Playing, With God

This post is sort of about the new EP from Trinity, but it's not exactly a review. It's more sort of about my experience listening to it. But, as you read it, my impression of it should be clear. (Spoiler - I like it. A lot.) To set the scene, last night I was on Facebook and I saw something from Lana Vawser about just spending time with God and basically appreciating His presence. I was at home on my own, so I thought what better time than now, and I thought I'd listen to this:-

(Colours is actually one of the songs, but this is what the cover looks like - it was the best pic I could find)

So I turned off the computer and turned on the CD, and just sat  - with God. And I experienced His presence. But not in a kind of overwhelming way. He was absolutely, definitely there, but in a sort of quiet way, like I could just spot Him out of the corner of my eye, as it were. It kind of felt like He was dancing around, coming close then jumping back just out of reach laughing, and with a sparkle in His eyes. The word that sums it up for me is 'playful' - which is where the idea for the title came from.

I like the whole thing - which is why I've been listening to it on repeat since then, and not got tired of it. Partly, I think, this is because each of the songs are so different. At least, that's how they sound to me. But here are some thoughts and/or impressions from some of them.

'River Run', the title track is, to me, both gentle and poetic. It reminded me of a poem I read about people without hope - except here, there is Hope. And an invitation.
'First Love', another one sung by Jules Woodbridge, is beautifully passionate. It reminds me of an album written and recorded by a Christian couple just after a personal tragedy, where they sung about trusting God and relying on Him, and you could feel that they meant it. That it meant something to them. And in the same way (though completely different), this song makes me feel that Jules knows Jesus. She loves Him, and she knows she loves Him; and this comes across so strongly.
'Colours' (mainly) by Jemima Woodbridge, who is clearly developing into a great (singer and) songwriter, on the strength of this; but it resonates with me for personal reasons. I've been thinking a lot about art and creativity recently (yes, more than usual), and this goes right along with that; that anywhere there is beauty, there God can be known.
And 'Grace Has Won', sung by Josh Chesworth and Becky Bull, which feels to me somewhat like a hymn. Which is definitely a good thing. There are lots of great hymns with fantastic words and tunes, and this has something of that to it. Plus it has Becky singing, which is always a good thing, so I'll leave you with that. Enjoy...

Brilliant Bechdel!

Well, after seeing another film a few day ago ('Lucy'), it particularly made me think about the Bechdel Test. Named after Allison Bechdel, a cartoonist who came in at number 4 in Rolling Stone's recent list of best non-superhero cartoons; someone who was interested in feminism and gender politics - and good storytelling. And I thought it was about time I did a slightly intellectual post, after the last one.

So, now you know who Ms Bechdel is, what is her test? It was a piece from her book 'Dykes To Watch Out For', and it's a simple thing to see how female friendly a piece of entertainment is; mainly applied to films, it asks 3 questions. Is there more than one named female character? Do they speak to each other? About something other than a man? Which seems simple enough. But it's amazing how many films don't match up. By the way, by 'female friendly' I don't mean whether women might enjoy it; but rather, how positive an image of women does it promote.
                                                                 

Just think for a moment about the last couple of films you saw, and ask these questions. How does it stack up? The last couple of films I saw just about pass - I say 'just about' because both of them had minimal female characters. GOTG had 3 that I remember, and Lucy had 2 - unless you count her mum, who 'appears' once in a phone call. And these are films that actually pass. Quite a lot don't. The Avengers doesn't, for instance - although there are 3 strong named female characters (only one a superhero), they don't ever speak to each other, even when they share screen time.

But as this article acknowledges, the test isn't perfect - it has flaws. At least two that I can think of. One is that it's posssible to pass with literally a couple of lines of dialogue; and the other, just the opposite. That, as The Avengers shows, it is possible to have strong female characters and still fail. And there's also the point that dialogue doesn't reflect conversation - we generally are only shown what we need to see to follow the story. Which is why pretty much all rom-coms would probably fail. It would be a pretty bad rom-com where female characters didn't talk about the male character; though it could be possible.

However, I think the main point isn't that if a film fails this test, then it's not female friendly, not promoting a positive image of women; but rather, just that so many fail. It seems a pretty simple enough test; so, why do so many fail? What does that say about society? About us? And what can be done about it?

A Kind Of Busy Day Off

Last week ended up being pretty relaxing, all in all, what with not going out most evenings; and that was great. As I said, it wasn't exactly planned, and certainly didn't start off that way, cos I arranged to meet my mum on my day off. Which meant I had to leave the house earlier than I usually would. I didn't get up any earlier, but normally on a day off, I would get up later. And this time I didn't. But it was worth it.

Obviously, just the fact of spending the day with my mum was good in itself, as I don't get to see her that often-both of us managing to fill our time with all sorts of things. So she asked when my day off was, and we met up in town. On the way I managed to drop some books off at a charity shop-I've been meaning to do that for ages. Our first point of call was Costa in Waterstones, just so we could chat for a bit, catch up before deciding what to actually do. Which was nice. And amusing to see a pigeon come in and wander around because someone decided to stand in the doorway of the balcony are with the door open, chatting. Not so good. And I suppose health and safety people wouldn't have been too impressed by the presence of said pigeon. And then we wandered around Waterstones itself. Which I love doing, cos, you know, I love books. And reading them.

Next we went to the theatre to spend her theatre tokens she got given last year-good thing there's no expiry date. And she booked tickets for us to go to see 'The Woman in Black' in a couple of weeks time-a couple of weeks from then, anyway. Looking forward to that-I've heard only good things about that show. Headed up the High Street, stopping to chat to a friend briefly. Which was nice. And then we went into the arcade to wander around the shops. And found an art gallery. Called White Crescent Art. I didn't know that was there, but it's definitely worth a visit. Go have a look round. And then we went to a shop which was almost an art gallery, in that it sold lots of animal 'sculptures'. All sorts of animals, different sizes, different materials, from slightly bigger than life size insects to ones about as big as me. Those weren't insects, though. Also worth going to. And, you know, if you feel like it, maybe buying something as well. Just to remind yourself of the place. And in between the two was a stall selling 3D pictures of animals. Big cats, sharks, wolves. And meerkats. So, for art or animals, Regent Arcade is the place to go. And then it was time for lunch-somehow that had taken us about 3 hours. After discovering that Swedish cuisine is not really vegetarian friendly, we decided to go to M&S cafe. Which is always good. And after lunch, we did a bit more shopping. A lot more looking around, but only a bit of shopping. Which ended up with mum getting a new pair of glasses, and both of us having hot chocolate from Whittards. Banoffee flavour. And then somehow it was dark. Although it is winter, so it wasn't that late. But home we both went to rest and relax. Which I then carried on doing for the rest of the week. Apart from work, of course- I kind of had to go there.

So, there you go. A very busy day off. But worth it. And we still have 'The Woman in Black' to look forward to.