Twitter growing

Our twitter feed @sub_kulture is gathering followers as we get ready to launch the story between @sub_vampire, @sub_zombie & @sub_werewolf in the run up to Greenbelt. We hope this story will be relevant not just to Christians, but to a wide variety of people for many different reasons. Please spread the word and support us by following the accounts and engaging with the story as it unfolds.

This year Sub will be holding a service as part of the worship section of the Greenbelt programme. We try to find ways of worshipping that have special meaning for those with a sub-culture background, but this doesn't mean everyone else is excluded. This year we are also supporting Greenbelt's desire to push the boundaries of social media by extending our service content well outside the bounds of its festival slot.

Moving home

Today Sub has moved home to Blogger. Hopefully this will be easy to read, use and maintain. Please feel free to comment on blogposts or email me with ideas or suggestions.

Hate crime

We don't usually report from the worlds we inhabit, but thought that this news item was worthy of an exception. Greater Manchester Police have become the first force to include 'alternative subcultures' as a recognised group that may be subjected to hate crime. Only 5 years on from the murder of Sophie Lancaster, this is a strong step forwards in acknowledging the abuse directed at those in alternative subcultures.

Return to Eden

We had the very exciting opportunity to run the Greenbelt service again, this time as an opening for the ARA club night. It generated some interesting discussion afterwards with the club-goers and was good to have been able to include John, who was unable to make Greenbelt this year.

Greenbelt 2012

"Return to Eden"

After an extended break whilst making preparations, Sub returned to Greenbelt Festival. Unfortunately, the Sunday 11pm start was delayed as our venue had several leaks from the roof, to the extent that the ceiling was starting to fall in. Fortunately, we were able to move venue and Greenbelt staff were amazing, quickly setting up the new venue from scratch with sound and projection. However, that meant we had a 45 minute delay and so only had around 30 people to participate in our gothic/metal service. Given that change of venue and time impacted the attendance numbers, we will look to run the service again somewhere else during the next year, so keep your eyes on this site for further news of that.
Tying in with the festival's Paradise theme, the service took everyone on a journey through different types of eden. We explored utopias and associated dystopias through the mechanism of time travel.

For those that took part in the service, there was great interest in the range of footage shown. This is where the clips came from: Children of Men, The Beach, Lord of the Flies, The Time Machine, Equilibrium, The Island, AI, Aeon Flux, Gattaca, The Pillars of Earth, Cadfael, The Name of the Rose, Luc Besson's Joan of Arc, Tron, Tron: Legacy, Halo (live action short), Portal (live action short), Westworld, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Plunkett & Macleane, Legend, The Book of Eli.

Steampunk

An exciting exploration of faith in the gaslight glow of the steampunk universe. How can we use that setting to experience our faith and what new things does it tell us? Download the pdf for a brief write-up [418kb] and some pictures.

Biblical horror

This gathering followed shortly after Halloween, or All Saints Day, or Day of the Dead, or any of the many other incarnations of a celebration at the end of October/Autumn. We met at Stephens house to share spooky stories around a lovely, cozy fireside, eat ghoulish treats and discuss horror in the bible (there's quite a lot). There was interesting discussion touching on some big topics, such as miracles and modern skepticism and the personal implications of taking a life in service of your country.