The $%*! frustration thread

[Thought]

booby trap?

[FouCapitan]

Locks?

[Mr Bekkler]

Locks?

With a combo, so she can't copy the key while you sleep. Worst case scenario.

[Daniel Krispin]

Either your god doesn't exist as you imagine him or he does exist but doesn't give a flying fuck about humanity.

There are so many potentialities, I find the entire argument (on either side) to be overly simplistic. It very well may be that god isn't omnipotent. Or it may be that god is omnipotent and just has higher priorities than humans, but that he still cares to a degree (sort of how a human might care for a pet but will go to greater lengths to save a loved one who happens to be human). Or it might be that god is omnipotent and has willingly limited himself (take Christianity, for example; if one follows the religious cannon of the religion, the question isn't why God lets bad things happen, but why do Christians let bad things happen, seeing as Christians claim to be the indwelling of the divine). Or god exists, is omnipotent, and omni-benevolent, and we just have a mistaken perception as to what is good and bad. There are so many possibilities that it seems foolish to attempt to claim any single one without further evidence.

This universe is unimaginably vast and beautiful. To think that we are at all important enough in that grand scheme of things to warrant divine intervention is hugely egotistical.

Huh, so size and beauty determine importance?

So, is someone who is 6ft tall more important than someone who is 5ft tall? Is a supermodel more important than your significant other?

Indeed, is the United States inherently more important than England because it is larger and contains a greater number of beautiful sights?

Or perhaps you are merely claiming that it is only pass a certain size and degree of beauty that these factors become significant? Akin to how certain laws of physics only seem to apply at certain scales. If so, could you hypothesize at the scale necessary before these considerations become important?

It may well be that the earth and humans are unimaginably unimportant in the universe, but I must say that I find mere size to be an inadequate means of calculating such.

Heh, Tolkien said something similar, who anticipated or had heard such comments before. Though I cannot find the precise quote, it does run along the lines of saying the world itself seems rather small and insignificant to those who only consider size and grandeur rather than subtlety and precision.

[Thought]

I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who opened my eyes to the curiosities of the argument-from-grandeur, and I know Lewis was a fan of Chesterton. It wouldn't surprise me if Tolkien was as well, or at least got a second hand dose of his writings from Lewis.

[teaflower]

Alright, what I'm thinking I'll do is every time she does it, I'll call her on it. If that doesn't work, I'll start going into her room without knocking. Because obviously she wants to be treated like that, so... might as well.

Frustration = lack of sheet music for awesome songs. I've gotten into VOCALOID, but in order to decently perform the awesome songs I want to perform, I need the sheet music for the song. I can get video game music easily, but it's another thing to get decent Utena sheet music. I have yet to find a decent Rinbu Revolution file. Also, I CANNOT READ JAPANESE. So I can't make Miku sing faster or slower.

EDIT: UGH. Her excuse is that my door is open. I'm sorry, but it was open a crack. When her door is open more than a crack, I must knock before entering her room. So you know what? Screw her. Screw her and her stupid ass rules. I'm sick of it.

[FaustWolf]

Thought -- have you been watching EWTN? A G.K. Chesterton show was actually on last night. I turned to that channel precisely because I was pissed that I couldn't find either The Ten Commandments or Jesus of Nazereth anywhere on TV during Easter. Really -- Hollywood does religion so much better than clergy. If you hand the Bible to well-trained scriptwriters, the theme becomes humanist and rather consistent. But still colored by 1950s sensibilities. Someone should totally do a movie in which Mary Magdalene is a cyborg ninja who enables Jesus to complete his mission.

For that matter, I'm pissed that there are no shows about the Prophet Muhammad on Western TV during Ramadan, about Vishnu on whatever his day is, or about a leading Atheist figure on whatever day Atheists celebrate as their...awesome day.

[Asafigow]

Um, if you have Cox cable it would have been on channel eleven which is KPBS. In fact it would be on KPBS anyways, even if you didn't have cable. Sorry you missed it, man. It was pretty good.

[Mr Bekkler]

Someone should totally do a movie in which Mary Magdalene is a cyborg ninja who enables Jesus to complete his mission.

Have you seen Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter? Jesus saves Lesbians from Vampires or something, I haven't seen it yet. Come on, Netflix!
or Jesus Christ Supercop? Based on this, you'd probably appreciate it. "My stigmata's acting up...Something's wrong!" and "Nietche! You killed my father!"

whatever day Atheists celebrate as their...awesome day.

Halloween. It's pagan, which is close enough as far as the 700 club is concerned.

[FaustWolf]

Have you seen Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter? Jesus saves Lesbians from Vampires or something.

I have made a solemn vow to check that out. If Jesus' goal was not to save the lesbians from each other, Western society has indeed made progress.

PBS is ironically the one channel I didn't even think about checking, Asifagow.

[Mr Bekkler]

Have you seen Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter? Jesus saves Lesbians from Vampires or something.

I have made a solemn vow to check that out. If Jesus' goal was not to save the lesbians from each other, Western society has indeed made progress.

The lesbians may be the vampires that he fights but I'm pretty sure he saves them. Either way there's Jesus, lesbians, vampires, and a luchador (which kinda connects it with the Chrono theme! Thanks Greco, you came in handy for once!) and it's supposed  to be a comedy. I can't wait for it, honestly.

Jesus Christ Supercop is far more obscure, the only version I've ever seen (or known to exist) was on a bootleg VHS tape, and I think it comes in three episodes, but it may have just been a crappy copy. It was super low budget and had one of the most clever scripts including Jesus that I've ever even heard of.

[Thought]

Thought -- have you been watching EWTN?

Nope. As far as I know, this is the first time I've heard of it, too.

My family doesn't go fancier than broadcast TV. If we had cable or satalite (as would be required to get EWTN in my area, I suspect), we'd never turn off the history and discovery channels (assuming they are still as interesting as about 7 years ago).

I've mentioned this movie before, but I'm not sure if it was to you. If you ever get a chance to watch the BBC's movie, "Son of Man" you definately should make all reasonable and unreasonable attempts to do so. I've only caught the clips incorporated into Philip Yancey's "film" for the Jesus I Never Knew (great book by and by, its made me lean more towards liberalism) but they are hilarious and powerful. There is something about a short, pudgy, and passionately angry Jesus that works so well.

For that matter, I'm pissed that there are no shows about the Prophet Muhammad on Western TV during Ramadan...

That would be nice, but it is quite understandable. After all, to my knowledge most Muslims frown on any depictions of Muhammad. So the largest potential audience for such a show would be offended by such a show.

... or about a leading Atheist figure on whatever day Atheists celebrate as their...awesome day.

Well National DNA Day is coming up. Could always celebrate by watching Richard Dawkins

Halloween. It's pagan, which is close enough as far as the 700 club is concerned.

Only sort of. Halloween is very much a traditional Christian/Catholic Holy Day, though it was also a pagan holy day. But when the Christian Church literally has a holy day for every calendar day, you have to expect some overlap, both in time frame and theme.

Of course, the 700 club would generally not consider Catholics to be Christians.

[Romana]

Someone should totally do a movie in which Mary Magdalene is a cyborg ninja who enables Jesus to complete his mission.

Kinda reminds me of this.

[FaustWolf]

That would be nice, but it is quite understandable. After all, to my knowledge most Muslims frown on any depictions of Muhammad. So the largest potential audience for such a show would be offended by such a show.

Very true, and I think that presents a huge cross-culture accessibility problem. There were two such movies managed that I know of (Muhammad - the Last Prophet) and (The Message), and they creatively got around the problem by portraying Muhammad from a first-person perspective. Kind of like Doom.

Hahaha! Yeah Pyt, I've seen Jesus vs. The Terminator and it's got to be one of my all-time fave Youtube videos. That should be shown in Sunday schools, because it gets the message across very beautifully and succinctly.

[Mr Bekkler]

Halloween. It's pagan, which is close enough as far as the 700 club is concerned.

Only sort of. Halloween is very much a traditional Christian/Catholic Holy Day, though it was also a pagan holy day. But when the Christian Church literally has a holy day for every calendar day, you have to expect some overlap, both in time frame and theme.

Of course, the 700 club would generally not consider Catholics to be Christians.

All Hallows Eve. Pagan. Stolen by Christians to replace All Saints Day, which used to be in May (and that date was taken from another pagan holiday) and was moved to the end of October/beginning of November by a Pope. It also has roots in the Celtic holiday called Samhain.

What's funny is that "pagan" doesn't mean anything other than "not Christian". If you have any non-Christian religious beliefs (or lack of belief) you are a pagan as far as they are concerned.  The concepts of witchcraft and the devil came from...pagans!

And Pat Robertson and the 700 Club are the worst of the worst when it comes to religion. They push their beliefs on people (evangelism, ugh!), refuse to acknowledge that non-Christians can do good in today's world, would probably be the first to go kamikaze suicide bomber on some unsuspecting building, and are some of the most close-minded people I have ever seen (or met).

Edit: I don't have a problem with real Christians (Open minded, pleasant, accepting people of other faiths). But extremists in any religion are no good for anyone, as you may agree (Nazis, Al Quaida, religious war in general)