A flurry of activity, then nothing (blog hiatus)

UPDATE: Hm. I suck at leaving this blog thing alone. I think I’ve been here more often now that I’ve told everyone I’m not going to be here for a while. Anyway, I dropped by to tell you all that I’ve made some additions to my blogroll, seeing as how you’re going to be needing some extra mind-expanding material while I’m away. Go visit Ronin of the Spirit for thought provoking commentary, and Thinking is Real has some fabulous dissections of every Australian skeptic’s favourite show, The One (really, you have to see it to believe how bad it is – tonight, 7:30pm on Channel 7, if you’re in Australia). And my standby for when I need clarify my thoughts on something: my friend Lee’s Mobile Science blog.

Here endeth the update.

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Hello, people of Earth.

I’ve been having trouble writing meaningful blog posts in the last little while. I’ve been plagued with such questions as:

• “do I really need to add my brainspew to the already brilliant skeptical blog coverage out there?” (no),
• “will writing a blog really help me increase my writing output on my novel” (no), and
• “how often can one eat ramen noodles without getting sick of them, or off them?” (3 times a week, and counting).

There are things happening in my away-from-the-blogosphere life which I can’t really blog about since I’ve been lax in ensuring my real name doesn’t get linked (easily) to this blog. But a quick Google search of my name leads back here quite readily, and despite the technophobia of my overlords, there is always a chance that somehow, they will stumble upon my words of wisdom and will feel the need to assert their power over me in new and creative ways.

It’s not all about them, though. I am feeling a little unsure about what I’m writing and why I am writing it at the moment, so I’m gonna take a step back and try to see it from a different angle, maybe standing on my head.

In the meantime, let me point you in the direction of my blogroll. You should check out those links, if you haven’t already. Feel free to provide me with inspiration and/or random callouts by leaving comments here, by email or by sitting on my Facebook.

I’ll be back shortly.

World Youth Day sermon: The Valley of the Dry Bones

It sounds like a B-grade horror flick (and perhaps it is), but the sermon to be given by Archbishop Pell at the World Youth Day Mass starting in just over half an hour will be based on Chapter 37 of the Prophecy of Ezechiel (according to the online Douay-Rheimes Bible).

Go read it if you’re curious about what it has to say. Or if you’d rather wait, I will be back after listening to the Mass to dissect, with the usual dose of snarkiness, the words of *ahem* wisdom spewed forth by Archbishop Pell into the ears of some the world’s most vulnerable youth (ie, the ones caught in the grip of religious fervour).

See you soon, my children. Ramen.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, neither the ABC nor SBS have a recording of Pelly’s sermon at yesterday’s mass, so I’m not going to be able to have my fun with it! Spoilsports. From the snippets of the sermon I have heard, it seems Pelly used the passage about the Valley of the Dry Bones to draw parallels with Australia’s drought. I’m no bible scholar, but: what???

UPDATE 2: Oh, nevermind – I’ve found a pdf version of the sermon (or ‘homily’). Critique is forthcoming. I’m not sure why I’m doing this, but it gives me some sort of sick pleasure to pit myself against everything about this event. Maybe it’s because all those in power have bent over to welcome WYD to Sydney, and apart from mention of sex abuse, even the usually good media outlets like the ABC and SBS have jumped on the bandwagon. But analysing why I feel so strongly about this is another post for another day.

Anti-World Youth Day t-shirt slogans

Ok, so my anti-World Youth Day t-shirt idea hasn’t taken off, but I found a list of Top 10 Anti-World Youth Day t-shirt slogans on the SBS television website:

• You can fine me $5,500… But I still won’t believe in God
• WYD08: We close 300 roads so 300,000 can close their minds
• Good luck Pope – I’ve been waiting for a miracle at Randwick for years
• “and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who wear t-shirts that cause annoyance or inconvenience…”
• I survived a Christian Brothers education
• Oh no, I stepped in Dogma
• Too many Christians, not enough lions – Randwick 2008
• annoying & inconvenient
• I’ve been touched by the Catholic Church, so where’s my $2 billion?
• World Youth Day: You can cross yourself, but not the city

I don’t know who compiled these slogans – they made me giggle a little but I don’t think they’re spectacular.

Can you do better? Send me your slogans in the comments!

UPDATE: If you want to try and get your slogan/design on a t-shirt, head over to the REMO General Store website, where they are running a competition that gives you a chance to show off your creativity and snarkiness to the rest of the world (well, Australia, anyway – umm, actually, probably only Sydney. But do it anyway)!

UPDATE 2: The Australian Federal Court has removed a part of the wording of the New South Wales’ new World Youth Day laws – it is now legal to ‘annoy’, but still remains illegal to ‘inconvenience’, WYD pilgrims. Does that mean that anti-WYD t-shirts are ok? Unless someone can find ways to make a t-shirt inconvenient… like maybe, it only has one armhole or something…

Who says the Pope isn’t a law unto himself?

The New South Wales Government has announced some new, temporary ’laws’ to coincide with World Youth Day in Sydney (15-20 July 2008). Under these laws, anyone doing anything to cause ‘annoyance’ or ‘inconvenience’ to the WYD pilgrims, (eg. wearing a t-shirt that might protest, say, any of the Pope’s dumbass ideas) can be arrested and/or fined up to $5500.

What, free speech?

Unfortunately, I won’t be in Sydney for this wonderfully retch-inducing event, but if I was, do you think wearing this on a t-shirt would be considered ‘annoying’: