Where are you going tonight?

[William the White]

Worthy - without any polemical intent whatsoever - I have to admit that it beats me.

But I don't really want to go further - i know this is an important time for believers - and, though I thought it ugly and horrible - I wasn't that disturbed by the three chubby crosses on Victoria Square.

your suggestion that the cross was adopted to match christianity's inate love of torture was hardly unpolemical...

if you are actually genuinely bewildered by its adoption - then I suspect you are missing a whole heap of (what seem to me fairly obvious) reasons why downtrodden people would identify with a figure called a saviour who, like them, was horribly tortured and ultimately killed by a ruthless national power...

this seems to have been true for Guido Rocha - who identifies absolutely with the cross - with a figure who has been through what he has. maybe he is wrong to do so - or foolish - or stupid - or simply not sophisticated enough to see his error - but, it seems like a powerful reality through his eyes...

the following from "Hope: Challenging the Culture of Despair", by Christian Mostert

Rocha was jailed for his suspected involvement in political activism against the ruling dictatorship in the late 1960s and was forced to suffer acute torture and abuse. In this situation he found his only solace in carving images of the suffering Jesus."

"During the cruel torture sessions in Brazil, when hovering between life and death, the person of the crucified Jesus gradually imposed himself on the artist. Since then he has modeled one tortured Christ after the other. Under the modeling fingers of Rocha the face of Jesus takes on quite unconsciously the features of one or the other of the artist's former fellow prisoners who died in the torture chambers... When crying out in pain Rocha remembered the cry of Jesus on the cross, and this cry of Golgotha became for him a great promise: here was a man who passed through the deepest sufferings and nevertheless remained fully human, fulfilling his mission of love, being a man for others, until the ultimate hour of truth... Therefore the almost unbearable face of the dying Christ possessed it seems by evil spirits, is not an image of abhorrence for this Brazilian artist but an image of hope.

stupid huh?

I think I said Christian churches of all persuasions. Historical truth. and we both know it. I realised that i was in danger of being over-polemical at a sensitive time for believers, and pulled out, on the way deleting a post to Worthy, thankfully before posting it. I've already, on the Art thread, posted of my admiration for Rocha's work, which is powerful and overwhelming because it tells the truth.

I wouldn't dream of calling a human being in a torture chamber stupid - I'd pray to a God i don't believe in in that extremity.

[2399]

Had to come home early from trip away to go see
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic.

[General Mannerheim]

wor wench wants italian, so its a toss up between Baroccos in Egerton or the Latino lounge in Harwood/Brom cross tonight? just coz weve not been to either before...

[William the White]

wor wench wants italian, so its a toss up between Baroccos in Egerton or the Latino lounge in Harwood/Brom cross tonight? just coz weve not been to either before...

Can't recco latino lounge, general. Not been to other.

[Lofthouse Lower]

Had the annual me vs mrs pizza-making contest tonight

I won

[CAPSLOCK]

wor wench wants italian, so its a toss up between Baroccos in Egerton or the Latino lounge in Harwood/Brom cross tonight? just coz weve not been to either before...

Its Bradshaw/TM

I'd give it a miss

Especially as you'll have driven past Ashoka

[Bruce Rioja]

wor wench wants italian, so its a toss up between Baroccos in Egerton or the Latino lounge in Harwood/Brom cross tonight? just coz weve not been to either before...

Can't recco latino lounge, general. Not been to other.

X 2.

What's that place that used to be The Nab Gate like nowadays?

Oh, and General, whenever you can - San Marino (used to be The Wrights just before Belmont) absolutely first-class, our kid.

[CAPSLOCK]

Nab Gate is Baci

Tried it what must be 5 years back and the waitresses all had cracking short skirts

Little black ones...the skirts, not the staff....it is the 21st century, even in Harwood

They were legal too...well nearly...ish



Seriously, they're doing something right as it regularly looks busy

[Bruce Rioja]

Took a girl there, similarly, about five years ago. They must've given all the said mini-skirted-jailbait the evening off when I went.
The nosebag was fine enough. Struck me as being the sort of place that you'd just go for the hell of it and not for an occasion.

[General Mannerheim]

Well I have one if them diners club 'taste cards' that entitles you to 2-4-1s in selected restaurants. Baroccos and Latino lounge are listed but when I rang them neither were accepting taste cards today as its a bank holiday, even tho they were completely empty and we wanted an early sitting (6ish) bad attitude IMO so they can both frig off in future n'all. So, given that it looked like we would have pay full tilt, we decided to go somewhere we knew would be good, Bellini in ramsbottom. Canny.

[Gary the Enfield]

I was in 'Il Toro' a few weeks back in Horwich. Pricey but nice!

[General Mannerheim]

playing out on our bikes after work tomorrow - shooting up to Scotland to tackle this lot http://thehubintheforest.co.uk/trails/g ... lack-route" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
couple of nights camping one of these rascals,

back saturday night, still got 2more days off! should be fun.

[Il Pirate]

Looks good General. Enjoy! Went out on my bike today when the wedding was on, clear roads everywhere! Sunday is 'round the Island' randonee, 100kms, just getting some good fitness back so aiming to smash it. They also do a 14 hills killer, for mountain bikers. One end of the IoW to the other and back again. My mate did it last year and it nearly broke him going up Tennyson down at the end of the ride.

[Bruce Rioja]

playing out on our bikes after work tomorrow - shooting up to Scotland to tackle this lot http://thehubintheforest.co.uk/trails/g ... lack-route" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
couple of nights camping one of these rascals,

back saturday night, still got 2more days off! should be fun.

I'm informed that there's a place up by Kirkby Lonsdale that does similar. Apparently these things are the absolute money shot, General!

[General Mannerheim]

Awesome couple of days! Really impressed the Scottish Borders! Tremendous scenery, trails were quality, camping spot on & Glentress is near Peebles which I really liked too. Mind, it might have been down to weather, a bit of sunshine makes Blackburn look nice! And we never saw a cloud in the sky! Eat haggis and a battered sausage, drank iron brew, tenants and whiskey! Proper culture vulture

[Lord Kangana]

Really impressed the Scottish Borders!

Wearing your best gear were you, or just waving tenners around?

[General Mannerheim]

Really impressed the Scottish Borders!

Wearing your best gear were you, or just waving tenners around?

forgot me booicore!

[hisroyalgingerness]

tomorrow night I'm going to the Lowry Theatre to watch Dylan Moran be suitably miserable as feck

[Winter Hill White]

demolition man octagon anyone seen it?

Yes. I saw it. I don't think there's a play in Fred Dibnah's life. There's a lot of events but not much at stake. We have a grumpy old git and a younger wife being patient with him.

One or two moving moments, but a disappointment in a season that's offered a huge amount of enjoyment.

Been to see this tonight. Very underwhelmed, I'm afraid. The axe that Sheila Dibnah/Grundy has to grind dominates proceedings - her hand is everywhere in the writing of the play. And at the expense of any coherent story.

I do think there might be a play in Fred Dibnah's life - he was an interesting chap. The play only dealt with one short part of his life. But that was inevitable given that it just seemed to be a vehicle for "Mrs Dibnah the Third" to right a perceived wrong.

A moan about the leading man's attempt at Fred's voice/accent. I found it grating after a short while whereas I could listen to the real Fred Dibnah all day. I thought the actor (Colin Connor?) ended up sounding like Craig Cash's character in The Royle Family half the time.

[Prufrock]

Tomorrow, weather permitting, going to the Globe for the first time. Someone, (WtW?) mentioned a restaurant they highly recommended (Turkish?). Any ideas?