Let's Have Another Go Shall We?

It's the end of the academic year and I've got quite a bit of time on my hands. Actually, that's not strictly true. I'm going to be working about 40 hours a week from now until October, but it's hopefully going to be a little more straight forward. I'm working on the York Uni Campus doing some Catering work and weekends at a Wine Bar in town, in the hope that two casual jobs will make up enough money to pay for rent this summer, as well as a few other things in between.

Sorry for the lack of anothing for the past four or five months, I've been busy with bits and bobs both worthwhile and not so. Hopefully there should be a few interesting conferences over the summer (including the CofE's General Synod)and my dissertation work to keep you informed of. Lets see...

Ivan Cameron 2002-2009

We should all be praying for David Cameron's son Ivan, who died in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as well as remembering his family. It is the fear of every parent to lose a child at such a young age, especially after such a difficult and short (though no less special) life.

One of my little brother's classmates at his SEN school has a similar epileptic condition to Ivan's, and it has been a great blessing to my family to have a group of people with whom to discuss the difficulties of raising a child with severe disabilities.

Both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have now suffered the deep pain of child bereavement (let's not forget Gordon Brown's daughter died at just 10 days old in 2001 after being born prematurely, and his eldest son has Cystic Fibrosis). It is left to be seen how this will translate into social policy, particularly regarding facilities for Special Educational Needs.

I have watched both my parents fight for the direct payments and government help we are entitled to with varying levels of success. I have seen them fight for the right to send my brother to the closest SEN school to us and I have seen them give up their careers to look after him. As I begin to pave my own life and career, I am fully aware of the responsibility I will eventually bear for my brother when my parents are no longer able to care for him

It is my prayer that Brown and Cameron will enact legislation so I won't need to fight for his right to care and support as hard as my parents have had to.

Papal Fashion Tip #2

It's been almost a month since my last Papal Fashion Tip, so here's a great Pope picture I found on Google.

Praying the Rosary has always seemed a bit nerdy and overtly pious, particularly in public, yet the Holy Father has managed to make it look cool again. A nice summers day out with Catholic housewives favourite Papal Secretary Msgr Gaenswein (right) and the Pope manages to both pray a devotion to Our Blessed Mother and be fashion conscious at the same time. The amazing thing is that all it took was a pair of dark sunglasses. Now where have I seen that before?

Though I am sure His Holiness does not condone neither the violence nor the explicit language of Reservoir Dogs he has certainly tapped into the fashion trend. No prizes for guessing who played 'Mr White' in the papal version...

US Catholic Bishops offer Marriage Advice

Just before Damian got carried away rallying the troops on behalf of Fr Tim, the Holy Smoke blog ran a piece on the advice given by the US Bishops Conference which, according to the blog post, was a list of tips to "spice up your marriage"

'Holy Smoke' is my guilty pleasure. It reawakens a feeling in me that I normally only get when I go to my Gran's house, where I read her copy of the Daily Mail with the express wish of being annoyed by it. It's fun to read and even more fun to be rather freaked out by some of the people who regularly comment, though at the end of the day it's just a place to bitch about bishops and liturgical dance.

His source, which he links directly, is actually from an article called 10 Cheap Dates by 'For Your Marriage', an Initiative of the USCCB. There is no mention at all of 'spicing up' marriage and he has rather, ahem, edited the suggestions.

The 'indoor picnic' is a wet weather alternative to an outdoor one (which I would assume would make hanky panky pretty difficult), the pillow fight is one of many suggestions for a 'technology free evening'. It's also quite clear that these were not written by the bishops themselves; after all it would have been years since they had the chance to (shock horror!!) think about sex.

The sad fact is that Thompson seems to show sex and marriage in a rather sordid manner (bad dirty, not kinky dirty of course). Another post a little while ago about so called "Christian Nymphos" made him blush and caused a flurry of 'Trads' to post on his wall about how horrible the thought of a married couple enjoying sex games was. We are sexual beings so why shouldn't married couples be allowed to indulge in games to make the whole thing that little bit more romantic? I'm sure that at some point even Damian Thompson must have fantasized about sex. Now that is a scary thought :p

Roy's Running for Glanfield!

OK, it's time to get donating. I'm running the Leeds Half Marathon (see earlier post) on behalf of the Glanfield Group, who give children and young people with varying degrees of special needs the chance to enjoy a holiday in Lourdes that otherwise would simply not be possible on many levels.

My reason for running lies mainly in my needing an incentive to do it (the image of a room of puppy dog eyes looking at me keeps me going), though I did choose the cause for a personal reason. If you want to know more about why I am running and would like to donate just click here. If you're on Facebook then join the official "Roy's Running for Glanfield!" Group and spread the word.

Those who know me will realising I am pushing gravity to its limit by doing this. Give generously or I will find very cute pictures of Glanfield young people singing at a Childrens Mass in Lourdes last year, and you don't want that now do you.

Peter Gabriel: Musical Leg End

Firstly a belated Happy Birthday to one of the most underrated musician of the past fifty years, Peter Gabriel, who turned 59 last Friday. Though I love Phil Collins and will do so faithfully til death do us part, Peter Gabriel has by far the more intelligent sound (he's Charterhouse educated and it shows in his music), which I suppose is why he can produce a soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ and Phil is left with Brother Bear

He's been in the news recently for refusing to perform his fantastic tune "Down to Earth" from WALL-E at the Oscars. Good on him. For one thing I was shocked to find he wasn't nominated in 1989 for his work on Last Temptation or even for the use of "In Your Eyes" in Say Anything.

As far as I'm concerned, the Academy have got what they deserve...

A Mum posessed

Five an a half months later (and a few pounds lighter), I am back in Blighty for good. I flew into London Stansted late on Friday night, leaving Saturday for some quality family time.

As much as I love my Mum, I have the slight feeling I've been watching an impending midlife crisis. While middle aged men see their grey hairs and respond with a new sports car or leather jacket, my Mum has chosen the latest teenage Vampire/Goth phenomenon Twilight as her dotage.

I saw Twilight on Christmas Eve and I have to say it wasn't too bad. The script was rather wooden and the acting left a lot to be desired, though Bella was quite attractive in a pale, gothic kind of way so it was watchable. We leave the cinema and my Mum was acting like a fourteen year old. She rushed home and spent Christmas Day finding pictures of Edward (silent but beautiful 108 year old Vampire who just happens to look 17) and ordering as much Twilight merchandise as she could.

Now twenty cinema visits and well over forty overall viewings later she worries me. I was in Berlin a couple of weekends ago and I felt myself compelled to buy €60 worth of merch from the Ku'Damm. The walls of my house, where once there were nice pictures of the children, are full of pictures of Edward and Bella

Oh well, I suppose it's just a phase she's going through.

Papal Fashion Tip #1

Just came across this excellent picture of the Pope during the fifth week of Lent last year.

Traditionally priests wear Rose (because 'pink' just sounds, like, totally gay) coloured vestments in the third week of Advent and the fifth week of Lent as a sign that the penitential season is coming to an end. However the Pope's fashion reminds me of another gentleman with such superb fashion sense...

Who knew the Pope was a fan of Miami Vice? I had always put him down as a traditionalist given his stance on most issues, but this pastel look has really made me think again. A lot of people do think that Benedict XVI has softened since his days as head of the CDF, and perhaps here's the proof. It seems last year's apostolic trip to the USA had aprofound effect on him. Perhaps next he needs to turn in the old Popemobile and replace it with a Ferarri Testarossa, then he'll really be able to uphold Canon Law in style!

The DEC and the BBC: Perhaps A Good Thing?

Grrr! The evil bosses at the BBC won't air the DEC's Gaza Appeal for fear of showing a pro-palestinian bias and thus threatening the BBC's impartiality as the public service broadcaster. String 'em up! Do the decent thing Mark Thompson and resign!

Am I the only one here who thinks this is a row over nothing?

First of all the BBC has never been impartial in its news coverage, and it is rather tricky to ask that of them in the first place. It was only three years ago that John Humphreys was given a dressing down by Auntie for making very impartial comments about the Labour Government during an after dinner speech. Surely it would be unfair to ask of BBC journalists to leave their political ideas at the door when they enter Broadcasting House

What really annoys me though is that people cannot see the BBC's decision as a good thing. Surely the press coverage garnered from the protests outside Broadcasting House with the usual array of left wing political speakers (Tony Benn et al)will publicise the DEC's appeal far more effectively than a five minute clip shown just before "DIY:SOS" ever could.

I for one, currently in Germany without access to BBC TV, would never have found out about the Appeal had they aired it. Instead, I get to read about it on their news websites as well as on other news outlets. Auntie has done far more to promote this campaign than any other broadcaster, even if she can't admit it.

In fact, i'll give you the website URL just to prove it. Just Click Here

YouPope!

Vatican Information Service today announced the arrival of the Vatican YouTube Channel, promising to update it every day with a couple of two minute videos taken from CTV's daily footage. The Vatican launched their website in 1995, and given how fast technology has grown since then I'm quite surprised this hasn't happened before.

One question still remains though: Is that all they're going to upload?

Clearly the Vatican just don't understand the point of YouTube. How about some real YouTube style Vatican videos. A video of the Pope playing Zelda on his new Nintendo Wii, being thrashed by Cardinal Arinze? A video from the front seat of the Pope Mobile breaking the speed limit? Perhaps even some old episodes of Father Ted just to see if Hat Trick Productions come after him and take them offline for copyright infringement.

Seriously though the possibilities are there for Godcasts on iTunes too. After all, we know the Pope has an iPod. Any speculation on the playlist?

The Heat Is On...

It's New Years/Birthday resolutions time again. I'm now officially a Twentysomething, which from what I hear entails drinking Starbucks Coffee, engaging in meaningful political conversation over a nice bottle of Merlot and sharing an apartment with a group of equally caffeine addicted, politically minded souls. Well, there'll be time for all that when I defeat the demon that has plagued me from the beginning of my university career...

Those people who have the pleasure of knowing me will be aware of my status of horizontal privilege, or 'fatty-boom-boomness' as it's also known. Well, a new year, a new decade and a new realisation of my size has inspired me to do something about the old weight problem.

The title of this blog comes from the song 'St Elmo's Fire' by John Parr, a big haired mid 80s power ballad that talked about not being sure of what to do and where you are being taken. Right now I feel I have to take control.

I am fat because I have little control over my body. I spend ten hours at the university and I feel like eating. I feel like eating lots. It is getting to the point where I feel like I'm no longer eating to live; I'm living to eat.

So it's time for action. I have already lost 4 kilograms (9 pounds in old money) from cutting out the Coca Cola and the fatty foods and replacing them with substitutes, though that won't be enough. I have to exercise.

This is where a good friend from York comes in. Last year I ran a 10K round Edinburgh. I had never run properly before it, so by race day the minuscule preparation I had put in did make some difference, and I finished in about an hour and fifteen minutes. Looking at this achievement, I am forced to ask myself why I didn't take advantage of the opportunity to go further.

So this time, there's no going back. I'm running the Leeds Half Marathon and that's final.Perhaps I might even grow a 'tasche like Dave Bedford's as well

Take 2

I tried to do this a little while ago, though I made the blog a little bit too specific. That and no one bothered to read it. So I'm starting afresh, with my views, opinions and general bullshit on topics as varied as the 1980s to the Catholic Church

And of course my new attempt at losing weight: the Leeds Half Marathon. More on that later...