If Rush Limbaugh is right, expect this picture in the White House soon.
August 2008 Archives
Fascinating: The Ephemerist finds a copy of a 1962 comic adapting the film The Underwater City--with the evolutionary material scratched out & replaced with divine creation:
Seen in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. More about Martin Luther's toilet troubles here.
From The Circle of Life: Rituals from the Human Family Album, Rasta kids smoke their sacred herb.
Actress Carol Castro held beads and crucifix in her Brazil Playboy shoot, prompting a court there to halt distribution after the archdiocese protested.
That couldn't happen in the U.S., right? But if she were holding a picture of Mickey Mouse . . .
The Comics Reporter posted this today in honor of Jack Kirby's 91st birthday. More about this pic--one of my favorites from the whole book--in Kirby: King of Comics.
By Luxotiq:
Introducing the Hera dildo. The Hera dildo pays homage to classic Greek sculpture, which focuses on balance, symmetry and simplicity. The human body has been immortalized in Greek sculpture, which celebrates the spirit and form of the human body and has influenced art and design throughout the ages.
The first ever, so be sure to get yours now!
You can't really get more American than this, photographed on display at Salvatore's Italian Gardens in Depew, NY:
And in the spirit of the season, here's a tourist 9/11 meditation from Overheard in New York.
To make up for the heartbreak of the nun beauty pageant being cancelled, here's a sacred heart relic upon which we can meditate about the fleeting nature of life's pleasures.
A few days ago on a walk through the city I spotted a sign for Ozymandias Realty & straightway said to my Esteemed Colleague, "Look on my works, New Yorkers, and despair!"
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York offers a revealing riff on this theme in its report on synagondos--"religious-residential hybrid buildings [that] may become more common as developers look to capitalize on a great location and synagogues look to improve their finances and physical conditions."
Social enterprise or social decay? The debate continues . . .
All the rage today: Father Antonio Rungi's nun beauty contest.
A Jezebel commenter nails where this needs to go next: "With luck this will be turned into a calendar."
Can a German body-modder reclaim an ancient spiritual symbol from its Nazi appropriators, or does this tattoo Superman & swastika cross the line? The debate ensues in the comments on this BMEZine pic.
Update: Speaking of which . . .
"The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat."
--Joe Biden, in response to Republican attacks on Democrats' faith his abortion stance
Photo above: "Packaging on the army issue rosary beads"
A classic splash page by Will Eisner.
Defending Freedom is a project of the Nevada Benefits Foundation. The aim: to raise money for charities that benefit U.S. troops and their families. The project's home page is chock-a-block with the values of the American heartland--tradition, family, civic association, a fundraiser with the Girl Scouts, a wristband touting prayer.
Not featured: this benefit in the city where the American heartland goes to play:
Scores Las Vegas will set the world record for most lap dances given during a single song this Monday night.
Scores is working in a charitable partnership with DefendingFreedom.org on the first-of-its-kind event that will feature hundreds of dancers from around the country. All proceeds from the world-record dance will be donated to various charitable organizations that aim to give back to those who have bravely served in the armed forces.
The night's festivities will be hosted by Nathan Burton of the Flamingo Hotel & Casino's "Nathan Burton Comedy Magic" and adult star Carmen Hart, who is the reigning Exotic Dancer national champion. Hart is also on the cover of the August issue of AVN magazine which explores the synergy between the gentlemen's club industry and the adult film industry.
Leveraging synergies--social enterprise at work!
Above: one of the fashion photos and portraits collected in this excellent post on the theme, "You Can Be A Virgin."
DJ Lea Luna - Posing On a Fake Halo of 13 Former Mormon Church Pulpit Microphones That Have Since Been Used To Record Songs About Pre-Marital Sex and Other Broken Commandments Upon Which Many Have So Happily Trodden, originally uploaded by merkley???.
My step dad works a desk job for the mormon church as an overseer of janitorial services and he used to hook me up with all the mics that for one reason or another were considered fucked up -- usually i could find nothing wrong with them -- some people just don't know how to plug shit in.
The Mike and Mad Dog radio show was a New York sports talk institution, until a salary dispute led to Mad Dog's sudden departure Thursday night. Yesterday Mike conducted a final show under that name, and the tone was emphatically funereal--people crying, recounting their memories, expressing condolences.
And then, pure whack.
A guy sent in photos of his recently deceased mother--one, on her deathbed, and another, as ashes in the first ever official Major League Baseball Yankees urn. The pics were shown to the camera for the TV simulcast as a way to make her an honorary participant on the last show.
Mike and the Mad Dog is a show that generates 15 mil in ad revenue a year, and the Yankees exponentially more. Yet they are both communal media, extensions of the self for fans who identify with them.
Even if it sometimes seems a bit much.
Blogspot bloggers have created a mocking award in response to Blogger's gateway to adult content. The photo above: a symbolic protest.
Mecha Manga Bible Heroes is, surprise, a Christian mecha manga adaptation of the Hebrew Bible. The gimmick: to remain scrupulously faithful to the literal text, except for the setting in a "futuristic world of aliens, robots and advanced technology." As co-creator Tom Hall explains,
"David is a young kid who has to go toe-to-toe with a giant super robot," said Hall. "Other than that, everything is what the Bible describes, down to the small details that most Sunday School versions gloss over."
Fun coincidence: the press release is datelined "Flanders, New Jersey."
A rare opportunity to see the creative mind at work--here's Vanity Kippah's prototype of a yarmulke that will never see the light of day:
[W]hen the John Edwards story FINALLY made its way the hallowed news rooms of mainstream press, my site was getting inundated by inquiries for the John Edwards Kippah. FYI, inundated means that three people in Shul suggested the “concept” to me, on condition they’d get a 85% cut of whatever I’d make. (I had to bargain down from 93.5%!)
An Edwards Yarmulke is not a good idea. For many ethical reasons, the main one being: it would not sell. Also, I am not a big fan of negative paraphernalia. Read The Secret. Positive energy is where it’s at folks. If only the McCain and Obama campaign managers would read and hearken to the message of the book.
Still, my mind wanders. And the imagination runs amok.
If you enjoy the BofG & yesterday's Vanity Kippah, be sure to check out VK's blog for more fun stuff.
From Vanity Kippah via Crunchgear. Also available: The Obamica and The McKippah.
This suede Kippah is made from leather. Fear not; the imprinting was done AFTER the hide was fully detached from the cow. The Kippah says "Don't you wish your Kippah was hot like mine?". The text and the trimming are in hot pink because that's how you & I roll.
In addition to being a Kippah, this skullcap will enhance your social skills while serving as a terrific conversational starter.
How long before Jews for Jesus knocks this off?
In Richmond, Virginia, 29-year-old Bernadette Snyder has taken a vow of perpetual virginity. Details of the ritual below, including the obligatory quote from Jerry Maguire 3:16--
Wearing a white sundress and big pink earrings, Snyder knelt in May as Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo laid hands on hers in the rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity of Women Living in the World.
He also slipped onto her ring finger a gold band--a symbol of her spousal relationship with Jesus Christ.
"He completes me," Snyder said. "I don't even know if marriage is the proper term; I feel like he's my husband."
Give me a couple-three glasses of wine and chances are I'll eventually regale you with the story of how reading the Bible in its original languages, followed by Luther in German, taught me to swear. I don't need lubrication, however, to tell you that these expletive rings are seriously cool--as well as useful for folks whose moral commitments make certain words taboo.
LP Cover Lover's verdict: "a challah of a good time!"
The Wisdom of Whores is a great book about the realities of AIDS and epidemiology. One of hte things that makes it stand out is the author's wry sense of the absurd. Via Elizabeth Pisani's blog: this abstinence thong from Daily Christian.
One of six variations on the supermodel "hot nuns" theme for the Fall-Winter 2008 issue of Pop.
Miss Clare sports spiritual symbols from a range of traditions--and a Sacred Carrot!--in this pic from the BMEZine.
Here in NYC last week: the latest JA NY Summer Show for the jewelry trade. One noteworthy trend--"enlightenment jewelry" is on the rise.
In pendants, sentimental pieces or "enlightenment jewelry"—those featuring religious or spiritual themes such as hamsa hands, luck talismans and zodiac symbols—were a favorite, especially among emerging designers at the show's New Designer Gallery.
Amma is a gura popularly known as "the hugging saint." She runs an ashram in New Delhi, sells jewelry and other devotional items in an online store, is reported to be the source of divine miracles and has won all sorts of honors from Western elites. She also is a big deal at the UN, where one of her spiritual gatherings was used as an excuse by one executive to dump a $#!+load of scutwork on me.
Outside her circle of devotees, Amma has also inspired a fair degree of criticism, which her followers do not answer with hugs. As Guruphiliac reports, they've shut down a blog, called in the lawyers and laid the smacketh down on anyone who dares to question Amma's divine love.