Hold your Poppers and Fireworks!!

New Year's Day to be delayed by a second
Courtesy Nine MSN
Get ready for a minute with 61 seconds.

Scientists are delaying the start of 2006 by the first "leap second" in seven years, a timing tweak meant to make up for changes in the Earth's rotation.
The adjustment will be carried out by sticking an extra second into atomic clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight Coordinated Universal Time, the widely adopted international standard, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology said this week.
"Enjoy New Year's Eve a second longer," the institute said in an explanatory notice. "You can toot your horn an extra second this year."

Coordinated Universal Time coincides with winter time in London.
At midnight (11am AEDT), atomic clocks will read 23:59:60 before rolling over to all zeros.
A leap second is added to keep uniform timekeeping within 0.9 second of the Earth's rotational time, which can speed up or slow down because of many factors, including ocean tides.
The first leap second was added on June 30, 1972, according to the institute.
Since 1999 until recently, the two time standards have been in close enough synch to escape any need to add a leap second, it said.
Although it is possible to have a negative leap second - that is, a second deducted from Coordinated Universal Time - so far all have been add-ons, reflecting the Earth's general slowing trend due to tidal breaking.
Deciding when to introduce a leap second is the responsibility of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, a standards-setting body. Under an international pact, the preference for leap seconds is December 31 or June 30.
Precise time measurements are needed for high-speed communications systems among other modern technologies.

Following such US icons as Rudi Gulliani 

TIME People of the Year

You products of the 80s out there might be keen to know that...

Bono, Bill, Melinda: TIME People of the Year
'For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are Time's Persons of the Year.'TIME Magazine has named Bono, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates as their 'Persons of the Year' for 2005.
In its December 19th issue, out today, Managing Editor James Kelly said the three had been chosen as the people most effective at finding ways to eradicate such calamities as malaria in Africa, HIV and AIDS and the grinding poverty that kills 8 million people a year.'When you look at the number of people who die from the kind of diseases and poverty that the Gates' and Bono are fighting, the death tolls are far greater than what occurs in natural disasters or wars,' Kelly said.The founder of computer giant Microsoft and his wife were named for their work in the Gates Foundation, the world's biggest charity with a $29 billion endowment, while Bono was described as the 'rocker who has made debt reduction sexy.''Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world's richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed by the poorest,' said Time.Bono said he was ' experiencing an unusual feeling. I think it's called being humbled.' 'There are a lot of people who could be here. What's really key is, all of us are in agreement that this can be a generation that can end extreme poverty. And by that we mean stupid, daft poverty where 3,000 kids are dying every day of a mosquito bite in Africa. Malaria. We can fix stuff like that. That's the kind of feelings I'm having right now.'The Gates Foundation funds hundreds of projects around the world primarily focussed on public health, from vaccinating children to developing new drugs, as well as educational programs and scholarships in the United States and abroad. Bono explained how his work with DATA and the One Campaign had been supported by Bill and Melinda Gates.'They have been our patrons since early on.' he said. 'A lot of people don't know that. Though we are coming from very different places, we are in agreement that this can be a generation that can eradicate extreme poverty. That's not a kind of wishful thinking, that's not misty-eyed rock star nonsense. This is a hardheaded business guy, and science based person. 'The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been researching vaccines and really getting into the detailed work on how to achieve this. These are achievable goals. I'm a mouthpiece. I'm a rock star. I'm a very lucky man. But it's the tough stuff that will get this done, not the bleeding heart brigade.'

HOLIDAYS!!!!

Hi All...
Despite plenty of material gathered in recent weeks nothing has made it to here...
I am on holidays for several weeks either side of Summer Camp in January and you may still find some pop culture musings here BUT strictly work stuff will have to wait until 2006!!

Have a great Christmas!!

Expect a visually stunning show!! 

U2 Sold Out

As U2 tickets probably sold out in about 15-20 mins this morning it seems that other shows will [as suspected] be added... but they're a bit slow jumping in. It was a lot of fun hearing from a variety of people this morning and sharing a laugh or the exasperation of what still proves to be "the biggest damn rock band in the world".... if you like that sort of music!!

I am working on a "Raking Over the Trash" pop culture resource edition to coincide with the Tour next year and will finish my young adult targeted Study and Discussion Guide by then!! [yeah sure!!]

Here's hoping my ticketing method worked out OK... I didn't hear about nay problems!!

For those unsure of a second show who missed out... try your local bus tour company... Foggs and Kings in Newcastle are definitely running buses!!

"...Take these hands Teach them what to carry, take these hands don’t make a fist,
Take this mouth, so quick to criticise, take this mouth give it a kiss..." Yahweh U2 HTDAAB

Not strictly a pumphouse topic BUT "The Aunty Jack Show" was a fav of mine growing up!! Historically the ABC chose Aunty Jack to usher in colour TV in 1975 by having an episode about this advancing 'thing' that frightened various characters until Aunty Jack opens the window and in floods colour!! 

Veronica Mars!! 

"Veronica Mars"

"Veronica Mars had the perfect life at 17, a boyfriend, popularity, and a great family. But it all came crashing down when her best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered and her dad, the sheriff, accused Lilly's father of the crime. His accusation cost her dad his job and wife and soon Veronica became an outcast. Now with her dad working as a private investigator, Veronica tries to uncover Neptune's darkest secrets and who murdered Lilly Kane."
http://www.upn.com/shows/veronica_mars/

Saw the first ep of this in Oz last night... should be another good summer for us as the networks attempt to build audiences with careful placement of all the shows they're frightened to show in ratings time... bring on Joan of Arcadia!!

Veronica Mars is classic teen drama, but its well made, earthy and real and the characters are likeable and real also!! IMO...

Nearly through game one the group is required to reform around the chair rather than run off from it for any longer 

Unreliable Idea # 27

"Hay Bale"
[or thats's what it was called when I first played it]

A group of any size plays this game in a hall or outdoor setting with careful thought [risk assessment given to sharpe and rough surfaces, hard floors etc]. The group link arms by holding each others wrists to form a circle. In the centre of the group is a hay bale, box, chair or bean bag. You get others 'OUT' by attempting to push or pull them towards contact with the centrepiece. So you have a kind of circular tug'o'war back and forwards around the object. Those who touch the bale, chair etc are out and the circle reforms!! Play until 1 or more winners!!

Adam Spencer joins Radio 702 in Sydney!! He will be the new breakfast DJ!! 

_ 

Limited Edition DVD with behind the scenes footage and extra song clips... coming to an alt.worship or coffee shop space somewhere near you!! 

U2 bring "Vertigo" to Oz in March 2006 

It's Official U2 in 2006!!

It's Official!
Australia To Get Vertigo
Eight years after they last played Australia, U2 are taking the Vertigo Tour to Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney in March.
The shows are the first to be announced for 'Vertigo '06' which will kick off in February and also stop in Mexico, South America, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.
U2.Com can exclusively confirm the Australian dates - tickets will go on general sale on Monday December 5th.
Friday March 17 Auckland Ericsson Stadium
Tuesday March 21 Brisbane Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre
Friday March 24 Melbourne Telstra Dome
Tuesday March 28 Adelaide AAMI Stadium
Friday March 31 Sydney Telstra Stadium
Tickets are priced at $99 for General Admission to the stadium field area,with Reserved Seat tickets to be priced between $99 and $199.
Ticket sales outlet information will be released one week prior to the on-sale date of December 5.
Since the Vertigo Tour kicked off in San Diego last March, three and a half million fans have filled 110 shows in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, a year after release, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb enjoys 9 million sales worldwide and this week 'U2//Vertigo//2005 Live from Chicago, a live DVD of the show was released worldwide


AND the DVD is moving and poignant.... I will write more about some of the special moments for me next week after another viewing or two!!

I for one thought Frank Farina was a good coach hard done by and yet there's clearly no substite for experience on the big stage!! 

Man of the Match Kewell finally stands up in a match in Oz 

The achievement begins to sink in!! 

Viduka thrived with the job of Captain... except with that penalty shot 

Australia Qualifies for the World Cup!

It's a frustrating and annoying game I don't really like [despite a passing interest in West Ham and Liverpool over the years and a few memorable FA Cup Final parties with friends over the late teen and early twenties years!!] BUT I can certainly relate to Australia's desire to see us overcome the lack of respect and the cruel circumstances of some of our previous campaigns... At the end of the day it's sport and I'm an unapologetic sports fan... so this is great!!

Australia defeated Uraguay thru a penalty shootout after having clearly been the better side throughout the home and away play offs!! They held their nerve, Kewell actaully stood up AND they netted the winners when it counted... even Mark Viduka [the Phillpoussis of soccer] has been a good leader!!... A great turnaround result!! Well done Socceroos!!

Normal transmission will resume shortly!!
.

It's Official... U2 in 2006

No, not just the U2 staffer at the Melbourne Cup handing a phone to Lee Freedman!
No, not just rumours of a Melbourne gig around about Commonwealth Games time!

BUT an official announcement that U2 will extend the "Vertigo" tour to Asia and Australia
http://www.u2.com/news/index.php?mode=full&news_id=1795

I've also tracked down a November 20th date for the release in Oz of "Vertigo Live from Chicago" U2 DVD.... can't wait....

NON FANS MAY NOW RETURN TO THEIR BLISSFUL IGNORANCE!!

This and one other seemed funny to the girls at first and then they became increasingly offended. 

A&F Have withdrawn this line of shirts. Its an interesting study in empowered young people. These girls made it to the nationally broadcast TODAY Show in the U.S. 

"Girlcott' Succeeds!
Abercrombie & Fitch gives in to the demands of teenage girls who objected to a new line of T-shirts with 'sexist' slogans" By Aaron Parsley Nov 05, 2005 12:00PM EST

Controversial clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch will stop selling some of its T-shirts after a national 'girlcott' by teenage girls, who objected to slogans on the shirts that broadcast messages like, "Who needs brains when you have these," "Blondes are adored, brunettes are ignored," "I make you look fat," "Give me something to scream about," and "Available for parties." "We recognize that the shirts in question, while meant to be humorous, might be troubling to some," the retailer announced Friday.
Earlier this week, the girl group of Pennsylvania launched the "girlcott" in protest over the t-shirts with an e-mail campaign and an appearances on television news shows to broadcast their concerns. "The 'girlcott' we launched this week got the attention of Abercrombie & Fitch," the Women & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania said in a statement Friday. "They contacted us and we reached an agreement that satisfies us. Several offensive t-shirts to which we objected are being removed from store shelves."
This is not the first controversy for Abercrombie & Fitch. The teen-oriented clothing company has been repeatedly denounced for featuring half-naked models in their ads. They settled a lawsuit in 2004, after Asian and Latino groups accused the company of racial insensitivity in previous campaigns. And last year when the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team failed to bring home the gold, Ambercrombie & Fitch began selling tops with slogans that read "L is for loser."
The T-shirts were eventually pulled out of stores when the gymnastic team called for a boycott. Initially it didn't look like the recent 'girlcott' would have the same results. "These particular T-shirts have been very popular among adult women to whom they are marketed," a rep for Ambercrombie & Fitch said earlier this week. "Our clothing appeals to a wide variety of customers."
We asked TEEN PEOPLE readers what they thought of the T-shirts and 55 percent of those who took the poll said the shirts were "offensive." Another 25 percent were not offended by the shirts. Another 20 percent expressed an interest in buying one of the shirts, but the retailer's decision to stop selling them may prevent that from ever happening. "We look forward to meeting with Abercrombie & Fitch to discuss ways we could collaborate on more empowering messages their products could be sending to their customers," the Women & Girls group said Friday. "We appreciate Abercrombie's quick action."

It won't change the world I guess! Or will it?
I suppose we are still the same consumer oriented, individualistic society in a world of plenty where people die from want...

I suspect the circuit breaker there would be finding effective and empowering ways to put the info in front of motivated young people and to mentor them in responding... instead of seeing young people as 'the problem' they could be treated as people of immense potential!!

Student 'girlcott' protests Abercrombie t-shirts

BY JIMMY GREENFIELD
RedEyeNovember 2, 2005
With a few words on their T-shirts, Abercrombie & Fitch lets young women send a message: "Who needs a brain when you have these?"A group of female high school students have a message for A&F: Stop degrading us.The Allegheny County (Pa.) Girls have started a boycott--or girlcott, as they're calling it--of the retailer. The campaign, conceived three weeks ago during the group's monthly meeting, went national Tuesday morning on NBC's "Today" show."We're telling [girls] to think about the fact that they're being degraded," Emma Blackman-Mathis, the 16-year-old co-chair of the group, told RedEye on Tuesday. "We're all going to come together in this one effort to fight this message that we're getting from pop culture."
Abercrombie has been a lightning rod for criticism. In 2003, a catalog containing photos of topless women and bare-bottomed men provoked so much outrage that the company pulled the publication.Last year, after the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team failed to win a gold medal, the company sold T-shirts with the phrase "L is for loser" next to a picture of a gymnast on the rings. Those shirts were pulled from the racks after USA Gymastics called for a boycott.
While Abercrombie backed down in those cases, it show no signs of doing so this time."Our clothing appeals to a wide variety of customers. These particular T-shirts have been very popular among adult women to whom they are marketed," a company spokesman said in a statement.
News of the girlcott hadn't reached Tawana Clark, 20, who was applying for a job at the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Water Tower Place on Tuesday. But she doesn't think the protest will work."I think it's only older people that have a problem with it," she said. "Teenagers don't have a problem with it."Clark sees the shirts as funny, not offensive."It's not to be taken seriously," she said.Kristine Campbell, 20, of Lincoln Park won't wear the T-shirts. Although she's not offended by them, she doesn't think much of girls who wear them."It tells me that they're shallow and that's all they care about," said Campbell, who was also applying for a job at A&F on Tuesday."There's not much substance to that person if you have to wear something like that."The aim of the girlcott is to convince people that the T-shirts are offensive, but young people don't care if they are, according to David Krafft, senior vice president of Chicago-based Graziano, Krafft and Zale Advertising."You figure they're appealing to a younger audience demographic and (young people) are going to want go for brands that are more cutting edge, or viewed as more cutting edge," Krafft said. "So it's just going to be a benefit anyway to Abercrombie & Fitch."
The attention from this boycott is likely to help Abercrombie's image, and its audience will be attracted to the controversy, said Steve Bassill, president of Libertyville-based QDI strategies, a marketing consulting firm."That's been their whole strategy, isn't it, to be radical?" Bassill asked. "I think that's what we've seen for quite a while from them."Krafft says the "Today" show appearance was tantamount to free advertising.According to Chicago-based media company Starcom USA, a 30-second commercial on "Today" costs approximately $58,000.
The girlcott girls were on for several minutes. The girlcott almost is "playing into their hands," Bassill said.Heather Arnett, adviser for the girls' group, said it doesn't matter if Abercrombie gets free advertising. They're already a giant as far as she's concerned. What matters is empowering young women, she said, who in turn serve as examples to other young women."
A week ago, Katie Couric knew who Abercrombie & Fitch was, but she didn't know who Emma Blackman-Mathis was," Arnett said. "A bunch of teenage girls are being interviewed by national media about what they think. And that is the news."
Blackman-Mathis admits that, at first glance, the T-shirts are a little funny.But the more she looked at them, the less amusing they were. She's still stunned to have appeared on national TV and is hopeful the message will reach young girls."
Worst-case scenario, I just want girls to at least think about everything that they buy," Blackman-Mathis said. "Think about the message that it conveys to themselves and other people when they wear it."Her best-case scenario?"They would stand up and say something for themselves and for girls."
2005 Newsday Inc.

Movie Cast showing the different creative responses 

RIZE

A new film documenting the latest dance craze crossing the South East LA communities and drawing people away from gang alternatives and into dance performance!!

Originating in response to the Rodney King situation [riots after video showing Police assaulting Rodney King] came "Clowning" which is an energetic form of hip hop which takes influences from Indian Dance, Stripping and Rap... the Clown Academy has given rise to an even more high energy version called 'Krumping'. RIZE is an insightful examination of culture, issues and the new pop culture craze...

How will it be butchered in the other manhattanised cultures like here in Oz?
Will it continue to draw young people away from the gang activity alternatives?
Who will make real money from the pursuit of this style?

Make Poverty History ROADTRIP

The “Make Poverty History” Road Trip for Under 25 ???

Take the Make Poverty History Message to your leaders in Canberra.
Delegations made up of young people from The Oak Tree Foundation, UN Youth Association, Vision Generation and and Micah Challenge will be encouraging Australia's leaders to fight against poverty.
Participants will be leaving state capitals in Victoria and NSW early on Tuesday 29 November and returning the evening of Thursday 1 December. A group will also be leaving from Queensland.
Bus fares and accommodation will be provided at a cheap rate.
Enquiries to Madeleine Penman, info@theoaktree.org, 0405 229 623
http://www.jubileeaustralia.org/360_jubilee_actions.php
http://www.oxfam.org.au/campaigns/mtf/roadtrip/

"Wash Me Clean" Bernard Fanning

With honourable mentions for "Hope and Validation" and "Believe" a standout on Fannings solo CD is "Wash Me Clean" Track 7

Wash Me Clean
If all the world could take a moment
To cradle back into slow motion
'Cause it's all moving too fast
You had your shot you took your chances
All through your battle for the answers
You were brave 'til the very last

Just like a wave on the ocean
There's forces that run so deep
I'm falling into the temptation
To let it wash all over me

A nervous step into the future
While the present shatters all around you
It's moving too fast
And now the footprints of your failures
Seep into the safety of the harbour
leave it in the dark past

Just like a wave on the ocean
There's forces that run so deep
I'm falling into temptation
To let it wash all over me
Come and wash me clean

Intimate theatre shows forecast the folk rock feel of Fannings solo effort. 

SMH "Sadness, Love and the Gospel Truth"

October 31, 2005
SMH
Bernard Fanning wants to sing to your soul, Christine Sams writes.

The powder of one: Bernard Fanning has put rock'n'roll on hold during his solo project.

There are moments when songs wash over you, lifting and swelling your heart, somehow tapping into a deeper emotion - whether it's love, sorrow or pain.
Bernard Fanning's new songs on Tea & Sympathy penetrate those profound emotions, somehow making the world slow down as the music takes hold. It's an undeniably powerful, moving work - which seems to have poured directly from Fanning's soul.
"If it makes you feel moved, that's why I want to write music," says Fanning, sitting inside a Sydney hotel suite, earnestly talking about his new collection of songs.
"That to me is the most powerful thing, if you can put someone else inside your music."
The Powderfinger frontman's debut solo album may have been written in Brisbane and recorded near the English city of Bath, but its sound rises straight from American delta blues with its heavy roots and gospel influences.
Some critics have already suggested Tea & Sympathy has a country feel, but Fanning's influences actually rest with great blues artists including Lightning Hopkins and roots singers including Tom Petty and Gillian Welch (whose striking, plaintive voice contributed to the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack).
"I listened to a fair bit of Lightning Hopkins before and when I was writing," Fanning says.
"I mean, I'd love to play guitar like that, but I simply don't have the skill to do it. If anything, the vocal element of that definitely [was an influence]. I've always loved soul and gospel music.
"There are three or four songs which have a country flavour, but it's definitely country blues. It was something that I've always wanted to do. If you really wanted to go into the metaphoric side of things, it is like a rebirth. It's a very emotional record - it's mostly really sad. But typically it's got those elements of hope in it - it's not that I intentionally put that into songs, they just creep their way in."
Reading between the lines, it sounds as though Fanning has had difficulties in his personal life over the past year, but the songs have allowed him to pour out a range of untapped emotions. "I've been through a pretty weird time in the past 12 months," he says, simply. "[But] I don't really want to go into it, because it's too intense."
With traces of sorrow, spirituality, love, rebirth and transformation etched into his songs, it's obvious the music has provided its own cathartic release. "The one thing I've started to think about music is what healing qualities it has - not just for the writer, but especially for the listener," Fanning says. "I don't want to change people, I hope I can bring them some joy."
Some of the transfixing, tender moments on Tea & Sympathy are far removed from the rock'n'roll powerhouse that was Powerfinger's previous album, Vulture Street. But Fanning said many of the new tracks were born out of a simple desire to tap into music's beauty. It was also a resistance to the overriding ugliness of hard rock culture, which Fanning believes affected the atmosphere of this year's Big Day Out.
"Part of the really gentle stuff, like Watch Over Me and Believe, were all written after the Big Day Out. It was just this metal-fest, the music was very hard . . . Slipknot and all that.
"The atmosphere backstage was very, well it's difficult to say, but it wasn't fun. There was very little joy there, people didn't socialise with each other. Basically, us, Grinspoon and Spiderbait did, but hardly anyone else spoke to each other. It really went against what the Big Day Out used to be about.
"I wanted to make music that was the opposite of that, about things that were really beautiful. Things that weren't about teenage boys rubbing up against each other, getting their latent homosexuality out," Fanning says, with a laugh.
"It was music not for any age group, but just music that is ageless, something that anyone can like."
As if to emphasise his determination to step away from raucous rock audiences, Fanning will perform shows off the back of Tea & Sympathy in a range of unlikely venues, including the rather austere Sydney Theatre, with an entirely seated audience.
The singer-songwriter believes the feel will be exactly right, after the success of a couple of intimate showcase gigs at venues including the Basement in Circular Quay.
"It was odd when we had those first few shows, the weird thing was the silence. People were just sitting and waiting. They hadn't heard the songs and there's none of that element of singing along or anything like that," he says. "But I think that gives it incredible power as well . . . it puts you inside that song.
"This time we're doing it in theatres, to try and keep some of that element, so it's not like a pub - on the piss, 'give us a vodka and orange' - kind of atmosphere. There's some songs that really lend themselves to that quietness."
Bernard Fanning's album Tea & Sympathy is released through Dew Process/Universal Music.Source: The Sun-Herald

Rosa Parks aged about 85 

an historic photo depicting Rosa Parks on a bus just like that day when she refused to give up her seat 

The Amazing Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks the "mother of America's Civil Rights Movement" died yesterday aged 92.
Read about her story here http://teacher.scholastic.com/rosa/

Much could be written and Rosa is a great example for people and has a great story, especially as a female example of one persons struggle to do something to change the world...

iTunes Music Store Opens in Oz

And just like that it was open!!
Downloaded Bernard Fannings great solo EP 'Tea and Sympathy' to check out just how easy it is!! Now I just have to figure out how to attach iTunes files to Powerpoint Animations!!

Wow!!

Barna Institute UPDATE

Interesting research about peoples exploartions of new forms of church in the US
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=202

Brilliant and simple yet meaningful sounds from a talented 'melbourne chick'!! 

"A small album about important things..." 

ARIAS Awarded at Sydney Superdome

Austalian Recording Industry Artists Awards!!
I love the ARIAS for their contrast to other dominant music awards fro the US as they highlight our brilliant Oz talent!! Three cheers for Bernard Fanning!!

Check out sounds from the Top Albums at: http://www.ariaawards.com.au/home.php

I have thought for months that Missy Higgins 'The Sound of White' was the best album I'd heard this year... I hope she doesn't suffer from over hype in the wake of her pool scooping wins tonight...

A real win for Triple J and the cred of their 'Unearthed' competition for unsigned bands as Missy [Melinda] won out of Year 11/12. Missy took off backpacking for 12 months before taking up the recording prize and the rest is... history!!

Neil Finn appeared and performed visibly and understandably upset "Better Be Home Soon" in tribute to former band mate and drummer Paul Hester.

There is usually an ARIA nominees CD as a follow up if you are looking for good music... even Ben Lee!!

Got My Copy Today

Got my copy of "Change the World for Ten Bucks" [see earlier post] and its really cleverly presented and equipped... little thankyou card, obligatory wrist strap, good cartoon style and greeting card sort of motif on various pages...

Examples include:
Smile and smile back
A bus carries 5o people and its going that way anyhow
Have more meals together
seize the moment "be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
write to someone who inspired you

I wasn't in Sydney but I will get my next copy from the local 'Big Issue' vendor... the bookseller was stunned that this book cost ten bucks and was planning "a prominent display!!"

I'm planning a "Raking Over the Trash" pop culture handout about it... available on www.nsw.uca.org.au/boe/youthunit sometime soon!!

U2 Rumoured for March 2006 in Melbourne

Scan your U2 junkies websites and blogs and you'll find a little activity around a booking for Optus Oval to coincide with the Commonwealth Games time period... who know??

November 18th but probably not in our region 

Potential back Cover for DVD 

U2 Vertigo DVD 2005 Live from Chicago

Well, it probably won't appear here until something has been said about a tour.... however the fan sites and many DVD sellers have made webspace for the 18th November release of U2's latest live concert DVD!!
check out a 2-3 Minute Vertigo promo at
http://www.u2achtung.com/02/multimedia/
Go to the bottom of the lists for the link concerned...

Ten Bucks from any 'The Big Issue' Seller or local bookstores 

"CHANGE THE WORLD FOR TEN BUCKS"
Available at Bookstores and from Sydney's "The Big Issue" sellers...

"Not so much a book as a movement, Change the World for Ten Bucks is a sharply designed package of information, wit and inspiration for Australians.
Change the World celebrates 50 simple everyday actions that everyone can do to make the world a better place. They are deceptively simple things that don't require masses of time, money, or even conscience to achieve.
This is a book about involvement, a call to action beyond a credit card payment or direct debit donation.
We live in peculiar times. More communication devices than ever before connect us, yet more people live alone. We want to belong to communities but our cities can be very lonely places. We buy things - more and more things- with more and more money; but they don't make us happy - life satisfaction was higher with post-war rationing in the 1940s. We feel things very deeply and we want to do something, but what?
Change the World for Ten Bucks

When I saw the crew talking about this book on Oz breakfast TV today on 'Sunrise' I was reminded of the Tony Campolo series of '50 Ways' books.... except once again on the face of the discussion [I must grab a copy because it sounds like a great resource] here we are again with a community of people recognising or being alerted to ways to build community, meet the hurts and hopes of others and make the world a better place without any necessary reference to faith, the church, a particular alt view of the world or certainly without the "permission" of the church... thats OK... it is as it must be.... Its just another sign that while people search for a spirituality that makes sense and works for them.... the church as they know it remains an enigma!!

As ever it'll be great to harness the simple and effective concepts in this resource and then encourage young people to 'do the reflection' [praxis] that helps them grow faith!!

Coming to a cinema near you, but only after Howard Shore left and Peter Jackson now has about two weeks to completely replace the music for the latest remake of "King Kong"