ZEITGEIST

We just got back, Tuesday, from the annual family camping trip near Anaconda. It was a GREAT time, misadventures included. Though, having a 2 month old baby, we didn’t stay at the campground with the family, we stayed at a “rustic” lodge a few miles from the campsite. We only slept there and spent the entirety of our days outdoors, enjoying the perfect mountain scenery.

After last year’s post about the camping trip, I was yelled at by a certain sister of mine to NOT post any pictures of her in any future posts. Funny that somebody that modelled professionally is now camera-shy. Or is it that I don’t have the $10,000 / day to pay her for the rights to the pictures? Who’s to say? BUT, nevertheless, I’ll post pictures of the kids and some of the sights that sucked me in.

Sadly my 5 year old nephew, Orin, caught the biggest fish out of any of the four of us who went out fishing. Although it was refreshing to watch my sister, mournfully, bash a fish to death on a rock for her son. He was absolutely terrified of the fish and was steadfast in his determination to eat it (which he never did).

The biggest adventure came when my sister was taking me to her favorite fly-fishing spot in the area and we got a flat in the absolute middle of nowhere. That, in itself, isn’t such a huge problem, I can deal with that pretty easily. Well, the lug wrench wouldn’t fit into the holes around the lug nuts on the fancy-ass rims on her ‘burban. So, after flagging down a passer-by and finding that her lug wrench wouldn’t fit either, we decide to ride the bikes (which she thankfully had on the rack) to the nearest home and see what help we could find. Well, it was a good 2+ miles or so to the nearest home (which, by the way, was a beautiful log home in the middle of a gorgeous forested valley). When we got there, we met Scott, the guy who’d built the home and the shop for the owners. We asked him for help and he gave us a few different deep-sockets to try out and back we rode, after getting some water for the canteens from the hose. Luckily the 19mm socket was a perfect fit and small enough to fit into the holes. So, after about 2 hours, we finally had all 4 tires back in working order and made it back to the inn where my wife was, all day, with 4 kids.

All in all, GREAT time and I’m excited as hell to do it again next year.

While perusing the newsgroups today, I saw a media file entitled “Islam - The Satanic Religion Exposed! - A Christian View Of Islam”. All I could do, once I scooped my jaw up from the keyboard, was shake my head in disgust.

For fuck’s sake, you Jesus-Freak, Judgmental assholes, it’s ALL the SAME fucking GOD. All of the big 3 religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity) are ALL rooted to the same “God”, each branched off by the particular prophet’s words they hold at their core. So, if it’s ALL the same “God”, how can any be considered Satanic?

Face it, Christians of the world, you have JUST as much concrete PROOF of the teachings of your faith as ANY OTHER faith on the planet. And that is ZILCH. There is NO concrete proof that there IS a god to begin with. That’s why it’s called “faith” people, if it were proven fact, I think ONE religion would definitely dominate the globe.

As far as Islam being an “evil religion”, Islam shares MANY of the core teachings of the Christian bible. Islam is a religion of peace. It would seem that you’ve let the actions of a TINY percentage of a MASSIVE group of people, taint your view of the group as a whole.

If we’re going to be playing that game, let’s say that Christianity is an evil religion because of the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the IRA attacks, abortion clinic bombings, the K.K.K. I could go on and on about the atrocities of the Christ-based faiths. But I hope you can see the point.

But it’s short-sighted and retarded to let the actions of a handful of people, or of the past, make you think ill of a billion and a half people. Before you go firing salvos about how evil one religion is over any other, just remember that any religions have their bad apples. Perhaps the world should base their view of Christians on an abortion clinic bomber, maybe on Fred Phelps or how about the Klan?

The WHOLE point of ANY of the big 3 religions, is to get the followers of that faith to lead good, wholesome lives by the words of that religion’s scripture. Now… How many Christians do YOU know that have led a sin-free life by the rules of their scripture? I know several Christians, but can’t think of a single ONE that would qualify as living sin-free. Perhaps all those sinners, being representative of the Christian faith, would say to me that Christianity is an evil and Satanic religion.

Some readers might be upset about this article, but if they can think objectively about the message, I’m sure they’ll get the point. But, it’s the objectivity that will be the elusive element here.

BUT, on the flipside of the coin, calling Christians “infidels” is just as short-sighted and retarded. Mind you, this is more of a fanatic’s rambling than the view of MOST followers of Islam or Judaism.

So long as people live good lives, lives of compassion, peace and love, their faith has served them and the rest of us well. No matter what religion you happen to be, if you don’t follow the letter and the spirit of your faith’s scripture, you’re only doing harm to the image of your faith.

We all just want to live happy lives with our friends and loved ones. That’s all anyone should really want, happiness with no victims of it. Money is a tool for survival in this world, but the relentless pursuit of it is empty and meaningless. Same rule applies for “things”. If you’re someone who just covets objects to be happy, you’ll never find any permanent happiness in acquiring things. Things are temporary, but being happy with your friends and family is something that will serve you well to your dying day. Happiness comes from within, not without. The new church of Materialism has a powerful hold over many in today’s society.

Food for thought, anyway.

I finally drug my old collection of Mystery Science Theater 3000 tapes up from the basement, after having not seen a single episode in many many years. I had TOTALLY forgotten what a quality show this truly was.

For those who have never seen, I recommend going to your local video store and picking up some episodes of it and check ‘em out. You won’t be disappointed… unless you don’t like shit that’s funny. Basically what it is is a show about a guy who gets trapped in space by his evil bosses at Gizmonic Institute, and forced to watch horrible old movies. And when I say horrible, I mean fucking HORRIBLE movies. He made a couple of robots who watch the movies with him and they make a running commentary over the movies as they watch them. It’s basically the show that helped Comedy Central get on the map, in my opinion. Classic shit!

My favorite 10 episodes:

1) It Conquered the World
2) Master Ninja
3) Master Ninja 2
4) I Accuse My Parents
5) “Manos” The Hands of Fate (Hands down the worst movie EVER made, seriously)
6) The Girl From Lovers Lane
8) Teenagers from Outer Space
9) Teenage Crimewave
10) Gamera vs Gaos

If you’re thinking about picking up some episodes, the Master Ninja series are a great way to get your feet wet with MST3K. Hands down one of the funniest and most original television shows in history, shame it got destroyed when it made the move to Sci-Fi Channel, but oh well. I’ve got enough recorded to keep me happy for many years to come. YAY ME!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

P.S. The Master wants you, but he can’t have you…