Month: December 2008

For Christ’s Sake say Merry Christmas

A couple of days ago I saw this news item:

(CNN) — An atheist sign criticizing Christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene was taken from the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, on Friday and later found in a ditch.

As I’ve discussed before, throughout college I was a Born Again Christian, which means that to those of you who believe I’m a back slider. Someone of faith who I knew at school is named Felicia. Her Web presence is Felicia Faith, and if you go there you will find a bumper sticker for sale that says, “For Christ’s Sake Say Merry Christmas.”

FeliciaFaith.com

I think Felicia’s sticker is a great idea. She’s stating the case that Linus makes in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” — Christmas is all about Christ. I think Christmas cards can say “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” and not offend anyone, even if the recipient isn’t Christian.

I have no problem with nativity scenes on public property during Christmas. Allowing a manger on a town common endorses Christianity no more than displaying a menorah means Judaism is favored by the local government. But I also feel that atheists are entitled say what they want as well. Freedom of speech and equal access.

Pulling signs down because they espouse a position you don’t agree with is silly and stupid. Are these people that unsure of Jesus and their faith in Him? Which brings me to tonight’s word — Stephen Colbert.

What’s up with the DVD of A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!? First it was on sale, as seen at this Amazon.com link. Here’s Stephen’s pitch for it.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/ColbertXmasAmazon.flv 440 330]

But then it apparently sold out and was available only through Amazon Marketplace sellers. But now it’s going to be “released again” on Monday. Why a separate release date? Why not just say it will be back in stock? Confusing. Anyway, I think the Colbert Christmas show is note perfect, although I suppose you have to be of a certain age to remember the ultra-corny Christmas TV specials he’s making fun of.

One of the best bits on the program is with country music singer Toby Keith, who I’d heard had gone through something of a political conversion during the Presidential campaign. The songs Keith does still sound like crank-em-out jobs to me, but this commentary on the watering down of Christmas is worth seeing.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/ColbertChristmas.flv 440 330]

Not Blue Men in Coats

While seeing Blue Man Group perform in Boston last week, I was reminded of a video I saw a few years back, with a couple of very funny Brits who call themselves Men in Coats. You will like this, I promise! I particularly enjoy the parody of 70’s “actionless” TV shows, like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Incredible Hulk. And I’m sure it’s just coincidence, but both Blue Man Group and Men in Coats use a song by The Sex Pistols in their act.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/DEC/MenInCoats.flv 400 300]

Searching comments

There’s an add-on feature for WordPress that I’ve played with a few times that extends searching to include comments. But it has a couple of quirks. It adds an index that’s seen as an error by the database, and it prevents me from searching posts when I’m in the editor. Anyway, it’s enabled right now, so if you give it a try you’ll probably see it brings up posts that don’t appear to have the thing you were looking for. You’ll undoubtedly find it in the comments.

Gene Colan wins Sparky Award

The Sparky Award, given by the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, is named after Charles M. Schulz. This year the Sparky Award has been given to none other than Gene Colan. As I pointed out a couple of weeks ago, Gene is seriously ill, but he’s been feeling well enough for a trip to California. After Gene’s been back home for a few days maybe I’ll give him and Adrienne a call to offer my congratulations.

One of the first Web pages I ever composed, back in 2002, was about Gene Colan. You’ll find it at this link.

Beatles song titles hidden in ‘Emma’

Last summer I did a post on the anime called Emma. The second season is now out on DVD, and we’re watching it. Tonight we spotted a moment in a show where a ledger is being shown, but then we realized that instead of being an accounting of financial transactions, it’s a bunch of Beatles song titles. I’ve tried to make them legible in this image.

\"Emma\" anime

Jan’s Earth Mother Perspective

DogRat comment writer Jan, Arthur Godfrey fan and very nice person, has a blog. Jan needs some encouragement to keep writing, so go there and leave some nice comments. She’s on Blogger/Blogspot, and you’ll need an account with either that or Google to sign in.

http://folktress-mythoughtsonline.blogspot.com/

Jan, my suggestion is to just keep writing. A lot! Sheer quantity is the way to go, whether or not you think anybody is noticing. I don’t know how Google bloggers keep track of how many people are out there, but being my own webmaster I can see that in November I had over 7500 different addresses on the Internet accessing DogRat. But of those people, how many leave comments? An infinitesimally small percentage.