| The small victories... |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|10:55 am] |
"I Believe" License Banned by Judge
by Richard S. Chang
A United States District Judge has struck down a Christian-themed license plate that had been approved by the South Carolina Legislature, reports the BBC.
Judge Cameron Currie ruled that the plate was a violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits Congress from making a law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The South Carolina plate featured an image of a cross in front of a stained-glass window, accompanied by the words “I Believe.” ( Read more... )
It's a small victory, but it's nice to hear good news about this kind of stuff for a change. |
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| An historic act |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|06:41 am] |
This morning, Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, took part in the Armistice Day ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris, France. This is the first time a German Chancellor has done so since the practice began after WW2. France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, called this an "historic act", and indeed it was.
Think about this for a moment. This is the sitting leader of Germany, going and honouring those fallen French soldiers who died in the process of defending their country against the evil German hordes. To put that in context, try to imagine - really try to imagine - a time some sixty years from now when a sitting American president visits Iraq and lays a wreath at a memorial commemorating the Iraqi soldiers and insurgents who fought and died in the process of defending their country against the evil American aggressors.
Pretty hard to imagine it ever happening, isn't it?
I would love to know, to really understand, what this means to the average German. This is a country - and a person, in Chancellor Merkel, in particular - which has really, really seriously come to terms with their history and made their peace with the fact that they fucked up bad. No illusions. No excuses. No false bravado. They admit and acknowledge that they have, in living memory, been unimaginably screwed-up as a society, and have come to the point where they can be mature and genuine enough to be utterly contrite about it. How many countries have ever reached this point? Germany is certainly one of the worst and most notorious of the various nations who have, in the history of mankind, decided to destroy everyone and everything in their path of destruction, but they're by no means the only ones, and I can think of few that are willing to make a gesture like this.
I would love to be able to understand this cultural experience better. I really would.
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| The legacy of Vince: The drama continues to unfold. |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|06:39 am] |
As I had mentioned a month or so prior, as a consequence of the various misdeeds of Vince, the Parasite King, I’m being evicted from my home of six and a half years. The process is going... less smoothly than I might like.
For the past ten years, I have, over and over again, been forced to move, quite against my will, as a result of the actions or decisions of others. Each time, I have found myself thrust into a new living situation without very much control over where or in what situation I would end up. This time, though, I had thought? This time could be different.
I had spoken to a friend of mine who was in a similarly horrible living situation. While not wishing to air his dirty laundry, even anonymously, suffice it to say that at around the same time, it became plain that he would also be needing to move. He and I spoke, and agreed we would get a two bedroom place together for December 1st, and indeed, had begun looking at a number of prospective apartments together. Things were looking quite promising! And then, abruptly, he went silent on me. No phone calls, no e-mails, and no response to any of the same from me. Finally, on the night of November 1st, I learned from his mother that he had decided to get a place on his own.
This did not sit too well with me.
For starters, it meant that I had no room-mate, and insufficient time to find a replacement. And housing costs in the greater Vancouver area make a one bedroom apartment of the sort of size I would be comfortable living in prohibitively expensive. To say nothing of the personal offense, of which – again, out of a desire not to air his dirty laundry in public – I will not here speak. Secondarily, there was the creeping horror at the realization that there was a very real possibility that I would need to put out an ad on Craigslist or somesuch in order to find a replacement. This was the very dark path which led me to live with Vince in the first place, and there is no joy whatsoever in the notion of opening the door to that sort of horror once again.
I can afford a two bedroom place on my own for a month or two, though, and I hope that in that time, I can find someone stable and secure enough that I could in good conscience allow them to live with me, but this still represents a significant risk and significant inconvenience, relative to the “clear sailing” state I had looked forwards to existing in by now as of this time last month. And so I’m actively apartment hunting, hoping to secure something worthwhile by this weekend.
I figure I might just as well toss this out there, on the off chance that the fates might yet conspire to redeem this situation for me with nothing more than a few lines of text: Is there anyone among my readership who is in need or in want of a new home in the Burnaby/Vancouver area in the next two months? I find that I prefer the notion of finding someone with whom I stand the chance of having some degree of familiarity with prior to cohabitation to that of living with a complete stranger whose only connection to me is the quirk of happenstance which would have them reading my ad before I happen to accept someone else who does likewise. |
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| Share the Wealth Wednesday #3 |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|06:28 am] |
Wednesday morning is upon us once more, and so with it comes that most sacred of traditions: Share the Wealth Wednesday!
For those of you who are new here, and for those whose memories do not extend back as far as the murky depths of pre-history from which this practice emerges (by which I mean two weeks ago), every Wednesday, we post some neat thing that we’ve found in our journeys through the internet, which others can enjoy with but the click of a mouse. It can be anything – a YouTube video, a webcomic, a video game, etc – so long as it is freely and instantly accessible to anyone who cares to enjoy it. Theoretically, as more and more links accrue during the course of the day, this post, and posts from previous Wednesdays will become a repository of awesome distractions and oddities. New stuff is always preferred, since stuff you haven’t seen before is that much less likely to be something anyone else has seen, but the wealth of links you share need not necessarily be as fresh as all that; it need only be NEAT.
For my own contribution, allow me to direct you to Venture Bros Online. A website which makes the dubious claim to legality (which I nevertheless choose for the sake of argument to believe is valid) in presenting every episode of Venture Bros to date for your free online viewing.
I’ve spoken of Venture Bros a time or two, and the show has been on the air long enough that it shouldn’t be an enigma to most media savvy people, but it bears, for the sake of this post, a short description. Venture Bros started off as a parody of a number of “boy adventurer” cartoons; primarily Johnny Quest, with a bit of Scooby-Doo and Hardy Boys thrown in there for good measure, but has fairly swiftly matured and mutated into its own distinct entity. The humour is very much intended for an adult audience, and indeed by season three, there’s a certain amount of swearing an nudity which, though censored in the televised version, is on full display on the DVDs.
My personal favourite episode of the series to date, which I feel really captures the essence of what makes this show great, is a second season episode entitled “Escape to the House of Mummies, Part 2”.
 A scene from Escape to the House of Mummies, Part II, in which things get bizarre and complicated.
This is the middle part of a ridiculously complex adventure involving a high-tech ancient Egyptian cult, time travel, mummies and death traps. There is no part one and there is no part three; you’re literally only getting the middle part of the adventure, with no setup and no resolution. What’s even better is that the bulk of the episode has Rusty Venture – a washed-up, embittered middle-aged former boy adventurer-turned failed mad scientist – getting into an absurd, petty and meaningless dispute with Doctor Orpheus – a necromancer and single parent who rents out a suite of rooms from Rusty – over a point of personal pride, which results in them becoming so completely distracted and side-tracked that they utterly forget about the adventure at hand, leaving the rest of the cast to their fates, which we occasionally see in a series of increasingly bizarre cut-aways as their adventure continues. It’s absolute comedy gold. Anyways! There’s my contribution. What’ve you got to share, my friends? It’s time to share the wealth!
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| The Curse of the Rhino King - Chapter 12 (in astonishing Audio-Rama Format!) |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|04:54 pm] |
And lo! Chapter 12 cometh!
I wish to extend my sincere thanks to Paula West, who responded admirably to my request for a female voice actor some days ago, the first fruits of whose labours can be heard here.
People sometimes ask me how I can get through some of my lines without laughing, and I'm usually rather blase about this; I laugh out loud when I think of the lines in the first place, but usually by the time it comes to actually recording them, I'm familiar enough with them that I'm no longer that effected by them.
This is the first chapter I really had difficulty getting through some of the lines; they were funny enough that I kept on laughing as I was delivering them. Take that for what it's worth.
A bit of historical esoterica here: The Charles Kingsley referenced in this chapter was a real person, though he did not have a seditious brother named Frederick. I learned of this man as I was researching the life and times of King Edward, and knew immediately how I wanted to incorporate him into the story.
( Read the Full Text of Chapter 12 below the Cut ) |
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| Boy |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|06:26 pm] |
The first anniversary of the Mother 3 translation came and went last month. Maybe it's for this reason that I feel compelled to share a pint-sized mindfuck with you all. The final battle in Mother 3 was pretty intense, yes. But if you watch this video of the unused backgrounds and music originally intended for the last conflict, you can probably gather that it was, at one point, meant to make you crap your pants.
1:30 is just nightmare fuel.
If you stick angel wings on a tortured character, I'm going to roll my eyes. If you stick angel wings on a tortured little boy whose innocently naked form is undulating to otherworldly funk, I'm going to say "AAAH!"
Considering the bond between Lucas and Claus, I actually find this more unsettling than the battle with Giygas in Earthbound. |
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| Bang Bang, Maxwell's silver hammer came down upon her head |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|01:16 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | book reviews | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | denver,co | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | apathetic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | the Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer | ] |
What news? None really. Finally got the chance to play Beatles: Rock Band thanks to Shawn. It is a fine game and I recommend the experience to anyone who enjoys music games, singing, and/or the Beatles. It supports up to three mics and actually displays (and scores) harmony! :D How spiffy is that? Also one can sing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (and the rest of Abbey Road but I must shamefully admit to not being familiar with any other songs off said incredibly important album) which is just a good time in any case.
Okay, this will be the last of the book reporting. I hope it'll go quickly as it's mostly Discworld books and, when you get down to it, either you like them or you don't. These are mostly too late in the series for me to comfortably recommend them as a starting point (the series doesn't really need to be rigidly read in order, but most later books have certain prerequisites if you want to get the most out of them). If you do enjoy these novels, then there's very specific information you want to have about them, so it shouldn't take too long. If you don't, I don't really know why we're friends. Anyhow.
( October 2009 Book Reviews Part 3: Discworld. )
Okay out of time AGAIN but at least I've got through last month's Discworld novels (I read more this month >_>). Will respond to comments and finish up book list next time! Currently checking out yaoi manga from the library. lol.
Later. "bang bang, Maxwell's silver hammer made sure that she was dead." |
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| Radiomaru 11/09 |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|10:58 am] |
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What's going on:
Nothing
I will be working on this book for the foreseeable future. The cover is in progress and I'm thinking it (and the title) will be publicized sometime in December. (Hint: the title has "Scott Pilgrim" in it and the cover has Scott Pilgrim on it)
We got a dog over the summer. You may have noticed me only posting dumb ol' dog pictures. Her name is Midge and she is part American Eskimo, part Pomeranian. I'm not sure which parts. She looks more like an Eskimo -- she's not insanely poofy like a Pom, but she has black and white spots (Eskimos are all-white).
So that's what's up. I got a dog and I'm drawing comics. I did a quick website drawing, mostly 'cause I took a picture over the weekend that I thought would work well on the website, and I drew a little wacom doodle using brushes that I downloaded the other day from this wonderful person.
Updates here will continue to be infrequent, but I'm usually found babbling on twitter. |
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| Why fundamentalism will fail |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|08:23 pm] |
IN 1910, A COHORT of ultra-conservative American Protestants drew up a list of non-negotiable beliefs they insisted any genuine Christian must subscribe to...Their catalog featured doctrines such as the virgin birth, the physical resurrection of Christ, and his imminent second coming. The cornerstone, though, was a belief in the literal inerrancy of every syllable of the Bible, including in matters of geology, paleontology, and secular history. They called these beliefs fundamentals, and proudly styled themselves “fundamentalists” - true believers who feared that liberal movements like the social gospel and openness to other faiths were eroding the foundation of their religion.
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THE VARIOUS MOVEMENTS we lump together as “fundamentalist” differ from one another, but they bear some family resemblances. Each reaches back selectively into its own tradition and exhumes some text or rite or pattern, declaring it to be the bedrock of faith. For Protestant fundamentalists, it was a righteous society in which, they believed, a verbally inspired Bible had held sway. For Catholics, especially after Vatican II, it was the Latin Mass, the symbol of a changeless authoritative tradition. For Muslims it was the short era of the “rightly guided caliphs” who led Islam immediately after the death of the Prophet, before disunity shattered their community and outsiders warped their civilization.
Boston.com
Interessant. Unfortunately though it's inherent exclusiveness leads to weakness and diminuition of the movement (you ain't of the hard core!, etc.) we will prolly never see the end to fundamentalism.
1. How do you feel about it?
2. Some Movement Athesit types are often accused of being fundamantalists. Are they REALLY like their theistic counterparts? (What is the bedrock of 'atheist faith'? The idea that one should be able to justify their atheism through reason? Or what?)
3. Did you have the song 'Age of Aquarius' going through your head as a sarcastic soundtrack to the authors concluding paragraph? Or was that just me? |
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