Showing posts with label Movies and Documentaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies and Documentaries. Show all posts
Monday, 30 August 2010
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Calm As A Cucumber
I love the way this labourer calmly moves his foot when he drops one of the bricks, in the vdeo below. He has a great sense of balance. No Health & Safety Rules here.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Friday, 30 July 2010
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Monday, 15 March 2010
The Death of Modesty - Channel 4
In a ploy to remove and kill the beautiful virtue of modesty, Channel 4 is awash with TV programmes aimed at desensitizing its viewers to naked flesh and private body parts.
Using the ploy of instilling 'confidence' and 'educating' the public, programmes such as Embarrassing Bodies and How To Look Good Naked, are just two examples that
go beyond the boundaries of decency. They are not concerned about their viewers.
Encouraging women to strip and strut their stuff on the catwalk, as portrayed in How To Look Good Naked, is not at all empowering or liberating. It is demoralizing and degrading to the female form, and reduces women to mere sex objects.
When and how did society change so much, that it thought it acceptable to pose as a stripper, in front of friends, family and children, and millions of TV viewers. Perverts included.
The women who take part in this show are willingly being used. I am not sure if they see the knock on effect their actions have on the younger generation, when they see mothers and grandmothers acting in this fashion.
What a wonderful act of love it would be if a husband or boyfriend protected their modesty, and ran on stage. Instead we see men applauding their women and smallchildren, innocently wondering why a thong, a basque, and flashes of nudity can create such applause and attention.
The programme Embarrassing Bodies similary also removes, what should only be seen in private. Preferably at a doctors surgery with a screen drawn round.
In the past this programme has also used teenagers to encourage their peers, and the public to become used to 'publicly' flashing their private bits. All done very sensibly of cause with the aid of TV doctors.
In a culture of sexualizing children and the growing increase of child abuse, maybe a return to Modesty and the values of caring for, and respecting our bodies, should be promoted.
Using the ploy of instilling 'confidence' and 'educating' the public, programmes such as Embarrassing Bodies and How To Look Good Naked, are just two examples that
go beyond the boundaries of decency. They are not concerned about their viewers.
Encouraging women to strip and strut their stuff on the catwalk, as portrayed in How To Look Good Naked, is not at all empowering or liberating. It is demoralizing and degrading to the female form, and reduces women to mere sex objects.
When and how did society change so much, that it thought it acceptable to pose as a stripper, in front of friends, family and children, and millions of TV viewers. Perverts included.
The women who take part in this show are willingly being used. I am not sure if they see the knock on effect their actions have on the younger generation, when they see mothers and grandmothers acting in this fashion.
What a wonderful act of love it would be if a husband or boyfriend protected their modesty, and ran on stage. Instead we see men applauding their women and smallchildren, innocently wondering why a thong, a basque, and flashes of nudity can create such applause and attention.
The programme Embarrassing Bodies similary also removes, what should only be seen in private. Preferably at a doctors surgery with a screen drawn round.
In the past this programme has also used teenagers to encourage their peers, and the public to become used to 'publicly' flashing their private bits. All done very sensibly of cause with the aid of TV doctors.
In a culture of sexualizing children and the growing increase of child abuse, maybe a return to Modesty and the values of caring for, and respecting our bodies, should be promoted.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Alone In the Wild
FreeDigitialPhotos.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJje5T2lNws&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJje5T2lNws&NR=1Ed Wardle's solitary journey to the Yukon Wilderness of Canada, was a fascinating documentary recently aired on Channel 4.
Well prepared in survival skills, Ed's boyhood dream became a reality, when in the summer of 2009, he was left alone, with a few basic supplies, and the desire to live and survive, amidst the beauty and harshness of nature, totally alone.
Using his own camera, Ed filmed himself, building shelter, providing warmth, and hunting and fishing for food.
The skinning and gutting of a porcupine, was an exercise in itself, on what we would have to do, were we faced with the choice of survival, without the convenience of a local supermarket, and money.
Watching Ed Wardle, one could not help warming to him and identifying with his childhood dream. But when the plane dropped him off, and then took off into the distance, the sense of isolation was suddenly overpowering. It continued to grow over the coming weeks. Joy turned to darkness.
Living with the constant fear of bears, the slightest movement became magnified. Darkness and nightfall, often saw him catching naps through extreme tiredness, when his heightened awareness succombed. Moments of pure delight, such as the beauty of the landscape, the swimming in the clear lakes, and the warmth and satisfaction of the campfire, were often tinged with great fear. He became tired and weak, through lack of food and sleep. But this was not the killer.
Over time, Ed became aware how much he missed human contact. The pain, played with, and tormented his brain. You could watch thoughts attacking him.
Watching this programme, I thought often, of the simple exercise of prayer. The periods of being still. But most importantly of all, of the objectivity of thoughts. Neither believing or disbelieving good or bad thoughts. Just merely observing them., and dealing with the present moment amid the truth that that presented. I thought of the awareness of our emotions, and how they can use us, and weaken us, when we are not fully aware.
So, there was times I was dissapointed, with a sigh of despair, when I listened to Ed's preparedness in dealing with the mind.
Prior to the trip a psychologist had taught him the benefits of meditation. It was a little light, until I heard that the meditation consisted of him going to a happy place in his mind. An image, An Illusion. He was already in the most beautiful place in the world. Then there was the writing of empowering statements on his arm. In bold black ink he wrote. Be Strong.
It was not long before Ed realized that neither worked. A defining moment, which takes many years to realize for some.
Finaly he decided to pray. The moment he did, he heard his girlfriends voice talking to him as though on a phone. It was so unfortunate that he found this to be his happy place. Yet understandable when you are aware of the pull of the mind to keep us away from the genuine prayer from the heart to God.
And so, it was not long after, Ed sent out his SOS to mankind, and the plane returned to carry him home. In many ways, I thought it was the right thing to do, rather than submit oneself to such mental and physical torture.
In summary, I admired Ed for his exercise and desire in survival. He was prepared to a high degree of self sufficiently and love of natural wilderness, but lacked the one fundamental component.
I likened his journey to Christ's journey of 40 days into the wilderness, but I doubt he made this comparison. He listened to his thoughts and he listened to the tempts. The intensity of the aloneness was something even Christ struggled with.
Terry Waite has described his own solitary confinement in an interesting article concerning the trip Alone in the Wild.
Terry Waite was taken hostage in Lebanon by Islamic Jihad in January 1987 and held captive for nearly five years, four of these in total solitary confinement, before he was released in November 1991.
He quotes:
'Solitude is certainly nothing to be afraid of. I think in fact we do need a degree of solitude and opportunity of having our own space. Having said that, people often say that they require it, but when they get into it they can't bear it. Because you have to equip yourself to grow into solitude, to gain the benefits from it. So first of all there are dangers. Going into solitude in some ways you are taking an interior journey, rather than an exterior journey, because it will encourage you to be introspective. And you discover that along with all human beings that you are a composite mixture of both light and dark. The secret of course is somehow being able to find that degree of inner harmony and balance which you have to grow into.'
I would say further from the above that it takes a long time for darkness to be completely dispelled from that mixture of both light and dark that we are made up of. But ultimately light dispells the darkness.
Being in a middle ground of objectively, and being aware of the battle between darkness and light in the mind is not an easy place to stand in. It becomes a torment if you listen to either. And this is waht happened to Ed Wardle.
Being prepared involves much more than physical sterngth and survivalist skills. To ultimately survive, it appears there needs to be a strong inner connection with the Creator, and a recognition we lack spiritual strength without his help.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
The Pursuit of Happiness
FreeDigitalPhotos.netThe Pursuit of Happiness
by S Edwards
The current movie staring Will Smith is an excellent example of one man’s struggle to find work and raise his son, alone, amidst the cut throat ‘survival’ of city life. It highlights some of the problems associated with homelessness and poverty, and similarly, highlights, the joy of seeing work and perseverance rewarded. It is also a touching story of a child’s trust in his father, in that that against all odds, and amidst degradation, betrayal and hopelessness, good overcomes all that is bad, when we resist the temptation of ‘despair’.
To pick ourselves up, and start over, in the face of adversity, is no mean feat. We carry the baggage of a thousand disappointments, all mixed and tainted, with memories and a shame we would rather forget. In our puny effort to rise above, we stumble quite often, at the reminder of a ‘failure’, when our hope was spoiled, and our efforts scoffed at.
But, I’ve noticed, pursuing happiness, takes many twists, when our mind is focused on anything other than the journey home from where we left all those millions of years ago, and whilst happiness to some is the road to wealth or fame, for those in the serious pursuit of happiness, the need for such ‘excess’ diminishes, in relation to that desire to sit in that garden with our father, before the fall.
We notice, there is a structure, an invisible spiders web, that keeps us enchained to a life, that is not our own. Every person, relative and friend we meet, disguises the spirit of ‘something’ to keep us there. Sometimes, we ‘martyr’ ourselves. We make friends with that force, that spirit, that holds dominion over our lives. In the wrong pursuit of happiness we can waste a life believing we are serving the true God.
Happiness is a serious business, and whilst every man should have a job, shelter and food, the pursuit of true happiness can never be fulfilled when we pursue any other goal, than the one we are truly called to follow first.
Almost everyone on the planet, searches for fulfilment. An unreachable ‘goal’ at times, will always be duplicated when attained, by a false happiness, temporary lived. It will always be a sign that we have taken the wrong road. Silently, the most wealthiest and seemingly happiest of people have bitter and disappointed lives.
Similarly, religion, whether reverent or of the ‘happy clappy’ type, will never suffice. In our silent moments, the truth, outshines its falseness.
Everyone is entitled to pursue a job and income, but The Pursuit of Happiness, is a film that could inspire many to achieve the wrong type of goal. But similarly, it is an inspirational film of one man’s courage not to fall into total despair.
Happiness for the child in this film, is being in the presence of his father. Sleeping on a toilet floor, or a hostel for homeless men, he does not complain. The loss of his one and only toy, distresses him briefly. In chidlike innocence he trusts that everything will be Okay, based on the love and courage of his father and his belief in him.
The current movie staring Will Smith is an excellent example of one man’s struggle to find work and raise his son, alone, amidst the cut throat ‘survival’ of city life. It highlights some of the problems associated with homelessness and poverty, and similarly, highlights, the joy of seeing work and perseverance rewarded. It is also a touching story of a child’s trust in his father, in that that against all odds, and amidst degradation, betrayal and hopelessness, good overcomes all that is bad, when we resist the temptation of ‘despair’.
To pick ourselves up, and start over, in the face of adversity, is no mean feat. We carry the baggage of a thousand disappointments, all mixed and tainted, with memories and a shame we would rather forget. In our puny effort to rise above, we stumble quite often, at the reminder of a ‘failure’, when our hope was spoiled, and our efforts scoffed at.
But, I’ve noticed, pursuing happiness, takes many twists, when our mind is focused on anything other than the journey home from where we left all those millions of years ago, and whilst happiness to some is the road to wealth or fame, for those in the serious pursuit of happiness, the need for such ‘excess’ diminishes, in relation to that desire to sit in that garden with our father, before the fall.
We notice, there is a structure, an invisible spiders web, that keeps us enchained to a life, that is not our own. Every person, relative and friend we meet, disguises the spirit of ‘something’ to keep us there. Sometimes, we ‘martyr’ ourselves. We make friends with that force, that spirit, that holds dominion over our lives. In the wrong pursuit of happiness we can waste a life believing we are serving the true God.
Happiness is a serious business, and whilst every man should have a job, shelter and food, the pursuit of true happiness can never be fulfilled when we pursue any other goal, than the one we are truly called to follow first.
Almost everyone on the planet, searches for fulfilment. An unreachable ‘goal’ at times, will always be duplicated when attained, by a false happiness, temporary lived. It will always be a sign that we have taken the wrong road. Silently, the most wealthiest and seemingly happiest of people have bitter and disappointed lives.
Similarly, religion, whether reverent or of the ‘happy clappy’ type, will never suffice. In our silent moments, the truth, outshines its falseness.
Everyone is entitled to pursue a job and income, but The Pursuit of Happiness, is a film that could inspire many to achieve the wrong type of goal. But similarly, it is an inspirational film of one man’s courage not to fall into total despair.
Happiness for the child in this film, is being in the presence of his father. Sleeping on a toilet floor, or a hostel for homeless men, he does not complain. The loss of his one and only toy, distresses him briefly. In chidlike innocence he trusts that everything will be Okay, based on the love and courage of his father and his belief in him.
Surely this is the true pursuit of happiness. Who could ask for anything more than this .......
Surviving in the Wilderness - The Edge
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Surviving in the Wilderness
by S Edwards
When you do what is right in your heart, you tend to stand on the edge of the crowd, not pulled away by the consensus. To not be a part of the crowd separates you. It often leads you to be ridiculed and patronized by others.
It can be difficult to stand alone. Human nature tends to want and need to conform to a group. It is in this group they gain courage and comfort.
In the 1998 film, The Edge, with Anthony Hopkins, the character stands alone. Wealthy and handsome in his own right, he is however, outshone by his beautiful young model wife and her friends.
Cast together in the wilderness, on a photo shoot in Alaska, (Charles) Anthony Hopkins has his common sense and knowledge ‘teased’ by a trendier more lively crowd, where image and fun mock the more noble qualities of his character. He remains quiet, yet aware. Good-humoured in their antics. He is however suspicious, and his suspicions boil down to his own cross in life, and that of mans love for money, fame and recognition.
It is an excellent ‘observation’ in how to not resent those who mock and terrorize you.
Tragedy always comes, and it is in this film that strength of character has its day.
Surviving a plane crash, the small team of survivors are left to go it alone. Without food, warmth or shelter, the qualities they need to survive are going to have to come from within. During the whole escapade, their plight is tested by a killer bear who continually treks them for supper.
It is interesting that despite their dependence on the older and more wiser of the group, the character of Charles, continues to be mocked. The group, bond to him on occasion, but more often than not are embarrassed by their own weakness, and react in the only way they know how to, with anger and ridicule.
How true is it, that at times I have thought my ways are better than those of common-sense. How often have I fell flat on my face thinking that I know what is best for me, rather than listen to the reason and voice of sense?
Our passage is continually hindered by that which we run away from, and it is in this film that the survivors, encouraged by Charles, do confront, rather than run, from their biggest fear, the bear. His power is ‘seemingly’ bigger than theirs, his strength more mighty and destructive.
The character, of Charles, is exasperating to those who give up at the first hurdle. His continued resilience, his overcoming, his forgiveness, his continued outstretched hand to help others up is rejected time and time again. Yet it is at the very end, he is called out to.
How much easier and free would lives be if they did not leave it to the very end to call out and acknowledge the one who can see the way out of the wilderness.
The whole harrowing adventure in the wilderness is survived by the ones who stand on the edge of the crowd, who listen to what they know is right, and carry it through. Mistakes are made along the way, but if you hang on to an invisible hand that is somehow leading, a strength appears, you make it out.
It is in the final scene, Anthony Hopkins ‘thanks’ the fallen comrades for helping save his life. Despite the ridicule, the miss-haps, the betrayal and lies, he is a better man, and they played a part in helping him see and realize this.
To stand on the edge means you have to stand alone, on the outside of the crowd, often ridiculed and made to doubt your common-sense, by those who sometimes appear more clever. Despite your many obvious attributes, such as looks or wealth, the crowd will always find ways to ridicule you, with youth, status and charm. There is always someone who ‘appears’ bigger chasing you, in this film represented by the killer bear. Holding ground, remaining still to something bigger than ourselves, is the only chance of survival. The only way out of the wilderness…It is then we do not get killed by the bear...... It is then we do not die in shame…..We are connected to someone so much bigger. He can lead us through deserts and oceans, and has no problem in helping us, if we listen to His voice.
When you do what is right in your heart, you tend to stand on the edge of the crowd, not pulled away by the consensus. To not be a part of the crowd separates you. It often leads you to be ridiculed and patronized by others.
It can be difficult to stand alone. Human nature tends to want and need to conform to a group. It is in this group they gain courage and comfort.
In the 1998 film, The Edge, with Anthony Hopkins, the character stands alone. Wealthy and handsome in his own right, he is however, outshone by his beautiful young model wife and her friends.
Cast together in the wilderness, on a photo shoot in Alaska, (Charles) Anthony Hopkins has his common sense and knowledge ‘teased’ by a trendier more lively crowd, where image and fun mock the more noble qualities of his character. He remains quiet, yet aware. Good-humoured in their antics. He is however suspicious, and his suspicions boil down to his own cross in life, and that of mans love for money, fame and recognition.
It is an excellent ‘observation’ in how to not resent those who mock and terrorize you.
Tragedy always comes, and it is in this film that strength of character has its day.
Surviving a plane crash, the small team of survivors are left to go it alone. Without food, warmth or shelter, the qualities they need to survive are going to have to come from within. During the whole escapade, their plight is tested by a killer bear who continually treks them for supper.
It is interesting that despite their dependence on the older and more wiser of the group, the character of Charles, continues to be mocked. The group, bond to him on occasion, but more often than not are embarrassed by their own weakness, and react in the only way they know how to, with anger and ridicule.
How true is it, that at times I have thought my ways are better than those of common-sense. How often have I fell flat on my face thinking that I know what is best for me, rather than listen to the reason and voice of sense?
Our passage is continually hindered by that which we run away from, and it is in this film that the survivors, encouraged by Charles, do confront, rather than run, from their biggest fear, the bear. His power is ‘seemingly’ bigger than theirs, his strength more mighty and destructive.
The character, of Charles, is exasperating to those who give up at the first hurdle. His continued resilience, his overcoming, his forgiveness, his continued outstretched hand to help others up is rejected time and time again. Yet it is at the very end, he is called out to.
How much easier and free would lives be if they did not leave it to the very end to call out and acknowledge the one who can see the way out of the wilderness.
The whole harrowing adventure in the wilderness is survived by the ones who stand on the edge of the crowd, who listen to what they know is right, and carry it through. Mistakes are made along the way, but if you hang on to an invisible hand that is somehow leading, a strength appears, you make it out.
It is in the final scene, Anthony Hopkins ‘thanks’ the fallen comrades for helping save his life. Despite the ridicule, the miss-haps, the betrayal and lies, he is a better man, and they played a part in helping him see and realize this.
To stand on the edge means you have to stand alone, on the outside of the crowd, often ridiculed and made to doubt your common-sense, by those who sometimes appear more clever. Despite your many obvious attributes, such as looks or wealth, the crowd will always find ways to ridicule you, with youth, status and charm. There is always someone who ‘appears’ bigger chasing you, in this film represented by the killer bear. Holding ground, remaining still to something bigger than ourselves, is the only chance of survival. The only way out of the wilderness…It is then we do not get killed by the bear...... It is then we do not die in shame…..We are connected to someone so much bigger. He can lead us through deserts and oceans, and has no problem in helping us, if we listen to His voice.
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