February 28th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Uncategorized
Apologies for so many parts of this blog not working, also if you happen to have emailed me and had it bounce back or not have a reply, since mid saturday the muppets at etglobalsolution have had the server down, it now appears to be back up but is empty! I’m trying to sort out other hosting and then restore things piece by piece…feel the annoyance!
February 24th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Just For Fun
Because my brain is a big fuzz probably because of lots of work I thought I’d do a quick blog on my current workspace environment, what you don’t see in these pics is a white board with notes on too! As you will see the work space is the exact combination of mess you’d expect from someone who is both male and a youth worker, it really is a fatal combination!
Picture 1 - The Computer Workstation
As you can see the mess starts around the monitor, my primary point of focus, it has gone from starting as a piece of paper detailing my essay to 3 mounds of paper. Uner these mounds you can find things such as ear phones, car keys, wallet and other such items I will later spend hours looking for before remembering where they are! You can also see the essential coffee mug to the right, however currently lacking in coffee.
Picture 2 - The Overflow!
What can a man do when he runs out of desk space? Of course move onto the bed, as you can see the bed contains more notes currently from the module I am writing the essay on, along with some books. This mess however, in true Rick Warran style has a purpose, it stops me from laying there and dozing off, it also makes sleeping more of a chore! There is also a random jumper which I picked up from the floor this morning!
Picture 3 - The Printer
Of course when there’s notes to print they end up here, here are some of the notes that haven’t been promoted to bed or even prime position of desk yet, there’s also a friends dvd on top of the printer for later on when I need to relax…however the amount of work left I don’t think that’s going to happen especially as I keep blogging.
So there you have it, a guide to my desk! Don’t forget to scroll down to my other blogs because I’ve done lots this week including some thoughts on Britney Spears and Blink 182 along with random things!
Back to work…
February 24th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Articles, Youth Work
So I have the questions for the interviews needed for my essay done, and one person interviewed out of the two needed, I also am half way through one book and am feeling less stressed about having it all done by the end of tomorrow, I think it’s a realistic aim…and so whilst I do this and have no time to blog let me share a fact….
Fun Condoms!
Did you know that a lot of fun or flavoured condoms actually offer no real protection against pregnancy as more often than not they don’t carry the kite mark to show that they offer protections, however they look quite pretty when lined up in different colours as on the picture to the left.
…Yes I am quite strange
February 23rd, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Uncategorized
Nope this isn’t a blog about God’s calling for my life but about my mission for the next 2 days…. I have an essay and a presentation to prepare for wednesday which is going to be done by sunday evening latest…that’s my aim…no idea if I’ll meet it, I hope so….oh I also have 3 books to read in order to do the presentation…hmmm
On the 22nd February 2005 Blink 182’s website displayed a mysterious note on their website, a note which would bring forward many questions from heart-broken fans worldwide, the note read this;
“For over a decade, Blink-182 has toured, recorded and done non-stop promotion all while trying to balance relationships with family and friends.
“To that end, the band has decided to go on an indefinite hiatus to spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labors with their loved ones. While there is no set plan for the band to begin working together again, no one knows what tomorrow may bring.”
Days later this mysterious notice dissapeared, both Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus seemed to go into hiding and only Travis could confirm that Blink 182 had split, no details, no explanations just the news that one of the worlds most popular pop-punk bands was finished.
Then after months of nothing Tom Delonge stepped out of his hiding spot and revealed to the world what he described as ‘the best record for 20 years’ and ‘world changing’ and he revealed Angels and Airwaves, building up as much hype as he possibly could about the band both on myspace and through the Macbeth website the album realease date was widely anticipated, Tom did countless interviews about Angels and Airwaves, always making reasons for the end of Blink brief and vague and going on to talk about the amazing album he was going to release, of course Tom was accompanied by the rest of the band…who no one really knows the names of! But they included Offspring drummer Atom 2 other people! At the bands gigs he’d even cover Blink songs such as ‘I miss you’ and ‘down’ missing out the parts that high-school friend and former Blink 182 band mate Mark Hoppus would sing, however at the same time, the quieter, less up themselves members of Blink came forward…
Mark Hoppus who had started his own podcast yet was still being very quiet about the end of Blink and his new project began to do interviews with former Blink bandmate Travis, revealing Plus 44, a pop-punk band with a bit of electronic stuff going on. The pair were happy to talk about Blink and it’s ending but at the same time wanted to talk about the new band and the two new band mates ‘Craig Fairbaugh’ and ‘Shane Gallagher’. Mark and Travis explained how towards the end of Blink Tom had made demands about only wanting to record at his house, before getting his manager to tell the Band he had quit and changed his phone number so they couldn’t contact him, throwing over 11 years of friendship away leading Mark to later write the song ‘No, It isn’t with the lyrics ‘Please understand, this isn’t just goodbye, this is I can’t stand you’ aimed at Tom.
So why did I blog this random biography of Blink? Well 1 because I’ve been following them for a while, 2 - because it was 2 years yesterday since the break up and 3 - I felt like it.
The Better Of Two Evils…
Neither Plus 44 or Angels and Airwaves compare to Blink, there’s certainly aspects of Blink in each but they’re not as good. The Angels and Airwaves album ‘We don’t need to whisper’ got stunning reviews and has sold more than Plus 44’s ‘When Your Heart Stops Beating’ however the Plus 44 album may have worse reviews but in my opinion is better, you don’t get a sense of it trying to hard or trying to write cliche’s and lyrics that make no sense, you get good lyrics but understandable ones and some good pop-punk songs!
So moral of the story… go buy Plus 44 ‘When Your Heart Stops Beating’ it’s cool!
As I’ve been traveling to and from London this week I’ve been reading The Metro, and The London Paper daily and once again Britney Spears seems to be talk of the press, however, once again and I have to say unsurprisngly it’s not good press she’s getting!
It seems that the young innnocent nice ‘Christian’ girl image that Britney started off with when in 1999 ‘Baby one more time’ was released is in shreds, and through her own doing.
This week the news articles have told of her getting her head shaved (see right) after
her ex-husband threatened to get her hair tested for drugs to help his battle for custody, along with checking in and out of re-hab twice before going there for the third time last night. It seems to me that the star who was described by the bbc as;
‘One of the biggest-selling female stars in music history, she has been trying to redefine her image from that of innocent teen idol to raunchy sex icon.’
Has took this image change too far. Of course there’s more to the story than what I’ve said above, in the last couple of years there’s been articles of her 55 hour marriage in Vegas to a childhood friend and more recently her split from husband Kevin Federline via text in november which has been followed by the London papers telling the world of her partying lifestyle with friend Paris Hilton which has included her collapsing, being very drunk and showing the world that she forgot her underwear!
It seems the star who once said that she intended on staying a virgin until she was married and said she’d far rather go to church than get drunk has had a change of mindset and seems set on destroying her career and reputation.
I think one sad thing here is that fans who have probably followed right from Baby one more time are being left dissapointed, perhaps Christian girls who saw her as a female Christian role model are feeling betrayed and to put a Christian twist on this I think it shows that God is the only person we should ‘idolise’ so to speak because he will never let us down. I think that it’s a shame that the music industry and fame seem to have stole Britney’s faith (if she had one and it wasn’t just a marketing ploy) and I think that perhaps this could be the end of Britney’s career.
February 20th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Uncategorized
I think I’m going to aim for a different playlist each week, this week it’s the following tracks
New Found Glory - It’s not your fault
Bad Religion - Sinister Rouge
MxPx - Sweet, Sweet Thing (Acoustic)
Slow Coming Day - Behind Blue Eyes
Busted - You Said No!
Fall Out Boy - This Ain’t A Scene, It’s an arms race
Blink 182 - Cacophony
Relient K - Five Iron Frenzy is either dead or dying
Very random songs but songs I’ve listened to a lot this week…other than the Bad Religion number which is there cos it’s cool!
February 19th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity
I guess this is a follow on from my response to xxxchurch’s idea of giving flowers to local strippers on valentines to show God’s love rather than moaning about the strip clubs being there and it’s got me thinking…
What if Christians were more positive in their actions? I’m not saying aquire an ‘anything goes’ attitude but let’s face it we cannot stop casino’s being built, strip clubs being built or other things so let’s do what, I believe God’s done all throughout time and ‘make the best of a bad situation’
This could be church’s offering debt counciling as a positive response to casino’s, it could be sending flowers to strippers but at the very least it should be less moaning and more positive responses, I don’t know how it would work but it’s just an idea. Lot’s of uni’s seem to have a ‘hand water to the drunks or coffee’ as a loving response to the alocoholism promoted at uni’s rather than making sandwich boards and marching round saying ’stop the drinking’, and yes I tend to think of that kinda idea as a bit silly and don’t always see how it could help but it’s much better than complaining.
Tim meantioned an idea about Park Road a while ago of opening it when the clubs turn out for people to come into and recover, to come into and have a taxi sorted out, to come in to be protected and make the church a place where people can go to for help in our night-club society which I think’s pretty cool as an idea!
I guess the point of this blog is to encourage you Christians to do something positive about situations rather than moan, by all means complain about laws which will make us compromise our beliefs but when it comes to strip clubs, casino’s and the like do something positive and show the love of Jesus, Jesus went out to the prostitutes and the dishonest tax collectors and did something positive so lets do that!
February 19th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Media
For those of you who are fans of the typical Romanic Comedy in true ‘Hugh Grant Style’ this blog is for you! Tonight I went to the cinema to see ‘Music and Lyrics’ expecting a predictable but never-the-less good film. However, yes it was predictable however I felt the whole film dragged, the idea wasn’t bad but it was slow moving, Hugh Grant’s character didn’t have quite the same level of humour he normally has, there were a few funny bits and a few ‘aww’ bits if you’re female but it is no-where near as good as Bridget Jones, 4 weddings or Notting Hill. Possibly worth a watch once it’s a very cheap DVD otherwise I’m sure there’s better things to watch at the cinema…though the song they wrote in the story is pretty good! 
February 11th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Uncategorized
don’t expect any blogging as I’m off for a week with the Princes Trust, to a place with no email and no phone signal…hmm…goodbye world!
February 8th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Just For Fun
1 - I’m not complaining but how come a little bit of ice yesterday causes havoc with trains to the point where the train I get at 10 past 7 was the 6:30 and I had to get a train back from London half an hour later because they cancelled my normal one, however today with lots of snow about any delays? nope, not a dickie bird…bizarre british railways!
2 - I’ve just had the thought in response to a post on a forum about people who aren’t Christians wearing crosses not knowing what they mean and it got me thinking, Christians, myself included seem to have a nack of talking about how people don’t understand things like sacrifice, sin, grace and crosses these days, however am I and others wrong? Do people have more understanding than we give them credit for?
Just a thought (or two)
February 6th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity
The ‘Number one Christian Porn Site’ XXXChurch.com have done it again! This time on their site they have this letter:
Hey Everyone,
It’s evident that we want to be a church that reaches out to our neighbors. As many of you have seen in the local press over the past year, there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding strip clubs in Grand Rapids. Many times it’s pitched as the religious in the area don’t want to be polluted by the evils of sexual sin in their neighborhoods, etc. In fact, this controversy has sparked new ordinances that prohibit nudity in the strip clubs. There have been lawsuits from some of the strip club owners saying that this is a violation of free speech, and that the religious people in West Michigan are once again trying to censor them and impose morals.
What if we, as a church, took an opposite approach? What if we started to show God’s love to these “entertainers” who dance sexually for money in the clubs? What if instead of condemning the ones who run the joints and work in the joints, we started loving them in practical ways? Valentine’s Day is coming, and we’re going to be sending flowers to some of the dancers in GR on that day. We all know that stuffing dollar bills in a G-string is not true Love, so on February 14th these ladies will experience the love of God by receiving flowers. They will know Origins Church as a church that doesn’t stand by and condemn, but a church that truly shows God’s love.
So, how can you be involved?
1. Pray
2. I’m trying to get flowers donated, but there may be a minimal cost involved…if you know any florists, send them my way.
3. Spread the word…this is what the Church needs to be about.
4. Stay tuned for more details as they unfold.
Thanks,
Jake for Origins Leadership Team
www.myspace.com/originsgr
It’s great to see Christians doing something other than moaning…hypocritical I know but what an awesome idea! It inspired me!
February 4th, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity
So this morning I preached at Church for our Family Service with the theme ‘The Heart Of Worship’ I thought I’d upload the notes in case any Park Roaders or other people wanna read my blog
Download Link
Enjoy! (or hate!)
February 2nd, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity
It appears challenge blasphemy found my blog! So of course I got a PM quoting my post about ‘how Christians annoy me’ with this added
Christians are supposed to love one another and stand up together in defense of the gospel. You are critisizing me on the World WIde Web for standing up for what I believe.
How does that look to unbelievers?
A few interesting points I think, I have to admit having been very caught up in writing a sermon a very blunt ‘Looks like the shoe is on the other foot’ kinda response was sent.
But it does lead me onto thinking that there is a very fine line for Christians at being critical and being loving. It seems to me some Christians take loving to new levels almost watering the gospel down to ‘Love God but don’t criticise anyone, you can’t tell anyone they’re wrong’ and of course you get the other end of the extreme where anything slightly different in style to the worship has the finger pointed at them, whether they’re Christian or not.
I think it’s difficult for Christians to find a happy medium (perhaps cos we can’t take part in witchcraft! (sorry bad joke)) but on a serious note it is difficult to find a good in between. Jesus said the two most important commandments were to ‘Love God and love your neighbour as yourself’ and I think there’s a fine line between being critical in love and being overly critical,and if you’re reading this blog expecting a solution you won’t get one because I don’t have one.
I think as Christians it’s good to look out for each other, I think Martha and Mary both spent time together regually and were almost accountable to eachother, I base this on Luke 1 where Mary share’s her news with Elizabeth, and I’d guess that they look out for each other. Jesus used to tell the disciples when they got it a bit wrong (ye of little faith etc), and the bible talks about if we have a problem go to the person about it, then take elders etc (I think that’s in acts). It also tells us to not fit into the world (Romans 12:2 - Mark paraphrase). So I guess it’s tricky finding a middle ground between being overly critical and being overly loving (by which I mean just accepting everything people do and not pointing out that they need to change something)
Important: Incidentally I have been discussing the alpha thing with the mod and we’ve agreed that we’ve both had very different experiences of alpha, her experiences are ones which I’d probably cringe at however my experiences have been very biblical and good!
February 1st, 2007 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Uncategorized
Also recently I’ve found myself getting into Five Iron Frenzy a lot more! Yay for Ska
