Great Basketball Shot from 8th Grader

Just seen this on Chris Kidd’s blog.

Best kids DVD movies 2009

1. Bolt

its hard to fault Pixar – I don’t think they are the masters of Computer Generated Animation and i don’t think they have made a duff movie yet. This is a winning combination of a cute canine hero, a plot involving getting lost (see finding nemo), some lovable character (Rhino the pet hamster in his hamster ball) and some great high speed set pieces. The colours are great so kids of all ages will love watching this . The film is a cross between the best of the Incredibles and Finding Nemo – you’re bound to love it.

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2. Monster vs Aliens

This is a fun animated adventure film with a great heart – it works as a kids move that adults will enjoy it too.

When an Alien mothership turns up and aims to destroy the planet – the government calls on its secret stash of Monsters. The idea that the monsters would be kept imprisoned until they are needed is a bit negative and a tad on the utilitarian side, but I don’t think most people notice it. There’s fun galore with BOB the blob gets all the best lines, there might be slightly too many characters, but the central messages of the film are good ones – “don’t judge by external appearances” and  “people either love you for who you are or they don’t love you at all.” Enjoy…

3. Bed time stories

Adam Sandler plays a lovable Uncle who helps his sister out by looking after his nephew and neice while trying to hold down his job as a repairman in a hotel. Some great jokes, a feel good factor at the end and a lovable rodent with cute eyes, a pretty funny bee stinging tongue gag and the most annoying ringtone ever. It’s all done pretty well – the whole family enjoyed this one. This film is a lot more fun than the other film that came out with a similar idea – INKHEART.

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4. Boy in the Striped pyjammas

This is a powerful live action drama – set in the second world war. It tells the story of the holocaust through the eyes of a little boy whose father just happens to be an SS Officer who is put in charge of a concentration camp. Very young children should not watch this movie, but those of a more mature demeanor should be allowed to watch it with a parent. The ending is very bleak and the emotional impact helps us to make sure this must never happen again.(see my review here).

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5. Iron Man

My kids watched this film when i was away, but they tell me it was excellent and must be in the Top 5. let me know what you think. Robert Downey Junior stars in this all action film. It’d make a great gift for a boy – and is now only £4.98 on amazon.

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6. Game plan

Here’s another one the kids watched without me. I ordered it for them because it has a cute girl as the main lead and also features the Rock so both boys and girls will like this one. An incapable father estranged from his daughter gets a second chance at parenting her when her mother dies and she lands up on his doorstep. Great gift for a young girl (amazon have it for £4.98).

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7. Madagascar 2

It was always going to be hard to live up to the first film, but this film does a decent job. It tells the backstory of how Alex ended up in New York Zoo and what became of the granny that beat him up at the station. The Penguin’s steal the show (again) – the soundtrack is a particular strength too. Enjoy. (In case somehow you missed it – the double box set is available for a good price at the moment.).

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High School Musical 3

I have to admit I really like this trilogy. There are some amazing musical numbers – where the actors have to sing, dance and keep a basketball in the air. Plotwise i think the first film was the best, followed by the third and then the second film. But all of the films have really catchy tunes and great visual presence. If you are looking for a present for a girl in primary school – this is it.

Young People and the Bible

A while back i produced a list of helpful resources for engaging with the Bible. Well thanks to some generous publisher i have received some new books i wanted to add to the list:

1)  Shaped by the Story, Mike Novelli

This is an inspirational book for youthleaders. The author provides both a theological and a practical rational for using bible storytelling as the centre of youth ministry.The book includes testimonies from people that have tried the method out and also a DVD of a group using the material. We always need to be careful of “magic bullet” quick fix solutions – but Novelli certainly lays down the gauntlet for us to think creatively about engaging young people with the biblical story.

2) Jesus Story Book , Sarah Lloyd Jones

I haven’t got my copy of this yet, but it comes highly recommended by both Tim Keller and my friend Mark Meynell. I’ll keep you posted when I get to read it to my kids. But it could be a great book to take on holiday with you and your primary aged children and read one a day on you Summer vacation.

3) Lion Graphic Bible

This is a very well produced version of the Bible with excellent full colour art work and gives young people a really good overview of the whole Bible. I used it with my oldest children and we read it together at bed time. The images are really well done and give a great sense of the dynamism and action of a lot of the bible stories. It literary starts with Genesis and ends with revelation covering both the narrative sections and a quick overview of the epistles.  It could be a great entry point for a lot of young people with the Bible.

4) Manga Jesus volume 1, Siku, Hodder and Stoughton

Graphic Artist Siku does an excellent job in capturing the drama of the gospel. This is a short book it is in black and white but printed on very high quality paper. It is artistically of an even higher standard than the Lion bible despite being in black and white. There are some very clever artistic touches that adds another dimension to this retelling of the gospel story.

5) Bible Baddies, Bob Hartman, Lion

This is an excellent resource for retelling the stories of the Bible. The stories are incredibly well written and set a gold standard for what could be a narrative sermon. This book should not be restricted to children and could make a great resource for being read out in church services. Bob Hartman is incredibly gifted and he has not shied away from some of the more difficult bible stories including Ehud and Eglon, Jezebel, Barrabus etc. I used to read these stories to my kids at bed time – i think i enjoyed them even more than they did! It probably works best for pretty literate children over 8 years old.

6) Bite Sized Bible, Andy Bianchi, Collins

This is not a full bible but some of the key parts of the Bible broken down into bite size pieces. It works chronologically through the whole bible and includes one-line introductions to passages give their context and fill in the gaps as well as some cross references to help you find your way in the rest of the Bible. You can read each of the sections in about 3 to 4 minutes. It is a resource that I have dipped into for bed time bible stories with my kids. The book has a very badly thought out front cover with a picture of Eve offering the Adam a bite of the forbidden fruit – not sure what the link is between a bite size chunk of the Bible and the forbidden fruit?

7) Topical Memory System: life Issues, Navigators

This resource from the navigators tries to help Christians to memorise and internalise the Bible. It provides a short article and then a memory verse on life issues such as dealing with anger, depression, love, knowing God’s will, handling money etc. Authors of the articles include Jerry Bridges, Calvin Miller, Ted Engstrom. You get a little card to stick in your wallet to carry around with you for the day and you can chose which version of the Bible you want to use (NIV, KJV, NKJV and NASB). The danger is ofcourse that we learn the bible in an atomistic way that encourages a proof texting approach to the Bible. The strength of the course is it really does help us get the Bible into our hearts and minds – to have a passage of the bible ready as we face challenges in life. As the Psalmist says: “i have hidden your word in my heart that i might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 I recommend this as a great tool to use with teens you are discipling.

8.) The Street Bible, Rob Lacey

Rob Lacey had a real gift with words. This is more of a series of meditations on the bible than a translation per se. The author himself said: “No way is this the Proper Bible. It’s a trailer for, an intro to, an overview of
The Bible (capital “B”),For those who’ve never read it, And those who’ve read it so much it’s gone stale on them”. Rob’s use of language is very powerful and can help people give the Bible a fresh hearing. To get a flavour of it click here .

9) BIble Experience, Zondervan Publishing

This is a brilliant recording of the Bible with a purpose made score and some top quality list of voice actors this set of CDs or MP3s can bring the bible alive for a new audience. The cast include: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett and Cuba Gooding Jr. My favourite part was to hear Samuel L. Jackson as John the Baptist – he brings his customary brilliance and attitude to the part. Stick the CD into your car and experience the Bible on the way to work or download the mp3s onto your ipod and enjoy the bible as you work out. Teens who are not great readers will enjoy this – but it could add some spice to the bible readings in your youth events and services too.

Best Michael Jackson covers and tributes

It is a testimony to Jackson’s music that the constant airplay of jackon songs on the radio – has made me want to listen to more of him not less.

But for those of you that want a different take on some of the Jackon classics I’d like to recommend the following:

1) Beat it – fall out boy

balancing both a faithful reproduction of the original with an even harder edge to the guitar and drums – i now like this even more than the original – which feels slow and plodding in comparison.

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2) Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm

Again, a faithful but harder remake – that honours the original by bringing a powerful guitar base to the classic. There’s another version of Smooth criminal by Javier Alvarez that has a strange charm to it – its more unplugged check it out.

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3. Thriller

So Bollywood did Thriller – lets see this as homage, rather than a rip off…

Avoid:

I was going to buy the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller from Amazon (Itunes do a better deal as it includes the videos). But was really disappointed with the remixes – they all lose something in the remix – whether its the central guitar riff or even Jackson’s vocal – why would you want to hear Akon rather Jackson on ‘wanna be starting something.”

You also want to avoid anything that has an orchestral re-interpration about it.

- here were my reflections on the death of michael jackson.

Michael Jackon Dead

The BBC has confirmed that Michael Jackson has died aged 50.

Apparently it was a cardiac arrest.

There were some stellar moments in his career:

Just this week I was listening to “ABC” and “I want you back” – when an 8 year old Jackson fronted the Jackson 5.

Or think about the moonwalk or the invention of the pop video – thriller set the pace for every video since.

Yes he was a very confused soul, yes he seemed to make some incredibly unwise decisions with his relationship with children, handling his finances, plastic surgery…. But with 50 nights at the 02 booked out, a million tickets sold in 2 hours, shows a man who was still very clearly at the top of his game. For him  to die so suddenly – brings echoes not just of Princess Diana’s death but of a story Jesus told.

Reflecting on him as a super talented 8 year old boy thrust into the limelight, and on an adulthood containing both childlike innocence as well as his childlike self absorption is a very painful experience. The connections between him and Peter Pan – the boy who never grew up are numerous – not least his Neverland ranch…

If only… someone had protected him, parented him, challenged him, loved him…

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My personal Michael Jackson favourites

1. Billie Jean

2. I want you back

3. Smooth criminal

4. ABC

5. Thriller

6. Man in the Mirror

7. Black or White

8. Beat It

9. Blame it on the Boogie

10. Don’t Stop till you get enough

Great news – Amazon have Dangerous available for download for only £2.97 and it will play on iTunes and any other mp3 player too.

Michael Jackson has Died

The BBC has confirmed that Michael Jackson has died aged 50.

Apparently it was a cardiac arrest.

There were some stellar moments in his career-

I was only listening to ABC and i want you back this week when an 8 year old Jackson fronted the Jackson 5.

Or think about the moonwalk or the invention of the pop video, thriller set the pace for every video since.

Yes he was a very confused soul, yes he seemed to make some incredibly unwise decisions with his relationship with children, handling his finances. But with 50 nights at the 02 booked out for a man who was still very clearly at the top of his game to die so suddenly – brings echoes not just of Princess Diana’s death but of the story Jesus told:

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ‘

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹ “This is how it will be with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Management books for church leaders

The Israelites left Egypt and were given gold jewelry and out of that gold they decorated the tabernacle. The concept of gold plundered from egypt has helped many christians to understand that there is value in borrowing things from our culture. You could argue that the book of proverbs does a similar thing allowing the collected wisdom (some would say general revelation) to contribute to the wise sayings that are part of our scriptures.

Starfish and Spiders

This is the one I want to read next. A friend of mine was raving about this book today – spiders have the unfortunate anatomical disadvantage that if you cut off one of their legs (don’t try this at home) they die; whereas starfish grow a severed limb back. Which kind of organisation are you? spiderlike because you crash if something changes or starfishlike because you adapt and survive?

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Good to Great

If you read only one management book… this probably is it. Great wisdom from looking at a number of companies that went from being pretty good to pretty awesome and maintained their growth. Suprising findings for everyone who hasn’t listened to Jesus on leadership – servant leaders are the best leaders… But also some wise advice on hearing bad news, humility and how to hire a team.

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Crucial confrontations

Not technically a management book, but a book on how to have those very difficult conversations we all need to have from time to time. This is wise advice.

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Death by meeting

If you sit in meetings frustrated that things could be done better, faster and more creatively then this is the book for you. It’s an easy read book; easily read on a single plane journey or train ride. If you like the narrative approach this is a great book for you.

Team Spirit

David Cormack was a real help to me as I lead some of my first teams. Here’s a book you could probably read in 20 minutes but with some great ideas. Shame it’s out of print – but you can pick one up cheap on Amazon nowadays.

Great books for Men

I run a men’s non fiction book group with some of the dads from my sons’ school. I am sure lots of women would love these books too, but I thought it might be interesting to list some of the hits so far in our book group.

Blood River

This is a great book – an adventure story across the Congo and a unique insight into the history of Africa once the tourist destination of choice for the aristocracy.Tim Butcher is a journalist from the guardian and writes in an engaging and sympathetic way. He synthesises nicely the story of Congo, Stanley’s failed trip and his own experiences.

It’s a fast paced read – well worth a lookThis book was great for our book group and included lots of discussion.

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Dreams of my Father

This is an amazing insight into the story behind the world’s most powerful man. Written before Obama was elected president, this book will encourage you that Obama has had nearly all the experiences you would hope for a president – living on welfare, living as a minority, living cross culturally, living as a step son… Beautifully crafted with humility and wit – a great read. (a great father’s day present too)

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Everything Bad for you is Good for you

A valiant effort from Steven Johnson a contributor to Wired magazine to argue that video games are good for children, reality television is better than the dross that was put out in the seventies and eighties and that reading is good but not quite as good as nintendo.

A controversial read, but done with a light touch and a lot of interesting examples. Its a quick read and can lead to some lively discussion about high and low culture, illiteracy and social isolation.

You’ll enjoy it and it will help you justify the next Wii game you need to buy…

The Canon

our group has a passion for science books, this was probably the most eloquently written of them. A journalist is outraged to find out that her sister has cancelled their subscription to their local science museum. The argument that ensued was that science was for kids – so this is one journalists quest to find out what everybody really needs to know about science. She spoke to all the right people to give a really helpful overview.

New Iphone

Most of the rumours were right with the release of the iphone 3gs yesterday.

1. Video – only a 3 mega pixel camera (autofocus) but there is video (neat video editting tool though)

2. Magnetometer – very handy if you are like me and can’t read a map – now google maps will show you which way you are facing.

3. Voice commands – finally caught up with the blackberry on this one – so you can dial while driving (also like the ipod shuffle you can control your music this way)

4. Cut and Paste – again a blackberry catch up.

5. Locate your lost iphone – there are versions of this feature available elsewhere – but apple make it look very neat.

6. beefed up processing power – makes gaming look a lot better.

No exciting keyboard.

No killer kindle package.

No Netbook.

Not sure about SNOW Leopard – looks more like a patch than a new operating system.

Below is yesterday’s rumour post.

Lots of buzz on the web today with the unveiling of the Iphone 3 today.

Last time the inclusion of 3G was the big deal – this time the rumour mill seems to be focussing on larger memory capacity but there are also rumours of:
- Magnetometer (MacRumors, Boy Genius Report, AppleInsider, Daring Fireball, UMPCFever)
- Auto Focus Camera (MacRumors, UMPCFever)
- Video (MacRumors, Engadget Mobile, Boy Genius Report, Businessweek)
- 4GB to 32GB sizes (Engadget, AreaMobile.de, Tweakers.net, Analyst)
- 7.2 Mbps 3G (AT&T, Boy Genius Report, MacRumors, Silicon Alley Insider, iLounge).

I hope Apple will hurry up and get its IPHONE and KINDLE Killer product sorted out. As someone that carries a lot of books around – having my library in digital format will be a real help. I was hoping for an IPHONE with a keyboard too – therefore bypassing the need for a netbook – but we wait to see what the guys ar Apple are going to reveal… watch this space for updates.

Champions League Final 2009

So after 10 minutes of intensem, frenetic football from Man United, Barcelona took control of the game.

OK so I wasn’t a neutral, and I would love to have seen liverpool do what they did to Man U and Real Madrid this season, there was no doubting the superiority of Barcelona in this contest. What i don’t understand is how English teams are so dominant in the champions league and yet often we are made to look second class to the sheer technical ability of some of the european sides. The movement, dribbling, passing of Barecelona was amazing. Messi who had been written off by many UK papers as being below Ronaldo’s stellar standards was a joy to watch; his goal was amazing. You can see the look of sheer terror on Van der Saa’s face.

Ah well the good news is that Man U fans won’t be impossible to live with all Summer – humilitation in Rome which led to some attrocious tackles from Scholes and Ronaldo (who seemed to look like a madame Tussaud’s dummy tonight with the amount of make up it looked like he was wearing…)

Football the UK’s national religion goes on pause for a while – perhaps there’s a chance for us to find the real God in the pre-season lull ;o)

Regent College Vancouver part 1

I always wanted to come to Regent. When I was working for IFES I used to send off each Summer for the latest prospectus from Regent and a host of other well known North American seminaries. So it’s a great pleasure to be here teaching.

Things to love about Regent:

1. Vancouver is beautiful

Apparently it’s one of the top 4 places to live in the world. Despite a lot of rain throughout the year! The mountains, the sea, the bustling city it’s got nature and a city in close proximity.

2. People are friendly

You have got to love the politeness and laid back nature of canadian people. The city also feels pretty multicultural too.

3. Regent

The college is right slap bang in the middle of the University of British Columbia campus. So it’s an amazing potential hub for campus ministry. The lay out of the place is great…

Its also nondenominational – so you’ll find baptists, anglicans, presbyterions, charismatics in one place.

Its international – even in my little class there are Fins, Brits, Canadians, Americans and Chinese – so that’s great!

Goal of the season?

Here’s a great goal when Bayern Munich gets a pounding. The other goal suggested by the guardian for the goal of the year was from some little club called Manchester something, so on ethical reasons this blog cannot possibly point you there ;o)

Star Trek the prequel

This is a fantastic prequel. It is like the old Star Trek but on Warp factor 7. JJ Abrams does what he does best – pace, action, pathos without what he does worst – never ending plots (see Lost and Alias). He does a great job with a cast of relative unknowns – with the exception of Simon Pegg (why can’t scotty be a scott?) Zachary Quinto is hard to separate from Sylar from heroes – but he does really look the part as Spock.

The action is fast and furious right from the beginning and there are enough nods and winks to make sure Trekkies are kept happy – Captain Pike is right from the original trailer, “she’s cannee give any more capt’n” says Scotty, “I am doctor not a physicist” says Bones McCoy. But there’s also enough excitement that anyone can enjoy the film. OK Dr Spock gets his homage with the appearance of Leonard Nimoy and i think i spotted Sulu in the Starfleet council. But overall this was a great film ! Go and enjoy.

Subzero Evangelism – Regents College Vancouver

Really looking forward to giving 20 lectures in 10 days in Vancouver starting a week on Sunday.

Credit Crunch Can’t stop the Church Away day!

Today we had our church away day. We managed to do it for £100 all in.

We hired a village hall rather than a conference centre.

We decided to a single day not a weekend away to make it more accesible for families.

We did the teaching in house rather than pay for a guest speaker.

We had bring and share breakfast and lunch.

We had a great day together exploring the Square Mile resources we have developed at the Evangelical Alliance.

The afternoon included a rounders match and digital camera photo treasure hunt. (see below)

kindle dx

So here it is… a bigger Kindle. Doesn’t seem to be competitvely priced. Why pay a lot of money for this when you can get a nice little net book which will let you read the ebooks and type emails, write on facebook and wordprocess as well. It’s the crazy idea of paying more for less.

New Apple Media Pad – Kindle Killer?

We are all waiting for Apple to destroy the Amazon Kindle.
An ebook reader / phone / music player / internet ready device convergence can not be long away and we all know how good Apple are doing with reshaping our relationship with digital technology. So these rumours look exciting. What do you think?

The pictures are from MACFORMAT. It kind of reminds me of an Apple Newton crossed with an IPHONE. Expecting it to have WIFI, VOIP and to be about the size of a KINDLE / SONY E-READER./

I am really looking forward to these devices being more mainstream:

1. Think of the tree savings.

2. Think of being able to have your entire library with you where ever you go

3. Think of being able to search your entire library digitally

I will miss the touch and feel of paper but the benefits outweigh the limitations.

What were they thinking? Obama not infallible?

Can’t believe anyone thought this was a good idea.
Flying airforce one – tailed by an F-16 around lower Manhattan. Many office workers were scared and left their buildings thinking it was a 9/11 replay. This went on for half an hour… just for a photo opportunity of the plane in front of the statue of liberty.

Good news is that it shows even great orators can make big mistakes….

La Bible – Bible and Culture?

Here’s a fun clip I showed today at a big consulation for Bible agencies seeking to help the church rediscover the book that changed the world:

hope you enjoy it ;o)

What is waterboarding? Should it be used?

waterboarding

It was revealed that the US used a method of torture called waterboarding on terror suspects in Guatanomo Bay. The process involves lying them victim on their back, tying them down and then pouring water into their nose and mouth so they feel they are going to drown. The idea that we could do this to someone once sounds bad, but it appears one suspect accused of masterminding the 9/11 attrocity was waterboarded over 180 times seems unthinkable.

Television shows like 24 and Prison Break have shown this kind of torture in practice and may well have numbed us to the seriousness of this kind of infringement of human rights. Some argue that this is the only way to save more lives when people are willing to go to such extremes to cause death and destruction surely torture is our only way to avoid such tragedies.

But:

1) Two wrongs don’t make a right – when we torture others we are lowering our moral standards to those of the terrorists
2) The ends don’t justify the means – doing the wrong thing for the right motive is not an excuse
3) Garbage in- Garbage out - the quality of the information received from torture victims is very questionable anyway – people will say anything to avoid more pain
4) Universal means universal – if we have a universal declaration of human rights it means everyone has rights – even terrorists