All entries for Tuesday 05 April 2005

New Reading act that I am excited by

: 05 Apr 2005 15:22 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What better thing to do when you have RSI…

…than write a blog!

Well I need to exhaust all diversionary tactics before properly settling down to work, RSI or no RSI.

Le Pop
Or indeed, the pope. I read something today that he said he may well have died on April Fool's Day but the announcement was postponed so that there'd be more time for people to come to Italy to see his body and stuff. I can't be bothered to regurgitate the article, so here's the article from today's edition of The Telegraph:

"Rumours sweep Vatican of plot to hide Friday death
By Bruce Johnston and Jonathan Petre
(Filed: 05/04/2005)

The politics of electing of the next pope moved into bizarre territory yesterday with rumours sweeping Rome of a conservative plot to secure the papacy.

In a conspiracy theory worthy of a Dan Brown novel, liberals suggested that Pope John Paul II had died a day earlier than was officially declared but the news was withheld to give the conservatives an advantage.

According to the rumours, said to have come from sources in the Italian government and believed by senior cardinals, the Pope actually died on Friday.

The theory goes that conservatives close to the Pope decided that if they had an extra day they could mobilise many more sympathetic Roman Catholics from around the world to converge on Rome for the Pope's funeral.

The event would then become one of the biggest mass rallies in Catholic history and increase the momentum in favour of the Pope being elevated to sainthood in record time.

In this heady atmosphere, the speculation goes, the conservative plotters could then ensure the election of another doctrinally conservative figure in the mould of John Paul II.

The rumour may sound far fetched but the fact that it is circulating among – and is believed by – informed liberal Vatican-watchers was an indication of the febrile mood possessing Rome after the death of the most influential Pope of modern times.

"They managed all this in the Pope's last hours to mobilise the Polish people and the conservative and charismatic movements, like Opus Dei, Communion and Liberation and the Neo Catechuminates, for the purpose of creating a huge turnout for the funeral," said one distinguished academic.

"This will provide momentum for calls for the canonisation of the Pope and create the atmosphere that will help the conservatives secure the succession."

Meanwhile, as the cardinals began to arrive in Rome, some of them hinted at the type of man they want to succeed John Paul II.

"Every Pope must be a conservative," said Cardinal Jorge Medina of Chile. Others called for a new version of John Paul II.

Some want the developing world to produce a pope. Half of all Roman Catholics live in Latin America while Africa is the fastest-growing region."

The Subways supported by The Chalets
The Subways were awesome last night, shame I couldn't really see much though, but plenty of atmosphere, and what little I could see, was the hair of Billy (guitarist and vocalist) and Charlotte (bassist and vocalist). They both seemed to be going appropriately mental on stage and reminded me of the Energizer bunnies. Of course they sounded amazing also though I will leave much of the reviewing to the Bashmore who was pondering writing a review on his blog.

The support band (The Chalets) were good and were using a Glockenspiel (I think) and swapping instruments a fair bit, but they did get a tad repetitive and had no rapport with the crowd whatsoever, because we couldn't hear a WORD they said between songs.

The interview with Billy of The Subways went very well (he even laughed at Ben's jokes) and we got him because we got there first. (MWAHAHAHAHA). Also my sales techniques haven't left me, I made sure I caught the tour manager's eye before anyone else did so that he spoke to us first. Yay me!

: 05 Apr 2005 14:43 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem