St. Kevin, Hollywood, 42 and Reflection

A poster with the name Kevin on it
at the cinema I was at Thursday

The free passes I had for
The Place Beyond the Pines

I went to see the movie The Place Beyond the Pines on Thursday night, but I had to travel across town to a cinema that was screening it, because it wasn't showing in my local area for some reason.

I referred to this movie in my post On the Right Track?

Bangalow, The Place Beyond the Pines?

I also referred to the movie Repo Man and 127 in that post.

127?

The Repo Man car -127?

And the soundtrack I played on my trip to Bangalow.

I still had the Repo Man CD in my car CD player and was playing it on the way to the cinema.

The CDs that I played to Bangalow,
plus a sign and crane I bought there.

One song I kept hitting the replay button on was a song 
called Pablo Picasso.

Which I thought was funny, because the walls of the actual cinema were covered with Pablo Picasso like pictures.

http://www.cineplex.com.au/cineplex/cinema/3

Another Pablo Picasso like
picture in cinema 3

I had to park the car down a side street and walk to the cinema and on my way, I walked past a church which was open with a sign that said, come on in and sit down.
And since I was way early, I decided to take a peek inside, as I love the solitude of empty churches.

This is a photo before the
church was restored
(see my photo below).

"The church is the Anglican church of St John the Baptist in the Brisbane suburb of Bulimba and the reason that it gets mentioned in the news is that a couple of the regular worshippers here are the (ex) Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and his wife Therese Rein." 

St.Kevin Rudd?

Blue car just like in the clip above

http://abracadabra.com.au/
show/model-cars.html

There is often a swell of television cameras encircling the church and the nearby Riverbend Books and Teahouse 
(which on Sundays is apparently better known as K-Rudd Koffee Korner) 
 hoping for a sound bite from the PM for their news bulletins. 
According to the sign at the front, this place has been Queensland Independent Bookshop of the year in six of the last seven years, and Australian Independent Bookshop of the year in 2006 and 2007 
(see picture below - click for a larger view). 

Me in my 888 car

The church is a fairly old one - it was built in 1888 - and it is situated on the corner of Oxford St and Jamieson St, not far from the even older Uniting Church. 
The following photograph was taken shortly after the completion of the building, and prior to the building of the bell tower, which was not erected until 1915. "

The Anglican church of St John the Baptist

St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Bulimba

Riverbend Books and Teahouse

The church on Thursday night

171 Oxford Street, Bulimba, Qld, 4171

"I am the light of the world"?

Inside St. John's church.
Looks a bit like a cinema,
don't you think?

 I never knew this was the ex-prime minster (Kevin Rudd) of Australia's church until I was writing up this post and was trying to find out a little more about this church.

Kevin Rudd

It's funny that this church is St. John's Anglican Church and in my post about Bangalow I wrote about St. Kevin's Catholic Church.
Kevin being my son's name and John being my father-in-laws name.
Kevin From Bangalow

Saint Kevin's Catholic Church in Bangalow

While I was sitting in St. John's on Thursday night I couldn't help 
recalling Jake Kotze's statement that the cinema is like a church in that you sit in the dark and contemplate life much like you would in the solitude of the church.

See one of Jake's synchromystic clips below.

 And I agree with what Jake says about cinema.
I can feel that same sense of spiritual reflection whether sitting in the cinema or an empty church.

Saint Kevin of
Glendalough

 Now the funny thing is that St. Kevin is an Irish saint and -
" Following his ordination, he lived as a hermit for seven years in a cave at Glendalough, 
a Bronze Age tomb now known as Saint Kevin’s Bed, to which he was reportedly led by an angel. 
He wore skins, ate the nettles and herbs that came to hand, 
and spent his time in prayer. "

"The Place Beyond the Pines"?

"He founded the monastery at Glendalough, which included relics brought back during a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy. 
This house, in turn, founded several others, and around it grew a town which became a see city, though now subsumed into the archdiocese of Dublin. 
Served as abbot for several years. 
When he saw that the monastery was well-established, he withdrew to live as a hermit. 
Four years later, however, he returned to Glendalough at the entreaty of his monk, and served as abbot until his death at age 120. 
King Colman of Ui Faelain entrusted Kevin with raising his son.

Noted as a man who did not always like the company of men – but was at home with the animals, as some of the legends surrounding him show.

St. Kevin is the Patron Saint of blackbirds

During a drought, Kevin fed his monks with salmon, a symbol of wisdom, brought to him by an otter. 
When one of the monks considered making gloves out of the otter’s pelt, it left and never returned.

Del Rey and the 

11th of May Syncs

Once during Lent, while he held his arms outstretched in prayer, a blackbird laid an egg in Kevin’s hand. 
He remained in that position until the baby bird hatched.

 A young man with severe epilepsy received a vision that he would be cured by eating an apple. There were, however, no apple trees about. 
Kevin, seeing the lad’s need, ordered a willow to produce apples; twenty yellow apples appeared on the tree.
My son Kevin works for Apple, oddly enough.

Glendalough

In his old age, King O’Tool of Glendalough made a pet of a goose. 
As time passed, the goose also became aged and weak, and finally unable to fly. 
Hearing of Kevin’s sanctity and power, the pagan king sent for him, and asked that he make the beloved goose young. 
Kevin asked for a payment of whatever land the goose would fly over. 
As the goose could no longer take flight, O’Toole agreed. 
When Kevin touched the bird, it grew young, and flew over the entire valley that was used to found the monastery of Glendalough."

St. Kevin is the Patron Saint of blackbirds, which I found quite odd, as blackbirds, especially crows are some of my favourite birds.
Crows/Nest

Hollywood?

" About 12 miles (16km) over the hills from the 6th-century monastery/university founded at Glendalough by St Kevin is his cave 
in (the original) Hollywood, Ireland.   
The cave, difficult of access in summer due to the high bracken, is under the statue.
Hollywood, California, was named by a man from

Hollywood, Co. Wicklow."
St Kevin's Cave and Statue

Hollywood, County Wicklow

Hollywood, like its namesake in California, has an illustrious past in the entertainment industry. 
It has provided the picturesque setting for some of the filming of several movies, including King Arthur, Dancing At Lughnasa, and Michael Collins
Which brings me back to the cinema.

Under the sign of the Covenant

 So it struck me that 42 is all about reflection, which brings us back to light and reflection.

The 42 Degrees of Bacon

When you sit in a quiet place like a church or cinema you usually sit in there and reflect on life.

And what is the source of all life throughout the universe as far as we know?

Stars, or suns.

Which is why a lot of religious figures are linked to the sun, which is only natural, since all life in our solar system is dependent on this source to live.  

So, a rainbow makes a very good metaphor of the physical realm we live in on earth.

And death would be somewhere beyond the pines, or over the rainbow.

I was reading this excellent article at the Rune Soup blog

Sync Saints: When The Neighbours Drop By Unannounced

a week, or two ago about sync saints, but I couldn't think of a saint 

that I would like to pray to, until now, that is.

St. Kev hits all the right notes for me. 

I saw these Russian Dolls in a storefront window near the cinema with characters from Alice in Wonderland (42) and  

The Cat in the Hat .

The sun setting over the cinema
 as the lights come on

I think I found where the cinema keep
their communion wafers;-)

I must admit though that out of all the churches I've sat in, this one had the best ceiling to sit under and reflect on life;-)

UPDATE: May 25th, 2013.

I was just flicking through the new Film Ink magazine and came across an article on the movie Dispicable Me 2.

It's being released on my son Kevin's birthday - June 20th.

And for those who might think that I'm pulling your chain, I wrote about my son's birth-date in this post in 2011 -

Film: A Thin Skin or Membrane

Further Update: 

Kevin Rudd as the resurrected
Prime minster once again.

 Kevin Rudd was made prime minster again by his party not long after I wrote this post, he then went on to lose the election later in the year.

Kevin Rudd sworn in as Prime Minister again after dramatic leadership victory over Julia Gillard