What I am....

Me thinks this is a subtle hint from Bec to blog a bit more.....

What I am reading:

Well.....in all honestly I should proberly be reading all books for Yits. But that hasn't happened, and I can't imagine that happening any time soon. Oh well.......

I am trying to find a copy of Alice in Wonderland, to read in preparation for my 21st party..its theme being, Alice in Wonderland. Figured it would make sense to read it.

I still have not finished 'Velvet Elvis', by Rob Bell. It is one of my aims these holidays, before finding and reading his next book 'Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality' . That and 'God's Politics', by Jim Wallis.

Also in the waiting list is:

Nick Cave: the complete lyrics 1978 - 2001

One Step Closer: Why U2 matters to those seeking God : Christian Scharen (I found this blog when I started this one...a couple of months later, found the book.)

What I am listening to:

Should really be changed to " What I am NOT listening to," for those who know me well know that i am rarely not listening to it :)

Last weekend I was very very excited to see one of my top 3 bands* Copeland preform at The Corner Hotel, along with Anberlin. It was the first time Copeland have toured in aust, and it was utterly amazing. I am now also liking Anberlin, having heard only one of their songs before seeing them live.

Right at this very moment however, I am listing to the profile song on my myspace, by The Middle East , who I saw a instore gig of a couple of months ago at Fist2Face.

*For those interested (haha) my top 3 bands are:

1. U2 : here and here

2. mewithoutYou : here and here

3. Copeland: here and as above

What I am watching:

I have not been watching a heck of a lot of tv at the moment. But I have made sure that I saw the mini doco The Choir of Hard Knocks. I loved it...words do it no justice.

Movie wise, the other day a couple of us saw Spiderman 3, which I think was the best so far.

Marie Antoinette (even if it did come out late last year) is one of my all time favourite things to watch, and has an amazing soundtrack too.

The Chaser's War on Everything is always on my ipod too for a laugh.

What I am loving:

Winter: hot water bottles, dooners and dvds, good vegie soup, chocolate bread and butter pudding with butterscotch sauce, scarves, jumpers, hoodies, beanies, gloves, ice, frost, thunderstorms, rain, puddles, gumboots, hot showers, thick socks...etc etc :)

Green tea

Kofi Beans : the best coffee shop around!

Music: what would the world be without it? A great gig is always a rad thing.

Threadless: freaking gold tees!

Bec and Geoff : what is there not to love :)

So...i don't really know who reads this thing, i am not going to pass on the meme....however, comment to tell me if you do it!

Bono's NAACP speech

I have looking and looking and looking for Bono's acceptance speech as mentioned in the below post...and i finally found what i was looking for (hehehe.....i couldn't help myself ;p)

A flipping amazing speech that gives a swift kick up the arse...

"......You see, I grew up in Ireland, when Ireland was divided along religious lines, sectarian lines. Young people like me were parched for the vision that poured out of the pulpits of black America, and the vision of a black Reverend from Atlanta…. A man who refused to hate because he knew love would do a better job.

These ideas travel, you know. And they reached me clear as any tune, lodged in my brain like a song. I couldn’t shake that. This was Ireland in the 70s growing up…. And people like me looked across the ocean to the NAACP. And I’m here tonight and that feels good. It feels very, very good.

Well today the world looks again to the NAACP. We need the community that taught the world about civil rights to teach it something about human rights. I’m talking about the right to live like a human.

The right to live, period. Those are the stakes in Africa right now.

Five and a half thousand Africans dying every day of AIDS – a preventable, treatable disease.

Nearly a million Africans, most of them children, dying every year from malaria – death by mosquito bite.

This is not about charity, as you know here in this room. This is about justice. It’s about justice and equality.

Now I know that America hasn’t solved all of its problems. I know AIDS is still killing people right here in America. And I know the hardest hit are African Americans, many of them young women. Today at a churchin Oakland I went to see such extraordinary people. This lioness here, Barbara Lee, took me around with her pastor, J. Alfred Smith. And may I say that it was the poetry and the righteous anger of the black church that was such an inspiration to me, a very white – almost pink – Irish man, growing up in Dublin.

This is true religion. True religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom. Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice. It’s a command. And that means a lot. That means a lot. That means that in the global village we’re gonna have to start loving a whole lot more people – that’s what that means. His truth is marching on.

Two million Americans have signed up to the ONE campaign to make poverty history. Tonight the NAACP is signing up to work with us. And so can you. His truth is marching on.

Because where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die.

And to those in the church who still sit in judgment on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God, who he is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor.

The poor are where God lives.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered.

God is with the mother who has infected her child with the virus that will take both their lives.

God is under the rubble and the cries we hear during war time.God, my friends, is with the poor.

And God is with us, if we are with them.

This is not a burden. This is an adventure. Don’t let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.

Thank you."

-BONO–2 March 2007

*found at poplemon.com

Wow....

Thoes who know me well (anybody who had ever met me really) knows how much i love U2. Their lyrics have such power to them, and so do the words of Larry Mullen Jr, Adam Clayton, The Edge and, of course, Bono.
So there is a button up the top of this blog......the 'next blog' tab...you get some shockers, but then every once in a while you will come across a gem.
I was doing the said action, when i came across a blog that had a youtube video of Bono's acceptance speech from the NAACP Image Awards, for which he was the Chairman Award's Winner.
In a lot of my classes with Yits, the idea of 'loving you neigbour as you love yourself' has been on high rotation. It is one of the most paramount teachings of the Bible...in my eyes thats the majority of what this whole thing is about.

Watching this clip...it really hit home about how much it really means. And as much as we can say it..doing it is what really counts.

Bono's acceptance speech


BYW...if someone (*cough bec) could tell me how to get a clip, such as the above, into my blog...that would be swell :)

And the walls came tumbling down...

Yits today saw us going to see Babel for 'word,' in which we have just finished looking at the creation story, moving onto the fall.

Four stories that are all interlinked because of a specific action undertaken. It was quite interesting the discussions that took place afterwards....specifically who was to blame for starting the chain of events. There were a number of theories going around. It was interesting to see on whom the finger of blame was laid on.

The film covered such a plethora of issuse...from illeagal immigration, sucide to political crap over an ambulance between 2 opposing countries. From communication issues between a husband and wife/father and daughter/different cultures....

It was quite an emotionally seeking movie. And the more I think about it..the more my mind spins at the complexities.

Words wont do any justice for the images that were seen