Ramblings of a Constipated Mind

Remember a few weeks ago when I went on a rant about the religious fanatics interviewed on the XXXChurch.com podcast?

Well, guess what. They were in the news yesterday. The woman mentioned in this article, Shirley Phelps-Roper, was the woman interviewed.

Stuff like this pisses me off to no end. I know we're supposed to love everyone, but I don't see any biblical evidence suggesting that we have to like everyone. And I don't like people like this.

UPDATE: For some more information on what exactly these people think about homosexuals, Jews, blacks, Christians, and America, go here.

Also, they have a new website, GodHatesAmerica.com. It's just...incredible, in that it's-like-a-car-crash-in-that-I-can't-stop-looking-at-it way. It mentions their plans to picket at the funeral of Coretta Scott-King. It talks about their views on September 11, the Space Shuttle Columbia Crash, the Iraq war, etc. It talks about how they think the Pope and all Catholics are in hell. It has the lyrics of "hymns" they sing like "America the Burning" and "God Hates America". It even has the transcript of a debate the pastor had with a guy named John Rankin, who has a graduate degree in theology from Harvard. From what I read of the transcript, it seemed to me like Rankin clearly knew more about what he was talking about than their pastor...who just kept insulting him and wouldn't answer any of his questions, implying that they were products of a sinful and wrong mind.

Also, evidently there was a documentary made about this guy. You can find a trailer and clips from it over at: FredTheMovie.com. I'm not sure if it's pro-what he's saying, against it, or somewhere in between. But it looks fascinating.

UPDATE #2: I remembered that on my first rant about these guys, I didn't post links to their websites. There are a ton of them, their home page being GodHatesFags.com, and there are more currently in development. Here they all are for your viewing/thinking...er...."pleasure"....

GodHatesFags.com
GodHatesAmerica.com
SmellTheBrimstone.com
PriestsRapeBoys.com
GodHatesSweden.com
GodHatesCanada.com
AmericaIsDoomed.com
YourPastorIsAWhore.com
GodIsTheTerrorist.com

Now they're really starting to go a little overboard. I mean, come on - God hates America, Sweden and Canada? Doesn't it make more sense to save webspace just by having one central site? Let's say...GodHatesEveryoneExceptWestboroBaptistChurch.com?

UPDATE #3: Check out this sub-page here. Nothing like a little self-promotion. I guess they really do think they're the only people on earth who know the "unvarnished truth."

Wow. Just...wow.

Running Scared. I actually liked this more than most critics did.

The Caldwell retreat went well yesterday. Pretty much all we did was sit around and talk, but it's been a good experience. It's funny how already we already feel like one big, happy family. Last night we had a "Caldwell scavenger hunt" in which we had to get a whole bunch of different items (eg. a pink object, a live animal, something related to the Caldwell, undergarments, eyewear, etc.) and make a costume for our team to model. There was then a "fashion show" for the different models. It was.....interesting. Our team decided to set it up like our model (Brian) was a stripper, so I was assigned to sit in the back and yell sexual innuendos at him during the presentation. That was bizarre, but fun.

Okay, so I wasn't assigned. I volunteered. I seem to have this connection with "crazy fan" characters. Remember Rhapsody...?

The problem is that it didn't end until around one in the morning. It's now around 8:45. I got up at 7:30 to take a shower and get ready. I'm about to head out for the final three hours of the "retreat." It sucks that I have to get up so early on a Saturday. I don't think I'll do any work today....I'll probably just come back, sleep, and watch movies. Then tomorrow and next week I'll work my butt off, maybe pull an all-nighter. You know how it goes. I just need a day to rest my body before I collapse.

I got the Caldwell scholarship. As in, the most prestigious scholarship offered to freshmen. The thing that's going to make it easy for me to study abroad, get internships, and funding for possible film projects. That one.

So that's cool.

Theology on Tap was great, as usual. It gave me a whole lot to think about. I realize now that I need to get back to reading more Christian theology...a couple of guys there suggested some authors, so I'm gonna see what I can find. Maybe I can read a couple books during Spring Break.

One of the passages mentioned was Romans 9:10-24. This is one of the hardest passages I've ever read, and not one you'll find preached on in a non-Calvinist church. After talking about it with Souwa I think I've finally come to terms with it, but at first glance this is one of those things that makes me scream, "God, this isn't fair!" Here you go:

Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Try and wrap your brain around it. It's tough, and not a very nice thing to think about.

Anyways, that was good. I've been really busy ever since then. I spent most of the day yesterday and today studying for my Religion midterm. I didn't have the textbook (it wasn't at the bookstore at the beginning of the year), so that wasn't good. I went to both the campus bookstore and the textbook store on Hillsborough Street. Neither had it. So I studied my notes into dust - there was a ton of stuff to study. I'm not sure how well I did. We'll see.

On Friday and Saturday I have to go on a "retreat" around campus for the new Caldwell fellows. Hopefully that won't be too bad. Unfortunately, yet again it seems the Caldwell people have picked the worst possible weekends to do their stuff. On Sunday I have a 3-hour training workshop of some sort for the Technician. On Monday I have my E 115 midterm, so I need to study for that. By Wedesnday I have to write two essays for the Sociology take-home midterm. I also have to do a Genetics report by then. And go participate in a couple of psychology experiments for my class. And go to a meeting about the Film Committee and see what that's about. And start interviewing people for my Technician feature. Plus all of my normal activities.

Thank God there's only one more week until Spring Break. I'm going to sleep for 5 days, then go up to DC and sleep some more.

Lyrics of Da Moment:
And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know.
God bless you, please Mrs. Robinson.
Heaven holds a place for those who pray,
Hey, hey, hey
--"Mrs. Robinson", Simon and Garfunkle

Quote of Da Moment:
"We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
--C.S. Lewis

My review for Eight Below is here.

I saw Running Scared tonight. That review will be out this week.

I'm going to be working on a full-fledged feature for the paper within the coming weeks. The subject: podcasting. Let the contact and interview scouting begin.

I'm most likely going to join the Film Committee on the Union Activities Board. This will allow me to help decide what movies they bring to campus, maybe get me some contacts at Universal (I met a guy at the Caldwell interviews on Saturday who's on the committee and trying to get an internship there), give me dibs on promotional materials, and in general just be a cool way to interact with other film fans.

Theology on Tap is tomorrow. I get to go talk spiritual at a bar over a Coke. Yay!

Church was good yesterday, as usual. Once I have time to get involved in a Home Group (will that day ever come?) I need to become an owner.

I think my brain is subconsciously forcing me to get involved in everything I possibly can, to make up for years of having hardly any extra-curricular activities in high school.

The City of Lost Children is a pretty cool French movie by the director of Amelie. Very weird, but I liked it.

One of these days I'm going to have to write a long post on my views of profanity, sex and morality/sin in general.

It is possible that by tomorrow I will have seen at least the rough stages of the first ten minutes of The Act The final cut should be complete in a few days. I'm excited.

Today I woke up at 6:45 to get ready for my Caldwell scholarship interviews. Not cool.

Anyways, I think it went pretty well, once the actual interviews started up. The sessions before that were kinda dull, almost like Caldwell propaganda. They talked about John T. Caldwell like he was NC State's personal Jesus Christ or something. That was weird.

Dressing up sucks. I discovered that the shirt I had brought to wear was too tight around the neck, but I couldn't do anything about that. I've got two welts to prove it now.

Overall, not a bad day. I'll find out on Wednesday whether or not I'll get the scholarship. Right now I wouldn't be surprised to see it go either way.

I was messing around with the template for this blog and accidentally screwed up the comments. It should be okay now, so I'd appreciate it if people could do me a favor and post a comment and see if it shows up properly. If not, I'll just switch over to the regular Blogger comment boxes rather than HaloScan.

I saw The Graduate. I liked it. The climactic scene in the church made the IB section of my brain go insane.

Here's another still from The Act. Once again, I have no idea if this will end up in the final cut. I have yet to even see a rough cut.



It's not even 10:30 and I think I'm gonna go to sleep. That's crazy.

Preach it, Gareth.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me!"
--The Graduate

"Who among us has not felt at least in microcosm the anguished courage of a William Wallace in Braveheart, or identified with the last minute redemption of a Lester Brunham in American Beauty, or suffered the torment of a Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part II, on realizing that what we thought we controlled was actually controlling us? Film, in the final analysis, can do for you what all great art does --- irritate and heal, challenge and affirm, inspire and sadden. It can, in the case of a film like Magnolia, truly give you more life, or as in Wings of Desire, make you believe in God, or as with The Wizard of Oz, tell you the truth about your own existence."
--Gareth Higgins, How Movies Helped Save My Soul

This week is still killing me. I've written my Technician review, gone to a Southwestern meeting, done homework. I've got a Film quiz in an hour, and tomorrow I've got another Southwestern meeting. I still need to prepare for my Saturday scholarship interviews.

But none of that matters now. As of yesterday, The Act is officially in post-production. After procrastinating for two months, Deej finally sent the footage tapes to Canada last week. They arrived yesterday, with around two weeks to go before the March 1 deadline. Our editor, Andrew Cranford, spent the entire day editing and should have a rough cut done by tonight. Wow. That's fast.

After Deej and I view a rough cut, we'll be able to tell him how to improve things. Once there's a final edit, hopefully he'll have enough time before the deadline to color correct the whole thing. And then it'll be done.

Wow. I haven't even thought about The Act in ages. I had pretty much resigned myself to, "Maybe it'll get finished, maybe it won't." I read back over the script, which I now don't like as much as I did a few months ago, but what's a guy to do? Some parts are still great, others are...meh. From what I've been told, that's pretty much how the footage looks, too. Some scenes are awesome, others are terrible. I guess that's what happens when you're forced to direct a movie in a single weekend.

So, yeah. Right now I'm eagerly awaiting a chance to feast my eyes on the rough cut and see what we have to work with. I have a feeling it's going to turn out about like I expected: an okay movie, with some really great things about it and some really bad things about it. I think that's probably the best I could ask for given the circumstances.

I leave you now with a screenshot from the footage. NOTE: This particular take may not even appear in the final cut of the film, but Andrew was using this as a playground to figure out how he's going to color correct it. It's also possible that if this frame is in the final film, it will look entirely different after the color correction process. Personally, I love this shot, and hope this is what I can expect from the rest of the footage. Without further ado, here it is:



And yes, that is director and star, Deej. Andrew Cranford thinks he looks like Randal from Clerks.

I am thinking it's a sign
that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images
and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
that God himself did make
us into corresponding shapes
like puzzle pieces from the clay

And true, it may seem like a stretch
but its thoughts like this that catch
my troubled head when you're away
when I am missing you to death
when you are out there on the road
for several weeks of shows
and when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home

they will see us waving from such great heights,
"come down now", they'll say
but everything looks perfect from far away,
"come down now", but we'll stay...

I tried my best to leave
this all on your machine
but the persistent beat it sounded thin
upon listening
and that frankly will not fly
you will hear the shrillest highs
and lowest lows with the windows down
when this is guiding you home

they will see us waving from such great
heights,
"come down now", they'll say
but everything looks perfect from far away
"come down now", but we'll stay...

--"Such Great Heights" by Iron and Wine, The Postal Service

...That's right. It's Valentine's Day. The day when millions of couples everywhere try desperately to make up for the fact that they've been total jerks for the past 364 days (unless they've been doing it right). The day usurped by Hallmark so men and women can spend money on each other, since that's easier than love. The day children are forced to eat those chalky candy hearts with the messages on them.

You gotta love it. Unless you're single, of course, in which case...

Happy Singles' Awareness Day! You can act like it's a stupid day that doesn't mean anything to you, but we all know it does. Don't try and hide it. We know you get envious every time you see a couple walking by you with smiles on their faces. We know that, whether you admit it or not, you want a Valentine's Day sweetheart. We know that if you had someone your attitude would miraculously change and you'd be going just as crazy as everyone else.

It's okay. Just accept it. Let this day serve as encouragement for you single people out there to go out and find some lovin'. Because I have a significant other and you don't. Nah-nee nah-nee boo boo. I know that must be psychologically unbearable.

Anyways, moving on...my life is crazy. Last week I went to hand in my Southwestern essays. I go upstairs to the meeting place, only to find that there's an Internship fair going on and the guy I'm supposed to be meeting with is nowhere to be seen. So I go downstairs and notice another Southwestern guy (Brandon) talking to someone under the stairs. I ask him where Ramos is, and he says that Ramos had to go somewhere else, but that he'll be interviewing me instead.

At this point I'm thinking, "Well, that does it. This is God's way of showing me I'm not supposed to do Southwestern this summer. He isn't closing the door, he's slamming it. Ah, the irony of having my normal meeting replaced by an internship fair..."

So I talk to Brandon. I don't even think I'm saying the "right" things. I'm scared. I'm doubtful. And I let him know that.

And then he offers to recruit me. He says that Ramos told him he could recruit me if he had a good feeling about me, and he does. At which point I think to myself, "Well, God, I guess this is what you want me to do after all. Nice job of making it clear. I like that whole inspire-doubt-then-surprise-him approach." And I accept. And that's that.

So yeah. Don't expect to be seeing me this summer. It's not gonna happen. I'm gonna be in another state.

I had my first weekly meeting with my team leader today. It's not Ramos, but it's David Boyce, and he's cool. I'm starting to see how things are going to work, and I'm getting a little excited. This is going to be...an experience.

Anyways...I worked my butt off last week, and I'm doing it to an even greater extent this week. Today I'm gonna have to leave early from Film class to go to a meeting about the Honors program. I'm also going to have to do my weekly Sociology homework, record a podcast, and study for the Psychology test I have tomorrow that will probably be extremely hard. I also have to work on a movie review this week for the paper. And do E 115 homework. And on Saturday I'm going to spend most of the day in interviews about the Caldwell scholarship. I guess that's a good thing, but I'd much rather do it during the week. I'm gonna have to wear a suit, and I also have to have a proposal-thing written by then. Blegh. Of all the weeks to do it...

I had a great weekend, though. Souwa came down and we spent the weekend in High Point together. Yay.

On Friday we just caught up for a while, since she got in late at night. Saturday was sort of our "movie day", I guess. First we went the girl movie route, and saw In Her Shoes. She loved it, I thought it was so-so. At least it was somewhat original. Then we went to see Capote, which was heavy. It was good, though, and Philip Seymour Hoffman deserves the Oscar. Then at night we went the guy movie route, and saw Oldboy. She hated it, I still loved it. Good times.

On Sunday we slept in. Then we had our own little Bible study/fellowship time. It was great! We read this passage in Acts that was just filled with so many interesting things....it was amazing. When God speaks, He speaks loudly. There's nothing like Acts in terms of how to model your church and relationship with God.

Intimacy is one of the greatest gifts ever. And no, I don't mean that kind of intimacy, you perverts. I mean the whole thing. Even though life gets hard and stressful and frustrating sometimes, it's the little blessings that make it worthwhile. And the big ones, too.

Quotes of Da Moment:
"What greater thing is there for two human souls that to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories."
--George Eliot

"The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration."
--Pearl S. Buck

That would be here. Yes, I know. It's awesome and they should make a movie about it, because that would sure be a better investment than most movies these days (January and February = crap season). The one-man band doing the song is cool, and his other music is hilarious as well.

I have a whole lot I'd like to talk about, but I can't. I'm too sleepy. Maybe tomorrow. Today sucked even more than most Mondays. I had to get up early to go to a meeting about Southwestern (I'm doing it), go through the usual six straight hours of classes, and also go to a movie for The Technician. And then I got to come back and do my usual two hours of Monday job work. Not cool.

The weekend was great, though. Too bad this week is going to be hell on a timetable.

I haven't updated in a while, so this post is probably going to be pretty long. It's 2 AM on Sunday morning, so this seems like as best a time to do it as any. I've been meaning to update for a while now, but this past week was insane. I've had my normal hectic schedule going on, plus some unexpected new things, mainly a possible job opportunity this summer. I've been pretty stressed out mentally, but I made it. So let's see, let's see, where to begin...

I'm not going to go to Vintage21 today. I thought I was, and I really want to, but now I think I should probably stay home and have my own personal little worship/quiet time. It's been weeks since I read my Bible outside of church, I'm sorry to say, so I need to do some individual soul-searching for a few hours. Get back into it. I also plan on spending a lot of time praying and meditating about a certain decision.

What decision? Let me start from the beginning. Last Monday night I got a call from a stranger named Daniel that I haven't met before. He tells me my name popped up somehow as someone who might be interested in a summer job. I say, "Yes, I'm interested." He tells me that there's a meeting on Tuesday about a great opportunity that might be something I want to do, and that the average student makes $8500 in eleven weeks. Now he's got my attention, so I agree to attend the meeting.

So I go. Here's the deal. There's this corporation called Southwestern that hires college students to work over the summer. Basically, I'd be doing selling educational textbooks door-to-door. That doesn't sound fun, does it? Here are the advantages:

1) Experience. I'm in desperate need of some serious work experience.
2) Confidence. This is the kind of thing that really helps build confidence and self-esteem. We're talking going up to complete strangers and trying to sell them stuff. That takes guts.
3) Travel/People. If I do this, I'll be in a place I've never been to before, and meet tons of people and make new friends.
4) Learn to sell. This would really teach me how to present...whatever. Ideas, products, designs, you name it. This is the kind of thing that teaches a person how to have a respectable image.
5) Money. The average first-year student made $8500 last year. Many made around $20,000. Some made $30,000.

Here are the disadvantages:

1) Work. This isn't easy. I'd be putting in 70-80 hours of work a week. That's 12-14 a day, 6 days a week. We're talking hard, psychologically and emotionally. Quite possibly the hardest work I've ever done.
2) Leave home. If I do this, I'll be with the Southwestern group in a completely different state, without a car. I will be isolated. I will live with a roommate and stay at the house of a host family. My only real contact with the outside world will come through a telephone.
3) Rejection. The goal is to visit 30 houses a day. On average, most people sell two a day. There will be days when a person doesn't sell any, and days when a person sells a lot. It is possible to make $0 after doing 12-14 hours work. It is also possible to make more than $1000. But there will certainly be far more people who say no than people who say yes. That can be hard to deal with.

Anyways, after the meeting I decided I wanted more information. So I went through a 3-day interview process with one of the student managers, meeting with him for an hour a day. We talked. He sized me up, I sized him up. I asked whatever I wanted. He asked whatever he wanted. It was good and informative, not to mention the fact that he's a nice guy.

My assignment for Tuesday is to write three brief 1-2 paragraph essays. Depending on that, he'll decide whether or not he wants to recruit me. But it doesn't matter if he wants to recruit me or not if I don't want to spend eleven weeks selling books. That's the decision I'm currently in the process of making.

Honestly, when I first heard about it I thought I'd end up not doing it. Now I think I probably will. It's not about the money, though that's certainly a good bonus ($10,000 could buy some sweet filming equipment). It's about the experience. I talked to one guy who made no money last summer (though that is a very very rare situation). And yet, he's going back this summer. Why? Because it changed his life, in terms of his personality and how he viewed himself and people. That's the kind of thing that sounds cool to me. The idea of working twelve hours a day selling books door-to-door doesn't sound very appealing to me, especially when compared to a possible film-related internship. And yet, part of me feels like I need to do this. I need to see what I'm made of. It doesn't matter how much money I make; just surviving for eleven weeks working my butt off and no one except myself to accept the results of what happens. Just me. No one else. If I get through it, it's because I had the endurance and guts to do it. If I do well or poorly, it's not because of anyone else except me.

I like that.

So yeah. I'm gonna be praying hard tomorrow about that, so I can be 110% sure this is what I want to do. And if I am that certain, I'll write the essays and give them to the guy on Tuesday. And if he recruits me, awesome. If not, awesome. All that means is that God wants me to do something else this summer. Something that will benefit me even more in the long run.

But now onto other things. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. I'm a fan of RELEVANT magazine, and they have a podcast over here. It's a pretty good one. And on one episode, they mentioned another podcast over at XXXChurch, so I subscribed to that one too.

XXXChurch is fascinating. I'd heard of it, but never really knew a lot about it until now. Basically, it's the #1 Christian Porn Site. I'm serious. It's a Christian organization focusing on the porn industry and porn addicts. Isn't that amazing? Pornography is one of those subjects the vast majority of Christians don't even want to think about, let alone get involved in porn-related ministry. These guys who founded it (who were porn addicts themselves at one time) go set up stands at porn conventions and hand out tracts and Bibles and just talk to people.

They sell t-shirts that say, "Jesus Loves Porn Stars." And I want one.

This is exactly the kind of thing that Christians need to be doing. Our mission is to get out into the world, and not just the easy, fairly bright places. We're supposed to march into the depths of sin and love people. You know why? Because Jesus loves everybody. Even porn stars.

Anyways...the podcast isn't entirely focused on stuff related to pornography, even though the majority of episodes are. For example, there was one episode in which they talked to a college student who made the national news after he started an atheist student group and had a program called, "Smut for Smut." Basically, people could exchange religious scriptures of any sort for pornography. Sure, that's porn-related, but the majority of the discussion was just related to atheism and Christianity. The guy was a smart kid, and seemed really nice and open-minded. It was a good show.

Then there was another show, which frustrated me to no end. They interviewed a woman who is part of a Baptist church out in Kansas city. Why? Because her church is the kind of conservative congregation that think God hates homosexuals and the majority of people. The stuff this lady said was just....insane. I can hardly believe she called herself a Christian. It was really sad. She sounded very angry, all the time, as if nobody but her was living the right kind of life and she had to do something about it.

She leads groups that goes and protests at the funerals of soldiers who have died in Iraq. Funerals. They wave signs and say slogans like, "Fags get brought home in body bags." They scream about how the soldier is burning in hell. And the very thought of that makes me want to throw up. Sinners or not, I was under the impression that everyone deserved respect simply because they were my fellow human beings. But I guess her church doesn't see things that way.

It was a great show, but very sad. The XXXChurch guys tried to tell her that she shouldn't be so judgmental, and that God loves everyone. She quoted Bible verses that supposedly indicate Christians are supposed to judge the world, and that God's wrath is upon us. I found it telling that the majority of those verses were from the Old Testament.

She said that she is glad we're at war. She is glad Hurricane Katrina struck. She is glad the 9/11 attacks happened. Why? Because according to her, that is God's judgment upon a sinful world. That's God getting back at the fags. She said, paraphrasing: "God has a lot of tools at His disposal. He uses natural disasters. He uses planes. He uses IEDs (explosive devices) to judge the world."

I wanted to slap her. Yes, God allows stuff like that to happen. But, as the guys on the show tried to argue, that does not mean that He causes them. That does not mean that He likes it. That does not mean that He wants sinners to perish and go to hell.

They mentioned how her church has been around for decades, and doesn't even have 100 members. It's mainly made up of people in her very large family (and yes, she takes her young children with her to protest at funerals - that's their idea of a family activity). She responded with the verses in the Bible about how there will only be a small remnant who make it to heaven, to which the response was, "So you think that pretty much only your church is going to be saved?" And she actually said, "Yes. That wouldn't surprise me at all."

Another bit of the conversation went like this:

"We're Christians--"
"No you're not. You just say you are. You think that God loves everyone, but that's just what you want to believe. That's false doctrine covering up the truth."
"Let us speak. We run an organization that ministers to people in the porn industry and deals with the problem of pornography. We have some t-shirts that say 'Jesus Loves Porn Stars.' If we sent you one, would you use it?"
"I might use it for a rag or something. But I certainly wouldn't wear it."
"Why not? You don't think Jesus loves porn stars?"
"No. Because He doesn't. He hates them."

I would encourage you all to subscribe and listen to this episode (Episode 16), just because it will blow you mind that there are people out there like this. This only confirms what Tyler was talking about last week: that the biggest problem with the USA today is American Christianity. Except it's not just the safe, self-centered Christianity. It's the judgmental, angry, and downright hateful Christianity as well. There are people out there who will kill homosexuals in the name of Christ. There are people who rejoice when a soldier is killed in Iraq, because they see it as God's just punishment. And to be perfectly honest, if that's what God is really like, then pardon my language, but I don't want shit to do with Him. Because if that's the case, God isn't much different from people down here. At least apart from God I can live a hedonistic live and feel a little bit of pleasure before He condemns me for all eternity. Because evidently, that's what He's gonna do anyway since I love homosexuals and porn stars. I guess we're all screwed.

Anyways, that's my rant for today. Yesterday I saw Brazil. This movie blew my mind. It's freakin' awesome. Go rent it. It's Terry Gilliam's dystopian 1984-ish tale, and I think it's one of the best movies I've ever seen.

After that I went to a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Mason, Aaron and Paul. Now some of you might recall me mentioning that movie a few months ago when I saw it for the first time. You know, the weird musical about a transsexual and sex and hedonism and all that stuff. Well, that movie has such a cult following that there are small theaters around the country that still show it. And not only do they show it, they make it an interactive experience. A live cast will act out the movie as it plays onscreen. The audience will have props to throw and play with. People will scream lines at the screen. Until now, I had only heard of this experience. But now I have done it myself.

Right from the beginning I knew I was in for something strange. They called for all the people who hadn't been to a live showing before (the "virgens") to go up to the front and stand in a single-file line. They they crammed up all together. Then they taught us the pelvic thrust dance move. Yeah, there's nothing quite like humping the guy in front of you while in turn having someone's pelvic thrust into your backside. Talk about setting the tone.

The movie was...an experience. I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it, though I can see how some people could really get into it. I think it was probably just because it was my first time, but it just seemed really chaotic to me. It was like, "Am I supposed to concentrate on the movie, the live cast or the stuff the people in audience are screaming?" I have a feeling I'd like it more if I went back and knew some of the stuff to say. Maybe.

At one point we got into the aisles and danced. At another time, they had the "Underwear Run", in which all those who wanted to could strip down to their undies and run two laps around the theater. No, I didn't do it. My brain at this point was frozen somewhere in the space-time continuum.

The best part was the stuff the staff in the audience yelled out. The problem, unfortunately, was that it was often hard to understand what they were saying. Also, this isn't the kind of thing for the easily offended, or people who don't like the incredibly hedonistic messages and atmosphere. Profanity was screamed, vulgar jokes were made. To give you an idea, every time someone in the movie said the word "Janet" the audience was supposed to yell "Slut!" Every time someone said "Brad" they yelled "Asshole!" Most of the time, however, the staff would just make jokes. Examples:

Guy in Audience: When was the last time you had an erection?
Character in Movie: Four months ago...

Guy in Audience: Are you a slut that likes to fuck and suck?
Character in Movie: Yes.

Guy in Audience: What's your favorite fruit drink?
Character in Movie: I see.

Guy in Audience: What's your favorite sci-fi tv show from the 60s that only lasted a few seasons?
Character in Movie: ...lost in space...

The props were fun, too. During the opening wedding scene, we all threw rice. During a scene in the rain, we put newspaper over our heads. At another point, we sent rolls of toilet paper streaming through the air and threw cards around.

So yeah. Now I can say that I've seen Rocky Horror with a live cast. It's possible that Mason and the others might go back next week (he loves this stuff). I'll be in High Point with Souwa. And to think, next week was going to be lingerie night. Drat.

Saturday I saw Traffic, ate some Chinese food, watched an episode of BSG (woohoo!), did a little school reading, and basically just chilled. And now it's past 3 AM, so I should probably sleep.

I bid you all farewell and wish you happy dreams of bisexual unicorns and little baby Komodo dragons.

Quote of Da Moment:
"What He really hates is the shit that gets carried out in his name. Wars. Bigotry. Televangelism."
--Dogma

"This is your receipt for your husband... and this is my receipt for your receipt."
--Brazil