life goes on

so, i guess ive been pretty busy lately - with all sorts of things.
i will put in a bunch of posts under this to reflect life of late
thats all

a call to emerge

as anyone who knows me somewhat well should know, ive been somewhat critical of church as we know it for a while. and well, it is a positive criticism as its about growth, grace and being the people, the church that God is leading us to be.

my general argument now could be summed up by saying that the church takes cultural baggage as gospel, and it needs to free itself from some of its older cultural expressions to be able to embrace new ones. having said this - the new ones will be hard for most of the people who have been involved in the old ones for some time to embrace... and therefore, the older ones will make much more sense to some, and the newer ones be more meaningful to others. in otherwords... not right or wrong - just different.

so, a few conversations have continued to push me, and well, to be honest i feel that God is reminding me that there can be more and he wants me to delve into the world of these unknown expressions of our faith.

a big shout out goes to Christal... thanx mate, you're helping me dream again

another shout out to Barb... aho is also helping me see the world in a slightly different way - a somewhat more positive way, and less cynical (me cynical?)
one more word on Barb - she is a part of a community called Solace (in the inner northern suburbs of sunny melbourne). Anyways, a bunch of people from solace put together a book called remaking (which i found out about here). im looking at using it as a platform to start our our community/conversation... whatever...
along with other things, that i have in mind... but i think the book is gold... so good job stu and all you guys, im apreciating the hard work you've all put in.

and well... where to from here???
who knows, but there has to be somewhere.

going to some gigs this week

by the looks of things, i should be seeing
Augie March with Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males (on Wednesday)
and
Lior with Iota (on Thursday)

will throw some thoughts out there when i get a chance.

I'm pretty pumped. I don't get to many gigs these days, and by the looks of things, these will be my last for at least a while. should be good though, I've wanted to see all 4 of these acts for a while (iota for years - maybe 10, augie march for about 3 years, Lior for about a year and DK for about 3 months - to be exact)

i found it! i found it!

as alluded to in the previous post, i was busy watching a film with the kids at work tonight whilst i maybe would have prefered to be doing other things.
anyways.
we watched finding neverland, which i have to say i enjoyed immensley.
just a great film, and well, johnny depp is just terrific (as i have said before).

its funny. in the 90s JD picked his films very tightly and it tended to be less popular titles that he showed up in. and now... we see him gracing the big budget much more often. i think this is a combination of...
1 - JD getting a little more mainstream
but also... and more importantly
2 - the mainstream getting a little more JD
if you know what i mean

i think hes great anyways.

the mighty(?) lions

unfortunately i missed most the game tonight as i was working, which just happened to involve watching a movie (and not the football).
the lions got smashed (again)
the 2nd half did it
but i guess there were some promising signs in the game, particlarly seeing the first half flow so well and hold it up against one of the best teams in the comp, on the hardest away trip in the game (eagles at subiaco).
so... maybe there will be little joy this year, as the lions now occupy last place. but maybe we need to find joy in other things, little beau mcdonald coming back after a recovery period of almost 3 years, and some of the promising play from our younger guys - i particularly like higgins at the moment. and well... i think that luke power is going to win the browlow one day, maybe not this year (although he may well get a bunch of 1 votes) i think it will happen eventually.
thats all on the lions for now...

a whole planet of acid

so...
i've been getting into the whole acid remixing and looping thing of late again
thanx to finding another who is into it somewhat - will post some of their details when they get up on acidplanet
anyways, my 2 latest remixes can be found at the top of my list here

the top one is totally original - well i use sony sound loops, but they are all royalty free. and well, some of the loops are unrecognisable.
the 2nd is a remix of a song by the terms
im particularly proud of the latest one (bare city streets) and would love feedback.

belle and sebastian

where have you been all my life?

i'm really getting into the life pursuit. its just really nourishing to my ears. i know that sounds crazy, but i had been on a music diet that consisted of lots of mellow and somewhat depressing music, that something with a bright energy is just like water after a drought. and im loving it

its fun! and well, im digging it...
standouts for me are...
Funny little Frog - which has a great decending bassline in the prechorus bit, it just sets the whole song (also in intro)
Dress up in you - which is definately the most mellow track on the album. nice lyrics and just a real highlight in an album full of brightness
Sukie in the Graveyard - is one of those songs that demands silly dancing. And i love it!!
For the price of a cup of tea - also a bright dance tune. has the lyric "for the price of a night with me, you'd be the village joke".

anyways. i love it! give it a listen some time

means of grace?

tonight ive ping ponged a few emails back and forth to one who i guess i would sya is a new friend, someone i found threw a blog.

i can honestly say that in my life God uses the most unlikley things at time to draw me nearer to him. i have to say that ive really been blessed by some unlikly things lately. and well, this is definately one of them

all i can say is that God show's himself to all of us. sometimes you just need to look at a different angle, or maybe, just maybe, realise that "God" might not have been what or who you were expecting.
what is love? if God is love (which i firmly believe) then why are some of the things that we hold on to as so important, not really of "love"? and well... what God uses to show himself to us (or means of grace) may be things that we dont really see as being typically from God. am i talking in circles?

it makes sense to me anyway

new blog?

???
i sorta feel like what i say here is a big enmeshed mess at times.
maybe i should start a blog for my theological (in its broadest sense) ramblings.
what do you think?

inside man

for what is a once in a blue moon event, karz and i went to the movies last night, to the the inside man!

and what can i say? it was excellent.
very clever.
i thought the directing was great, and denzel's acting was typically brilliant. other than that, it all came down to the screen play.
a really clever film.
i enjoyed it stacks
4 stars i guess

time to write now

unfortunately its true

a big shout out to Connor Michael Bradshaw! Who managed to get his father in an arm bar and other submission holds before his umbilical cord was cut! at 9'9 you can tell why! That happened on the 5th. Congradshulashuns!
hey we are Ostraylyuns after all!

other than that life has been flowing. heavily!
went to the world record smashing of the most bikes riden thru a pub - they got 1325!
been to some church visits with school stuff.
gearing up for a big weak. getting jumbles room ready!

thats all for now
keep it real

west wing - season four

so i finally finished watching season 3 of the west wing and i watched the first episode of season 4 today "20 hours in america part 1". it is probably the best episode ever.
josh, toby and donna miss the motocade and have to trek across inidana to get back to the whitehouse. sam ends up staffing the president (quite hilariously) and it looks like the Qumarese are going to find the plane that "crashed".
just got everything!
i love it so much

where the bloody hell are you?

in true tradition of the internet (whatever that means), i have added a guestmap to my blog.
you will see a little link to it on the right. yeah... thats it.
just close the welcome message, click on the pin, pick an icon and tell me... where you are.
thats all.
enjoy

movies that i last watched in the 90s

so... i stayed up much later then i would have like last night. why? 90s movies!

thanx to movie extra, that channel that plays stuff that isnt new and isnt classic, i ended up going to bed round midnite.
So it started with a fine viewing of US Marshalls. You remember? the follow up to the fugitive. Not a bad flick at all i reckon. Cant say i really like robert downy jr, but besides that, the movie was good i guess.
then we left the tv on and got sucked in to watching air force one (with harrison ford). Again... it was alright. i felt like the bit where Glen Close (the VP) wouldnt sign the form to give powers to her was pretty weak. the president was outright making decisions that were best for his family, and not the country, so therefore he wasnt fit to be president. thats what those things are for... its not an evil plot to take over the country.... its just a good idea...
apart from that i enjoyed the movie.

go the 90s film festival.

urban month

on the way home from work this morning I was greeted by a bizarre initiative on the airwaves. triple j has declared this month to be "urban month", after some lengthly studies and a general agreement that the listeners would prefer it that way. So... they played only american hip hop - which included the same black eye peas song 4 times! listeners were calling in... some of them livid about this new way that triple j had gone.
i wasnt too bothered by it. i know an april fools day joke when i see one.