The A Team is Back!

You probably have a couple of choices if you're looking for inspiration as a screenwriter - you can reach for high quality literature and craft great films - such as LOTR - or you can rip off TV shows and do a bad job as with Starsky and Hutch (actually I liked that movie - its just that it was self-consciously a p-take, whereas the original didn't realise it was funny...).

Which brings us to the A Team - could it be that such great lines as "I pity the fool" will be reincarnated for the big screen? Apparently yes. Release date is set for June 2010 and with Ridley Scott apparently involved you'd at least hope it might be OK.

What really interests me is who they might get to play the main parts. So I went to the casting couch of the mind to make my choices for the main roles:

Hannibal - the hardest to cast by a mile - George Peppard was so distinctive in this role. Another George...Clooney would be interesting (or predicatable), but may just be the wrong kind of urbane. You could go to the "older" generation - Bruce Willis, Tommy Lee Jones, Burt Reynolds...but I think I'd replace one made for TV face with another and go for the laconic Richard Dean Anderson aka MacGyver - kinda the same show...

BA - this is hard - Samuel L Jackson might have the verbal chops but he doesn't have the physique. Ving Rhames has the physical presence but may actually be too big - remember BA was shortish. But he appeals as the best of the more well known actors - maybe they should cast an unknown dopplegangar of the man as the dialogue is not that challenging and acting was never a necessary part of this role - there must be an over-hyped rapper who could do with the celebrity and perhaps it would help bring a new audience in - for an outside chance, how about Mike Tyson? Nah the dialogue would be beyond him and his little girl voice...

Face - there are a bunch of smooth-faced options for this role - Tom Cruise will probably try to get it but really?! Val Kilmer before the weight went on...I suppose they could go for a Damon-Affleck-Pitt kind of "character". What about Ashton Kutcher? He already has the droopy 70's look down...or you could go for Owen Wilson - you'd just need to find a role for Ben Stiller somewhere in there...

Murdoch - surely this is Jim Carrey's perfect role? Possibly the one character who could be enhanced by a fresh face.

How good would it be to have a job transforming these shows into movies? Now that would be working for a living...

My Holiday Reading Review

Holiday reading isn't what it used to be! With kids discovering new and varied ways to kill or maim themselves every day and a certain suicidal fascination with the beach, there just isn't the free time to lie back with a book. In fact, reading itself changes - some pages you get to read 5 times; others you skip (mainly because of cunning repositioning of your book with the result of losing the page). Anyways, I managed to get through a few in the margins. Here they are:

Dreamsongs - George RR Martin

Yes this is the Song of Ice and Fire author and it does include a short novella "The Hedge Knight" set some years before the action of the series. An interesting feature of this collection of short stories, TV screenplays and novellas is the running commentary by the author which reveals a range of career highlights including involvement as a writer for the Twilight Zone and the TV series Beauty and the Beast! I suppose at least it wasn't that angel one with the Little House on the Prairie guy...

Good fun with a broad selection of fantasy, sci-fi and horror - the interesting thing about Martin is that really he scorns the boundaries between the various genre, preferring to explore the characters most of all as they battle with their humanity. I quite liked Unsound Variations, a sci-fi twister concerning chess and time travel, The Skin Game, which was equal parts horror and sci-fi and of course The Hedge Knight. 8/10

Atilla - William Napier

I'm a sucker for a well-drawn historical novel and this met my expectations in all but one respect. It tracks the early years of Atilla as the sun sets on the Roman empire. Atilla learns more about Rome than they would probably like as a hostage to keep the allied Hun cavalry in line. Its a good yarn with some excellent action as well as thoughtful characterisation. Too late I realised it was a series. Still, I think the series will survive being broken. 8/10

Snare - Katharine Kerr

A classic Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel this one. Fantasy paradigm set on a sci-fi post civilisation breakdown foundation. Lots of interesting questions about identity and genetics as the protaganists discover their world is not what it seems. Some quite original concepts and a good read. 7/10

Sagramanda - Alan Dean Foster

Gosh I must have read a dozen books by this author and he never lets you down. This is set in "near-future India" and you get a sense of the population issues and resource scarcity playing out. Its a kind of sci-fi, commerial espionage, eco thriller. The underdog trying to make a newly created resource available to the world. Was excellent fun with its wacky range of characters but a little disappointing when you discover what the big secret is! 7/10

Days of Infamy - Harry Turtledove

This guy specialises in alternate history, perfect for a sci-fi/history buff! The premise is: what if the Japanese invaded Hawaii after Pearl Harbour? Its a good story with some excellent characters and some nice twists - like the invention of the windsurfer! Lots of "in jokes" as history is subtly changed. Also asks some big questions about racism and what people will do under pressure. 7/10

All in all, I missed finding that truly excellent read in the 9 or 10 range, but with all the distractions, I'm not sure I would have appreciated it.

Beneath the Surface

There are lots of opinions out there on the whole Israel-Palestine thing - the why's of various participants. This may be one of the less informed views! But hey call me cynical, call me whatever you want but this is how I see it:

• The "why" of Israel (apart from the terrorist acts of the Palestinian militants) is in the timing - political expedience with upcoming elections - the sacrifice of human lives for political goals.
• The "why" of Hamas in failing to curb its militant tendencies (apart from the terror pay off that outweighs the deaths caused) is in the publicity - why would Hamas push Israel to retaliation? It makes better international press for their cause - the sacrifice of human lives for political goals.
• And then today some sad protestors at the ASB Tennis Classic in Auckland - protesting professional tennis player Israeli Shahar Peer's involvement - Global Peace and Justice aka John Minto, parading the so-called "developing international consensus" for a sport boycott - which right now doesn't exist so GPJ are on a limb with this one - local influence being leveraged by international tragedy through unilateral action not yet justified by international consensus - there may be a place for boycotts through sport but you do it with the accountability of international consensus when the protection of one group's rights involves the infringement of another person's rights - the sacrifice of one person's rights ostensibly for the rights of others.

Each group has an "end" which is in some sense justifiable. Each group selects means that are not defensible. It's the sad reality of these kinds of conflicts - ideology trumping justice.

Kiwi Christmas

The southern hemisphere Christmas can go one of 2 ways - either its a traditional meal with its roots in northern hemisphere culture - typically the lamb roast option - or its more suited to the summer Christmas - in which case the BBQ is a great option. In our family we alternate depending on who is the most influential in the Christmas planning (usually you win if its at your place).

This year, all were agreed so here's the menu:

Sirloin steak
Chicken kebabs (marinated in red plum, garlic, soy and olive oil) with onion, red pepper, pineapple (fresh) and cherry tomatoes
Chicken and herb sausages
Cold ham on the bone

New potatoes
Lettuce salad with avocado, pear, orange and pineapple with sesame based dressing
Kumara (sweet potato) salad with orange and pineapple dressing
Green bean casserole (bringing the US flavas!)

Boysenberry Flan
Fruit

All great and not too much - restraint somewhat apparent!

So what was your menu?

Oh and merry Christmas!

Rhysent Rhysisms

We had our ultrasound yesterday and baby looks strong and healthy and there is only one! It was very cute we have a picture of the baby's hand and it is open like it is waving at us. Both Rhys and Raegan had their fists all clenced up, but you can really see the little fingers. We didn't find out the gender, but we both think it's a boy. The baby's face wasn't as delicate looking as Raegan's was. We showed Kristen's parents the pictures on skype . Mom said to Rhys,"Rhys, the baby looks just like you." Rhys, "Yes, she does."

Post Nov elections here in NZ there was a news show TV talking about the new cabinet ministers. Rhys was eating breakfast, when he pipes up with, "I've never heard of a minister before....(small pause dead serious out of the corner of his mouth), but I have heard of octopuses."

Talking about a little boy named Paul at kindy. "Paul has monkey ears (said as he pulls his ears out away from his head)." Brett, "Oh, do you tell Paul he has monkey ears?" Rhys, as if were stupid, "Yeah". Brett, "Does Paul like being called monkey ears?" Rhys, "No". Kristen, "Well, maybe you shouldn't tell Paul he has monkey ears." Rhys(again pulling ears away from his head), "If Jesus takes away my ears, will he give me monkey ears instead?"

And then in the Ultrasound place he tells these sweet old people who say Goodbye to him (in front of the entire ultrasound waiting room), "Bye, poopy babies!" The grandmother rolled on the floor out of control laughing when told this on SKYPE (she was on the floor because she was tryting not to let him see her laughing). It seems like the facination with poop has passed down from Marcia to Kristen and now to Rhys!

Kristen is most proud of her saying "poo" and then holding her nose. She usually does this when we go in to get her from a nap. Now, you can smell it as soon as you open the door, but she'll look up and say, "oh, poo" and then grab her nose.

Won't be long before she gets ger own posts on funny things said!

Family Xmas Snap

So at a recent cessioncommunity event "A Town Called Christmas" there was a photobooth - and we managed to grab a photo!

Note the .3 child hiding behind the 1 year old...

Dodgy Santa

I think the thing that hacks me off most about New Zealand is our double standards. That and that we don't actually have any.

So I'm not sure why Heart of the City lobby group is asking Aucklanders whether the ex Farmers Santa now on the Whitcoulls building is just a "dodgy old man" who should be retired.

Didn't we endorse dodgy men running rampant in Queen St when the police, the Courts and finally in a stunning act of democratic prurience, 100K mindless perverts, said its OK to advertise porn from the back of motorbikes?

Has anyone ever seen the Farmers Santa and Boobs on Bikes Promotor Steve Crowe in the same room?

Traces of Me

I went looking for myself on the weekend. Didn't know what I would find. Desperate to find even a trace of me.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to an Open Home. Not just any Open Home however. This was the home of my youth - from age 7 - 21. This was where I lived through so many experiences and events that shaped me.

It was the venue for hundreds of backyard cricket matches, On the Mat bouts and endless re enactments of stirring epics like Robin Hood or the Fighting Prince of Donegal. It marked my transition to Intermediate school, College and University, each new learning opportunity signalled by a new route to travel and a new form of transport - from my green Raleigh Cruiser, to my second hand blue 12 speed, to the redoubtable Suzuki FA50 (cos that was its top speed). It was the scene of disappointments and triumphs - photos that I still have capture these - the death of pets (not the actual death) to winning the top award at my primary school. And it was where my Dad came home to die, except he didn't make it even that far. I moved out soon after.

The house had been substantially renovated and repainted. In some rooms I could have been anywhere surrounded by monochromatic acceptability. In other places I could still make out the dark cedar brown paint around the edges of windows - I grew very familiar with that paint over the years.

It was a surprisingly emotional experience. Memories flooded in. So much to remember. I smiled at little things that remained - the ugly bathroom benchtop, somehow surviving the ethnic cleansing of renovation. Little things like taps and toilet window glass, pavers and washing lines. A vivid memory from the smallest room of a challenge to a God I didn't yet believe in. But so little of me.

I began to search. Surely something remained beyond memories. My room had become faceless and while the window so often used as a means of egress might still have accomodated me, it didn't seem like it was my place to do it any longer.

In vain I searched under the deck for something of me - this had been the setting for many a clubhouse - I wondered if I dug up the floor whether the keepsakes I had buried would still be there. It didn't seem like a great idea for an Open Home. Surely I had scraped my initials somewhere under there - nagging memories of tagging the space tugged at my recollection but I couldn't find anything. No trace. Of me.

And then it came to me. I knew somewhere where the frequency of my passing had worn a memory into the structure of the house. No one would know. It must still be there.

The house in typical 70's style had a flat iron roof. Which made it great for climbing and hiding and exploring (and jumping off). I had looked for evidence of my descent from the roof - pock-marks in a piece of lawn where the slope of the section and the position of the roof made the jump to the ground acceptably dangerous. If you could time it just right, the ground would be soft enough to absorb great heel prints, nearly up to your ankle! But nothing remained.

But what about the access point? Where years of climbing onto the roof had begun the inevitable pulling away of the roofing material from the main structure. Round the back of the garage, the retained slope was just close enough for a young boy to jump up and grab the lip of the roof. Over the years it had become easier, more of a vault than a mad scramble! I ran my hand along the edge of the roof (funny how low it had become...) starting at the far end where I had never been until I found me. Traces of me. Of my passing remained.

Memories I have aplenty. But somehow it mattered that the house remembered me. That some trace of my passing remained. That it was so small didn't seem to matter.

Yeah Right

I just thought this was mean.

Barack the Builder

So I've had this post brewing for days about the first political scandal that would rock the new presidency of Barack Obama. A kind of mini-Watergate. And with Obama being such an orator, you'd expect that someone else was behind the speeches. I mean look at Milli Vanilli (which turned out to be all you could actually do and it actually be them).

But before I disclosed it to the world, I thought I should google this just to be sure. And of course its already all over the net.

Obama's speechwriter is actually...

Bob the Builder.

"America, can we do it? YES WE CAN."

I guess there's nothing new under the sun.

Christian Parties and the Margin of Error

So, the great experiment should now be discontinued. You'd have been better to vote Bill and Ben than to vote any of the Christian parties. At least that way you'd have a heap more fun:


Kiwi Party 11,659
The Bill and Ben Party 10,738
New Zealand Pacific Party 6,991
Family Party 6,973

And for those who are interested - if all the Christian parties and UF's votes had all been mashed in together, you'd still only get to 44,000 votes which is about 2.2% Party Vote.

Next time give the money to the poor.

American Blackout Goes Green

So last night cessioncommunity hosted a FilmGuide Screening of "American Blackout". This doco was a compelling look at the US voting system from the inside out. Democrat congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was one of the main figures whose journey played out. It was fascinating to see her ditched from Congress, not by Republicans voting in the election, but by Republicans crossing over to vote against her in the DEMOCRAT primaries! They signed up as Democrats and then voted her off the ticket. Appalling really.

Anyways, a number of people wondered afterwards where she was in the US election just gone. The answer: she was running for President under the Green party banner! America really missed a chance here: she would have been the first US president who was black and a woman...

She didn't win. In fact, she came last.

And she's not necessarily an Obama fan - her election night speech on this site - this report says this:

Green Party candidate, former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), told APN on election eve that even if Obama were to win, the Green Party’s work was still not done.

"I have a different view. It’s unfortunate that we’re not gonna get the kind of change people deserve and need. Not on war. Not that we need and I think people are voting for on civil liberties and social justice issues," McKinney told APN.

"Severing the ties that bind with special interests... the Democratic Party is not prepared to do that, so there are inherent constraints, limits to change. That has not been fully expressed, people have not been educated what those limits are," McKinney said.

"People are saying, George Bush has been so bad, but it’s not the substantive policy-driven change I’m advocating and people are truly expecting," McKinney said.

"I and other members of the Green Party will convene at some point and determine what the future course is. There are so many people who are hungry for a deeper change than is possible within the two party system, so we’ve worked real hard to identify who these people are and I’m sure that we’ll be working on a program to commence November 5th," McKinney said.

One Last Bushism

So I had to do an assignment designing a billboard for outside a church. It was a group assignment but the little cretins who I was assigned to just did it on their own without telling me! Which would have been my preference but I thought it was just plain rude! Anyways, so I ripped off some thinking I'd been doing anyway for RL and here it is - an Advent billboard:

One Man's Vote

Paul Windsor has been remarkably transparent on his blog in explaining his reasoning for voting for United Future. It seems that if the Family Party is the Destiny party, then UF is fast becoming the Baptist or at least the Carey party! I jest mostly. I'm not sure I'm with Peter Dunne on abortion but even in NZ there's no sensible middle ground on abortion. You're either a child murderer or a woman oppressor. So that's hardly a vote turning issue.

I continue to observe and research my own electorate. I discovered this fascinating article in the NZ Herald on the racist attitudes in the new Botany electorates. I love it that the people interviewed didn't want to be classed as racists - more they didn't want anyone to know they are racists! I happen to know the lawyer who faciliatated the local candidates forum who shares a surname with one of the candidates. He may be ethnically Asian but was born in Christchurch. So he's an immigrant of sorts(!) but where do these ignorant whites get off insulting my kiwi friend?

Most fascinating was the voting attitudes of some new immigrants really disturbing! Will this be the most ethnically driven election experience in NZ?

Prophet In the Home Town

Interesting preaching experiences this weekend. I preached the keynote at the Saturday night rally of our National Conference. And also as part of a pastor swap at Shore Grace Wesleyan on Sunday morning.

It turned out to be a very different experience from what happens in the local church "home town" week to week. Here's some of the differences I noted:

• People are more appreciative beyond the local setting - I think its that they realise you don't have to be there so they acknowledge the effort - especially so at Shore Grace


• Because people don't know you, you retain the element of surprise - that was clearly the case at both venues - the more unique parts of me were more unique!


• People don't know your stories - so its a part of the previous point - moments of personal authenticity seem to carry a little more weight - people thanking you for that - not so at the local church!


• On the other hand, some people don't get you! I guess because they're not as used to the rhythm of your preaching, they miss some of the nuances


• Sometimes its harder to be all things to all people - in my local setting people come to the church because at a bare minimum they tolerate me - if they don't they won't stay which is of course their prerogative - at the Conference I was told by someone that "you delivered that very well" which I took to mean my content was not as appreciated as my delivery. I don't think I am being over sensitive here - this person weighs their comments carefully :) Simply to say, its harder to hit that kind of crowd (not that I was aiming at this person :))


• Responsiveness is so dependent on environment - maybe this is not the way it should be or may be I get in the way of people responding to God, but the dynamics of response were interesting in their differences

Anyways, I'm still processing - but it was an encouraging experience.

And I'm still buzzing from an A+ on my preaching assignment from the legendary Paul Windsor. And his comment on one phrase "flippin' brilliant"! I am going to get a T-shirt made. Actually I was glad of the encouragement as I was nervous about the National Conference opportunity - I feel a bit out of place at that level.

Anyways, some rambling thoughts I'm still processing.