parachute 08

Israel New Breed, Parachute Band, Red, Switchfoot (from left to right)
Check out more Parachute pics here.


PARACHUTe 08 was the first Parachute I have attended in its 17 year or so running. An estimated 30,000 people attended the 3 day event in Mystery Creek, Hamilton sheltering in tightly packed camping grounds. I camped with Stephen and his Elevate pals in the hot, hot sun. If this isn't an indication of global warming, I don't know what is.

The highlight of Parachute of course is the music. Standing in front of the Main Stage among thousands of people huddled together listening to rock and roll, looking up to the Heavens above. Amazing.

Another huge thing that weekend, Stephen and I both decided to sponsor a child. To make a difference in this world, to give back something.
This is my child, Pierre from the Kubuga community in Rwanda.


Pierre Nyamurangwa is 7 years old (this may only be an estimate, isn't that sad?). He's not in school but his chores are to carry water. Pierre loves to play and hide and seek.

Pierre lives with his mother and brother, his father abandoned their family.

I'll get Scuba to post something about his child shortly...

If you would like to sponsor a child, please visit World Vision. To learn more about making a difference, visit Rampant. Remember, the money goes towards the community (water tanks, classrooms, medicine etc). This in turn helps your chosen child and their family.


*Michael*

musically minded 1.

Okay, so this is a post about music, one of the main bases of our society. I'm not going to go into details that nobody cares about, like how it affects the psychological areas of the human make-up, or anything like that, I'm just going to talk about music. Bands I like. You get the picture.

One of my favourite all-time bands is probably Linkin Park. Although not Christian, they have such awesome songs that you can't do anything but like them. They have come a long way since Hybrid Theory, and many argue that their Minutes to Midnight album is nowhere near as good as previous albums, as it has started to get really soft. I say it doesn't really matter. You can't please everyone, so let it go. At the moment, my favourite song by them is Paranoia, it has just the right amounts of everything, and is truly an awesome song.

I wonder if there are any other Linkin Park fans out there???

I will try to keep up these musically minded posts, but if you don't see one for ages it means I'm either lazy...or dead.

*Steve*

will wright and brian eno

generative systems, music, games, spore & more... check out the vid

skip ahead to 36.50 (or under Open Tools choose chapter 17: Spore if u want to get to Spore ;)

U23D

If you haven't heard the news yet, a 3D film of the South American leg of U2's Vertigo tour has just been finished. "U2 3D is the first live-action film to be shot, edited, and shown entirely in 3-D". Recently premiered at the hugely popular Cannes film festival. U2 even performed a couple songs, 'Vertigo' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name" right on the red carpet!

Now comes another problem with living in beautiful, isolated New Zealand; we get stuff so much later than everyone else! Where it be technology, television, or movies, kiwis are always left behind. So I have no idea if U23D will even get released here! Plus in the entire country of New Zealand there is only one IMAX theater, located in Auckland. So I guess if they do bring it here, there's gonna be another trip to Auckland. I'll probably fly this time. I couldn't stand another grueling train journey by myself!

U2 NZ

Last night I watched U2 NZ perform at the tote in Upper Hutt. A disappointing turnout, but a fantastic show nonetheless. The performers even kind of looked like U2 (apart from Adam Clayton). I wish some more people could've gone with me but that's a lesson for next time...