A Ready Writer

Testiminute

Today sees the launch of a new website from All Nations Church, Cardiff.

Testiminute offers a collection of stories of salvation, healing and provision all told in (roughly) sixty seconds. Click here to see the first video and don't forget to visit frequently for regular updates.

More About My City

Edward Kennedy

An interesting quote from Edward Kennedy that President Obama cited in his eulogy at Kennedy's funeral on the weekend:

'Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.'

Oasis

After the news this weekend that Noel Gallagher has left Oasis, I rooted back through my record collection to listen to some of their albums for the first time in ages. Eschewing their one great album - debut Definitely Maybe - and their biggest one - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - I started with their bloated third album, Be Here Now, before moving onto a bit of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. For a while, I was a huge Oasis fan (as a teenager in the 90s learning the guitar, the songs of Noel Gallagher were my bread and butter) and I decided I'd compile a list of my favourite of their songs. I even found a few hidden gems from their muddled, middle albums (the afore-mentioned Be Here Now, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and also Heathen Chemistry)

1) 'Columbia' from Definitely Maybe

2) 'Slide Away' from Definitely Maybe

3) 'Half the World Away' B-side of 'Whatever' (and theme tune of The Royle Family)

3) 'Talk Tonight' B-side of 'Some Might Say'

4) 'Acquiesce' B-Side of 'Some Might Say'

5) 'The Masterplan' B-Side of 'Wonderwall'

6) 'Underneath the Sky' B-Side of 'Don't Look Back in Anger'

7) 'Stay Young' B-Side of 'D'You Know What I Mean?'

8) 'I Hope, I Think, I Know' from Be Here Now

9) 'Let's All Make Believe' B-side of 'Go Let It Out'

10) 'Roll It Over' from Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

11) '(Probably) All in the Mind' from Heathen Chemistry

Here, too, is the best version Oasis recorded of Wonderwall: sung by Noel at their MTV Unplugged gig in 1996. And below it is the superlative cover version by Ryan Adams. Enjoy.

My City

Squibnocket

Here's a bit of James Taylor, taken from his DVD Squibnocket. My parents had this on video when I was growing up; I never realised that it was anything more than a TV documentary. Anyway, I think this is the best version of this song I've heard. Enjoy and enjoy your weekend.

Strauss, Flintoff, Broad, Prior... Jefferson?

It's been all quiet on the blog front this month (Now is the Time was fantastic; been to weddings every weekend, I think; as you can see from the sidebar, I've discovered the wonders of Twitter; thesis is chuntering away; off on holiday in a few weeks). There's no better way to break my silence than with a post about the Ashes.

There have been some very, very interesting articles written about this summer's cricket over the last few days (no doubt every paper worth its salt published a pull-out feature on either Monday or Tuesday; I'd recommend the articles at The Times, The Guardian and Cricinfo). What can my meagre sporting brain add?

Well, as I watched the final afternoon's play unfold this past Sunday, and as England took the final wicket and retreated to celebrate in their dressing room, I noticed a quotation on the wall of the team's balcony. I don't know whether it was put there by Andy Flower, by Andrew Strauss or by anyone from the England team (it could, after all, have been Surrey: the Oval is their ground). It was by Thomas Jefferson and it said:

'Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.'

I liked this very much. 'Cricket,' Mike Brearley once wrote, 'is so much a matter of confidence; no one can learn unless he believes that he can learn, and that he is worth teaching.' That is one of the reasons why I enjoy cricket so much: it is not only a sport, it is, in many ways, a reflection of life itself. How often people fail not because of adverse circumstances but due to a lack of self-belief, self-discipline, or teachability. After all, think how slowly a Test Match unfolds; think how long the teams play for, how much concentration is involved, how so much can be won or loss in a brief moments. Life is often that like too.

There are plenty of people who write a lot better than me about cricket and have already written a lot about this Ashes series. But as well as taking the chance to say well done England (having been there right at the beginning in Cardiff this year), I also wanted to say that their win was a lesson in right thinking. They won the Ashes, in part, thanks to cool, clear-headed and example setting leadership of their captain and coach. What a series; what a sport.

Now is the Time

It's Bible Week time! For the sixth year running, we're off to the Staffordshire County Showground for a week where we'll encounter God, enjoy fellowship with great friends and, hopefully, stay warm and dry the whole time. The theme this year is 'Now is the Time'.

If you have want to know more, click here.

"As long as I've got a job..."

Here's another great moment from The West Wing.

Umberto Lego

A pleasant oddity today. A friend of mine - a fellow fan of The Name of the Rose - sent me an email last week with pictures of some lego models he'd made of scenes from Umberto Eco's novel a long time ago. They're very detailed and very good!

If you haven't read The Name of the Rose, add it to your summer hit list.