04/30/10

Politics, Debates and Voting

Last night I fell asleep watching the final leaders debate on iPlayer…this morning having woke up earlier than I’d wanted I finished off watching the debate and feel that whilst I’ve learned a lot through the debates things aren’t much clearer.

There’s been so much stuff to take in with this election stuff it’s difficult to know what to think…a variety of re-tweets from friends of mine inform me of little nuggets including how rich David Cameron actually is…the BBC informed me that Gordon Brown referred to a voter as a bigot (is it bad that this made me like him more?) and of course as Nick Clegg’s popularity has soared as have the criticisms of the bloke from the newspapers attempting to find anything they can.

However my favourite reponse to the parties so far has to be the following which is taken from a Facebook comments section by a young person who used to attend a youth event I was involved in: (in the context of being asked if she knows who to vote for)

Well yeah, but my reasoning behind it isn’t the best. I don’t like the conservatives because I just don’t like David Cameron, his forehead is so shiny and he’s so creepy, he reminds me of the pedo that lives round the corner from me. I like labour but old Gordy, bless him, it’s not his fault the country hate him, he’s just ugly, I’m sure he’s a lovely man really. I think he’s misunderstood. My favourite is Nick Clegg, but I understand his chances of getting in aren’t good?

Make what you will of the opinions of the leaders in the above but other than Cameron probably not being a pedophile it seems pretty accurate and probably not masses more than I have to go on from the debates!

Pointing The Finger

The first debate (as I blogged previously) was Brown and Cameron arguing and Nick Clegg occasionally saying (in a round-a-bout sort of way) ‘Vote for these quarreling kids or vote for me’.

Having missed the second debate and moved onto the third the same as the above seemed to happen but Clegg seemed to be far more arrogant in his ‘Vote for me’ sections…I guess he’s gone from being stood between the 2 potential prime ministers to actually being a potential prime minister!

The thing with these debates is whilst the questions would be great if answered straight they were pretty much answered with ‘well the *opposition party* would do this’ which seemed pretty stupid to me and so actually I came away from last night’s debate thinking that I’m not sure any of them will make a difference!

So who to vote for?

I guess i ought to do some reading….failing that maybe ask Carl who he’s voting for and mirror that (he actually understands politics!) but I do know 1 thing.

I won’t be voting Conservative

Why? Simple…I don’t trust Cameron, he seems to try and tick all the boxes e.g. ‘I was talking to an African the other day’ (on the first debate) and ‘I’m a relatively active Christian’ (when talking to Steve Chalke) and whether he has genuinely done all that it just comes across a bit fake.

Add into that the ridiculous policies which seem to benefit the rich and cost the poor the only people voting Conservative will be rich snobby types and those planning to knock off a rich relative for their inheritance in the near future.

Lib Dem vs. Labour

This of course leaves me with Lib Dem or Labour. Lib Dem probably isn’t a bad choice…I like the 10,000 tax free earning idea and the lack of uni fees…I also think Clegg seems to genuinely care about the stuff he says (although staring into a TV camera he reminds me of the demon headmaster). On the other hand Labour is probably (much as it pains me to say this) isn’t a bad choice either…and I don’t think Brown is a bad bloke (just dropped in it by Blair) and would probably do a good job (if we ignore the preconception that the Prime Minister needs charisma). However, my question about Labour would be one which wonders whether we simply give them the opportunity to keep doing what they’re doing…which…if I’m honest isn’t what I’d like to happen.

So there you have it…my voting dilema…Lib Dem? Labour? or perhaps I vote BNP and let them spend 9bn PA deporting people…tricky!

04/24/10

What if punk never happened? (Elections)

I’ve had the King Blues album ‘Save the world, get the girl’ playing in my car over the last few days and it’s a fantastic album. The last track is about 7 minutes long and is titled ‘What if punk never happened?’…it’s not a musically great song but lyrically it is one of my favourite songs. As I’ve listened to it the last few days and let the lyrics sink in the last section seems completely appropriate to the elections we have coming up so I thought I’d blog them. (You can read the whole song lyrics here...contains naughty words!)

There’s a lesson to be learned, one that I will take home,
When I return to my normal reality zone,
Punk rock has the power to change the world,
It lies in every single punk rock boy and girl,
So don’t let anyone tell you you’re not worth the earth,
These streets are your streets, this turf is your turf,
Don’t let anyone tell you that you’ve got to give in,
Cos you can make a difference, you can change everything,
Just let your dreams be your pilot, your imagination your fuel,
Tear up the book and write your own damn rules,
Use all that heart, hope and soul that you’ve got,
And the love and the rage that you feel in your gut,
And realise that the other world that you’re always looking for,
Lies right here in front of us, just outside this door,
And it’s up to you to go out there and paint the canvas,
After all, you were put on the earth to do this,
So shine your light so bright that all can see,
Take pride in being whoever the hell you want to be,
Throw your fist in the air in solidarity,
And shout “Viva la punk, just one life, anarchy”

Even as a Christian I find that these lyrics absolutely burst with passion and in many senses they could be lyrics that remind us that we have the power to change the world!

04/22/10

Male Nudity (Gym #2)

I’ve just returned from the gym and there’s one thing that never fails to baffle me about it…the changing rooms!

I’m not a stranger to changing rooms with showers…even changing rooms with communal showers, after all they were present in the school changing rooms back in the day but no one ever used them!

My problem with them is two-fold…

Firstly I’m ten minutes drive from the gym, I have a nice warm shower at home and I’d much rather use my own shower….if I wanted to shower with other men I’d join a rugby team! Don’t get me wrong I’m not scared of male nudity…I’m not in the least bit homophobic and I’m perfectly comfortable in my own sexuality but I’d never willingly choose to see naked men. Give me the choice between naked man and no naked man and I’d be sure to pick the latter.

Secondly if you need to shower in the gym then that’s perfectly fine and if I had to enter the world of naked men in order to clean myself here would be the process I’d go through.

Carefully remove clothes…placing a towel around certain places to cover my modesty (or inadequacy before some funny commenter makes the joke!)…next I would wander into the showers and turn on the water, carefully checking the temperature. My next move would be to remove towel ensuring it is hooked up in a place both close yet not under the shower! This would be followed by a quick shower before having a quick dry and once again covering modesty and wandering out. I’d then do that thing where you put the essentials on under your towel and so on and so forth revealing as little of myself to the public as possible!

However what many males from many different walks of life seem to do includes letting the inner nudist in them out…there’s no covering up…no walking out the shower with a towel just letting it all hang out in a way only Adam did before he realised he was naked!

So in summary… I don’t understand the need to wander around naked…I could justify a shower but if you have to get naked in the changing rooms be naked for as little as possible! Maybe you’re reading this and thinking I’m a little homophobic…I’m not…just don’t like to see naked men!

(this post is dedicated to Lucy)

04/21/10

The Rise & Fall of Five Iron Frenzy DVD Review

Back in 2003 the Christian band Five Iron Frenzy called it a day…played their last gig at Filmore (USA) and the 9 piece band separated…I was 17 and had never heard of the band. It wasn’t until I was introduced to them by Ben & Hayley individually in 2004 that I eventually purchased their EP ‘Quantity is job 1′ off amazon.

In the years following that I’ve managed to add all their albums except Cheeses (of Nazareth) and Upbeats and Beatdowns to my collection and have grown to adore their mix of ska-punk comprised with both fun and profound lyrics.

Earlier this year the ex-lead singer of the band Reese Roper finally announced that the long-awaited Five Iron Frenzy DVD would be released on the 13th April and that pre-orders would get it shipped a month early…I pre-ordered early March and anticipated the arrival of my DVD from the States.

A few weeks back the DVD arrived and I’ve almost finished watching it minus a few extras and wow…what a DVD!

The DVD is in fact 2 DVD’s….the first being the 3 hour documentary ‘The Rise & Fall of Five Iron Frenzy’ and the second labeled ‘This is a coaster’ is actually a disc of extras including the video of the live album ‘The end is here’ (the band’s last gig)..I’ll come back to the extras in a minute!

The Rise & Fall of Five Iron Frenzy

The 3 hour documentary covers the 9 years of the band and is mixed with interviews, live clips and goofy home movies the band put together and gives you a real insight to the passions, struggles and lives of the band members, their journey with God during the 9 years of Five Iron Frenzy and how the band really took off yet struggled with being in the middle of the Christian and secular genre.

The documentary is well put together and is very much a visual timeline…Reese Roper who did much of the editing hasn’t made the journey look like a nice a fluffy ride with God but has documented the struggles too which makes it a really genuine piece of documentary.

The Extras

Whilst the documentary is amazing the extras are something else completely.

Packed onto the 2nd disc are 5 music videos, 3 lives concerts, a few random clips and a whole host of short movies!

I’m not going to to review all of the extras but just the Filmore Gig Video.

Filmore was the last show the band ever played and so to have it on DVD is something very special. The video includes all the stuff that was cut from the live CD and there’s real emotion in the gig from the whole band. The real highlight was the 5 minute introduction Reese gives to Every New Day which was so powerful to watch.

and summing up…

To sum up the Five Iron Frenzy DVD is amazing and was well worth the $20 I spent on it however it is for the hardcore fans…if you just think ‘they’re alright’ then it’s probably not for you…borrow someone’s and watch the live Filmore gig!

I finish this post with the live video for ‘Every new day’

04/20/10

Gym

I’ve never been particularly enthusiastic about sports. When I was a child I used to play rounders with a local church group, I spent a month or so with cricket lessons before realising I wasn’t manly enough for a wooden ball to come hurtling at me and of course at primary school I spent a fair amount of time doing the usual primary school sports such as activities involving an egg and a spoon.

Although the above reads like I was a vaguely active child with sport I was never passionate about it. I’ve never (and probably never will) follow a football team and generally to me sport is just sport.

However it wasn’t until I was at high school that a real dislike for sport came about. We had this sports teacher who in reflection was probably just bummed that after whatever he’d spent his life doing he’d wound up teaching kids PE and so decided that the only worthwhile sport to teach boys was to alternate between rugby and football with the occasional indoor ‘beep’ test.

To top it all off I don’t believe he was ever any good at any of the sports…he was slightly over weight and hilariously was took out and injured by the student teacher during my last year and spent a term limping about before realising that limping gave him sympathy and so continued to limp throughout the remaining term…however in his senile state he often forgot which leg he’d injured and so the limping foot varied.

Anyway aside from my rant about my PE teacher it was through this teacher that I gained a passionate dislike for sport and avoided it at all costs…and with the odd exception of a youth group cricket match or table tennis game I continue this inactivity to this day.

So back in January when I considered joining a gym and back on Day 21 of lent finally joined and took the induction session it was with no surprise that a Facebook update about heading to the gym prompted ‘you? the gym?’ and ‘I never thought I’d read the words ‘Mark’ and ‘gym’ in the same sentence’ as responses from shocked friends.

However I have to say that I am really enjoying being a member of the gym…the different machines are good fun and I find it a really good way to escape for an hour with some music at the same time as pushing my body. I’ve found that the treadmill is my favourite of all machines and often find myself returning for an extra 5/10 minutes of running before leaving.

I guess the point of this blog really is to communicate my new found love of the gym, express my general dislike for all things sporty thanks to a senile, over-weight PE teacher (you know who you are!) and mention that I have a new place to escape to when I need to take time out during the day!

04/15/10

The Leaders Debate

I’ve always been a little wary about posting a blog on politics largely because I find it difficult to engage with politics, I don’t have the patience (or passion) to read through policies and manifestos and whilst I believe that those who have the right to vote should vote I sometimes wonder how much difference a different prime minister will actually make.

In the last few weeks as I’ve watched the rolling news channel from the treadmill at the gym I’ve seen Cameron at sponsored walks in Norfolk, mingling with ‘ordinary people’ and visiting hospitals….Brown has been doing similar things…visiting schools (and trying not to scare the kids I’d imagine!) and jogging around….Clegg who is very much the underdog hasn’t had masses of similar coverage but I did see him in a primary school.

Whilst this is all very nice it’s very much a show they seem to put on around election time and so to be quite honest I couldn’t care less where any of the 3 were visiting!

Another thing that didn’t interest me was the concept of tonight’s first live leaders debate on ITV

However with little to vote on besides the the failings and downsides of both Labour and Conservative which fill the few newspaper websites I check I felt like I had a duty of sorts to tune in.

Last night in the pub I remarked to Lucy (on the subject of the debate) ‘all that’ll happen is Brown and Cameron will slag each other off and Clegg will come out on top’ and it seems from tonight’s debate that I was right!

I found tonight’s debate interesting yet frustrating…especially from Brown and Cameron there was continuous ‘I’m better than you’ point scoring leading me to believe that perhaps Jeremy Kyle would be a better host.

I’m not going to go into loads of details on policies and stuff in this blog but I’m just going to say that I personally don’t want another Labour government…there’s a lot of things they’ve done I disagree with and I think they’re time is up…equally I don’t want Cameron’s make-up covered face in charge of the country. I don’t believe he’d do a good job at all.

Now that leaves Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats who I did vote for last time (with no reason I might add!)…whilst they Lib Dems are very much the underdogs in all this I wonder if it might be their time…after all I think everyone sees through Cameron and are sick of Labour.

It’s going to be an interesting series of debates and a very interesting election!

04/13/10

The King Blues Gig

Last night Jo and myself went to Manchester to see The King Blues play on their headline tour. I got into The King Blues just over a year ago and love their blend of ska and acoustic punk combined with fantastic, passionate lyrics.

I first saw The King Blues back in September as part of Hull’s ‘Freedom Festival’ where they played a set of about 5 songs and got the whole of Queens Park (about 2000 people) to shout ‘F*** the BNP’ and whilst the sentiment is nice I wasn’t sure that a park full of families was the place for shouting it…perhaps ‘We don’t like the BNP’ would have been more appropriate.

Last night after the usual mix of good and awful support acts the King Blues took stage…lead singer Jonny Fox launched into the first song dancing around madly with his ukulele whilst the rest of the band joined in.

The band continued through an energetic set including ‘Underneath this lamppost light’, ‘Mr Music Man’ and ‘Let’s hang the landlord’ mixed with passionate speaking about how the people have the power…ringing true to the anti-facist vibe of the band. They also played some new songs including ‘Headbutt’ which has been on their Myspace fo a while now, like headbutt all the new songs took a more heavy punky feel about them.

All in all a fantastic gig…the passion and energy from the band really made the gig!

04/11/10

London

So in the last week in my blogging break I’ve been to Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Sheffield, South Cave and London…lots of wedding planning done, lots of potential blogs thought of but I’ve resisted the temptation to blog…until now!

I have a love/hate relationship with London…I got quite used to the business of our capital city during my 3 years studying with Oasis with the more-regular-than-I’d-have-liked trips to London…catching a 7:15am train, rushing past the slow moving crowds at Kings Cross Station and shoving my way onto a tube train which could only be described as a business-man mosh-pit.

Whilst I didn’t amazingly enjoy those early mornings, long days and the general business of London I do look back on that time with some fondness…largely the sarcastic comments we’d make during lectures to each other…10 youth workers in 1 place is not a good combination as we seem to put on the persona of the young people we work with!

However despite my dislike for busy places London is a great place to visit occasionally…it’s crawling with interesting stuff to do and places to do and on Friday myself and Jo went down to London to ride the eye and go on the boat cruises (the Christmas present I got for Jo after she talked about wanting to visit London properly).

The London Eye was the view from the office block where I had lectures and so actually riding it was an interesting experience, we had a beautifully clear day and so could see for miles and miles from the top and the experience of being inside this pod looking down upon London was great…although a glass floor may have been the icing on the cake.

Surprisingly though the river boat was my favourite bit of the day….we took the boat from the London Eye to Greenwich and the commentator on the boat was fantastic…he was informative but at the same time interesting mixing his facts with pub guides, sarcastic comments and a generally dry sense of humour.

The other part of London we spent some time in was Camden Market…we visited Camden back in January and the market there is fantastic but continues my love/hate relationship with London. The hundreds of stalls are great to browse through, the smells of the Chinese, African, Mexican and numerous other foods are fantastic and make you hungry and some great little shops hidden within the madness.

The problem with Camden is that all the sellers are very pushy which tends to put me off having a proper browse because you feel under pressure and whilst for many people I suspect this sells plenty for me it just puts me off and I wander away!

The best bit of Camden was this independent music shop on the main street full of records and CD’s…I walked away with Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Chili Peppers) and Welcome the night (the Ataris) for £1 each…bargain!

To conclude this post here’s some photos….

04/4/10

Day 47: Easter Sunday!

So here we are…47 Days after the beginning of lent and we celebrate that Jesus has risen from the tomb, we can go back to the things we did before lent (good news for those chocolate lovers perhaps!) and I can go back to not constantly thinking ‘what shall I blog next?’.

I’ve got a few days off work now and I shall also be taking a few days off blogging but I shall return either at the end of the week or next week without starting a post with ‘day xx in the blogging house’.

In the mean time I want to finish with this scene from the passion of the Christ which I think sums up Easter Sunday perfectly

04/3/10

Day 46: Easter Saturday

Having been out last night, got in at half 2, watched the new Ashes to Ashes on iPlayer and then slept I didn’t awake until half 11 this morning…I crawled out of bed, went to the gym and now I’m sat at home typing this before heading out to Beverley for a couple of hours.

Why the boring life update above?

Well…today is just a normal day! The shops are open the usual hours, the gym is open as usual, I’m doing my usual day off mix of Facebook, blogging, gym, and heading out to nice little places like Beverley and probably chilling in front of the TV but yesterday was Good Friday and tomorrow is Easter Sunday…two of the biggest events in the Christian calendar yet sandwiched between those two days lies Easter Saturday…a day that is just a normal day.

In his book ‘God on Mute’ Pete Greig briefly explores the idea of Easter Saturday and since reading the book a couple of years ago Easter Saturday has really intrigued me.

Let’s imagine the disciples…they’ve spent the last 3 years following this revolutionary rabbi (Jesus) who’s managed to turn faith as they know it upside down, He’s challenged the pharisees (leaders at the time) on pretty much everything they try and teach the people. A week ago the disciples witnessed Jesus riding in on a donkey with people praising God for Him.

Then 4 days later they share the passover meal together, Jesus calls them friends, Jesus washes their feet…they go out to pray…Jesus is looking troubled…Judas is no-where to be seen…suddenly less than a week after being praised by the people He is arrested…beaten within an inch of His life….chosen to be crucified over a murderer by His own people…nailed onto a cross and left to die.

The disciples had heard Jesus talk about dying but they never quite got it

They probably didn’t even catch on that He’d be alive again in a couple of days

So I wonder what the disciples did on Easter Saturday?

We don’t know but they’d just had the floor taken from under their feet, the man they’d followed, loved and learned from the last 3 years was dead…they were probably wanted men themselves just for following Jesus.

Perhaps they spent time together praying…maybe they shared communion….maybe they just didn’t know what to do

So as you spend a normal Saturday think about Easter Saturday and ponder!

04/2/10

Day 45: Can we live without supermarkets?

As I drove past Morrisons yesterday on my way home from my gym I realised that it had almost been 6 weeks since I stepped foot inside my little local supermarket and I realised that come Sunday I could break my fast of supermarkets…the thing is the majority of me doesn’t want to!

When I started the pledge to avoid supermarkets for lent I thought it would be difficult…and in many respects it has been. The thing is we’re creatures of habit and so to get out of the habit of thinking ‘I’ll just pop to Morrisons’ and escaping that mind set was tricky to start with but I’m now in a new habit…the local farm shop (half a mile from my house) sells all the fruit and veg I need, equally the butchers or farmers market works for dead animal requirements and whilst the milkman is not a financially effective option for milk (and doesn’t deliver until 11 which is annoying) the mini-mart works for milk and beer.

The most difficult things to get without supermarkets has been cereal because it is so overpriced locally it’s crazy so I’ve been using home bargains for cooking sauces and cereals which means a trip into Hull (although when I need it I tend to be going in anyway) but the cereals are cheaper than the supermarkets which is nice.

Cost Effective?

So is it cost effective to not shop at supermarkets? If you’re a heavy drinker then the booze cost will hit you but I’m not and so my answer is yes! I’ve spent far less on fruit and veg than I usually would and they’ve been far nicer. Meat is fractionally more expensive (unless I get it from the monthly farmers market) and everything else which I’ve used home bargains for has been cheaper.

Interestingly this church times article agrees that local stores are cheaper than supermarkets

Time Effective?

Back in 2008 following on from the comments left by Laura in my post about Tesco I posted a blog titled ‘Easy Ethical Shopping‘ and having now tried ethically shopping for a month or so I think that you spend less time buying stuff locally than you would in the supermarket.

For example it takes me 10 minutes to get to the supermarket and I probably spend half an hour in there…that’s a 50 minute trip. If I pop to the butchers, bakers and fruit and veg shop I probably spend 5 minutes in each maximum and walking to them probably makes it the same time as the supermarket trip but I’ve been popping by them on my way back from places so it’s probably a half hour trip!

Will I be returning to the supermarkets on Sunday?

In short ‘no cos they’re closed on Sunday’…to answer the question properly I have to say yes and no. Supermarkets will cater for my beer, meat free mince (which I’ve missed more than I’d imagined), cereal etc but not for fruit and veg and maybe occasionally for meat! Whilst fresh bread has been nice I can’t eat it quick enough as one so I’ve wasted bread so I guess it’s back to supermarket bread!

So can we live without supermarkets?

That’s a whole blog post in itself! The problem is that supermarkets have rooted themselves too far into our society already, without supermarkets there’s many products we just wouldn’t be able to get because it’s simply not sustainable any more to have local retailers that sell all we need. If there’s a local butcher, baker or fruit and veg store then use them if you want to keep them but I don’t think you could have everything you wanted without supermarkets…but you can cut them out of whole chunks of your shopping.

And finally…

It’s been a very interesting experiment, I don’t feel like I’ve been enlightened by the whole thing…I’ve discovered local retailers I wouldn’t have known of otherwise but that’s it!

04/1/10

Day 44: Alkaline Trio – This Addiction Review

I’ve been aware of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio for a few years no but I’ve never got around to listening to them…I don’t know why but for some reason it never happened…until last week!

I stumbled across a video of them playing their new single ‘This Addiction’ on the Letterman show so thought I’d hop onto Spotify to listen to the new album…I ordered it as a result and have had a chance to give it a good listen.

The album ‘This Addiction’ comes in 3 formats, the CD, the CD with bonus tracks and live DVD and a 7″ vinyl. I opted for the CD/DVD tempted by the bonus tracks and live DVD and it was a fantastic choice!

First the album itself! The sound of Alkaline Trio is pretty simple drums, bass, guitar punk rock with the lead vocalist sounding similar to the lead singer of Bad Religion. The album opens with the single ‘This Addiction’ which has a crunchy punk-rock feel about it with some beautiful bass notes. As the album continues the catchy pop-punk continues, as do the beautiful bass notes…some of my favourite tracks on the album include ‘Off The Map’ and ‘The American Scream’ (and of course ‘This Addiction’).

Secondly the bonus tracks and DVD are well worth paying for. The bonus tracks are simply some nice acoustic versions of tracks off the album and the DVD shows the talent of the 3 band members….I always find it fascinating to watch bands play but that’s mainly from being a bit of a music geek!

Overall I’m finding the simplicity of Alkaline Trio’s approach to pop-punk a refreshing walk in the park compared to the complicated, over produced bands that seem to be taking the place of simple punk-rock. The tracks are nice and catchy and I personally think the bonus tracks and DVD are worth the extra £2 but that depends if you’re a music geek or not!

So ‘This Addiction’ isn’t going to be for everyone but if you like the likes of Blink 182 and Bad Religion chances are you’ll love it!