The Speak Life Podcast. Sharing Jesus in everyday life. Today on the live cast, Kind to Be Cruel, how we've weaponised wageness.
SPEAKER_03Terrific. Kind to be cruel. Do you see what we did there? Yeah, I see. Not not cruel to be kind. Kind to be cruel. In what ways, Paul by the way, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Glenn Scrivener.
SPEAKER_02Hello, Glenn. I'm Paul. I'm Paul Feasy. Nice to meet you, Paul. I say, I was slightly confused when I started that bit a moment ago.
SPEAKER_03No, you were a real pro.
SPEAKER_02Well, no, I wasn't. So I said, kind to be cruel, and because we've got these new headphones on and there's a delay, it sounded like you were talking, and I kind of went, uh? You sounded like me? No, it just there were two voices in my head or something. I was like, I thought I was doing it.
SPEAKER_03And they're playing the repeating game. Yes. Yeah, my daughter loves that one. Yeah. Oh man. Um so kind to be cruel is the big theme for today. Uh, are there ways in which we ostensibly are telling people that we're being kind, but actually, if you don't live up to my standards of kindness, to hell with you, buddy, and all of a sudden what starts out as me being motivated by kindness actually ends up with me and my Twitch fork mob tearing you to pieces in front of tens of thousands of Twitter followers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's it seems to be what a lot of the um the virtue signalling stuff is built on, isn't it? Right. Like I I think genuinely there's a lot of people who point stuff out on social media who it often seems quite insincere to me. Yes. Like, I think do you really care, or is this just an opportunity for you to try and look good in front of other people by basically being a jerk to other people? Right.
SPEAKER_03In the name of kindness.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, because I'm so tolerant and lovely and you know, all those things.
SPEAKER_03Totala tolerance, as some people call it. Um, one of many, many examples uh of this came to light uh just this morning for me. It was a tweet that was sent out by Patty McGuinness yesterday. For those who don't know who Paddy McGuinness is, Paul, bring us up to speed.
SPEAKER_02Patty McGuinness is a TV presenter. Um he presents uh Take Me Out, is a bit no likey, no lighty. Um it's lots of meaning.
SPEAKER_03Um it's the new blind date, right?
SPEAKER_02I think ITV Yeah, just that kind of thing. Yeah. Um and I think did he did you say he did Top Gear as well? Yeah, the new Top Gear that no one watches because allegedly he's on top gear. Yes. Yeah, so he's kind of a uh a low-level celebrity.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, he's got 400,000 Twitter followers.
SPEAKER_02Admittedly, better than me, so I give him that. Yes. He's not kind of in the A list though, is he?
SPEAKER_03No, he's not Donald Trump, but yeah. No. 400,000 is is that's some platform.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, he'd be he'd be known.
SPEAKER_03So he sent out a tweet, uh, in fact, a whole string of tweets, just yesterday. And um uh can we have those those up on screen? I'll I'll just um read out this tweet storm that uh Patty McGuinness sent out um after a day out with the kids. He was it was it was clear that he was in charge of the kids and um uh he wanted to park up so that the kids could go to a soft play center or something like that. And so tweet number one of the tweet storm was just had a deep breathe and walk away moment, dropped off my little ones at a play centre, parked in a disability space while they got out, had all our relevant disability badges on display only for some bell end to come over and tell us that we don't look disabled. Question mark. Hashtag ignorance. Right. Tweet number two, I took a deep breathe and sent my children in. Luckily they didn't understand what was going on. Question mark. Once they'd happily gone in, I approached this ignorant tool. All I wanted to do was bounce him off every car, but there would only be one loser in that, comma, me. Hashtag ignorance. Uh number three, instead I tried to explain to him that not all disabilities are the same. Question mark. The ignorance and sheer promp pomposity of telling someone they don't look disabled really makes my blood boil. How does someone have to look? Um how does someone have to have to look to have a disability? Ignorance. This sad individual was also parked in a disability bay. Question mark. He was able-bodied, but it would never cross my mind to ask him what what his disability was, as he could clearly walk, question mark. So it's important to know this other guy is also disabled in some way. Um this other guy has a dog in the fight, so to speak, but we never get his side of things. We just get Patty's side of things. Um unless you get a blue badge for being an ignorant prick. Question mark. He was clearly qualified. Hashtag ignorance. But it doesn't it doesn't end there. Patty McGuinness continues. And on the next slide, uh, tweet number five, a few years back it would have been a different outcome for him and me. He'd be on his ass and putting a call into the tabloids. I would have been vilified and labelled a thug, the very idea. My wife and children would have been upset and I'd more than likely be out of a job. Hashtag ignorance. Number six, I'm so glad I took that deep breathe and handled the situation calmly. I feel better for it, and hopefully that ignorant person might think twice next time, or indeed learn that all disabilities are different. Hashtag ignorance. Final tweet, if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, stay calm, take a deep breathe, and educate the ignorant. Preferably on Twitter before four hundred thousand baying twitchfork mob people who will who will then take this guy to the woodshed and and show him the ignorant tool that he really is. Um he says you'll feel better and you'll still have a job to pay your mortgage and look after your family.
SPEAKER_02Hashtag ignorance hashtag autism awareness, hashtag hypermobility Because we know if you do something like that on Twitter, it never comes back to bite you anyway, does it? No. It's never nothing anyone has ever put on Twitter as well. Yes.
SPEAKER_03This was the gracious response. Right. Like bouncing him off every car in the parking lot would have been the the non-gracious response. Sure. But destroying him in front of millions. Because this has now become major news.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, it's gone wider than 400,000 people, hasn't it? Sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And overwhelmingly, people are like, hey, well done, Patty, and what a tosser and what an ignorance, you know.
SPEAKER_02And people are just I was just thinking as you were reading out those tweets, I was like, oh, he's definitely gonna censor some of this.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, given the I don't know, I'm a straight back.
SPEAKER_02This is this is of the word sods. Don't say it again.
SPEAKER_03I didn't say that, you said that. But this the I and and overwhelmingly, people are on Paddy's side. And you can understand. Like it's a really jerk move to go up and say you're parked in a disabled bay, are you really disabled?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, absolutely. And the whole kind of not all disabilities are visible thing. Absolutely, absolutely the case. So he's right in that sense. But I think the disconnect for us was there's it's this kind of you know, a few years ago I would have just gone and thrown the guy over the car bonnet and whatnot, but took a deep breathe. And um terrible, yeah, terrible, you made me do that. Um I took a deep breath and uh and I didn't do anything about it. I walked away.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02And then I made sure to tell everyone on social media about it, you know. Um that's that feels like the disconnect, like a little bit there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, totally. Because this this other guy that's that's not cool to do what he did. Although we don't know his side of things, and we don't know what kind of disability he had and whether he felt like it was taking up a space that he needed because of his mobility issues. I don't know. Um it overwhelmingly, let's let's just assume it was a jerk move by this other guy. But there's a huge imbalance of power going on when Patty McGuinness leverages his Twitter following in order to take this guy out. And it's just yeah, it's yeah, you know, it's interesting in in Matthew 5, in in this very same chapter, Jesus says, turn the other cheek. If someone strikes you in one cheek, turn to the the other cheek. And clearly that's not just about physical assaults, because Jesus also says in that chapter, if even if you are angry with somebody, you've already committed murder in your heart.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_03So turning the other cheek is not just um be non-violent, it's it's also be non-violent in the words that you use and in the heart attitude that you have. But it just it just seems like this is a real example of being violent in a tweet rather than being violent in person. And that's better. It's definitely better than hospitalizing somebody. But it doesn't lead to a very constructive discourse, I don't think.
SPEAKER_02No. And I think it just highlights as well that there does seem to be this this feeling that it's what you do that matters and you know, as long as you didn't act on it, it was fine. Whereas I think from a Christian perspective, you want to say, Oh, there's a nature thing in there as well. Yeah. But then in a sense as well, you also want to look and say, Well, yeah, but you you did act on it. You went home and you did it on Facebook instead, you know, and and or on Twitter in this case. Um I think you know that's you can understand it because you he he's justified, you know, in the sense of that what that guy said, or at least the side we know of it, you're like, yeah, that's a a st that's a stupid thing to do. Why do you do that? But why do you have to come and parade that in front of others? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Like it's it's something that we're all tempted to do. If you've ever had bad service by an airline, for instance, or if if you know, just the other day I was reading someone's tw Twitter um feed and um the the breakdown assistance company that they were with had not served them well. And so we we all got to hear about what a terrible job that breakdown assistance, you know. And I can understand that that can that could help you break through, like when you can't get through to AA, let's say it's AA, I'm not sure who it was, I I forget in the end. But if you can't get through to the people you want to get through to, sometimes on Twitter saying at AA and and you're through, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But we do vent online in a way that doesn't does not make the platform very pleasant at times.
SPEAKER_02No. And I think we've probably, even if you know you're looking at him and you're thinking, oh, you know, celebrity doing that, we do see it just in our Facebook feeds with people. Right. So you know, I I just think like you we've all seen the people we know, maybe like the married couple who who do their domestics on Facebook, and you're just sitting there going, Oh my goodness, like, wow, why have they posted this? Like it just Well they put those slightly, slightly veiled things about you know, they don't name any names. Yes, but uh they're really it's so obvious to talking about their tweet your own title.
SPEAKER_03I mean, there are worse things. There are like co-presenters who actually have a go at you on Facebook for being a terrible human being.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think though, um when we get to that discussion, Glenn, people are gonna side with me on this one, so let's be honest.
SPEAKER_03Oh, without doubt you're right. Without doubt you're in the rights, but this is the problem. The problem is not whether someone's in the right, the problem is what you do with your righteousness. Yes, yes. And you display it and you use it to to absolutely destroy the other person. Which is which is what's going on. So uh we had a great question um from Mr. Toast. Could you explain the title? The title being cruel to be kind, kind to be cruel. Um so you might uh if if English um is not your first language, which um Mr. Toaster said it's not, uh there is a saying um cruel to be kind, and it and it refers to um sometimes you've got to say the hard things.
SPEAKER_02Right. It's like like when you watch X Factor, you think someone should have been cruel to be kind to these people beforehand. They should have said, you know what, you're not a great singer, probably best you don't go on national television and embarrass yourself.
SPEAKER_03Right. Or like say, Paul, you've got a bogey coming down here. It might know what to do about it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um I'm being cruel in one sense, to be in order to be kind to save him his blushes later. Um but I think these days we've we've got this idea of everybody's kind and in the name of kindness, and we've got disabled children. Like what you know, how much more kind could you be, and how much more on the side of rightness could you be? He's just trying to let his family flourish. Um, in the name of kindness, he can then be cruel, right? And I and I think that's what's kind of hap-happening with all sorts of social justice issues. If you're on the right side of a number of different divides to do with race and gender and sexuality, um, then you can be cruel to everybody who's on the wrong side of those things. Yeah, absolutely. In the name of being woke.
SPEAKER_02Um and actually Barack Obama because we've been talking about wokeness all day, and people have kind of a few people have said, what does that mean? What is wokeness? So go so wokeness is you know it's a phrase that's kind of come to the fore in the last couple of years, probably. Yeah. So those people who are who would consider themselves to be woke, they're the ones who are awake, they're enlightened. So, you know, they look around and they they see the world for what it really is, and yes, um if you're not sure, everybody else is is asleep. Yes. You know, they need to wake up to the realities of things.
SPEAKER_03Interestingly, the other day I was at a lecture by Tom Holland, who we've mentioned uh for a couple of weeks now, um, who's this historian who's written about you know the history of Christianity, and his final chapter in his book Dominion is called Woke. And he says it's it's very interesting that um it's it's a very Christian idea in one sense. It's a hyper-Christian idea because it's the 18th century, and you've got the awakenings, you know, on either side of the Atlantic. You've got Wesley and Whitfield preaching the gospel and awakening people to faith. And so it is, it's it's it's been a consistently religious idea that people generally are slumbering, but some people are awake and alive to these justice issues. Um but interestingly, Barack Obama, like the messiah for wokeness, right? Yeah, sure. The guy who 11 years ago today was elected as president of the USA. Um so yeah, November the 4th, uh, 2008. Um, he very recently um gave a little speech in which uh he had a pop at cancel culture and uh and the wokier than thou. And uh it's really it's really worth having a look at. Should we have a look at Barack Obama versus wokeness?
SPEAKER_00You know, this this idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically woke and all that stuff. You should get over that quickly. The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff, people who you are fighting may love their kids, and you know, share certain things with you, and and and I think that one danger I see among young people, particularly on college campuses, Emily and I talk about this. Yeah, I go to school with my daughter. Um but I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media, there is this sense sometimes of the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people. And that's enough. Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn't do something right or used the word wrong verb, or then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because man, you see how awoke I was, I called you out. Watch my show, watch groanish. Um that's not that's not activism. That that's not bringing about change. You know, if if all you're doing is casting stones, uh you know, you're you're probably not gonna get it that far. That's easy to do.
SPEAKER_03Very interesting if all you're doing is casting stones, biblical reference, what's he referencing?
SPEAKER_02Uh the he who is without sin.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. So John chapter 8, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Jesus says that to the Pharisees. So who is Barack Obama associating the woke brigade to in that in that instance? Yeah. Pharisees. And and and it is it it is very puritanical in the in the worst sense of the word, isn't it? Um there is a purity test, and if you failed the purity test, if I troll through your Facebook posts for the last 15 years and and find even one you know off-color remark, like, you are cancelled, you're gone, you're history. Yep. Um it's it's it's very interesting how those who would seem want to be seen as social justice warriors actually end up appearing very puritanical.
SPEAKER_02It's it's a it's a funny kind of Yeah, the we are the holier than now ones, you know. But I mean I saw someone in the comments of that Obama thing saying, like, is he not just doing exactly the same thing here? Right. Yeah. And it's are we not doing the same thing to Paddy, you know? Um I think you can you can keep pushing down those roads obviously to the point of absurdity. Um I mean I think the point Obama's making is not to say and hopefully we're making a similar point, is not to say you shouldn't call out wrong stuff, but there's a difference between saying, you know what, that's wrong and going, and I'm always right. Right. Yes. You know, there's a difference there, isn't there? And and just painting someone who's in the wrong as being the worst human being ever. Yes. And that does seem to be very much how we're going at the moment. Like he was saying, it's if people do something it's unforgivable and uh, you know, they're worse than Hitler, that's the right kind of phrase, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03So Right, right. But he's it's very good, you know, they probably love their kids as well, you know, and and they're a mixbag, and you're a mixed bag, and they're not all wrong and you're not all right. Yeah. Um yeah, words to words to live by. Um and I I found that very similar to Matthew Parris's words uh two Saturdays ago in the Times, Matthew Paris, uh columnist for the Times. Um he was talking about tolerance um and uh and and actually the intolerance that lurks behind all our language about tolerance. He was uh referring to a study that had been done by King's College London that said uh people today are more liberal than those of 30 years ago. But he was just playing with the language. Why why do we call certain changes in views liberalizations and certain other changes in views? Oh, that's that's a more regressive view. Like, why why do we even do that? So he he listed a few things that have changed over the last 30 years. So people are more quote liberal on whether you can live together before you're married, is divorce okay, is homosexual sex between consenting adults okay? And you know, on all those um on all those issues, more people today are okay with those things than we're okay with those things. And we're happy to call that a more liberal attitude. But um there are other issues, like what about pornography? Are you okay with that? Are you okay with drugs? Are you okay with abortion? Are you okay with euthanasia? Are you okay with embryo experimentation and TV violence? And more people, yeah, they are okay with that. That too is labeled by the study a more liberal view. Like, well, okay, is it is it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then he said, very interestingly, um, when people are asked, is capital punishment okay? Um, far more people today approve of capital punishment than did 30 years ago. So we actually we actually want to kill more criminals and more of the unborn.
SPEAKER_02Was that what he said? I thought I thought he said that when people are asked that question, the number is dropped. Oh, is that but if you frame it differently? Yes. So he was saying if you ask people outright capital punishment, yeah or nay, then the most people will say no, it's a really bad thing. And that's chain and that's dropped even more. But then he said if you frame it in like, what do you think should happen to you know the rapist or the the the pedophile or yeah, the murderer. Yes. There I mean you see it all the time on Twitter, don't you? If you read the follow the thread, this person should be this person should be killed, or this should that should happen, and you go like, wow, actually there's there's a lot of stuff in there which doesn't seem to fit with that idea.
SPEAKER_03But yes. And so it's it's about what what are we labelling what are we labelling liberal in in those situations? Like you you might think that sex outside of marriage or homosexuality or or th issues like this might have a negative impact on the family, in which case you would think this is a regressive move. That doesn't help the flourishing of this positive thing called the family. It's all about how you frame it. And so Matthew Parris said, but there's one big loss of tolerance that I do regret, a loss that disfigures our era, tolerance of free speech. The narrowing of our range of tolerable opinions marks for me a huge regression from 30, even 40 years ago. In a way, we were not when I was 19 or 29. People are becoming frightened of saying the wrong thing, using the wrong language, or betraying the wrong thoughts about a pretty wide range of opinions, attitudes, or even uh scientific hypotheses. This is serious, potentially huge, and disabling to human progress. So the language that we use to talk about things, people are less and less okay with, which is a really huge issue when actually the whole thing is about the language that we use. Like whether something is a liberal or progressive or a regressive move, it's all about language. But the one thing we're getting less and less okay with is a free use of language. Yep. Um and in that uh we are regressing massively, aren't we? Um because we always want to say the right thing, and we uh we do not tolerate uh those who do not have the right views.
SPEAKER_02So Matthew Parris and Barack Obama Well, he said the thing that struck me from the article is he said, you know, look at all this stuff, he said, an illusion arises that we're getting more tolerant all the time. But that's because we're only using the word when we approve. So we're counting in the things we've added to the list of what we tolerate without counting up the things we dropped. And then he said, Were we to do so, you might conclude as I do, that the well of human intolerance remains deep and constant, it only shifts its furies from one disfavoured group to another. Right. Which I thought was this idea of the this well of human intolerance being deep and constant. You're like, that just sounds like a really biblical idea of you know the sinfulness of the human heart. You know, because actually uh and it is a cliche to say, isn't it? Those people who consider themselves to be the most inclusive and tolerant in our society are often the most exclusive and intolerant towards anyone that disagrees with them. You know, but it's okay for those people because they are beyond the pale.
SPEAKER_03Well, they're the woke ones. I'm woke and they are they are just yeah woker than now. Yes, it's it's they are wokier than now. And all of this is only gonna get supercharged all the more because in this country, in December, we're having an election, and in America, uh next year, this time this time next year, literally on the third of November next year, um, there'll be an election in the States, and all of this is just gonna be so much supercharged.
SPEAKER_02Thing is though, like in the in the media it's always like that, isn't it? That you have this, you know, these there's this group of people who think this and this group of people who think this, and then they never meet anywhere. But then like I I consider if you just the average person on the ground seems to be a bit more grounded normally, you know. So I if I look at if I think about people on my you know, if I read down my Facebook threads, I'll see people who are posting about this topic or that topic or this political party or that political party, and I think like, man, I don't agree. You know, why are you supporting those guys or why do you think that? And you know, but then I know these people, yeah, and I'm like, they're actually decent people, right? You know, they're not like I don't just go, oh my goodness, like they they're saying, Whoa, Boris Johnson is great, therefore they're the worst person in the world. Ignorance. Yeah, yeah. So in in the reality of everyday lives, we're probably much better at doing that.
SPEAKER_03Yes. Yeah, because you assume the best in somebody, because they're they're your friends, like so you've already got a pre-commitment. There's a pre-commitment to treating this person as a human being who's well-rounded, who may just like their children or even love them, you know. You're you're pre yeah, you're predisposed to actually treat them as a human being and not just as this dispenser of wrongth. But social media kind of depersonalizes things. Certain certain I mean, Facebook is probably better at personalizing because they're your friends, they're not just your followers. Sure. Um and so yeah, you are predisposed to actually treating them as a human being. Um, but we we should probably be predisposed to thinking that even about even about our ideological enemies. Um and uh I saw online uh just the other day John Wesley's voting advice. Um in 1774 he met with those in a Methodist society who had votes in a coming election, and he had these these three bits of advice for voting. Uh number one, to vote without fee or reward for the person they judged most worthy, number two, to speak no evil for the person they voted against, and number three, to take care their spirits were not sharpened against those on the other side. Um so fascinating that that is, you know, whatever it is 300 years ago, 250 years ago.
SPEAKER_02And that was the great need. And obviously that does, you know, that does still happen in the sense that people are people are divided by these things. I wonder whether you know, in the church in the UK maybe we're are we less divided on it so so I wouldn't so I just think uh maybe if I just compare it to the states, the state's religion and voting-wise seems hugely divided. That there's this almost assumption that if you go to a certain kind of church you vote for a certain party and so on. Whereas I've never really said that seems to be the case in the UK. I've not felt that. So I I know you know people like I say, people on my Facebook who I say, well they're clearly voting Tory and they're voting Labour and they want Lib Den, and then you've got Green over there, um or whatever. And there's no uh people always feel they can vote like that as a Christian with no there's no conflict of interest there.
SPEAKER_03Yes, you know. So hopefully you treat those who vote different to you differently to you as brothers and sisters, because actually within the church, people do vote for all sorts. So maybe there's there's more of a capacity in the US for demonizing the other side because you might not feel not not only are they the wrong party, they're they're not even your brothers and sisters, they're outside the church, they're outside the fold. Um But yeah, what what is the common humanity that might allow us to look across political divides and and say uh none nonetheless, this person probably still loves their children. And they are not the enemy, and we do not fight against flesh and blood. You know, our our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and in in in the heavenly realms, says the Apostle Paul. Um so let's neither raise up human beings as our saviors, uh, nor do them down as demons. Um things to think about as uh everybody heads into an election season. Uh well, over the course of the last few weeks, we've been uh meeting some of our interns. You might know that at Speak Life we run an internship called uh the Speak Life Foundry. Uh we've got six interns from around the world, uh we've got uh some from the US, some from England, and we've even got one from New Zealand. Yeah. And we're gonna meet Max Patterson right now. Let's have a look at his video. This is Max Patterson. Yay! Hello. What what is your shoe size, by the way, Max? It's eleven. Eleven huge. How tall are you, Max?
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_03I'd say you're six two? Six two? Six one. He's off. He's a giant, he's a giant. So tell us tell us where you're from, Max.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, I'm from New Zealand, which um contrary to popular belief is not an island off Australia. Australia is an island off New Zealand. We know it's a lot of people. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Uh, from a little town called Geraldine, which is known for its its its jams, it's uh ukulele films. I was gonna say Geraldine's jams, familiar. Geraldine's jams. Yeah, there's a place called Barkers. So no. Um shout out to Barkers, yeah. Shout out to Barkers. Uh but uh been sort of working with film and media for the last sort of three and a half years, so been going sort of a full-time freelance for about a year in Christchurch, which is our main sort of city in the South Island. And uh yeah, it's been it's been really enjoyable. But sort of um corporate videos, promotional videos, that kind of thing, a bit of photography as well, so sort of uh school balls, 21st weddings. Okay, okay. So, how did you hear about Speak Life then? Well, through through a comment on a Facebook page, so which which usually doesn't sound so great, but I think it's a testament to your online outreach. So because everyone, every intern seems to have a different story, but yeah. It had been something on my mind is like, cool, uh filmmaking is literally my favorite thing to do in the world, but uh and I'm really doing enjoying doing this whole freelance thing, but like how can this be used um to you know to to greater the the kingdom of God? Um and literally, while that was sort of a thing that was uh you know, that I was praying and being on my mind, this this fell into my lap. Wow. And so I applied. Well, we're very glad that you did.
SPEAKER_03You've been such a breath of fresh air for us, and and uh your expertise has been really useful uh on all sorts of projects. Um tell us what what are s some of the things that you've been getting up to since you've been here.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, it's it's been a bit of a mixed bag, but one thing that's been um certainly a big part recently is the gift. The short film The Gift. So been working through pre-production for that. Um to look ahead to shoot on Wednesday. This Wednesday. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Very soon. Christmas is coming. Christmas is coming. Bearing down on us. And uh I can't believe it's November already. But yeah, we need to get a wriggle on. So uh the gift is uh it's the story of an unwanted Christmas present that passes through a number of different hands and ends up in, well, we'll we'll leave that for the viewer to see the the grand finale. Um but we we actually have uh uh incredible news to drop here on the live cast. You've heard it here first. Our starring couple in the gifts. Matthew, do you want to put it put it up? It's Will and Claire from Meet the Nativity. Amazing. Will and Claire from Meeting the Nativity. They are they are returning uh for uh another chapter in their story. Yeah. And uh we'll we'll figure out what happens next with Will and Claire. So that was a real uh real coup to get uh Emily and Anthony uh to join with us, but that'll that'll be uh a joy to film with them on Wednesday. Uh but what have been some of the challenges as uh you've been trying to think about uh being our director of photography for for the gift?
SPEAKER_01Sure. So I mean we've been sort of working through creatively what that looks like. What really excites me um with the gift is uh it's it's written um to to well the the tune of Carol of the Bells, but it it's very much it's got this real quick, sort of quirky pacing and lots of movement. I was saying earlier to almost compare it to something like Baby Driver in the sense that we have like lots of things that are timed to the beat, um, and that's very much reflected visually as well. So um in fact we're even gonna be looking at sort of blocking that out, figuring out um how we're gonna be shooting that shortly after this today. That's right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we're gonna grab some interns and use them as dummies and shift them around. Uh yeah, so Carol of the Bells, it's the most dementing, demented carol known to man.
SPEAKER_02Again, Jesus that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Stuck there. Like, yeah, I said before, I I I once enjoyed that song, but but um after 300 lessons, it it does get a little bit old.
SPEAKER_03Great. Yeah, it really, it really does. So uh do watch out for uh yeah, I was gonna say Carol the Bells. No, do look out for the gift. When is that dropping? 18th of November. 18th of November.
SPEAKER_01And people can help out, can't they?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, go on. How can they help out, Max? Well, I was gonna steal that to you. Cool! Did you know that people can help out? I didn't know. I didn't. Well, they can go to give.net slash Christmas videos. And we're actually making four Christmas films uh this year. So we've got a 2D animation, a 3D animation, a cinematic journey, and this musical comedy called The Gift. Can you help us out? Uh we're looking to raise £10,000 not only for the making of these films, but also for the pushing out of these Christmas. Also for the Christmas party. Yeah, but the mulled wine. You know, it doesn't buy itself. KT. Um but uh yeah, money for promotion really goes a long way, especially on Facebook. So um yeah, if you can give towards our crowdfunder, we would really appreciate it. Um Max, thank you so much for for joining us in the foundry, but thank you so much for joining us on the live cast. My pleasure. And uh Paul, what are some ways that people can uh follow up uh if they want to uh support us here?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, simply uh simplest thing you can do is just stay in touch with the stuff we're doing. So if you're on Facebook and YouTube or Instagram, give us a like or a follow, subscribe, and all those bits there. Um but also if you want to help us out financially, obviously you can give to the Christmas video itself, um, or you can give more generally if you go to speaklife.org.uk forward slash give, and then you can support all of our work through there.
SPEAKER_01And you know what? What? If um if you want to be in my shoes and and do this kind of internshipy thing, yes, there is actually a way that you can get involved even as early as now you can start the application process. Tell me all about that. I I can't you believe it? I know. It's almost as if you're not the director of Speak Life. It's very much almost like that. Sorry, I'm joking around. Um Speak Life have this great program called the Foundry, which involves uh a lot of training, but also a lot of very practical um filming. So that's available for applications now. Right now, right now.
SPEAKER_03So go to speaklifefoundry.com, fill out the fill out the application, and you could be like me. You could be in this seat next year. Yeah. Awesome, awesome. And we'd love you to join us. We've had applications from all over the world, and as we've said, one from New Zealand, two from America, three from the UK, one even from Ipswich all the way through. It is like 321. Everything's about 321 here. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us on the live cast. Do give it a share on whatever social media platforms you're on. But between now and then, have a great week and keep on speaking live. Take care. See ya.