Wrath of Lamb August 11/10

So, there's another story about a catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting young children. This time it's a former priest, who worked at the St. John the Worker Parish in Saanich. I know a lot of comics who have jokes about catholic priests abusing kids, and although they may be a little tasteless, the fact is, it is truly mind-boggling just how big of a problem it has been. In the United States alone, more than 43-hundred priests have been accused of sexual abuse in the past 50 years.

But it has happened in virtually every country in the world... at least every country with a Roman Catholic population. Let's not forget the residential schools here in Canada... more than sixty percent of them were catholic. If you enjoy documentaries, let me suggest one called 'Deliver Us From Evil'... it's about the cover-ups that took place in the catholic church, and follows one priest in particular... a guy named Oliver O'Grady. The church knew what he was doing, but let him continue, and just moved him from parish to parish.

It's a sickening and really heavy movie, but a definite eye opener, into a very dark piece of history, which, apparently, is still going on.

Wrath of Lamb August 10/10

I bought a new pair of headphones yesterday. It took me 20 minutes to get them out of the packaging. They were in one of those clam-shell packages made by Homeland Security that are impossible to open. Why do they make things so difficult? Aren't we supposed to be living in a time of LESS packaging and waste?

Toys are the worst. Don't these people realize that when I get home and bring out a new toy, my boy wants it NOW. He doesn't want to wait for half an hour while daddy brings out the tool box and the blow torch, cursing, while he battles with the packaging. And there seems to be a trend now, to not only encase your product in super thick, artery severing plastic, but also everything must now be attached by little twist ties, that are wound so tight that only the tiny fingers of sweat shop employees would have a hope of unravelling them.

So, please, I beg of you big companies... ease up on the packaging. This may come as a surprise, but I bought your product because I actually want to use it, not just stare at it through a wall of impenetrable plastic.

Wrath of Lamb August 09/10

It was fifteen years ago today that we lost one of the great rock stars of the 60s and 70s... hell, even the 80s and 90s. Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack on August 9th, 1995, while living in a treatment facility in California. He was the lead singer and guitar player for The Grateful Dead. The Dead are one of those bands that you're either really into, or not at all.

I saw them live once, in 1994, the year before Jerry died. It was an outdoor show in downtown Seattle, beside the Space Needle. I don't remember a whole lot about it, but I remember the main attraction was really all the weird hippies that were hanging around. There were psychedelic VW buses parked everywhere, and it felt like a total throwback to the 60's. The hotel we stayed in was not exactly luxury accomodation, but it was just a couple blocks from the concert.

Everyone... and I mean EVERYONE in the hotel was there for the Grateful Dead, and all the hotel room doors were left open, and the whole place was one giant party. It was awesome.

Jerry Garcia was the ultimate peace loving hippie... he looked like a big huggable teddy bear, with his big hair, his big beard and his big shades. There are a lot of people out there who worshipped the man, and still do. He stood for simple things... music, love and having a good time. I'm glad I was able to see the great man in action before he left us for that big love-in in the sky.

Rest in Peace, Jerry.

Wrath of Lamb August 06/10

I went to the new Wal-Mart yesterday. Wow. It is massive. Everything you could possibly want ever in your life is in there somewhere. In fact, when I walked in with my two-year old son, he said 'Whoa... big store.' There's two floors... two gigantic floors, with escalators running between them. And they even have special escalators for your shopping cart. That's right, your shopping cart gets to go up a separate escalator, and you meet up with it at the top.

I have mixed feelings about big box stores like this... on one hand, they are really impersonal, they tend to kill off the small businesses around them, and you're pumping your money into a huge American conglomerate. But on the other hand, they are so damn convenient... and the prices can't be beat. One thing I'm proud of, though, is after wandering around the Wal-Mart for about an hour, checking it all out, the only thing I bought was a ball of string.

The cashier looked at me like I was defective.

Wrath of Lamb August 05/10

I was glad to see the California courts overturn Proposition 8. That's the law that banned same-sex marriages in that state... a big step backwards for California, which is normally a very forward-thinking place. So now it's been overturned, and although it's not a done deal yet, it looks like gay marriage will once again be legal there. I feel proud to live in BC, one of the first places in North America to allow same sex marriage.

To me, it's a no-brainer. If two people love each other, why deny them the right to make it official? People who are opposed to it are coming from a place of homophobia and hate, plain and simple. Of course, they won't admit it... they'll tell you that they just want to preserve the sanctity of marriage, which should be between a man and a woman.

Well, inter-racial marriages used to be illegal, too. Imagine how you'd look coming out against that these days. You'd look like a flaming racist... and that's what you'd be... and that's essentially what people opposed to gay marriage are... they just don't know it yet.

So, congratulations to the gay community for a small victory in the much larger fight for equality in this modern age.

Wrath of Lamb August 04/10

Happy birthday to U-S president Barack Obama. He's 49 years old today. Unbelievable. He seems to be doing a pretty good job... but it seems he really isn't doing all that much lately. I suppose there were alot of huge expectations of him, especially after that train wreck known as George W. Bush. But Obama came out swinging, with all these great plans to end the war in Iraq, fix their health care system, clean up the environment and generally make everything better. And it seems now he's taking his sweet time with it. I don't know... he is most definitely an improvement from Bush, but I'd like to see some more action, you know? I'm not sure if his hands are tied by the Republicans or what, but I sure would have liked to have seen Obama alot angrier and pro-active about the BP spill. And it seems like everyone has completely forgotten about Iraq. What's goin on over there, anyway? Well, anyway, happy birthday to Barack Obama... I hope us Canadians get to see that get-r-done attitude that I think you were elected for.

Wrath of Lamb August 03/10

There's a spider living in my car. And it's terrifying. I haven't seen it yet, but I know its there, because the last few mornings I've had to walk through a huge spider web as I get into my car. In fact, I can see a web has been spun on my dashboard. I try to just stare straight ahead while I'm driving, because if I see this thing crawling towards me, I'm likely to panic and drive off the road. This is way more dangerous than talking on my cellphone. I'm not even aware of my driving, I'm just desperate to get where I'm going, so I can get out of my 1992 Honda spider's nest. And when I get out, I must look like a crazy person, as I frantically shake my clothes, and dance around flailing my arms.

I don't know what to do... I suppose I should put on some gloves and some goggles or something and just take a vaccuum cleaner, and look for the bugger. Or do I wait it out?  How long do spiders live, normally?  

What if there's more than one? What if it had babies?

Oh my God.