THE CURMUDGEON
Richard of RBB sees himself as some kind of superhero and has created a Marvel-type character of himself known as THE FINDER.
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| Not this fortunately |
Whatever floats his boat I guess. Things must be quiet in the 'Nui' made worse by him being outed as the an anti-Christ.
I like Sunday mornings in the city. There's something special about the lack of traffic and there being few people around particularly if it's early.
Another thing I like is that many of the churches that are usually closed up have their doors open in a welcoming way.
The casual reader might gasp at that, given that Robert says that I'm an Anti-Christ and I myself have described myself as an atheist but, the more discerning reader who has actually bothered to read my posts over the years will know that I like churches - the architecture, the history and their value in society as meeting points and as places of sanctuary.
This morning, early. I walked up Aro Street to where it gets really steep and back down Willis Street to the harbour and along the wharves to the Sunday market to buy fresh vegetables. On the way I passed and went into, three churches.
The first I entered was St Peter's Anglican church on Willis Street.
This is a great Gothic-style church with beautiful stained glass windows and nicely carved chancel and ornamental railings. The high ceilings give an impression of majesty and serenity combined. When I was in there a pianist was playing something classical- concert-style and I sat and listened for 5 minutes. I noticed the church organ that seems to be in excellent condition so must find out if they have organ recitals.
Futher down Willis Street is St John's Presbyterian church.
Also built in Gothic Revival style this is a landmark known for its spire. Inside it's more muted than the Anglican church and not as grandiose as old Catholic ones in keeping with the 'Press Buttons'' more dour and practical view of Christianity. I was the only one in the building when I popped in so didn't see or hear a service.
I continued down Willis Street and decided to balance things up by visiting one of my favourite churches - St Mary of the Angels in Boulcott Street.
I was christened in this church as, when I was born, my parents lived close by in Taranaki Street. I've attended many family weddings there and my brother's funeral so I feel that I have a connection even though I'm an 'anti-Christ' (small 'a' provided by Robert). This is 'Grand' Gothic Revival style with swoopings and sweepings in the architecture worth of any of the grand European Catholic churches. The magnificence, like the Anglican one has, creates a serene atmosphere which adds to its function as a sanctuary.
Long may these types of churches remain and hopefully are well-looked after and patronised. This is the side of religion I like not the pap and nonsense contained in the missals, bibles and the Catechism.
In St Mary's when I called in, there was a Mass underway. I walked down a side aisle to the annexe on the left and sat down with a view of the priest giving a sermon. He waffled on for a bit about Jesus's love and Christ knows what. I didn't want to disturb him or the numerous people in the ccongregation so sat it out which was luckily only for a few more minutes. When he had finished he moved to the other side of the altar and sat down in silence. I assumed that he was shagged out after a good bit of Gospelling. After a minute he got up and he and the congregation started up some kind of prayer. I used this as cover for my exit.
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Richard would be disappointed if I didn't include a music clip so here's one from Kris Kristofferson:
I watched a violent film on TV the other day. It was titled Roadhouse and was set in the Florida Keys area. The plot was corny and acting average. The outstanding feature was the relentless violence.
The Old Girl watched a violent film on TV yesterday. It was titled The Bee Keeper. The plot was corny and acting average. The outstanding feature was the relentless violence.
In both these fims the violence was glamourised. It was presented in an offhand and flippant way so as to be attractive to viewers - particularly young and impressionable viewers (and of course older and stupid viewers). There was very little aftermath shown and explosions, car crashes, shootings etc were all done 'Hollywood style' with noise, fireworks and the obligatory 'funny' one liners from the 'hero'. Shit! It's no wonder that we have gangs of schoolkids beating each other up, robbing other kids and stomping on their heads. Their understanding of violence is not in the sickening reality of physical and psychological injury, brain damage or death but in the excitement and empowerment it brings.
Richard in his latest post mentioned that his very youg grandson is acting out the violence he sees in films and TV shows but thankfully the parents are aware and are taking steps to limit his viewing of this. Good on them. How many other parents though are aware of what their kids are viewing and what effect it has on them.
I'm sick of this mass produced violence which seems to have become more prevalent nowadays. In the old days - my time - the violence was bloodless with cowboys, Indians and soldiers taking a hit with no visible signgs of the sort of damage that results in death. This, while not being done in a fun way was dangerous in that it wasn't scary. In the 1970s, cinema became more graphic with the likes of Peckinpah, Jodorowsky et al showing violence as scary and sickening. There was no fun or Arnie-type one-liners when someone had their head or limbs blown off. Sadly this is becoming less frequent.
AI Overview
Violence in modern films is pervasive and increasing, with PG-13 movies now containing as much or more violence than R-rated ones, blurring lines between entertainment and reality, raising concerns about desensitization and aggression, yet also serving as a storytelling tool to explore themes like power, trauma, and survival, with some viewers finding catharsis or learning skills in a safe environment, though research highlights negative impacts like increased aggression and decreased empathy, particularly with realistic, consequence-free portrayals.
* You pick the prefix.
Richard, according to his latest blog post has been undergoing fusion.
Tomorrow I get to spend the morning in hospital for my second fusion of a new drug they're trying.
He doesn't say if this is an infusion or an effusion but at least we know that he's got confusion covered.
I think that he meant infusion but if it is in fact nuclear fusion, should we all be worried if he morphs into another form?
... my mother would say to me whenever I was being cheeky to her and, she was right - I do miss her.
"When exactly are you going to Wellington?" the tennis group woud ask me when I was being cheeky to them or annoying them with devastating spin shots.
Do you know what? They miss me as said in a group text message this morning along with a group photograph of them. "We think of you often here" the writer said.
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| The tennis group sitting around missing me |
There you go.
Yes, sorry about that. The title does read like one of those juvenile word 'jokes' that emanate from 'The Nui' like:
OK - a nice bit of irony there making light of a horrible event.
This of course is like reading one of Richard's posts where the horrible event - his post usually - is made light of by him with some kind of Wainuiomata joke. It would be a stretch to call it irony over there as that would normally be what someone named Ronald says when introducing himself.
Transient global amnesia is a temporary short term memory loss that occurs suddenly and is not caused by another neurological event such as a stroke or epilepsy. During an episode, the person becomes suddenly confused about where they are and what they are doing there. They may ask the same questions over and over because they cannot remember the answers they were just given. Otherwise, they are alert and seem to be thinking normally - well, as normal as someone like Richard of RBB thinks. Here's what the old TGA joker wrote on his blog this morning:
"I've decided that today is New Year's Day.
Happy New Year!
Why have I done this?
Well, why not? It's just a date.
These four dates represent the four
days I got rid of.
So, this year, 27/12/25 was New Year's Eve."
The Christmas lillies are flowering with some of them having just 'popped out' while we had 'popped out' for a walk this morning.
I love these and used to buy them a lot for The Old Girl but for some reason they've been hard to find over the last couple of years. These came from a grocery shop on upper Willis Street. They are beautiful to look at and have a wonderful scent. The supermarket ones rarely have a scent.
We went to Noel Leeming this morning to buy a couple of fridges in the Boxing Day* sale.
The weather was and is atrocious with teeming rain which necessitated getting the car out to drive to Tory Street. It's the first time out for the car for a few weeks. We got drenched just going from a close carpark to the shop and, appropriately, the store had The Rolling stones Gimme Shelter playing!
Lovely.
We've been 'living out of' the small fridge in this apartment which is very limiting - trying to keep fresh vegetables, meats, dairy products, wines etc. in a manner that it's easy to find stuff to use. In Whangarei we kept a larger, 'spill-over 'fridge in the second kitchen to store wines and larger items and have been missing that.
With the very big discounts on offer today we decided to buy a large Fisher and Paykel fridge/freezer for the kitchen ...
... and a side by side Samsung upright freezer and fridge for the garage.
It will be great being able to select frozen meat, fish and vegetable items from the freezer without having to kneel down and fossick through the bottom drawer and to have wines and other drinks easily accessible in the fridge side.
Thanks Mr Leeming.
These will be delivered after we take possession of the townhouse in a couple of weeks.
