Kerinthian's

I found myself in a snazzy little restaurant the other night that I feel I need to shout to you all about – O’Sarracino on Mt Eden Road, Auckland. In Star Trek one has to step onto a transporter to be teleported from one place to another; but on Eden Terrace to go to authentic Italy all one need do is step through the doors of this fine establishment! The walls are decorated with the autographed serviettes of previous patrons, swearing their culinary pleasure and everlasting allegiance... one customer impressed enough to include her number! It seems the dance of the dinner plate left an impression on more than a few hearts before my own entered the building... Our starters saw our party of five sharing the Antipasto del Saracino; a mixed platter of casatiello, Naples style vegetable and seafood. I hogged the seafood. I scoffed down the marinated baby octopus and tender squid like it was chocolate, it appears cephalopods have a similar affect on my brain’s endorphin reflex. The waitres...

In recent years I’ve gone off the Horror genre. On one hand it’s a spiritual thing, as a Christian I have a natural disposition against most horror films. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like a “Thou shalt not watch Horror movies” thing... its more like a feeling in my gut when something doesn’t feel quite correct. Movies like the Exorcist or Hell Raiser with their occult themes seem fun on the outside but vex my spirit as if there is something else in the room tormenting me while I watch. It’s hard to explain to someone who has never been exposed to the idea that in Christ you are a new creation but that’s it in a nut shell really. On the other hand I’m sick of the same old recipe, especially in slasher movies, that goes like this: *Young couple or group alone camping or baby sitting. *Nudity or sex scene in the first 20 minutes to seduce male audience. *Everyone gets massacred, especially the naked people, bar one survivor. *Introduce next couple or group who are somehow smarter than th...

On one hand this was a bright and refreshing movie. On the other, it was disturbing and had a cringe factor of 9.5 out of 10! If awkwardness had a liquid state then you would be soaking in it before the credits begin to roll... the annoying thing is, I can’t tell you why, not without spoiling the end for you entirely... This is the movie that reminds most of us why we don’t entertain family gatherings all too often. It is the story of a dysfunctional, dissatisfied, distracted group of self absorbed individuals who are all unfortunately related. Greg Kinnear plays the Dad, a loser who just can’t admit it. In fact he is so big a loser that he has over compensated by developing a 9 step program to be a winner in life. He’s like Tony Robbins only he’s nothing like Tony Robbins at all. He spends half the movie hanging on the hinge of a book deal that never eventuates. Then there’s Tony Collette’s character, the mother, who is just trying to keep it together, doesn’t believe much in the 9 st...

The last Diane Keaton movie I saw was The Woman. It was like having my teeth pulled without an anaesthetic and by a butcher instead of a dentist. As I found myself settling down for an evening in front of the cable movie network with the in-laws to watch this film I was holding onto my teeth. But thankfully I was able to let go of them and eat my fish and chips without fear of the third worst thing after child birth – a bad chick flick. This was far from it. A good script despite the excruciating cast. Actually Katie Holmes isn’t so bad, I’ve liked every film I’ve ever seen her in from Go to Pieces of April... its just the stigma of Dawson pulling one arm and Tom pulling the other throughout her career that makes me instantly go “Oh no, not Katie Holms...” But I mustn’t tar her before I feather her. I was after all devastated that she was replaced in Bat Man Dark Knight by that Gyllenhaal girl... Then there’s Queen Latifa... for a moment there I thought of her as the Woopie Goldberg ...

Time for my weekly update on stuff and nonsense... and oh darn it its nearly 3 a.m! I’ll make this quick... This week I seriously stuffed up at work. It was horrible. I cost the company mega dollars worth of complimentary passes all because I left a teeny weenie little button pushed in on one of the projectors. I’ll spare you the details, but it meant over 160 people missed out on Harry Potter last Sunday night. I’ve been sweating over it since because it was such a stupid thing to do, but I guess I had been up until 4 in the a.m. the previous morning juggling a grizzle guts known as my baby girl who has been playing a game of “Hey mom and dad, I know you’re tired but I’m bored and haven’t learnt how to entertain myself yet so you’re going to have to do it....” and “Sleep? What’s sleep?” This went on for nearly two weeks. You get to that point where your dream world begins to merge with your reality, where you’re so tired you wish you were the one wearing the nappies! At last, after re...

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” - Ecclesiastes 9:10 In Toy Story Pixar taught us that when our backs are turned every toy comes to life. Every kid wants this to be true! I remember many times as a 10 year old quickly turning around to see if I could catch my GI Joes in the act of acting! In Cars, Pixar succeeded in making me, a guy unusual among men in his total lack of enthusiasm for the automobile, actually enjoy 90 mins of talking vehicles (even though it drove me nuts that they had no opposing digits, therefore I couldn’t figure out how they ever managed to build any of the towns they lived in, let alone the roads!) In The Incredibles we got a dose of reality; that if there really were super heroes then no one would appreciate them and also the idea that most heroes are just normal people who approve Insurance Claims for lovely old ladies. Then there w...

Although I keep telling myself that blogging is just something I do when I am bored I do find myself frequently checking my stats to see if I’ve had any visitors. A normal person would do this once a day but I’m not exactly normal and find that not checking my email for more than 2 hours at a time is tantamount to not using the bathroom, I start hopping about on one foot with crossed legs until I get the fix of having read an email or a comment from someone... Well, I finally got my wish... This one chap wrote to me several days ago and asked the following question: I'm interested in your view on Christianity's role within the Western capitalist system. As the major religion in the most wasteful society the world has ever known, surely Christianity is playing a role in the destruction of the earth, God's wondrous creation, through its endorsement of this way of life? I wrote back saying I would chew on it a while and as I chewed I realized quickly that I was biting down on ...