With friends like this who needs enemies 

The 40 Year Old Virgin

Andy Stitzer has a nice apartment, a cushy job and an exceptional collection of action figures. Along the way he 'just sort of gave up trying' to have sex!! It looks a funny and yet moving film raising lots of interesting questions with a sense of humour!! Its star fronts the US version of "the Office" and that style of humour is evident in this work as he becomes disfunctionally nervous around women.
It will be huge once it hits our cinemas...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405422/
http://www.the40yearoldvirgin.com/
http:/www.hollywoodjesus.com
Release date 13th October

Disgraceful... I guess South African rugby style of play isn't just confined to the field... 

Rugby Captain an Idiot!!

After an alledged drunken exchange in a Sydney Nightclub with a bouncer, John Smidt's Captaincy and possibly his career as a Springbok could be over!!
It's still blatantly obvious that South African crowds go up a few notches on the volume when the National Anthem hits the English section and even Nelson Mandela is utilised when it suits! The celebration of his birthday and the 46664 Campaign seem hollow when incidents like this occur!So much of the rugby culture represents the last remaining resistance to equality, racial harmony and true unity in the Republic!!

Hopefully the bouncer does make an official complaint so that at least the incident is investigated!

WEBSITES WORTH A LOOK FOR YOUTH MINISTRY

Having quickly prepared these for the YOUth EXPERIENCE Training Day...

Movie, book and DVD reviews http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/blank/item_238.html
Invisibles Movie Quizes http://www.filmwise.com/invisibles/index.shtml
Darren Wrights Music Blog http://www.alternativehymnal.com/
Jonny Baker from Grace alt.worship community UK http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/
Youth Unit website due for a revamp http://nsw.uca.org.au/boe/youthunit/
Youth Unit HUB http://www.youthunithub.org/index.php
Baptist Youth Ministries http://www.baptistyouthministries.org.au/
The Sacred Sandwich satirical site http://www.sacredsandwich.com/advertisement4.htm
Bible in different translations http://bible.gospelcom.net/
The Brick Testament http://www.thebricktestament.com/
Trends Research http://www.trendwatching.com/homepage.htm
Visual Puzzles http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html
Video Hits http://www.videohits.com.au/
Online Rubik’s Cube Puzzle http://www.eviltron.com/modules/esp/esp.html
Bible Society SMS http://www.biblesociety.com.au/smsbible/
Mountain Masala [Craig Mitchell] http://craigmitchell.typepad.com/mountain_masala/
Duncan McLeod’s TV Ad Blog http://tvadverts.blogspot.com/
Make Poverty History http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/
Film Ink Magazine http://www.filmink.com.au/home/
Doug Fields http://content.simplyyouthministry.com/freebies/
The Source [Jonoathan McKee] http://www.thesource4ym.com/
Movie Reviews etc http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/
One Person Posted a Pic and then otherscontributed to this anti-terrorism site http://www.werenotafraid.com/
A mix of valuable and not so valuable resource DVDs and clips http://www.imagexmedia.com/index.php
PG Rated Lego brick biblical stories http://www.thebricktestament.com/
An online community site we are looking at doing similarly in NSW/ACT http://cecm.victas.uca.org.au/index.cgi?tid=270
BOE Resources website [growing] http://www.boe.resources.org.au/
Rob H’s blog http://www.pumphouse.blogspot.com

And there's plenty more where they came from...

Culturally Significant [Cringe-Worthy] Moments

SMH
The Tribal Mind
By David Dale
August 30, 2005

A list of "100 mass media moments that changed the world", chosen by an expert panel recently for Britain's Uncut magazine, has inspired this column to seek comparable landmarks in our own culture.
Of course Australians were strongly influenced by the events on the international list, which starts with Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone and Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel and includes A Clockwork Orange and The Godfather from film, and The Simpsons and Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner from television. But we had our own experiences too, and here's an attempt at The Top 40 Popular Culture Events That Changed Australia in the past 50 years:
1. Men At Work's Land Down Under (song, 1982)
2. Graham Kennedy's tonight shows (TV, 1957-91)
3. Barry Humphries does Edna Everage (stage, 1955-)
4. Peter Allen's I Still Call Australia Home (song, 1981)
5. Number 96 shows first bare breasts, first gay kiss and first terrorist bomb (TV, 1972-75)
6. Crocodile Dundee (film, 1986)
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7. Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning (song, 1987)
8. Homicide tops the ratings (TV, 1966)
9. Mad Max (film, 1979)
10. Bob Hawke cries about infidelity on Clive Robertson's Newsworld (TV, 1989)
11. Wogs Out of Work (stage, 1987)
12. Barry Jones wins Pick-a-Box and makes braininess interesting (TV, 1960-1971)
13. AC/DC make a video clip of Long Way To The Top (TV, 1977)
14. Hugh Mackay's Reinventing Australia (book, 1991)
15. Bandstand (TV, 1958-1972)
16. Big Brother's Merlin protests detention of boat people (TV, 2004)
17. Kath and Kim (TV, 2001-)
18. Picnic at Hanging Rock (film, 1975)
19. Sydney Olympics opening ceremony (TV, 2000)
20. 2UE publishes the first Top 40 singles chart (music, 1958)
21. Oz beats obscenity charges (magazines, 1964)
22. Neighbours (TV, 1986-)
23. Yothu Yindi's Treaty (song, 1991)
24. Normie Rowe fights Ron Casey over republicanism on The Midday Show (TV, 1991)
25. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (film, 1994)
26. SeaChange (TV, 1998-2000)
27. Cleo launches with stories on orgasms and nude male centrefold (magazines, 1972)
28. Frontline satirises A Current Affair (TV, 1994-97)
29. Slim Dusty's Pub With No Beer (song, 1958)
30. Kerry Packer launches World Series Cricket (TV, 1977)
31. Mambo makes Loud shirts (fashion, 1985)
32. The Mavis Bramston Show (TV, 1964-68)
33. SBS starts (TV, 1980)
34. John Farnham's You're The Voice (song, 1986)
35. The Block features gay renovators (TV, 2003)
36. Daddy Cool's Eagle Rock (music, 1971)
37. McDonald's introduces the McOz (fashion, 1999)
38. Mother and Son (TV, 1984-94)
39. John Howard apologises to Aborigines on John Clarke's The Games (TV, 2000)
40. Woman's Day publishes paparazzi shots of topless Duchess of York having her toes sucked (magazines, 1992)
The theory is that all those phenomena were historically significant or symbolised social change. If you'd like to argue, agree, ask, or add, you could write to The Tribal Mind at ddale@fairfax.com.au

David features responses in his column and on the web if you're keen!!

An unsponsored Lleyton Hewitt courts potential clothing companies by donning some of Pat Cashes old headbands to draw some attention!! Hmmm

Would you trust this person to cut and style your hair?

Big Brother 5

OK so first they punt Vesna and now the female teenagers of Australia have sideswiped Timmy and given the money to the "couldn't string a decent sentence together if you were hitting me" Logans!!
I note that they kept that quiet until the last moment too... the idea that of course to some extent they were both still in the running!!

Tim was the 'leader' in the house... standing up for those who got picked on, holding idiots to account, bringing intellegent conversation and giving geeks and journalists everywhere some hope!!

Oh well, no more uplate to keep me awake while I work at the desk!! Just Ashes Test Cricket to liven up the late hours!!

How disappointing Australia!!

It'll never work that clearly!!

80's Hypercolour

Unbelievable!! Alongside the watermelon and lime polo shirts, boot cut jeans and hideous sunglasses this summer... we will also have that wonderful fashion statement HYPERCOLOUR!!
Apply heat to the fabric and it fades to white like tie-dying...

"Fresh Meat" winners for Channel V including Maude Garrett [niece]

It Happens to be Another Garrett

It happens to be another Garrett
August 16, 2005
SHE'S got the lanky frame, the trademark big mouth and a shared passion for music, but Maude Garrett is aiming for a career on TV, not on the stage.The 19-year-old niece of former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett beat thousands of aspiring music TV show hosts to become one of Channel V's four "Fresh Meat" finalists.
Junior-burger Garrett now joins Alex Cameron, Stephen Bourke and Gabrielle Scawthorn in vying for the coveted full-time presenting gig on the Foxtel music channel.
"I've got a soft spot for Australian rock because I've grown up with it, and I've always loved the spotlight, so this is just surreal, a dream," the Bribane teenager said.
Australian Idol host and "VJ" James Mathison took out the inaugural fresh meat competition with Yumi Stynes in 2000.
Daily Telegraph

Project Reconnect: UCA Mid Lachlan Mission Area

Virtual vicars keep church doors open
By SAMANTHA WILLIAMS Regional Reporter
August 16, 2005

THE rural vicars crisis has become so drastic that one denomination has resorted to delivering sermons by DVD in order to survive.
The Uniting Church has turned to digital technology as the key to keeping its church doors open, sending out a 45-minute recorded sermon to far flung communities.
With the cost of having a full-time priest running at around $65,000 a year, many small country parishes can't afford to employ anyone. Other churches have resorted to looking overseas for priests.
Now the Uniting Church at Parkes, in the state's West, has launched Project Reconnect. It produces a weekly service on DVD, which is then distributed to congregations to ensure parishioners can access the church.
Uniting Church rural chaplain, the Reverend Kel Hodge, said the clergy shortage meant it had to look at alternative ways to bring religion to people.
"Communities kept telling us they had ties to their church and that they didn't want to see it closed," Mr Hodge said.
"What we're doing is fresh, on the ground and something that a lot of other churches are not doing.
"This initiative keeps the doors open especially in times of drought when people are under stress.
"We've found people not from a traditional church background are coming through the doors."
While many communities have no hope of paying for a full-time vicar, for only $4 a week, which covers the cost of the DVD and postage, communities can stay in touch with their clergy.
Project Reconnect is an initiative that has ground-welling support with at least 15 churches in NSW receiving the DVD.
It has also attracted attention from churches in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.
The DVDs are produced by the Reverend Tom Stuart in Parkes and contain a sermon, readings, hymns, a youth message and questions for the congregation to discuss.
"Our parishioners have told us that it is sometimes more vibrant than the normal service," Mr Stuart said.
In Bogan Gate, which has a population of 200, Roslyn Edwards organises the town's service.
Although Ms Edwards is not a qualified clergywoman, she is passionate about her church.
"The DVD was a saviour in light of fact the church might have closed, and once it closes in a small area they generally don't re-open," Ms Edwards said. "It means a great deal when you are drought-stricken."
As Bogan Gate has only a small congregation, Ms Edwards said they swapped alternative services with nearby community of Gunningbland, which has a population of 50.
Ms Edwards stores the TV and DVD player at her home before taking it to church on Sunday.
"We get the DVD a couple of days before Sunday to make sure it works," Ms Edwards said.
"One week they have the DVD player at their church and the next we have it at our church.
"It obviously works well because we have regular people coming back week after week."

A good example of people choosing something for a particular context... would it help elsewhere?
Well maybe BUT the important question is 'what' would help elsewhere? and why?

for example

Worship Unplugged # 32 UV Lights

In Oz, LIghtsounds outlets sell a small UV light housing and tube for about $29 which would make a small collection very affordable.

Uses in worship:
Highlights white and fluoro colours, dulling all plain and dark colours.
Use white cardboard with printed liturgy, instructions or thematic words
Dress in white t-shirts
Hang white sheets
UV the whole space and use flouro and white paper for responsive writing and display
Flouro and white material in offering bags, banners, leaders
Use a central focus for reflection built/made of any and all the above...

e.g. worship focused on one word...
with central artwork a white plastic or painted TV casing... the one word printed in white on an overhead transparency sheet, frozen into a block of ice and sitting inside the TV case...
stunning effect!

Worship Unplugged # 31 SMS

"Where r u? Mobile Theology"
was the theme for our recent National Youth Workers Conference [held in partnership with a local Continuing Ed annual event known as Seminar Week] where Kenda Creasy Dean spoke...

Kenda basically took the challenge to lay out what role mobile technology plays in the culture and lives of young people, what claims it makes and comfort or community it offers in order to "do the theology" about what claim or counter claim 'the gospel might make' in such a context... top shelf mostly!!

Colleague Darren Wright led a Closing Worship where parts of the spoken Liturgy and Bible readings were sms'd to participants in parts as an act of switching our mobiles back on at weeks end and bringing the theme to life in our worship...

It was a very clever and vivid praxis!! [action] in worship giving rise to each persons [reflection] as we experienced the worship together!!

SMS Liturgy, instructions, readings and introducing moments...

Gen Y punters use the same adjectives about a Big Day Out that Boomers used to use in relation to a significant small group experience 

traditional annual exploration by the liftout news media 

Generation Y: A marketing nightmare

The Reason Y
SMH RADAR Liftout August 10, 2005
Companies are eager to discover what drives 20-somethings, writes Ben Wyld.
In your 20s? Chances are you enjoy international travel, have a circle of friends that encompasses the globe and are more content spending your money on entertainment, clothing and your mobile phone bill than saving for a home deposit. As one market researcher puts it, you're probably enjoying a decade of delay - before thoughts of home ownership, marriage or children enter your mind. We're told that, collectively, you are a difficult group to reach, inquisitive, well educated, and keen to buy into a lifestyle that reflects your identity - even if that means racking up credit-card debt. However, you're cynical of big corporations and not afraid to ask the big questions, in both the retail space and workplace. With increasing regularity, news reports, research studies and books are being released promising to debunk the mystery that is generation Y. But are young people, in the age of the internet, really so different from their forebears? Have we really become so difficult to understand? The motivation behind the research drive is clear: people born since the late 1970s are cashed up and willing to spend, which means marketers, researchers, advertisers and companies are hunting for the key to their hip pockets.
Peter Sheahan, 25, a self-styled generation Y consultant and author of Generation Y: Thriving (and Surviving) with Generation Y at Work, says gen Yers have substantially more purchasing power than their predecessors, gen Xers, had at the same age. Not only do the 4.5 million Australians that fall into the generation Y category have a high disposable income, but their ability to set trends and influence spending patterns makes them a target for advertising. "Studies in the UK show one in three consumer dollars spent in Europe are influenced by generation Y," Sheahan says. "It's not just how much generation Y spend, but how much they influence what other people spend ... what they say is cool drives sales up the chain." Social researcher Mark McCrindle says this is the driving factor behind generation Y research - despite the fact that generation X and the baby boomers are the wealth accumulators and holders respectively. "It used to be people looked to older people for advice, but in a youth-obsessed society they are now looking to the young," McCrindle says. The purchasing power of children extends 10 times beyond what they actually have, according to a World Advertising Research Centre study, published in the International Journal of Advertising and Marketing to Children (now Young Consumers) in 2002. Extrapolate that to people in their early 20s - when young people are likely to be working but living at home, further increasing their net worth - and McCrindle says that gives this group considerable influence. "Children have enormous influence over the spending of parents and do influence the purchase of big ticket items such as cars and holidays," he says. That doesn't mean this group exists solely in the home environment, content to set trends for their family. Dr Tania Bucic, lecturer in the school of marketing at the University of NSW, says a defining characteristic of generation Y is a love of travel. Put off by the high cost of housing, these people opt to spend their money on experiences now and defer buying property until later. "It's all about experiences and living for now, making the best of what you've got now because you don't know what's going to happen in the future," Bucic says. For obvious reasons, members of gen Y are proficient in technology and willing and able to access information. But that doesn't mean they digest every message thrown their way. Because of their understanding of media and advertising, generation Y are skilled at filtering information and selecting only what they need, Bucic says. "[They're] not afraid to ask questions: why am I here, what are you going to give me, how are you going to deliver what am I paying for? They are not as willing to spend their money on things they're unsure about, [so] the benefit of what they're getting has to be well defined." This is the barrow social researchers and market research companies push when explaining the need for their research. Traditional advertising campaigns are not only ineffective at reaching the trend-setting generation Y, researchers claim, but they also fail to cater for the sub-sectors or "tribes" within the group. For example, take the Spin Sweeney Report: The definitive lifestyle guide to 16- to 28-year-olds in Australia 2004-05, which identifies six "tribes" of young Australians - each with their own traits and idiosyncrasies. "Life Junkies" are defined as those who pack as much into their lives as possible, while "Burbanites" have traditional values and place family relationships ahead of material gain. "Drifters" are detached and introverted and have relationship issues with their parents or partner, while those known as "Glitterazzi" live for now with next to no social conscience. "Life mappers" (focused on career and material accumulation) and "renegades" (who live life on the edge and reject responsibility) are the remaining groups. The research seems to back experts' claims that this generation of young people is more fragmented than previous groups, Bucic says. "They don't fit into a trend, they're more about being themselves above and beyond anything else ... they're not that interested in being part of a social norm." This in turn, she says, is contributing to a rise in niche marketing to tap sub-groups within the population. So brace yourself. Research, books and reports dissecting the lifestyle habits of young people will increase as companies try to tailor campaigns. "[The body of research] is definitely growing," McCrindle says. "No one in this day and age wants to make a big advertising decision without some research to cover themselves and generally ensure they're on the right track."talking about a generationMarket research doesn't just benefit organisations and companies hoping to secure your disposable income. Examining young people's lifestyles is also a lucrative area for researchers. A copy of Spin Sweeney's lifestyle report will set you back $14,000. Another social trends and market research company, Heartbeat Trends, offers its study of 20-somethings, Literati, to organisations for $20,000. Neer Korn, a director of Heartbeat Trends and co-author of the study, says it is money well spent for companies preparing a million-dollar advertising campaign. "Spending on research makes sense," Korn says. "It's so easy to get it wrong." The price also helps offset the cost of producing the report, which involves conducting focus groups, producing CD-Roms and short documentary films. It takes a team of 10 researchers about five months and costs "well into the six figures," Korn says. However, Fabio Buresti, strategic planner at the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, believes such reports have limited benefits. "From an agency's point of view, they're good for very top-line kind of information, but you're not going to get any deep consumer insights from them; they're not going to form the basis of your campaign," Buresti says. "You could spend a quarter of the money doing some focus groups." One method Buresti uses when developing a campaign for his clients is Saatchi's exploring tool, where he hangs out with a group of guys and girls for a week or two with a video camera. The results help him understand their mindset, he says - the key to any successful brand. "Commonsense really does prevail," he says. "If you've got a brand, understand how the market interacts with your brand and how they perceive it and then really understand how your brand can connect and communicate with them."Are the experts right about gen Y? Have your say at radar.smh.com.au.

Must See Films!!

Again courtesy of the SMH
Our movies your children should see at school
August 4, 2005

Australian story ... Rabbit-Proof Fence is the only local film in the British top 50.
Australian critics and filmmakers offer their list of must-see movies for children. Alexa Moses reports.
Peter Castaldi and his 14-year-old daughter operate under a democratic cinematic regime. On Saturdays or Sundays when they both have time, they go to the movies. One visit, the pair see a commercial blockbuster chosen by Isabelle. The next, Castaldi chooses.
"I see one of her bad films and she sees one of my good ones," is how Castaldi puts it. "To begin with, I dragged her in kicking and screaming. Now it's less and less."
As a film critic and director of the Australian Film Commission's Big Screen touring film festival, Castaldi naturally believes cinema is crucial to children's development. So it was with pleasure that he read a list released by the British Film Institute late last month of 10 films the institute believes children should see by the age of 14. This cinema canon was chosen by filmmakers, teachers and the heads of children's film organisations across Europe.
Behind the list is a belief that adults have become overly restrictive about what children see. Discussion about children's viewing, the institute argues, should focus more on exploration than prohibition and censorship. There's also the task of deciding what age is the right age to see a particular film, and that's without factoring in the individual child's maturity. Castaldi, for instance, has been taking his daughter to see carefully vetted MA15+ films since she was 12.

While the institute's top 10 includes obvious picks such as The Wizard of Oz, ET and Toy Story, some of the offerings are more obscure: the Japanese film Spirited Away, the 1948 Italian classic Bicycle Thieves, Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's romantic comedy Show Me Love, and the Charles Laughton classic The Night of the Hunter.
The list has been criticised for being too prescriptive, too fuddy-duddy, and for being heavy with films in which boys are the heroes. From an Australian perspective, it barely reflects our culture. Only one local movie made the top 50: Phillip Noyce's 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence.
Such a list, then, could be expanded to include other adventurous films that tell Australian stories - not necessarily made for children - that children under 14 could appreciate.
Castaldi loves the list, but would include more silent films, such as Buster Keaton's The General and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. If more Australian films were to be added, he would plug the 1976 film Storm Boy, adapted from a novel by Colin Thiele. Storm Boy is the only film that has been part of the Big Screen festival for five years.
Other Australian or semi-Australian films he believes would be appropriate for older children are the "quite scary" Picnic at Hanging Rock, and the movie Romeo + Juliet, directed by the Australian Baz Luhrmann, which made the British institute's top 50.
"Because it was financed overseas, Romeo + Juliet doesn't qualify as an Australian film, but it's so irreverent it could only have come from a country like Australia," Castaldi says.
Denny Lawrence, a filmmaker and the chairman of the Australian Film Institute, is also a fan of the British list.
"I think it's terribly important children see powerful adult stories as well as films aimed specifically for children," he says.
He would fight for Walkabout, from the director Nicolas Roeg, Looking for Alibrandi, directed by Kate Woods, and George Miller's Babe to be added, although the second Babe film is not usually considered Australian.
Dr Patricia Edgar, chairwoman of the World Summit on Media for Children, and founding director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation, feels the list has an overly European sensibility.
"But they're all life-affirming legends," Edgar says. "I think it's important for kids to see those sort of films."
She would add the comedy School of Rock, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Jack Black, to the list. "The pity is, you wouldn't be able to come up with a list of Australian films to actually match that," she says. "We don't have the same European tradition for making films for kids."
The Australian film she thinks children would enjoy is the 1957 film The Shiralee, starring Peter Finch, because of the strong child's perspective within the movie.
Peter Tapp, from the Australian Teachers of Media, which produces study guides for students and teachers about films and documentaries, reckons Australian children should take a look at the 1983 classic Careful, He Might Hear You, from the novel by Sumner Locke Elliott. He thinks older children might appreciate John Duigan's coming-of-age flick The Year My Voice Broke, starring Noah Taylor.
And the children? Admittedly, she's exposed to more art-house cinema than most teenagers, but Isabelle Castaldi says she's learning to appreciate her father's "different" films. She last took her father to see Madagascar, and he took her to the Australian film Peaches, which she loved. She adores Disney animation, and her favourite film of all time is Monty Python's Life of Brian, which she first watched when she was four. What she would love to see added to the list is the Australian film Looking for Alibrandi.
"I would use a list like that if people said they were good movies," Isabelle says.
"If it appealed to me, I'd definitely rent it."
THE BFI TOP 10
·Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948, Italy)
·ET The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982, US)
·Kes (Ken Loach, 1969, UK)
·The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955, US)
·Les Quatre Cents Coups (400 Blows) ( Francois Truffaut, 1959, France)
· Show Me Love (Lukas Moodys- son, 1998, Sweden/Denmark)
·Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, Japan)
·Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995, US)
·Where is My Friend's House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987, Iran)
·The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939, US)

AN AUSTRALIAN TOP 10
·Babe (George Miller, 1995)
·Careful, He Might Hear You (Carl Schultz, 1983)
·Looking for Alibrandi (Kate Woods, 2000)
·Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
·Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002)
·Storm Boy (Henri Safran, 1976)
·The Shiralee (Leslie Norman, 1957)
·Strictly Ballroom (Baz Luhrmann, 1992)
·Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
·The Year My Voice Broke (John Duigan, 1987)

What? No Crocodile Dundee 3??????????

The Overture and the Underscore

Four times over the last few weeks I have heard DJs interviewing or waxing lyric about Sarah Blasko and this excellent album of earthy themes! She has an interesting story growing up with missionary parents, a pentecostal background and what she describes as a now 'dormant faith' caused largely by the hypocrisy of church communities she has obviously encountered at less than their best!! With Dad as a Chaplain in Canberra as a big fan then some interesting Chapel services have heard at least one of Sarah's demo tapes!!

Finally got my hands on the CD and its great!!

Tight A%# Tuesday Gets a Little Tighter!!

SMH Tuesday 2/8/05
Cinemas slash ticket prices to revive sales
By Garry Maddox, Film ReporterAugust 2, 2005

In a move to revive flagging box office sales, one of the major cinema chains is almost halving its top ticket price to $8.50 this week.
Hoyts announced yesterday that tickets for "any movie, any session, all day long" would be discounted savagely from Thursday to Sunday after yet another flat weekend for takings.
The other major chain in NSW, Greater Union, is also turning back the clock with tickets cut to $5 on Tuesdays and $10 for online bookings this month.
These deals represent heavy discounting from the top ticket price of $15.50.
Despite rallying with respectable business for War of the Worlds, the slump that had takings down by 14 per cent in the first half of the year has continued. Last weekend's takings for the top 20 films was just $7.45 million, compared with $9.7 million for the same period last year, after the poorly reviewed action film The Island took a disappointing $1.8 million.
Even some of the relative successes in recent months - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, which has taken $35 million, and Batman Begins, which has taken $15.2 million - were well down on industry expectations. Other films, including House of Wax, have been major disappointments.

In North America, which had a 19-week box office slump, many highly touted releases have crashed at the box office.
The latest is the action movie Stealth, which was shot in Sydney for more than $US100 million. It took just $US13.5 million ($17.8 million) at the American box office last weekend.
While distributors recognise that takings have been flat, they were playing down the significance of the discounting by the cinema chains yesterday.
"It's too early to call it a crisis," said Jon Anderson, the marketing manager for the distributor United International Pictures. "There's an expectation that business will turn around by the end of the year."
The head of the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, Joel Pearlman, has blamed the absence of a Lord of the Rings film to start the year, the disappointing quality of some Hollywood releases and the lack of a surprise hit like The Passion of the Christ for the downturn.
The art-houses have also been suffering with owner Chris Kiely announcing that he will close the struggling Valhalla cinema in Glebe tomorrow night.
He was one of two partners who handed back another ailing art-house cinema, the Chauvel in Paddington, to the Australian Film Institute in May.
He blamed the trend to watching films at home on DVD and the poor quality of recent releases for the decision to put the building up for auction later this month.
The closure was "accepting the inevitable", he said. "There's a real lack of quality art-house films out there. There has been for quite some time. There has really been only two sub-titled films with any real success this year."




Hail to Chris and the long tradition upheld at the Valhalla!!