Headbangers' Weekly Challenge: Through the shop window

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Symbols

Quite an ambiguous challenge title this week from me, 'Symbols'.

My header picture is of a guy from New Zealand who was part of a team of people who were sort of travelling hardcore evangelists.  The group consisted of people from all over the world including the USA and Tonga. They were named Team Extreme, and they certainly were that! The show ran for around an hour and saw the guys punching through 4 layers of concrete slabs, blowing hot water bottles up using only lung power until the bottles exploded, picking up  and doing reps with 2 kids hanging off either end of a steel bar, breaking Coke cans open using just their hands, folding frying pans on their legs and one of the final acts of the team was this guy who snapped a baseball bat with his bare hands and made the symbol of their religion, the cross. Even for an 'outsider' such as myself, it was incredibly powerful to watch. I'm quite friendly with the minister of the church and he gave me the best seats in the house to watch and take photos of the show from one of the balconies.

My other symbol is another cross, but this time it's the Thousla Cross which is situated on the Calf of Man on the Isle of Man which is the very furthest southern point of the island. The cross commemorates the "act of heroism by men of this parish in their rescue of the crew of the French schooner 'Jeane st. Charles' in 1858" and overlooks some very dangerous looking rocks which have probably claimed the lives of many a stray ship over the years.





8 comments:

  1. Rich: Very interesting take on your choice. There should be no duplicates this week. Did he break it over his knee?

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    1. He weakened it on his knee, but actually broke it in half with just brute arm strength. His arms are as wide as my legs so it wasn't that big a surprise I suppose when he broke it in front of us.

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  2. Real good stuff Richard, Glad you had a great seat too.

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  3. I'm not a religious person at all, so I'm not too sure how the teaching of the bible ties in with feats of strength.

    Certainly interesting to see, and pleased that you got a good seat for your photo. Be interesting to see how regular church goers would view their vicar if he stated to dress like Rambo!

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    1. Me neither, Chris. I was there purely out of photographic interest. The minister is a keen photographer too, so when I turned up the a previous event with my D3s with 70-200mm lens attached he made a bee line for me and we became quite pally, hence the great seats. I guess these guys were trying to show that the Lord's strength is what allows them to do the stunts they do...I'm pretty sure it's their massive arms and shoulders....but what do I know?

      The minister for Kirkcudbright church is an absolutely tiny man, he's very nice, don't get the wrong, but these guys could have used him as a toothpick lol.

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  4. I think they make a strong point with their show! And make the smbols as they perform. I have seen people breaking stuff like that, but not in a religious context.

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    1. Even as a non-believer I enjoyed the show. I did appreciate the message they were trying to convey, but unfortunately it falls on very deaf ears with me.

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