headwayyouth- phil smith's blog

Sanctuary

Last night was the Sanctuary.
The theme this month was fittingly 'Love is...'
The church we meet in is a proper old-school parish church. With a distinctly unseeker-friendly drive and a lovely crew of resident bell ringers.
Every month Tracy (resident worship-curator) makes the most of the architecture by doing an installation around the [large] font and various bits and bobs around the aisle.
Last night the walk up the [lengthy] aisle was staggered as participants were encouraged to read a liturgy line-by-line before taking communion. It worked really well!

c/o blaugh.com

fabchannel

Fab channel is the perfect website for agraphobic music-fans, but it's quite fun for the rest of us as well.

It streams live gigs and archives them through artist and track. There isn't much on their yet (besides Lily Allen and Michael Franti) but no doubt it will grow.
 

some people are just stupid...

Church things on the tyne are nicely hotting up. In fact I've spent the past couple of weeks trying to develop a wiki-style website to track what's happening. Details to be published in due course!

We met last week for our first Spirited Exchanges gathering (incidentally check out the new Spirited Exchanges UK website- looks good, well done steve!) and all shared who we are and our 'Stage of Faith'. I talked about Darlington and how that had tainted my understanding of church. Another member of the group shared that she'd similarly been screwed by the church but after much reflection she came to the conclusion that the church is still a good and godly institution, it just contains some really stupid people!

I've been thinking about it for a week now so that means it's certainly worth blogging about.

LFC takeover

Today the inevitable happened. The mighty reds were taken over by two people who cannot name the five years in which Liverpool won the European cup (for the record 77, 78,  81, 84, 05) and think the  Paisley is a herb that goes on fish.

They seem nice fellas but unsurprisingly I'm not overly enthusiastic about the takeover, not least because the last major donation from one of our new club owners was to George W. Bush!

Guillemots live

Went to see the Guillemots last night...

Absolute bobby dazzler!

They were much more experimental than I expected- more Polyphonic Spree (including the caftans!) than Paul McCartney- so if that is what you're into hunt them out.

Really good live act, it wasn't just like listening to their album loud (not that I've really listen to their album!) 

Highlights:

• bubble machines during 'Made-up lovesong', which Fyfe bravely stopped one sentence in because he got the words wrong!
• Quality drummer
• The use of a proper bell- think school play ground
• Five people being given golden tickets on entrance and then going on stage to play percussion during the last song

Schoolyard penis seen from space

I've been trying to resist posting about this all day, but to no avail.

"Two pupils who drew a giant penis on a school lawn using weed killer two years ago can still admire their work from satellite photos now posted on the internet."

Surely this is the proudest moment of their life.

Absolute genius!

Starbucks and World Domination

Great article in yesterday's Guardian about Starbucks and their phenomenal growth since inception in 1971;

"India, Russia, Brazil and Egypt are to be targeted this year. There are 530 branches in the UK and, with profits soaring, the company has said it aims to add 50 per year, about half of them in the south east of England. Anyone can now calculate their 'Starbucks density' using a locator on the company website: a person in Regent Street in London is within five miles of 166 branches."

At this point I should make a confession. I do visit Starbucks and I'm not the only person in the world of fair trade who does so. Truth be told, in terms of development I don't think they're as nasty as campaigns like 'I Hate Starbucks' would have you believe: they are the biggest buyers of fair trade coffee in north-America and the treatment of their producer groups is relatively  good. Where they have recently let themselves down is on the issue of licensing of Ethiopian Coffee.

I've mentioned this before but as Tony Blair is meeting an East-African coffee farmer today and many MPs are spending the afternoon watching Black Gold, I thought I might mention it again (more details available in this article in today's Guardian). If you want to get involved in the campaign, next time you go to Starbucks take a printed copy of this leaflet, ask for a Cafe Estima (Starbucks certified Fairtrade coffee) and with your money hand over your complaint.

Little Miss Sunshine... genius

Yes, we're a little behind, but last night along with some buddies, Zo and I watched Little Miss Sunshine for the first time. It's easily the best film I've seen this year... actually I think it's the only film I've seen this year... it's the best film I've seen in a very long time.
For those that haven't seen the film (and for those that have who are vaguely interesting in my opinions), for me it's a tail of failure. What makes the film is that it goes beyond the usual rhetoric of 'life's s**t and then you die', by emphasising that failure is a part of life, it makes us who we are and gives us a greater grasp of the world around us, hence Franks moment of revelation, "Failure is often a gateway through which we must pass in order to receive our greatest gifts."

My new year's resolution...

Yes, I know it's a bit late but I've got it; not to drive to work.
For too long I've spent over an hour each day stuck in traffic on the four mile journey over the Tyne to work and back, but no longer. For the past week it's been a swift walk to the Metro, which crosses the Tyne, before a bus journey to Traidcraft.
It works okay, costing a bit less and only taking a little longer than it does by car.
The main motivation is cutting my carbon emissions. Sitting in traffic by myself is probably the most unethical part of my life, so I'm trying to chop it out wherever possible.
One thing I've learned in this process is that winter is not the time to go carbon neutral...
By gosh it's cold out there!