*cough* *weez* *sputter*

However sick I was on Monday, that was Baby Bear Sick compared to the Momma Bear Sick I am now. I can only hope that my illness won't climb the evolutionary chain of illnesses and become Poppa Bear Sick - which means full blown pneumonia. In any case, it should make for a depressing vidblog next week. I mean heck, I won't even have the energy to pull out an AUTHENTIC Danish/Moldovan accent with which to entertain you.

Vidblog #8: National Cookie Awareness Month
Because I'm sick and not sure how much longer I'll be conscious, I'm posting this week's (two part) vidblog a bit early (four hours early in fact...). In the end, I would just like to say: "Be thankful for cookies this Thanksgiving."

Intriguingly, at the local Wendy's (well, local to the office anyway), one of the cashiers is a Hindu woman. Well, maybe I'm making an assumption. She bears the physical resemblance of an Indian woman (no, not the teepee kind) and boast that single red, painted dot that speaks of strange mysticism and a strict caste-society to the unaccustomed Westerner such as myself. So now, if I am not mistaken and this woman truly is Hindu, what's she doing tending cash at a place dedicated to the slaughter and sale of cattle? Aren't cattle sacred to the Hindu? Is she some gross hypocrite for this? What's up? Or maybe she is simply of the mindset: well, they can go to hell if they want to... and I might as well make a buck off it. I know, I know, Hindus don't likely have the same conception of hell as I do.

This also makes me wonder how a nation like India - which believes that cattle are sacred - how such a nation must view other nations (such as ours) that routinely slaughter cows by the millions every year. Are we - to their eyes - akin to the Germans who slaughtered millions of Poles, Gypsies, Jews, and others?

This also makes me regret having almost my entire knowledge of Indian culture and religion built off a foundation of Tintin and old movies like Gunga-Din.

The discussion on the effectiveness of the Pro Life Movement that has been evolving at PeopleCaution.com has sparked me to further question the Christian's responsibility for and involment in political/social activism.

There are many believers out and about in the world today who still think the best way to treat the disease of sin is by finding remedies for the symptoms. Therefore, rather than seeking to bring to an end to the corruption of spirit that makes a person want abortion to be legal, these believers seek simply to make abortion illegal. Citizens of the kingdom of God are trying to convince citizens of the kingdom of darkness to emulate the ethic and behavior of the kingdom of God while they still remain in their kingdom of darkness. And to what end?

I know. It baffles me too.

The only reason for this behavior that I can see is that these believers are losing faith in the gospel's ability to draw people to emigrate from the kingdom of shadow into the kingdom of light. The only reasons I can see for this kind of doubt are twofold: their pastors and elders are not properly proclaiming to them the gospel (thereby building and renewing their faith on a weekly basis) and they are indulging too much their flesh (and should their for be rebuked and exhorted into greater faith).

So then, what is the proper means to obtaining the kind paradigm shift needed to halt the continuation of abortion, of homosexual marriages, and littering. Certainly not Christian political activism for that can at best only affect the symptoms of the disease. At worst, it will either remain completely ineffective or it will foster an environment of fear and repression (as in early American theocratic governments). Instead, wouldn't it be more ideal to follow in the path of Christ and the early church?

And what is this path? The simple-yet-promised-to-be-effective path of evangelism. No really, if you want someone to stop aborting, homosexualizing, and littering, the best means to that end is making their overriding joy the joy of gospel living. Not that a discontinuation of sin is the goal of salvation, but you know what I mean. Why should we waste our time exploring questionably effective methods developed and touted by the world, by the kingdom of darkness, when we have been given a method that God himself approves - after all, faith comes by hearing the proclaimed word, right?

Right?

Vidblog #7: Daft Punk

I'm excited for the new battle for Troy movie, but I am saddened that it doesn't seem from the website or any of the promotional material that the gods play any part in the proceedings. To me, half the fun is witnessing their petty and anxious interventions. I've definitely seen the potential for a wonderful telling of the events sans mythological elements viaAge of Bronze, but I just really wanted to see that old mythology come to life. Well, maybe we'll have better luck with a cinematic The Odyssey or maybe a new and improved Jason and the Argonauts.

Since I mentioned it, if anyone wants a good primer on the events leading up to the great siege of Troy, I highly recommend Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze as it exists currently as a true primer. Eventually to fill eleven volumes, the series thusfar has only been collected into a single volume that follows events right up until the point of the launching of the thousand ships - before the seige begins in earnest. He offers believable and motivated characters who's actions make sense and should develop into a beautiful tale of love and vengeance, honour and courage, shame and dignity. Shanower also pays little heed to the interests of the gods in his rendition of the fabled seige (and explains his reasons in a gratifying afterword.

Completely at a loss over what to write about today, I resort to answering a question that I have never been asked: What do you think the most important invention of the 21st Century will be?

Those of you who pay attention will know immediately the gravity of such a question. And you will also know that this will be impossible to answer. Great inventions always take us by surprise. Nobody in the 19th Century would have expected or predicted the rise of television. Even science fiction can only extrapolate from the direction of current invention (except when stepping wholely into the realm of fantasy - as in time travel stories and in teleportation stories). I mean, even in traveling to the moon, men used cannons and rode in what amounted, in the end, to giant bullets.

So since I can't invent something beyond my technological conception, I'm gonna say biotech will increase to the point where mankind will be able to aid our brain capacity and processing speed via the use of technology. This will first appear in military endeavors, counter-intelligence, and diplomatic affairs but will later become more widely and cheaply available to the public.

And after that, they'll invent vegetables that taste like steak and potatoes.

And after that, they'll discover that secondhand smoke really does nothing except make the air cloudy.

Did you know there's a National Marriage Protection Week? There is also a World Cabbage Day. A National Donut Day. An International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. A Patriot Day. An HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. I suspect all these upstart holidays overlap as well so we'll have 31 March being both National Memory Game Day and the World Day of Bushy Blond Hair-dos Day. This strikes me as either highly dangerous or highly insipid.

What danger? ask you. Well, quite clearly one day ain't big enough for the two of 'em - especially since these days don't claim part of the day but the whole day for themselves (very selfish if you ask me). Soon we'll have fakeroutter holidays lying dead in the street, dead from their misplaced ambition and the mistake of going head-to-toe against a bigger, badder, wannabe holiday. It'll become a return to the days of the Wild West before you can blink twice.

But you know? A little anarchy like that will probably be good for our constitution. We live in a soft society (as clearly evidenced by the fact that everyday has one or three holidays going on in it). This cushiony life that we've led for the last fifty years makes it near-darn impossible for us to relate to other nations (for those of you wondering, other nations are those unpopular American states - the ones that have yet to crack the Top Fifty American States poll and make it onto the flag - you know, places like Canada, France, Morroco, Azerbijan, and Iceland... oh yeah, and other nation are frequently held back from Top Fifty popularity by their negligence in adapted to social mobile languages, customs, or skin hues).

That's right. I also mentioned that these minor holidays were insipid, didn't I? But you all are bright enough to have figured that out for yourselves, right? So I won't even get into that. It would just turn into me beating a dead horse. And we all no how dull that can be. Unless the horse has a silly hat and party poppers, that is.

Oh yeah, and this reminds me. I just wanna let you all know that it's official: 25 December is now Worldwide The Dane Appreciation Day/Week. Let the anarchy begin.

Vidblog #6: Hail to the King

Re: The Matrix ³
At least somebody gets it (be forewarned, this could have been written by Jett Superior - and you know what that means)

Because I can....

I was going to treat you to the surreality of a monkey dancing in a barrel, but no, instead I'll treat you to the surreality of...

Vidblog #5: Courage in the Face of No Sun

Ah Halloween! I'm hard-pressed to believe that its not the coolest holiday ever invented. Sweets. Snacks. Masks. And the sacrifice of young virgins. Hmm, sounds like a Stanley Kubrik movie. But in any case, here are the pictures of our vaunted celebration:

[UPDATE: 35 new pictures added with special thanks to Mike-E!!]