IT'S ALIIIIVE....A Super-Post to Make Up For My Hiatus

Okay, so I haven't posted here in...almost a year. Mostly because I'm utterly lashed down by homework. So I'm just going to go right into the Awesome of the Month.

1) DARWIN DAY - February 12 was Darwin day, and I was the only person in town who seemed to be aware of this. I celebrated in private, but it was still awesome.

2) RELIGULOUS - My review, cross-posted from my private blog to save time:

So I FINALLY got to see Religulous today, after waiting since fall for it to show within 100 miles of where I live.

...I loved it, obviously.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't agree with Maher on everything. I don't expect to agree with him on everything, as I don't expect to agree with anyone on anything. However, he was absolutely brilliant, if a bit pretentious, in this.

Basically, he goes around talking to various religious people, presenting them with evidence contrary to their belief, and eliciting some very...revealing responses.

Some memorable quotes....

From the ever-brilliant senator of Arkansas..."You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate." Yeah, I think we could figure that out, based on the fact that you also seem to think the Earth is 6000 years old and don't have any grasp of basic biology.

And Bill Maher, of course. "If you belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence, and sheer ignorance as religion is, you'd resign in protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler - a mafia wife." THIS. SO MUCH.

Frankly, if you ever want to know exactly what I think of the Judeo-Christian religions, watch this movie. XD

Rating...8 out of 10, if I take out my OMG-a-movie-that-doesn't-perpetuate-ancient-myths bias. Use caution with children, as it does have a lot of less-than-vague sex/porn/fun stuff references. Especially when he talks to the "ex-gay" guy, and the gay Muslims. Trust me, you have to see it to believe it. For those who aren't challenged in the area of accepting natural bodily functions, it's absolutely hilarious. Prudes will probably be gasping in horror every 5 minutes.

3) WHALES - The new National Geographic series Morphed is detailed, interesting, and, well, evolutionary. I haven't caught the turkey show yet, but the whale show is amazing. I was hooked the whole time.

4) EVOLVE - One of the last things I would expect to see from the History Channel (which is usually pretty biased), I convinced my parents to get me the DVD for this so I could watch it straight through. It provides a lot of information that is useful for counteracting creationist claims - there are entire shows devoted just to one thing, like eyes, skin, flight, and guts.

5) NOT THE FUNDIES - I was surprised at the volume of creationists at my school - and I even have one in my biology class. We will be going into evolution next week. This will be interesting. I'll keep you posted.

And the obligatory bit of poetry....

Yes, I've seen the future -
He says -
Yes, it's spray painted on the
gravestones of the
dead.

A Review of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

There's all this bunk about Breaking Dawn, the (hopefully) last book in S. Meyer's Twilight series. There are really no words to describe how mind numbingly bad these books are, and Breaking Dawn has to be the worst thing ever published since Anne Rice went Christ-nut.

If you've read the first few books, you know that Bella is a whiny bitch, Edward's a controlling abusive bastard, and Jacob is the only redeeming quality of the whole series. Add the ever-mounting misogynism and heterocentrism, and it's no surprise that Stephenie Meyer is a devout Mormon housewife, though it is a bit of a mystery how she achieved her degree in English. It probably has something to do with going to BYU, a.k.a. The Party School for All Those Hopeless Utah Prudes.

Of course, most people knew from the start that Twilight was just dreamy self-insert fiction, because, really, who the hell publishes a story about the sparkling vampire they saw in a mystical dream in which they were in a utopian meadow. However, it does worry me how many gullible young girls got sucked into the cult and didn't snap out of it when Breaking Dawn came out.

Why am I so worried? How about I make a list of the main themes of BD:

• Bella gets pregnant with a mutant child who is eating her insides, and refuses abortion, because teh poor lwettle babiez.
• Edward becomes an ever more controlling bastard.
• Bella decides that she's too good for college and becomes Edward's lovely little powerless housewife.
• Jacob imprints on Bella's daughter, completely ruining the only good character in the book.
• Bella becomes a delightful little Mary Sue of a vampire.

Therefore completely wiping clean a hundred years of struggling for equality just so that poor little deprived Meyer (who has 3 kids) can have her happy ending with her abusive vampire dream-boy.

And thus another reason to hate religion. Brainwashing people by trying to use love as an excuse for unequality, misogyny, pedophilia, and homophobia. Really fucking classy.

-Com, who hates the institution of marriage and will not be caught without a Ph.D by the time she's thirty.

Dammit. I need a....cracker?

So I finally caved and got a Twitter, which I'm really starting to regret because it's damn addicting. Plus I think it's hilarious how they use the word "follow." Was the cultish aspect of that an accident or deliberate? Oh well.

So I've been eagerly following the fallout of the Christ on a Cracker incident, and, for the most part, laughing my head off at it all. You know you're in really high times when people get death threats over cartoons and crackers. I'm tempted to attempt this kind of blasphemy myself - hey, it could be fun. Think of all the things one could do.....

In other news, I've been procrastinating on pretty much everything (it's summer, what do you expect?) and so I doubt that I'll be getting anything much done on The Darkened Face of Heaven until fall. I have a mound of homework to do, plus other stuff I actually volunteered to do, and, to top it all off, a wedding to go to. Which is going to be just dandy, because I'm going to feel so incredibly welcome in a church in east Texas while my sister goes willingly into holy slavery...I mean, matrimony. My opinion of marriage isn't high to begin with, and when you put religion into it it goes from "tolerated" to "abhorred" pretty quickly.

I also have to read Tom Sawyer and When the Legends Die, the latter of which will probably put me to sleep. I hate survival books. The only really good survival book I know is Hatchet, and The Call of the Wild in close second. All the others bored me to death. I just hope we don't have to read Narnia. The only thing worse than C.S. Lewis is C.S. Lewis trying to be imaginative and compelling. He would have been better off writing technical manuals.

Because my muse is nonexistent today, I present you with one of my inspirations for my book. This song is on Within Temptation's Heart of Everything CD, which is one of my favorite CDs ever. They are a lot like Nightwish, but without the Heavy Metal aspect for the most part.

Blinded to see the cruelty of the beast
It is the darker side of me
The veil of my dreams deceived all I have seen
Forgive me for what I have been
Forgive me my sins

Pray for me 'cause I have lost my faith in holy wars
Is paradise denied to me 'cause I can take no more?
Has darkness taken over me, consumed my mortal soul
All my virtues sacrificed, can Heaven be so cruel?

-The Truth Beneath the Rose by Within Temptation

*insert corny rock joke here*

I feel bad for Cummingtonite. I mean, really, what an unfortunate name for a rock. I'll bet you anything that he was the rock that got teased all through school - "Hey, you!" "What?" "Are you really Cummingtonite? Hahahahahahaha!" Among them as well are Arsole, Dickite, and Moronic acid. So here is my ode to unfortunately named minerals/molecules/substances (to the tune of "I've Been Everywhere.")

I was surfin' the net one fine (hot as hell) summer day
When along came an idea that I thought might be okay
I remembered a thing called "Cummingtonite," right
And I figured - that couldn't be the only funny one on site!
I found a site that listed named for funny substances you see
Now I know where the teachers got the words for that damn spelling bee!

Now I've seen everything, man
I've seen everything, man
Read about arsole, man
Laughed at bastardane, man
Of munchnones I've had my share, man
I've seen everything.

I've seen:
Dickite
Fukalite
Fucitol
Arabitol
Erotic Acid
Traumatic Acid
Crapinon
Bis(pinacolato)diboron

Now I've seen everything, man
I've seen everything, man
Read about arsole, man
Laughed at bastardane, man
Of munchnones I've had my share, man
I've seen everything.

I've seen:
Penguinone
Nonanone
Vaginatin
Clitorin
Apatite
Carnallite
Uranate
Furfuryl Furfurate

Now I've seen everything, man
I've seen everything, man
Read about arsole, man
Laughed at bastardane, man
Of munchnones I've had my share, man
I've seen everything.

I've seen:
Draculin
Conantokin
Windowpane
Churchane
Psicose
Godnose
Ovalene
Sexithiophene.

To read about everything mentioned here and more, Molecules With Silly or Unusual Names.

-Com, who has way too much time on her hands

To the fundies...

If you don't want me to think you're stupid, then for the love of the whales, don't ask stupid questions. Really, the basic ones are fun at first, but they really start to get on your nerves - morals, hatred, Pascal's Wager, etc. And then there's the question of reason for living. Pfft. Like Christians have any reason for living beyond popping kids out, fearing going to hell for suicide, and annoying me. So. I've compiled a not-so-short list of why I live.

I live for knowledge
I live for experience
I live for the places
I live for the faces
I live for the mountains
I live for the glaciers
I live for the valleys
And earthquakes, what shakers.

I live for the whales
I live for the oceans
I live for the waves
And icebergs well frozen
I live for the cats
I live for the dogs
I live for the rats
I live for the hogs.

I live for ice cream
I live for love
I live for chocolate
(More so the above)
I live for family
I live for friends
I live for the sun
The moon its pretense.

I live to be big
And I live to be small
I live for the life
That we have in us all
I live for the sunset
And for the sunrise
I live for the things
I can see with my eyes.

So, you can see
My life is complete
Really it is - you can never compete
I strive to be great
But remember I'm small
Something we have to keep in mind
In the conscience of all
I have no great plan
I have no destiny
I have only the places
Where my dreams can take me.

-Com

Awesome of the Month

1) Acadia University, Nova Scotia - Dream school (which I only recently found out about. Originally, Dartmouth was my dream school, but to hell with that. I'm going to Canada.) Has an Earth Sciences department, whereas Darmouth is a Liberal Arts school where I would have gone if I wanted a totally useless degree in English.

2)


Best commercial ever. Should by our global anthem. *waves Earth flag*

3)Frets on Fire - Addicting PC equivalent of Guitar Hero. Hard as hell even on Supereasy (and this coming from someone who plays violin) but tons of fun.

The poetry is going pretty much nowhere at the moment. My muse is nonexistent right now, plus I'm in contact with an awesome friend of mine who I love to co-write with (she disappeared for about 3 months. Woe.). So I will be a little busier this summer.

Oh His Noodley Appendage, I'm Insane

I am now considering Geology for a career (or, if you want to get technical, field of study).

Why yes, I am insane.

I can't in good conscience live off poetry - I love poetry to bits, but I also get depressed very easily if I'm not exposed to new things. To give you a little perspective: I love school and learning, but I get completely and utterly exhausted by the monotony of it all. There's also little to no money in poetry unless you write something of the caliber of Shakespeare, which, in today's world, is akin to drilling oil from a water fountain.

To further convince you that my choice is not completely wacko, I present my case: creativity is directly linked to depression. No joke. I've seen it happen, in others and in myself. Name one creative person that didn't go through depression in one way or another - Beethoven? Yep. Van Gogh? Yep. Edgar Allan Poe? Yesiree. Hemingway? You got it. Plus, I have most of the respected scientific community on my side. Not that you care if you're a cdesign proponentsist, in which case I invite you to - ah, yes, where was I...

I'm thinking Geology for several reasons. For one, I want to travel. Desperately. Two, I love rocks, what makes up rocks, what effects rocks, and why everyone should think rocks are sexy. Three, I want to by able to have a talk with a cdesign proponentsist, point out a rock three feet away, and observe that it is older than their dear old sky pixie. And four...well, it sounds pretty cool.

I'm currently looking into Canadian Universities, because Canada is awesome, but if you drop me a line on some good geology programs anywhere, Canada, U.S. (not Jesusland, preferably - above the Mason-Dixon line), the Federated States of Micronesia, anywhere, I'll love you forever.

Now, on to poetry. In this particular poem, I wanted to convey a sort of transition - nature is reclaiming the earth, but parts of our legacy still remains, whether that is good or bad. The burnt cross symbolizes something sinister whose mask has been torn off - people seek comfort in crosses, but when you take away the false face you see the evil underneath. I'll leave you to consider what everything else in this poem means - as I've said before, things can be interpreted however you like (and I love to hear how you interpret them!).

Sunlight is a lethargic thing
Falling lazily across the forest floor
Leaves drift down from the tree tops
From a fall sky of cerulean blue.
A creek runs between shining rocks
A can washes upon a concrete shore
Where the remnants of ashes are blown by a cool wind
Where a burnt wooden cross still laughs in glee at the destruction.

-Com