I just saw the new Camaro in person for the first time ever today..... God I want one so bad it stings!

Sorry for the grainy Jpeg. It says THE DECLINE AND FALL OF CHRISTIAN AMERICA.


Music to my eyes..... Long story short, the article points out that the number of Americans classifying themselves as non-religious has TRIPPLED in the past 10 years. In a recent conversation, a christian told me that I was fighting against the tide. But this article reveals the truth that the "tide" is slowly but surely starting to change. Sure Christians are still the majority, but at this rate that could be over within a few decades. Most people don't realize that while America is roughly two thirds religious and one not, the rest of industrialized Europe is the polar opposite at only 10% religious at best. It's not really out of the question to think that America could someday catch up and the fact that Newsweek is spotting this trend is encouraging.

On Newsweek's official site, I posted the following feedback to the article:
As a former christian who has since turned to atheism / agnosticism it's heartening to know that I'm not alone. And even more so to see that the impact of my decision is being felt in this country. With our numbers growing at this rate, the day may come when Christians will finally realize they have to truly LISTEN to us and try to understand where we're coming from rather than just preach at us...... Any Christians ready to lend an ear should read Sam Harris' 90 page book "Letter to a Christian Nation". And read it with an OPEN MIND. Perhaps then you will gain some understanding even if we can't agree.

Amen :-P

Somehow, every time I manage to tuck away a few grand something happens... This time, it turns out that my state tax wasn't withheld from my night job's checks so I wind up owing the ENTIRE YEARS worth. Went and had it double checked at liberty tax and sure enough, I owe it all.

Good news is I can afford it and have a little bit left over, so overall I'm still OK. Bad news is that savings was supposed to be split between my new Imac, starting my business next year, and maybe even a car. All gone.

Yeah, I can start over again and be fine. Just F#&*@#(@!!!!!!!

...........

Let me start by saying I KNOW this shouldn't be a movie to start with, but it happened regardless. Comics and film each have their distinct merits & flaws so I simply view this movie as what it was. A MOVIE. Any critiques I make by comparing it to the book are simply to say how it could have been a better movie. OF COURSE the book was better. ALL books are better than their filmed counterparts, but I'm liberal minded enough about my comics that I can enjoy a well done adaptation for what it is. So here, I give Watchmen an A for effort but a B for execution.



Part one: What you should expect to see if you're unfamiliar with the book.
The Watchmen graphic novel is a twelve part story with IMMENSE character depth that's been compressed into a 2.5 hour movie here. Having said that, if you're up on American history, pop culture references, and really know how to pay attention and pick up clues in a fast paced fashion, you'll probably enjoy this movie. For this reason, I'm afraid it's probably going to flop with American mainstream audiences. Hope I'm wrong here.

Even if you find it hard to follow, you'll still recognize flashes of genius here & there (ripped directly from the pages of the comic).

Basically, the story seems straightforward. How would American history and the world as we know it be different if there really WAS such a thing as superheroes? And if they're all powerful, who would keep THEM in check? This is very much an adult themed story where the characters act like adults. Watchmen was the first graphic novel to handle superheroes in a rated R fashion so you can expect lots of sex, violence and swearing.

Part two: My personal opinion.
All I was really looking for here was a respectful tribute to the book and for the most part think I got it. While it ran like a play-by-play of the comic's highlights, they did a pretty decent job of getting the main points across.

The film's director Zack Snyder seems to understand that the comic's creator Alan Moore prides himself on having done things with the book that can't be done on screen and wisely avoids trying. Instead he plays on the advantages of film like dramatizing the fight scenes, special effects and adding an interesting selection of relevant music. This I have to admit I enjoyed! Overall, yes, I enjoyed the movie. Probably a bit more than I thought I would.

Part three: SPOILERS & critiques! Read no further unless you've seen it or want stuff ruined.
Obviously the big change here is the ending... Snyder finds a slightly different path to what should be the same general outcome in a way that allows the film to skip over a few chunks of the book to speed things along. I want to say this is understandable and forgivable, but they really softened the impact..... You see in the book, Adrian Veidt teleports the carcass of a strange genetically crafted giant squid-like being into the heart of New York City to stage a failed alien invasion. Thus frightening the ENTIRE WORLD into uniting against a greater threat. In the film, he makes it appear as though Dr. Manhattan had attacked NYC but it only seems to have ended the cold war between Russian & the US. Similar, but not the same global impact the book had. And it really wouldn't have been THAT hard to capture in the same amount of screen time (the WORLD uniting, not the creation of the squid creature).

In the book, when he sees his plan has worked, Veidt seems genuinely pleased with himself and raises his arms proclaiming "I DID IT!". In the film, (if I remember correctly) it was more of a smug kind of "told-you-so" attitude towards the other heroes. Also seemed kind of rushed.

And of all characters, Veidt seemed the most underdeveloped. Strange for someone so important to the outcome. In the book, picture Adrian Veidt as a man with the build of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the brain of Einstein and the bank account/business instincts of Bill gates. Add to that an unhealthy fascination with Alexander the great and the Egyptian Pharaohs (that part was touched upon briefly) and you've got the character. Not only was this not taken full advantage of, but the actor just seemed way too thin (good job acting though). Just didn't seem to have the imposing mass he should have.

____________________________________________

Guessing I'll like the 3 hour DVD better, but still would really have preferred this be a 4 hour movie split into 2 volumes "Kill Bill" style... Oh well.

Happy 200th birthday Charles Darwin!

We've come a long way from the dark ages. But believe it or not, I still have a few co-workers at the restaurant who don't believe in evolution!

Here's to real truth :-)


http://www.darwinday.org/

Hackers Crack Into Texas Road Sign, Warn of Zombies Ahead

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,484326,00.html

This is why I wish I could hack. And why it's a better world because I can't.

- Xmas, New Years, and my birthday were all peaceful & quiet. Nothing against family and friends but this time around I actually enjoyed having the holidays all to myself.

- A friend of mine attended Obama's inauguration and called me at work from his cell so I could hear it live but his signal cut out at Yo-Yo Ma's performance. Appreciated the thought though!

- Didn't post this earlier but I took most of last year off from serious work on my personal art to re-charge my creative batteries. Upside to that is that I'm creatively energized, bursting with new ideas, and now doing much better work, so it's great to be out of that rut. Downside is that in addition to being behind, I'm less happy with some previous work so I'm re-doing lots of stuff :-( *sigh* One step forward, two steps back.

- Shifting gears, I've been doing more work in halftones than ever before. Specifically Prismacolor pencils. And while not everything comes out as planned, I'm really happy with the stuff that does. Pictures coming soon....... Maybe ;-)

- I'm not abandoning the idea for the self-published book of ink drawings. But rather, recycling it into another idea: A new blog where I upload a new sketch/drawing every other day. All the prior work from the book will be going on there, but since print cost isn't a concern, I'll be adding color work as well. This means Colored pencil, ball point pen, and even some acrylic paint pieces will be shuffled in with the black & white pen work.... But to be fair to myself, I want to have a years worth of material DONE before I post the first piece so I don't fall behind....... Funny, I used to fail at stuff because I didn't prepare properly, now perhaps I'm overcompensating?

- On a final note..... Acrylic painting is a bitch. I'm getting there, but *@%!#@!!

Happy 2009 everyone!

How does one create an organization for those who hate organizations? Good question......

While atheists, agnostics, and other non-religious people outnumber every other minority, they tend to not receive the same respect because of their inability to focus their efforts. Understandably so. Free thinkers tend not to conform so it's like "herding cats" as Richard Dawkins puts it.

This is what allows religious groups to get away with as much as they do >:-(



The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an organization that fights violations of church & state while asking ZERO participation from it's members. No meetings, no activities, no mandatory actions whatsoever. So it's not like belonging to a group at all. Sure there are suggested ways to take action if you choose to. But you don't HAVE to do anything outside of paying the membership fee.

The money raised is used to sue religious groups violating church & state laws, advertise non-religion on buses & billboards, give scholarships to promising atheist/agnostic kids being discriminated against for their beliefs (or lack thereof), freethought publications, and other things of that nature.

If that sounds like something you'd like to support, click here to visit the Freedom From Religion Foundation and become a member. It's only $40 a year and you don't have to do squat. They fight all the battles!

The more members & donations they get, the more firepower they have. Like I said, non-religious outnumber every other minority. Imagine if we all spoke up!

Happy new year =)

Whatever you celebrate, have a happy one!



Or as I've been saying..... Happy day off work :-P

So at the restaurant, I keep having to wait on this guy and his family who insists on bringing up Ted Turner's atheism as a negative. Here's what went down tonight:

Guy: "I saw on the news that Ted's is losing money. Tell him he really needs to read the bible to save his business."

What I did was plaster on a half-assed fake smile and act like I agreed because he tips pretty well and I don't want to jeopardize that.

What I should have said was: "Yeah, well BUSH reads it and it isn't helping the economy!"

BOO-YAH.

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On a related note. I've been growing more of a chip on my shoulder towards religion since proposition 8 passed and decided to become a more outspoken agnostic. My gay friends aren't being treated as equals, stem cell research is being held back, and groups are trying to get evolution taken out of schoolbooks all because of people who take their beliefs a little too far (to put it mildly). Enough is enough. The "Christian right" in this country really needs to be taken down a few notches.

I was a private agnostic, simply minding my own business and avoiding the topic of religion when it came up. What I am now is an open agnostic. I'll simply be honest if it comes up and mention it where appropriate. What I'm trying NOT to be is a pushy one, instigating debates with religious folk trying to mind their own business.

I know if I become TOO outspoken I'll be just as bad as them. But if I do nothing, then they're the ONLY ones speaking up and thus getting their way all the time. Can't let that happen. Not an option. Not when religion has become a lead boot preventing society from moving forward.

Besides, it's not like agnosticism is something to be ashamed of or anything.... It's simply an open-minded admission that I don't know what's out there. And that it's healthy to doubt.

Very happy to say the atheist/agnostic campaign has found it's way to the USA just in time for the holidays! This bus is now making it's way around DC:


And this one is making it's rounds too....


Unfortunately though, one was taken down:

Why? Because religious folk spoke up and no one else....... It's starting though.

Visit http:www.evolvefish.com for MUCH fun stuff! I swiped the the link from you Miri, thanks!

It's after 1 in the morning. I'm tired yet I can't sleep. So here I am posting about a movie I can't explain while even in my right mind. It's ok Chris... Just go lucid and describe the experience..... *sigh* Here goes:

A man losing his mind is staging an autobiographical play in a giant warehouse built to be a replica of the town where he grew up. It spends about 30 years in rehearsal and we stay by his side the whole time watching him try to recreate his life while living it. In a way, he's kind of in the present and the past simultaneously.

You know how sometimes in order to figure something out you have to step outside of it and look at it objectively? The main character seems to be doing that here while he's mentally losing his grip. And like life, it starts to go out of control. Just like he can't control his life on a large scale, nor can he on a small one.

What am I doing? This is a Charlie Kaufman movie. I shouldn't even be talking about it after having seen it only ONCE.

If you want your head messed with, go see it. I'll hopefully be catching it a few more times. Maybe this week! Who wants to join me?

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The 2 jobs are getting to me. The art projects are getting bigger in my head than I can control. The more I get done, the more I realize I have to do.

Just for fun, I took one of the pen drawings for the book I'm working on, traced it in black & white colored pencil, added colors in photoshop, and came up with this:


Now I wanna take the whole book (so far) and make the illustrations full color paintings instead. That plus I'm still working on ChrisMusto.net..... Too much.

Unfortunately, my red scooter died before I had enough saved for the black & gray Honda I wanted so I wound up with this:


Yellow was all they had :-(

Gotta say though, it rides a helluva lot better than my last one so I can tolerate the color for now.

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I've come to realize you shouldn't wear red in staples unless you want strangers constantly bugging you for help. Strangely though, I can wear red in target and be fine....

Just watched Obama win the election. Feels weird watching someone I voted for win (hasn't happened since the 90's) but I'm oddly happy even though I still kinda see him as the lesser of 2 evils. Still would have preferred Kucinich or Cynthia McKinney but I can live with Obama.

As of now, McCain, Palin, Huckabee, Romney, Giuliani, and Hillary Clinton are nothing more than dodged bullets. And in a few months W will be a bad memory......

Congrats Barack! Now ya' better not screw us. Unlike the rest of these lefty sheep, I'll turn on you in a heartbeat just like I did the Clintons.

Wow... I can't even celebrate victory without bitterness towards the left.... Think it's time for some sleep.

But first, to end on a positive note. I have to say that watching the electoral vote count was like watching Mike Tyson beat up Dakota Fanning. With a shovel. Hilarious :-D

G'night voters.

Late movie review: RELIGULOUS!


Gotta love that poster!

As the title implies, Bill Maher travels the globe and shows how most organized religions are quite ridiculous in nature. Your personal views on religion will pretty much dictate how you feel about the movie, and I can't really review this for you without giving my personal beliefs so here goes:

AGNOSTIC: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable ; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

Close enough. Agnosticism seems to be more of a spectrum of beliefs rather than just one, ranging from an atheist with an open mind to a spiritual person who doesn't practice any religion. I fall more towards the latter. Was raised Roman Catholic and pretty much believed it for longer than I care to admit (shocking I know). Looking back, I think most of those years I was really just a spiritual person who was accepting the answers given in Sunday school rather than looking for better ones. But even at the height of my belief I never denied evolution or believed Noah's Ark could have possibly happened.

Now though, as open minded as I may be to the idea of "some kind" of higher power, I'm pretty bitter towards the church. And watching Religulous was like being able to go back to an old job and laugh at a former boss who used to bully you realizing he's kind of retarded. Yes, formerly religious people will get a MUCH bigger kick out of this film than lifetime atheists/agnostics. I was lucky enough to have seen it from that point of view.

Bill pretty much rips into all major religions equally which is fair enough. And he doesn't really get too abrasive with people until they give him reason to (which many do). He starts off calm and cool and stays that way as long as they do the same.

The main criticism I've heard on this flick is that Maher only seems to go after the religious whack-jobs and never really points out that many people of faith are peaceful and well rounded. Fair point. As with anyone launching an attack against an institution, he shows the worst of it's members and implies that's all of them.... And that's wrong. BUT, religious whack-jobs are fun to mock! The director Larry Charles said in an interview that if more Christians (for one example) were willing to view the bible as metaphors and not word-for-word-fact, they wouldn't have had to make the film. The interviewer was referring to a Christian friend of his who said the bible was written in "Jewish poetry", rather than journalism which is probably the smartest thing I've ever heard a Christian say about their faith.

Maher also points out how a LOT of the story of Jesus story was plagiarized from the Egyptian god Horus. From the virgin birth, similarities in life right up to the crucifiction & resurrection. Personally, I started learning this a few years back while referencing the Egyptian book of the dead hieroglyphics for tattoo designs. I remember thinking "That's funny, the word 'Amen' keeps popping up". Yes, it's an Egyptian prayer word and not the only stolen theme.......... It actually makes me mad this isn't common knowledge. Would have been nice if someone mentioned that when I was in church & sunday school being told to believe this stuff verbatim.

In the end, Maher makes two main points.
1) That ALL religion is evil and needs to be abolished. While I see his point (and sort of agree), I think it's more the misuse of religion and not the idea of faith in a higher power that's the problem. My analogy is that blaming faith for the stupid things people do in it's name is like blaming a band when one of it's fans takes the lyrics literally and does something stupid.
2) Atheists and Agnostics need to start speaking up and making a place for themselves just like everyone else is. Here, I couldn't agree more. The movie points out that non-religious people outnumber most other minorities in this country and don't seem to have the same clout. No atheist/agnostic lobbies so to speak. It's about time for that to change.

I'm not one to be pushy about beliefs (I hate that) but there's a difference between being pushy about beliefs and making them available. Since no one's being forced to visit one of my sites or journal, speaking my mind on here isn't pushy. Not like I'm ringing your doorbell or starting an uninvited conversation when you're minding your own business..... T shirts, bumper stickers & posters are kind of a gray area, but since the religious folk are doing it, there's nothing unfair about the non-religious doing the same.

Here's an atheist bus campaign in the UK. Though the word "probably" makes me think of this as more of an agnostic campaign rather than atheist.


Down here in NC, this would go over like a fart in church (pun intended). And I'd be happy to see it happen!

Anyhow, go see Religulous. Even if you're religious & disagree, you should at least know what your opponents are saying about you.

I just voted (we have early bird voting here in wake Raleigh). Turns out that the Green party isn't listed on our ballots here in NC so I settled for Obama. The choices were Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, and "write in".... Don't know if a write in vote even count towards that particular party and since there was no time for research, I just went for the lesser of two evils. Just like I didn't want to :-(

But hey, NC is a swing state. At least I'll feel better if McCain loses it.

Update.... After thinking about what I posted this morning it's pretty obvious I should vote Green. It would be insanely hypocritical of me to be mad at people for not supporting 3rd parties while I myself settle for one of the two. A few months back I used GlassBooth.org to compare my views with Cynthia McKinney's and it's a perfect match so Green it is.

It's not that I'm against the Democrats or Obama per-se. Just the two party system in general.

And I find that by not belonging 100% to a side, I can avoid sticking my foot in my mouth like THIS guy:


Or like a republican who says Obama is inexperienced, then endorses Sarah Palin. Or a Democrat who defends Obama's inexperience only to attack Palin's. Or a Republican who attacked Bill Clinton's drug use in the 60's while supporting former cokehead with a DUI G.W. Bush. Or NY Republican's attacking Bill Clinton's infidelity while saying "Mind your own business" about Giuliani's.

You get my point.

It's unfortunate that voting for what I TRULY believe in may help the greater of two evils. But too bad. If not now, then when? The right-wing is ALWAYS gonna run some monster that's gonna scare us into voting for the Dems. Always. Every. Time.

Worst case scenario: If McCain wins, I survived 8 years of Bush (and didn't even get a lousy T shirt), I'll survive McCain too if need be.

But before you do... Make sure you visit http://glassbooth.org/

It's a website that gives you a short questionnaire about the issues that mean most to you, then matches you up with the best candidate based on their actions.

NOT ASKING FOR ADVICE HERE, just thinking out loud..... I really want to vote for the Green party because they reflect my personal beliefs the most, but I also don't want McCain to win. I know the green party won't win, so I'm caught between going down with what I believe in or settling for the lesser of 2 evils.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Obama at first. But after picking a VP I'm not nuts about who supported the war, recently offering a position to Colin Powell, and WORST of all, passing one of Bushes Domestic spying bills I've lost a lot of faith. Sorry, but it's NOT OK that he passed that. No it's not.

But still, I'd rather it be him than McCain. It truly bugs me that we only have 2 parties with a fighting chance in this system, and it wouldn't be that way if more people supported third parties (with votes AND donations). Even if the electoral college would never vote for a libertarian or green candidate, if the popular vote chose one I'd like to think it would show some changes would HAVE to be put into place. Doing SOMETHING is always better than doing nothing.

As much as I hate McCain, when I think of the other republicans who were up for it (Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee) I guess we could have done worse. Can't do any worse than the last one.

So there it is. Do I lose voting for what I believe in, or settle for the lesser of two evils?

Luckily I made it out to Evil Dead 2 Saturday night and it was good running in to a few of you! Next up, "repent" with Bill Maher's RELIGULOUS tonight at 7:00PM at the Rialto! Afterwards we're planing to head over to Lilly's pizza down the street to discuss what we saw (and for the BEST pizza in Raleigh).



Rialto Theatre:
1620 Glenwood Ave, Raleigh, NC 27608



My favorite review so far: Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times gave the film a rating of A-, and commented: "If he offends your particular faith, Maher will soon have you laughing at someone else's, wondering how 'those people' could be so gullible."

For the record... I once made a grilled cheese sandwich that wound up with an image of Buddha on it, but I was reeeealy hungry and ate it anyway. I'm sure he'd approve.

Evil dead 2, midnight tonight at the colony... directions & details are on the last post.

Turns out there's a 50/50 chance I'll be there... Working late and I'm gonna do my best to make it.

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Best. Commercials. Ever: