urbpan: (God Sleeps)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2007-11-30 05:32 pm

Random

I'm going to type my random post as I read my friends list, since that's where a lot of the fun stuff comes from.

First, if you ever read superhero comics any time between 1990 and now, you must read this eye-wateringly funny dissection of The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings. For the rest of you, Rob Liefeld is an inexplicably popular comic artist who pioneered the "millions of tiny lines" style of superhero rendering. His drawings always looked to me like he'd taken the finest rapidograph he had and made sketchy scratchy lines with a ruler all over everything, especially the absurd musculature of the male characters and the gigantic guns they carried. He was so popular that he got his own comic book (X-Force) and when he felt he wasn't getting paid enough, he took his ball home, and along with his buddy Todd "Spawn" (hey, at least they made a movie of it) MacFarlane they started IMAGE comics, which were momentarily profitable until even 12 year old boys realized they sucked. Anyway, it's funny.

On the other hand, a good artist, and former classmate of mine Mr. Reusch painted some boobs for charity.

Evel Knievel died at 69, making me ponder, "He was only 69?" as well as "He didn't die in a motorcycle crash? How disappointing." When he was on his way out his family should have propped him up on a motorcycle and driven it by remote control into the Snake River Canyon.

My wife's dog is on dope. She (my wife) blanched at the price, but 120 bucks for happy pills seems reasonable to me. I wonder if they work on humans; I could use a little pick-me-up.

Another former classmate of mine, G. Weir, put a review of Lost in Space up at BBT that puts my Soylent Screen backwash to shame. The man can write--he definitely put more thought into the movie than the people who wrote it--just don't bug him about the spelling, ok?

Oh, and what's with this crap in the Sudan? As if I didn't already consider the place to be a savage hellhole, some poor teacher (a Brit doing her good deed by teaching in a savage hellhole) got arrested and nearly escaped being executed for the crime of allowing her students to name a teddybear "Mohammed". Okay, so it's blasphemous and culturally insensitive to name a non-human animal (even a stuffed one) after The Prophet. But the kids named the teddybear after one of the students--not The Prophet. It's like naming a teddybear Christopher. Anyway, my bigotry is now increased, or at least I feel justified in it. I just don't know if I should feel increased justification of bigotry against Sudanese, Africans, Muslims, or all religious people everywhere.

And now I read in another post that the Pope has blamed Atheism (as if it was an organized movement, and not a collection of disinterested New Englanders, smug sci-fi fans, and All of China) for great forms of injustice and cruelty or some such crap. I'm edging toward "all religious people everywhere" as the answer to my last quandry.

unusual word combination of the day: "Abortion Storms." one of the pathological signs of a certain bovine virus. i read it on a bioterrorism alert poster.

[identity profile] cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized modern-day atheism in a major document released today, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known to mankind.

He needs to study some history.

$120 for a months worth.

[identity profile] aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Lol! Yeah, ever hear of the Inquisition? Who was behind that again? Oh, the catholic church, of which the pope is numero uno.

[identity profile] cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
the crusades even??

i guess that was reasonable killing for a good purpose.

[identity profile] silvaerina-tael.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
Let's not forget the crusades, shall we.

[identity profile] sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know if you've had any reason to read any of Jhonen Vasquez's comics, but Vasquez did a brilliant deconstruction of Liefeld's art and writing style back when Rob was stinking up Captain America in 1996-1997. This includes noting that his heroes were so musclebound that they couldn't move (and that their brains were in their scrotums), and his heroines were so top-heavy that they'd break at the waist and get their brains crushed by their breasts falling back on their heads. "Now some geeky teenagers are dragging her corpse back to their van!"

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I vaguely remember that. Was it in JTHM or Squee or something else? I'm late to being a ZIM fan, but I love it.

[identity profile] drhoz.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
chapter break in SQUEE in believe

[identity profile] aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com 2007-11-30 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Human anti-depressants cost about that much w/o insurance. I could use a pick-me-up too.

[identity profile] harrietbrown.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
Why do you need happy pills? I always thought you were reasonably content.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
having a down week.

[identity profile] harrietbrown.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry to hear that. I hope things pick up for you again soon. Maybe the weekend will help? Take care of yourself. I totally get where you're coming from, though. Ms. Cotton helped me out today.

In the meantime, here's a pastel Darth Vader to cheer you up!

[identity profile] silvaerina-tael.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
With regards to the poor teacher in Sudan, I rather think, just as you see here with our own right wing religious wingnuts, that it's the few wack jobs who are causing the ruckus (and the abysmal impression). I doubt that everyone in the country feels that way about the situation.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
I'd like to think that's true.

It appears there were 10,000 protesters calling for her execution "Protesters shouted: "No tolerance: execution" and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad"."

I'll never understand any culture that considers tolerance to be a vice.

[identity profile] silvaerina-tael.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
I read 1000... I wonder how bad the wingnuts here would be if we let them, and if we had fewer constraints placed on them?

[identity profile] sin-agua.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
When I went to hear the Dalai Lama speak, there were "Christian" protesters with signs outside that said "Tolerance is a lack of commitment to God" or something very similar.

Because Jesus was ALL ABOUT intolerance. *facepalm*

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Tolerance is a lack of commitment to God"

And as long there are people who believe that, there will be terrible suffering in the name of God. I think this whole "war on terror" bs should be re-examined through the lens of religious intolerance, and that tolerance should spread across the land. (I'm not holding my breath).

[identity profile] elainetyger.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
I wonder whether it is a reaction to her being a white European do-gooder. Sometimes people resent being helped, especially when they are helped by someone they would prefer to pretend doesn't exist.

My favorite New Yorker cartoon this week: a man sitting on his sofa saying to someone over the telephone, "Making a difference doesn't make a difference."

[identity profile] morgi.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
Abortion Storm sounds like a US military event, except the guys in charge are all good, peaceful Christians who are against abortion...

[identity profile] mas69ter.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 07:03 am (UTC)(link)
The Rob Liefeld thing is funny. The commentary of it anyways. I've always thought his work was crap and was giggling like mad reading through all that.

I was pretty disappointed that Evel didn't go out on a bike as well.

I'm edging towards "all religious people everywhere" as well.

[identity profile] drhoz.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
LIIIIIIIIIEEEEEFFFEEEELLLLDDDD!

[identity profile] fledchen.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 12:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, no fair, you can't throw out a term of which I'd never heard before like "Abortion Storms" and then fail to define it. My best guess would be that it's a term for large portions of a herd miscarrying their calves, but I want details.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That seems to be basically it.

No less an authority than goatworld.com is succinct:

Abortion storms (numerous abortions near lambing time)

It seems strange to us because the lack of the modifier "spontaneous." Abortion is foremost thought of as an operation performed on a patient, not a consequence of disease.

[identity profile] urb-banal.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't believe in atheism. But then I don't believe in any thing...

I thought the Pope died.

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
They're like the energizer bunny, or the phoenix. One dies and a few days later there's a puff of smoke and suddenly a new ancient and allegedly celibate man in a dress is speaking the infallible words of God himself.

[identity profile] ndozo.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
If you don't already know this site, I think you might like it.
http://www.bmovies.com/

[identity profile] urbpan.livejournal.com 2007-12-01 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, dear.

[identity profile] g-weir.livejournal.com 2007-12-02 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the mention! From now on you are proofreading all my writing.

Also, the Liefeld piece was like a transcript of Christian's thoughts. I sent it to him and made his weekend.

--G