God and the state ..

Last Monday night my new local member; Joe Hockey gave a fascinating address (at the Sydney Institute, http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/ ) Describing his view on how faith and politcs relate. Read it here.

One of the things he said which intrigued me was that the "Christian pie is not getting bigger; rather how it is sliced up is changing". I am intrigued why some the churches that are growing - what characteristics do they have.. The two reasons which quite often come to my mind are the community aspect; maybe tied to community is belonging. (and I'm always wondering how much church growth is believers "shopping around", and how many 'believers' chose not to identify as part of "a church" ). I have read somewhere (but can't recall where) that the Evangelical churchs are growing.

The other point made by Hockey which resonated with me, was his view leaders who are fake; will be shown to be without values.


While I wasn't in agreement with all of his views, it was interesting hearing another one of our politicians talk about 'their faith'.

South Africa here we come...

So, after a break of 27 years, the All Whites are back in the World Cup. 

Last night, in front of a sellout crowd in Wellington the All Whites held on for a deserved 1-0 win. Here's the match report from the NZ Herald , BBC, and the NYT.

The next key date is Dec 4, when the draw from group stage will be made. Wouldn't it be funny if the Socceroos and All Whites ended up in the same group.
 

Notes from the Decade

Given that its almost the end of 2009, I thought that I'd put my list of my top 5 albums for 2000-2010. Perhaps lists like these are becoming more pointless, as the way we listen to music has changed. More often than not we listen to music shuffled. I'm old fashioned in that I like listening to albums from start to finish. Before I get on to my list, here's a discussion piece about the trends which have defined this decade in music (via NPR). NPR will have a list of the most influencial albums of the decade online on Monday (I think), I'll post the link once I find/hear it.

With the provisio that they may change from time to time here's my top five albums from the decade. My honorable mentions are: No Line on the Horizon and I'm Wide Awake it's Morning.

5. Limbs and Branches - Jon Foreman
During 2008, Jon Foreman the lead singer of the Calfornian band Switchfoot released a series of EPs titled Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. The album Limbs and Branches is a compliation of songs from these EPs. The most striking thing about these albums, are the faithful yet not preachy lyrics.The album gives Foreman the opportunity to display his craft with music.

4: Good Monsters - Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay were the first Christian band. I'm not sure whether Good Monsters Jars of Clay's best work, especially given the release earlier this year of The Long Fall Back to Earth. Both albums are perhaps more complete works than the their earlier albums. Good Monsters provides an account for our capacity as humans to be equally good and depraved.

3: Albertine - Brooke Fraser
I remember when I first heard the title track. The words and music blended together to create an athmosphere of urgency -"Now that I have seen - I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead". Quite a challenge. I'm impressed with Brooke's honest and thoughtful lyric's which quite easily cross to the mainstream. At the moment Brooke is posting articles on songwriting on her blog, which are worth a read too. Brooke Fraser isn't on this list just because she is a Kiwi, but it sure helps. Aside: Brooke is in the process of writing her third album.

2: Kid A - Radiohead
I wasn't so sure of this one when I first heard it, but it has really grown on me. It was quite a change following the critically acclaimed OK Computer, but now its one best enjoyed through earphones, and perhaps from start-to-finish. "How to Dissapear.." is such a hauntingly beautiful song.

1: The Swell Season - The Swell Season
The Swell Season is a collaboration between the lead singer of the amazing Irish band the Frames - Glen Hansard, and Marketa Irglova (a pianist from the Czech Republic). The highlight of this album to me is the harmony between the voices of Marketa and Glen and how well they compliment each other. In some ways the story has been part of their (broad) appeal, Glen Hansard with the band The Frames were searching for success, and then through the film 'Once' made for less than $200k, they were thrust into the spotlight. Hansard since then has had fun dealing with how the "whole word" has turned and noticed them. more here. As I wrote earlier their 2nd album 'Strict Joy' is not suprisingly almost as beautiful - you can read the poem that inspired the title.

First listen...

For those who don't know, NPR's website offers an exclusive first listen to some albums prior to their release date. Last week, they began streaming The Swell Season's second album 'Strict Joy' in full.

Strict Joy is a follow-up to their self-titled debut release in 2006. It is sad that none of the press around the new album mentions this cd, focusing on the soundtrack to Once instead (which features a number of the same songs). I would encourage anyone who liked Once or intends to buy Strict Joy, to buy The Swell Season too. You won't regret it.

My first impression of the record was that I had been reacquanited with an old friend, (or I was sitting with two people as they sang about their experience of life) The lyric of the album are so genuine. As in their debut record, the lyrics are laid on a foundation of acoustic guitar, strings (mostly).

Glen Hansard has a beautful way of communicating emotion and connecting to experience. The tracks Fantasy Man and I Have Loved You Wrong, give Marketa opportunity to sing the lead vocal. The album is a sparkling gem and has grown on each listen. The album is released on October 23rd. (via Spunk Records).

One more on the World Cup - Qualifiers

According to FIFA's website there's just about 240 days to the next Football World Cup. Thursday morning is one of the key days. Thursday will see most of the qualifers finalised Here's an overview of the possibilities, (and more helpfully probabilities).(from the BBC). The full list of teams will be determined after the playoffs end on the 18th. (Then the real build-up can begin).

Update: Here are the qualifers at October 14.

90 minutes (or so) to go

While Australia has qualified for the next world cup already, New Zealand faces a two legged play off against Bahrain to get there. The first leg was played in Bahrain in the early hours of this morning, it seems NZ acquitted themselves well (the game finished 0-0). On Nov 14, in Wellington, the All Whites play their most significant football match since 1982.

If they win this match, they will join Australia (and others) at South Africa 2010, and if they lose the road starts again in 2012 (and maybe with Australia in the Asian confederation).

Stop worrying.. and love the internet

This piece from 1999 is a great ..

"Because the Internet is so new we still don't really understand what it is. We mistake it for a type of publishing or broadcasting, because that's what we're used to. So people complain that there's a lot of rubbish online, or that it's dominated by Americans, or that you can't necessarily trust what you read on the web. Imagine trying to apply any of those criticisms to what you hear on the telephone. Of course you can't  'trust' what people tell you on the web anymore than you can 'trust' what people tell you on megaphones, postcards or in restaurants. Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do. For some batty reason we turn off this natural scepticism when we see things in any medium which require a lot of work or resources to work in, or in which we can't easily answer back – like newspapers, television or granite. Hence 'carved in stone.' What should concern us is not that we can't take what we read on the internet on trust – of course you can't, it's just people talking – but that we ever got into the dangerous habit of believing what we read in the newspapers or saw on the TV – a mistake that no one who has met an actual journalist would ever make. One of the most important things you learn from the internet is that there is no 'them' out there. It's just an awful lot of 'us'."

[Read more here]

Tread Softly ... [A Random Poem]

A classic poem from WB Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[WB Yeats, 1888]