over your favourite frozen dessert (we did this today, in fact!). Of course, that's not as 'magical', is it?

I wonder about how many thousands of those curious plastic Ice Magic bottles are hidden deep under a quarter century's worth of landfill?

Crazy crazy times...

2010-03-13T07:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who read my blog from time to time, you might have noticed that I have been absent in the blogosphere lately.

The two main reasons are moving house and being stupidly crazy at work. The timing for both of these could not have been better *sarcasm*...

Anyway, I am determined to get back into the swing of things once life has returned to some semblance of normality.

In the meantime, here's an amusing link you might enjoy:

New House! New House!

2010-02-17T03:21:00.000-08:00

We finally got the keys to our new rental yesterday which was a big relief as it was touch and go at one point.

All we have to do now is empty the contents of our current house into this new one which, as those of you who have moved home will know, is quite a stressful endeavour. Wifey has been an absolute star doing most of the planning and organising of the operation. She has been in her element drawing up lists, notifying people of our change of address and getting hold of a billion boxes to store our junk.

Frankly, if it was me organising it all we'd probably end up moving to Krakow by mistake, so I'm happy to be just told where to lug stuff.

I'm so grateful to God for such an amazing wife and the fact that, while we are complete opposites most of the time, we tend to work pretty well as a team.

I'm also grateful for our new home (obviously) - but one thing tickled me when we popped round to introduce ourselves to the neighbours. The guy mentioned that everyone on the street pretty much knows each other (it's a cul-de-sac) and that he tries to send out a newsletter every once in a while.

I don't think many street communities have their own newsletter - but our new one does! How brilliant is that?

Movin' on up

2010-02-06T06:47:00.000-08:00

My parents finally did it, and moved out of the family Homestead two weeks ago (I've finally managed to find some time to write about it, such is the level of hectic-ness at the moment).

It was weird to think that after that day, I'll probably never set foot in that house ever again. A new family (a couple of medical professionals with loads of animals but no children) have taken up residency and they will probably spend the next thirty or so years there. They will create a new family home with new memories and my family's influence on the building will slowly but surely fade away as they redecorate and move things around.

These things happen all the time, of course, but it's still strange, especially given the length of time that the 'stead was home to my family. When I think about these things, I wonder about all the other families and individuals that lived there since it was built over a hundred years ago. The structure of the house must be saturated with human presence - all emotions have probably been experienced there at one time or another: love, hate, greed, anger, sorrow, suffering, elation, pity... the list is endless. Not that I believe in such things per se - but you have to wonder what several generations of life do to a building or place.

So now my parents have moved into a swanky new build near Monmouth. The house is lovely, and most importantly doesn't require any work to be done on it. It's actually warm - which couldn't be said for the old house - and as yet it's still new to having anyone living in it. Over time, I guess, the new occupiers will make their mark.

As for me and my family, we are on the move too. We're moving into rental for six months while we try and find a home to buy. This is good because we get to move to the area we want to live in - but it does mean throwing money away to the landlords. This is the first time I've rented for over ten years, and I've been made acutely aware of the challenge to young people trying to find somewhere to live. I'd forgotten about bonds, agency fees, references and all that.

Frankly, I think the amount people have to pay is ridiculous. Inflated house prices and rental fees make me angry - although I really don't know what the solution is, and we're probably perpetuating the problem ourselves by selling and moving on. A tricky one.

Hopefully, by this time next month, we'll be in our new home. All I've got to do now is sort through all my crap and try and box it up. Wish me luck!

Something I 'shopped recently....

2010-01-31T07:43:00.000-08:00

This blew me away

2010-01-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

I've seen plenty of videos on how big the universe is, but I think this is the best so far.

A truly beautiful piece of work.

(shame it's not in widescreen, though...)

As Douglas Adams says:

'Space is big.

You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is.

I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.'

Some thoughts on Avatar

2010-01-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

Last week I finally got to see Avatar in 3D (just 'regular' 3D, you understand, not this new-fangled 'Imax' 3D everyone's talking about).

First off, I have a few of gripes I'd like to get off my chest:
- The 3D didn't seem to work for me. It wasn't as impressive as I'd hoped because at times it was blurry and nothing really 'jumped out' at me throughout the film. Was it the fact I was wearing my own specs (filthy ones, at that) under the 3D glasses? Am I one of those in the minority who have eyes that simply can't process a 3D image (now that is daft - I see in 3D most of the time)? Or was Cineworld Newport just a bit rubbish at configuring the latest in visual technology? It's hard to say. My non-speccy-wearing mate Jon who was with me didn't seem to have any problems.
- I found it a bit racist in a weird sort of way. The Na'vi appeared to be a bit too similar to other cinematic portrayals of African tribespeople. Maybe my own ingrained prejudices were being provoked ... dunno.
- The new New Age references were a bit daft, but I don't feel as strongly about it as some right-wing fundies have in the States. Geez, guys, it's just a story. Stop being so threatened by anything that doesn't fit with your worldview - you should be more confident in the Truth.
- The story is hardly original. But, then, most epics follow a relatively predictable narrative.

Right - that's the negative out of the way.

Aside from all the niggles mentioned above, I was deeply moved by Avatar. Not because of the borderline-soppy conclusion where the protagonist 'gets his girl' after enduring great danger (staple ingredient of any epic movie), but simply because of what was on screen. It was a showcase of remarkable creative talent - talent that has created an entire world from scratch (admittedly taking elements of our own planet and tinkering with them) and made it hyper-realistic.

For me, that creative talent points to an even greater creative talent. God is the creator of all things - us, our world, our solar system, our universe. He made man in His own image. And so, we are creative because He is creative. Avatar helped me to glimpse God at work in a new way, but I don't have to travel several light years to appreciate His handiwork.

The wonders of God's creation are all around us, and so too are the fruits of our own creative efforts - which would not be possible without Him.

Stories in One Sentence (backed by the Manics)

2010-01-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Last year, I started work on a little short video I made which was inspired by two random things: A Manic Street Preachers song and a website called onesentence.org.

It took me ages to finish purely because it was a little pet project that got sidelined by more important stuff. However, caught up in my own little whirlwind of New Year motivational energy I managed to get on and put it up on the 'Tube.

So here it is ... enjoy!

Shameless plug for Lewis Motors

2010-01-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to mention this for ages, but never got round to it. So here goes.

If you are fed up with paying too much for motor repairs, never quite trust the garage you normally part money with and just want to go somewhere trustworthy, I would highly recommend Lewis Motors on City Road in Cardiff.

They do MOTs, repairs, servicing and diagnostics.

They also sell - get this - TAMIYA remote control cars. How cool is that? A garage that sells RC cars!

Check 'em out.

Lewis Motors
1 City Road, Cardiff, CF24 3BJ
029 2048 0829

Crumbs from your table...

2010-01-09T06:17:00.001-08:00

Communion is the one Christian ceremony I struggle with - not because I don't agree with it, more that I find the ritual a bit distracting from the actual meaning. It can be a bit of a palava organising a whole load of people to get their bread and wine. A throng of churchgoers en masse can be a strange and unpredictable animal indeed.

Last night, we had a prayer meeting at church where there was a time of communion. It was all very informal, so instead of wafers we had a crusty baguette broken into pieces and rather than the special little insy individual cups we normally use for the wine (or grape juice, in our case) it was just a couple of tumblers for us to share.

We each went up of our own accord to share in the bread. So far, so good.

The tumblers were then passed around the circle and each person took their turn to take a sip of the 'wine' (grape juice).

***Remember, this is supposed to be a 'holy' and 'spiritual' moment, where we reflect on Jesus' sacrifice - dying at the hands of His enemies in order to save mankind from eternal destruction.***

Being last in line to receive the 'blood of Christ', I wait patiently for my turn to partake in this final act of communion.

When the tumbler arrives, I look down and what do I see? Several bread crumb 'floaters' sitting on the surface of the grape juice kindly passed onto me from my fellow believers.

Nice.

New Doctor in big freeze shocker!

2010-01-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

Driving past the Millennium Centre this morning, me and my colleague did a double take when we saw a certain blue police box-shaped time travel device plonked down in the snow.

Ditching the car, we scurried over to see Matt Smith and Co filming the current series of Dr Who in the freezing temperatures.

I don't know what script re-write they had to implement in order to take into account the sudden arrival of snow*, but I'm sure they thought of something. One thing's for sure - I bet the crew were swearing extensively when they got up this morning.

Please accept my apologies for the poor quality of these images. They were taken with my little camera phone which is a bit ancient...

* OK OK, I know there was snow forecast, but Cardiff very rarely gets decent snow for more than a few minutes!

Party Ring Fail

2010-01-05T00:54:00.000-08:00

I found this biscuit-based anomaly in a leftover packet of party rings.

At first, I felt sorry for it ... then I ate it!

Omonmonom!

Who thinks these things up?

2010-01-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

This stupid idea just might be funny.

Climate Change Fail

2010-01-03T05:08:00.000-08:00

Having followed very little of what was going on in Copenhagen last month I'm not in much of a position to judge the proceedings. From what I've seen and read, however, I get the impression that China and a few other states did their very best to scupper the hoped-for outcome - a binding agreement between all signatories to reduce carbon emissions.

In the end, it was a watered-down statement of intent with no balls to speak of.

The leaders of the world had the historic opportunity to work together for the eternal good of humanity ... and blew it.

This is surely why we are a doomed species. When we work well, together, we work really really well. When we can't agree on anything, the sh*t hits the fan big time.

I can see why, at some point in the near future, someone will come along and try to unite humankind under a single world government in order to tackle the politio-social challenges of an overpopulated planet.

Hmmm .... I think I read about that somewhere.

JC's blog is one year old!!

2010-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am quite pleased with myself that I've managed to keep this blogging malarky going for 12 months.

A small part of me didn't think I'd make it this far, so I'm glad it was proved wrong.

I don't know how many people have read my posts, or how many tune in regularly but if you are part of that infinitesimal group - I thank you. If you haven't read it, maybe you should give it a try ;-) .

This blog is still what I thought it might be: part diary, part random musings, part links of stuff I've found on the web. It may change at some point, but probably not for a while yet. I also know I need to give it a new title, so if you have any suggestions, drop me a line.

Bye for now!

....and a look forward to 2010

2010-01-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

2010 (or "twenty-ten" as I've heard it's supposed to be pronounced, so better do that properly) is upon us and I have high hopes for the next 12 months. Not least because the last year was so awful....

Okay, that's not quite true. 2009 was OK, I guess. It was mainly overshadowed by Wifey's mum's death, but also unsettled by constant worry about the business and whether we could afford to get through each month.

Thankfully, I have managed to survive being self-employed for over a year now and as we seem to be slowly climbing out of the recession (the emphasis being on 'slowly') the next twelve months should be a bit less fraught.

New Year is something of an arbitrary way of marking a specific point in time, but it serves as a useful opportunity to look forward and offer that little ray of hope that maybe - just maybe - things will improve.

So what am I hoping for and looking forward to in 2010? Without wanting to prophesy or make any grand predictions, I have a few thoughts about what I expect to see happen in the coming year:

- Firstly, I'm hoping that the business will pick up. December was a quiet month, but we have lots of potential stuff happening in January. We also have a couple of exciting products due for release that, if successful, could help keep things on an even keel. 2010 should be the year that sees us getting one step closer to producing TV programmes. It will also be the year of solidifying exactly what we do and who's on board with it.

- My parents will be moving home at the beginning of the year. This will be a major upheaval for them (as well as me and my brothers) seeing as 'The Homestead' has been home for over two decades. Despite the transition pains, it should, however, be an exciting new chapter for the family. It will pose some challenges in terms of JKY's babysitting, but I'm looking forward to visiting the folks in a new place.

- We will - hopefully - be moving home this year as well. Having sold our house and had an offer accepted already, we're just waiting on the sellers to find their next home. I think January usually sees a load of new homes come on the market, so things should get moving again after the December slump. Our prayer is that we don't have to wait much longer. Whatever happens, we aim to move to Roath in 2010 and that fills me with great excitement.

- I need to get fit. I really do. My waistline is slowly expanding and my flexibility is almost zero. My diet could be better too. How I fit in regular exercise into my already hectic and exhausting life is anyone's guess but I know I need to do it.

- JKY was our little miracle back in '07, but we are ready for another one, God willing. Our struggles with fertility are well known to friends and family and we've now been trying to conceive for almost a year now without success. Having just the one child is incredibly tiring and life-sapping so I'm dreading the thought of having another for those reasons ... BUT I really do want a bigger family and give a brother or sister to JKY. Wifey getting pregnant again would make 2010 a year to remember.

- My relationship with God has been the usual one of highs and lows this year. I feel like I've learnt a few nuggets along the way, but it's still work in progress. I hope to get closer still this year and in particular make more of an effort to memorise scripture.

- Lastly, I intend to keep blogging! Yes, after my initial enthusiasm, I have settled down to writing a blog post roughly evey week. That's about all I can manage at the moment. If life slows down at all (hah!), I might be able to manage a bit more but we'll see...

So that's my 2010 preview.

As Benjamin Franklin once said:
"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

(er, thanks Google).

A look back at 2009...

2009-12-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

Here's my roundup of 2009:

- The year started off quite badly with Wifey's mum succumbing to cancer on the first of February. It's hard to believe she's gone and that it's nearly been a whole year.
- The beginning of the year also saw me start my own blog - and I'm still doing it (just!).
- We took on responsibility for leading our church homegroup. This has been a humbling and scary task - but worth it.
- In March, I moved into new offices in Cardiff Bay, working more closely with my business partner. It was a bold step, but definitely the right one.
- July was when we sold our house in a week. We still haven't moved, though. Boo!!
- In the summer we had our big fat family holiday in central France. A well-earned and much-needed rest in hot sunny weather was the order of the day.
- JKY turned the grand old age of 2 in August. He is growing up fast!
- We also got to see U2 in August, which totally blew us away. I have got to see more of this stuff.
- My parents sold their beautiful house in the country. They will be moving out next month.
- We sold our annoying Ford after having months of grief. We have replaced it with (hopefully) a more reliable Skoda.
- Christmas 2009 was an enjoyable family affair, with too much eating and drinking (as usual).

Overall, 2009 was a tough year, with a few tiny gems of happiness, joy and wonder popping up now and again along the way.

Let's hope 2010 will be a gentler year...

Happy Oreo-ness!

2009-12-20T01:49:00.000-08:00

Wifey got me some special edition Oreos for Christmas and I've just done a road test (all for the sake of consumer education, you understand). They are a regular Oreo coated in white chocolate - two of my favourite processed food products - and taste, as JKY would put it, DEEEE-LICIOUS!

Actually, I've had these little treats before a few years ago when we went to the States to see relatives. In America, you can get just about every possible variation on an Oreo as you can imagine (strawberry flavour ... coffee flavour ... broccolli flavour ...). In fact, it's darn hard to get normal, regular everyday Oreos.

Originally costing something ridiculous like £2.99 a box in Tesco, wifey got them on special offer half price so I was well chuffed when she bought then for me. I suppose she'll want to sample some herself ... maybe I should get her her own box?

Films I've seen of late - December

2009-12-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Alec Guinness gives an epic performance in this epic film set in the South East Asian jungle. Gives an interesting portrayal of two very different cultures coming up against each other in a hostile yet beautiful environment, the climax is both excruciating and majestic. 9/10.

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Rose and Jack ... er .... I mean Kate and Leonardo are back together again and this time it's not about a ship hitting an iceberg, it's about a marriage hitting the rocks. A cliched 50s relationship comes under the strain as Leonardo commits adultery while his perfect wife makes cakes. Bizarrely, their two kids are hardly referenced throughout the film, and the overreactions just seem unconvincing. I agree with Mark Kermode who's asked for someone to make a film about a 50s married couple who have a good time for a change. Depressing... 5/10

The Reader (2008)

Kate Winslet turns her hand to playing yet another troubled soul in this intriguing story about a young man falling in love with a much older woman. Fine performances from both leads carry this sad and doom-laden tale to its fatalistic conclusion. Not exactly fun, but a worthwhile watch all the same. 7.5/10.

Poseidon (2006)

Oh dear. Why oh why oh why did they make this? What was the point - seriously? The only (slightly) impressive thing was the gigantic CGI cruise ship. Everything else was wooden - from the sets to the actors - while Bad Science reared its ugly head numerous times in the name of advancing the so-called 'plot'. Leave the classics alone, please! They have better actors playing better characters. You see, that's what a film should be about - the CHARACTERS, not the CGI!

3/10.

North by Northwest (1959)

Ah, this is much better. You can't really go wrong with a bit of Hitchcock. Not as dark as some of his other pieces of work, but has a sinister undertone nonetheless. Grant is brilliant as the cocky ad exec thrown into the middle of cold war espionage. The innuendo and sexual references, though tempered by 60s standards, are surprising to find in such an old movie - while the overuse of rear projection is slightly off-putting. Those are, however, minor criticisms of a film that's 50 years old and knocks the socks off many modern filmmaking efforts. 9/10.

Trig Trog

2009-12-03T02:14:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid at primary school, I always ended up getting involved in the Christmas play. For a couple of years I remember having fairly minor roles, like fourth choir singer at the back. My opportunities as a thesp seemed fairly limited.

Then, for some reason, I ended up being the star of at least two plays. In the first one I played a black man in a play tackling the issue of racism (I don't think it was for a Christmas concert, though!). In the second, I was asked to be the lead in a Christmas concert called 'Trig Trog'.

I don't really remember anything about it, but I think it was about a mysterious Arabian traveller or something who somehow gets caught up in the events of the first Christmas in Bethlehem.

I remember wearing uncomfortable curly-tipped shoes and a big turban-style hat. I also remember concentrating really hard as I delivered my lines - I think I had the lion's share of the script and it was probably quite a lot to recite for an eight year old.

Not so long ago, I did a Google search on Trig Trog and nothing came up, which took me by surprise. I have just tried again and lo and behold some author has scanned in the story as re-written by his younger self from 1983. I've also discovered that you can also buy a book of the songs, so presumably our concert was a musical number (they usually are though, aren't they?), not that I remember singing any songs.

One day, when JKY's in school, perhaps I'll encourage his teacher to dig out the Trig Trog story and use it for Christmas.

Who knows - maybe I could make an appearance as Trig Trog's father....???

Best - Arcade - Game - Ever!

2009-11-30T04:33:00.000-08:00

When I was a teen, I had a few holidays in Somerset with my cousin
and family. We stayed in a little cottage that was on the grounds of a
farm, surrounded by the beautiful West Country scenery.

Occasionally, we'd get the opportunity to go into the local town,
Minehead, and hit the amusement arcade on the main street.
In those days, the games were the likes of Gauntlet, Star Wars and
Pole Position but we only had time for one game: Paperboy!

Why? I don't really know. All I can say is that it was quirky (think
about it - a video game about a kid who delivers papers),
it has gorgeous graphics (even now, 20 years later they look good)
digitized voices (a big deal in those days) and funky music.

It was also annoyingly difficult!

I no doubt spent a small fortune lobbing coins into the slot so that
I could just have 'one more go' - but it was worth it.

Thanks to the wonders of YouTube I can see Paperboy again in all
it's glory. Technology truly can be a wonderful thing.

Shame I can't actually play the game, though.

The House I grew Up In

2009-11-25T14:47:00.000-08:00

My parents will be moving out of their current house, 'The Homestead', in two weeks time after living there for over twenty five years.

I love that house, and am sad that soon I won't be able to visit or stay there any more, but now all the kids have grown up and left home (apart from my little bro who's at uni) I guess it's unfair to expect my folks to live in a massive house with just them, the dog and the cat to rattle around in.

I have countless memories of living in that house (most of them good!), and am always reminded of something from the past whenever I go to visit. It's the only house I have any real memory of living in - we were in Caerleon for a bit before moving to Magor and I can't remember much of that house.

What saddens me slightly is that I never really appreciated the house for what it was when I was a kid. For me and my brothers, it was just normal to live in a gigantic house with a huge garden and an entire valley to roam. It seems strange to me now, but sometimes I looked on my friends in the village with envy because they lived on housing estates where they could visit each other and play in the street.

Even so, we'd spend most weekends playing wargames outside with wooden sticks for machine guns or sloshing about in the nearby stream constructing dams (much to the annoyance of the farmers downstream). We would have adventures exploring the woods behind the house, making dens out of anything we could find, or we'd explore the churchyard over the road at night hoping to catch sight of a ghost. Good times.

We didn't know we were born.

So now, as a grown up who's been infected by the social virus of materialism, I regard my parent's house with the eyes of someone who wants a 'really nice place' to live in. Unless we become stinking rich, we'll never be able to afford to live in a house like it. My expectations of a home for my family have always been quite high because of the Homestead, so I've now had to set my sights a little bit lower as I've come to realise our financial limitations.

It was, however, a fantastic home for most of my life where I got to do things a lot of children never experienced. I owe my parents a great deal for what they gave me - a childhood of wonder and adventure, set against a backdrop of several acres of green countryside. They made a lot of sacrifices to live in that house and I will forever be grateful.

The Homestead is just some bricks, cement, wood, glass and metal thrown together. In a thousand years, it will have crumbled away and become part of the earth again. However, it played a huge part in my formative years and I will always look back fondly at that big old house nestled at the bottom of the valley.

People move on. Thing change. That's life.

I just hope the new owners of The Homestead learn to really appreciate it.

And what do you do...?

2009-11-14T03:34:00.000-08:00

I went to a business networking event yesterday. It was one of those things where everyone is desperate to find leads for their business, and in these times the desperation is even more acute. People were trying to be ever so positive on the outside, but I just wondered whether underneath there was a layer of complete panic and terror.

One thing we did was 'speed networking' - just like speed dating, you're supposed to share your business pitch in 30 seconds with another person before moving on.

Unlike speed dating, it doesn't consist of mainly balding old men who never go out who are looking for an easy, err, you-know-what (so I'm told by our work experience girl).

There was one lady who I have to say completely baffled me. I couldn't understand her as she was softly spoken, her eyes were all over the place and she waffled on for the entire time about something I can only guess at. All I remember from that conversation are the words 'funding ... grants ... twelve million pound contract' - I have no idea what the context was. The most annoying thing about our 'conversation' was the fact that she failed to let me tell her about my business.

As my colleague put it - she's either barking mad and useless at whatever she does OR she's one of those brilliant eccentrics with tons and tons of money because she's so good at her job.

Whichever it is (and my money's on the former), I couldn't even find out - she didn't have any business cards.

The John and Edward Timeline

2009-11-07T02:16:00.000-08:00

John and Edward are an enigma. How they managed to get this far in the X Factor is an utter mystery to me - but I must admit that I admire their tenacity, 'thick-skinnedness' and courage. Each week, they put up with relentless stick from half the country, prepare for an outrageous performance and face three judges who don't really want them to win. That takes guts.

Even by writing about the dreaded 'Jedward', I am contributing to the online deluge of twin-based-commentary the like of which has become normal for any celebrity gossip (how did people cope in the 80s???). Not being one to follow the crowd, however, I would like to write something different about the dynamic duo from Ireland.

Just imagine that Louis Walsh was right - he saw the twin's potential and knew he was onto a winner (you have to admit that Louie - the little Leprechaun of a wee man - knows how to succeed at boybands, he really does).

Just imagine the unimaginable ...

what if Jedward succeeded ...

what if they got through to the final ...

and WON?!?!?

The John and Edward Timeline 2010 - 2110 A.D.
Jan 2010 - John and Edward are still riding high in the charts after winning the X Factor and securing a phenomenally successful Christmas No. 1 in eighteen countries. Their cover of '19' by Paul Harcastle is the fastest-selling download in history.

March 2010 - Their album 'I really like your shoes' goes platinum after three days.

Nov 2010 - After several months in hiding, Jedward emerge with new haircuts and little bits of whispy hair around their chin. Puberty has finally kicked in. Their new single 'The Bramble-Cheese Maker Hip Hopper' goes straight to No. 1 in the UK.

June 2010 - Jedward begin their sell-out 150-date world tour. They are the first western band to perform in North Korea.

Dec 2011 - Jedward's performance on the 2011 series of X-Factor is watched by more people than there are on the planet. Several TV stations are forced to shut down because of viewing demand. The world-wide internet is offline for the first time ever because of Jedward's performance - thankfully for only 11 minutes.

Aug 2012 - The world is shocked to hear that John and Edward are splitting up. The stock market crashes and there are fears of another recession. Calls to 999 and 911 overload the telephone exchanges. Claims that the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy are centred around this celebrity shocker are denied by experts.

Sept 2012 - The split turns out to be false. The world-wide economy picks up.

Jan 2013 - Jedward's latest album 'Can you take this anymore? No seriously, can you?' hits the charts, with predictable success.

April 2013 - John's hair is insured for £3million.

Sept 2013 - Jedward begin their tour of the most troubled nations in the african continent. Their presence spurs on peace, harmony and renewed economic confidence in these areas.

June 2014 - The Catholic Church recognises John and Edward as Saints. They are the first pop stars to receive this honour.

Jan 2016 - After much silence from the twins, they break onto the pop scene again with a wildly different image. They are going through a similar stage to the Beatles when they released Sgt Pepper.

July 2016 - Robbie Williams, Madonna and Bob Dylan are lined up as supporting acts for Jedward on their world tour.

Nov 2017 - Simon Cowell is sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up Jedward at a charity concert in Berlin.

Dec 2018 - Jedward receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Feb 2019 - Edward marries Miley Ray Cyrus.

May 2022 - Jedward release their Greatest Hits, entitled 'We come from the heart' on every audio format ever invented (including wax cylinder, 8-Track and MiniDisc).

Sept 2025 - The X-Factor is replaced by the Jedward Factor.

Aug 2039 - Jedward set up the 'Convalescent Home for Unsuccessful X-Factor Finalists'

Jan 2042 - John is reported missing, presumed dead after losing contact with his guides in the French Alps. A planet mourns. Edward goes into hiding.

June 2042 - John is discovered in a cave near the Swiss border. He has been living off berries, dried gerbils and ice water. He is reunited with his brother on a cruise ship in the Indian Ocean. They pledge to never leave each other's side ever again.

Aug 2050 - John and Edward fulfil their boyhood dream of going into space. They spend a day aboard the International Space Station before travelling to the Chinese Moonbase. It is rumoured that they paid £50million each for the trip.

Jan 2052 - Jedward are cloned for posterity should anything ever happen to them. The clones are kept in a special containment facility in Mexico.

Aug 2052 - The Jedward clones have been illegally cloned by pirates. This leads to widespread 'home-cloning' of the twins. Confusion reigns across the globe.

Sept 2054 - Jedward and all their clones are rounded up and forced to live in an undergound prison at a secret location.

Jan 2065 - 'The Jedward Solution' is ratified by member states of the G25. It orders all Jedward clones and their offspring to be placed on a Generation-Class spacecraft and removed from planet earth. They are to be re-located to an offworld colony.

Dec 2075 - Planet Jedward is officially recognised as a part of the Human Empire. Its population is currently 120,000.

Mar 2099 - Planet Jedward rebels against Earth in a dispute over taxes on hair gel. An armada of 'Jedships' races towards earth to resolve this matter.

June 2099 - Earth surrenders to Jedward after a humiliating defeat by the Jedward Space Navy. The original Jedward become King and King of Earth and all its territories.

Aug 2105 - Humans make contact with aliens for the first time. The aliens are quickly enslaved and become servants of the Most Holy Jedward Empire.

Feb 2110 - King Jedward retires to the paradise planet of Cowellia, and devise plans for a new talent-based TV show.

Shake your head!

2009-11-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a blast from the past I heard on the radio the other day - what a brilliant tune!

Transport yourself back to 1992 and Shake your head!!!

Let the capitalist machine roll onward!

2009-10-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Cardiff's newest shopping centre opened today and I went along to see what all the fuss was about. JKY's grandparents were ill so I had to take the day off to look after him. A trip to town was in order!

What I really wanted to see was the new Apple store, but when we got there, it was crazy with throngs of people desperate to get inside. Me and JKY would have to come back another time once everyone had calmed down...

Notice how this shopping centre is very cathedral-like .... worshippers gathering in the Unholy Church of Mammon!

Ah - the good old Apple store. I tried to get a job at their Bristol branch, but that's another story...

Store employees clapping and whooping like maniacs - Apple actually encourages this kind of behaviour.

The faithful of the Mammon cult surge forward the moment the doors to the cathedral open!

Outside, one of Red Dragon's finest (snigger) tried his best to whip up the crowd into some kind of capitalism-worshipping-materialistic-handbag-waving-frenzy.

Sadly, it didn't work...

The Powers of Ramsay

2009-10-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

This is a very funny short about Gordon Ramsay. Enjoy!

Work work work

2009-10-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

Running your own business is no picnic. I was aware of this when I started, but perhaps a naive part of me just assumed that, for myself, things would be different.

I've been close to a nervous breakdown before, thanks to stress brought on by poor management practice underpinned by dodgy spiritual principles (I kid you not), so perhaps I assumed that my experiences would ensure it never happen again.

Now I know that I assumed too much and that the big, bad bugbear of overwork and stress is coming over the hill again. One thing that made me sit up and take notice was when Wifey referred to my beloved MacBook Pro as 'the other woman' .... ouch!

It's easy to justify working every hour available in order to provide for one's family or pay the mortgage, but you can't use that argument indefinitely. Someday, something's got to give, and the choice is stark - family or work. It's a simple as that. Yes, you've got to put food on the table, and yes you've got to keep a roof over your head - but if it destroys your family, what's the point? As my brother once put it: you either work to live or your live to work. Which would I rather do? Well, the former obviously.

I have recognised in me the recurring thought that if I work my socks off now, I won't need to work so hard in the years down the line. Trouble is, that's a classic lie that actually doesn't hold true. Rob Parsons (who I used to work for) was well known for saying 'a slower day is never coming', and he's right. You kid yourself that one day you'll have time to do all those things you mean to do (take the kids camping, have a lazy Sunday morning with the wife, randomly climb a mountain on a Wednesday morning), but those days never come. You can't expect those things to happen once life slows down ... because it never does. If you don't prioritise family and personal time by booking it in the diary, work will just come along and take up all the time you have.

A hard lesson to learn, I guess - but better to learn it now that in ten years time when it's possibly too late...

Stairs CAN be fun!

2009-10-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Feeling Good

2009-09-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

This is ruddy brilliant.

Cracking soundtrack, amazingly shot. I have a great respect for the guy who put this together.

The only thing is ... I can't quite work out who it's aimed at ... or what it's purpose is.

I know it was put together for an Easter service but was it meant to be evangelistic, or merely aimed at believers? Can't quite make my mind up...

Anyway, see for yourself:

"Feeling Good" from Timothy Allen on Vimeo.

Guilty no more

2009-09-18T12:35:00.001-07:00

Hurrah for Cadburys for going Fair Trade!

I've only noticed the symbol on Dairy Milk, but hope that eventually all of their lines will contain fairly traded chocolate.

Now I can't help but feel a little bit righteous when eating chocolate from that iconic purple wrapper...

...or you could love

2009-09-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

A Director we're in contact with always puts ".... or you could love." at the bottom of his emails.

I didn't get it, so asked him what it meant.

He explained that it's a line from a Marillion song, 'A few words for the dead' which was mainly inspired by Bosnia but also about how we pass on grudges and hatred from generation to generation. It offers up an alternative ... simply to love one another.

The lyrics go like this:

Can you make it your own
Can you take it by the throat
Make your own luck, learn the skills
Get in early for the kill

It carries on

Pick up the weapon
Marry it, give it your name
Define yourself by it
Take it down 'the disco

Trigger happy, pulling power
Lady killer, take 'em out
See the weirdos on the hill
Come to get you if you stand still

It carries on

Somewhere in history you were wronged
Teach your children to bang the drum
Tell all your family, tell all your friends
Teach your brothers to avenge

It carries on

Or you could love
You could love

Lie down in the flowers
In the blue of the air
Open your eyes
Why use up your life for anything else?
No need to fight for what everyone has
What do you need?
It's already there
It's already there

You could love

So he carried the stars in his pocket
Drank the sunrise till he was drunk
He embraced the angels
They swam like little minnows in his blood
Ghosts in his eyes
Out walking beside him
Laughing like children in his mind
They chanted his mantra together

You could love

They were happy

I was quite challenged by the thought of it, really. The idea that we can choose to get angry, lash out, bear a grudge etc. OR we can just choose to love. I know it's obvious, but how often do we consciously choose to simply love someone when the normal, accepted reaction is entirely the opposite?

Forgiving and then loving people can sometime be the hardest choice we make ... whilst at the same time the greatest thing we do...

I've seen it all now...

2009-09-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

In Cardiff Bay, there is a memorial wall for the character Ianto Jones, who died in Torchwood recently.

Remember, this is a fictional character who died. People are putting up poems, photos, pictures and letters in tribute to someone who doesn't exist.

A bit of fun, you might say - fair enough - but even weirder was the disclaimer that was put up by Mermaid Quay management that had to point out that Ianto was not a real person, and that this has nothing to do with them.

Thanks for clearing that up ... I nearly got really upset ... or something ...

Pyjama Spelling Fail

2009-09-06T08:03:00.000-07:00

Le Voiture est...

2009-09-01T01:11:00.000-07:00

According to my mechanic, who I am on first-name terms with thanks to the saga that is the Ford Farce, all vehicles made by the French are made of cheese. The electrics are terrible, and anything not bolted down just falls off.

I'm inclined to agree with him, although I did own a 13-year old Renault 5 for a couple of years and despite being a jalopy it served me pretty well.

Still, I have no intention of buying any kind of French-flavoured transport in the future. I will, however, aim to dispatch with our current car of woes as soon as possible.

U2 - The 360 Report

2009-08-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Bono & Co truly rocked the house at the Millennium Stadium last night - but that's no surprise. They're pretty good at putting on an impressive show, and it was done this time with the help of a giant 'claw':

Last time, at the Vertigo tour, we were quite close to the front squashed in tight but now we're a bit older we opted for tier seats. We were quite far up but that helped us see the whole stadium and it was quite a sight - tens of thousands of bodies all amassed to worship the Irish super-quartet.

So how was the show??

Well - the first support act was The Hours and were actually quite good - I'd heard a bit of their music before and they hadn't made much of an impression, but they were full of energy and had a distinctive sound. Glas Vegas, on the other hand, were ... well ... bleak. Full of melancholic angst and Scottish moaning. Not my cup of tea. They weren't doing a good job of warming us up for the headliners, but then I figured after such a dreary half-hour U2 would seem absolutely flippin' supernova.

After a long wait, Bowie's Space Oddity came on and it was a bit of a goosebump moment before Larry kicked things off with a short drum solo that then launched into Breathe from the new album.

From then on it was salvo after salvo of classic U2 rock - the majority of songs being newer ones, but with a few classics thrown in (notably The Unforgettable Fire and Sunday Bloody Sunday). The stage show was a barrage of light and imagery all on a grand scale. Even though the four band members were about an inch tall from where we were standing from, the wraparound screen served as a fantastic display to see all the action in detail.

One odd thing about the day was the prolific amount of alcohol that was being consumed by fellow concert-attenders. Quite a few people were getting more and more drunk as the night wore on and I just can't understand why anyone would want to spend a huge amount of money on seeing one of the world's greatest bands perform - only to get sloshed and likely fail to remember much of it the day after.

This nation is becoming more and more obsessed with alcohol - and that, in my opinion, is a bad thing.

Anyhoo - rant over...

Reflecting on the whole experience, I can honestly say it was a spectacle - it made me feel curiously insignificant, wonderfully energised and briefly at one with the thousands of fans surrounding me.

U2's performance has made me think that we all need to experience the spectacular every once in a while ... because only then can we truly feel alive.

What do you reckon? What form of the 'spectacular' have you witnessed?

This is great...

2009-08-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the guy that invented this 'Mobile-Horse-Greenhouse' is trying to palm it off in a competition where the winner gets to keep the contraption (without horse) and $100,000.

The element of skill? Tell him why he invented it in the first place!

U2 360 Concert here we come!

2009-08-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

Off to see U2 tomorrow! Yay! Unlike last time, we shall be sitting down to watch it from one of the tiers (we're getting on a bit, you know).

Also, I shall be wearing my Vertigo T-shirt - untouched since the last tour in 2004!

Full report ... sometime soon, hopefully!

Films I've seen of late

2009-08-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Bullitt (1968)

A somewhat dated thriller, the best part of it is Steve McQueen. He simply oozes cool out of every pore, but that's not enough to help a story which feels haphazard and unconvincing. There are some really dull moments, and the ending fails to satisfy. I feel bad about criticizing a so-called classic, but simply can't give it a high score. (5/10)

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth are great together in this unassuming little film. Can't understand why everyone has West Country / Posh English accents when the film is set in Holland, and the sexual tension between the two leads seems to be lacking somewhat. Apart from that, it is a watchable and interesting piece. (7/10)

Terminator Salvation (2009)

This risky sequel delivers on all levels, with enough of a balance between brain and brawn. Christian Bale conveys a huge commitment to playing the eponymous John Connor, Anton Yelchin shines as a youthful Kyle Reese and Sam Worthington gives weight to the mysterious Marcus Wright. Salvation gives a great nod to all three previous Terminator films - acknowledging its pedigree while standing up as a worthy film in its own right. The only disappointment was the ending which opted for hammy acting and bad science in an attempt to hastily conclude proceedings before the two hours was up. (8/10)

Australia (2008)

Beginning with Baz Luhrman's trademark wackiness, Australia quickly settles into a less radical stride, and surprises on a number of levels. It's less of an 'epic film' and more of a love / battle against the odds story with an epic backdrop. It's not just an Australian tourism advert. Lastly, only a tiny portion of Australia actually features in the film (Darwin, and a bit of the outback). Jackman and Kidman are strong leads, with an equally strong supporting cast (mostly Aussies, of course) striving against the odds to beat the bad guys and avoid getting bombed by the Japs. Great fun! (8/10)

Top Gun (1986)

An 80s classic, I was dumbfounded to view this again with my 21st century glasses and realise that this was about as satisfying as another 80s icon - the Microwave Meal for One. The acting is hammy as heck, the dialogue embarrassing and there's that elephant in the room again - Bad Science. Not a good combination for one of the highest-grossing films of its decade. Oh well, some things just don't mature as well as others. (3/10)

Life is busy ...

2009-08-17T13:52:00.001-07:00

... at the moment, what with trying to earn money from my business, keeping tabs on our church homegroup, trying to spend quality time with Wifey and JKY PLUS buying a house.

I'd like to write more of my random ramblings on this here blog but time is a precious commodity at the mo'.

(If you'd like to sponsor my blog so that I can afford to regularly maintain it, any donations would be welcome!).

Current thoughts, Twitter-style:

- Getting paid for a job that is worth about four times as much grrrr!

- Hoping mortgage company won't mind my self-employed status

- My TomTom has returned from TomTom hospital and is working again - hurrah!

- I am eating too much bad stuff at the moment and not exercising enough - bad news

- Why don't talkers realise that they talk too much and why can't they just let other people get a word in edgeways??

- God is good. He is always good. Don't worry - be content and praise the Lord.

There you go. That's my blog subjects covered for the next few weeks.

Let's keep in touch ... I won't be far away, just getting my head down on some work with a few gasps for air along the way.

Bye for now!

Golden Retriever

2009-08-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

I love this song. It absolutely rocks and I've only just re-discovered it - thanks Spotify!

Enjoy...

Well, we finally did it...

2009-08-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

After a long drawn out negotiation, we finally secured the deal on our next house. It is both an exciting and terrifying feeling. After weeks of worrying we now have somewhere to move to and, more importantly, it's a home that we feel really positive about. Having said that, the doubts and fears came thick and fast as soon as we sealed the deal : did we make the right decision? can we afford the mortgage?? what if we don't like the house???

Funny how sometimes you look forward to something so much and then, when you finally get what you've been aching for, you don't feel excited at all - you feel uneasy and strangely disappointed. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's only when it involves something expensive requiring great responsibility ... or maybe it's because no object/thing/person can bring ultimate happiness and contentment.

That's where the big JC comes in.

I survived

2009-08-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

Today I gave my first ever sermon in church ... and I survived! Hurrah!

Okay - it was only 5 minutes, and it was during our summer of homegroup-led services where things are a bit more laid back, but I think it went well. Normally, public speaking scares the crap out of me but today I felt quite relaxed about it. I have spoken in church before (the last time, I think, was during JKY's dedication - but that was more of a speech).

No-one came back at me and accused me of heresy (which is usually a sign that things didn't go so well) but I did have a few comments of encouragement, which was good.

And there's the thing - I've always fancied myself as a preacher. Not because I have any better insight than anyone else, or that I'm hot on the latest theology (believe me, that ain't the case!), but because if I'm honest a part of me likes standing up in front of a large crowd and getting all the attention. I know myself well enough at this stage in life to identify my insecurities, and craving attention is one of them. The thing is, I'm not very good at actually getting that attention. I'm naturally shy, and not the life and soul of the party, but like anyone else I want to feel appreciated and liked - so I suppose having a congregation listening intently to your sermon is one way to achieve this.

Therein lies the danger of pride and selfishness.

I've spent time with God recognising this entirely understandable human flaw - giving it to Him and not deliberately going after attention in this way - but have been open to the fact that maybe God might want to use me in this capacity, and get me to share something from the pulpit (not that we have a pulpit at my church, but there you go).

I hope and pray that if I'm ever asked to preach again, then I'll remember to do so humbly with an attitude of openness to the Lord - not so I can get lots of attention and become the star of my own show.

Something to look forward to next year

2009-08-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

Having just seen this trailer for TRON LEGACY (i.e. Tron 2) I am very excited about it. Sequels can be turkeys at the best of times, but even more so when they show up almost thirty years after the original. Still, I'll reserve judgement until I've seen it. It may be a Tron for the next decade (if you get what I mean) plus - it's in 3D!!!