I've got Coldplay's next single here, Viva La Vida. There's plenty of discussion around what it's about. It seems apparent to me that it works as a cautionary tale of how power, of any sort, is fleeting and how no-one stays on top forever. This means that it's completely open to interpretation as far as the power it's, potentially, specifically talking about. Lots has been made of the French revolution (though mainly due to the album's artwork rather than any lyrical content). My take? Could it be that Coldplay's next No.1 hit is about the demise of Christendom?
20 June 2008
18 June 2008
What can you do?
Sadly the universal music group won't allow this video to be embedded, but it is worth going to youtube to see it there. It's 'no handlebars' by the flobots. come back now, ya hear.
Lessons from my cat: Community.
People have been great about Mookey being missing, everyone's got their cat story which they tell about cats' miraculous reappearances (i could do with less of these now, i can't keep on looking and thinking 'is this the day she comes home?'. I'm trying to move on and if she shows up it's a bonus) though these stories were good to hear at first. We've relied on our neighbours and they've been brilliant, we put leaflets through doors getting people to check their garages and outbuildings etc to make sure Mookey wasn't stuck inside. We did two rounds of these. We put up posters which people let us put in their shops and stuff. We've both been stopped in the street and asked by people showing concern whether she's turned up. One lady chased us down the road to see if there was anything she could do, another called on our house to see if there was news - you only hear of 'crazy cat ladies' don't you, never 'crazy cat men', funny that. Anyway, people have been brilliant, i've been most impressed by people's efforts, but that's not the point i want to make.
Last Sunday i spoke on Jonah as part of our series exploring the minor prophets 'Mining the Minors' (which Kez is loving). It's a book which isn't actually about a whale swollowing a man (it wasn't a whale, it was a big fish, there aren't any whales in the Med. Oooh ooh ooh how do you get to Wales in a mini? One in the front, one in the back, easy.) it's instead about God's grace being unbounded. Jonah accepts God's grace for himself, but can't accept that God would be gracious to others also, he would rather put limits on it. The point is that if we accept God's grace we also have a part in it not stopping with us, but instead, passing it on and spreading it around.
So, what does Mookey have to say about the book of Jonah? Well, apart from not liking the idea of being thrown in the sea, but quit fancying the idea of a big fish, she has one point to make. If we're discouraged from drawing boundaries around the reach of God's grace, we as people end up seeing one another in a much less partisan way, we become more wholly 'community'. We belong to one another. So, if, when my cat goes missing, i look high and low for her, disturb all my neighbours twice with door to door leaflet drops, comfort Kelly, comfort Mav, design and put up posters everywhere, phone all sorts of animal rescue places and vets and database holding organisations and feel generally gutted - all because Mookey is my cat, how much more do i need to respond to people around me as though they are mine. It means that i ought respond, in a continuation of spreading God's grace, to your needs as though you were mine, as though you were my brother or sister or mother.
She can be pretty challenging can Mookey.
Last Sunday i spoke on Jonah as part of our series exploring the minor prophets 'Mining the Minors' (which Kez is loving). It's a book which isn't actually about a whale swollowing a man (it wasn't a whale, it was a big fish, there aren't any whales in the Med. Oooh ooh ooh how do you get to Wales in a mini? One in the front, one in the back, easy.) it's instead about God's grace being unbounded. Jonah accepts God's grace for himself, but can't accept that God would be gracious to others also, he would rather put limits on it. The point is that if we accept God's grace we also have a part in it not stopping with us, but instead, passing it on and spreading it around.
So, what does Mookey have to say about the book of Jonah? Well, apart from not liking the idea of being thrown in the sea, but quit fancying the idea of a big fish, she has one point to make. If we're discouraged from drawing boundaries around the reach of God's grace, we as people end up seeing one another in a much less partisan way, we become more wholly 'community'. We belong to one another. So, if, when my cat goes missing, i look high and low for her, disturb all my neighbours twice with door to door leaflet drops, comfort Kelly, comfort Mav, design and put up posters everywhere, phone all sorts of animal rescue places and vets and database holding organisations and feel generally gutted - all because Mookey is my cat, how much more do i need to respond to people around me as though they are mine. It means that i ought respond, in a continuation of spreading God's grace, to your needs as though you were mine, as though you were my brother or sister or mother.
She can be pretty challenging can Mookey.
Lessons from my cat: Hope.
My cat's so cool she is even teaching me things in her absence. When she'd been gone a couple of days we started putting food out for just Maverick, a day or two later we put her bowl away. There will come a point in the next couple of weeks where we claim / cancel her insurance policy. As time goes on we increasingly live in the reality of Mookey not being around.
(i want to make it clear that i know i'm talking about a cat and how ridiculous that is, i do happen to think though, that these experiences speak into more important areas of life)
I was struck by a thought when Kelly put Mookey's bowl away. It was quite simply that she didn't throw it out. We kept it because we hoped she would come back and she'd need it again. Obviously Mookey was just missing and so her return was very possible (still is so people keep telling me "My cat was gone 2 weeks... my cat was away for 3 weeks, came back fine... i had a cat gone for a month... my cat came back with a broken leg and no tail... i heard a story of a cat gone for 2 years, came back fine" etc etc) but in this moment i was reminded of how i've felt about everyone i've known who's died.
As final as death seems to be, i still have a tiny but strong piece of me that is conviced it's not over at that point, that i'll relate to them again. I'm not talking about any kind of denial part of a grieving process (i don't think), i'm talking about the way that the question of what to do with someone's clothes after they've died lives on. That question is usually dealt with in fair immediacy of the death, but it's a quandry because we know the clothes won't be needed by the owner and also, i want to suggest from my experience, because we have hope of some sort of return or continuation / completion for them. This is hope.
I still have hope of getting the 'missing part' back of my grandmother (mamo) who died when i was 10. Likewise (again, aware of the ridiculous comparison), i have hope now of getting the missing part of Mookey's story back, whether she's died or been taken in or stolen by someone else, or trapped or lost somewhere. They say cats have 9 lives, Mookey isn't even two, so i have hope for the rest of her 8.07 lives.
I guess what i'm saying is that as a Christian i will speak of belief in some kind of complete, eternal, heavenly (and earthly) redemption, but in the moment that Kelly put Mookey's bowl away i was able to recognise it in the here and now and indeed, in past experiences of grief. At the point where it's tangible it moves from belief to hope and we can let that hope inform our belief.
(i want to make it clear that i know i'm talking about a cat and how ridiculous that is, i do happen to think though, that these experiences speak into more important areas of life)
I was struck by a thought when Kelly put Mookey's bowl away. It was quite simply that she didn't throw it out. We kept it because we hoped she would come back and she'd need it again. Obviously Mookey was just missing and so her return was very possible (still is so people keep telling me "My cat was gone 2 weeks... my cat was away for 3 weeks, came back fine... i had a cat gone for a month... my cat came back with a broken leg and no tail... i heard a story of a cat gone for 2 years, came back fine" etc etc) but in this moment i was reminded of how i've felt about everyone i've known who's died.
As final as death seems to be, i still have a tiny but strong piece of me that is conviced it's not over at that point, that i'll relate to them again. I'm not talking about any kind of denial part of a grieving process (i don't think), i'm talking about the way that the question of what to do with someone's clothes after they've died lives on. That question is usually dealt with in fair immediacy of the death, but it's a quandry because we know the clothes won't be needed by the owner and also, i want to suggest from my experience, because we have hope of some sort of return or continuation / completion for them. This is hope.
I still have hope of getting the 'missing part' back of my grandmother (mamo) who died when i was 10. Likewise (again, aware of the ridiculous comparison), i have hope now of getting the missing part of Mookey's story back, whether she's died or been taken in or stolen by someone else, or trapped or lost somewhere. They say cats have 9 lives, Mookey isn't even two, so i have hope for the rest of her 8.07 lives.
I guess what i'm saying is that as a Christian i will speak of belief in some kind of complete, eternal, heavenly (and earthly) redemption, but in the moment that Kelly put Mookey's bowl away i was able to recognise it in the here and now and indeed, in past experiences of grief. At the point where it's tangible it moves from belief to hope and we can let that hope inform our belief.
I hate cats, they're rubbish!
First i need to apologise for the lack of 'bang' in my blogsplosion; there's been a problem with the fuse being longer than i thought it was.
Cats are rubbish.They use you for food. They're mercenary creatures, they'll come to you and pretend to be affectionate when they need something, then they'll bugger off back to doing whatever it is they do when they're not hungry.
Kelly and i have (had?) two cats; a brother and sister, Maverick and Mookey. Mookey's gone missing - 13 days now. Kelly had to really talk me into getting them (i mean reaaallllly talk me into to it, my first objection was "i'm allergic, they make me unable to breathe and i bleed from the eyes". She said "You'll get over it, we can have them on a trial period, if you're still bleeding after 3 months my mother can have them". Somehow i allowed this to swing it for me).
We got them 18 months ago, they were tiny, i couldn't breath. My turning blue and being covered in mucus which flowed freely from my nose and eyes (which felt like they were on fire) didn't stop me falling in love with them though. I even loved them when the scratches they gave me caused my skin to get enflamed. Kelly was right, i got over it - it only took me about one month.
But now Mookey is gone and i'm gutted. Mav is gutted too which makes me more upset. He mopes, and when he's not moping he's sat by the back gate just watching and waiting for her.
I knew i was right from the start, cats are rubbish, you let them in and they make you feel like this.
Cats are rubbish.They use you for food. They're mercenary creatures, they'll come to you and pretend to be affectionate when they need something, then they'll bugger off back to doing whatever it is they do when they're not hungry.
Kelly and i have (had?) two cats; a brother and sister, Maverick and Mookey. Mookey's gone missing - 13 days now. Kelly had to really talk me into getting them (i mean reaaallllly talk me into to it, my first objection was "i'm allergic, they make me unable to breathe and i bleed from the eyes". She said "You'll get over it, we can have them on a trial period, if you're still bleeding after 3 months my mother can have them". Somehow i allowed this to swing it for me).
We got them 18 months ago, they were tiny, i couldn't breath. My turning blue and being covered in mucus which flowed freely from my nose and eyes (which felt like they were on fire) didn't stop me falling in love with them though. I even loved them when the scratches they gave me caused my skin to get enflamed. Kelly was right, i got over it - it only took me about one month.
But now Mookey is gone and i'm gutted. Mav is gutted too which makes me more upset. He mopes, and when he's not moping he's sat by the back gate just watching and waiting for her.
I knew i was right from the start, cats are rubbish, you let them in and they make you feel like this.
9 June 2008
Me promoting someone else's wares for free. Damn it.
I jusT boUght, from a certaiN onlinE digital mp3 Stockist and retailer (for a very reasonable £6.99), the MGMT debut album 'Oracular Spectacular'. It was their 2nd single 'Electric Feel' that's currently getting airplay that caught my attention. I checked out other stuff of theirs and realised i was familiar with their first single too 'Time to Pretend', and went ahead with the purchase. It's brilliant.
There's lots of comparison been made between this and The Flaming Lips, but that doesn't quite do it. Anyone want to take a journey with me? Ok - it's more like this: imagine Turin Brakes grew up listening to loads of Bowie and then decided to make cynical yet nostalgic, dreamy, melodic electro. How's that for genre defiance!
If that sounds like it might be your cup o' cake, check it out.
Take Cover!!!
It's not just me is it, facebook has slowed blogging down hasn't it? It's certainly slowed me down anyway. A back-lash is coming though, there will be to follow shortly a blogsplosion of lots of stuff that's been going on in my tiny world.
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