This Book Will Change Your Life

As you may well know, I'm rather a fan of musicals and for the last two weeks I have been completely and utterly obsessed with a brand new musical called 'The Book of Mormon'. 

Created by the people behind South Park and the guy behind the absolutely hysterical Avenue Q, you can imagine what kind of show this is.

The plot is simple.  Two missionaries (you know, the young, good looking American kids that knock on your door at tea time and try to tell you about Jesus) get sent to a village in Uganda in the hopes that they can convert the rather jaded population to The Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints. The villagers they encounter are cynical to say the least.  They have some very real & scary issues not to mention a warlord to contend with.  They feel God has turned His back on them and so they have forsaken Him. 

So how do two young Mormons go about converting these people? Well one of them decides he can do a lot more good in Orlando and the other decides to simply make stuff up.  In order to get the people to listen he makes the book a lot more relevant to his audience (adding elements of Star Trek & Lord of the Rings while he's at it).  The moral implications of these scriptural changes are neatly debated in the song 'You're Making Things Up Again'. 

When the villagers come to see that this religion speaks to their problems, they start to come round and eventually convert.  There's a fantastically funny track at this point called 'Baptise Me' which plays like a love song and contains the rather unsubtle (yet very funny) lines “I've been dowsed by the Heavenly Father” and “I'm wet with salvation”. 

My favourite lines in the whole show however are the following:

“I'm gonna take you back to biblical times, 1823”

&

“I believe that in 1978 God changed His mind about black people”

One of the best songs in the whole show is called “Turn It Off”. This is a dangerously catchy little number about how to keep those awkward homosexual feelings at bay.  Word of advice though, never ever listen to it on a bus.  I laughed out loud for 5 minutes straight.

With the creatives in mind it would be easy to dismiss this show out of hand as offensive and blasphemous but that's simply unfair.  Yes, it's shocking and does point out some of the more peculiar aspects of the religion but the overall feeling of the show is one of affection.  Despite the atheist beliefs of practically everyone involved in the show, there's a heart-warming feeling about it and ultimately it says that there is a place for faith, even in the most awful of circumstances. 

If you're open minded (and a fan of musicals) I can not recommend this enough.  Some of the subject matter is unpalatable to say the least but taken in the spirit it's intended, I don't think you can help but be charmed by this show.

I have a feeling I'm going to be listening to it for a long time to come.   If you've got 5 minutes check out the inspired performance of Andrew Rannells singing 'I Believe' at the Tonys where the show took home 9 awards!

Jesus Said "Let the Children Come to Me"

Well if this old Irish schoolbook is anything to go by, it appears God is a bit more selective:

 

For the Enthusiast in Your Life

I came across this book the other day and couldn't really believe my eyes. Now I'm sorry, but surely there's something a little bit wrong with you if you buy a cookbook for your cats? I can barely be bothered cooking for my husband and I, yet alone a pet! I imagine though that if you are the kind of person to buy this then the probability is you have no one else to look after! Like this poor girl in her disastrous dating video perhaps?

The main reason for this post however is that this little book, strange as it is, reminded me of another classic I came across a couple of years ago. If you think that anyone cooking for their pets is a little unusual what kind of person do you think owns a copy of this:

Yes.  It is indeed a make your own sex toys book.  To get a full appreciation of this book please please have a 'look inside'.  

My particular favourite is the knitted gimp mask.  Why fork out for costly and uncomfortable PVC when you can create your own gimp mask from wool?  And honestly, What could be more versatile than the 'cat of as many tales as you want'?

I'm guessing the author of this book had his tongue firmly in cheek, no pun intended, while writing this, as had some of the reviewers for the product.  We can laugh but remember people, as the book says:

"...it's not just for loners. Making your own can help put the magic back into even the most jaded relationships"

The Boys Are Back In Town

Joy of joys, last night the new series of Supernatural began. In case you happen to have missed this gem of a show, Supernatural is about two seriously beautiful brothers, Sam & Dean, who go around saving the world from supernatural, mythical and religious beings.

Dean, Sam & Castiel (an Angel of course!)

Last season for instance, they took on the devil.  Not without consequence I might add. Poor Sam got inhabited by the spirit of Lucifer and alas, got turned into a ferociously camp version of the man from Del Monte. Then, when he finally regained his sense of style and heterosexuality he got trapped in hell!!! That has to make you feel better about your working day surely?

So this series is mega exciting. From the trailer it seems Sam has escaped from hell and is now some sort of uber buff blood drinking womaniser. YES! That sounds all kinds of good to me.

Now let’s not forget the other brother. I call him ‘consistently hot Dean’. Dean’s been to hell once before you see (and heaven in fact) but has remained gorgeous and quipping at all times, thank goodness.

Ok, so this isn't particularly challenging stuff, but it’s fun, good looking and quite scary at times.  There's also a lot of Christian mythology in later seasons which make for some very interesting viewing and of course we have ever impending Armageddon. Hurrah! It’s the ultimate TV show. 
 

With last night’s episode safely recorded on Sky + I shall be settling down this evening to a little bit of the Supernatural  boys thank you very much! I’m sure I’ll be reporting back.

Run Forrest Run

Well this week I’ve finally got off my rather ample arse and started doing “Couch to 5K”.  In case you don’t know, this is a scheme to get people up and running.  The idea is a simple one.  It’s a ten week programme and you are supposed to run 3 times a week with various intervals of walking and running which increases week on week. 
 
Week 1 for example looks very easy on paper.  You do an initial 5 minute warm-up walk, run for a minute, then walk for a minute & half.  This then repeats for 25 minutes.  That seems quite straightforward to me.

Full of motivation my hubby and I decided this was the week we were going to do it.  The alarm was set for 06.30 on Monday for us to get our run done before work.  Simples yes?

Oh dear God how wrong I was.  Running it transpires, is just plain horrible.  Seriously, it’s evil.  I thought I was going to die, throw up or do both at the same time. That’s not to mention my poor poor feet.  It really is not for me.

Unfortunately in these austere times, running is in fact about the only form of exercise I can afford to do. I love playing squash, tennis and adore swimming but it’s not cheap to do these things, especially 3 times a weeks.  So unfortunately it seems me and the bloodied stumps that were my feet are stuck with it for now. I’ll give it another week or two. To be fair, it can only improve.

Rain Rain Go Away

Nothing makes me long for good old Ireland than a completely fantastic billboard campaign:

I unashamedly pinched this from Kevin Lehane on Twitter.