Pebble Watch keeps me connected

One of the Pebble watches clock faces

Over a year ago I came across a KickStarter project called Pebble. It was a watch that linked to your SmartPhone via Bluetooth. I liked the concept and could see how it might be useful.
It was also a cool looking gadget and so I became one of their funders through the KickStarter crowdfunding web site.
Their concept made crowd funding history. Their goal was to raise $100,000 but in just over a month they raised $10,266,845.
Talk about over subscribed.
Like all new projects the Pebble guys had their ups and downs but they've finally delivered and amazingly it works. (KickStarter has been criticised recently for listing projects that have failed with no way of funders getting their money back.) For a while, I thought the Pebble watch was going the same way - but not so.
Here's why it works for me.
It's linked to my iPhone via Bluetooth. (Works on Android too). Generally my iPhone is either in my pocket, on my desk or in my bag if I am out.
When I get a call, the Pebble vibrates once and displays the caller ID. If my iPhone is in my bag and I am in a meeting, which is often the case, I won't hear it ring. But I will feel the watch vibrate and I can quickly see the caller ID. From the Pebble I can decide to answer the call or cancel it.
I have to pick up the phone to take the call of course once I answer it from the Pebble, but it's great being able to see who is calling from my watch.
If I am sent a text/SMS, this also comes up on the screen and I can scroll through the message. Again if my iPhone is in my pocket or my bag or even behind me on the desk - I can quickly see the message and decide what I need to do.
There are more Pebble apps being designed daily and as it has an accelerometer built in, it has potential for those who want to monitor their physical activity.
It comes in a few colours - all on their web site.
Worth checking out and a KickStarter project that actually works.

Why are Christian movies so bad?

Posted from: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2009/04/29/Why-are-Christian-Movies-So-Bad

By Dallas Jenkins.

As I mentioned in my last article, Hollywood is more interested in Christian, or "faith-based," films than ever. The mind-blowing success of "The Passion" got it started, but then it waned as studios couldn't quite figure out how to match that success. It heated up again recently with the success of the micro-budget, church-produced "Fireproof," which was the highest grossing indie of 2008.

These trends beg a few questions. What took Hollywood so long to discover the Christian market? Why can't they replicate even half the success of "The Passion?" And when Christians make up over half the population, why are faith-based films still relegated to the low-budget, straight to DVD world? The seemingly obvious answer would be that there are few Christians in Hollywood, both at the studio and creative level, but even that would raise the question of why.

I think I know the reason(s), although it's a bit embarrassing because I happen to be a Christian evangelical. But we must face the truth, and as Dr. Phil so eloquently and charmingly puts it, "You can't change what you don't acknowledge." The fact is, Christian movies have been pretty bad for a few decades. Yes, Hollywood had largely ignored the Christian market, but it's not like there have been good examples for Hollywood to learn from. And now that Hollywood is actively seeking faith-based material, there's still a lack of quality scripts and filmmakers available, with a few exceptions, and among the films that are being made in this genre, there are still more crappy ones than good ones.

There are plenty of reasons for this, but four stand out, in no particular order:

1. The Christian community abandoned Hollywood a few decades ago. Until 1968, the Catholic Church had a direct influence on what Hollywood produced with the "Production Code." After the code was abandoned and movies became more risque, American Christians became disenfranchised with Hollywood. Over time, the distance between Hollywood and the church became greater, especially as many artists made movies that mocked or attacked the church or its traditions. Instead of trying to influence Hollywood by becoming a part of it, Christians avoided it and told their children to do the same. The only time that Hollywood heard from Christians was when boycotts occurred.

2. Even though Christians didn't want to see evil Hollywood films or listen to evil secular music, they still wanted to see movies and listen to music like everyone else. So what were they to do if the acceptable choices from Hollywood were so few and far between? They created a Christian entertainment subculture, where Christian movies and music were made by Christians, for Christians. Christian bookstores exploded, as families could feel safe shopping in an environment where the only entertainment available was Christian-based. Now Christians had no need to communicate to Hollywood what they wanted because they could get it from Christian media providers, and the relationship between Hollywood and the Christian community became even more distant. Combine the cynicism of Christians towards Hollywood with the annoyance or ignorance of Hollywood towards Christians, and you've got the perfect divorce.

3. In "Christian film," you've got a genre defined entirely by its message. There is nothing else like this in entertainment, other than perhaps "gay films," but because there are so many more gay people in Hollywood than Christians, gay characters show up in mainstream films more than Christian characters do, thereby reducing the need or desire for films devoted exclusively to a gay theme. This has not happened with Christianity in film, so the "Christian film" sub-genre remains alive and growing.

The problem is that everyone knows good art should always put story and character above message. Message films are rarely exciting. So by their very nature, most Christian films aren't going to be very good because they have to fall within certain message-based parameters. And because the Christian audience is so glad to get a "safe, redeeming, faith-based message," even at the expense of great art, they don't demand higher artistic standards. So aspiring filmmakers who are Christians have little need to perfect their craft, and Christian investors have little need to spend a lot of money because the message is going to be most important anyway. Add in the fact that the average heartland Christian couldn't care less what a critic thinks--if anything, they assume they'll feel the opposite of a movie critic--and you've got even less incentive for Christian filmmakers to be obsessed with quality.

To be fair, this trend isn't exclusive to Christian entertainment. Horror films are similar in that they don't need good reviews or higher budgets to deliver the goods to their core audience. And of course, in no genre is this more the case than porn. Even Christian movies are higher quality than porn films. Not that I would know.

4. The above points all lead to one predominant problem: young Christians aren't encouraged or trained to become great artists. If a young Christian wants to become a filmmaker, they are often either discouraged to do so because Hollywood is so dangerous, or if they do find encouragement, they have a hard time getting proper training. There are two primary things that can foster someone becoming a better artist: one, seeing and being inspired by hundreds of great films, and two, getting a great artistic education. For better or worse, many parents won't allow their kids to see some of the great films (because of questionable content), and many Christian kids are discouraged from attending the best film schools (also because of questionable content). This not only impacts potential filmmakers, but actors as well.

Therefore, when Hollywood starts to pursue more faith-based films and filmmakers (which they have), they find the cupboard bare. So even if and when they decide to make a faith-based film, they have a hard time finding great Christian filmmakers or actors, which affects both the film and the publicity. A name actor in an action or comic book film is willing to go to Comic-con to promote their film to film buffs and nerds; they know they need to go where the core fans are. This publicity is necessary of course. But if they starred in a faith-based or Biblical film, are they going to go to a church or a Christian convention to promote it to the core fans? Not likely.

Yes, it's true that Hollywood should do a better job of understanding and relating to the heartland Christian audience. But at some point the Christian community needs to know its role in the problem. I'm talking to myself here, too. I'm a Christian, I'm a filmmaker. I've made a few films, and they were pretty good, but they weren't good enough. I've got to get better. We can complain all we want about how Hollywood doesn't reflect our values, but we lose that right if we're not producing great projects and artists of our own.

Can you e-mail me the video?

I often get asked this question and my answer is usually ‘no - because it’s a video file and therefore too big’. I thought it might be helpful to set out the following explanation and then suggest some solutions.

The growth of Smartphones with built in cameras has seen an explosion in the number of high quality digital images we all carry around with us. Generally each of these images is around 2mb which makes for a great print or screen display.

However this growth has not been matched by a corresponding growth in e-mail capacity, mainly due to the network infrastructure. It’s a bit like if we all owned high performance V8 race cars and wanted to drive them at 150km/hour on our suburban streets. The road system just wouldn’t cope (nor would the police!).

So if we want to e-mail these images from our Smartphones, we usually need to restrict them to three or four at the most so that the overall size of the e-mail is no more than 6mb (or so). This is because many e-mail providers and especially corporate e-mail systems, restrict the size of e-mails that can be sent and received. This is dictated by the network infrastructure already mentioned and the size of the e-mail servers needed to store e-mails. Read more ...

The World's Worst Boss

That would be you.
Even if you're not self-employed, your boss is you. You manage your career, your day, your responses. You manage how you sell your services and your eduction and the way you talk to yourself.
Odds are, you're doing it poorly.
I'm amazed at how often people choose to fail when they go out on their own. Faced with the freedom to excel, they falter and hesitate and ultimately punt.
It's easy to spend your day at a job hiding from the real work, the stuff you actually get paid to accomplish. Easier to blame it on writer's block or on not being in the right frame of mind or on needing to keep up with Twitter.
(A great piece from Seth Godin's The Icarus Deception. p168)

There is hope ...

Dare to Be a Daniel is a program created by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) to train 9-14 year olds how to tell their friends about their own Christian faith. The program has recently come to Australia and the BGEA Australia has been running free training courses aound NSW for pastors and youth group leaders so they can then train the 'Tweens' in their churches.
I know this because I was contracted by the BGEA to film one of the courses held at Parramatta.
A couple of things impressed me:

1. The depth and thoroughness of the course. It has been well tested.
2. It has resonated with Australian youth leaders and churches
3. The material is well put together and professional
4. There have already been some remarkable stories from leaders and participants as to its effectiveness.

If this is an area you'd like to get involved in, contact the BGEA in Sydney.

Ageing ...

No, this is not a post about this bloggers age, but rather one about dealing with the ageing of parents. They say that baby boomers have problems at 'both ends' of the age spectrum.
They have children who are leaving home, getting married and establishing their own homes while at the same time their parents, who are living longer, are moving into retirement and care villages.
We love having parents still around and they in turn enjoy being great-grandparents, even though its hard to get them together.
The dilemma comes when you can see your parents ageing but because they're your parents its uncomfortable to start telling them or even suggesting what they should do. After all, for the first 16 or so years of our life, they told you what to do.
One of the realisations you soon come to is you do need to let them manage their own lives, provided they are medically able to do so.
Our parents have a good circle of friends who look out for each other, which is comforting.
We know that the day will come when we will need to make decisions for them, but like we do with our children, we need to let our parents continue to live their own lives.

Flying ... A wonder that still fascinates

I love that moment at the beginning of every flight as the aircraft stops at the end of the runway, ready to hurtle down the tarmac, engines roaring. As the turbines spin faster and faster, there's a very slight hesitation as if the huge lump of metal is asking, "do you really think I can fly?"
Then it all kicks in and we're underway. This morning we took off to the north and then banked right over Sydney's Eastern suburbs.There outside the window was the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the whole harbour glistening in the morning sun. Beautiful.
Flying south you see the beauty of the south coast beaches as the aircraft climbs to cruising height and speed. Flight never fails to be a source of wonder to me.
When occasionally some of my fellow passengers close their window shade I want to shake them and say, "don't you realise the beauty and wonder that's outside - don't block it out."
You'll be pleased to know I never do.