Even though I’m a bit of a cry-er, it’s been a while since I shed tears to a DVD…

But I got there last Friday night, courtesy of Les Miserables – Anne Hathaway’s Fantine, to be precise.

If you haven’t seen it, you should – even if you’re not a huge fan of musicals.  It’s not perfect, but Les Mis is a classic and there are some wonderful moments.

And it is Anne’s version of I dreamed a dream that set me off.  I’ve seen the song done many times before, but never been moved like I was this time – perhaps it was the close-ups that made it more emotional.  She is just outstanding.  There has been the odd derogatory or cynical comment about the performance, but Oscars tend to speak for themselves…

The other thing that struck me – again, perhaps due to the close-ups – were the lyrics.  I’m not sure I’d taken the time to consider them before.  Here is an excerpt below:

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame

I think it is a stunning description of living in a broken world.  Even for those of us who have a faith, that tension remains.

I have known the tasting of wine…  But I have also known the tigers coming at night.

I have not expressed myself with quite the desperation and desolation of Fantine.  But perhaps if my life had looked a little more like hers, I might have…

Universal Pictures have rightly removed all Youtube clips of the movie, so I can’t link to the song.

But you need to get it out and watch it.

Apparently Travie McCoy does.

So f***ing badly.

Last week I noted the recent “millionaire up-size” to the Monopoly board game and suggested that it might tell us something pretty interesting about what our culture values.  Some of you will have recognised the Monopoly Millionaire jingle as an adaptation from the 2009 song Billionaire by Travie McCoy (ft. Bruno . . . → Read More: Who wants to be a BILLIONAIRE…?!

According to Hasbro’s Monopoly Millionaire – we all do.

Yes, apparently it’s no longer incentive enough that you get to take your younger siblings to the cleaners when they land on your Park Lane – now they have to suffer the added indignity of watching you hit the $1M mother-lode first.

Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy, . . . → Read More: Who wants to be a millionaire?

Having a ten-month-old in the house means that a dawn service is probably out of the question this year, so on Tuesday night I sat with some friends and watched Australian Peter Weir’s 1981 movie – Gallipoli.  Starring a very young Mel Gibson, it portrays (with intense realism, but a few historical inaccuracies) the three tragic . . . → Read More: Reflecting on courage this ANZAC Day

Many of the worlds religions believe that there is one simple path that leads us towards God.

This same path takes us to the very centre of who we are.

It has been at the core of the Catholic mystical tradition for centuries.

But outside of religious settings it has almost . . . → Read More: An unlikely path to God…?

There’s a group of us that are meeting on the first Wednesday each month to work our way through The Hare and the Tortoise.  Of course, there’s a limit to how much we can cover in 90 minutes, but I think most of us are enjoying the honest conversation, range of suggestions and the idea of . . . → Read More: Bonhoeffer on the danger of idealism in community.

As we mentioned back in February, we will be welcoming some fresh contributors to the Conversations blog this year…

Sam Burrows is one of those fresh contributors.  He writes regularly for a couple of blogs already and so from time to time we will pinch a piece and post it here too.  Just like we have pinched . . . → Read More: Introducing Sam Burrows…

“Know the gospel; know the culture; translate.”

I have always really liked the Compass tag-line above, but from time to time it raises the question for me: “Just how much culture should I be translating?!”  In his book – The Busy Christian’s Guide to Busyness – Tim Chester describes the pressure we can often feel to ‘know . . . → Read More: The pressure to culturally keep up with the Jones’s…

I love water.

Having spent most of the Easter long-weekend at the beach, I have been reminded of our close relationship.  We fished and swam in it.  We ski-ed on it.  I even drank a little of it.

From another angle, although I originally studied biological sciences, I had forgotten most of the unique qualities of water until . . . → Read More: In praise of water

Many of you will know Mark Strom through his involvement with Compass on both sides of the Tasman.

He has recently returned home from Europe where, among other things, he facilitated a leadership retreat in the Swiss Alps and delivered a TED talk entitled “Grounded questions. Rich stories. Deep change.” The talk is below – . . . → Read More: Mark Strom’s TED talk – LIVE!