Introducing... Alexander Cornelius Bettany

Born: 17th February, 2008. 8lb 4oz. All Joy.

The President and the Basilica

The world's largest Christian church has 7,000 individually air-conditioned seats, standing-room for 11,000 in a surrounding 3ha marble plaza, and enough room for 100,000 more – 300,000 at a squeeze – beyond that.

Yet the chances of even the 7,000 seats ever all being occupied at one time are about nil, because rather than finding this church in one of the great cities of the world, you'll discover it in a community of just 120,000 people in the middle of the jungled hills, arid plains and farmlands of Africa's Ivory Coast...

...Modelled largely along the lines of St Peter's in Rome that took 109 years to build, the Yamoussoukro Basilica cost USD$300m and took 1,500 largely-Ivorians just three years to construct...

From the excitingly named 'Epoch Times'.

Indiana Jones and the Teaser Trailer

Yahoo! has a bigger version. Great Stuff.

Christians? Burma? Rambo?

One for you here, Dad - from the BBC

Veteran star Sylvester Stallone and his biceps are back on the big screen for the fourth Rambo film, which sees the 61-year-old don khakis to play the action hero one last time.

He may be a good deal older and craggier than when he first starred as Vietnam veteran John Rambo, but this did not deter Stallone from plunging himself deep into the treacherous jungles of south-east Asia, where the film is set.

The movie, which was released in the US in January, has had mixed reviews, with Variety singling out its "unusually high body count" for criticism.

In the film, Rambo has become a pacifist recluse in Thailand who reluctantly helps guide a group of Christian missionaries to Burma by river.

When he hears of their capture by the Burmese army in the thick of a civil war, he steps in to help.

I'm sure the message here is spiritual but just for good measure, here's the trailer.

Word of the day

Iconoclasm: what a great word. It just sounds so impressive, it just rolls off the tongue like machine gun fire. I just learned what it means...

Iconoclasm: The action or spirit of an iconoclast.

Which begs an obvious question...

Iconoclast: A breaker or destroyer of images, esp. those set up for religious veneration. A person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.

Let's all try to use this fine word at least once today. Here's a ready made example of a way it can be used which I just stole from a film review, feel free to copy it yourself if the mood takes you...

"Lars Von Triers' new film, 'The Boss Of It All' is his most accessible, and least iconoclastic, in ages".

Or you could tell your mates down the pub that you're thinking about becoming an iconoclast. Ask their opinion on whether they think it's a good idea or not.

(It's probably best not to entertain any seriously iconoclastic ideas though - at least don't vocalise them like Lars Von Trier regularly does, because it might upset mum and dad)


Irreverance and iconoclasm in action: Lars Von Trier on the set of his film "The Idiots" (2000)

Chubby Chuckler

Not likely to set alight the internet with this post but let's face it, you've gotta embrace the baby love that's doing the rounds at the moment - it's more infectious than the Winter Vomiting Virus. This is bound to bring a smile to the face of even the most hardened cynics. Tom, you're clearly a very gifted comic.

Louis Theroux and the Survivalists

Spotted at BoingBoing - You can also see Louis Theroux and the:
Neo-Nazis , Westboro Baptist Church , Black Supremacists , Swingers, Body Builders, UFO Hunters, Apertheid Diehards in South Africa, Thai Brides, Gangsta' Rappers, Hypnotists, Televangelists, Wrestlers, Enlightenment, San Quentin State Prison.