I'm way jazzed for this. I just preordered the deluxe version from Amazon.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Heaven is Failing
Burning Qur'ans and building mosques... I don't get it.
I find it endlessly entertaining to watch both the left and right drape themselves in the 1st amendment and go apoplectic while completely missing the point.
The right is in a tizzy about heathens building Park51 (better known as the Ground Zero Mosque) next to America's gaping freedom hole, and the left has their pretty little panties in a bunch about some backwoods preacher burning paper. I hate to break it to all of you, but these are both 1st amendment issues and you're both wrong.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf admits that he chose the location for Park51 because the existing building was severely damaged in the 9/11 attacks by debris from United 175. He stated: "(It) sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11" and "We want to push back against the extremists." Yeah, and then we'll all join hands and enjoy a Pepsi while skipping though a field of posies. He seems like a smart guy, and can't be so blindly naive to think that there wouldn't be opposition to raising a Muslim religious center from a building destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. He did it (by his own admission) for the publicity and to make a statement (whatever that might be). Period. End. And you know what? He has every right to do so. This is America.
Terry Jones (not the guy from Monty Python, the Florida pastor) runs a small church of about 50 people named the 'Dove World Outreach Center' because (as everyone knows) doves are notorious for reaching out and whompin' up on the asses of the heathen masses. Before the media picked up on his Freedom Day BBQ plans, he was relegated to hanging out with his buddies and making up anti-Islam t-shirts and holding misspelled "God Hates _" signs. Now he has his 15 minutes. Thanks a lot. Still, if he wants to burn a pile of Qur'ans he has every right to do so. This is America.
I don't see how this becomes a matter of Left -vs- Right. It seems almost reactionary; as soon as the idiots on the right profess to support/oppose something all of the idiots on the left immediately take up the contrary position (and vice-versa). Then every-fucking body else blindly chooses a camp and derides the other faction for being a bunch of inbred mouth-breathers or effete sheep (respectively). Really?
Even more confounding is that both sides seem to be betraying their deepest held convictions in their opposition. The right is essentially advocating government intervention in the regulation of private property, whereas the left is opposing the right to peaceably protest and acting to protect a work that is used to promote misogynistic and homophobic teachings worldwide.
Fuck 'em all. I just don't get it. Don't look for me at any of your Freedom Day protests, anti-protests, anti-anti-protests, or anti-anti-anti protests - I'll be in my backyard drinking a beer and burning a copy of 'L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics'. Take that, Scientology!
I find it endlessly entertaining to watch both the left and right drape themselves in the 1st amendment and go apoplectic while completely missing the point.
The right is in a tizzy about heathens building Park51 (better known as the Ground Zero Mosque) next to America's gaping freedom hole, and the left has their pretty little panties in a bunch about some backwoods preacher burning paper. I hate to break it to all of you, but these are both 1st amendment issues and you're both wrong.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf admits that he chose the location for Park51 because the existing building was severely damaged in the 9/11 attacks by debris from United 175. He stated: "(It) sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11" and "We want to push back against the extremists." Yeah, and then we'll all join hands and enjoy a Pepsi while skipping though a field of posies. He seems like a smart guy, and can't be so blindly naive to think that there wouldn't be opposition to raising a Muslim religious center from a building destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. He did it (by his own admission) for the publicity and to make a statement (whatever that might be). Period. End. And you know what? He has every right to do so. This is America.
Terry Jones (not the guy from Monty Python, the Florida pastor) runs a small church of about 50 people named the 'Dove World Outreach Center' because (as everyone knows) doves are notorious for reaching out and whompin' up on the asses of the heathen masses. Before the media picked up on his Freedom Day BBQ plans, he was relegated to hanging out with his buddies and making up anti-Islam t-shirts and holding misspelled "God Hates _" signs. Now he has his 15 minutes. Thanks a lot. Still, if he wants to burn a pile of Qur'ans he has every right to do so. This is America.
I don't see how this becomes a matter of Left -vs- Right. It seems almost reactionary; as soon as the idiots on the right profess to support/oppose something all of the idiots on the left immediately take up the contrary position (and vice-versa). Then every-fucking body else blindly chooses a camp and derides the other faction for being a bunch of inbred mouth-breathers or effete sheep (respectively). Really?
Even more confounding is that both sides seem to be betraying their deepest held convictions in their opposition. The right is essentially advocating government intervention in the regulation of private property, whereas the left is opposing the right to peaceably protest and acting to protect a work that is used to promote misogynistic and homophobic teachings worldwide.
Fuck 'em all. I just don't get it. Don't look for me at any of your Freedom Day protests, anti-protests, anti-anti-protests, or anti-anti-anti protests - I'll be in my backyard drinking a beer and burning a copy of 'L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics'. Take that, Scientology!
Friday, September 03, 2010
What Comic Books I'm Reading (WCBIR)
A couple of months ago at Mr. Randy's bachelor pub-crawl I struck up a conversation with Devin about our nerdly pursuits. I decided to do a L&E post on comic books as a thread for *everyone* to share recommendations - Here it (finally) is:Here are the series that I'm reading right now:
100 Bullets: I currently have all 13 volumes and am working my way through 'em. I'm between vols. #7 & 8 at the moment. If you're looking for a single volume to start with, I LOVED volume 5 'The Counterfifth Detective' - It's a great stand-alone volume with an excellent plot, plus you can read it out of order without missing out on too much background.
Y: The Last Man: I'm 2 volumes into this one, and am seriously jonesing to read more. So much so that I may be tempted to break my rule and buy the next few volumes of the trades at full-price. That's saying something.
The Walking Dead: Zombies, FTW! I've had these for awhile, and decided to get to reading a few volumes before the AMC television series came out. It took a few books to get into, but now I'm hooked. I really appreciate the way this series cycles through "main" characters. It is a Zombie apocalypse, after all.
The Boys: Gundy turned me onto this one and I'm loving it. Garth Ennis always does good work, but this one is a shitload fun to read.
Transmetropolitan: Another Gundy recommendation. Imagine Hunter S. Thompson living in a Neil Stephensonesque dystopian metropolis. Good stuff.
Here are a few stand-alone Graphic Novels/Collections I'd recommend:
Marvel 1602: I love Neil Gaiman so much that I'll even buy his Marvel title (the only other Marvel trade that I own is that mediocre Kevin Smith Daredevil book). I really, really, really liked this one. I never followed any of the superhero comics, but managed to piece together who was who from all of the terrible Marvel films I've watched on cable while hung-over. The fact that I loved a book filled with characters I'm ambivalent to (at best) speaks volume about how good this is.
Black Hole: Since Gundy is always giving me advice on comics, I loaned him this one because I really loved it. He hated it. To each his own - I still say it's brilliant.
Superman: Red Son: Written by Mark Millar and penciled by Dave Johnson. Sign me up. It's about Superman in the USSR? With a soviet Wonder Woman... and Batman is a German anarchist?!?!
*Nerd Spazz*
EC Archives: I'm in love with these collections of the old 1940's-1950's EC comics. The collections are exceptionally well done and a lot of fun to read. Even if you don't recognize "EC Comics" you know the titles; Tales From the Crypt, Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales, etc. My favorite of the bunch are the Shock-SuspenStories collections. I just wish that I had grabbed more of these before Gemstone went bankrupt and the price of these collections shot through the roof.
Here's what I have on my wish-list right now:
Batman: Year 100
Neil Gaiman's Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness
Any other recommendations?
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