Olympic Monkey, Bones, and evangelism on TV
Between being ill and the Boy being away, I've watched rather more TV than usual over the past few days. The Olympics has been pretty entertaining, especially with the women doing so well (although the girl my sister went to school with didn't make it into the final of her rowing event EDIT: I spoke too soon, apparently her and her partner qualified in the repechage), but I think my favourite thing so far remains the Monkey and friends Journey East animation, which is rather fab indeed.
I've been watching Bones on DVD too. It's a cut above CSI and the like because the characters are so well written, although now I'm on season 2, I'm missing Goodman and the guy who ran the chinese restaurant and always knew what to feed everyone.
Last night, I watched Make me a Christian as I'm always interested by the portrayal of faith and religion on TV. The voice-over got my back up straight away with overblown comments about British moral decay straight out of the Daily Mail, and the basic assertion that one must be Christian to have strong morals is a pet hate of mine. I suspect the way the programme is edited and narrated will mean we don't see a true reflection of the experiment, which is a shame. It is clear that most of the volunteers are lacking any kind of spirituality in their lives but for a lot of people, I doubt having a very 'avoidance of sin' heavy message forced down their throats is the way to encourage that. One of the participants featured heavily in the first episode is a tarot-obsessed, practicing witch with body dismorphia issues and a taste for hideously expensive shoes. It was sad that she had focussed on the paraphenalia and casting spells to get what she wanted and not into the spiritual side, where the notion of the sacred feminine might have helped her to address her body issues and self-worth. But then these people volunteered so they are unlikely to be secure in a different faith. I'll be interested to see more about the guy who is a muslim convert.
I've been watching Bones on DVD too. It's a cut above CSI and the like because the characters are so well written, although now I'm on season 2, I'm missing Goodman and the guy who ran the chinese restaurant and always knew what to feed everyone.
Last night, I watched Make me a Christian as I'm always interested by the portrayal of faith and religion on TV. The voice-over got my back up straight away with overblown comments about British moral decay straight out of the Daily Mail, and the basic assertion that one must be Christian to have strong morals is a pet hate of mine. I suspect the way the programme is edited and narrated will mean we don't see a true reflection of the experiment, which is a shame. It is clear that most of the volunteers are lacking any kind of spirituality in their lives but for a lot of people, I doubt having a very 'avoidance of sin' heavy message forced down their throats is the way to encourage that. One of the participants featured heavily in the first episode is a tarot-obsessed, practicing witch with body dismorphia issues and a taste for hideously expensive shoes. It was sad that she had focussed on the paraphenalia and casting spells to get what she wanted and not into the spiritual side, where the notion of the sacred feminine might have helped her to address her body issues and self-worth. But then these people volunteered so they are unlikely to be secure in a different faith. I'll be interested to see more about the guy who is a muslim convert.