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Showing posts from April, 2016

Shallow Hal wants a gal

Last weekend I and the other youth leaders took a group of teenagers on a youth weekend away. The topic was the tricky area of sex and relationships. On the Saturday night we watched one of my favourite films: Shallow Hal. OK, maybe I shouldn't admit to liking a film so much that features so many fat jokes, including Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit. What a horribly chauvinistic and puerile film, you would be forgiven for thinking. Despite all that, however, it's actually a really sweet film. Hal, played by the marvellous Jack Black, is (as you may have guessed from the title) extremely shallow when it comes to women. He exclusively pursues women who look like models: they have to be slim yet busty, with a pretty face, long legs and a pert bum. He argues that he simply has 'high standards'. His friends can't understand why such a sweet guy has such a massive flaw, judging women purely on their looks. Then one day he is stuck in a lift with the self-help guru

Fresh thoughts on 'Frozen'

I blogged about this marvellous Disney film last year, but I watched it again yesterday and I'm struck again by other things that are totally brilliant about it.   I'm working on a series of talks for the youth club based on films they like, and one of the films they chose was Frozen .  The obvious clip to use for a God slot is probably the redemptive ending, when in an 'act of love' Anna saves her sister's life, apparently at the cost of her own.  On second thoughts, however, I think I'm going to show the sequence with the hit song Let it Go.   I've been reflecting on why I like that song so much and why I like the concept behind it.  So here goes. Elsa has a secret - she can do magic.  Specifically, she can produce ice and snow from her hands. Elsa's magic is nether good nor bad, it just is.  However, one morning as a child she accidentally hurts her sister with the magic, and that causes her parents to protect Elsa and Anna by hiding Elsa's magic