The last 5 weeks

So what have I been up to the past 5 weeks I hear you ask?
Let me tell you...
1. My birthday

2. A trip to see my cousin in Bristol

3. A trip to Cambridge & Royston




4. A trip to London

Then all my usual workings and social engagements have kept me pretty busy. But it has been good, no, FANTASTIC, catching up with friends and family. To me, they're what makes life great! Laughing, crying, eating, chilling, talking, shouting, seeing, visiting, travelling, playing, punching, drinking, worrying, debating, arguing, joking, messing... all these things are infinitely better when you're doing them with other people!

Superheroes

So I went to see Spiderman 3 last night, and I was fairly impressed. Mindless escapism for two hours with the summary of the film as such:

• Peter Parker gets selfish.


• P.P allows revenge to consume his soul.


• P.P. goes all emo for awhile.


• P.P. finds himself, and saves the day.

I don't think I've ruined it for anyone by my concise summary, and I still think you should go see it!

But it did get me thinking. Who is the best superhero? In the world of superheroes? Spiderman? Captain America? The Fantastic Four? (Do they even count as superheroes when there's four of them?!)

It's kinda strange, because all superheroes are really just everyday people, who are given gifts. Whether this is through some horrific scientific blunder or a radioactive spider, they were all just like you and me to start with. Except one. Superman. He's not one of us, yet he came to Earth and has struggled his whole life to fit in, while saving people that he has no duty or reason to save. A superhero struggles to become one of us, rather than one of us struggling to become a superhero.

Which is what Jesus did. He was the Son of God, with power and might beyond our understanding, and even when people saw it, they still couldn't quite believe it. Yet He became one of us, and lived like us, and struggled like us, yet there came a moment when He had to rise up and save each and every one of us though it would cost Him his life. And His power was still so amazing and infinite that He rose from the dead, having paid the sacrifice that we should have paid. Hallelujah.

Definitely the only true Superhero.

Oh baby, I'm appearing everywhere

So, I just won a 50 quid voucher for Firebox for uploading a photo and winning photo of the week! How friggin great is that! I never win anything! Maybe my fortunes have changed! I may very well go out and buy a lottery ticket.
Or not.

Action vs. Comedy

So yet another film review. I saw 300 on Tuesday night, then Blades of Glory last night. And I am well impressed with both. Amazing action scenes, then hilarious physical gags. How can we blend the two of these together though? With something like Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour?! I don't think so; they were good, but they weren't that good.

We need something else... a new era in film. We need to see armies of 100s fighting 100s, or just 1 man, but with the laugh out loud comedy of a Peter Kay dvd. Maybe Lee Evans in the new Terminator. Or Mr Bean Does D-Day.

I don't know, but I think it would be worth it.

A few photos of Andy, Erin and Sharon's Bday

A Pocket Symphony

Not just the name of the new Air album, but also the name I have given to my recently obtained Ipod!

I finally bought into the mainstream brand of apple's most amazing creation, the ipod. And to be truthful, I have taken to it like it was my own child. I have not really parted with it for over two weeks now, and it has already provided me with many musical moments in my life. There is nothing as satisfying as driving along and rocking out to AC/DC one moment, walking through the park to Goo Goo Dolls in another, and falling asleep at days end to Ry Cooder.

Currently packing 5205 songs and counting as I continue to transfer my cds to digital. Also put on A-Team and Scrubs Season 5 for the lonelier times.

Now this makes you think

So instead of spending $150'000 for a music video, Sarah McLachlan made one for $15. It's pretty impressive.

School For Wannabe Bad Boys

So at the risk of making my blog sound like a regular film guide, I just want to make mention I went to see School of Scoundrels last night, and I don't know.

Some good scenes (esp. the paintballing), some good lines ("Just look at me , I'm amazing"), and a good cast (BBT and JH, and a cameo by BS), but it just didn't strike me as being all that great. It's a remake of a 1960s film of the same title, and by all accounts, was a very good film. The modern day remake however, just doesn't really cut it with me. And I like daft comedies!

Maybe it's my film tastes have become more refined, or my desire to see more solid performances, better cinematography and well crafted plot lines, that I did not find this as funny as I expected. I have attended the cinema once a week for the last four weeks (twice to see Blood Diamond - leave your computer at once and go see this film as it is amazing), and am thoroughly loving Crazy Tuesdays at the Moviehouse and Wacky Wednesdays at the Strand. However lately I am seeking more now for films that stir my imagination and soul, that actually inspire me to get out of the cinema and to go somewhere or do something.

Like the new film Amazing Grace that is coming out to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade. But in reality, the slave trade was never abolished, just transformed. William Wilberforce (what a name) was only one man who persuaded his friends, and eventually a nation, to wise up and see the injustice of what was happening. What is stopping us from being a generation of wilberforces? The Bible tells us that God works through us to make us a force to be reckoned with, and by Him we can do anything.

I reckon it's going to be a film that stirs your soul, and this of course, is what movies should do.

Red Hot Fuzziness

"Crap got real!"

Hot Fuzz. If you ain't seen it, you ain't just had the chance to go to the cinema yet, and I know when you do get to go to the cinema it'll be the first film on your list.

Flipping hilarious. Maybe not as funny as I expected, but then I had massive expectations before I went!!! But still a thoroughly good show!

Danny Butterman: Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air?

Nicholas Angel: No.

Danny Butterman: Have you ever fired one gun whilst jumping through the air?

Nicholas Angel: No.

Danny Butterman: Ever been in a high-speed pursuit?

Nicholas Angel: Yes, I have.

Danny Butterman: Have you ever fired a gun whilst in a high speed pursuit?

Nicholas Angel: No!

[[[ Hot Fuzz ]]]

Cost of War

I'm not political, but I found it staggering to see how much the American government is spending on Iraq! Just stumbled across it as I wasted time on the net. It has got me thinking though, how much has Britain spent on Iraq and other useful stuff like that?

So it transpires before the end of 2006, the British Government has spent nearly 7 BILLION QUID, which of course, is a big sum of money. Check out the news article here back in November. Now of course, this makes up only a small part of the near £400 Billion Britain spends every year.

So THAT then got me thinking, what could you do with £7 Billion?
Here's a few ideas.

1) Cancel the total debt of a developing country (using World Bank figures for what countries owe), maybe Belize, or Lesotho, or Kenya (c. £4'000'000)
2) Go with a friend to visit the Titanic two and a half miles underwater (£28'500 x2)
3) Get as close to space as possible without leaving the atmosphere (£15'999), or actually go into space for 5 minutes (£63'299)
4)Get a wax version of myself, then get wax versions of my mates, and put them in a giant 5 a side football table, or in dubious positions with other well known celebrities (£150'000 x10 friends; £75'000 for table; £150'000 for other celebrities)
5) Take a romantic holiday for two to the South Pole (£25'999 x2)

A better Top 5 might be:

1) Pay for 166'905 families to send a child to Secondary School for 5 years in Britain (circa. £7 billion)
2) Make up the shortfall the government 'needs' to replace road surfaces, that wreck cars and can increase the chances of accidents (£1 billion)
3) Order, print and distribute 4'666'666'666 bibles across Asia (£7 billion)
4) Distribute 85 million gospel study guides on all four Gospels from Emmaus Bible School (£7 Billion)
5) Roughly £15 a month, over a year, could rehabilitate a borehole with a pump - providing water for up to 250 people in somewhere like Zambia, so that's £180/yr, so you could service 38'888'888 boreholes across the world, affecting 1 billion people for 10 years.

It's crazy to think the difference our government could make to the world if they wanted to.

Journey's End

There is definitely something so final about funerals. No-one likes to be faced with death, though it's the only sure fire thing that you know will definitely happen in your life, yet still no-one bets on it.

Maybe it impresses upon you the fact you haven't accomplished all that you set out to when you were young. Chances came and went and you never took them, or maybe even someone came and went, and you never held on to them. Maybe the little work you've done never made you fully happy, or maybe the lots of work you've done made others unhappy. Maybe you never spent time with one person, maybe you spent too much with various persons. Maybe you never told or showed those closest to you that underneath all of life's rubbish, you actually do love them. Who knows, all you do know is that at the end of it you're going to be dust, and no amount of money, friends, achievements or apologies are going to change that.

Except if you believe in God and Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. And I don't just mean any God, I mean the one true God, the God of the Bible. John 3:16, one of the most well known verses in the world, explains why. So when our time on earth is finished, our bodies will pass away but our souls will return home to be with our Saviour. God loved each one of us so much, that despite how badly we get on, all the crap that we do, He still put His Son on the cross for me, and for you.

There was a girl named Charitie L. Bancroft, born in Ireland, who 140 years ago decided to write a song that would encapsulate how she felt about her salvation. The song was "Before the Throne of God Above".

"My name is graven on His hands,

My name is written on His heart;

I know that while in Heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart."

How amazing to think that God knows me by name, for my name is on His heart. Hallelujah! So no matter when I die, for when it happens it's going to be a friggin joyous occassion. Sure people might be upset, but I pray not for long, because God has taken me to be with Him where I can sit it out waiting with loved ones that have gone before, and for loved ones that are coming.

People call death Journey's end, but it's not because it's the last stop and it's final, it's because you finally get to celebrate and enjoy yourself after taking all that time to get there. It's like finally coming home after being away for a long time; there's not a feeling like it.

The Weekend

Recently I have managed to attend the gym on a weekly basis, but this has been hampered by my self-inflicted weight gain. On Friday I had dinner at the Cuan (Strangford), where I dined on starter, main and dessert, all in great abundance. On Saturday following a cooked lunch of bacon, sausage, potato and cabbage, I went on to have my dinner that night consisting of pizzas and tortilla chips. It was at this point I noticed I have begun to look a bit more rotund around the midsection. On Sunday I had cooked lunch again, except this time it resembled a medieval banquet, and there were no scraps to throw out to the poor because I ate them all. Last night I then dined on hot sweet chilli shredded chicken from my local oriental establishment (Red Dragon). By now my flat-ish stomach had begun to look like a bag of wet sand concealed under my jumper.

You may have seen me cruising around Belfast in my new BM (x). It is a pleasure to behold, and as I am bordering unfit again, I'm taking it up to the park this afternoon for a rake around. There's a dirt track as well, so might try to get some "sweet airs".

Anywho, I was bowling on Saturday and managed to win with only 115 points. I would like someone to challenge me in order I may better myself. I know looking at that score you would have to be outta your mind to take on such a champion as myself, but give it a shot.

2nd Day in the Office

So presently I am sitting, about to commence another day in the office after having cycled over on an morning not dissimilar to those experienced within the Arctic Circle. My ears are red, cold, and I now have a small pain in my inner ear, no doubt the preliminary stages of frostbite.

Yesterday I got to do more advertising work, having finished the Rally Sunday invites (short of 100 at the moment but that'll be rectified), and typed up and printed a few other things. Generally though I have answered email questions and requests, and this part of the job has to be the best. Except for the Congratulations card I got last week, which was actually a religious death threat, I am thoroughly enjoying the communication aspect of the job, getting to talk to people I normally wouldn't have the chance to.

I also would like to mention that last night I attended Windsor Park for the Wales game and was disappointed we didn't score, but happy with the draw. We were sitting five rows from the sideline so had the opportunity to begin all the favorite chants, especially "Who are ya?". The highlight of the match had to be, beginning that chant, and as we finished our demonstration of fine articulation, a man behind us said "Who is he right enough?". Legendary.