#and personal beef with catholicism specifically

[sturnellaneglecta]

It's funny seeing Catholics hate on conclave for being anti-catholic bc that movie was irritatingly pro-catholic. like i did really enjoy it but i also said out loud "oh come on!" at that character's speech at the end

[mushroominaforest]

Guys I’m sobbing look at this 😭😭😭

This is apparently what my best friend’s private Christian school teaches???

No hate to any religious or spiritual people but COME ON. This is a high school, not a church!!! That’s her education, and these people are throwing that away for the sake of spreading their stupid values! (I have personal beef w/ some aspects of Christianity and more specifically some aspects of Catholicism, so take my opinion with a grain of salt)

This stuff drives me insane, but the point is that the paragraph makes me laugh almost as much as it makes me want to commit arson. The way they’re out here dissing the theory of evolution and natural selection??? Peak comedy. The “uhhrrrmmm actually the theory of evolution could justify oppressing the weak and helpless if we believe it” HEY CHRISTIANITY??? WANNA TELL US WHAT YOUVE BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST COUPLE CENTURIES??? ANY, I DONT KNOW, OPPRESSING MINORITIES??? HMMMMM???

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Personal beef.

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Reacting to Contemporaty Comics (Without Context) 10/?

Returning to completely no context. Pre-old Loki's death, pre-everything good about my boi, pre-MCU (technically. I think it's concurrent with The-Hulk-Movie-That-Will-Not-Be-Acknowledged)

Spoilers for The Mighty Thor: Lord of Asgard #64 (2003). Also quite a lot of religious (mainly Catholic) commentary. (Actually commentary is putting it lightly. I go on a couple rants about Catholicism as an institution and the hypocrisy of the Vatican. It relates to aspects of the comic, but I'm drawing a lot on real world history and my own upbringing in the Catholic Church when I react to it. So if that triggers you or even if you feel like that will bother you, you might want to skip this one.)

This is a long one.

Who in the shit are these people?

Just call yourselves pagans and have done with it, you pretentious idiots

Thor stop being Odin. I'm about to be rooting for Loki for more than just principle

Oh I do not like this art I'm sorry

Mmkay, Imma need JP 2 to sit the fuck down and chill

"The church is quite tolerant." I'm sorry, it's what, now? Y'all drove me out for being gay and trans 16 years after this comic came out, you dumb shit

Sorry my Catholic trauma is showing

Shut UP my dude. You don't own the world. Stop

Okay I'm back to rooting for Thor if it's gonna be Thor Tells the Vatican to Fuck Off

Like (sorry I'm not done) where the FUCK does the goddamn Catholic Church get off trying to tell Thor not to go all Imperialist on Midgard's ass??? The Catholic Church! How fucking unself-aware do you gotta be to still reap the benefits of your centuries' old terror fest on the entirety of the goddamn world and turn around and be like "But he can't do the colonizing, boo hoo, it's not allowed if he's not being Catholic about it. :((( " Fucking SHUT UP

Okay rant over for now. I'm sorry, the Vatican's real world hypocrisy pisses me off too much to not address it in a comic book

NORSE. PAGANS! VIKINGS!!! What the fuck is this dumb man

this dipshit really just used the "my son" shit on THOR. You condescending son of a bitch, that man is older than you by several centuries!

(Commercial break I guess lol) The ads in this comic remind me that unlike the comics from like 2013 or 2019, or the vintage 80s comics, I was in elementary school in 2003. I remember this flavor of Kool-Aid. I don't remember what this ad is actually for, the mad voice twister (with Kool-Aid points? whatever those were), because I didn't read comics as a kid, but the flavor it's promoting I sure as fuck do.

Guys! People training to be warriors don't use real, sharpened blades, you dumbasses!

Okay, I was gonna say I was leaning slightly toward the priest's opinion after two pages of the Thor cult, but then I remembered all Catholic everything was conducted in Latin prior to like 1960 for basically the same reason these guys think they're talking like Shakespeare and actually no, you're all fanatics.

I did not expect this comic to be Religious Commentary: the Comic, with Lord in the title referring not to a medieval/Asgardian title but drawing parallels to Lord Jesus/ The (Christian) Lord

I guess I should've seen it coming. I've picked up on a lot of Judeo-Christian (I know that phrasing is contentious and for good reason, bear with me) imagery in Thor comics. Hell (no pun intended), they've been drawing parallels to the Norse gods and Christianity since Snorri (and I've commented on his Holier than Thou bullshit before)

Is there no other religion in this comic world but Thorism and Catholicism? I feel like I'm gonna look up this author and he's either gonna be an ex-Catholic or a current Catholic

You know I looked it up right after I wrote that, and wouldn't you know it, I both maybe spoiled myself and couldn't find out his religion or lack thereof. It's an interesting angle, and at the moment it feels like either a) he's specifically going after just the Catholic Church on purpose because he's got personal beef (or reverence, if the Catholics come out on top), or b) he knows Catholicism from a personal perspective (either as a current or ex-Catholic) with a lot more confidence than any other religion, and rather than risk grossly misrepresenting other religions out of ignorance or laziness or possibly more sinister reasons like an upsetting number of other white people, he has chosen to focus on what he knows (a religion which has coincidentally done quite a lot of harm to people who practice or historically would have practiced those religions he is not as well-versed in). But we're very early in the book and I also didn't read anything before or after this, so maybe Jurgens explores how other religious people respond to Thor in later pages or issues, or maybe he already did.

Oh. Oh no. When WASPs pull the religious persecution card, you know they're doing this shit for the wrong fucking reasons. (I mean, using WASP loosely here, since at least one of them isn't ex-Protestant but ex-Catholic, but the other three criteria fit these men. The demographic becomes slightly more racially diverse later in the text, but the three guys talking right now are all white.)

I'm getting flashbacks to when the Knights of Columbus came to talk to my Sunday School class in eighth grade and the guy got progressively more irritated with my classmate because he kept asking questions about the sword that came with the uniform, which supposedly was not the point of the order. I mean, c'mon, Mr. B_____, look me in the eye and tell me with confidence that the majority of those old suburban white men in your order did not join exclusively to get a sword. For the record, my (unknowingly) transmasc genderfluid ass was also extremely interested in the sword, but I was already aware I was barred entry into the order, and also already pissed that I'd officially been confirmed and then told I was not allowed to be gay, trans, ordained, or a knight by Catholic standards, two of which I already was but as yet unaware, one I wanted to be now out of spite, and one I'd always wanted to be. (But that's a story for a different blog. The point being, half of these Thorists joined to get a sword and that's it.)

The least believable thing about this comic is these kids go to Catholic school and don't have to wear uniforms. I'm sure those schools exist, but even if they don't have to, there is absolutely nothing on Ginny's body that would meet a dress code aside from maybe that turtleneck that covers everything.

Trent, a lot of non-Catholics enroll in Catholic school. Though the Pope is real pissed with Thor at the moment, so maybe not going to Catholic school is a good idea

They absolutely would not delay Mass for two teenagers unless they were getting married (which usually isn't a thing the church necessarily condones I don't think) or one of them was the Virgin Mary herself

that portrait of Jesus has the longest hair I've ever seen someone give him

LOL oh my god this priest is still arguing with Thor

"You are on the cusp of destroying the Catholic Church, Thor." PROMISE?!

"Your church is part of the ruling class and has been for centuries." PREACH, THOR!!! Also, Jurgens is ex- Catholic, I'm calling it now

"What good have you done?" THOR ODINSON, GOING FOR THE FUCKING KILL! We STAN

Loki continues to be nowhere in sight, but you know what, this is cathartic, a balm on my ex-Catholic soul, I don't even feel the loss

"...while befriending some of the world's most heinous dictators." hahaha, Thor knows what you did in World War II, Pius. He wasn't even fucking here and he knows. I'll bet Steve told him.

...did...did you just admit that the Catholic Church still uses tithes?! I don't think you're supposed to mention it!

Baby, being a nun doesn't make one a steadfast believer. Having a sister who's a nun but not you means even less

Oh we're comparing our plight to Native Americans now, huh? You do remember you live in a (non-religious) Protestant nation, right? The Catholics have limited legal sway aside from being white, but guess what? Most of you are white, too. They're not gonna go Trail of Tears or Cholera epidemic on your asses. I'm begging y'all from the distant future of 2024 to learn your motherfucking privilege before it's too late.

I'm gonna need your source for your second religious persecution claim, guys. This smells an awful lot like "Christians are so oppressed because someone told me once how bad missionaries are, boo hoo, my rights are being infringed upon" bullshit

"You really think we'll be arrested?" No. No, dude, I really doubt it. I think you could walk down the street with your sword sharpened and unsheathed and you wouldn't get arrested. You know why? Because you're a white man and ACAB, that's why. You might run into an issue if you try to take it on a plane, because it's 2003 and if I remember correctly it still takes like 3 hours to get past TSA, but other than that, I think you're good, man. This is just good old-fashioned fear-mongering.

THE PRIEST JUST DREW A FUCKING GUN WHAT THE FUCK

Oh now Loki shows up

I cannot believe Loki just restarted the fucking Crusades. I mean, the Pope lit the match, but Loki stoked the flames into inferno.

Wait. Did both kids die? That's what these panels mean right?

Fuck that's the end. What an insane concept for a comic issue holy shit

Well enjoy my residual Catholic issues and cynicism about white men getting away with whatever they want, I guess. This is what you come to this blog to see, right?

[whothehellisoli]

TW: ACTUAL HOT TAKE

i’m speaking on catholicism specifically cause that’s what i know, but if you don’t let women have a leading position in your church, i don’t give a fuck about your god, you are misogynistic and should k your s if you know what i mean

this account is a safe space for (most) everyone, including you catholics, but be prepared for me to absolutely and completely unprompted talk SHIT about your god cause me and that bitch have personal beef and i won’t rest til he is buried and rotting in the very hell he made and i get to spit on his grave

[bpdstevenuniverse]

// TRIGGER WARNING - discussions of religion, death (including from COVID-19) and suicide

I honestly hate it when my mom claims that everything is predestined, especially death. I know everyone has different beliefs and religions, but this way of thinking is pretty fucking biased. I remember my mom saying that all the deaths caused by COVID-19 were destined. I got really angry with her about that, and I also questioned her if victims of racism, fascism, lgbtphobia, antisemitism etc. also deserved to die, because that's essentially what my mom preaches. I don't remember now what she said, but she probably either ignored me or gave a flimsy excuse. I don't even try to argue with her about it anymore.

However, something she also told me these days was, roughly speaking, that outside energies (or your past lives?) will become angry with you if you try to take your own life. My mom was using this to encourage me to give a chance to a syncretic African religion she got into, but honestly, this is NOT encouraging. Suicidal thoughts aren't a crime. You shouldn't be punished for feeling suicidal. You deserve HELP, not punishment. It's worse even that my mom had attempted suicide, so she's ALSO punishing herself for it.

She is an ignorant person in nature, but I guess this is why I'm so aggressively agnostic. My beef is mostly with christianity (catholicism specifically) because of my mostly conservative family AND country. Disclaimer, I don't hold anything against the core values of christianity, which is to love the other and embrace the oppressed groups, nor do I believe that all religions should stop existing. But the way people use them to justify their bigotry is disgusting. The whole "predestination" bullshit has been criticized for CENTURIES, but somehow people like my mom love guilt-tripping those who are in pain or who have died.

Death isn't something planned. Death is unexpected, random, and above all UNFAIR. That's why it hurts so much.

[thevampiremarie]

So I’m gonna be honest w you halogenwarrior I wrote this propaganda as a not serious thing because people are taking a tumblr poll over most tragic character way too seriously and I thought it was goofy. My propaganda is deeply unserious, just like this beef the Antigone fandom has with the aforementioned tumblr post.

1. No, as an Asian person myself, I don’t particularly think Ninjago is like the epitome of Asian representation. It’s a goofy comment. But if you must know the Ninjago team apparently did do a lot of actual research into Japanese culture and the history of ninjas in their development of the show.

2. “The modern day glorification of Ancient Athens is to the detriment of the rest of Greek history and is linked to the formation of Western supremacy/white supremacy.”

Let me break this down for you in incredibly simplistic terms.

1. Racism was not invented yesterday

2. Racism was invented a long time ago

3. Racists make up a fun little story using history/science about how racism is natural to the to justify racism. See: scientific racism justifying slavery, how Nazis use Norse mythology to justify Nazism

4. “Classic European stuff”, to use your words, I’m assuming denotes anything that is under the academic field of “classics”. “Classics” comes from the Latin adjective “classicus”, in this case meaning “ pertaining to the highest class of citizen”

5. The academic field of “classics”, which was created by MODERN DAY western scholars to study primarily Ancient Rome and secondarily, Ancient Greece, thus places value on Ancient Rome and Greece as being of “the highest class”/the utmost intellectual importance/exemplary.

6. Why do we do this? Let me explain, dearest reader. What we view of as Western civilization fully developed around the fall of the Roman Empire, when Christianity (specifically ROMAN catholicism) took over as the predominant religion.

7. Assuming you know very little of Western history, Christianity is one of the driving historical forces in the development of Western civilization and later in the development of white supremacy.

8. In order to justify Western Christian dominance over the world and perpetuate colonization/invasions/forced conversions, the fledgling West needed to have a suitably glorious origin myth.

9. The Romans did this with the Pax Romana, and they would’ve gotten it from the Athenians, who I already explained were also doing this by creating national myths about how they were intellectually, ethically, morally, economically, etc superior to Sparta to justify taking over control of that whole region.

10. Just as the Nazis pointed to myths of Norse culture to say “look at how strong our “ancestors” were - but we’re even better”, the whitewashing and co-opting of Ancient Greece and Rome took place for a similar purpose. See: Dante’s Inferno, ft. Roman poet Virgil as a guide to Dante. Virgil is still in Hell because he’s a godless pagan, but he is buddies with Dante and passes on knowledge to Dante, who is not going to Hell.

11. The Western cultural fixation on Ancient Greece and Rome is meant to replace the actual history of the West with an idealized, mythologized myth about our glorious forefathers who were intellectually superior to everyone else (but not as superior as us), therefore we have the right to expand our culture and our empires.

It is actually an EXCEEDINGLY hot topic in the classics field of study about the inherent, ingrained racism in the disciple, along with the ingrained sexism, homophobia, etc.

So the reason why “old classic European stuff gets accused of being Eurocentric” is because what it means to be Eurocentric is to center European languages, history, people, cultures, to the detriment and silencing of everything non European. Which means that in order to be Eurocentric, something needs to be assigned more social value for being European.

Also literally no one is denying modern day tv is not Eurocentric who is not themselves racist. Literally nobody. That argument is being made towards a wall.

Lloyd Garmadon Ninjago propaganda/ anti Antigone propaganda:

- Ninjago universe is a representation of more than just Eurocentric concepts of philosophy, culture, myth, and folklore in the tragedy genre because Asian people deserve to have great tragic stories too

- Ninjago and specially Lloyd’s arc contends with the implications and effects of child soldiers, conquest and colonization, war and who benefits/profits from it, among others

- The play Antigone by Sophocles, which everyone is referencing, was as part of a larger play cycle that used the myth of Oedipus as Athenian supremacist propaganda after Athens lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta. Specifically, these plays (including Antigone) criticize Sparta while lionizing Athens as a beacon of democracy, morals, and the favor of the gods. Friendly reminder that Athens actually conquered/colonized the rest of Greece later and was NOT a true democracy and also had some of the strictest rules limiting the rights of Athenian women. The modern day glorification of Ancient Athens is to the detriment of the rest of Greek history and is linked to the formation of Western supremacy/white supremacy

- on a less serious note Lloyd is superior to Antigone in every aspect so vote for him

[Propaganda]

[skammovistarplus]

Culture and Translation - S01 E10

After the cut, lots of thoughts of bullying and betrayals. Also, me trying to get through these quick before season 2 starts dropping. 

CLIP 1: And now, for a lot of thoughts on bullying

¿Con las clases empezadas? (“Mid-term?”): Nora asks Eva something like, “with school having started?” I reworked it as it sounds awkward.

Es que no me entra nada (“I have no appetite”): Eva says something like, “I can’t get anything inside.” Again, no one says this in English.

Okay, so when this clip dropped, there were some discussions on twitter. Firstly, as someone who has attended high school in the US and Spain, I don’t believe Nora would be nicknamed Joan of Arc at an American high school. I don’t think Joan of Arc is that well-known of a figure that side of the Atlantic. Joan of Arc is a fairly recognizable figure in Spain because she is a Roman Catholic saint, and Spanish culture is highly influenced by Catholicism. In my opinion, a person like Nora, living in Wisconsin, would be called a SJW or a snowflake or something along those lines. The issue is, Spanish people don’t understand what those nicknames would mean. They would, however, understand the nuances of getting called Joan of Arc.

Then there is another issue. Nora says, “I swear that, in the US, being a freak is a lot worse than here.” That raises some questions, because the kind of bullying Eva is victim to, is actually really serious. I believe she has it the worst out of all the Evas. To recap: She has been abandoned by all her friends except for Nora. People are talking about her and pointing at her. People throw notes at her, and she is the victim of 24/7 cyberbullying, which involves a picture of the Eva/Cristian kiss and defacing the pictures posted to her ig. This has been going on for around a week. Tyler Clementi, to name a notable victim of cyberbullying, suffered under similar circumstances.  

So, since Nora is speaking from personal experience, how severe was the bullying she suffered in Madison, the bullying that makes her say that, “in the US, being a freak, is a lot worse” than what Eva is experiencing. Some viewers felt that Nora was minimizing the bullying Eva was going through, as Nora only mentions namecalling, being nicknamed Joan of Arc. Spanish teen viewers (the target audience) felt that Nora was exaggerating what “being a freak” is like at an American high school. That is because Spanish teens’ knowledge of American high school comes from, you guessed it, TV shows and movies. In particular, a movie that was brought up in the comments to the clip was The Perks of Being a Wallflower. When this movie was dubbed for Spaniards, the title was translated as “Las ventajas de ser un marginado” (Perks of being marginalized). Now, you will agree that being marginalized is a lot stronger than being a wallflower, and so that led to the impression from certain viewers that being bullied in the US is a glamorous affair where your best friends are Ezra Miller and Emma Watson, you eat cannabis brownies, drive through tunnels for the aesthetics and go to school dances.

In short, this clip attempted to broach the topic of bullying in the US as compared to bullying in Spain, to an audience who has no real references of what American high school culture is like, outside of American popular culture. And to do so, they gave an unrealistic example (American students using Joan of Arc as a demeaning nickname), failed to explain why Nora would feel that bullying at US schools is “a lot worse” than what Eva is experiencing (which barely holds up as an argument, as what Eva is going through has led students in the US to grievous harm), and led more educated viewers to wonder about the extent of the bullying Nora went through. And while bullying at American high schools is an important topic, should that be a topic that Skam ESPAÑA deals with? Is it relevant to the average Spanish teen’s experience? Personally, I feel like the writers may have bitten off more than the show can possibly chew, with this narrative choice, which informs Nora’s character as it is her backstory.

On a lighter note, Nora compares Eva to a dog, which should imply her stance on dogs isn’t so hard-line. The word she uses, “galletitas,” can mean a number of different things in Spanish. Generally speaking, “galletas” are cookies, but they may also be biscuits, salty crackers, or yes, dog food. I went with “kibble” to keep to the dog-related teasing.

Again, the characters suggest that Eva talks to her mom, but she doesn’t. As I mentioned, this is generally true of Spanish teens (we aren’t a hivemind after all), and more specifically, of bullying victims. One of the biggest issues about bullying in Spain is that victims take up to a year to tell their parents.  

CLIP 2: Learn English with Skam España

Okay, so this is definitely more about the effects on bullying than culture or translation anymore. Is everyone in that library talking about Eva? At this point, it no longer matters for either Eva or the viewer. The bullying she has gone through so far has made it so that both Eva and the viewer now feel paranoid that everyone is talking shit about Eva while Eva is present. Maybe those guys are just checking 9gag! But since they took out their phones at the same time Eva got an IG notification, it feels like they are definitely mocking Eva. I thought Eva’s actress was great through the entire bullying arc, and I liked that Skam España expanded on the bullying sl from the og, so that we could get a fuller portrait of the effects of bullying on their victims.

¿Con qué estás? (“What are you studying?”): The literal translation would be, “What are you with?” I.e. What subject are you working on right now.

When did Amira take that Bio test? She’s supposed to be in Eva’s group (we saw her in the third clip and she’s also on the Science track), but of course, that test was all about Eva and Lucas’ friendship angst.

Phrasal verbs are the bane of every ESL student’s existence, Cris included.

No seas plasta (“don’t be a pain in the ass”): “Plasta” is a synonym of “pesado/pesada,” which I already covered in an earlier post. It literally means “flattened mass.”

Me cago en la puta (“shit on a whore”): More pooping! Now we’re pooping right on top of prostitutes! But yeah, that’s the literal translation and, you know, sometimes you want to find the closer English equivalent, and other times, you just want to make sure people understand who or what we’re pooping on this time. Cris is really frustrated with her English skills, so she uses one of the stronger pooping variations.

This was one of the clips that were most fun to translate, for the challenge of translating an English quiz to English.

CLIP 3: Mess

Es que ya hay que tener mala hostia (“You really gotta be a fucking asshole”): “Tener mala hostia” is the stronger versión of “tener mala leche” (literally, to have bad milk). A person with “mala leche” is someone who acts in bad faith, a malicious or a bad-tempered person. The idiom comes from the idea that a mother’s breastfeeding milk can have an impact on her person’s temper or personality. “Hostia,” as we’ve covered, is the sacramental bread used for the ritual of the Eucharist, but it’s used more commonly to mean a smack across the face.

Cris makes a point of singling out the person who first uploaded the pic to instagram. When I link Skam España to people, I point out that they should also follow the social media posts, and here’s the reason. If you follow the social media posts, you already know who first uploaded the picture to instagram. It was Inés. The hate ig took it from her stories, cropped it, and posted the first meme. The sequence of events is clear if you followed the show in real time. However, if you bingewatch the episodes and don’t follow social media, you get the impression that, at this point, how the Eva/Cristian picture made it to the hate ig is a mystery. And also, that whoever uploaded it first (who we know to be Inés) is the one with beef against Eva. And, well, there’s beef of the level of “I uploaded a compromising pic to my stories to be a dick” and beef on the level of “I’ve vandalized all your pictures, turned you into a meme and covertly filmed you at school.”

This confrontation is so odd when you consider that, unlike the og girl squad who didn’t know about the letter written in period blood, the Spanish girl squad suspects the second years of being behind the hate ig. In fact, they know the girls have pulled similar shit before. And, best of all, Cris actually hooked up with one of them, so you’d think Cris’ presence might help matters?

The second year girls have a different Maths teacher. This one is a guy. The girl squad’s Maths teacher is a woman.

I find it funny that Rubén was suspended for three days for fighting with ALEJANDRO, but ALEJANDRO was not punished himself.

I just noticed that there should be an “into” in the sentence, “People are huge assholes and anything can turn INTO a joke to laugh your ass off.” Oops.

CLIP 4: Failing grade in Biology and in Friendship

As noted in the subs, in Spain we’re graded on a 0-10 scale. 5 is the passing grade. Lucas got an 8, which is considered a “notable” grade, but not “outstanding” (those are grades over 9). Eva got a 3, which is well below 5. Much like Isak, Lucas is good enough in Biology that he does well in surprise exams. He seems to be resentful of what this grade might do to his GPA though, lol.

Lucas says that his mom was hysterical after his dad left, but the language he uses doesn’t make it explicit that his mom is mentally ill. The writers may or may not keep this part of Isak’s background. Thought I’d mention that since we know at this point that they have no issues giving the Skam España characters entirely different backgrounds. So far, it’s clear that Lucas’ parents fight a lot and that his home life is massively impacting Lucas’ mood and life, but we don’t know what the fights are about.

¿Para esto vienes de buenas a hablar conmigo? (“Is this why you talked to me like nothing happened?”): “de buenas” is kind of tricky to translate. You can come at someone “de buenas” (good) or “de malas” (bad). If you come at someone “de malas,” it means you’re already on a bad mood when you start a conversation, or you’re angling for a fight. On the other hand, if you come at someone “de buenas,” it means you’re in a conciliatory mood, or trying to avoid a fight.

CLIP 5: Hi privileges

Comiéndoos la boca (“Sucking face”): Inés actually says that Jorge and Eva were eating each other’s mouths. This is a common Spanish idiom, by the way!

El insta es muy jodido (“Insta is a mindfuck”): Eva says that Insta is “really fucked up,” as in, it does a number on one’s mental health. I went with “mindfuck” to get to the point of what Eva means, but keeping the swear word.

Eva asks Inés why she stayed friends with Jorge, but not her. I saw some commentary to the tune of, “why did they add that bit of dialogue? It adds nothing to the conversation, we already know this.” Personally, I think it’s good that they added it, because it’s a good starting point for a discussion, and particularly when it comes to the s2 storyline. Skam has gotten massive kudos for promoting sorority and friendship between girls. However, the s2 storyline is about Noora being forced to choose between her friend and a boyfriend. Vilde never dated William, but the storyline shares some of the same elements: Eva is torn between a guy she likes who likes her back, and her friend who is in love with that guy. So is Noora. Skam offers two outcomes to that scenario. Eva’s decision results in her expulsion from her friend group, while ultimately the girl squad friendship is stronger after Noora’s season.

Inés says she assumed that boyfriends come and go, but that she thought she’d stay friends with Eva forever. Was Eva Mohn right in choosing a boyfriend over her best friend? Was Eva Vázquez (since, thanks to the bonus clip, we know more of how Eva and Jorge got together)? Was Inés right to hold a grudge against Eva? And if she was right to do so, was she right to not hold a grudge against Jorge?  Is it ever okay to choose a boyfriend over your friends?

Again, if you haven’t kept up with the social media, Inés’ apology may seem confusing. It seems like she admits to being the person behind the hate ig, but then why would she not take credit for the meme? The first profile to make a meme out of the Eva/Cristian pic was eva_la_z0rra (or eva_the_s1ut). That’s because Inés is not behind the hate ig. She just uploaded the pic to her stories. I have noticed that people who didn’t keep up with the social media posts assume Inés took responsibility for the hate ig, which is interesting. You could watch og Skam without the social media posts and the story would be exactly the same than if you’d watched it with the social media posts. Social media added characterization details. When it comes to Skam España, you come away with two very different conclusions as to who ran the hate ig, depending on your level of investment (reading and watching everything vs just watching the episodes).

Retirar el saludo (“to snub someone”): This idiom doesn’t come up in the clip itself, but it gives cultural context to Eva and Inés’ conversation. In the course of a day, we say hi to everyone we know that we come across. We don’t necessarily stop and have a conversation, but we acknowledge them with a “hi” or a “how are you doing.” In Spain, we have a specific idiom for when someone’s fucked up and has lost their “hi” privileges. This is “retirar el saludo” (literally, “to remove the greeting”). Through the conversation, Eva seeks to get her “hi” privileges back, and eventually Inés agrees she will say “hi” to Eva when they see each other at school/around the neighborhood/at parties or botellones. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll stop to talk and catch up, but Eva now gets to be told “hi.”  

Social media: 

Cris turned 16 this week! I love that the writers specifically picked her birthdate so that it would fall on a day where the girl squad was still broken up. Needless to say, people were very salty in the comments, heh.

I’ve liked the way Skam España has referenced the og with similar social media pics, Kose Club, and song choices. Referencing songs from the og on insta is actually clever as it helps them circumvent music license issues, lol. That said, I think naming the Spanish girl squad after the og girl squad name Las Losers would be far too much. I hope they leave it at that, just a reference on a text update.

[kinny93ethz]

Religious Dietary Restriction

Buddhists follow the principle guide to do no harm. This has been interpreted into the vegetarian dietary practice.

Theravada, a branch of Buddhism does allow pork, chicken, and fish if the animal was not slaughtered for consumption.

Catholicism, meat is not allowed on Fridays during Lent. And fasting is expected on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday.

Eastern Orthodox Christians, there will be weekly fasts that require abstention from alcohol, eggs, dairy, fish, meat, and olive oil.

Hindus do not eat eggs, fish, meat, or poultry, but do eat dairy. For this, they are considered lacto-vegetarians.

Liberal Hindus: Some people realized why cows were important at one time, understood why it was worshiped, understood why it doesn’t make sense anymore in the modern society. They accepted on eating beef. Few of them chose not to eat it out of respect towards old traditions.

Conservative Hindus: They still believe that cows are sacred and worship them. They don’t eat beef. Some of them understand that it is a personal choice and are okay with others eating beef. While some of the extreme conservative Hindus can’t really stand the idea of others eating beef.

At the end, roughly 25% of Hindus eat beef

Halal is what is considered permissible under traditional Islamic law and is the guide under which we understand dietary restrictions. There are a number of restrictions, but in general, foods that are kosher are also acceptable under Halal. The largest exception is alcohol, which Halal does not permit.

Jainism practices non-violence and has strict rules for the protection of all life. For this reason, they do not eat eggs, fish, meat or poultry. They also avoid most root vegetables because the entire plant is usually killed when harvesting the root. Honey is also prohibited because it is eating off the labor of honeybees and the collection of honey often results in violence to the bees.

Judaism. The religious dietary restrictions guide regarding what can be consumed by practicing Jews is called kosher. Foods labeled kosher are prepared under strict guidelines to the entire supply chain, from harvest and slaughter to preparation, packaging, and food combinations. Pork and shellfish are famously not allowed. Religious holidays have additional restrictions and also food traditions.

Mormonism. Specific religious dietary restrictions are coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs. The idea for Mormons is to avoid mind-altering substances. However, Mormons are also advised to eat respectfully and with appreciation through portion control, zero waste, and by avoiding overindulgence.

Rastafarians have dietary restrictions relating to clean eating. Their rule is l-tal, which means eating natural and clean. Lightly cooked meals are okay, and fish is permitted as long as it is less than 12 inches long. Pork, scavengers, and shellfish are prohibited, although meat, in general, is not a common food. Salt, alcohol, milk, and coffee are also on the restricted list.

Sikhs. The religion allows individual choice about meat consumption. However, it is forbidden to eat meat from animals slaughtered according to religious guidelines, and therefore Sikhs do not eat halal or kosher meat. Sikhs do not consume alcohol.

https://thrivemeetings.com/2018/01/religious-dietary-restrictions-guide/

https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-Hindus-eat-beef

https://www.independentnurse.co.uk/clinical-article/religion-and-dietary-choices/145719/

[doomedandstoned]

Enter the Blues-Saturated World of The Great Sadness

~Interview by Billy Goate~ ~Photographs by Lord Fotog~

We first introduced you to THE GREAT SADNESS two years ago, when I gushed about their self-titled debut: "This has all the makings an American rock classic." Now, Cathy Cooper (vocals, guitar) and Stephen McNeely (drums) have brought us a second long-play, 'WEEP' (2017). Even nominal fans of the blues, I'm convinced, are going to find this a go-to favorite in their playlist and certainly want to add it to their collection.

WEEP by The Great Sadness

WEEP is a frank confessional, a journey into the stark realities of life, love, death, hope, alienation from the world, and hellish emotional storms. It shares a spiritual kinship not only with the blues greats of the past, but with contemporary songwriters like Scott "Wino" Weinrich (particularly his collaborations with Conny Ochs) and Screaming' Mad Dee Calhoun. We can count Cathy and Stephen among the great contemporary underground songwriters of our generation, though it may be a generation beyond us before their work receives the recognition it deserves.

It’s quite evident you two are in love with the blues. Where did this obsession begin for each of you?

Cathy Cooper: I’m a huge, huge blues lover -- mostly delta blues, like really, really dirty, grassroots, folk-based, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sleepy John Estes, Bertha Lee -- that kind of stuff, you know. I like it because it comes from the gut. It’s kind of been a lifelong inspiration for me. That’s just where it’s at for me. You can’t get more raw then that.

Stephen McNeely: I think my love for the blues came to be an obsession after I met Cathy. It wasn’t something I was necessarily in love with or listening to everyday, but after I was introduced to more of it, it was definitely something I found highly interesting. For about four years now, I’ve been digging into an endless hole of great blues music.

How did The Great Sadness become a thing?

Stephen: We met five years ago. I played a single tom drum for Cathy for an acoustic set for a festival in Echo Park. After that, she asked me if I’d ever be interested in playing along with an electric guitar. Mind you, I had just met Cathy and been gifted a drum kit, so I said yes. I had no expectations whether it is a fun jam session. We had to see whether or not this was going to work out. Cathy invited me for a jam session at her studio with the entire kit. I brought the drum kit and she broke out the electric and an amp. It kind of melded into itself and we found a connection that worked, bringing together two perfectly good strangers. That she brought out the electric, The Great Sadness was born, and now here we are.

Cathy: It was on! (laughs)

All of your songs have one word titles. It gives it this certain aesthetic and philosophical outlet driving your songwriting.

Cathy: All you have to know in one word is, “I’m lazy.” (both laugh) I’m lazy about naming songs. I like writing the songs; I’m just not good at naming stuff. I don’t know if that’s just a slacker way of doing it. (laughs)

Stephen: I can sum this up as less is more, leaving more imagination to the brain to interpret in your own way.

'Weep' is your most ambitious collection of songs. They really sizzle. How long have you been working on them?

Cathy: A couple years, dude.

Stephen: These are songs we’ve been playing live in America and in Europe for about two, three years. "Desperate" is one of our older songs, but is on the new record, is one of the first songs we composed for our set.

Cathy: One of the songs we actually wrote in the studio. We wrote "Deserter."

Stephen: And "Deserter" was born out of sound engineer Joe Cardamone requesting that we write one on the spot. It ended being one of our keeper songs that we still play live. That’s on the new record.

Did you experience any cloudbursts of inspiration growing out of events in your life? I’m always interested in insights into the creative process, an area of enduring fascination for me.

Stephen: We think that this project was kind of inspired by events in our lives.

Cathy: I think it’s more personal, dude. It's really personal.

Stephen: But it’s personal to both of us. There may have been things that happened to Cathy that made her feel a certain way. You know, it might have happened to me in a different way, but we still ended up in the same emotional state. I think a lot of the songs when we first got together were fueled by emotions we were both going through that were personal and separate to our own personal lives, but definitely fueled the fire of writing. We were not necessarily in a great place emotionally -- you never are when you're inspired. You can be in a dark place, or you can be in a great place. Inspiration comes whenever it wants to.

Cathy: Everything comes from being on the planet and experiencing pain and guilt and fear and love and everything else. I’ve had my share of “whatever” relationships, anger at political situations, the death of my parents, the loss of friends, the joy of creation. Everything influences me. The more visceral the emotion, the better the connection with the song writing and the actual playing, you know? That’s stuff's really impactful. It's important to be really present. That’s what music is all about, man. It's just getting into it and just really putting it out there in a super aggressive, emotional way way.

Are the two of you pretty much in sync as far as musicians so you can jam on a song together, refine a song together, or do you and Cathy need away space to write new songs?

Stephen: Like I said, the day we chose to go into the studio and she chose to pick up an electric and we attempted a two-piece, we found that we were already synced up. Time-wise, I think we have the same time signatures in mind and deep in the heart was the love to count a 4/4 and sort of look at each other and see when the 1 is coming (laughs) and be able to stay synced at that.

Cathy has been writing songs for a really long time, way longer than me, so she had a lot of material. We talked about this earlier, but the song "Desperate" Cathy had already written guitar parts for so when it was brought into The Great Sadness it became a beast of its own. Cathy is responsible for all of the lyrics on this record. The way we did it from the beginning is that me and Cathy would get in the studio and just jam it and find a riff that we liked, and we would start breaking it down. We’d take a voice memo of it and Cathy would listen to that and she would write. More recently now, some of our newer songs that we're writing together and I’m singing on the new stuff that's coming out in the future.

Cathy: The way that we write has evolved, the more that we play. Stephen and I have a very intuitive way of feeding off of another when we play. It’s actually really enhanced the way that we write, because we can build songs a lot faster now, because we are more in sync. I feel the songs have actually gotten a lot better because we've built a style together. It’s kind of beefed up how we write, just because we're aggressive in the way that we do stuff. It’s made the sound a lot bigger and more in your face.

I’m sure our readers and listeners would love to know what inspires and moves you deeply, including, but not limited to, music and other influences.

Stephen: Cathy love Rupaul's Drag Race. (laughs). Me and Cathy are both artists on top of musicians. We both do a lot of artwork. We create whether it’s music or art every day.

Cathy: Stephen, what kind of artwork?

Stephen: I’ve always been drawn to dark artwork, anything and everything that has to do with seeking out the lies and dark truths of Catholicism. I highly enjoy the sabotage of that specific religion, so I like any kind of artwork having to do anything with that. The problem that I have with Jesus isn't with him; it's his fan club I have a problem with. (laughs)

I’m super inspired by music, mostly. I'm into a lot of stuff right now, we could go on forever. Me and Cathy recently fell in love on the road, when we were on our tour in Portland, with Bernelius. I believe he’s a one-man band. We don’t know where he’s from, either, but his music is fucking awesome. We also fell in love with The Devil And The Almighty Blues. Those are some guys out of Norway, I believe. They are fucking awesome. We also fell in love with Seasick Steve. He's awesome. We were also listening a lot of Guru Guru, like a lot of old German prog rock stuff. We also worship and pray and hope for the return of 400 Blows. I should get that tattooed on my ass. Skot, if you're listening, come back! We need you. (laughs) We want you back.

Thanks so much for visiting with me and the readers. Been wanting to do this forever. It's been a long time coming!

Stephen: Thank you so much for having us. I hope this gives you a little more insight into how Cathy and getting shit done and delivered to you guys.

Cathy: Most of all, seriously, we like donuts.

Stephen: Who doesn't like donuts? Except gluten-free people and vegans. Thank you again, Doomed and Stoned!

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[tammienorthrup-blog]

Online Poker Sit-n-go's

Closer to home, what comes to mind by the term Roman Catholicism? The pope is prominent here. But unlike other faiths, he and his followers worship a mighty one by the generic term G-o-d. They believe this unnamed mighty one requires a specific kind of worship as well, including the rosary, veneration of Mary and saints, Sunday worship, mass, sacraments and popular holidays. The Magician places thirteen Dominoes face down in a row. He then turns his back to the spectator and asks the spectator to move any number of dominoes from 1-12 from one end of the row to the other, one at a time. The best burger would have to be at The Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay. they have Colby Beef burgers, which are not cheap. Around 16 bucks, but the were very good. Then again, Brian has held a poker online uang asli terpercaya once a month for six of those ten years and having a nice house for our guests is important. So this past Christmas I went out and purchased him these 11.5g Deluxe Pyramid Custom Poker Chips. However there was a little catch to all of it. Instead of simply hosting the monthly tournaments, we would start charging an ante fee after the first three hours. Some must see casinos are the Venetian, there are shops and the Venice canals, and beautiful paintings and artwork. Also the Belagio is a stunning casino, they have a water show in front set to music. If you are going to bet on horses or sports I suggest the sportsbook at the Belagio. They have personal flat screen TV's leather chairs and they have plenty of cocktail waitreses supplying the drinks. We spent a lot of time here. Texas Poker is one of kiu kiu online games that becomes favorite because when the visitor play this game, they can see many interesting bonus offers. It means that they players have a big chance to win the reward. Just visit one of online casino sites that provides this game, you'll find the bonuses and many players on the game. If the players want activate bonuses to their accounts, they need to sign up first then learn the requirement of depositing money. Second, don't show that you are a neophyte or an expert hold'em poker player. Should you act like you know a lot, many people might refuse to play against you. But if you appear too innocent to understand the tricks, many will be attracted to you simply because they would think they can easily beat you. You need to weigh your opponents also. If you feel they are much better than you, better not take the chance. Look for another table with players who look smarter compared to they really are. Sometimes, within this game, it pays to appear dumb and play smart.

[tuulikki]

Quakers are literally the best. Liberation theology folks get a lot of love from me, but Quakers just have a solid, low-key, long-standing commitment to being excellent and I love them forever.

But now, leaving the realm of serious discussion...

I don’t think you’re being entirely fair to ol’ OP. They said: “no aesthetic no theatrics no swag”. They’re exaggerating for comedy, because that’s how internet humour do, so let’s read this as: “Catholicism has more of the qualities that weird-ass Tumblr culture attaches to these words”.

I hear you on Appalachia, I really do, but the snakes are kind of a statistical outlier. Not a whoooole lot of practitioners. (I think Protestantism outside the U.S. has a lot more straight-up drama qua drama, but OP actually didn’t mention drama so I’ll shut up now.)

I think the root of my essential agreement with OP is how, even without strong belief, the rituals and trappings of Catholicism seem to have a continuing hold on ex-Catholics. I've not seen that as much with ex-Protestants (on the whole).

Hear me out. This all an inherently goofy conversation. But hear me out.

I think there’s a stronger material emphasis in Catholicism that lets believers find more of the immanent sacred in those physical and ritual trappings than Protestantism (on the whole) does. Heck, that was part of Luther’s whole beef with the Catholæsthetic. When the focus isn’t so much on individual articulations of belief but on participation in the ritual (orthodoxy vs. orthopraxis, if you want the fancy terms), the components of the ritual necessarily become more important. The #aesthetic takes center stage.

Protestantism almost by definition has a far, far greater focus on personal experience. Lots of groups literally require that a person have a personal experience of being saved, sometimes in specific, multi-step processes (and will fight other sects about how their list of experiences is wrong/incomplete/in the incorrect order). Heck, the emphasis on scripture alone + as the (admittedly sometimes notional) ideal of the individual believer being empowered to interpret the text is already moving strongly away from a material experience and focus and into a more abstract, transcendent one.

Abstract concepts don’t really lend themselves to #aesthetic (at least as far as my understanding of a nebulous Tumblr concept goes). Not that Protestantism doesn’t generate an endless stream of Jesus accessories and stickers and keychains and giant neon crosses. Buuuuut as a central focus of ritual, I think those aren’t as important. Heck, absent the statistical outlier of sneks, the majority of all the Gifts of the Spirit are essentially non-material: they’re experiences, not stuff.

I’m speaking in huuuuuge generalisations, but I think the material qualities of Catholicism are stronger, and that’s what OP was trying to express. The physical trappings take more of a center stage. Heck, Catholicism literally has a normal mortal dude in a very fancy hat who lives in a very fancy house in Rome and who can speak ex cathedra and LITERALLY tell you what God officially wants you to do. Transubstantiation is another good example: that bread is literally Jesus. Not a metaphor. You can hold Jesus in your hand and then eat him. Wild. Big, dramatic, opulent stuff is just a natural expression of that materiality, imo, and more a part of the experience (in general).

Sidebar: go to a bunch of local churches. Keep track of who, comparing Catholic and Protestant has a crucifix vs. a cross, i.e. who has a cross with an actual crucified Jesus on it and who usually has a plain cross with no one hanging from it all ecce homo. If you end up with more crucifixes in your Protestant tally, literally let me know, because I want details of what region you live in and what your local demographics are. But I think it’s pretty emblematic of how different Christianities have different ritual focuses.

Can you have a Catholic mass in a tent? Sure you can. Lots of people have, throughout history. But when you think about it, doesn’t that mental image feel a little wrong? Wouldn’t that mental image feel more Catholic with juuuust a bit more gold leaf? If #aesthetic is about some degree of excess... well... I think that’s the Catholic look.

Megachurches sure as hell don’t lowball the amount of $$$$$ involved, but they don’t usually put the money directly into actual gold decor. You can have prosperity gospels up the wazoo, but the cash money isn’t right there on display as a central ritual focus. You can say that a megachurch is opulent or all about pageantry, but if you said that verbatim to a believer (“You have a very opulent church. I enjoyed the pageantry!”) they might be offended. Catholics would probably shrug it off like “yeah it is a little hard to see the altar though all the putti”.

This is all just an opinion and I want to apologise again to everyone for the HUGE generalisations I’m making here and for making light of serious theological concepts.

But: Catholicism is frankincense-scented glitter bath bombs.

I sure as heck don’t think that’s... a good thing or a bad thing. I’m just saying Catholicism has a less... sleek visual look.

being raised catholic has its own magick even if u turn into a sinful satanic commie as an adult like imagine being raised protestant. smh no aesthetic no theatrics no swag