They said it better than me

Check out Rock in the Grass for comments on Synod. I am impressed with his ability to suck something good out of a monstrously boring – no, frightening spectacle of ecclesiastical masturbation. The two most exciting moments in Synod were eager, sincere and bright individuals ready to take on the system and another preparing to create a bubble outside the system. As I said, have a look – before I get carried away…

While at Synod, I caught up on some movies I been meanin’ to watch. One was OK, but not worth writing about. The other was brilliant: “Lord of War” It’s a look at the global arms trade. Two scenes stick in my mind. Both are at the beginning, so this isn’t a spoiler.

Yuri Orlov, played by Nicholas Cage, stands on a carpet of bullets surrounded by gutted buildings with the distant sounds of war behind him. He says: “There are 530 000 000 firearms in the world today. That’s 1 gun for every 12 people. The only question is…. How do we arm the other eleven?”

A little disc of mettle is placed on a conveyor belt, proceeds into a press and is punched into a bullet casing. We continue to follow its progress through the factory, strapped to the back of the bullet, into a box full of its compatriots. The box is shipped, smuggled, stolen and eventually lands on a dock somewhere in Africa. We watch as a soldier picks us up, loads us into a magazine – darkness. Sounds of gun fire and we pop up into the barrel, looking down the tunnel into sunlight BANG we’re flying, into the head of a boy SLOP. End.

Amnesty International are punting the film and its definitely worth watching. But get involved… Check out the Million Faces Campaign.

A friend of mine has taken out his frustration with Religious Militarism on a pathetic personality here in Cape Town. He is impersonating “Pastor” Peter Hammond. For the vitriolic rubbish, passing as inspired activism check out the real Peter Hammond. This is definitely not “said better” but then there is Paintball Pete. You may remember that Mr. Hammond was the one who took his children on a paintball rampage last year. His son shot a trick-or-treater from the back seat of the car. And what’s more Hammond and his wife endorsed this behaviour… Sheesh!