The Eternal Gaijin

I do not know the most offensive art project extant, although I'm sure Piss Christ is somewhere in the top 75. Friend DEG suggested one to me a while ago. He said, "Did I ever tell you about my idea for the most offensive art installation in history?" "No." "Imagine this." "Okay." "It's called ' Jesus fucking Christ .'" "That's a verb, isn't it." "Yup." So there you have it. An image to keep you going, brought to you by the guy who gave local band The Inflatable Jesus Love Dolls the name for their song ' Big Penis Truck .' But the question is: should we be allowed to suggest it? In a day and time when people worry about a political correctness that never was there is a strong, strong fence around criticism of religion and patriotism. We can't probe belief, investigate it nor ridicule it. Anything can be defended by the words "Well, that's what I believe." The very peo...

I'm a movie nut. I watch everything I can get my hands on; the worse the movie, the more likely I have to watch it when my wife is out of town. Recently we've watched a couple that are worth sharing with people. Ray If you don't know it's about Ray Charles, then I am not going to contribute. Much like Rain Man, that extremely ordinary buddy movie with the outstanding performance by Hoffman, Ray follows the very familiar story arc: Poverty - Trauma - Beginnings of Talent - Early years - Drugs - Drugs and Success go hand in hand - Eventual Triumph/Early Death. Ray is flatly directed and has a pretty standard style, but Jamie Foxx is well beyond outstanding as Charles. A word of advice, when you watch the DVD learn from our mistake. Watch the theatrical version. Although the extended version has some interesting recuts of scenes, the producers didn't actually produce a second version of the film, instead they leveraged the technology buy giving the DVD two different ch...

I'm not a friend, nor am I connected. I'm just a listener. I discovered Skepticality when I was looking for anything skeptical or science news related when I downloaded iTunes 4.9. Given the range of guests, Monkey News and overall charm of the podcast, I was turned to a regular listener in a single show. Checking out the updates, I found the message from co-host Swoopy giving a tear-filled explanation of Derek's collapse into a coma. Drop by them and leave a message of good will and support. Every bit helps.

As many have said around the blogosphere (a term I actually detest but seem to have adopted at an alarming rate): I couldn't have said it better. I know I couldn't, and didn't. Found it here Evolutionblog or the original at http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/8/183216/1039

Behold the awsome power of God! He shall smite thee for thy ways. Make straight the way of the Lord! Also: New Orleans is sinking, man, and I don't want to swim. To hear some folk weighing in on the disaster in New Orleans, you'd think they brought it on themselves. With all the whoring and flashing and drinking and Godlessness. To wit: Now New Orleans is under water, bathing in sewage and devastation rather than providing downtown fountains for homosexual capers aplenty. All of this has prompted Repent America to conclude that the biblical God had a heavy hand in the Katrina swing along. It’s an "‘act of God,’" they claim to media. United States-based, Repent America goes to the streets to preach repentance of sin, conversion to Christ as personal Savior, and thereby living the holy lifestyle according to the biblical message. As far as Repent America is concerned, divine judgment has come upon a metropolis that was bent...