Sermons and Confessions

My birthday present some time back was a ticket to go to Prince Caspian - Narnia II.  Went along today the last day of my little holiday.  It was great.  I really enjoyed it, but… First I have to confess to being a big fan of the book (and all the Narnia books). I discovered them in the school library around the age of 11 and was fascinated by the stories and the idea of escaping to a magical land where I could be a grown up.

Did this film really need to be 3 hours long?  There was a lot in it that wasn’t in the book and some stuff from the book that didn’t make the film.  Peter is made out in the film to be a really up himself teenager with anger managment issues. Quite different from the Peter in the book. Why, oh why did we have to have a love interest between Caspian and Susan?  It is said that CS Lewis didn’t like women much.  He certainly writes Susan out of the stories in a rather sad way through the Dawn Treader and Last Battle stories.  I don’t think he would have approved of this.  The whole scene of Caspian riding to Susan’s rescue in the woods is completely out of the nature of the story and made me exclaim out loud “Oh for God’s sake!”  (It was one of those moments of “whoops that came out a little too loud for a public cinema”, but you get the depth of my reaction). 

I loved the effects and the battle scenes.  The acting was good except that William Mosely as Peter is just as wooden as he is in the first one.  Still very happy I went and anyone who likes the genre and isn’t as stuck as me on the story will love it.

I took the opportunity today to go to the movies.  Hancock is the sort of movie aimed pretty squarely at blokes.  Plenty of amazing effects and plenty of action with a few really good site gags.  I had heard that the ending surprised and disappointed some critics.  Not so for me.  At the risk of spoiling the ending for anyone who hasn’t seen it I really liked the fact that the goodies won, the hero stayed a hero and the girl stayed with the guy.  I’m glad I went.

Took the kids to the movies last weekend and we all enjoyed this movie.  The boys are now practicing their kung fu moves against each other.  It reminds me of how my brothers and I responded to an episode of “Monkey Magic”. 

Lots has been made of the over bearing message of if you try hard you can achieve your dreams.  This certainly is there and I agree it is a bit of a wrong message.  (I mean if you don’t have the talent it doesn’t matter how hard you work or how hard you believe… but that’s another post sometime).  I didn’t find this message over bearing.  We loved it.

I’m thinking of creating a whole new category of horrible TV shows my wife watches.  There are many advantages to being married.  One of them is that I am exposed to a whole array of television, of which I might otherwise have been oblivious.

Top of the list at the moment is “Ladette to Lady”.  This English abuse of the airwaves features a cast of unfortunate girls who for various reasons behave poorly in their personal lives.  They seem to have been neglected as children and are rebelling in their early adult years with over drinking, indiscriminate sex and generally anti social behaviour.

The show takes advantage of these unfortunate girls by putting them in an old fashioned “finishing school” where a team of embittered old hags pretend to teach them how to be ladies.  It’s hinted that this training will enable the girls to find a nice man to keep them.  Each week one girl is expelled from the school for some “terrible infringement” of the rules.

This show is an abomination.  The producers seem to have sought out vulnerable young girls who they know will do outrageous things like show their boobs, or get drunk.  Then they deliberately put bitchy old crones in the school to make the girls life hell.  All for the sake of making TV.

I confess I keep getting drawn into this show.  Like a car crash I sometime can’t help but watch.  Then I get so angry about it that I have to leave the room.   

You know how some famous people that you admire, you think gee they seem nice.  I’d love to have you around for dinner.  John Safran is not one of those people.  I’ve been a fan since his days in “Race around the World”.  I’m a fan in that I admire his work and his intellect and find him entertaining.  I can’t work him out.  Is he really an arsehole or just a scared little boy. 

This dicotomy is much of the appeal of Sunday Night Safran, a weekly two hour radio show on Triple J that John Safran hosts along with catholic priest and social activist, Father Bob Maguire.  No one could accuse Safran of doing things the same as everyone else.  It is a stroke of genius to have a 73 year old priest as co-host.  There is a unique rapport between the two, despite the cleric having 40 years on Safran.

The program explores really interesting issues in religion and touches on politics.  I love all these segments but mostly I love the “chat” between the two hosts.  Safran will often try to bait or tease Bob.  If Bob wasn’t so mature, wise and life experienced this could easily backfire, but somehow it never seems to.   I can’t really work out if they love each other or hate each other.

I do know that I love this show.

Sunday Night Safran
Sunday 9pm - 11pm Triple J

A good friend of my wife’s has a blog page.  She is responsible for opening up the world of blogging to me.  SheRa has been contributing the occasional review etc to a blog called Look! Something Shiny!  I thought this was all very nice and I knew that her friend, who started the blog and also contributes, had a blog called Magic Bellybutton.  I’d never taken much notice of it, and sadly never read it until now.

This is a girl truly committed to writing a blog.  There is a lot of stuff here.  She’s good at it too.  The text is well written and easy to read.  The postings are honest, more honest than I would be.  I was most interested in the confession about gay porn.  (And really agreed with the comments by the way). 

There are some really funny bits too!  I’m not sure who else would have the courage to start an online competition for other people to suggest the best “films my boobs could make”.  Certainly an interesting idea and one worth exploring if only for the possibility of the Arts Grants and tax concessions available.

The political comment is insightful and passionate.  It helps that the bellybutton votes the same way that I do.  Black and pink wouldn’t be my choice.  (You’ve probably guessed that by the extreme conservative look of this page) and  I think the silouhette of the model with viking horns is a bit overstated.   That won’t stop me from being a more regular reader.  MB - you have a new fan!

Called in to my local book shop to collect some book for She-Ra (who must be obeyed) the other day.  I always have a quick look for things that I might read and always especially look for the latest Katherine Kerr novel.  I first discovered them many years ago and they have given me countless hours of escapist pleasure since.  I am a cheap scate, however, and only buy them when they are released in paperback.  Imagine my delight when I found the Spirit Stone was waiting for my purchase.

 Set in the mythical kingdom of Deverry and its surrounds Kerr’s books have all the magic, battles, politics that readers of the genre love.  In addition the use of re-incarnation allows us to follow the same characters through life after life as they struggle to develop their characters and overcome their difficulties.

Indeed the depth of characters in these books are what makes them special for me.  There may not be much added to the blog in the next few days.  I have a book to read.

Most people would agree that the vulnerable in our society should be protected from abuse.  It is a matter of opinion as to what constitues abuse and who are the vulnerable.  I would like to suggest that  viewers of commercial television current affairs programs are vulnerable.  They are vulnerable to the sort of cheap, nasty TV that is made all the worse as it poses as news and serious, adult discussion.  Thankfully there is a small cell of resistance out there in the form of the ABC program “Media Watch”.  I admit that I am more likely to pay full attention to the stories now that the lovely Monica Attard has been replaced by Jonathan Homes.  (I find Monica extremely sexy).  Everyone really should watch this program.  The sad thing is that only people who are already educated and aware are likely to tune in.  The real disadvantaged are watching Big Brother.