Society brought down by James Bond!

After my previous post about how protesting against a particular film was going to have the opposite effect to that desired, I've been considering how the most subversive films have passed by with barely a murmur.

Almost all films now seem to show people meeting and having sex within a few days or even hours, with passing expressions of affection or sometimes lust. Guns seem to feature frequently, usually with serious consequences for various people, but with the main characters coming through largely unscathed. Drug use is also apparently normal.

I'm sure the directors would justify this as all essential to make the film exciting, feel realistic or provide a moral to the story. You can draw your own conclusions (if you care to think about these things) but this is where the REAL undermining of society through cinema has happened, if at all. I doubt the Pullman film will significantly affect even 0.001% of the viewers, but it gives those who have been poked into action something to say. Horse, stable door and much, much, much too late.

Cinema can be art, but mostly it is very much less.

I've just had an email

Warning me about the evils of the 'his dark materials' film.

Fern had an interesting comment to make on it.

My recommendation is: ignore it.

The Da Vinci code was a bit of a mess, and only going to convince those that had already decided or were so weak minded that they would be blown with every wind of doctrine. Yet all the 'dumb Christians' blew what would have been a flop on it's own into something huge and renowned. If we aren't careful 'we' shall provide these guys with more free publicity that they could shake a stick at, and they will be wealthy and successful instead of disappointed and wondering.

The choice is ours - protest and pass them glory and success on a plate.

*edit*

Possibly proving how unspiritual I am, the one thing Christians could do is pray about this. Not a quick 'Dear Lord please help mommy and daddy' prayer but real fasting, dedication and crying out to God in prayer night and day prayer. I wonder how many did that over The Da Vinci Code?

I wonder if God enjoyed watching Harry Potter?

Well Toni, what did you think of the retreat?

Well, there *should* be a picture of me sticking my tongue out (proving that there were tongues going on at this retreat!) but photobucket doesn't seem to be delivering for some reason.

After I'd sorted all those photos

Chris and I talked about how everyone on the holiday said "we must stay in contact" and none of them have.

Us included.

I think it's all for the best.

I need to update a number of things.

So I'm going to tweak the blogroll and links.

I also need to change some of the places I surf. Not because they are overtly 'wrong' but because every time I visit any conversation I have beyond discussing guitars and amps leaves me feeling sick these days.

I won't change the site. yet, anyway.

In a world where people re-hash their blogs every few weeks or months, I'm STILL happy with this looks, and it's the content more than the appearance that is more important. And I really hate going to a blog and thinking "Nuts! What link did I click - where am I"?

So TBOTAM (I've started to think of this as being Tee Bottom) isn't likely to get a major workover for some time.

*edit*
I've tweaked the blogroll - now alphabetical, a couple out, a couple hanging by tooth-skin and a couple of new ones, including some that should have been added a long time ago. The links list has also been updated to reflect what I'm reading more these days.

I know you've been wondering

And I can tell you that I've finished the *preliminary* editing of my images from Thailand. Just Chris's hundred odd to go now.

So to keep interest going a little, here's a few more.

Bangkok bus


Monkey tricks


Pancake rolls on trek


Tomyum soup, made by my own hand

Done, but not finished.

Tiled.


Installed.



Not finished?

To protect the existing tiled surface that Chris was so proud of I'd placed newspaper as well as a large plastic sheet over the carpet. When we pulled the sheet away we found one of the stones used to form the hearth had been moved (despite being cemented in) forwards and sideways, and possibly a neighbouring slab. This has left a large gap between the tiles, and all the grouting had fallen out.

So what should have made Chris very pleased has actually upset her considerably and totally undone all the good this might have otherwise produced.

RETREAT!

But not, we hope, reverse.

I seem to find myself going on a retreat this weekend.

Here.

More autumnal images

Clear skys, cool air, strong sunshine.

Blighty in the autumn looks pretty good to us.









BTW the previous images were first adjusted on my laptop. The screen is a little dim and lacks contrast, hence they were a little over-contrasty viewed on reasonable qulaity monitors. Hopefully I've not made the same mistakes here.

I went for a wander this lunchtime.

And took a couple of pics.

The world around us keeps changing, and, so it seems, do we. There's a tendency to allow the inside of us to move on from the outside of us - it's sometimes difficult to keep the 2 in sync. and when those things inside no longer match with what we perceive others expect (or demand) we can experience discomfort, turmoil, confusion, and weakness.

Nature, despite climate changes that may or may not be happening, apparently does not have a conflict in this way:

Oh deep joy.

Isn't that what the bible says - when you're feeling a bit persecuted.

I'm removing the hearth from the fireplace in our living room with some prejudice. Said hearth does NOT WISH TO BE REMOVED.

I'd hoped for an old brick structure with nice soft crumbly lime mortar. Some of them have been stuck in with modern hard cement, and the old lime mortar ones are interesting too. Lime mortar is designed to work while slightly damp - ie in old buildings without good (or any) damp courses. Well this is an old building and this is the dampest part of the house. Let me assure you that the guys who designed this stuff knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

I've taken some before and during photos. When (not IF - there shall be no IF here) it's completed I'll take some more and post them.

*edit*
I can't finish today (the mortar is hardening) but I can post pics anyway.
Before.

Bang, bash, biff, wallop.

At last!

Brick slips in place to pack the hole to height for the quarry tiles.


Dinner now calls... and possibly a well-deserved cold beer.

Spam!

Just occasionally a spam lands that I think is funny.

*Offensive words warning*


The title was "Ordinary men have ordinary sex. Megadik..."

To which my automatic response was 'Megadik will make you a complete plonker'.

Do I never learn?

A New Linux Distro has been fluttering its virtual eyelids at me. Actually make that 2 distros, with the new Mandriva 2008 edition.

But Sabayon might actually have a point: they've included things like proper (proprietary) drivers for graphics cards, which so many of the other distros shy away from, leavinging their GUI desperately crude compared to Windows. Mandriva 2008 comes with the new Liberty font set, which includes a full set of windows equivalent fonts. This *might* solve the other major linux issue of text that makes you *think* you need glasses.

Just had a weird thing happen.

Clicked 'view blog' after I'd posted and got the image below. Guess we know what drives blogger.

Moderate miffage

Ever have one of those times when interaction with others brings frustration and disappointment instead of relationship. Somehow, that *seems* to be how things are right now, with a whole pile of things: no one or 2 individuals to blame. It makes you want to *do something* about it, but of course there's really nothing to be done except offer grace and just get on with it.

Maybe I'm learning - or going soft.

How did we.....

manage in the days before the internet?

I've just produced a study on the sabbath for the meeting here. 10 years ago I'd have needed a room full of books and hours typing. Now I can cut'n'paste scripture straight into my notes, extract 'rules' for Sunday practice in the 1800s and obtain a detailed explanation of how a strict Jew has to handle the sabbath in the 21st century.

Fantastic. I just need a cheap PC, broadband and a careful eye on the quality of sources.

And if you don't know the site Biblegateway is just a Godsend.

This is slightly 'fiddling while Rome burns'

Another quiz, courtesy of Fernando.

What's Your Political Philosophy? And do you really care anyway?? Like hell I'm George Dubya Bush! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Socially Conservative Republican Social conservatives share a belief in traditional morality and social mores and the desire to preserve these in present day society, often through civil law or regulation. The government should use its influence in the public square to support traditional family values. Old School Democrat 75% Socially Conservative Republican 75% New Democrat 65% Green 50% Foreign Policy Hawk 35% Libertarian 35% Pro Business Republican 30%

It seems to be taking

a ridiculous amount of time to recover from this cold.

It's been over a week now, and yesterday was the first day I *felt* like it was lifting. Came home after a couple of hours at work on Wednesday, returned on Thursday, but that was too soon and just did a couple of hours on Friday too. I'm *just* tired tonight, rather than feeling borderline drunk with odd stuff from the body fighting the infection sloshing through my bloodstream. Not aching doesn't do any harm either.

Now there's just a few hundred images to edit. And I need to decide between fotopic and flikr as the best place to pop then up. Flikr appeals because it's more blog-centric, but the lack of speed is almost unbearable.

I need to finish writing the travelogue, before it all fades. Plan is for Tuesday to go cook Hayley and Kita (and Chris) some Thai food, since I've apparently learned how and don't weant to foget that too. Can't be too bad, as what I made last night was actually edible.

Sorry not to be around much

Between jet lag, getting back to work and the cold I caught just before we left Thailand I've been hammered flat. However I *hope* the cold is now receeding and I shall return to a somewhat better level of postage.

"So my question is how did you know, or how will you know you are married?"

Randall asked this question on his blog, and I rather thought the answer I gave might be interesting here.

Chris and I always felt like we were chosen for each other, pretty much from the second time we met (the first time I was busy trying to tickle the tonsils of a girl called Sue - my only other GF). Later I can remember talking to God and asking 'how about a girlfriend?' and He would say 'go out with Chris'. I'd then disagree and want someone else: partly because we had a great friendship and partly because I was hormone-driven and wanted someone a little sexier. But I think, even at that point (we'd been BF/GF a couple of times) that we knew we were going to be married.

But it was always very clear to us that we weren't married. True, we didn't live with each other or have sex (although that was a close run thing a few times) but we KNEW we weren't married - marriage was a very specific joining at a very specific moment, and it was that moment we were working toward.

We've talked this over briefly again today. Chris's wording differed a little from mine but encapsulated EXACTLY the same idea. From the moment we made and meant the vows we were married. It was before first love-making, before sharing a flat, before cooking a meal and even before we could get away for a good kiss on the way to the reception. I'd suggest consummation *sealed/confirmed* the vows we made, but that married status was already present to be confirmed, and actually made the act capable of consummation instead of fornication if we'd not been.

So there you go - we knew from the moment we exchanged vows. I don't know if the words "I now pronounce you man and wife" make any difference. I suspect not, but for the less clued up they might be a useful guide......

A quick taster

Sorry these are a little on the large side, but smaller doesn't do justice.

This may not surprise you

But we're back.

My body clock thinks it's presently 3.30pm while my watch says 9.30am.

I've had about 30 min sleep in the last 36 hours.

We've opened all the post.

My second 2Gb memory card has nearly finished uploading from the camera (just got there after I typed this). Chris's images still to be done.

It was good.

It was hard, some of the time.

Food is astonishingly cheap, at 'native' prices.

We met some interesting, good people.

I've hand-written a huge amount covering roughly one third of the trip. Some of this might even make it as far as this blog.

TTFN

All packed

And it's taken less space (and weight) than it looked like it would - <30kg between us.

And now ladies, a helpful tip.

Should you ever be in the happy situation of working with your loved one to pack for a holiday, communication is a facility that can smooth across potential pitfalls. And if you happen to both be *separately* packing your stuff, yet doing so at the same time, if you should choose to be really kind and helpful, packing your partners spare 'arrival day' clothes, please tell him you've done so.

Please don't assume that he'll see the absence of clothes on the bed as a sign they've been packed.

Please also don't assume that because he can't find them in all the places they might have been put, he will assume you've packed them for him.

Please don't assume he is so proud and clever that he won't consider the possibility he's been a dumb-ass and packed them by mistake somewhere incorrectly.

Please don't assume he won't unpack a lot of stuff before giving up and asking if "you might have packed them for me"?

A little communication will prevent a lot of stress, anger, inward cussing and general dis-harmony. I know us men aren't great communicators either, but it's your special skill set: make the most of it.

Have a nice trip.

Possibly the most difficult thing

has been trying to decide what to leave out.

This is odd for me, as I never have a problem - I can easily travel light, and on the last visit to the US went with hand luggage only, including laptop and space in the case.

This time there's quite a bit of kit, and we're distributing it between 2 lightweight rucksacks and 2 bags. It *should* be fine, but it *looks* way more than usual.

In less than 24 hours

Chris and I should be sat on a plane, waiting to go. This is what we'll be doing:

Day 1 Depart London for our overnight flight on the scheduled services of
Gulf Air.

Day 2 Arrive in Bangkok and transfer to our hotel. Those not flying with
the group will meet us during the day at the hotel. The rest of the day is
free to explore the city or catch up on some sleep.

Day 3 In the morning we board the BTS Skytrain for the start of our
exploration of Bangkok and a true look at the city. Next it’s a local “klong”
or canal boat followed by a public bus to our final destination,
Ratanakosin Island. Here we visit what to this day remains the home of
the Thai Royal family on Ratanakosin Island, on the Chao Phraya River,
home to the most spectacular collection of buildings in Bangkok. We will
see Wat Po, the largest temple in Bangkok, housing a 46m long, 15m
high gold-plated reclining Buddha, the Royal Palace complex and Wat
Phra Kaew, home to the Emerald Buddha and one of Thailand's most
venerated images, a carved green jade Buddha.
In the afternoon we drive 4 hours to our accommodation outside the Khao
Yai National Park.

Day 4 Today we are taken on a full day tour of the National Park starting
with an easy 5km hike during which there is the possibility of spotting
gibbons, hornbills and other wildlife. Towards the end of the morning we
emerge into grassland which gives us a beautiful view of the national
park. From here we are collected and taken to a restaurant for lunch
followed by a drive to Haew Suwat Waterfall, made famous by the movie
“The Beach”. Later in the afternoon we drive to the second highest
mountain in the park for a spectacular view of the surrounds. In the
evening we take a 1-hour night safari drive to see if we can spot any of
the nocturnal animals that inhabit the park.

Day 5 After breakfast we head to Ayuthaya, the 2nd royal capital of the
Kingdom of Siam (4 hours). At its peak the Kingdom encompassed large
parts of present day Laos, Cambodia and Burma. Diplomatic and
international trade missions found their way to Ayuthaya from countries
as far afield as Europe. It was not long before Ayuthaya became one of
the most important trading centres of the region. The population grew to
over 1 million people by the 17th Century, more than any European capital
at the same time. Following decades of wars and then a siege that lasted
nearly 2 years, Ayuthaya was invaded and destroyed by the Burmese
army. Temples were ransacked and statues of gold stolen and carried off
to Burma. Following this devastating defeat the Siamese Kingdom
relocated its capital to Thonburi (now a suburb in Bangkok) on the banks
of the Chao Praya river.
In Ayuthaya we take a gentle cycle ride through the temples that still
remain today as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Late in the
evening we board an overnight sleeper train bound for Chiang Mai.
Sleeper train

Day 6 We arrive in Chiang Mai in the early morning. Chiang Mai, a former
religious and cultural centre, was twice under the control of the Burmese,
and a strong Burmese influence is reflected in the architecture of the city.
We visit the temples and, outside the city, the hilltop temple of Doi
Suthep, the most revered Buddhist shrine in the Chiang Mai region. The
climb up to the temple is well worth the effort as on a clear day it affords
an excellent view over Chiang Mai and its striking temple landscape. In
the evening we visit the night market where many of the hilltribe's
handicrafts can be seen.

Days 7 We drive north to Chiang Dao, 80km from Chiang Mai, set amid
forested hills. Home of many of the Hilltribes peoples of Northern
Thailand, all with their own distinct culture and dialect means it’s the
perfect area for our trek. After lunch we start our trek into these beautiful
surrounds. Sleep in a hilltribe Village house.

Days 8/9 We continue trekking for these two days. A good level of fitness
is required, as you can expect 4-5 hours walking each day. Walking from
village to village through magnificent mountain scenery we might see a
wide range of hilltribes; among them people from the Lisu, Karen, Lahu
and Shan tribes. The people are incredibly friendly and we learn of their
traditional lifestyles whilst staying in the villages. There is an elephant
ride and on the last day we spend the morning on a bamboo raft on the
Mae Taeng River. We end on day 9 by returning by road to Chiang Mai.
Hilltribe Village houses (Day 8) Guesthouse (Day 9)

Day 10 The morning is free to explore the delights of Chiang Mai on your
own, your Tour Leader is on hand to assist with arranging optional
activities. A half day cooking school is highly recommended, however, be
warned, you eat what you cook! Another great alternative is to spoil
yourself after the trek with a relaxing Thai massage. In the late afternoon
we fly to Bangkok.

Day 11 Today we transfer to the province of Samut Songkram, better
known for its floating markets. The journey takes approximately 2 hours
depending on traffic leaving Bangkok. Our first destination is the Floating
Markets, where we start our bike ride through the fruit orchards. A boat
ride through the Floating Market is an optional extra. The bike ride is over
predominantly flat terrain and is approximately 30kms long. At the end of
the ride we arrive at our accommodation for the evening, a beautiful
traditional Thai Teak house set on a klong “canal”. In the evening we
have the opportunity for a boat ride through the area to experience local
life. Homestay

Day 12 In the morning we transfer by road to Kanchanaburi (approx. 3 to
3 ½ hours). Kanchanaburi province is a pretty area and a favourite with
travellers for its caves, waterfalls and river trips. In the afternoon we take
a further cycling ride around the town. Kanchanburi is best known for the
“Bridge on the River Kwai” and you can visit the bridge itself along with
the J.E.A.T.H war museum, which is a memorial to the thousands who
were killed whilst constructing the ‘death railway’ during the Second
World War.

Day 13 Today we take a day of canoeing on the River Kwai itself and
visit the infamous Hellfire Pass, part of the Thai/Burma Railway. We
journey by minivan out to the Sai Yok area of Kanchanaburi where we
start our canoeing (after instruction) back towards Kanchanaburi on the
River Kwai. The river is wide and moves along at a gentle pace so you
have plenty of time to take in the scenery around you. Following
approximately 6 hours of canoeing we transfer back to Kanchanaburi by
minivan. Please note that starting points and exact routes taken on the
canoeing trip may vary depending on the water levels of the river.

Day 14 In the morning we drive back to Bangkok (3 hours). The rest of
the day is free for individual sightseeing or shopping. We transfer to the
airport in the evening and check in for the overnight flight to London. For
those not flying to London with the group the tour ends in the afternoon.

Day 15 Arrive London in the early morning, around 6.45am.


Ben will be here, looking after the house.

Time to go pack.

There's a bunch of stuff

...... that I should have said, but haven't.

Saturday was fun, despite playing fairly terribly. It was nice bumping into Georgia again too - we seem to meet once a year, at the fun day. Why is that when you only see someone once in while, embarrassing things happen. Like scratching a spot on my cheek and bleeding profusely. Ho hum.

I'm also now married to a 'fit bird'. Chris cycled into Bicester and home again: around 17 miles. I think she'll be fine doing the 30km bike ride in Thailand. I think the only fitness concern we'll have is 6 hours canoeing with potentially cramped joints.

Alpha supper tonight, for the start of the Bicester Alpha course. It's kicking off with a meal at the Salvation Army hall in Hart Place at 7.00pm. We're helping with catering and washing up.

This Sunday things will be a little different. No Keyboard players and I'm not around. Mike F is doing a multimedia worship time with mixing decks, projected DVDs, a drum machine and working with Ben and Jonny who are both playing guitar through it. We ran through it last night, and it felt GOOD. Some people will probably find it 'challenging' compared to normal, but I reckon most should be able to push through that and find a fresh place to worship. I hope people encourage Mike as he's put a lot of work and prayer into this.

There seems to be a gruesome party game going on

It's almost as though the newspapers are playing charades with the Mcanns, as if they'll 'fess up' if the paper guesses what happened to Madeline. It's quite grotesque.

Funny how it goes.

I'm moving more and more to the 'hated' acoustic guitar for Sunday worship. There was a time when I played exclusively electric, and it sounded huge and glorious. Now it just seems to sound a bit thin and grating to me.

It may be no coincidence that God's been speaking about letting some things go....

But tonight we rehearsed for the fun day in Garth Park on Saturday. It's true I was playing louder than usual, but my 'voxy baby' little church amp was warm, smooth, fat, sparkly and wonderful sounding. After we'd finished I plugged in the other amp I'd brought - my Madamp A15 that I built a couple of years ago and never use as it's too strident for church. Before coming out it was fitted into a combo cab with a 70s Celestion G12H (for those that know and care about these things). This combination was absolutely GLORIOUS, with astonishing clarity and a very real kick-in-the-pants bass response, thanks to that speaker.

It was also staggeringly loud for a 15 watt amp through a 1X12 cab.

So if you're in Garth park on Saturday afternoon I'll be playing with Dennis Niziol and the Panic Street Preachers. Should be a hoot.

Sometimes it's fascinating

when you find others have reached somewhat similar conclusions to you, quite independently.


Like Leighton Tebay on the 'emerging church conversation'. I'm not at all sure his perception of the 'next big thing' of the 21st century is correct, but consumerism and abuse IS certain to be *one* of the key factors in 21st century theology.

And a little IT entertainment:

Although the *greater* company business is not reproductive biology, certain parts (like us) are quite intimately involved. I was contacted yesterday by one of our reps in France about hormone levels in children through their development, and provided him links to scientific papers that described how those levels varied through childhood and puberty.

So he carefully paid for and downloaded the articles, then kindly offered to send me the full text (in .pdf format).

They contained the word 'penis', and thus got bounced by the email server.

Someone is trying pretty hard, to check forbidden words in .pdf files attached to emails.

Shame they can't block emails with the words 'viagra' and 'cialis' in them, although I suppose they might be argued to be legitimate drugs.

I wonder if this post (in my coffee break) will get picked up?