- Out of a deep respect for my mother, who might very well be next in line to be pope after this dude dies.
- It’s a genuinely awesome story. Whether or not we choose to believe it, none of us should deny that it’s pretty awesome, and perhaps even more impressive if it’s all invented (The Greatest Story Ever Told?). All religion is pretty interesting when you really dig into it.
- I usually go alone which means I don’t really have to talk to anyone and I can stand in the back or on the side and just observe the proceedings. Yes, I’m judging most of the people there, like the parents with their flamingly gay son wearing a bright purple shirt under a white jacket, and the old people who themselves sit there judging everyone else for not wearing a suit or a dress or not following along with the traditions (even though their religion tells them not to judge others), and the parents who let their teenage daughters wear too much makeup and too short skirts in a so-called holy place of worship.
- To see (watch) people I knew in high school. Maybe they were friends, usually they weren’t, but I like to see how they turned out.
- It’s usually true when they say the “hot girls” get “uglier” and the “ugly girls” get “hotter.” I don’t feel guilty for thinking about that kind of stuff in a church.
- Oh, she appears to be single… nice. If you need me I’ll be available on Facebook chat while I see what she’s been up to for the past 10 years and then close the page without making any attempt at communication with her because I’m anti-social to a fault.
- Stop judging me!
- I like when the priest walks by and sprinkles holy water on everyone. It’s like we’re the fans at a sweltering rock concert and he’s in the band spraying us with his water bottle.
- What? It’s not like that at all? Yes it is. Shut up.
- The body of Christ is the most delicious little cracker in this world. I wish I could buy those wafers and put cheese and pepperoni on them to make little tiny Jesus Pizzas.
- I’d probably put Nutella on the wafers too. I bet that’d be delicious. Nutella Jesuses.
- What was I talking about?
- Now I’m gonna go listen to Jesus Christ Superstar for the millionth time.
- Maybe Ian Gillian is actually the second coming of Jesus and his gift to the world is Smoke On The Water, Highway Star, and the rest of his excellent work with Deep Purple. And maybe the day of reckoning will come at the hand of his servant Richie Blackmore’s blistering riffs.
- Oh look! I found some jelly beans!
(Originally posted 20090412.)
I promise you that within 24 hours of saying (or even thinking) “I can’t remember the last time I saw a spider in my house…” you will see one.
I think that’s proof that there is a god, and that god is a spider, and if heaven is ruled by a spider then dear god I can’t even comprehend the terrifying figure that must rule hell.
- Out of a deep respect for my mother, who might very well be next in line to be pope after this dude dies.
- It’s a genuinely awesome story. Whether or not we choose to believe it, none of us should deny that it’s pretty awesome, and perhaps even more impressive if it’s all invented (The Greatest Story Ever Told?). All religion is pretty interesting when you really dig into it.
- I usually go alone which means I don’t really have to talk to anyone and I can stand in the back or on the side and just observe the proceedings. Yes, I’m judging most of the people there, like the parents with their flamingly gay son wearing a bright purple shirt under a white jacket, and the old people who themselves sit there judging everyone else for not wearing a suit or a dress or not following along with the traditions (even though their religion tells them not to judge others), and the parents who let their teenage daughters wear too much makeup and too short skirts in a so-called holy place of worship.
- To see (watch) people I knew in high school. Maybe they were friends, usually they weren’t, but I like to see how they turned out.
- It’s usually true when they say the “hot girls” get uglier and the “ugly girls” get hotter. I don’t feel guilty for thinking about that kind of stuff in a church.
- Oh, she appears to be single… nice. If you need me I’ll be available on Facebook chat while I see what she’s been up to for the past 10 years and then close the page without making any attempt at communication with her because I’m anti-social to a fault.
- Stop judging me!
- I like when the priest walks by and sprinkles holy water on everyone. It’s like we’re the fans at a sweltering rock concert and he’s in the band spraying us with his water bottle.
- What? It’s not like that at all? Yes it is. Shut up.
- The body of Christ is the most delicious little cracker in this world. I wish I could buy those wafers and put cheese and pepperoni on them to make little tiny Jesus Pizzas.
- I’d probably put Nutella on the wafers too. I bet that’d be delicious. Nutella Jesuses.
- What was I talking about?
- Now I’m gonna go listen to Jesus Christ Superstar for the millionth time.
- Maybe Ian Gillian is actually the second coming of Jesus and his gift to the world is Smoke On The Water, Highway Star, and the rest of his excellent work with Deep Purple. And maybe the day of reckoning will come at the hand of his servant Richie Blackmore’s blistering riffs.
- Oh look! I found some jelly beans!
(Originally posted 20090412.)
So, my astute readers will probably realize that today is, in fact, not Easter Sunday. It is, actually, 6 days before Easter Sunday.
“But” they’d ask, “if Lent is always 40 days long, how did you managed to record 40 days worth of songs, starting on Ash Wednesday, and not end up on Easter Sunday?”
Well, as it turns out, Lent is longer that 40 days. In fact, it’s always 46 days in length.
“But” they’d continue, “how is that possible? Why don’t they just tell us it’s 46 days long?”
Little did I know, the six Sundays that occur between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday are not counted. I guess I repressed that fact along with countless other facets of my catholic upbringing.
“Huh.” they’d quip.
Yup. Huh. Indeed.
“So what does that mean for your 40 in 40 project? Will you be recording 6 more songs and re-branding the project to 46 in 46?”
No. I will not. Sorry. Instead, here’s what I’ll be doing:
I’m going to spend the days between now and Easter Sunday working on one song. I’ll give my full attention to one song to see how much better I can do when I’m more relaxed and not scrambling to finish recording by midnight each night.
“What song?!?!?”
You’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
tonedeaf:
inky:
The Good Atheist, via Travors.
An invisible sky daddy didn’t save all those Chilean miners; real people with science and technology got it done!
I agree.
Somewhat related to what I tweeted that night: “The most refreshing part about this rescue is that I haven’t heard “God” mentioned. Man rescued these men, and they all know it. Fantastic.”
The next time someone tells you God rescued these brave men, or that their rescue was a miracle, ask them if they can explain why God trapped them down there in the first place. Some religious folk are so quick to praise God that they completely ignore past events.
Lunch.
McDonald’s.
The day before some long-since-dead guy made up some stupid rule about not eating meat tomorrow.
Half-day for local school districts.
Families and kids everywhere.
dwineman:
apethink:
A video of Frank Zappa interviewed in 1989 on “CBS This Morning”, in which he discusses the synclavier, raising children, and listening to music. You may note that the time is 8:50 am eastern, and that Frank is in a bath robe and giving curt answers, since it was 5:50 am in Los Angeles.
Curt answers? I think Zappa showed remarkable patience. That interviewer (Harry Smith) was about as ignorant of his subject as an ignorant person can be of a subject he quite transparently doesn’t give two shits about.
“What’s it like working with real artists?”
“Name some musicians you admire who are less obscure than yourself.” (Zappa names a more obscure one, probably on purpose)
“Do you like Philip Glass? Even though you once hooked a stuffed giraffe up to an industrial whipped cream dispenser and blew its ass out with a cherry bomb onstage I’m going to ask you if you’re into minimalism, because that’s something I’ve heard of.”
Somehow I doubt he’d have asked Philip Glass whether he was a “good father.”
And after the interview, the jackass actually takes out his cigarette lighter and waves it around “like they used to do at the end of rock concerts.” What a condescending douche.
How utterly unfair that Frank Zappa is dead yet Harry Smith is still embarrassing himself on television.
(emphasis mine)
I couldn’t have said it better myself, Dan.
Zappa’s words on religion were so refreshing. I can’t imagine someone going on TV today and saying the same thing without facing a post-interview media shitstorm.
I definitely need to spend more time with his extensive catalog. He’s surely one of the greatest musicians in American history.
Some parents are certifiably insane - but mostly I blame Mary for giving birth to Santa Claus* a couple thousand years ago. None of this madness would exist if it weren’t for that.
*That’s the story, right? There was no room at the Holiday Inn so Mary had to go to the Super 8 down the road and then she pooped out jolly old Santa Claus and then he grew up and the Jews killed him and now he comes back every December and gives presents to everyone except the Jews…?
eoporto:
I was raised Catholic, and the repetitive S sound here sounds like grief to me. I can’t explain it any better.
I couldn’t have ssssssssaid it any better.
Christ the Redeemer Rocketeer.
Really, The Economist? Wow. Just… wow.
Click the link to read a fantastic article about Christian-turned-Agnostic David Bazan’s misunderstood and misinterpreted return to the Cornerstone Christian Music Festival.
Stephen Lopez
