Ways to lose

There are two ways to lose at something.

1. Losing because you play poorly/make mistakes/mess up
2. Losing because the other person or team are 'just too good'.

It seems that most people would prefer to lose the second way.  'We did our best, they were just too good'.  This completely baffles me.  I would much prefer to lose the first way.  My thinking is that if I lose because the other team are just too good, there is nothing I could have done to change the outcome.  If, however, I lose because I made silly mistakes, I know that next time I could win.

I hate the powerlessness of losing to a team who are 'just too good'.  If I make mistakes, I only have myself to blame, and I can deal with that.  It is in my power to change that.

Similarly, I prefer to lose because I make mistakes rather than because a team-mate makes mistakes.  I have very limited power over my team-mate and can do a limited amount to help him/her improve.  I have much more power over myself and my own improvement.

Everyone I've spoken to has said they prefer to lose the second way.  Is there anyone out there who agrees with me?

Best lyrics ever?

I know 'best lyrics ever' is quite a claim, but the lyrics to 'Ghost' by Stoney certainly deserves nomination.


Hear the song here.  Lyrics are below.


Looking back through the window in the door the now has closed.
The looking glass that loss has tinted rose,
And the secrets of the path we never chose.
We lose ourselves there and we fall into the arms of the unseen
Of all that never was but should have been
Beyond the day that woke us from the dream.

And it’s a little late to speculate on what we could have done.
It’s a little late to overstate the obvious 
We considered every move we made
We did what we thought best 
So release the fist of dirt into the grave
And lay the ghost to rest

Let it go with the hurt of all the promises unkept
The pride behind apologies unsaid
And the tradegy of hope we left for dead.
Because it's as fruitless as the tears in the sour milk we spilt
On the ruins of the tower that we built
And the silence and the loneliness of guilt.

And it’s a little late to speculate on what we could have done
And so easy now to overstate the obvious.
We considered every move we made
We did what we thought best.
So throw down the fist of dirt into the grave
And lay the ghost to rest.

This ones over
No phoenix from these ashes will arise
So let the tears upon the lashes of your eyes
Fall to the desert ground and bring new life.
Walk away now
I'm not saying that we can or should forget
Just don’t cloud your every sunrise with regret
The curtain hasn't fallen on us yet
The curtain hasn't fallen on us yet
The curtain hasn't fallen on us yet.

Bruce Almighty

I’ve seen Bruce Almighty several times, and at last have got round to what I’ve wanted to do since first seeing it: writing down all the different things it covers with respect to religion, faith, God etc.  I think it is quite remarkable how much is crammed into this 90-minute film.  Here is a list of the themes and ideas that crop up (no particular order or structure to this list).

The contrast between the first and last scene in Bruce’s attitude to his job and life in general

A reference to Chariots of Fire– a film about conflict between faith and profession

Bruce’s wife’s name is Grace, and she embodies that to him

Bruce’s initial view of God as either ignoring him completely or as a mean kid with a magnifying glass burning ants

God sending signals/signs/messages through mundane things such as pagers or road signs

Tongue in cheek jokes e.g. omni-presents, ‘smite me o mighty smiter’, many references to the number 7

God saying that his light is bright for most people who live their lives trying to hide from him

God’s complete knowledge of Bruce

The big questions of the film are how to handle ultimate power and how to make someone love you without affecting free will

Other themes include abuse of power and how and why God does or doesn’t answer prayers

Biblical references such as walking on water, parting red sea

The futility of using power for one’s own life and petty gain

The problem of God just saying ‘yes’ to all prayers

Everyone wins the lottery (classic prayer) one cause of the mass riot

Music includes ‘God-shaped hole’, ‘You’re a God’, ‘What if God was one of us?’

Even God can’t force love – Bruce tries

‘No matter how filthy something gets, you can always clean it right up’

‘Since when does anyone have a clue about what they want?’

Promotes everyday miracles e.g. ‘a teenager saying no to drugs and yes to an education’

Bruce’s life changes as he starts ‘being the miracle’ (helping people rather than just himself)

Reconciliation with arch-rival Evan

Honesty of Grace’s prayer vs token flippancy of Bruce’s, then Bruce’s true prayer

Bruce’s surrender to God’s will finalises the change in him, even via a road accident

The only time Bruce asks what God wants him to do, God says he wants Bruce to pray – about whatever he really cares about

Bruce understands what it means to see people through God’s eyes

Olympics Tickets

One year until the 2012 Olympics seems like a good time to comment on the ticketing system.

The plan was simple: everyone bids for the tickets they want.  If any sessions are oversubscribed, tickets in each price category are allocated by random ballot.  If any tickets are left over again, they may be purchased by any bidders who got nothing in the first round.  Simple, and fair.  But flawed.

Flaw one: the vast majority of people bid for the cheapest tickets, meaning that these tickets were enormously oversubscribed and many people ended up with no tickets at all.

Flaw two: as anyone who has played dice-based games will know, theoretical fairness and equality rarely occurs in practice.  Therefore some people were lucky enough to get all the tickets they applied for, while others got none.

Flaw three: the second round of ticket was not a random ballot, but first come first served.  This meant that it was possible for people who missed out in the first round to eventually acquire far more tickets than those who won a few in the first round.

A far fairer system is not difficult to devise.  Here is such a system.  Everyone bids for desired tickets as originally planned.  For any oversubscribed sessions, beginning with the most oversubscribed, a random ballot is used.  Then the next most popular session is balloted, but people who already won tickets in the most popular session are excluded.  The process continues until all bidders have tickets.  Then all bidders are again included as the process continues, until all sessions have been balloted.  Finally, if any sessions still have spare tickets, a second round of bidding occurs in exactly the same way as the first.

In this system, all bidders will receive at least some tickets, and bidding for more tickets leads to proportionally more tickets gained.

That took me all of about 30 seconds to come up with, but an Olympic Committee of goodness knows how many people couldn’t.

The ticketing fiasco is the most disappointing thing about the Olympics so far, including the appalling logo.

10,000 Reasons review

I’ve had Matt Redman’s latest album for about a week and have listened to little else.  This is partly because I have always been a massive Redman fan and wanted to know what the new album was like, but partly because it’s simply very easy to listen to and makes me want to keep listening.

Before hearing it, a friend claimed that 10,000 Reasons could be as good as The Friendship and the Fear.  That is an enormous claim.  By the end of this post I hope to have an opinion on it.

As an overview, 10,000 Reasons consists of 11 tracks and was recorded live at a worship conference in America.  This gives it a feel similar to that of Facedown – the congregation can definitely be heard.  The songs are generally bigger and rockier than most of Matt’s earlier stuff.  It is certainly very different to The Friendship and the Fear.  But Matt has shown that he can pull of the rocker style just as well as the more intimate one.

Track one, We are the free, is energetic, optimistic, anthemic and celebratory (as you might guess from the title).  Thumping base, crunching guitars and rapid hi-hits leave you slightly breathless by the end.  The live setting is noticeable from the first seconds and continues throughout the song.  This is an excellent album opener.  Catchy, upbeat and immediately memorable.

Track two, Here for you, is more ponderous but not boring at all.  It is a very singable song of commitment (‘we are here for you’ being the refrain) with a great melody.  The music kicks in after about a minute and builds into a huge middle 8.  It’s quite a long son, at 5:56, but could be shortened to make a great opener in a worship set.

Track three, Holy, is initially a smaller, less epic song than the first two and feels more like the Madd Redman of old.  It’s a simple song, but effective, making use of lots of repetition.  The relentless singing of ‘holy, holy, holy’ could possibly be a little too repetitive but only slightly so.  The song goes on for over 7 minutes but impressively holds your interest by cycling through builds and drops.  A simple song, but solid and effective

Track four, Bless the Lord, is similar in some ways to ‘Holy’ with its simple lyrics and piano driven style.  It is more directed at the worshipper than the songs so far (‘bless the lord, o my soul’), and it centres on Jesus as well as the more generic ‘the lord’.

Track five, Fires, suffers from having an identical intro to ‘There is a voice’.  It is upbeat and catchy, but has a slightly annoying rhythm.  A prayer to God to keep our fires burning – this is a decent song, but probably the weakest on the album.

Track six, Never Once, is classic Matt.  These sorts of songs are his absolute forte – perseverance in adversity.  This joins the list of Blessed be, Never let go, and others, and holds its own with them.  It has solid verses and an excellent chorus with some lovely piano over the top of the guitars.  It is only 4.5 minutes, but seems more epic.  The second chorus at the end, a la ‘You alone can rescue’ is a really nice touch.  A high point in a strong album.

Track seven, Where would we be, is a decent song, but perhaps more forgettable than the others.  It is a song of gratitude that has a similar style to much of the alum – a big sound, a strong melody, it fluctuates between quieter piano/acoustic guitar-led sections before the drums and guitars explode it again.  Solid, nothing wrong with it, but doesn’t have the zap that many of the other tracks do.

Track eight, We can change the world, is a change of style from most of the rest of the album – more like track one, it is fast, energetic and dreams of the possibilities of living as we might.  This is one of those really exciting songs.

Track nine, Magnificent, is another simple but very effective song.  It proclaims God’s magnificence and other attributes, and again keeps the focus on Jesus.  This son takes a little longer  to get into than some of the others, but it is a very good song and has a brilliant chorus entry.

Track ten, Oh this God, is another song of passionate commitment and promise to God.   Musically it is possibly the best song on the album.  It is another son with a big sound, but is distinct from the other songs on the album – there is no sign of repetition or lack of ideas yet.

Track eleven, Endless Hallelujah, is a beautiful way to end the album, looking forward to heaven.  A lovely finish.  It starts small, builds to a big sound but doesn’t overcomplicate and has a perfect re-entry into the chorus.  This final song is clearly still live, a theme that has run throughout the album.

Overall, an outstanding album.  Only ‘Fires’ slightly lets it down.  Is it as good as The Friendship and the Fear?  It does some things better, such as the live sound and the excitement of tracks 1 and 8.  In other areas, such as rawness and intimacy, it is weaker.  Overall I would say that The Friendship and the Fear is a bit stronger, because it has more variety, both musically and lyrically, has more material (14 tracks to 11), and, let us not forget, is a masterpiece recorded when Matt was only 22 years old.

To finish, a quote from Matt:

After years of experience, the worship leader concluded, “You can have clever chord progressions. You can work hard at getting some sort of nice sounding lyrics, but at the end, I just want a song that connects people with God.”

That is exactly what these songs can do.  Well done to Matt – this is an incredible album that proves that Matt Redman still, after nearly twenty years, sets the standard for worship music.

2 thoughts on tennis

I have two thoughts about tennis at the moment.

1. The other day, I timed a set of tennis, and timed how long the ball was actually in play.  I discovered that the ball was in play for 14% of the set time.  This is really poor.  I know that tennis (like any sport) is difficult and tiring, but really, 14%?!  Surely they don't need rests every 2 games, given that they get reasonable rests between points.
   
2. People are getting excited about the amount of diving that it happening.  Nothing wrong with that, it is exciting to watch.  But should it really be that novel?  Shouldn't we see players diving for shots in every match?