De La Mennais Brothers: Making Jesus Christ better known and loved by young people

This one blindsided me. I knew the reviews were good, but what a terrific little film! It takes many of the clichés of this type of teen coming of age movie (the gay friend, the 1980s indie music, the awkwardness of the the socially inept loner...) and makes them feel, genuine, heartfelt and natural.  Logan Lerman as Charlie The writer/director (who wrote the original book on which the film is based) guides the young cast through his own excellent script with a confident hand. Special mention to Logan Lerman in the lead who lights up the screen with his gentle intelligence and sensitivity. He nails the whole film, but especially the final scenes which completely bowled me over and it was all I could do to stop blubbing like a baby. Excellent support from Emma Watson (yes, Hermione) and Ezra Miller ("We Need To Talk About Kevin"... the new De Niro?). Up there with the best trials of adolescence/coming of age movies. Lerman + Emma Watson as Sam ... + Ezra Miller as Pa...

The following article written by my sister on her " Traces Of Hope " blog is nothing to do with my previous article here but is everything to do with her life story... and the article - especially the final paragraph - is quietly wonderful.  "Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of  When Bad Things Happen to Good People , dealt with the personal tragedy of a child who dies of an incurable condition: progeria, the aging disease. This tragedy caused him to rethink everything he had once felt so secure in believing about suffering, prayer, and God.  He writes that prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us, a sentiment that echoes the writing of Christian author and novelist C.S. Lewis. Although God answers our prayers, the answer may not be what we want to hear, or may not be the miracle we hoped for. After his son Aaron’s diagnosis at age 3, Kushner prayed fervently and constantly for a cure.  It didn’t materialize. Aaron died at age 14 weighing no more than 25 pounds, ...

A word of advice to all... don't lock up your one and only road bike in the bike shed at Southampton Airport Parkway railway station. You may never see it again! Such is my situation today having left it there this morning before getting the train to London for the National Vocations Directors' Conference . When I came back tonight the bike was gone (a Trek 1000 with upgraded components all round). The thief/thieves had cut through the thick cable lock and left its remains on the ground as a provocation. Obviously a D-lock would have been more secure... I have one, but the cable lock has served me well for many years. That bike has been on many adventures with me since 2004 (Liverpool to Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes, Southampton to Berlin and Assisi, through the Pyrenees from Mediterranean to Atlantic in August just gone). Kind of in shock right now, even though it's only a bike... Spoke to a nice police officer who has passed on the details to British Transpo...