TGIF

TGIF

Thank GOD it's Friday!

Rapture! The Video Game!

Huzzah! The triumphant return of TGIF! And to celebrate, I'm bringing back a piece of animation I did a few years ago.  For the uninformed, between Dayton and Cincinnati, OH, there was a gigantic/horrifying statue on the side of the highway that appeared to be rising like a kaiju zombie.
It was Jesus.

Because of its appearance, it was often called "Touchdown Jesus," or "Big-Butter Jesus."  Being gigantic and terrifying, the only logical thing for me to do was to convert the second coming into a monster filled video-game idea with Jesus as the main Kaiju. I called the idea: Rapture, the Video Game.

Incidentally, it actually DID get struck by lightning.  Sadly it did not come to life, but I weirdly made and posted that video a few months before it got hit and burned to the ground.
Now it has been replaced by "Five-Dollar-Footlong Jesus."

I Know, I'm working on it.

TGIF!

TGIF!

R. Crumb's Book of Genesis - Illustrated!

Thank God it's Friday!  And to celebrate, I thought I could recommend a comic for you that will not only satisfy your religious needs for the weekend, but all your non religious needs as well.  What I'm referring to is Robert Crumb's Illustrated Book of Genesis.  That's right, every chapter, including the boring "begats" part, is illustrated completely and 100% literally.

God never looked so majestic.

When I say the word literal, I mean it literally.  Crumb has left nothing said in the Robert Alter translation of the Bible as metaphor or symbolic.  So we see Noah and the arc, as it is described.

You see, most animals can be folded up for storage.  With his literal visualizations, Crumb strips down the story to what it inescapably is: A story.

 

A story about love.

Love.

But aside from this indictment of the text by merely presenting it literally, Crumb gives us a a gorgeous set of pages to look at that make the oftentimes tedious text fall away from your consciousness.  Simply from a visual standpoint, the comic itself is gorgeous, full of texture, drama, and gloriously narrative images.

The comic rightfully had a lot of praise when it was released.  He received several award nominations and public praise and even scorn.  The scorn. to me. is hilarious, since it came from religious fundamentalists who think its all true anyway.  If they don't want sex and violence in Bible adaptations, they need to get a new bible. I mean, Crumb is only trying to accurately translate world mythology into his own art form.

What a Jerk!

Have a nice weekend.  Hope we don't get wiped off the face of the earth on a whim.

TGIF!

TGIF!

Life of PI

First off, yes, I know I didn't do anything for wednesday... oh. you didn't ask? Oh, well the other thing is, yes, I know the Life of Pi does not just focus on Hinduism, but in fact makes a point of celebrating the sameness of three major religions (ie Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity), and using a vague symbol of Hinduism to represent this post does misrepresent it slightly.  I know, but i hadn't made the Hindu one yet, and I took this as an opportunity.

Though things like the Oscars are of only a little interest to me, I thought I could use my two inch soapbox here to show my support for the film based on the Yann Martel novel of the same name.  Ang Lee should at least win for Cinematography.  I didn't see a prettier film all year.  I enjoyed the mystical visuals Lee provided to make the strange story into something magical.  I also love its unifying theme, there's not enough of that in movies as far as I'm concerned..  I say, and will always say, read the book, it's great.  See the movie too, it's something wonderful to see.

Plus, Tigers are awesome!

TGIF!

TGIF!

Video Games of Biblical Proportions!

Coming in at just under the wire, I have a TGIF post for everyone this Friday.  While most video games exist in the secular world, there is a small collection of faith based Video Games out there that, among other things, are hilarious.  

The first batch comes, thankfully from the Angry Video Game Nerd.  Be warned, he swears... ALOT.

Here's some more that he reviewed for us.

And his latest hits.

There are also a few Classy Games on the Internet.

Run, Jesus Run! is a simple flash game that has a hilariously easy set of controls.

Journey of Jesus: The Calling is a creepy looking Facebook game that goes over the life and times of everybody's favorite Nazarene.

And if you're a fan of convert or die ideologies, there is of course the PC games based upon the "Left Behind Series of books. 

And for something completely fake!

Have a nice weekend!

TGIF!

TGIF!

My new gallery piece, "A Dialogue of Differing Religious beliefs."

For this week's "Thank God it's Friday!" I'm showcasing my new gallery comic about a religious discussion.  It is currently on display at the Dougherty Arts Center.
It's a series of contour line drawings that I sort of channeled Shel Silverstein in

Have a Nice weekend