APFS - The Anvil Basingstoke

 

It was good to see this great band in a smaller venue. It was a complete sell-out and deservedly so. The personnel may be constantly evolving, but the quality of musicianship and visuals are always top notch.

 

They played a wide range of stuff with an emphasis on songs from the newer albums.

 

Once or twice they went a bit too far in delivering their own interpretations for my liking. I still prefer performances that are closer to the original.

 

They managed to fit in a 30' inflatable 'teacher' (The Wall) and then this huge inflatable Kangaroo of course. A great rocking experience. I'm looking forward to Roger Waters performing The Wall at the O2 in May!

Saints 1 Manchester United 2

It's a pity Markus Liebherr was not around to see the game yesterday. Saints gave an excellent account of themselves and were the dominant side for 70 minutes. They were not over-awed but stuck to their game plan and it worked. It was I guess inevitable that the fire-power and never-say-die mental toughness of one of the world's top teams would prevail.

For me, the man of the match was Morgan Schneiderlin who orchestrated the mid-field with a maturity beyond his years and in a style reminiscent of Paul Scholes whom he was playing opposite - quite a tribute. There were 4000 empty seats! Perhaps the Saints hierarchy will ask themselves why and see that it was their ticketing policy that led directly to the lack of a full house.

Potentially there could have been a huge gulf in class. Between the teams there wasn't. Several Man U players did not acquit themselves well and showed poorly: Evans, Gibson, O'Shea and Anderson among them. Obertan will come good - watch his progress. For me, the only gulf in class was between the sheer professionalism and hard work of Michael Owen and the playground baby antics of Nani. Owen as a striker expects to come up against a degree of physical resistance. He's not the biggest on the pitch, but after each battering he picked himself up and got on with the game. Nani on the other hand is more concerned with looking cool and dancing than playing for the team and getting stuck in. Somebody needs to tell him football is a contact sport and he cannot continue to feign life-threatening injury every time he gets tackled. Perhaps he should have done ballet instead.

Well done Saints - proud to be one of your supporters. Now we can concentrate on the League - second place would suit me fine!

COYR

Southern Photographic Federation Exhibition

If you live anywhere near Salisbury (we're talking UK here) get along to the main library in the Market Place and take a look at this exhibition. All of the individual camera clubs in the Federation are exhibiting six prints - 38 clubs, 228 prints. There are many outstanding prints, some by way of conception, some composition and some are technically excellent - a few combine all of these!

There are also supposed to be 272 projected images, but I couldn't find these and ran out of time to explore.

See if you can spot mine! The exhibition ends on 29th January.

Putting it into practice

As I went to church yesterday and the sun was shining for a rare change, I engaged in the blessing of recreation with my camera along the Dorset coast today. New piccies posted on my Flickr page - click the link opposite.

Enjoying the beach at Lulworth

Blessing

Went to Grace last night where the theme for the start of a new year was blessing - looking at blessings received and given and looking forward to hoped for opportunities to give and receive.

I had not encountered the writings of John O'Donohue before - I will search out his book.

The worship was laid back, engaging and powerful. In the service there was an opportunity for anointing and receiving this blessing:

May all that is unforgiven in you be released.

May your fears yield their deepest tranquillities.

May all that is unlived in you

blossom into a future graced with love.

Profound and moving stuff.

A trip to the cinema

I'm hoping to get in two films this week as I am on leave. Details on my movie blog here.

Harbour Lights in Southampton's Ocean Village is the place to be. I go there whenever possible to support the great job they do. Friendly and knowledgeable people who are passionate about building community around film-going. Check it out.

Quick trip to Zurich

Managed a quick trip to visit the in-laws at the end of November.

As you can see there was plenty of snow there too - and sub-zero temperatures. South-East Switzerland was experiencing night-time lows of -22C!

The view over the city was amazing:

 

Walking on the Uetliberg was treacherous with very icy conditions underfoot, but it did look like something out of Narnia.

The restaurant at the summit gave stunning views - it's unusual to see the Alps from Zurich - usually a bad weather sign!

A very enjoyable trip. Nearly didn't make it back as the plane had technical problems in Gatwick and was more than 2 hours late arriving in Zurich! We made take-off with 1 minute to go before the 23:50 noise curfew came into force. It meant we didn't get home until 02:30 the next morning.

The Saints are marching!

I haven't mentioned footie lately! Southampton have take 10 from the last 12 points available and are now only 2 points off the play-off places. Early days yet but the new manager has got the team playing a different style of football. I'm not exaggerating when I say that watching them yesterday was like watching Arsenal at their passing best. No more long balls - everything played across the back four with full-backs and wide mid-fielders hugging the touch line.

Richard Chaplow's arrival on loan has given a different attacking option from mid-field. Guly looks to have the making of a really great player. The defence looks solid and again we kept a clean sheet.

I think we had the biggest crowd of the day yesterday - just over 19,000 including a couple of hundred of Tranmere's faithful. Last Saturday we had the 4th biggest crowd - including Premier League games!

The Saints are definitely marching. Good times.

COYR

The Social Network - At Cinemas October 15

The Social Network - At Cinemas October 15

Here's my review from the Sony Pictures site. a full review will be posted on my movie blog.

Gripping and compelling narrative with convincing characterisation. The way the film is shot cutting between the two legal depositions and the ongoing story is masterfully done.

A great piece of PR for Harvard - who wouldn't want to study there?

the film depict Zuckerberg's genius brilliantly. His struggle to relate to people appropriately is brilliantly portrayed. The moral messiness of creativity at work is captured in the disputes and relationships that wax and wane. It's great that Zuckerberg retains a grip of his humanity and the films ends in the way it does. there is hope!

A frustrating evening!

Tonight's judge was without doubt a competent photographer and many of his comments were very helpful. However, as an ARPS he is no doubt used to moving in higher circles than our humble little club. He spent most of the first half of the evening critiquing the quality of the mounts people had chosen or the quality of the mounting itself. It would have been so much more helpful if he'd spent as much time sharing his undoubted wisdom about the actual photos!

I was quite perturbed by many of his comments so when he came to comment on my single entry I was braced for a full onslaught! True to form, he did not like the colour of the mount I had chosen. The truth is, when I hurriedly came to select and print off a photo last night for the competition, it was the only colour of mount I had! I know that I also rushed the cutting of the aperture and parts of it are not acceptable - but he had obviously detected we were all getting a bit fed up with comments about mounts and he didn't mention it!

Instead, he waxed lyrical about the compositional qualities of my entry and ended up giving it 2nd place! Wow. It's a good feeling. Afterwards, some other club members were quick to come up and say how much they liked the colour of the mount and how they felt that anything different would have negatively impacted its presentation. There you go. What do I know?

Here's the photo:

At anchor

Pictures at an exhibition

For the first time ever, one of my photos is being exhibited! Feels good. The exhibition is on for this week only at the Winchester Discovery Centre hanging on the way by the IT suites. The exhibition is of work by members of the Wonston and Worthies Camera Club.

Mine is the second one from the left - a stylish shot of a TGV in Zurich station. Tonight just happens to be camera club evening and I hope to enter 2 pictures in a competition. It's just for fun - I'm not expecting to win anything! I'll let you know.

I should feel better than I do

The last week has been a difficult week for Southampton Football Club. I have resisted blogging about every game - I am still a Season Ticket holder - but this week's events demand a comment.

A week ago we beat Bristol Rovers emphatically 0-4. Apparently Saints dominated the entire game and could have scored more. On Monday at 08:21, a Press Release was circulated stating that the Manager, Alan Pardew and virtually all of the coaching staff had been sacked for failing to meet the targets set. Whilst there had been much speculation for some months that this was on the cards, the reality of it actually happening was a hammer-blow.

On Tuesday night, Saints began defence of the Johnston's Paints Trophy and lost 0-2 at home to Swindon Town. Hopeful that the defeat had allowed all reaction to Pardew's departure to be expressed, the faithful turned up again at St Mary's yesterday hopeful of a good result against lowly Rochdale. It was not so much the fact that Saints lost again by a 0-2 margin, it was more the manner of the defeat, some inconsistent refereeing and a shockingly poor Saints performance that rubbed salt into the wounds of Liebherr's untimely death and Pardew's brutal sacking.

Saints best player was the just 17 year-old Alex Chamberlain. He has skill, speed, strength and a desire to score that was lacking in his colleagues (except perhaps for Schneiderlin - the next youngest). Why then was he substituted? I have never been a fan of Jason Puncheon, but his performance yesterday was woefully poor - yet he stayed on for the whole 90 minutes. Jose Fonte was out-muscled for much of the game by Rochdale's hulking forward and it was a spat with him that allowed the second goal to be scored - an extremely well-taken shot.

I left with 10 minutes to go - I couldn't bear to watch. It was like seeing a maimed animal staggering around that should have been put out out of its misery. I was half-way up The Avenue when the final whistle went and the boos resounded from the radio commentary. A sad day.

Rumour has it that a new, high profile, Manager will be announced soon. Let's hope we can regain some stability, some notion of where we are trying to go and a freedom from 'targets' so that we can once again enjoy supporting our team.

COYR

Markus Liebherr 1948 - 2010

It was announced on Wednesday that Markus Liebherr, Southampton's owner, had died at the age of 63.

No death is timely. This is without doubt a cruel blow. His family will be shocked and saddened at his passing. The Southampton Football Club family is also saddened and shocked. There are many hundreds of tributes that have been placed outside St Mary's Stadium and a book of condolence had has been opened.

It is a cruel twist in the story of Saints rescue from Administration. There are lots of questions about what the future holds for the club. There seems to be a Trust Fund in place to cope with just such an eventuality and his daughter Katharina who now assumes the mantle of his business interests says she wants to perpetuate the direction Markus was pursuing. Another sign of this man and his family's generosity.

Markus Liebherr was not just a sugar-daddy. He was a true fan of the club and that shone through in his infectious smile. The pride on his face was evident when Saints won the Johnstone's Paints Trophy. Southampton Football Club, the city and the fans owe a great deal to Markus Liebherr. Let us all ensure his legacy is a lasting one so that his name and memory will live on.

Sad days.

New or rediscovering the old?

I value the rich traditions and heritage that safeguarded the Christian faith and generously allowed it to pass on to this generation. I also recognise that through necessity this process is backward looking and conservative. Consequently it is centred on how faith used to be and not on what life in today's world is like. How can we effectively bridge the two and ensure we hold these integrities with equal honour?

That is why I am so committed to Emerging Church and in particular Alternative Worship which seeks to create a safe-space in which to worship while nurturing faith and providing challenge to mature discipleship. It seems the whole emerging church thing is going off the boil. That might be a good thing in that it allows the focus to be firmly on local worshipping communities rather than the distraction of trying to be a part of something bigger. But what characterises these communities? I remain convinced that in searching for an adequate response to this question we must rise to the challenge of rediscovering a more authentic and engaging way of being church.


I came across this summary from Australian Paul Baggas which to me seemed to get things pretty well in perspective"

• 1. A renewed emphasis on Jesus’ teachings and ethics aka the sermon on the mount
• 2. Breaking down the false secular/spiritual dichotomy
• 3. Believe in community more than in church
• 4. Give space to outsiders and focus on similarities and relationship rather than differences
• 5. Hospitality becomes central practice of the church
• 6. Emphasis on creativity as an expression of worship to God, giving honor to the Creator by creating.
• 7. Leading is not fixed around the single leader — leaders lead, but the single leader leading all things is anathema.
• 8. The spiritual has to do with all of life and not simply with acts of devotion. Thus, there is an embrace of those pre-modern and pre-Reformation practices that recognize God’s work everywhere, not simply in the quiet time or worship service.

Seems like a call to return to Gospel principles to me. What think you?

Some new pictures on flickr

I've been away a lot recently without web access so I have not been able to post - apologies.

I've just put some new photos on Flickr from my trip to Jersey last week (I had a couple of free hours). The weather and scenery were beautiful - I never tire of the sea. The quality of light is phenomenal - great for photography.

The rain in Switzerland stays everywhere all the time!

As we left the Channel coast behind us and drove across Belgium so we drove into cloudier conditions. For our two days in Germany it was cloudy - no rain, no sun, just cloud. Then we moved into Switzerland and it rained and rained and rained and the clouds never lifted - until the day we drove home 12 days later!

We were limited to shopping centres for photo outlets. This one is Sihl City in Zurich and architecturally I like it.

One day, umbrellas in the car, we headed East and into the cantons Appenzell. When we arrived at Schwagalp, it looked as though the cloud was clearing and so I took a picture to demonstrate the before and after:

We went into the hotel for a coffee and 30 minutes later the weather had changed...

... it was not the after I had been anticipating! And that was the end of that. Cloud and drizzle for the rest of the day - and every day after that.

We got so fed up that we decided to head South into the canton of Ticino - the Italian speaking part of Switzerland South of the Alps. As we entered the Gotthard Tunnel it was 15 degrees and very cloudy. As we emerged almost half an hour later on the other side it was a wall-to-wall sunshine, 28 degrees and everything summer should be! We headed down to Locarno:

and enjoyed a walk along the lake-side promenade:

We then took the 'Feniculare' up the hillside for lunch on a terrace over-looking Locarno and Lago Maggiore. Magnificent:

After lunch we explored Val Verzasca and arrived at the wonderful village of Lavertezzo

with it's wonderful double-arched bridge over the river:

And yes, the water really is that colour!

If you need a guide to Switzerland in the rain, hire me - I've done it.

We only had a holiday inconvenienced. The weather system dumping rain on Switzerland was the same one that brought catastrophic flooding to the South of France. There people died and lost homes and livelihoods.

Next year, I will be able to visit Switzerland again.

BP, pollution and greed

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is without doubt a major catastrophe which ever way you choose to analyse it. It has been established that oil companies have been cutting the margin for error to such an extent that any disaster was likely to be on a mega scale rather than a local spill (which is bad enough). This is bad news for everyone - for all stake-holders involved:

• Those who lost a loved one in the original explosion
• The residents of the Gulf coast
• The fishermen and tourism people whose livelihoods are threatened
• BP share holders
• BP
• Tony Hayward - BP CEO
• Barack Obama
• You and me

This spill has been, and still is, out of control. The best minds in the business have been applying themselves to finding a solution and they're still working on it. This is clearly a complex situation with complex outcomes in a host of arenas.

Amidst the uncertainty, there are some things we can say and ask for sure:

• We can ask is it purely profitability that pushes oil companies to tender for bids with low production costs or do the developers drive these prices down too?
• Who is demanding cheaper oil? You and me - the consumers.
• In a global business, do you hire a CEO with a track record and potential to deliver sustained growth and development for your company or, on the off-chance that something catastrophic goes wrong, someone who is media savvy and will present well?
• Obama can sack Generals, but he can't stop a natural resource from flowing. How powerful is the President of the USA? No amount of rhetoric or Congressional hearings can stop one drop of oil from bursting into the sea.
• BP might be a British company, but weren't they using local sub-contractors?
• Does anyone really think BP wants this to continue?

There are undoubtedly technical reasons for this mess. Someone made a wrong judgement on safety margins, there may even have been incompetence. That does not change the fact that these processes are governed by the mantra - maximum exploitation of natural resources at the lowest cost. However, what the media have failed to report is that that mantra is being chanted by you and me - every hour of every day.

Myth, metaphor, symbol and uncertainty.

A couple of weeks ago, I was preparing some stuff and got hooked by the ideas of Joseph Campbell. He was heavily into myth and strongly influenced by Freud and in turn Jung. Here's a bit from that great authority Wikipedia

"A fundamental belief of Campbell's was that all spirituality is a search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will return. This elemental force is ultimately “unknowable” because it exists before words and knowledge. Although this basic driving force cannot be expressed in words, spiritual rituals and stories refer to the force through the use of "metaphors"—these metaphors being the various stories, deities, and objects of spirituality we see in the world. For example, the Genesis myth in the Bible ought not be taken as a literal description of actual events, but rather its poetic, metaphorical meaning should be examined for clues concerning the fundamental truths of the world and our existence."

 This is heavy stuff if you start your mind running on the possible outcomes. I was blown away by the concept that words have no meaning until you read and understand them. Reading is an interpretative act. Okay, it's within a framework, but not everyone shares the same hermeneutic.

When you ally that to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle which says you can either know the position or the speed of something but not both at the same time - and it's difficult to be certain about even that, the whole thing becomes an invitation to provisionality and ushers in the great post-modern bogeyman of relativity.

No wonder fundamentalism is becoming popular!

I need to lie down and listen to Pink Floyd at high volume!!!

Because you're worth it

I have just returned from co-leading a residential weekend for the curates in our Diocese - the Anglican diocese of Winchester. Curates are recently ordained ministers who are still in the initial phase of their training and formation which lasts for four years after ordination.

We took the L'Oreal tag-line as our theme for the weekend and set it beside Psalm 8 which contains these words:

³

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals^* that you care for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God,^*
   and crowned them with glory and honour.
⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet,

We spent the weekend exploring the question "what is the worth of a human being" resisting the temptation to carry out a chemical analysis or explore the Greek notion of a soul weighing 21 grams! It was an enjoyable weekend and the 42 participants all made a really useful contribution. We set out a framework and invited folk to participate by bringing their own experience and questions to provide the material. It worked very well. Each session borrowed a tag-line from the world of advertising.

We began on Friday evening:

Session #1 Fanatical about film (Borrowed from Odeon cinemas) in which we watched Crimes and Misdemeanors together.

Saturday

Session #2 Prepare to want one (Borrowed from Hyundai) In which we shared reflections on the film related to our theme and then explored some recent newspaper headlines and tried to get inside the story from our own perspective through considering how the headline appeared, or not, to value the people the story was about.

Session #3  Challenge everything (Borrowed from EA Games) in which folk were split into small groups to work through a passage of the Bible together and some quotations to continue our reflection on the central theme.

Session #4 Life is random (Borrowed from ipod nano) in which we invited folk into 'open-space' conversations about any subject they were prepared to host that touched on our theme.

Session #5 Wassssssssup? (Borrowed from Budweiser) explored how notions of the individual and their worth are portrayed through advertising. Plenty to reflect there.

Sunday

Session #6 It's good to talk (Borrowed from BT) in which folk were invited to reflect on their priestly vocation in the light of the ministries of hospitality and reconciliation God calls us towards. Participants were then invited to dream what their ultimate church community might be like if there were no resource constraints. Then into groups to discuss the outcomes.

Pentecost Eucharist in which we celebrated the coming and empowering of The Comforter - God's Holy Spirit.

All in all an excellent weekend. thanks to everyone involved.

'yearn' - further reflection

I had the chance of discussing with a colleague training for ordination, my take on Saturday's grace and the inclusion of the f word in the Eucharistic liturgy. It was an insightful conversation in which he observed that the word 'sin' has so much baggage attached to it that induces guilt which therefore invites divine judgement and retribution. All pretty negative really. F**k on the other hand is a descriptive term for getting things wrong and as a consequence putting distance between ourselves and God and others.

I much prefer the intentionality of the latter as it more quickly opens up a way to seek healing, wholeness, forgiveness and restoration. All pretty positive really.

I will keep reflecting.