Walkies
My girlfriend's grandmother is in town. She has her dog with her. It's a West Highland terrier called Ella. We got up Saturday morning to take this dog for a walk. I was distracted by the barber's shop and so dropped in to have my head trimmed. The barber wasn't completely accurate, nor was he tender, but he still did a reasonable job.
After I rejoined the dog-walking, we came back to the house where I discovered a comment from "Tarrant", a 15 year old nerd, on my World's Worst 100 Websites blog. I have, since, left a comment of my own. In essence, the kid's comment was something like "I think your list sucks". My response was "I think your spelling sucks". I reckon we're even.
To Brighton
After some sitting around on Saturday, we headed to Brighton to see Jerry Springer The Opera. This show has been edited slightly since we saw it on the West End. Knowing the show as much as I appear to, I noticed the edits. The biggest edit was in "God"'s song, which had a whole new verse added. Very nice.
As we entered the venue, we were flyered by some Christians. I respect their right to hand out flyers and hold their opinions. I even read their flyer - also full of spelling errors. It's strange. In some ways I see their opinion - they consider the religious figures so holy and important that the apparent mockery of them in the show is taken as personally as if Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas had written a musical about one of them's mother and then tried to explain that it wasn't meant to cause offence or harm. However, the real reason that they Christian's took offence is probably the same as the reason that some of the people left the auditorium during the show. As one couple walked out about 10 minutes before the end, I heard the reason vocalised - the over-primped girl said to her boyfriend, in protestation as they left, "I just don't understand it."
The flyer about JSTO claims to have been written by an anonymous person who has seen the show. I doubt he or she understood it. Had they understood it, they would have realised that the second act raises some important moral and theological questions. Does religion adequately explain the depraved nature of society? Is the garden of Eden story fair? To quote the libretto - "For one little apple on a little tree, we get a life of grief and misery" to which Jesus replies "You had your chance and you blew it". The net result of original sin, apparently, is the sort of depravity which is so glamourised by the Jerry Springer Show and the false idols that are the likes of Springer himself - a man who cannot solve your problems for you. The best he can ever muster is a sort of laissez faire amorality, which appeases everyone and noone. And that's the message of JSTO. Christianity doesn't like to see its religious icons used to illustrate this point, but sod them, JSTO is funny and good.
My girlfriend's grandmother is in town. She has her dog with her. It's a West Highland terrier called Ella. We got up Saturday morning to take this dog for a walk. I was distracted by the barber's shop and so dropped in to have my head trimmed. The barber wasn't completely accurate, nor was he tender, but he still did a reasonable job.
After I rejoined the dog-walking, we came back to the house where I discovered a comment from "Tarrant", a 15 year old nerd, on my World's Worst 100 Websites blog. I have, since, left a comment of my own. In essence, the kid's comment was something like "I think your list sucks". My response was "I think your spelling sucks". I reckon we're even.
To Brighton
After some sitting around on Saturday, we headed to Brighton to see Jerry Springer The Opera. This show has been edited slightly since we saw it on the West End. Knowing the show as much as I appear to, I noticed the edits. The biggest edit was in "God"'s song, which had a whole new verse added. Very nice.
As we entered the venue, we were flyered by some Christians. I respect their right to hand out flyers and hold their opinions. I even read their flyer - also full of spelling errors. It's strange. In some ways I see their opinion - they consider the religious figures so holy and important that the apparent mockery of them in the show is taken as personally as if Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas had written a musical about one of them's mother and then tried to explain that it wasn't meant to cause offence or harm. However, the real reason that they Christian's took offence is probably the same as the reason that some of the people left the auditorium during the show. As one couple walked out about 10 minutes before the end, I heard the reason vocalised - the over-primped girl said to her boyfriend, in protestation as they left, "I just don't understand it."
The flyer about JSTO claims to have been written by an anonymous person who has seen the show. I doubt he or she understood it. Had they understood it, they would have realised that the second act raises some important moral and theological questions. Does religion adequately explain the depraved nature of society? Is the garden of Eden story fair? To quote the libretto - "For one little apple on a little tree, we get a life of grief and misery" to which Jesus replies "You had your chance and you blew it". The net result of original sin, apparently, is the sort of depravity which is so glamourised by the Jerry Springer Show and the false idols that are the likes of Springer himself - a man who cannot solve your problems for you. The best he can ever muster is a sort of laissez faire amorality, which appeases everyone and noone. And that's the message of JSTO. Christianity doesn't like to see its religious icons used to illustrate this point, but sod them, JSTO is funny and good.
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