As I always suspected...

Feminism and romantic love make very happy bedfellows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2211069,00.html

Hurrah!

Never doubted it.

For me, feminism is all about self respect and respect for others - and this article seems to support that;

'What the Rutgers researchers actually found was that, in a survey of college students and older adults, all in heterosexual relationships, men paired with feminist partners reported greater relationship stability and sexual satisfaction. In addition, there was consistent evidence that male feminist partners were healthier for women's relationships, while there was scant evidence that women's feminism created conflict in liaisons.'

xxx

http://www.lolcatbible.com

Crazy.

Potentially blasphemous.

But complete genius.

http://www.lolcatbible.com

Ban on hunts with dogs 'violates human rights'

Ban on hunts with dogs 'violates human rights'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/11/nhunt111.xml
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Stories like this make me really angry.

How - how - is not permitting someone to chase, harass and violently murder another creature a violation of their human rights???!

So there's a human right to be inhumane now, is there?

Bloody idiots.

Tim Minchin - Not Perfect

Love tbis song...

Tim Minchin - Hallelujah

The best headline I have ever seen. Ever

Cannibal tribe apologises for eating Methodists

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/16/wpapua116.xml

Just shows they had great taste...

Mark Steel: Atheists and believers have got religion wrong

Not sure I agree with all of it, but it's a thought-provoking article nonetheless...

There's a modern brand of militant atheist that can appear horribly smug and superior
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/mark_steel/article2864172.ece

The Dawkins Delusion...

Dominic Lawson: Why Richard Dawkins is right on alternative medicine - but not when it comes to religion
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/dominic_lawson/article2851412.ece

Here is the day...

Here is the day,
travelling into my eyes
at the speed of light,
stopping for nothing, no one.
My mind runs.
My time runs out.

Here is your day.
Take it.
you'll have to be quick,
quicker than the speed of light.
From here on
I'll be taking it back,
every hour, minute, second.

By the end of your day
I will have taken it all back for myself.

Here is the day.
Quick
God
quick.

Take it. It's yours.
__

Martin Wroe
When You Haven't Got a Prayer

how many reasons do we need?

A sad story that highlights the need for care, understanding and specialist support for those with autism spectrum disorders:

Who is to blame for our son's death?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2007/07/30/hasper130.xml&page=1

Divine retribution

Last week was a rather tough week. One reason was that I lost my voice. Those that know me, know how much I like to talk. Endlessly. To lose my voice was very frustrating indeed. To cap it all, I was at the Churches Media Conference, which is a great place to meet people and make connections. Because I couldn't really speak, I had to have a go at mute networking. Slightly difficult as I couldn't quite figure-out the sign-language for 'Methodist'.

It was particularly weird as on Sunday night I has a dream in which I called someone a very rude name indeed (not to be repeated). When I awoke, I got the feeling that God was trying to tell me to think more before I speak and to shut up and listen for a change.

Then I lost my voice. Ho hum.

More film reviews from the wonderful Jenny P...

Connie & Carla - This is the first film I watched. It cheered me up. Very entertaining.

Paycheck - Interesting - I like the way Ben Affleck used the contents of that envelope.

The Core - I like disaster movies. Very exciting in some places...should be careful with my heart racing away.

Cypher - I really liked this one. What a surprise ending! And I think Jeremy Northam is gorgeous.

The Thirteenth Floor - ?! What? Not a bad film but not suitable for a person with an infarct!!

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Thanks Jenny! xxxxxxxxx

Phew!

Just handed in my most recent essay for the MA and am beginning to think that this studying lark is a lot harder than it looks. (My apologies to all my mates - I know that I practically haven't spoken about anything else recently).

It's really knackering, but I'm learning things and reading things I never would have touched before.

Here's to actually being able to read a novel for the next few days!!

It doesn't matter what you call it, it's still domestic abuse

It was lovely to open up my email inbox this morning and find a newsletter from Tanzanian charity KIWOHEDE (Kiota Women's Health & Development). The charity does life-changing work among women and girls across Tanzania and there's also a UK based charity that works to raise funds for KIWOHEDE. for more information, visit www.kiota.org. Kiota spends 100% of all donations on projects in Tanzania.

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Flylady - the American housework phenomenon - is growing bigger all the time. I don't think it's particularly anti-feminist and it is a really helpful system for lazy slobs like me. I'm never quite disciplines enough for it though...

The joy of housework
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article1812666.ece

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I find this website deeply worrying:
http://christiandomesticdiscipline.com

This claims that if a wife consents to her husband beating her, he may do so in order to correct her behaviour and ensure that she is the best wife she can be. After all, it's the way God intended. Should you beat her until she cries? Apparently it's the only way she'll ever learn.

This is one of the reasons people are so cautious of the 'male headship model' of marriage. Personally, I don't hold with the concept at all, but I know many Christians who do and have loving, caring, respectful partnerships without any hint of violence.

Violence, particularly towards those you love, is simply not acceptable and neither is it God's plan for loving relationships.

Wake up, Anna!

Well it's been ages since I wrote on this blog, mainly because I've been busy over at the nonewshoes blog - http://nonewshoes.blogspot.com.

But I've decided it's time to get more active in the blogsphere again (not that I'm promising it will actually make any sense!). In part, inspiration has come from the Christian Blog Awards:

www.christianblogawards.co.uk

Was rather surprised when they asked me to be a judge, so it thought it best to renew my blogging enthusiasm.

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happy friday!

It's been a long and stressful week.

I'm tired and moany.

And the trains are completely up the spout.

Ah, Ship of Fools...

Ah, Ship of Fools, that fab website for those of us Christians for whom the worldwide church is both a joy and (occasionally) an embarrassment.

I'm especially fond of the Fruitcake zone, as I believe our Good Lord would be:
http://www.shipoffools.com/Fruitcake/index.html

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Movie Reviews

Late summer (I think) last year, my best friend Sarah's mum, Jenny, had to have a very serious heart operation. We all rejoice that things went very well and now she is well on the road to recovery. During her recuperation, Jim and I lent her some DVDs to pass the time as she was basically told by doctors that she MUST NOT DO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT EXHAUST HER, and with a heart complaint, that includes pretty much any activity that you can't do from the sofa (and some you can).

Anyway, after she had watched some of them, we were very pleased to receive a little note to say thank you and offer her critique of the collection. So here are her thoughts...

Connie and Carla - this is the first film I watched. It cheered me up. Very entertaining.
Paycheck - Interesting. I like the way Ben Affleck used the contents of that envelope.
The Core - I like disaster movies. Very exciting in places...should be careful withmy heart racing away.
Cypher - I really liked this one. What a surprise ending! And I think Jeremy Northam is gorgeous.
The Thirteenth Floor - ?! What? Not a bad film but not suitable for a person with an infarct!!

Thanks Jennie. We look forward to more!

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New Year's Resolutions...

Ok, rather late, I know. One of my (many, and now mostly broken) new year's resolutions was to use my blog more. I enjoy posting but always forget to do it.

Other resolutions included spend less, exercise more, pray more and, um... be better at stuff.

Anyway, here's an article I enjoyed recently (courtesy of Coz):

The Caucasian crusader rides again in 'Blood Diamond'
http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/beyond-the-pale/2007/01/09/1168104982198.html
I'm looking forward to the film, but it helps to keep these things in context when you realise the questions about films that we often forget to ask.

I also went to see Apocalypto over the Christmas break - very, very gory. It could have been quite good if Mel Gibson would have resited going too far and dipping into the ridiculous. Giles Fraser makes some interesting observations here, although I'm not sure that I agree that the film can be branded antisemitic:

A Christian snuff movie that links blood with salvation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1986514,00.html

Oh, and big congratulations to all the lovely couples getting married this year:

Sarah and Dave
Alice and Dante
Alice and Nick (different Alice)
Chris and Antonia
Dan and Alex (my husband's last unwed brother)

More to say, but I think I'll break it down into different posts.

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