Wednesday, October 26, 2005


Rosa Parks aged about 85 Posted by Picasa

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

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...

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

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!!

Monday, October 24, 2005

Sunday, October 23, 2005


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

"A small album about important things..." Posted by Picasa

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!!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

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 Posted by Picasa

Potential back Cover for DVD Posted by Picasa

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...

Wednesday, October 19, 2005


Ten Bucks from any 'The Big Issue' Seller or local bookstores Posted by Picasa
"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" Posted by Picasa

Bring it on!!! Posted by Picasa

Rocky Goes Around Again!!

SMH
Another round for Rocky
October 18, 2005 - 6:30AM

Hollywood heavyweight Sylvester Stallone will reprise his role as a working-class boxing champ in a new sequel to Rocky, the film that propelled him to fame almost 30 years ago.
The actor, now 59, will also direct, write and co-produce Rocky Balboa, the sixth film in the winning Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film series launched with the Oscar-winning Rocky in 1976, Stallone's spokeswoman and MGM said.
"It's all very exciting," said Michelle Bega, the spokeswoman for the star who won Academy Award nominations for starring in and writing Rocky.
The new film will begin shooting in January, said MGM and co-producers Revolution Studios.
Rocky Balboa will pick up the saga of boxer Rocky Balboa when, years after his retirement, he is drawn back to the boxing ring one last time following the death of his wife.
He is challenged not only by a powerful new champion but also by his personal woes.
"We're convinced the Rocky franchise is as strong as ever, with a whole new generation of filmgoers ready to be introduced and an established fan base eager to be reacquainted with this iconic character," said MGM president Dan Taylor.
"We felt it was the perfect first film to be green lit under the 'new' MGM," he said as the studio relaunches itself following its purchase last year by Japan's Sony Pictures.
The Rocky franchise has raked in $US495 million ($650 million) in North America alone over the past 29 years and remains the signature role of Stallone, who also starred in Rambo.
AFP

Monday, October 17, 2005

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Sponsor Warney per Wicket/Run from Friday

Here's a website promoting the enigmatic yet talented texter from Melbourne!!
http://www.tswf.com.au/home.htm

You can donate towards helping sick and underpriviledged kids by backing Warney to bag a few wickets and hit a few boundaries in Friday's six day Super Test v The ICC Rest of the World XI.

Dr Jensen Motivates the Troops

As always an interesting read, a moderate interpretation of events from Dr Jensen... though the language of "mission of conversion" and "bible based churches" is ever present!!

Church's sins are a turn-off: Jensen
By Linda Morris Religious Affairs ReporterOctober 11, 2005
SMH 11.10.05

Child-abuse scandals, boring church services and institutional distrust have blackened the name of the Anglican Church in Australia and impeded its mission of conversion, according to the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen.
Three years into the diocese's ambitious 10-year recruitment drive, Dr Jensen has admitted to "struggles and disappointments" in its mission to convert at least 10 per cent of Sydney's population to Bible-based churches .
Since 2002, church attendances in Sydney have grown 3 per cent, bucking the trend of declining membership but falling short of the diocese's goal.
Last night, at the opening of the church's annual meeting, Dr Jensen said society had become resistant to the Gospel.
Australians, particularly those aged 10 to 30, were "deeply unwilling" to commit to religion because of the restrictions it imposed on moral freedoms.
The sheer busyness of life left people with little time to attend Sunday services and there was great ignorance of the Bible.

Meanwhile, the "wonderful work" of the church had been tarnished by child-abuse cover-ups and bad experiences of boring and irrelevant church services.
Dr Jensen said the diocese was to ordain its largest group of deacons next year and had increased its children's groups, its congregations, its paid workers and its student ministers.
But not all new churches had succeeded and many of the existing parishes were under-resourced. The diocese had insufficient funds to purchase all the property it needed for new parishes and too few trained ministers.
Dr Jensen acknowledged "some of the struggles and disappointments, some of the failures which have occurred as we have tried out strategies to do with the mission".
"I am aware that some have tried really hard with little result; I am aware that some are blaming themselves and others are keenly sensitive to criticism and to the possibility that they are being judged on numbers and results."
Calling for renewed zeal, Dr Jensen urged the faithful to "think 10 years". "The first three years of the mission are the shakedown years," he said.
Among the challenges ahead was maintaining scripture teaching in public schools and improving training for paid ministers, so they could become coaches for the laity in the church's efforts to connect with the wider community. Those most likely to join the church were brought by a friend or relative.
He said the diocese saw opportunities to partner with new migrant communities from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.
On the agenda of the Synod, the church's decision-making body, is a controversial ordinance for the diocese to take on independent "Bible-based" churches or congregations from other denominations.
At a time of "great spiritual dryness", the task ahead, Dr Jensen said, was never going to be easy but it was a choice between change and withering, and even better times lay ahead with new signs of a moral and spiritual renewal.
A contest between secularism and Christian faith had begun, and the drift towards church schools indicated that people wanted something more than secularism could offer.

Originally published 2004 with this paperback in 2005 Posted by Picasa

Unreliable Idea # 26 "I Believe This" John Marsden

Published in 2004 this is a collection of responses to this statement from 100 eminent Australian's.

Source some you like, respond to, disagree with, react to and use those as quaotes or samples to set you r group the same task!!!

The Dropzone was actually way too small again this year... with double capacity for Workshops, Shorts, Shuffle and the Footy Replay!! Posted by Picasa

These punters got into the spirit of Shuffle most of all Posted by Picasa

Shuffle in full swing Posted by Picasa

Unreliable Idea # 25 Silent Dance Party

Inspired by Galstonbury Festival the UCA NSW/ACT Youth Unit offered this option through our DROPZONE venue at this years Blackstump Festival!!

10-11pm Saturday SHUFFLE in the Dropzone

Lots o Watts provided a small lighting rig and punters were invited to bring their own ipod, mp3, discman and given the space for a Dance Party...

After the intial teething issues [some try hards couldn't let a cool idea go ahead with out being part of it despite not bringing said mp3 player.... they shuffled away to no music or shouted/sang to each other and danced. After 20 minutes [I would have been harder on them at a small youth event and asked them to be quiet or leave] they ran out of energy and the 50 remaining punters settled in to a very funny time of shuffling and grooving to who knows what!!

More than 50 people stood outside the tent, curious as to what the description of the event had actually meant and asking technical questions to use the idea 'back home'!!

It was great fun!!

BUSY Busy Busy!!!!

Wow,
Mid September since my last post.... that sounds about right!! It has been a huge month of work so I haven't had tie to post about Katrina, Bali, songs, movies etc...

Some of that work will be reflected in catch up posts this week!! Sta tuned!!