This week we look across the spectrum of reality at the new Doctor Who, we look at Bluray discs, what's on at the flicks, meeting a right old East-end geezer and then look at how to transform the area you live in. All bundled with a good dose of G's
The Gallifreyan – Just call me The Doctor
Many of you will know I'm a huge Doctor Who fan, so the last two Saturdays have been a mixture of excitement and dread. With the success of David Tennant, the last Doctor bringing back the weirdness and genius of the Tom Baker days it was always going to be a hard act to follow.
There were so many things going to be different, this time round, first obviously was a new Doctor, though from seeing his monologue at the end of the last Tennant episode, it looked like he was going to be annoyingly good, I say that because like most of us, I wanted Tennant to stay on.
Now, with the new Doctor would be a new companion too, normally the Doctor would regenerate with his companion and thus there would be a continuity with the audience. However, I was sure that this would be done excellently as the new head writer Steven Moffat had been on the show for a few years and produced some fantastic episodes such as “Blink”.
Well, here it was the first episode, New Doctor, new head writer, new music, a new logo and new titles. Matt Smith played the part brilliantly too, the quirkiness mixed with genius and that element of the surreal. I laughed at the fish fingers and custard, so Doctor Who! Part of me was thinking there's going to be kids asking for that for tea.
I thought writing in the meeting with the young Amelia Pond was a stroke of genius. It created a bond with the new Doctor as she was the first person he saw in his new body, so when he went back and she's older there's already that connection between them.
It'll be interesting to see how the two characters develop over the series, a still quite broken Doctor putting a brave face on things, and a feisty companion who's looking for her saviour, this could be very good indeed. The way they wrote into the storyline the creating of a new inside to the TARDIS etc. it meant that in one episode they'd managed to change almost everything in a way that made logical sense, that's why Moffat's head writer, brilliant stuff!
Churchill and The Doctor with the Daleks, the other week was another example of where bringing in loads of elements that shouldn't work with Doctor Who, you can't go wrong, my favourite quote, my friend Ian picked up on “Okay, so its a jammy dodger, but you did promise me tea!”
The Goof – Rambles, Titans and Yorkshire Pudding
There's been plenty of goofing around the last month or so. Over the Easter break a load of us went on a ramble across the Cotswold countryside around Prestbury. The walk or rather wade was great fun, though quite muddy.
After this we went for a carvery at the bargain price of £3.59. Well, I say it was a bargain, as many of you know I've had a northern upbringing with a Yorkshire mum and a Derbyshire dad, so see a piddly Yorkshire pudding got me on a rant. Everyone knows a Yorkshire Pud's got to be big, the meal was great though, and there was plenty of gravy (which made up for the lack of Yorkshire) and it was good to catch up with people.
After it a few of us went back to a friends house to watch the Bourne trilogy on Bluray, now to me Bluray seems a bit of a con, yes the colour is brighter and there's a bit more detail like being able to see the fingerprints on a close up, but seriously £20 a film is a rip! Watching Bourne with the surround sound set up and all three films in a row was great, you get so much more out of the films, little gems you haven't noticed before, plus its always good to have a movie day from time to time.
Speaking of movies, a few of us lads went to watch, Clash of the Titans 3D. Now I'd heard mixed reviews about it, some said it was brilliant, some said it was dire. Now for me this is where I put logic out the window, sadly as many of you know one of my eyes decided to go on strike when I was about three and has only worked part time since. A couple of years ago there was a small improvement which has meant no need for my glasses, but at present its not fully functional. The reason for saying this is that because only one eye works “fully” I do not see the 3D effect of a 3D film. So I ended up paying for a 3D film I would see in 2D.
Now the film itself is a remake of the 1981 classic that graces our small screens on bank holidays yearly. The remake however, story wise was not a patch on the original, it was a similar storyline though warped into a hate of the God's fork as opposed to the hero saving the day by rescuing his beloved. The character build up was poor at best, but the special effects were good, and apparently the 3D was ok. A nice touch was the cameo of the clockwork golden owl (who is part of the original film) and an almost exact opening scene. I know this because I spotted the original in Sainsbury's for a bargain £3.
The Geezer - London Pub Connections
A couple of weeks ago I had to go to London on a course with work. Many of you will know that due to my Northern upbringing I always struggle down in London, the unfriendliness and lack of atmosphere when out drives me mad.
Well, my friend and colleague Adam and I went out looking for a pub with Sky, so we could watch the football, and we found a gem of a pub down from the hotel. It wasn't the most salubrious of areas and there were more dealers than in a Las Vegas casino, but at last we'd found a proper pub with people chatting and lots of banter bouncing back from the bar.
We managed to meet this old geezer who was a crooked and as nice as they come, telling us all sorts of stories and explaining that our hotel was “ideal for a villain. . . there's no cameras!” Usually when you meet these lovely east-end guys you have to take most of it with a pinch of salt (they all seem to know Ray Winston) but this guy was so funny, half the time you thought he might be telling the truth. Then he started talking about being in a short film and we were both thinking “oh yeah whatever” then he said it was on youtube, to our shock I managed to pull it up on the G1!
The rest of the mob in there were great, the cleaner was a long suffering Liverpool fan who joked that there was no chanting whilst the match was on, we then pointed out that Liverpool were on the other screen and this was Fulham (much to his amusement).
We spent most evenings there and by the end of the week we were part of the mob ourselves, this left me rather confused as I didn't think it was possible down south.
The Gospel – Making a Noise in Cheltenham
With May bank holiday approaching many of you are looking forward to a hard earned break, for myself and others from Trinity we are looking forward to getting stuck into the Noise project.
For those of you that don't know about the Noise, every May bank holiday, people from Trinity Cheltenham and other churches in the area, get involved in actively transforming the community through various projects such as helping to redevelop peoples gardens / rooms through to creating murals on a school playground wall.
Now to me this is real church, getting outside the building and serving people, it shouldn't be this holy huddle it should be doing what Jesus did, going out to the needy and the poor as well as to the rich.
That's why I love the fact in the next few weeks our cluster will be getting involved with street teams this term, going out to the vulnerable in Cheltenham and talking with them, giving them food and building relationships with them, its not about feeling good by helping its about building long term relationships.
Following on from this I was looking at Matthew 25:31-46 (the parable of the sheep and the goats) in which all the people of the world are split into two camps some are sheep some are goats. Jesus then turns to them
Matthew 25:34-36
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
They ask when they did those things, and he goes on to explain that any time you do help someone who is struggling or is in a vulnerable position you are also doing it to him. This is an amazing concept, saying that in every good deed we do, we are doing it ultimately for God.
Being a Christian shouldn't just be about going to church and having a personal faith, it should also be about helping others and being there when people need you. Some might say this sounds like a faith vs. deeds debate, but I disagree. It's not by deeds we have faith, its because we have faith that we are compelled through the spirit to do things.
If we ask Jesus into our lives he comes in, gradually our hearts are changed to the point where we just can't sit aside and see people in need. It's not to make ourselves feel better, its about doing what's right, letting God prompt us, not so that people see us doing these "good things" , but doing them to show people just how much Jesus loves them.
It's about living the life not just talking about it. Doing things not because we have to but because we GET to.
˚˚ Monte Has Spoken ˚˚
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