we blog cartoons

A brilliant site from Dave of Cartoon Church fame. And come to light just before our low-impact, chilled holiday camping in Pembrokeshire next week. Read into those words what you will... and no, we won't be walking there, but at least we're not flying.

Perhaps we should drop into Howies while we're in their neck of the woods. Hmmmm - factory outlet shop stuffed with sale items in my size. In my dreams. But not the ones directed by George Lucas obviously...

thirteen

A film about growing up, being grown up, parenting, teen angst, life pressures, sex, drugs, rapping, piercing, “girly” stuff, breaking generational cycles, letting go and keeping hold, the speed of life.

A brilliant (potentially contraceptive?) film to watch whilst babysitting your 18 month old godson…

And all neatly complimented/ contrasted with Don’t Mess With Miss Beckles which followed on straight after on BBC2.

Keith Allen hosts Manchester Passion

Interesting (and other words that I can't bring myself to type here)...

Watch BBCThree for more trailers in due course.

40

Sanctus1 present

‘40’

A service exploring the season of lent.

Date: Sunday 26th March
Venue: Manchester Cathedral
Time: 8pm

Technorati Tags: sanctus, spirituality

Creation and Creativity Art Exhibition

As the momentum of the night cafe at Nexus has been growing, so too have the people coming to it: Artists, DJs, clubbers, dancers, dreamers... One such artist/dancer stumbled in to the cafe one night to find to her horror that there was no art! As a result we'll be hosting an exhibition entitled "Creation and Creativity" in June. Watch this space!

Hotel Rwanda in Manchester...

HOTEL RWANDA

To celebrate the launch of his autobiography this May, Paul Rusesabagina will be giving a series of talks across the UK – and will be here in Manchester on the 24th May for a talk organised by Blackwell University Bookshop and in conjunction with the Institute for Development and Policy Management (IDPM) at the University of Manchester.

Paul Rusesabagina became one of the most notable public faces of the Rwandan conflict of 1994, when his offer of shelter saved the lives of over twelve thousand Rwandan refugees. His heroic actions were made famous in the Oscar nominated film Hotel Rwanda, which, despite being a big-budget Hollywood film, was celebrated for its accurate portrayal of the atrocities committed. It was partly Rusesasbagina’s insistence that his story was told properly that enabled the film to stay so true to real-life – Paul worked with the scriptwriters to ensure it was an accurate portrayal, and remained an advisor on set during filming.

And his desire to tell the true story has prompted his autobiography, An Ordinary Man, which discusses the responsibilities of ordinary people in times of crisis, as well as telling the story of his life, before and after the events of 1994. His wish to raise awareness of what happened during the Rwandan genocide, and his belief that, through making the world more aware, these atrocities can be prevented in the future, is behind the form of his promotional tour. Instead of giving a set talk, Paul Rusesabagina will discuss the aspects of his life and amazing actions that we want to know about. So submit your questions now – pick up a form at Blackwell – and don’t miss the chance to find out, from the man himself, the things that you really want to know!

Paul Rusesabagina will be speaking on Wednesday 24th May
In the Stopford Building, Lecture Theatre 2, at 7pm.
Tickets priced £2 – available at Blackwell Manchester.

For further information contact Kate Wraith on 0161 274 3331 or kate.wraith@blackwell.co.uk

'I am comic vicar to the nation'

A really thoughtful and interesting interview by Alan Rusbridger with the ABC himself, Rowan Williams.

I really can't believe the lack of chat about this, on the blogs I read anyway... so let's try starting something...

We've yet to make poverty history...

Moving forward for global economic justice

Friday 31st March 7pm

Cross Street Chapel
Manchester

Click here for details

The Interpreter

The Interpreter - a film about the power, (mis)understanding, and effect of actions and words.

Tag line: The truth needs no translation.



[This Sunday night screening replaced the anticipated weekly Tuescurryfilmthing because London awaits.]

Congratulations to S and R

Having been married two weeks ago in Belfast, S and R had their marriage blessed in Sacred Trinity with Sanctus1 taking a role in the service they'd designed - setting up, welcoming, candle-lighting, readings, creative activities, the blessing itself, DJing, wine-making, food-bringing and more!

And what a shindig at their place after - three parties in one - his 30th, their house-warming and a "reception" for the blessing.

Photos here when we retrieve our camera from them, after the consumption of a considerable amount of alcohol meant that we ooops forgot it.

Spot the similarities/ differences

One of the things that regularly intrigues me is how convergent all social/ organised human activity is – in essence being troubled by the same issues and roused by the same breakthroughs. Only very rarely is something so sector specific that it can’t be mirrored into another sector or glimpsed in other social/ organised activities. Point being, you don’t have to know the sector or the organisations or the people to be able to see the translation…

Example – this set of comments below which I put up on our work-related, gang of three, arts ed people blog/ journal – artsednews:

"OpenSource event was held in Crewe last Friday – a partnership event from Amplifier, Sound Sense and Musicleader NW.

Marc Jaffrey, the Music Manifesto Champion sparked the debate off with some thoughts and ideas about the manifesto and other music education things. Specifically he touched on:
- The necessity to have a coherent, excellent grassroots offer as well as elite (not elitist) progression routes
- Issues around provision, especially where to young people those offers appear oppositional (even if they’re not)
- The high school becoming a portal for service/ extended hours/ etc

Other speakers included Pete Moser from More Music Morecambe who made sparked me off thinking about the difference between professional/ paid, organised, community music and other sorts of indigenous, home-based, local music-making. He also addressed and documented some of the issues surrounding the ever-changing community music landscape from the mid-1970s to the present day, that there is no such thing as a fixed, transferable model, that there are transferable principles but that’s as far as he would go because community music should be embedded and have a real sense of place.

Other issues touched on throughout the day were reflective learning – and making sure that freelancers especially have the space to do so. Also the age-old sector agenda problems of individualism/ personalisation vs generic/ stereotyped.

There were some points on which we all agreed – the centrality of young people, and that we’re all learners and teachers all the time.

A worthy legacy to the Amplifier project would be this kind of knees-up once a year or so. Followed by a good stiff drink at the bar, and a jam in the back room…"

blah...learning day 2006

blah... learning days 2006
For 2006 blah... Is partnering with moot and putting on a series of learning days, aiming to take the conversation from blah... evenings a little deeper and with more interaction. You can also find out about the other stuff blah... is up to by visiting http://www.blahonline.net

Each day costs £10 (or £8 if booked online) which includes lunch and drinks. Students pay just £5 (or £4 online), just select the student ticket type when you book.

The first learning day planned for 2006 is...

April 29th | Emerging Leadership
with Kester Brewin, Maggi Dawn & Ana Draper
>From 10am – 4.30pm at St Matthews, London, SW1P 2BU

Does the emerging church need leaders? Isn't it all about co-producing stuff where we are all 'leaders'
Or is it about renewing leadership, making it less of a one man band and more inclusive and powersharing?
How are we to develop emerging churches/fresh expressions that allow all people to participate and use all their gifts rather than just the few ‘leaders who do everything?
How do we avoid power abuse by over zealous leaders?

Kester Brewin, author of ‘The Complex Christ’ , and kickstarter of ‘vaux’, will guide us in some evolutionary thoughts about leadership.
Rev Maggi Dawn will reflect on trying to reimagine leadership in the ancient structures of the Anglican Church.
Ana Draper of L8R, who has recently completed her MSc in Psychoanalysis, will guide us in some thoughts about leadership from a psychoanalytical/theological perspective.

Come and join us for a day of discussion and questioning on this hot topic.

To find out more and to book a place visit http://blahleadership.mollyguard.com

Technorati Tags: Blah..., emerging church, mission

Asian invasion double-bill

M and I continued our Tuesday night curry and film yesterday.

Curry: homemade Delia-ish chicken and chickpea curry

Films: an Asian invasion double-bill (as Jonathon Woss would say)

House of Flying Daggers
(a film about loyalty, requited love, rebellion, denial, sacrifice, unrequited love, revenge, avenging love, blindness, and a film that gave me new understanding of the words “love triangle”)

followed by

Spring, summer, autumn, winter and… spring
(a film about self, denial, age, experience, the sacred/ secular divide, spirituality, the rhythm and stages of life and of the seasons, and a film that I would have been even more depressed about if I’d understood any more of the Buddhist philosophy and symbolism than I did).

Both were stunningly shot, great cinematography. Both could have been worthy (as Al would say) but weren’t. Both were very sad in their own ways.

Phew. Maybe something less downbeat next week?...


(PS Am fed up trying to post this via Picasa with a great shot of the monk and boy in their boat in spring crossing the lake... grrr. You'll just have to imagine it. Or use Google.)

I have a dream...

Last night, I had a dream narrated by Morgan Freeman and made by George Lucas.

I know it was George Lucas because we were discussing other dream ideas that we could give to Steven Spielberg to make.

blah...tour with Ryan Bulger and Karen Ward

See Jonny's blog for more details...But It'll be coming to manchester on 17th July

Slowing down...

Lord
Jesus
Christ
Son
Of
God
Have
Mercy
On
Me
A
Sinner

Sanctus2nds: 40 Days

Sanctus2nds is an intergenerational service that Sanctus1 run every 2nd Sunday, this Sunday it's in Sacred Trinity and is called '40 days' and will be exploring lent.

The service starts at 4pm and all people are welcome.

Sanctus2nds will also feature an under 5's play space.

Technorati Tags: emerging church, Manchester, sanctus

Sanctus2nds

A celebration of Palm Sunday.

Sunday 9th April: 4 - 5 p.m.
Sacred Trinity Church, Chapel Street, Salford.

Open to people of all ages, Sanctus2nds is a sanctuary for creativity, reflection and socialising. Sanctus2nds will feature a cafe space to refresh your body, a creative space to inspire your mind, and a prayer space to nurture your soul; building an environment to encounter Christ.

Sanctus2nds will also feature an under 5’s play space.

Technorati Tags: emerging church, Manchester, sanctus

EPIC 2014

What is EPIC 2014? Well, it's an 8 minute movie that's been causing much conversation on Blogs right across the world. All about the interweb innit! But more than that, how the internet may effect print media, the news agenda and how we as humans buy, relate, consume, discuss and communicate with each other right round the world. And that nice chap above? Mr T Lee, all his fault apparently!

same/ different and/or opposite/ equal

S and I have just had the most interesting hour in the office in a long while - challenging each other to write words relating to “high” and “low” art on post-it notes and survey the mess and paper wastage… (don’t ask, long story)

We spent about 10 minutes just writing one word per note and sticking them on the wall (“high”) or floor (“low”) – crude I know but effective. Then we read them out one note at a time, by category, and looked at them to see what they might say, whether they could be grouped, challenge each other on why, etc. Fascinating!

Here’s ten sample words from both camps:

Opera, Ballet, BBC, Sound art, Obscure, Expensive, Site specific, Literature, Haute Couture, Commercial/ independent

Craft, Channel 5, Rap, The Charts, Ring tones, Cartoons, Karaoke, Understood, Folk, Film


Other observations…

There are some words that are genuine crossovers for whatever reason – folk, books, film, celebrity, animation, photography, craft, commercial, independent, self-publicising.

Some of the sames/ differences are about language – books/ literature, comic/ cartoon, video/ film.

Some of the sames/ differences are about “motive” – statement/ idea/ money/ public and self/ value/ expression/ private.

There’s something in all of this about being opposite and equal? Or fringe, edge, subversion, counterculture?

Plus this gem: popular art + time = high art/ heritage/ "national treasure" status.
Try it!

Damon Albarn + a decade = Gorillaz
Labour protest songs + a century = Billy Bragg
Icons + centruies/ millenia = UNESCO'd cathedrals
Folk music + all time = niche music

A recommended activity.

ooops

When I previously typed, "Answers in time for the October Brown-Cameron-Hughes 2008 election"...

I so obviously meant "Answers in time for the October Brown-Cameron-Ming 2008 election".

Ho hum.

Howies e-cards

Laura just posted this link to the Sanctus1 e-list. It's for Howies e-cards, and they're really quite stunning

Technorati Tags: culture

work v job

As ever, there is a brilliant selection of ecards at Howies – and a couple of new ones, most of which have resonated with me in my Lenten mood (such as this one, and the classic “They say that you only get to know five people in your life. Shouldn’t one of them be you?”).




PS Tues film and curry night got postponed in favour of Round Food Night - normal service will resume soon. 

Ian's MA Thesis

Ian Mobsby from moot has just published his MA dissertation on 'Emerging & Fresh Expressions of Church: How are they authentically Church and Anglican.'

Sanctus1 is one of the churches that he studies, so it makes for fascinating reading...buy it here

Paws for Prayer

I've been speaking at a conference this week and came across this particularly awful piece of Christian tac on one of the worst book stalls i have ever seen...