New music from The Swell Season

I am excited by news that The Swell Season, are putting the finishing touches on ‘Strict Joy,’ (Sept 29/Anti- Records), the tracklisting is below, and the album includes some of the songs played on their tour earlier this year, and a few new ones.

1. Low Rising
2. Feeling the Pull
3. In These Arms
4. The Rain
5. Fantasy Man
6. Paper Cup
7. High Horses
8. The Verb
9. I Have Loved You Wrong
10. Love That Conquers
11. Two Tongues
12. Back Broke

Bad...

Bad (from The Unforgettable Fire) is one of my favourite U2 songs, and this performance, from their Vertigo tour, was one of the highlights of the two shows I saw in the US.

search for a new Messiah

There is something in the article here, the hunger we have for something, or someone bigger than us.In the article Howard talks about the outpouring of emotion for Michael Jackon and more broadly celebrities.

Some decent, humane sorrowing over that – a life gone nowhere, for all the fame; a life lived in desperate confusion – would not be inappropriate. And a little soul-searching, as well, on the part of those who must idolise before they know they are alive. This, too, has been gone over and over all week – the hellish compact between a star and those who worship him. We destroy those we inordinately admire. That is the cliche. I would put it differently. Those we inordinately admire destroy us.

It has been said that Michael Jackson changed the lives of millions of his fans. But I have yet to read an account of what he changed them to. Yes, he gave them songs to sing. Few of them remarkable. And he gave them a dance to dance. I can see with my own eyes that he moved unusually. So let's say he taught others to move unusually too. Perhaps we can say he liberated them into a bodily vitality they hadn't known before. That's not nothing, if it's true. But if it is true, you wonder where all that bequeathed vitality has gone to. After you've done your moonwalk, then what?

And there is certainly a lesson from his final line..

We should revere less and forgive more. There are no gods among us, and few devils. If we must do huge, let's do benign scepticism, hugely.

Cocoon of Silence

A fascinating and challenging read about the impact we all can have in diminishing the impact of hateful beliefs.

The authorities won't be able to stop every "lone wolf" with a gun and a gripe. But we, as a society, can do a much better job of creating an environment where hateful beliefs are never ignored and suspicious behavior never goes unreported.

In 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in a letter from a Birmingham jail, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." That's still true. Hateful people are loud — to disguise their cowardice and shame. But good, decent people are by far the majority, and we dare not be silent. There can be no family too close and no friend too dear for hatred to go unchecked. Allowing it to do so diminishes the better, more noble parts of ourselves. These confrontations won't be easy, but doing the right thing rarely is. There is someone reading this column who knows someone who could be the next shooter. What will that reader do?

On Michael Jackson

I don't thnik that Michael Jackson's impact on music can be understated, and I can't say it better than these words from Andrew Sullivan below.

"There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal
life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for
his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for
so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again. "

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Confederations Cup..

So, New Zealand's time in the Confederations Cup is over. They played three with 2 (heavy) losses and a scoreless draw against Iraq, and it tonight was the only night they looked like scoring, but fluffed so
many chances. The man of the match would have to be Glen Moss (their goalkeeper), who made a couple of miracolous saves. But to be honest, given what we saw over the last week, I'm not sure that we'll see the All Whites in the World Cup. They play a challenging two legged play-off against Bahrain or Saudia Arabia, but we'll see.

On the upside, the New Zealand women's T-20 cricket team play England in the final tonight.

Silencing your inner critic

I really identify with the article, I'm quite likely to give myself reason to doubt what I've done or doing. The article also outlines some steps to assist in dealing with your "internal critic".

The holiday feeling..

I enjoyed reading this article offering some tips about extending the holiday feeling. I know reentry can be difficult, but here's a few tips to help.

1. Start with a virtual vacation.
Explore the place you are going to online, and build some anticipation.

2. Wash the dishes before you leave. Make the bed. Close the drawers and closet.
You'll be more able to hold onto the holiday feeling if you come hope to a, moderately, clean home.

3. Leave your bad habits behind.
4. Leave your bad habits behind, part two.
Or basically, a vacation isn't just an escape from a place, it's a chance to escape from your routine.

5. Try something new on vacation. Or something old that feels new.

6. Sleep.

7. When you and your dirty clothes get home, hang on to your best
vacation habits for at least a day or two.
This is one that I think I should work on, while you are holiday you are often on a different rountine, and you're able to do different things. One of the things that I was keen to do after we got back from
Japan last year, was to spend more time reading, and I've more or less done that (so far).

8. Be wary of souvenirs.

9. Don't forget that the place you live is also a vacation destination.
I like the idea of being a tourist in your own city. Explore parts you have't been to, or haven't been too for a while

10. Resume your virtual vacation.
Great idea to go back to the website, and rekindle the holiday buzz.

the fixture super-computer

I found this article "Secrets of the fixture computer" (via the BBC) about how the fixtures for the premier league are set to be quite fascinating - I never realised that by changing one - you could impact as many as 48.

For those who are interested the fixture list for the 2009/2010 Season come out this Thursday (our time).

On the Football

It's great to see Australia has qualified for the Football World Cup in South Afrca next year, but in November this year, the New Zealand All Whites have a chance to join the Socceroos.

Currently standing between the All Whites and the World Cup, is the winner of a two legged play off between the two third place teams - likely between Bahrain (or Uzsbekistan)  and Iran (DPR Korea or Saudi Arabia). The teams involved in the playoff are determined on Thursday morning, and the play off held during September, before the tie with New Zealand in November. (See here for the dates).

But before all that the All Whites are playing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa with guaranteed matches agains European champions Spain (tomorrow morning), Iraq, and South Africa, we'll see how they go..  but given their performace against Italy (they lost 3-4) they should give a great account of themselves.  It was sad to see the All Blacks lose over the weekend. At least it doesn't look like they'll peak before the Rugby World Cup in 2011. 

The New Zealand Women's T-20 team are undefeated after beating the West Indies and Australia in the Women's T-20 World Cup (the Kiwi men got thumped by Pakistan overnight too...)

Great Expectations?

I found the piece in answering the question do we expect to much from our leaders a great reminder about why how we act matters. 

If the people who govern us set a fine example then it must help the rest of us. If we see and hear examples of our leaders behaving well despite temptations to do otherwise then it should encourage us all. We'll never have a society free of crime and dishonesty and petty cheating, but we can have one in which the norm is truthful and honest, and in which most ordinary people feel that they are letting themselves and everyone else down if they avoid a train fare, leave out some earnings on their tax return, or exaggerate their insurance claims. Such a society would be much better than one in which everyone is trying to get round the rules when they can and seek maximum personal gain at every opportunity.

This motivates whom I vote for. I want the chance to vote for people who will provide that moral leadership, who will work for a country in which honesty prevails over cheating and will not only govern the rest of us, but will infect us with the idea that behaving honestly is the norm and we should all be doing it. Will there be any such people to vote for next time around? I hope so.

In our growth group at church we've just started reading Paul's leter to Titus where he tells Titus to look for character in those who we lead, as its in actions that words are given context.

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I also like this piece - Sad? Watch TV