After a week of World Youth Day adventures taking over Sydney, it seemed high time that I read the latest Matthias release on the subject of Catholicism. One of my favourite pilgrims was struck by the way that people were protesting beside the walk - “Jesus is the only way” - that this wasn’t something that the pilgrim thought was disputed?

Clearly, Protestants and Catholics have a lot to learn about each other.

The author, Ray Galea is currently an Anglican minister, but born a Maltese Catholic. He spends the short, tightly written chapters explaining in broad brush strokes the differences between the bible’s teaching, and the traditions of the Catholic church, but in a way that is likely to offend neither Catholics nor Protestants.

if you’re wanting to learn some more about what your Catholic neighbours believe, this is a book that you can comfortably read in a couple of hours, and would be a good starting point.

A Batman version of the Animatrix: six short stories, in different Anime styles, set in Gotham city in between the two Christopher Nolan Batman films. I found the first story dragged a bit, and, while there were a few moments that were enjoyable, I think I’m just not sufficiently into anime for this to be my cup of tea.

The invitation process was a bit too haphazard: the next time I do something like this, I’ll keep better track of who has been invited, and when. It’s hard to tell, though: perhaps having everything a little rough helped the night run as it did. In the end, I had to do some chasing to get the RSVPs sorted out, but I had ten blokes, and we even had 7 out of 10 by thirty minutes after the start time.

Another ten minutes later, and we worked out that if we wanted to eat at a reasonable hour, we would need to start cooking. We were all working around a large bench with a sink at one end, and the stove off to one side - this was the kitchen layout of our host’s house.

There was plenty of time after the curries went on to simmer for people to mingle and talk (not to mention wash some of the dishes), and that’s when the host and I made samosas (I’d never made them before). Folding up the pastry with as much of the mince + potato mix as possible was the real challenge, but I think I had it figured out by the end.

After eating (for some, the curries were paired with wines - a Frontiniac and a sparkling red), we had tea and coffee, helped load the dishwasher, and then headed home, completely full. If you’re trying to find something that will help a bunch of men who don’t know each other terribly well learn a few new skills, I think a curry night is an excellent way to do it. The key to it is to have an excellent host (as we did), who contributed no small amount of time and effort to making sure that everything was set up, ready to go.

It was a really good movie: worthy of all the hype, though not the best movie ever made. Heath Ledger’s performance, too, was really good - he indeed disappears into the character. I don’t think it is going to result in an Oscar, but that probably doesn’t matter in the scheme of things. It ends up being that rare thing: a superhero movie that manages to ask the deeper questions.

Calima Coffee. 299 Elizabeth St, Sydney. Just back from Elizabeth St at the south end of Hyde Park, this place is only open on weekdays, 6:30am-4:30pm. There’s outdoor seating for 12, and indoor seating (along the window) for another 4, where you can sit and read some complimentary magazines.

The name of the cafe is up against the wall in a mosaic, just above the coffee machine. One man stands behind the machine, another two people shift between taking orders and making the food: amazingly, in this small space there’s a full kitchen.

The decaf, though not fresh ground, tastes really good: it’s not a complex cup, but has a slight sweetness, and ends up being very drinkable indeed.