mjg_78's Xanga

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Thu, 21 Jul 2005 23:13:29 GMT

Ugh. I hate doing laundry. But I do need clean clothes for Boston, I suppose. I've wanted to go there for 10 years now. I need to get real instructions on how to find the bus in Chinatown to get me there, though. "Get off train, go down street and find bus!" isn't really gonna cut it at 6 in the morning on Saturday. The last thing I want to do is wander aimlessly around Canal street at any time of the day.

Tomorrow morning I have to get up incredibly early so I can make it all the way over to the bank, than find some kind of electronics store to get new earphones for the iPod since I really fucked mine up somehow, than run over to the box office and get tickets for MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG for tomorrow night and do this all before I have to be at work.

I got a phone call from a woman about an hour ago telling me that she got my number from her mother and was calling to find out where her child support payments were. I assured her she had the wrong number, and she didn't like the fact I was "fucking with her family" like I was. I informed her that I am, in fact, a homosexual and have never had the opportunity to lie down with a woman (mainly because the bible says it's a sin for a man to lay with a woman as he does a man) and after a moment or two (I noramlly would have just hung up but this was too good and I was having too much fun) she believed me and apologized. I hope she calls back again. Amanda, if you're reading this...call me. I miss you.

And tell your Mom I said hi.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 11:00:15 GMT

So I had what I consider to be a perfect New York City moment the other day which I hadn't thought about until it was in my dreams last night.

I was up by central park and I heard music, so I walked towards it and there was a man playing the trumpet along with a tape player that had someone on a saxophone. At the same time next to him a man was selling little machines that constantly make bubbles. So there I was standing listening to some of the most beautiful jazz I'd ever heard and at the same time surrounded by bubbles. I think you had to be there to truly appreciate the moment for what it was. I spent a good thirty minutes listening to him. I ended up putting ten dollars (which I can't afford) into his trumpet case. I figure it was worth it.

Today my day will consist of waiting for the man to come and fix my stove. I needed to go out and work on this damn film because my director is breathing down my neck to get this footage. However, this gas leak needs to be taken care of first. But he is still trying to get Madonna for the film I found out the other day, so maybe I'll get to meet her when I go to London later in the year. (Dear God, PLEASE make that happen!)

Also, one of my roommates added Showtime to our cable so I'm catching up on this season's QUEER AS FOLK, which I've seen none of. I'm almost done with the first episode and sweet Jesus is it awful. Is it just me or have these actors become worse?

Friday, July 15, 2005

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:11:35 GMT

10 Fictional characters I would sleep with...

1. Marc Kudisch - BYE BYE BIRDIE

2. Brad Pitt - A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

3. Colin Farrell - THE RECRUIT

4. Jake Gyllenhaal - THE GOOD GIRL

5. Thomas Jane - THE PUNISHER

6. James Van Der Beek - Dawson's Creek

7. Marlon Brando - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

8. Michael T. Weiss - THE PRETENDER

9. Robert Gant - QUEER AS FOLK

10. Christian Bale in BATMAN BEGINS

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 20:54:58 GMT

It looks like I'm going to New Jersey tomorrow. I was invited to go see RAGTIME at the Papermill Playhouse, which I've always wanted to go to. That means waking up at 7am to get to Penn Station by 8 so I can be at the box office by 9 to get rush tickets. Than we get to walk around Jersey for four hours. It'll be some nice "Getting to know you" time.

All I gotta say is we better get those damn tickets.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 18:12:12 GMT

I found this article online entitled "Literal Interpretation" and thought it was a fascinating read -

Where do conservatives get the moral values that won George W. Bush his second term, except from the Holy Bible?

Yet, strangely, in political argument they seldom name the good book as the fountainhead of their ethics. Nor do they quote Genesis in their struggle to introduce creationism to science classrooms of my home state, Kansas. They rarely cite scripture in their condemnation of homosexuals. And no wonder it’s hard for them, since obedience to Biblical commands would bring agonizing death—not just to homosexuals—but to a good 90% of the adult U.S. population.

This derives from what conservative Christians call their “inerrant” Holy Bible, which they say they interpret literally. They offer the appealing certainties of a moral guide dictated word for word by God. This is the major attraction that wins new members and political power. By contrast, conservatives argue, Christian mainstream faiths pick and choose among scriptures and offer an interpreted Bible full of moral relativism.

“That’s how conservatives won the battle,” explains David O. Moore, an ordained Southern Baptist minister in Liberty, Mo., who suffered during the 20-year siege that conservative Christians call the Battle of the Bible. “The average Joe working in the shop, the housewife washing the dishes, they have no formal training in the Bible. They believe the Bible, and so do I. But when a preacher mentions that there are errors—geographical, numerical—it really upsets the people in the pews. They want to trust the Bible.”

This battle has imposed profound change at the ballot box, in the U.S. Supreme Court, in Congress, and state legislatures and public schools. It fuels the president’s push for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage and his opposition to fetal stem-cell research. The nation is fortunate that despite their political power, conservatives are—yes—too compassionate actually to obey their inerrant Bible. Hating the sin of homosexuality but loving the sinner, they ignore the action clause of Leviticus 20:13: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

Concerning heterosexuals, conservatives read Mark 10:11, which states that “whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another commiteth adultery against her.” But they are too humane to obey Leviticus 20:10: “And the man that commiteth adultery with another man’s wife...the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” If Christians obeyed, zealots would slaughter—based on this verse alone—half the adult U.S. population, all of the remarried and their spouses.

Conservative Christians also struggle against God’s order, passed down through Moses in Leviticus 20:9, which reads: “For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death: He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.” These conservatives are too kind to kill such children, nor would they—unlike the witch-burners of Salem, Mass., in 1692, obey Leviticus 20:27: “A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones.”

Conservatives ignore Deuteronomy 22:21, which dictates the fate of the bride whose parents cannot bring forth the cloth that would serve as a token of her virginity: “Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die...so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.”

The Bible also condemns to death many different classes of sinners, including “he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord” (Leviticus 24: 10–16) and “whosoever doeth work” on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2).

Today’s conservatives disregard Leviticus 25, which commands that we buy bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen around us and of strangers that sojourn in our land.

“And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen forever.”

Moore, 84 and a retired professor of religion at William Jewell College in Liberty, nearly lost his job in 1979 because he would not argue for a personal devil. How does he deal with such harsh Biblical commands?

“I say to you, I can’t be a worshipper of that God,” he replied. “The Bible is a history of the unfolding understanding of the Jews in Israel. It’s a secular social history which displays their growing understanding of God’s will. They did those things and wrote those things as if God commanded them to do it. But the whole Bible is God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners.”

This view of scripture is widespread among mainstream Christians. They focus more on Jesus’ teaching: that the first and great commandment is to love God, and the second to love our neighbors. That only he who is without sin should cast the first stone. That God loves the poor, and it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Mainstream Christians argue that the Genesis creation story is a metaphor expressing an ancient people’s best understanding of their world. Here there’s an odd convergence, because some conservatives also have decided the world’s creation in six days is hard to swallow. They abandon Genesis for a mere “intelligent design” theory, battling to get it taught as science in public schools.

Conservatives do not explain why—defying Biblical commands—they refuse to stone wizards, homosexuals, and nonvirgin brides. Instead, they justify today’s more humane ethics by speaking of the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant,” the supposed harsh Biblical law before Jesus and the gentler era after. As if the enduring, eternal God had reinvented himself and his laws between the Old Testament and the New. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, however, the Bible contains no article specifying how it can be amended. With conservatives it also comes down to the same picking and choosing among scriptures, the same dreaded interpretation they decry in mainstream Christianity. They choose to absolve Sabbath-breakers, blasphemers, remarried “adulterers,” and nonvirgin brides—but not homosexuals, who are condemned if not to death at least to damnation.

And even the New Covenant makes problems for conservatives. Nowadays they must deal gingerly with dictates of the New Testament’s First Timothy, in which the Apostle Paul says he will “suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” That is because, Paul adds, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, was in the transgression.”

In his Epistle to the Ephesians, Paul advocates submission to slave masters. In his Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 1, he condemns many offenders, including homosexuals, “whisperers, back-biters, haters of good, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents...covenant-breakers.” Compassionate conservatives ignore verse 32, which speaks of “the judgement of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death.”

This is the inerrant Bible from which conservatives pick and choose the moral values that won the 2004 election. Not that they tricked the electorate—most conservatives are sincere. They just instinctively sense how to win: Imply that your values come from the Bible, but don’t point readers in that direction.

Because if voters actually studied the good book, they might discover their own quite different set of values.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 21:52:26 GMT

Good God, I'm tired.

I read other people's Xanga's all the time but honestly never even think about updating mine. I forgot I even had one.

I had a nice two hour nap before. This past month I can't seem to ever get enough sleep. I'll sleep for 10 hours a night and wake up even more tired than before I went to bed. Than I have to get my ass to a job I'm beginning to hate more and more each and every day. I really hope after I finish working on this film that I'll be able to get a REAL job in the business. Maybe even something I actually enjoy doing. (Now there's a thought)

I met Cady Hufman today, as well. Even though I really didn't care for THE PRODUCERS, she was the one part I really enjoyed so it was nice to be able to talk to her for a while. She's such a total sweetheart. I wish her all the best. That still didn't beat getting to meet Alfre Woodard yesterday. I've been obsessed with her for almost 20 years so this was a BIG deal for me. Thank God she was nice!

In other news, I'm back on my diet. Which really couldn't come at a worse time since I'm going to Boston in less than two weeks and I'm sure that planty o' bad food will be eaten. Oh, well.

Now I'm tired. :)

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 18:17:46 GMT

Damn, y'all. I really need to start updating this more. It just seems like such a commitment and I don't know if I'm ready for that at this point in my life.

I did absolutely nothing today except go and return CATWOMAN to Blockbuster. After it received all those horrible reviews I (obviously) had to see it just to judge for myself. Call me crazy, but I thought it was fun. And Halle Berry is one fine looking woman. (Not that I'm into women mind you, because that would just be disgusting)

I just ordred chicken & brocolli from the take out place down the street and I'm now waiting on a phone call about a job that I got while I was out. I hope this works out because God knows I need the cash.

I did go to see HIDE & SEEK last night and had the crap delightfully scared right out of me. Dakota Fanning is one scary little bitch. There are a few things that terrify me as some of you know -

1.) Little Girls in horror movies
2.) Porcelean Dolls
3.) Music Boxes

And this movie had all three.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:09:37 GMT

I <3 Boston

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 16:30:26 GMT

I'm listening to WICKED again now. I wonder if anyone else is listening to this as well. I love this song -

"What is this feeling so sudden and new....
I felt the moment I laid eyes on you.
My pulse is rushing,
My head is reeling,
My face is flushing,
WHAT IS THIS FEELING?
Fervid as a flame.
Does it have a name?"

It's such a fun song. It makes me think of love. Ah yes. Love. Okay, I need to get ready and go to the post office. I'll add more later.

Friday, December 31, 2004

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:58:40 GMT

New Years Eve. I can't believe another year is over. God, this was a bad year for the most part. Luckily these past few months have just been incredible. Yes, I'm still looking for work and am so in debt that I can't see straight, but other than that I've got a lot to look forward to in '05. But a few things this year that were highlights include

1) Meeting the hottest man on earth -

2) FINALLY getting out of the hell that was Washington, DC.
3) Finding an entire new group of friends who I know will be in my life until the end.
4) Discovering BWW on a fluke and having it lead to some of the best experiences of my entire life.
5) Finding someone who very well might just be "the one".

So who knows what will happen in 2005. I hope it's a good year. It's looking good right now.