by Nick
Sounds like the Brazilian football team of the 80s, but we’re talking a wall painting in Pompeii. Painted some time before 79 AD (the date when Pompeii had that little run-in with Vesuvius) the painting is the earliest known painting of a biblical scene, and it shows Solomon sitting in judgment. But according to this […]
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
I really enjoyed, Scorsese’s Hugo. One of the few 3D films which are genuinely worth paying to see in 3D. And in part that’s because the film is a celebration of a film-maker who loved experimental effects and techniques: Georges Melies. Here are some tasters of his work for those who haven’t come across him: Voyage […]
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
And Now For My 43rd Point is a new book from me and the missus. It’s all about our old friend the sermon. How to improve it, how to survive it, and how to do without it. You can find out more about the book (and buy copies) at the website: www.43rdpoint.org In the fulness […]
Categories: Books by Nick, Stuff
by Nick
Spent the last week in France, teaching at Le Pas Opton – one of my favourite weeks of the year. A lot of the time was spent talking about the early church and the way in which they sought to put Jesus’ teaching into action. The following comes from the Epistle to Diognetus, an anonymous […]
by Nick
On my way back from speaking at a conference yesterday I had a chance to go and visit Bunhill Fields in London, the old, non-conformist graveyard just north of Moorgate. Step off the busy City Road, and the place has an eerie quiet and beauty. In the centre there is the tomb of Bunyan, and […]
Categories: Stuff, Writing & writers
by Nick
This week I have been rediscovering my inner geek. I have installed the awesome Dragon Dictate and started to learn how to pour all my information into DevonThink. The latter first. It’s basically a huge database, into which you can chuck anything that comes your way – pdfs, pictures, text files, web pages, docs. You […]
Categories: Stuff, Technology
by Nick
In view of the impending rapture, I thought I would share something that I wrote for an event some years back. It was going to be a series of spoofs of the Left Behind series, but in the end I figured that the series was probably beyond spoofing. So anyway, here, without further ado is… […]
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
My daughter is doing SATS this week. This brilliant cartoon reflects some of my feelings about exams. Taken from this collection of Calvin & Hobbes strips.
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
Well not lost. More mislaid. Or disused, to be precise. There are several of these on London’s Underground network (what my daughters used to call the ‘Undertrain’ when they were toddlers). According to the Independent, a guy has plans to open them up as bars or clubs, although the officials say rather tersely that ‘We […]
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
One of my most treasured possessions is my old Sansui A40 amp. I bought it in 1980 with my student grant cheque – remember them? I think it cost me about £40 which was a big chunk of money in those days. Joined it up with an old Garrard 2P-25 turntable and some home made […]
Categories: Stuff, Technology
by Nick
Happy Saint Patrick’s day. But here’s a link to a post I wrote last year which gives what we really know about him. ‘Like Saint George and the English, Patrick has little to do with Irishness. He was a British missionary, from what is now South-West England, called to the Barbarians…’
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
Love this. Not quite as good as the real thing, but a lot shorter. And more steampunk.
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
“Women are responsible for two thirds of the work done worldwide, yet earn only 10% of the total income and own 1% of the property.” Simple, effective video for International Women’s Day, featuring Daniel Craig and Judi Dench. 007 in a blonde wig: there’s an image to remember.
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
Fascinating blog posts from The Rap Sheet, looking at Copycat Covers. In this age of stock photos the same pictures crop up on different books. I like these two. Two entirely different subjects, but both using that pretty little church and the same basic layout. I wonder who got there first? When you’re thinking about […]
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
Here, from a 1960s comic book is an advert for libraries. Tim knows so much – but where does he find out this cool stuff? The protests are causing some councils to rethink their proposed library cuts, according to The Guardian. Maybe I’ll send Oxfordshire council a copy of this. It might just do the […]
Categories: Stuff, Writing & writers
by Nick
I want this book. Correction. I need this book. There’s a slideshow of images from the book here. I spend quite a lot of my time devising and designing these sort of things. (See also this post on beautiful timelines from last year.)
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
Duncan Hamilton: Harold Larwood A great biography of a great sportsman. Larwood is famous, of course, for his role in the Bodyline series of 1932-33, but there was more to him than that.He was, in fact, the fastest bowler that England has ever produced, and possibly the fastest of all time. And, because of Bodyline, […]
Categories: Book review, Stuff
by Nick
I don’t know where I bought this. Or, indeed, why I bought it. I remember having a badge of Che Guevara as an eleven year old in the early seventies: the romantic image of the revolutionary hero. Then I grew up. This book is a bit like that. As a historical document it’s quite interesting, […]
Categories: Book review, Stuff
by Nick
There are 40 books by my bed. Most of them I haven’t yet read. A few of them I want to re-read. Some of them I’ve started but have got bogged down with. And some of them are to do with a bizarre obsession with Herman Melville. But they’ve all been sitting the for some […]
Categories: Stuff
by Nick
Happy Christmas! And what could be more Christmas than a gift? So here, my friends, is a free, sample chapter from my forthcoming book The Wrong Messiah. And, of course, it being Christmas, I decided to give you the chapter about Bethlehem. This deals with Jesus’ birth: the time, the place, the realities. Stripping away […]
Categories: Stuff