Culture: The Year That Was– 2016

Well we have come to the end of 2016 and what a year it has been – it will certainly make the history books for a variety of reasons.

Celebrity Deaths 

It has probably been the worse year for Celebrity deaths – starting off with Pat Harrington (actor) on 6 January and ending with Debbie Reynolds on 29 December (actress) – 72 in total. What a year.

There are too many for me to list so here is list of those who made an important impact on people’s lives in one way or another:

• David Bowie – Musician & Actor  - January 10
• Alan Rickman – Actor – January 14
• Glenn Frey – Musician  (The Eagles) – January 18
• Maurice White – Musician  (Earth, Wind & Fire)– February 3
• Nancy Reagan – Former First Lady of the United States – March 6
• Garry Shandling – Comedian & Actor – March 24
• David Gest  - Entertainer & Producer – April 12
• Prince – Musician – April 21
• Nick Menzie – Musician (Megadeth) – May 21
• Muhammed Ali – Boxer  - June 3
• Jo Cox – Minister of Parliament  - June 16
• Michael Cimino – Director (The Deer Hunter)  - July 2
• Garry Marshall – Director (Happy Days & Mork + Mindy) – July 19
• David Huddleston  - Actor  (Santa Clause the Movie) – August 2
• Kenny Baker – Actor (R2 D2) – August 13
• Gene Wilder  - Actor – August 29
• Arnold Palmer – Golfer – September 25
• Leonard Cohen – Musician – November 7
• Robert Vaughan – Actor – November 11
• Fidel Castro  - Former Prime Minister of Cuba & Revolutionary  - November 25
• John Glenn – Astronaut & first American to circle the Earth – December 8
• Alan Thicke – Actor (Growing Pains) - December 13
• Liz Smith – Actress – December 24
• George Michael  - Musician – December 25
• Carrie Fisher – Actress-  December 27th
• Debbie Reynolds – Actress – December 29^th

British News

BREXIT – the UK voted to leave the European Union in June which led to David Cameron resigning as Prime Minister and leading the way for the second female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – Theresa May and a new cabinet including Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary!

The BREXIT Campaign was unravelled to be full of lies and even though he got what he wanted ( to make Great Britain Great again), Nigel Farage quit as leader of UKIP – for a second time!!

Sadiq Khan was voted Mayor of London, making him the first Muslim Mayor of a major western city.

World News

America voted Donald Trump to be the 45th  President of the United States of America!! 

ISIS struck again and again:

• Bombing at Brussels Airport & Maalbeek metro station  on 22 March killing  35 people and injuring 300 
• Bombing at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul  on 28 June killing 45 people and injuring 230
• 19 tonne cargo truck driven into Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France on Bastille Day 14 July  killing 86 people and injuring 434 
• A truck ran into a Christmas Market in Berlin, Germany on 19 December killing 12 people and inuring 48
• And many bombs in Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia 
• Also knife & machete attacks in France, Germany, United States and Belgium

The continuing war in Syria

Zika Virus Outbreak leaving a lot of pregnant women worried

Barack Obama visited Cuba making him the first President of the United States to visit the country since 1928 

Egypt Air Flight M8804 went missing over the Mediterranean en route Paris to Cairo

Plane crashed in Colombia killing 71 footballer players from the Brazilian Chapecoense team

Battle of Mosul in Iraq 

Ceasefire agreement signed between Colombian Government and FARC rebels ending more than 50 years of conflict in Colombia

Commemoration of the Battle of the Somme  - 100 years

Commemoration of the Easter Rising in 1916 (Ireland) - 100 years  

Sporting Triumphs

Andy Murray won Wimbledon for the second time

Leicester City won the Premiership - the underdogs did good

Team GB did very well in Rio 2016 Olympics winning

• 27 Gold
• 23 Silver
• 17 Bronze 

A total of 67 medals for Team GB

And not forgetting the Paralympics where Team GB won 147 medals

• 64 Gold
• 39 Silver
• 44 Bronze  

Ireland Rugby Team beat the All Blacks 40 - 29  - the first time the Irish have ever beaten the world leaders in Rugby - New Zealand.

Northern Ireland Football Team made it to Euro 2016 - the first time they have ever been in the European tournament.  They made it to the last 16.  

All in all a very varied year - not a good one for celebrities and a couple of political upsets and the continuation of terrorism - what will 2017 hold for us all? 

Book Review: I Used to Know That: Stuff you Forgot from School: Caroline Taggart

After reading Caroline Taggart’s book on Grammar I decided to read more of her work as her writing is very interesting, informative as well as educational.

I Used to Know that covers topics taught in school - English, Maths, History, Geography, General Studies and Science.

I learnt a lot from reading this book especially as it covered information that was never taught in my school or else I don’t remember being taught!! The latter being more likely!  For example some of the Maths stuff was new to me, but then Maths was never my strong point and even on reading this chapter I still struggled with all the division, trigonometry etc. etc.

The Science chapter was excellent and probably the section I loved the best as I know we didn’t cover much of that subject in school – our teacher wasn’t very good. This section was split into three: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I recommend this book if it’s only for the scientific stuff.

This book is a light hearted but also informative. Reading this book can help you in many ways - to reignite your mind and memory, to help your kids doing their homework, or to help you brush up on trivia for a pub quiz!!

So if you have forgotten what the capital of Mozambique is, which books were written by Charles Dickens, where oxygen comes in the periodic table, or which of Henry V’s wives were beheaded and which one survived, then this book is a certain for you.

Book Review: All the Little Guns Went Bang, Bang, Bang by Neil McKay

Set in Antrim, Northern Ireland, All the Little Guns Went Bang, Bang, Bang tells the story of Pearse Furlong and May-Belle Mulholland, two eleven year olds who became friends even though they have very little in common except for the fact that they both have a shared experience of violent abusive parents.

If you are of a nervous disposition this book may not be for you - it is described as a blackly comic tale but I am not sure if there is any comedy in it, to me it reads like a tragedy. The book disturbed me in the things that these two kids get up to, as what started out as harmless fantasies turns into something much darker with theft, arson, brutality and eventually much worse.

However dark the book is, it is a sad story an shows how the society one grows up in can dictate how you turn out – especially if there is no guidance from parents – and it does make you feel some empathy towards Pearse and May-Belle, especially having grown up in Northern Ireland and seeing the damage that was done in the past and how it affects the future for the people who have been directly or indirectly involved in ‘The Troubles’

Book Review: Anywhere but Nineveh: A month's journey with Jonah - Frank Sellar

In August the Ministry team at my church did a sermon series on Jonah – it was really interesting and got me wanting to learn more about Jonah the person and Jonah the book.

Anywhere but Nineveh is a thirty day devotional book which goes through the book of Jonah. Jonah is a small book, it only has four chapters, and in this devotional the author Frank Sellar (Moderator of Presbyterian Church in Ireland) takes one verse a day at a time – expanding the text and making Jonah’s story relevant to today.

The devotional book reminds us that Jonah is more than a story about a whale. Jonah was a real person and his story was real.

I enjoyed this book as it helped me understand Jonah better and how this Old Testament book is linked to the New Testament and points us to the One who is greater than Jonah – the one who didn’t run away – Jesus. 

Book Review: Exodus for You - Tim Chester

Exodus for You is an exploration of Exodus – a study guide to help the reader learn more about the second book of the Bible – Exodus.

From reading this book alongside Exodus I have discovered that Exodus is more than a story of a burning bush, more than a story of the parting of the red sea and that those chapters which give a very long detailed report on building the tabernacle are not boring, they are actually interesting and very important to the bible and Christianity.

Exodus is a story of deliverance from oppression but it is also more than that, it is a story of liberation, sacrifice, God’s Presence, Servitude & Worship, Mission and All Creation – in fact it is Our Story.

Exodus is called Exodus due to the departure of the Israelite's out of slavery in Egypt – and this sets God’s story on a trajectory that comes to a climax with life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

God helped free the Israelite's from slavery in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land and Jesus sets US free from being slaves to sin by dying on the cross for us.

The book of Exodus is the key to understanding the person and work of Jesus. It reveals the means of our Salvation (redemption through sacrifice) and the context of our Salvation – enjoying God’s presence in a world made now.

Exodus is exciting, it is historical and as it points us to and inspires us to worship - it is Our Story.

Tim Chester really brings the story of Exodus to life and it made me realise just how important all the events in Exodus are and how they affect my story as a Christian today.

Exodus for You is part of a series called ‘God’s Word for You” and they are written in order to take you to the heart of a book of the Bible and apply the truth to your heart.

I really recommend this book but also the series as a whole as they are well written and help you delve deeper into the bible which will help you grow in your faith. 

Movie Review: Dear Santa

The Christmas Movies continue and today I watched ‘Dear Santa’ which was released in 2011. Again it’s a bit cheesy but it’s still a cool movie. It is again a bit like the story of scrooge, except there is no bah humbug, just a misdirection of life.

The story focus on Crystal Carruthers (played by Amy Acker) who is a thirty year old woman who loves shopping, spending her wealthy parent’s money and not doing much else. Her parents feel she needs to get serious about like and tell her she has to Christmas to get her life in order.

While looking in a shop window a letter which has fallen out of the post box flies into Crystal’s arms. It is a Dear Santa letter from a little girl who wishes for a mum as her own mum died a few years ago and her dad has been miserable since and she just wants a mum again. So Crystal decides to take matters into her own hands and appears in their lives in order to get the Dad (Derek) to fall in love with her as she thinks that would solve her problems and get her parents off her back.

Crystal is being very selfish in what she is doing. 

In order to endear herself to Derek, (played by David Haydn-Jones)  Crystal volunteers in his soup kitchen serving the homeless – at the start she was not wanting to really touch the homeless but gradually she begins to see the people who they really are  - people, and in turn she changes and is starting to become a more caring person.

Crystal makes friends with Olivia, (played by Emma Duke) Derek’s daughter and the girl who wrote the letter and they become friends. You can see that Derek is starting to fall for Crystal but there is a problem, he has a girlfriend who is determined to get her claws into Derek much to the annoyance of Olivia as she does not like her and doesn’t want her as a mother figure.

However this girlfriend Jillian (played by Gina Holden) exposes Crystal as a liar and turns Derek against her. 

The subplot of the movie is that Derek cannot afford to keep the soup kitchen open and Crystal seeing the pain of the homeless decides to use the $10,000 check she got from her parents, their final payment to support her, to keep the soul kitchen open.  Soon after Derek is driving past the soup kitchen and discovers it is open and on asking Pete - the chef – what is happening Pete tells him that maybe it was fate that brought the letter to Crystal and then Crystal to him.

Derek goes home to say goodnight to Olivia but discovers she is not in bed, he goes to look for her and finds her by the town Christmas tree with Crystal. Just as she tells the girl that she found her letter to Santa, Derek arrives, apologizes to her, and the three embrace each other.

The movie ends with all three of them eating their Christmas Dinner at the Soup Kitchen, all happy.

It is a feel good movie and about a lost woman finding her purpose in life. I enjoyed it and it made me smile. 

Movie Review: 12 Dates of Christmas

Last night after coming home from the Carol Service my church, I felt very festive so decided to watch a Christmas movie, so I did – I watched Nativity starring Martin Freeman as a primary school teacher who is in charge of putting on a Nativity Play – it was a very funny, cute, heart-warming movie. 

After that I then decided to watch a Christmas every day from now until Christmas Day and even maybe up to the New Year. Today I watched 12 Dates of Christmas, a movie which was on Channel 5.

I thought the 12 Dates of Christmas would be a cheesy Christmas movie but decided to watch it anyway, because Christmas movies always make me smile. 

The 12 Dates of Christmas stars Amy Smart as Kate who finds herself reliving Christmas Eve over and over again. This includes going on a date with Miles (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar) as well as trying to win back her old boyfriend Jack.   

The premise of the movie is for Kate to discover how to break the cycle or reliving Christmas Eve – a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day – should she attempt to win back Jack or should she pursue Miles or is there something else for her.

Kate is quite a selfish person - she was rude to Miles on the first Christmas Eve date, she left him to go after her ex who turned her down anyway.  She was rude to her neighbour who baked her a cake for the holidays. She was rude to her step mother when she went round her dinner. She was basically a sourpuss who only wanted one thing – her ex back.

During the 12 days that she relives Christmas Eve, Kate is on a journey of finding herself and becoming  a nicer person – to me it’s a bit like the Christmas Carol and Scrooge. Scrooge was a miserable man and due to the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future he changes and starts being nice to people. This is exactly what Kate does – she becomes nice, she is nice to her neighbour and ends up setting her up with a man she met in a shop. She starts to be nicer to her step-mother. She bakes with her neighbour and helps another lost soul who was waiting for a blind date in the same pub she was meeting Miles in.

Throughout the “12 dates” Kate starts to realise she does not need Jack and starts to fall for Miles. It is a feel good movie that makes you smile, even if it is a bit cheesy. But a good thing about it - Zak from Saved by the Bell is in it.

I am looking forward to the tomorrow and my next movie – not sure what it will be! Tis the season!

Literature: The Joy of Books

I must admit I stole the following post from John Grisham about the benefits of reading.  

So according to John Grisham, someone who has written more books than I have had hot dinners!! and who always gives us a good read, what are the benefits of reading?

• Well he says they are and I tend to agree:
• increased knowledge
• expanded horizons
• improved vocabulary
• sharpened thinking
• and enhanced empathy

Mr Grisham goes on to say that books are great to give as gifts, and I also agree. He says that the ten most fundamental reasons people should give books for birthdays, Christmas or just because is that:

• Books are easier to wrap than footballs or fruit baskets
• Books don't break
• Once someone has finished with a book, it is not empty, in fact it is still full
• No batteries are needed
• You don't have to put a book together, its already been done for you
• Books don't make noises that would alarm pets
• You don't need to iron, wash or maintain a book in anyway 
• Books are non-perishable
• There is a book for everyone - they come in all sizes, colours etc
• Books will never be lost
• Books will never be forgotten
• And giving a book gives someone boundless access to other words and other lives both real and imagined.

I have bought books for three people this Christmas: my dad, my mum and my uncle - all three people are very different and all books chosen are very different and will appeal to those they have been bought for. I love receiving books and also like getting book tokens so can choose which book to read.

I have been bought many a book or voucher over the years as people know that books and reading are what make me tick. I read anything - children's, teen, Christian, fiction, non-fiction etc And I have read many of John Grisham's book as well.

Movie Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Wow, what a movie. I loved The Fault in Our Stars, it was sad, full of hope, love, joy, funny – it was a mixture of emotions.

The Fault in Our Stars follows Hazel, a teenager who has cancer and is forced by her parents and doctor to go to a support group for teenagers who have cancer.  Hazel really doesn’t want to go but she goes anyway in order to make her mum happy.  Making her mum happy is what Hazel sees is the purpose of her life now.

Hazel’s mum urges Hazel to make new friends and the support group and this is what Hazel does – well she makes one friend Augustus Waters who goes by the name of Gus.   Gus had cancer in his leg and due to this had to undergo an amputation of the leg, and now has a prosthetic leg.

Gus and Hazel become friends and exchange books with Hazel giving Gus her favourite book, “An Imperial Affliction” written by Peter Von Houston which is about a cancer stricken girl named Anne.  Hazel loves this book as she feels is parallel’s her own experience of having cancer.

Gus finishes reading the book but struggles with the ending as the book finishes in the middle of a sentence, which irritates Gus as he wants a proper conclusion to the story.  In order to settle his curiosity Gus tracks down the writer, Peter Van Houston, which ends up in Hazel and Gus going to Amsterdam to visit him.

However, before they go to Amsterdam Hazel gets sick again and tries to end things with Gus and just be his friend, however Gus won’t stand for this. 

The trip to Amsterdam goes ahead despite the doctors not really approving.  Despite looking forward to the trip and meeting Peter Van Houston, it ends in disaster, well meeting the author does and getting a conclusion to the book is a painful experience.  However in terms of the relationship between Hazel and Gus, it is a success as they grow closer and finally admit they both love each other.

On the final day of the trip, Gus tells Hazel that his cancer is back with vengeance and the rest of the movie is about the two of them and their relationship which they continue even though they know it’s not going to be happily ever after.

The Fault in Our Stars is a sad movie, but it is also a movie of choices – a choice of loving now and loving with all you have got, or not loving and losing out on that love.  It is a movie which tells you that you need to be happy with your choices and go all in with what you decide.  It is also a movie about loss, growing up, making memories and above all having hope.

The characters in the movie are strong and the actors who played Hazel and Gus were amazing. I truly recommend this movie but don’t get too sad when watching it, remember life is good and life is not about the circumstances but about how you deal with the circumstances.

Books Review: The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern

I really liked this book and the way it is told by two people – Fergus Boggs and his daughter Sabrina. 

Sabrina thought that she knew all about her dad, but on finding his marble collection in the middle of other possessions that were collected from his flat, and on hearing stories from his marble friends and his family, she realises that she did not truly know him nor did anyone else really.

The Marble Collector is a story of family, love, friendship, lies, marbles, being lost and above all it is a story of discovery – not only for Sabrina, but also for Fergus himself as he relives his childhood memories and faces a way back from memory problems that were brought on by a stroke and have left him feeling lost and cut off from the world.

I have read most of Cecilia Ahern’s book – just have another two to catch up on – and apart from her first novel P.S I love you, this is in my opinion one of her best novels.  It is a great read and a very engaging story. I really do recommend it. 

Book Review: The Anxious Christian by Rhett Smith

Can God use your anxiety for good?

I suffer from anxiety and have been told by some people that anxiety if ‘un-Christian’ - however on reading Rhett Smith’s book I realise what I knew all along – they are wrong.  It is ok to be a Christian and be anxious.

In the Anxious Christian, Rhett Smith tells his personal story of living with anxiety and through this and using biblical thinking, Rhett argues that, rather than being destructive or shameful, anxiety can be a catalyst for our spiritual growth.

I learnt a lot from reading this book – ways to deal with my anxiety in the different areas of my life e.g. work and relationships. I learnt to not worry about having anxiety but being ok with it and not letting the anxiety rule my life in a destructive way.  I learnt that the best thing to do is give my anxiety to God and ask Him to use it for His greater good.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone suffering from anxiety and to anyone who knows someone who suffers from anxiety. It is very well written and has lots of good sound personal and biblical advice. 

MS: Giving thanks in a relapse

A few weeks ago I was in the middle of an MS relapse and I wrote a few thoughts done but never actually got around to posting it on the blog as I have been very lax with the blog recently.

Anyway during the relapse I was feeling very low and my mind was going down routes which I did not life, so I decided that the best thing to do was to be thankful. I made a list of things that I was thankful for starting from the beginning of my relapse which was on the 4th October and lasted about a month. During the relapse I had to walk using a stick for part of it as the feeling in my right hand side had decreased and my balance was shot too.

So here is what I was thankful for:

Family
Church
A walking stick to help me walk
God
Doctors
Medication to help me
Lifts in cars
People sitting with me in Church while others stood up to sing
My camera
Harvest
Reflexology
Work - though it has been tough and I had to decrease my hours from 30 to 16.
MS Quiz Night
Friends
Bed
Rest
Fresh Air
TV / Netflix
Prayer
My Kindle
Books
The Bible
Tea
Toast - for some reason I had a craving for Toast during the worst week of the relapse
Chocolate
Music
Facebook / Twitter

Movie Review: God's Not Dead 2

Following on from God’s Not Dead, there is another movie, this time it is called, wait for it – God’s Not Dead 2.  This time the film follows a teacher who is on trial for bringing Jesus into a discussion on Ghandi and Martin Luther King into the classroom.

The school suspends Miss Wesley for her actions and a court case starts with the defence lawyers trying to prove the teacher was innocent and the prosecutor trying to prove that God doesn’t exist – that he is actually dead.

This involves soul searching by some people, namely the girl Brooke who asked the question in class. She becomes a Christian despite her parents being against Christianity and who are the parents who brought this trial to court as they didn’t want their daughter being exposed to religion.  However, it turns out that Brooke’s brother, who died, was on a journey with Christ as well – and this makes Brooke questions her own faith.

The court case is going – well it seems to be going the way of the prosecutors. There is a minister on the jury but he had to leave due to taking appendicitis which makes the persecution claim that there is obviously no God as the defence team have now lost their only hope to winning the case.

The people who take the stand are very interesting including Lee Strobel who was an atheist but became a Christian when he set out to write a book to prove that God didn’t actually exist – however instead of proving his point, Strobel realised that God does exist and has since become a Christian.

Then there is another guy who sets out to prove that the eye witness accounts of the four gospels are all true and the reason why there are differences is because they are four different people – and when remembering details, these all differ from person to person as we all see things differently.

The case starts to look now that the defence may be winning.  Then enters Brooke, the 17 year old girl who asked the question in class. She wants to stand up for her teacher in court and set the story straight – to say that it was she who asked the question and all Miss Wesley did was answer it, and in a reasonable manner.

All Miss Wesley did was answer a questions on a historical figure in a history class – and even if people do not believe in God, they cannot deny that there are other people who do believe in God and that historians have proven that God did exist.

Brooke admits in court that she has become a Christian, much to her parent’s annoyance. On hearing this the prosecutor blames Miss Wesley for converting this child to Christianity.  The jury are now again on the side of the persecution.

During the case Miss Wesley feels our world is collapsing all around, so she does what she knows how to, she calls out to God to help her, which is what she should do at all times – even when we feel that God is not with us, He is.

At the end of the trial people are sitting outside the court holding hands and supporting Miss Wesley and someone says the most important words, “God’s got this” – and yes He does. God has got everything under control – He always does.

Then Miss Wesley is brought onto the stand and is asked to apologise for what she said in class, but she says she cannot do that because she has nothing to say sorry for.  Her lawyer is taking her through hell on the stand, and we are not sure why. But then he asks her to say the question that Jesus asked her “Who do you say I am?”  - And the answer “Jesus is the living Christ. He is personal to us all”

Now it is up to the jury to decide if Miss Wesley is guilty – and is God dead or isn’t He?

At this point in the movie I start to feel for Miss Wesley as her lawyer has just been very nasty to her on the stand and she feels all lost and alone.

We now jump to a Newsboys concerts where Michael Tait, the lead singer, asks the audience to pray for Miss Wesley at the time – this is showing that prayer does work. 

Now back in the courtroom, the jury have reached a decision - they find the defendant not guilty.  Some people are happy with the decision and some people are not happy.

As for the question if God alive or dead? – We are always going to have those people who say that He is dead and those who say He is not dead, he is very much alive.

The important part of the movie is that Miss Wesley stood up for what she believe in and that is something we all should do.