With all this going on, it's no wonder this blog has been looking a little neglected. Please check out this small collection of photos and sketches I've produced and stay tuned for proper updates.
Monday, 22 August 2011
Summer 2011 sketches and photos
There's been so much to enjoy this summer! Highlights have been: a holiday in Deal, seeing some action movies with friends, eating out (tapas) with some international students and attempting to teach them English phrases, catching up with my older brother and school-friends, and going to some great weddings, which have felt like big happy celebrations.
With all this going on, it's no wonder this blog has been looking a little neglected. Please check out this small collection of photos and sketches I've produced and stay tuned for proper updates.
With all this going on, it's no wonder this blog has been looking a little neglected. Please check out this small collection of photos and sketches I've produced and stay tuned for proper updates.
Friday, 3 June 2011
Thor & debts to one another in a kingdom
Personally I found X-men: First Class a slightly more polished and enjoyable film, and an absolute blast, with good new characters and 1960s spy-film influenced plot, and action beating X2 – but I think Thor was more ambitious, and despite being a tad too silly and “summer blockbuster” in the bits set on Earth, it had more interesting themes. May his return in the Avengers film next year continue the fun!
So here's my take on some of the themes of Thor:
Often in action films you get a kind of brother-in-arms camaraderie, but in Thor comics there is a sense that the gods of Asgard are connected. Each has their role and without one of them fulfilling it they are lacking. Thor has a responsibility to lead his people well – and they have a responsibility to be the noble people they are meant to be in service of their brother-in-arms, the mighty Odin-son Thor.
Which is why a recent Thor story got my attention.* It reminds us of how people can be trapped by their own desires and pulled away from what is really good for them. In it Loki skilfully manipulates Thor, managing to shame him so he is not worthy to be seen and followed as leader. Unlike in the film, Odin is no longer about, and the throne is taken by Balder, who, with Loki at his ear, makes the decision to find a new home for the Asgardians. He believes the restlessness of the fearless Asgardians is due to them being trapped in their re-born realm which is floating in the sky above earth, and that they should move to the wild land of mountains and forests that belongs to Marvel arch-villain, Doctor Doom.
It’s a classic case of trying to solve a correctly identified problem with an answer that isn’t going to fit. This race of people live larger than life and have a real longing for the open air and the pursuit of games and hunting. They want to live life! But living under a wise and good King is the key to their security and hope and anything less is a compromise. Yes, their king Thor should have heeded their restlessness and provided for them – that would have been wise. But to have been corrupted by Loki and end up being led into a land ruled with an iron fist by Doom is the worst kind of deception and is likely to lead to needless difficulties or war. It certainly divides them against their King. And it’s a knee-jerk response to the deeper problem of wanting Asgard and life back in its fuller glory. It’s going after a temporary solution that isn’t really one at all.
I love how the corruption is depicted as working – very subtly. Loki, manages to frame truth in a way that accuses Thor stopping him in his tracks and making others lose confidence in him. (Doesn’t evil tend to do this? Evil takes our worst actions and hits us with it – and then it isolates us if it can.) Loki’s apparent honesty in exposing Thor leads to a loss of discernment as people begin to trust the perverted power-mad Loki. Yes, Thor has failed them, but the worst result of this is them sitting under the wrong king. They have lost their purpose and think it is to be found solely in the exciting new realm Balder offers them. May we not lose sight of how we owe each other to act rightly to build each other up in our purposes in life. It’s how we were created – to live life to the full**, in freedom, and “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
A couple more points on the film before I sign off. I generally liked the way Thor interacted with humanity and the idea of him aspiring to be something more, and inspiring others, was pretty neat - and, in a way, so was the linking of ideas about there being amazing truth out there to be discovered with the "gods". The spin on Loki and his relationship to the wise King Odin was very interesting, and challenges us – what would you do if suddenly lots of power was thrust upon you in your darkest hour? Would you be responsible and shoulder the responsibility well or try to cut others out or try to impress others? How do you react to how people judge you – are you paranoid, getting hurt easily when people fail you, taking the love you can get and hiding away, or do you listen to others and love others generously, from a place of gratefulness at all you have?
*Thor 601 “Defining Moments” written by J. Michael Straczynski
**See, for example, John chapter 7 v37-8, chapter 8 v12, 31-2, and chapter 15 v11.
Check back for more on comics and books later in the month.
Often in action films you get a kind of brother-in-arms camaraderie, but in Thor comics there is a sense that the gods of Asgard are connected. Each has their role and without one of them fulfilling it they are lacking. Thor has a responsibility to lead his people well – and they have a responsibility to be the noble people they are meant to be in service of their brother-in-arms, the mighty Odin-son Thor.
Which is why a recent Thor story got my attention.* It reminds us of how people can be trapped by their own desires and pulled away from what is really good for them. In it Loki skilfully manipulates Thor, managing to shame him so he is not worthy to be seen and followed as leader. Unlike in the film, Odin is no longer about, and the throne is taken by Balder, who, with Loki at his ear, makes the decision to find a new home for the Asgardians. He believes the restlessness of the fearless Asgardians is due to them being trapped in their re-born realm which is floating in the sky above earth, and that they should move to the wild land of mountains and forests that belongs to Marvel arch-villain, Doctor Doom.It’s a classic case of trying to solve a correctly identified problem with an answer that isn’t going to fit. This race of people live larger than life and have a real longing for the open air and the pursuit of games and hunting. They want to live life! But living under a wise and good King is the key to their security and hope and anything less is a compromise. Yes, their king Thor should have heeded their restlessness and provided for them – that would have been wise. But to have been corrupted by Loki and end up being led into a land ruled with an iron fist by Doom is the worst kind of deception and is likely to lead to needless difficulties or war. It certainly divides them against their King. And it’s a knee-jerk response to the deeper problem of wanting Asgard and life back in its fuller glory. It’s going after a temporary solution that isn’t really one at all.
A couple more points on the film before I sign off. I generally liked the way Thor interacted with humanity and the idea of him aspiring to be something more, and inspiring others, was pretty neat - and, in a way, so was the linking of ideas about there being amazing truth out there to be discovered with the "gods". The spin on Loki and his relationship to the wise King Odin was very interesting, and challenges us – what would you do if suddenly lots of power was thrust upon you in your darkest hour? Would you be responsible and shoulder the responsibility well or try to cut others out or try to impress others? How do you react to how people judge you – are you paranoid, getting hurt easily when people fail you, taking the love you can get and hiding away, or do you listen to others and love others generously, from a place of gratefulness at all you have?
*Thor 601 “Defining Moments” written by J. Michael Straczynski
**See, for example, John chapter 7 v37-8, chapter 8 v12, 31-2, and chapter 15 v11.
Check back for more on comics and books later in the month.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
The Dark Knight Rises - will it include a Lazarus pit?
If you haven't heard already, The Dark Knight Rises (the next Batman flick) is filming and all over the internet you can see a leaked photo of some green liquid on one of the sets. This isn't pointless slime - it's bright green so it can be picked up from footage easily and altered or animated somehow. So what?
It suggests a Lazarus pit* could be involved. If you don't know the comics the Lazarus pits of Ra's Al Ghul are able to sustain/strengthen life or even bring someone back from death. It also seems to bring on a form of madness, although this isn't totally consistent in the comics.
The fun of having this supernatural thing happening in Batman's adventures was knowing this just does not fit with his view of the world. He works all the angles and needs to know how all the mechanisms work. But what of souls? And if they come back into lifeless bodies, where did they go in the meantime - what science could he use to deduce this? He can investigate but not get to the bottom of it: in the end it is more that he has to accept it.**
Where could director Christopher Nolan and his increasingly impressive cast take this? Here are a few possibilities:
1) Surely this means that Ra's Al Ghul is returning - or possibly a successor like his daughter Talia, who was unseen in Batman Begins. The ninjas Bruce faced in his mansion were from a long line, and that line is bound to have continued somewhere. And Ra's could be resurrected through use of the pit, or perhaps Batman will stop him just in time?
2) It's not very likely, but Bruce and Gordon could try and resurrect Harvey Dent (aka Two-Face) in one of the pits to try to re-create the white knight who fell in The Dark Knight.
3) The new film is called The Dark Knight Rises - so could Batmen die and someone resurrect him in one of the pits? This would fit with the previous film's theme of the city of Gotham needing someone like the Dark Knight, and be a nice counterpoint to the start of the film which I imagine will be about the police and/or army hunting Batman for the murders everyone thinks he committed in The Dark Knight. Could be quite cool, and a related idea was used in the recent comic Batman and Robin issue 7 and 8: Blackest Knight, with the question being - is the Batman who emerges from the pit going to be the right one, and in his right mind? (Batman and Robin stars a new Batman, as Bruce Wayne apparently died in the comics recently***)
4) It could be a new evil using the pit endlessly to stay alive. The evil has surely got to be something that affects the whole city, like the Joker did, and a villain who seems to have power over death could inspire horror and even submission in the populace.
On a related note, the villian Bane is set to be in new movie I hear - and I hope this is done well. In the comics he is often used very poorly and has little or no character. He is just famous for a dark epic story from the early nineties where he broke Batman's back and totally defeated him.... wonder if this could be where the film goes?
Either way I'm sure the writers will love to play with the idea of questioning whether it's possible to rise from death and live in a kind of mad power-mad immortality that many villains in comics seem to want to achieve. What messages might come through about what real living is, I wonder? Or about relinquishing power and serving a city of other people? Furthermore there was always something Satanic about the pits, which are in the belly of the earth and perpetuate the life of a centuries-old manipulater and murderer whose legacy is a cult of warriors who obey his every word. Perhaps the film will bring out the horror of this monstrous and unnatural battle for supremacy over the world from below.
With Marvel taking another step in the right direction with Thor and then Thor, Iron Man and Hulk joining the Avengers film next year****, Batman faces stiff competition in the superhero movie department. But I have confidence The Dark Knight Rises will prove to be more thought-provoking and mature than the others (much as I like them)!
*Presumably named after the biblical Lazarus, an ordinary man Jesus publically raised from death.
**Over the years Batman has been forced to accept there are some supernatural things in the universe, although even in Neil Gaiman's excellent recent story "Whatever happened to the caped crusader?" Batman states that he does not believe in a god, and the story still emphasises his own role in carving his own meaning in his physical existence - while portraying him as a kind of unstoppable force against evil in an eternal battle against evil (Yes, wierd huh?)
***I'm quite behind with Batman, as I have a pile of UK-produced Batman Legends comics to read, and the UK comics are way behind the US ones. The death of Batman is shown within Final Crisis, which you should read alongside the main Batman storyline right through from Batman and Son to the Black Casebook and Batman RIP.
****Directed by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Firefly and Serenity and writer of the first four volumes of Astonishing X-men!
It suggests a Lazarus pit* could be involved. If you don't know the comics the Lazarus pits of Ra's Al Ghul are able to sustain/strengthen life or even bring someone back from death. It also seems to bring on a form of madness, although this isn't totally consistent in the comics.
The fun of having this supernatural thing happening in Batman's adventures was knowing this just does not fit with his view of the world. He works all the angles and needs to know how all the mechanisms work. But what of souls? And if they come back into lifeless bodies, where did they go in the meantime - what science could he use to deduce this? He can investigate but not get to the bottom of it: in the end it is more that he has to accept it.**
Where could director Christopher Nolan and his increasingly impressive cast take this? Here are a few possibilities:
1) Surely this means that Ra's Al Ghul is returning - or possibly a successor like his daughter Talia, who was unseen in Batman Begins. The ninjas Bruce faced in his mansion were from a long line, and that line is bound to have continued somewhere. And Ra's could be resurrected through use of the pit, or perhaps Batman will stop him just in time?
3) The new film is called The Dark Knight Rises - so could Batmen die and someone resurrect him in one of the pits? This would fit with the previous film's theme of the city of Gotham needing someone like the Dark Knight, and be a nice counterpoint to the start of the film which I imagine will be about the police and/or army hunting Batman for the murders everyone thinks he committed in The Dark Knight. Could be quite cool, and a related idea was used in the recent comic Batman and Robin issue 7 and 8: Blackest Knight, with the question being - is the Batman who emerges from the pit going to be the right one, and in his right mind? (Batman and Robin stars a new Batman, as Bruce Wayne apparently died in the comics recently***)
On a related note, the villian Bane is set to be in new movie I hear - and I hope this is done well. In the comics he is often used very poorly and has little or no character. He is just famous for a dark epic story from the early nineties where he broke Batman's back and totally defeated him.... wonder if this could be where the film goes?
Either way I'm sure the writers will love to play with the idea of questioning whether it's possible to rise from death and live in a kind of mad power-mad immortality that many villains in comics seem to want to achieve. What messages might come through about what real living is, I wonder? Or about relinquishing power and serving a city of other people? Furthermore there was always something Satanic about the pits, which are in the belly of the earth and perpetuate the life of a centuries-old manipulater and murderer whose legacy is a cult of warriors who obey his every word. Perhaps the film will bring out the horror of this monstrous and unnatural battle for supremacy over the world from below.
With Marvel taking another step in the right direction with Thor and then Thor, Iron Man and Hulk joining the Avengers film next year****, Batman faces stiff competition in the superhero movie department. But I have confidence The Dark Knight Rises will prove to be more thought-provoking and mature than the others (much as I like them)!
*Presumably named after the biblical Lazarus, an ordinary man Jesus publically raised from death.
**Over the years Batman has been forced to accept there are some supernatural things in the universe, although even in Neil Gaiman's excellent recent story "Whatever happened to the caped crusader?" Batman states that he does not believe in a god, and the story still emphasises his own role in carving his own meaning in his physical existence - while portraying him as a kind of unstoppable force against evil in an eternal battle against evil (Yes, wierd huh?)
***I'm quite behind with Batman, as I have a pile of UK-produced Batman Legends comics to read, and the UK comics are way behind the US ones. The death of Batman is shown within Final Crisis, which you should read alongside the main Batman storyline right through from Batman and Son to the Black Casebook and Batman RIP.
****Directed by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Firefly and Serenity and writer of the first four volumes of Astonishing X-men!
Friday, 1 April 2011
Hooray for trusting in the cross
Friends, hear these brilliant words, which my soul also needs to hear.
In the run-up to this passage John Stott has been talking about wrong ways to approach hard times and God, by self-accusing, self-pitying or self-asserting. But then he starts talking about the best way of all – to see Him afresh spiritually, and trust in Him:
If it was reasonable for Job to trust in the God whose wisdom and power have been revealed in creation, how much more reasonable is it for us to trust the God whose love and justice have been revealed in the cross? The reasonableness of trust lies in the known trustworthiness of its object. And no one is more trustworthy than the God of the cross. The cross does not solve the problem of suffering, but it gives us the right perspective from which to view it.
We need to learn to climb the hill called Calvary and from that vantage point to survey all life’s tragedies. Since God has demonstrated his holy love in a historical event (the cross), no other historical event (whether personal or global) can override or disprove it.
from Through the Bible Through the Year, p.88
Praise God for the truth of these words!
Thursday, 24 March 2011
New Word Alive is nearly here.....
On a completely different subject, how shall I blog about New Word Alive this year? I don't think I will be blogging there (although I could tweet there), but I will update this site when I get back.
I've previously tried video interviews - shall I do more of these, and see if I can catch one of the speakers/some of the punters? Shall I try something creative and new? What do you want to hear about? I can't promise too much, but let me know!
Specifically what would you ask the speakers? It looks as though we have prominent Nigerian, English and Australians speaking this year. And of course it's always good to pick the brains of someone as God-happy as Mike Reeves (UCCF theology guy), who'll be there as usual.
Looking forward to seeing you there, if you are planning to go!
I've previously tried video interviews - shall I do more of these, and see if I can catch one of the speakers/some of the punters? Shall I try something creative and new? What do you want to hear about? I can't promise too much, but let me know!
Specifically what would you ask the speakers? It looks as though we have prominent Nigerian, English and Australians speaking this year. And of course it's always good to pick the brains of someone as God-happy as Mike Reeves (UCCF theology guy), who'll be there as usual.
Looking forward to seeing you there, if you are planning to go!
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Graphic novel review: Persepolis I
I’m not good with the facts of history, but I love details that bring home what was happening. Marjane remembers what she was doing the day the neighbouring family’s house was bombed during the war with Iraq which began in 1980. She tells how she rushed home fearing the worst, and managed to glimpse a painful sign that her neighbours had been buried when the house came down. It’s moving to think of this really happening to such an ordinary family.
Interestingly we are also introduced to those figures Marjane looked up to as a girl, some imprisoned for many years because of their outspoken views and the longings of people of shrewd minds and hospitable natures as they longed for an end to political injustice. Others with less courage or less wisdom are shown to be inconsistent in their views, and stirred up by a crowd – we get a realistic view of human nature here.
As Marjane tries to comprehend things like the torture of Communists and the changing regimes, she aspires to be a revolutionary herself and imagines herself debating these things with both God and Karl Marx in some light-hearted dream-like sections. Ultimately she feels that the big-bearded God of her dreams is no use to her cause, or perhaps he is supposed to be impotent in her view, an imaginary being made up by children. Either way, she moves on from him fairly quickly.*She also shows us what it was like to grow up as a child in those times, and the fun and hurt caused between classmates as they discussed or acted out their parent’s differences (somewhat like the children in The Book Thief). The influence of the West on Satrapi is evident, leading her to rebel – although maybe this was more to do with her sharp mind and sense of passionate outrage at what was happening. One amusing section tells of how she was caught by local women wearing a Michael Jackson badge she’d acquired from the black market, and how she lied that the badge showed Malcolm X (MJ was still black then), an important “historical figure” – and they believed her! Another time her parents managed to bring back some trendy posters from (I think) Turkey, by sewing them into the back of a coat.
The obvious love in the family also shines through as they seek to bring up their girl as best they can – eventually sending her away from the country, which as you will have gathered was going through some worrying changes. The glimpse we get here is not only a good mix of the optimism of childhood and the down-to-earth facts of what was happening, it is also a refreshingly individual personal history, where the price of living for one’s conscience and against the current regime is clear.
-----
* As an aside, I hope the way I live and work and stand for causes and pray and trust in God has the opposite effect – that people do not dismiss him as unnecessary, but see the true God of reality as the means by which it is possible to fully and rightly and passionately engage with all the rest of life.
Click here to find a list of more graphic novels/comics I recommend.
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Graphic novel review: Usagi Hojimbo ("rabbit samurai") vol 1
It’s rare to find a series of stories which manages to capture your imagination, stories that seem fresh even while working within a genre that has definite traditions, stories whose range of characters show a breadth and colour that seems to cover several levels of society. I’m happy to say that this first collection of stories about the lone wandering samurai called Miyamoto Usagi pulls off these feats with a certain irresistible charm.
OK, so the samurai Usagi is drawn as a rabbit, and there are plenty of other creatures around – but this is isn’t a jokey book and fight-scenes are action-packed and deadly. The stories in the first volume "Ronin" are interesting in their variety, from epic quests as Usagi defends the vulnerable people he meets on the road, to a memorable couple of encounters with a mercenary (a rhino) and less-content packed tales of Usagi meeting people, for instance when he is attacked by a brash and arrogant gang at a local place to eat and drink. (Amusingly, Usagi calmly finishes eating his meal while the intruders have turn everything upside-down except his table. When they insult him personally, he takes this as his cue to show them a lesson. Can’t fault his manners, I suppose.)
We come to understand the precarious nature of local politics in the 17th century Japan setting, as Usagi comes across outcast governors and one nefarious villain (cue cackling). One beautifully-formed story shows Usagi making a pilgrimage to his home town – and it shows us how we can still be attached to something or someone we thought we’d left behind. The author deserves credit for including sneaky moles in this tale as well whose deadly ninja training means they can appear out of nowhere by burying through the earth in huge numbers. The series usually has quite a serious and reflective tone, but the “ninja moles” show that author/artist Stan Akai can have some fun!
Finally, the art is quite detailed, showing some influence of Japanese manga, films and history. This Eisner-award winning series which has now been going since 1987 has drawn attention internationally and Empire magazine has named Usagi as the thirty-first greatest comic book character (see the list here) - it’s not hard to see why.
Click here to find a list of graphic novels/comics I recommend - or check back next week for my thoughts on an autobiographical graphic novel about Iran which was published in France - intriguing, no?
We come to understand the precarious nature of local politics in the 17th century Japan setting, as Usagi comes across outcast governors and one nefarious villain (cue cackling). One beautifully-formed story shows Usagi making a pilgrimage to his home town – and it shows us how we can still be attached to something or someone we thought we’d left behind. The author deserves credit for including sneaky moles in this tale as well whose deadly ninja training means they can appear out of nowhere by burying through the earth in huge numbers. The series usually has quite a serious and reflective tone, but the “ninja moles” show that author/artist Stan Akai can have some fun!
Click here to find a list of graphic novels/comics I recommend - or check back next week for my thoughts on an autobiographical graphic novel about Iran which was published in France - intriguing, no?
Friday, 25 February 2011
Excellent poems from Simon Armitage
If you like poetry, here's treat - Simon Armitage at his most awfully sad and moving and then following this - in a more inventive and funny mode, touching on huge subjects of 20th/21st century life (I prefer the latter one).
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Book Review: Real Lives in North Korea - nothing to envy
Based on accounts of those who managed to escape North Korea, the book gives a sense of what it was like living during different stages of the rigidly controlled Communist regime which continues there to this day. It is incredible to read how fully indoctrinated people were (and I guess, still are) into at times ludicrously harsh or downright unhealthy rules and routines, and the “informing” culture, believed to be essential to “North Korean security”, as well as the personality cult around the leader Kim Il-sung, which had men and women finding their worth in the leader more than in any other relationship. It’s revealing to read about the impact of Kim Il-sung’s death on different groups of people – a patriotic house-wife, broken by the news, whose husband descends into deep depression, a teacher from a lower-class background, a student struggling to bear the weight of the mourning which was expected of him.
This is a well-written history of the last 2 decades, as much as the author, a reporter based in South Korea, has been able to find out, containing surprising detail of the way people saw the world outside through a veil of widely accepted lies, as well as how they saw each other and how they provided for each other in tougher times.
Particularly touching in the midst of all the carefully recorded information about rations and hardworking routines is the story of a young couple, Mi-ran and Jun-sung, secretly visiting each other at night to go walking and talk. A complex and highly restrictive class system prevented them meeting in daylight. It’s revealing and rather sad that despite these episodes one fled the country without trusting the secret to the other.
Another moving episode tells of how Mi-ran, at this point a teacher, watches her children coming to classes exhausted due to starvation in the famine which lasted for many long years in the nineties there. As she notes the missing pupils in her class, she sees her favourite pupil stops coming in and she presumes this is because the child is now dead.
In fact some of the details here and about the hospital in the province made me so sad I stopped reading this book for a while. When I returned, my outrage only increased as I learned of a 16-year-old whose home was taken by other occupants when his father became a beggar, and who was caught trading across the border for food and tortured and imprisoned along with adult inmates! The details here reveal a world of injustice, courage and despair, and above all left me feeling: something must be done.
If like me you feel this way – find out more. Today I was reading a shocking magazine from Release International which talks about the problems facing Christians in North Korea. When it is discovered there is a Christian or a Bible in a household, it’s not unknown for the whole family to be taken to away to brutal labour camps. One man who was in a camp for 5 years tells of how he was treated, at one point tortured by being made to sit on burning coals. Even fleeing North Korea can cause new problems as you are then illegal members of China. Escaping women particularly are preyed on and sold into prostitution and trafficked illegally – your heart just breaks to hear of things like this. Release International are just at the beginning of their campaign to call for justice and release for imprisoned Christians in the country. Sadly there isn’t that much to read on their website yet – but you can sign their petition at this link. Do it! And do more than this. Find some way of telling someone who could make a difference. Ask leaders. Ask God. Seek more for the people there.
Painting - finished
So this post is waaaay overdue as I finished this painting without much trouble in December. But anyway, finally here it is - so what do you think? It's ok I think, considering I haven't painted for a while. Keep tuned for more creative stuff later this year, once I've settled into my new job a bit.
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