http://www.sxc.hu/photo/731014

What a brilliant idea …:

Academics from physicists to experts on Scandinavian culture are crafting stand-up comedy routines based on their work. But this is no joke. Matthew Reisz finds that a crowd’s laughter is not the only payoff

Here’s an idea of the content:

The nominal theme, tying in with a major exhibition, Power of Making, is “craft”, though the audience could not possibly have guessed it. Performers explore Tory drinking rituals and the “extreme decollete fashions” of the 17th century; pubic hair loss during the menopause; the importance of anti-Catholic fart humour in the early development of printing; the difficulties of translating Danish jokes into English; and the history of racist comedy (the speaker warns the audience in advance that “because this is a national institution, I’m not allowed to tell you the punchlines”).

A PhD student offers a glimpse of his lonely life: “Today is Tuesday, the day after University Challenge, when I get a chance to spend some quality time with Jeremy Paxman.” There is also a song about dinosaurs in Westminster and a polka-dotted cabaret duo, not to mention the occasional groan-worthy one-liner (“Anyone seen Ralph Fiennes in The Tempest? It’s going down a storm”).

And here’s the rationale:

As head of public engagement at UCL, Cross created his academic comedy nights in response to a specific challenge: to find a way of engaging with people in “the great demographic gap” between the ages of 20 and 40. “Universities have been very good at schools outreach and at getting academics on to Radio 4,” he explains, “but we haven’t been so good at reaching the market in between.” Many museums and cultural institutions face a similar problem.

So how could they get “an audience to turn up and listen to members of the university sharing their research, teaching and knowledge in a meaningful, interactive way, face to face and not through a facilitator”? Cross and his team talked to people who ran theatre, music and comedy nights. “We wanted something with content that would attract an audience beyond those already working and studying in universities. The thing we came up with was stand-up comedy – because of the rise of intelligent comedy, because researchers can learn to perform to a good standard relatively quickly, and because you can make anything funny.”

Read the full story and check out ‘Bright Club‘ on Facebook

Read full story.

Back to J John
After a beautiful rendition of the 23rd Psalm, J John came bouncing back on giving us the modern perception of the 6th commandment, which we tend to think is “You shall not admit adultery”, rather than “You shall not commit adultery” – I think we’d agree there’s a subtle difference there! After cracking a few more jokes (man in a fridge, anyone?), he went on to talk about that other joy – contemporary culture – where loving couples are rarely married, but are surrounded by music, laughter and sumptuous surroundings – it’s all romantic & exciting, with little recognition of the tough times that come in a committed relationship.

Adultery
Even when forgiven, leaves scars… it hurts and shatters trust.

Love = giving
Adultery = taking.

Marriage was designed by God in the Garden of Eden, where 2 become 1, should never be split.

Is this topic not relevant?
For most of us, having realised how we’ve #failed in the past 3 commandments, if we’re not in a relationship, have we won at this one?! No, because affairs/lust start in the mind:

“Many people have sex on the brain, and that’s the worst place to have it”.

As a man followed with his eyes a beautiful woman walking past the window, his wife, without even looking up says “Was it worth the trouble you’re in now?”

Thoughts -> Words -> Actions – > Habits -> Character

Practical Steps
When the Bible says ‘take out your eye’ or ‘cut off your hand’ if they cause you to sin, we’re not LITERALLY talking that! If it’s what you’re looking at, cancel the Playboy subscription or the adult channel… by encouraging fantasy, you’re encouraging reality.

If you’ve had an affair in the past: go for counselling (delicate/painful/needs to be done)
If you’re having one now: STOP (that’s all… and read Psalm 51)

Rationalising, simply means “Rational Lies”.

In the story of the woman caught in adultery, Jesus commanded the woman to “Go and Sin no more”

One for the archeology dept: “Why do archeologists make the best husbands? Because the older she gets, the more interested he is in her” (boom boom)

How to maintain interest over the years:

1. Respect
   Mutual respect: the husband should love the wife as himself.
   There’s no such thing as a “perfect marriage” as it’s the union of 2 imperfect people.
   “You can bury a marriage with lots of little digs.”
   “Don’t criticise your wife’s judgement: look who she chose to marry”
   It’s not about how compatible you are, but how you deal with the incompatabilities: may not necessarily see eye-to-eye, but still be able to walk hand-in-hand.
   Good communication is key (even for ‘conversationally challenged’ men). Women speak 35,000 words per day, men 20,000 (so they’ve run out of words by the time they get home!). [See a refutation of these stats]
   Need to TALK and LISTEN, 4 hardest statements to use more of:
   I was wrong
   I am sorry
   I don’t know
   I need help.
   A theatre was packed full of men waiting to hear “How do you get your wife to treat you like a King?”…. simple answer: “Treat her like a Queen”.
2. Responsibility
   Look to fix the problem NOT the blame: your attitude should be the same as that of Christ
   The number one problem in marriage is selfishness, too much concern for rights, rather than duties.
3. Romance
   “If there was more courting in marriage, there’d be less marriages in court.”
   “Adam should have said to Eve: you’re the only girl in the world for me!”
   The Bible says “Rejoice in the wife of your youth”
   Dating was fun, so marriages should also make time for fun.
   The vicar gave a talk on “sex” (marking it as “sailing“)
   The Man’s Guide to Female English (never say what they mean); The Woman’s Guide to Male English (it all comes back to sex).
4. Resolve
   A recent marriage, the couple took a small candle each, lit a large candle, then blew out the small candles, signifying that there would be no more “old flames”.
   J John called for all to value marriage, remaining loyal, proving faithfulness to each other.
   Life has all seasons, including its “winter seasons”.
   “Trying times are not the times to stop trying”
   “Treat disasters as incidents, not incidents as disasters.”
   Arches are made of 2 weaknesses, which lean against each other for strength.

To start: admit that need God and his help, as he created us, marriage, sex, etc.

A Proposal?
Every page of the Bible is a proposal to you… God’s present to us was pinned to a Cross, and he doesn’t woo us with perfume, but with blood, sweat and tears.

If you wanted to see a past series on DVD, see here.

Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom
The guys on all the stands were all friendly, but had quite an extended chat with the guys on the Wiley publishing stand, as I finally purchased ‘Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom: How Online Social Networking Will Transform Your Life, Work and World’, which I’d been considering for a while. They offered me chocolate too, which always go down well (although now, come to think of it, I forgot to take it). Can see potential for academic modules from this kind of material!

Also had extended conversations with the guys from BT Tradespace and WebJam, and very impressed by the speed of contact from the guys at the Digital Training Academy. Hmmm… who else…