Non-Prophet

An Outsiders View of Colorado Springs.

A New York based theater company has written a play about our fine city and has found it filled with crazy evangelical Christians! This comedy is all about evangelicalism in America, and it uses Colorado Springs as a snap-shot of evangelical culture. Amazingly, the cast and crew were actually in Colorado Springs when the Ted Haggard sex/drug scandal broke! Can you imagine the luck? Talk about an ending.

What I find very interesting about this play is that it seems to portray enavagelical culture as bizarre and alien, and the reaction of the audience sounds like they've never been around evangelicals before. (The play is running in Washington D.C.) After living in this city for over a decade, I'm reminded of the mind-bending and fascinating bizarre nature of it all that was so obvious when I first arrived. Many evangelicals that I know simply take it for granted that their Christian centered life-style, filled with praise music played over an iPod at work and re-enforced by the entirely Christian social circles that they travel in, is the norm everywhere across our country. The truth couldn't be farther from reality. When I snap back to my born and raised Long Island mind-set, the Colorado Springs evangelical scene truly does seem alien, bizarre, hilarious, self-centered, weird and spooky. These people are freaks! But I do so love most every one that I know.

With my fellow co-workers I have discussed how I think that I can pick out an evangelical just by looking at them. There seems to be a glow, a way that they hold themselves, that weird look in their eyes. Yes, it is the eyes. Some have this grin and a nearly spaced look that just makes me think evangelical. Call me crazy, but I think that it is just another cultural trait that has developed from within any social circle. Much like a how a goth might not typically be overly smiley and bubbly, I think that evangelicals have their own unique cultural traits.

Okay, give it to me. I guess I've asked for it. ;)

Gazette:

Chloe West, whose unabashed laughter filled the theater throughout the night, summed up many people's feelings.

"I knew Colorado Springs was a gorgeous place, but that's pretty much all I knew," she said. "After seeing the show, yeah, I am a little scared. Would I ever want to live there? Probably not."

That version of Colorado Springs came compliments of The Civilians, a New York City-based theater company that attempted to take a snapshot of American evangelicalism, using Colorado Springs as a microcosm of the nation.

"The Civilians specialize in doing work about real-life subjects, and I wanted to do a play about evangelical Christianity," said Steven Cosson, the show's director and co-writer. "I thought our method and the subject matter would be a good match. We were interested in Colorado Springs in particular because the story there is so unique. The city has changed so much over a period of 25 years with the influx of so many churches and evangelical organizations."

Norturnal Mockery 7

This is probably my favorite art show that comes around. The fabulous and most excellent Lauren Potereiko will show some of her new work, plus there will be live entertainment and magic. Check it out. You gotta love those Edifice folks.

Daniel Johnston on NPR

This is totally cool. Springs Culture Cast, in conjunction with the local NPR station has put together a series of of interviews and recordings from the Daniel Johnston show that took place last Friday at the Smokebrush gallery here in town. Check them out here,
here, and here. Awesome job SCC!

Steampunk Taxidermy

Lisa Black has created a series of oddly disturbing-yet-fascinating taxidermied steampunk animals. The idea appears to answer the question, "What would it be like to have a deceased yet well preserved cybernetic duckling around the house?"

Has she gone too far? Is there anything here that you haven't eaten or worn with significantly less of a tribute? Tribute to what? Debasement? Abomination? Awesomeness? Morbid ghoulishness? Fun?

This is art.

Gizmodo:

Stuffed animals are creepy enough as is — there are few better ways to make people uncomfortable in your home than having a dead animal propped up next to the sofa — but this just takes it to the next level. The "Fixed - Fawn" by New Zealand artist Lisa Black crams gears and mechanics into the cadaver of a dead baby deer, making it look like it had surgery performed on it by a mad scientist. And if you think that's unsettling, you should check out the ferret on her website. You'll thank me for sparing you it this early in the morning.

Zombie Hunters

Here's another great web comic that I found. And it begins... right.... here.

Improv Everywhere

The NYC pranksters are at it again. Good stuff! (act 2 on the link)

Furries

Does anyone out there understand the whole "furry" thing? Could you please explain it to me? I seriously don't get it at all. Makes no sense whatsoever. Talking animal comics? I feel like I must be missing something... totally missing something. This has to be the strangest genre ever created. I mean, who? why?

Wikipedia:

Art and entertainment celebrated by furry fandom include fictional work that employs the concept of animal characters with human characteristics, rather than any particular type of fiction. For this reason, any work, in any medium, may be considered part of the furry genre simply by inclusion of an anthropomorphized animal character, although such characters are most often seen in comics, cartoons, animated films, allegorical novels, and video games. The science fiction and fantasy genres make frequent use of anthropomorphism, and as a result, are especially popular in furry fandom.

....

Sufficient interest and membership has enabled the creation of many furry conventions in North America and Europe. The world's largest furry convention is Anthrocon, held annually in Pittsburgh in July. One convention, Further Confusion, held in San Jose each January, closely follows Anthrocon in scale and attendance.

Chroma at the Edifice Gallery

Friday March 7th will be the opening of Chroma at the Edifice Gallery in Colorado Springs. It will feature artwork from some of the brightest and freshest local talent, including the amazing Lauren Potereiko! Check it.

FreakAngels

It's a steampunk comic that has been rolling for less than a month. So far I love the rich visual style and the world it has begun to define. It's weekly and free ta-boot. The art of Paul Duffield and the writing of Warren Ellis have kept me returning for more. Check it out here. I'll be reading.

Atlas Shrugged: I Finished It.

Well damn. That was one long book. I didn't even actually read it either, I listened to it. I'm left with a feeling that it was both insightful in certain ways and short sighted in others. I was also left thinking that the unbelievable length of the book seems wholly unnecessary. It was as if it went on forever without much of a story as some type of trial Ayn Rand wanted to see if you could make it through. Like a test to see if you wanted it bad enough. Ugg. I'll tell you one thing, if it wasn't an audio book there would have been no way in hell that I could have mustered up the patience to finish that sucker. Here are some of my thoughts:

The idea that certain engineers, businessmen and scientists in our society are the sole sources of real value and that everyone else just sucks off of them is an exaggeration that is so extreme that the point Rand is trying to illustrate is lost in the absurdity of her illustration. I agree that governments that regulate and subsidize to the extreme drain the productivity of the productive and reward the unproductive and mismanaged, but John Galt waxes at great length about how there is absolutely no middle ground that can be reached whatsoever. That means starving old ladies in the streets, and I believe that a measure of a civilization is how far down we allow the "least of these" to live. Point taken regarding excessive handouts, but the absolutist position of Rand is no place I'd want to live. By definition, half of the people in the world have an IQ that is below 100. People like John Galt are portrayed by Rand as intellectual superheroes far beyond anyone real that I've ever met, and I've met Nobel Prize winning physicists.

On the other hand I think that Ayn Rand nailed sexuality, and talked very well on the hangups society has with being sexual. So much sex is preoccupied with societal expectation, reputation and shame. See what values you hold true in your life for no reason other than they have been imposed upon yourself and you see how you've been restricted by your own enabling hand. For a pre-sixties work of literature this book has a very modern view of sexuality.

The thing I liked most about the book was its views on how one has the right to make ones self happy in life, and that this alone is our highest moral purpose. The objectivist concept of practical selfishness really rings true when I studied it is depth and Rand led me to see many ways in which I have allowed myself -- by my own hand -- to live with guilt, restriction, denial and limitations. These sections of the book were illuminating and liberating. To live one's life pursuing the moral goals of others is to yield ones own life for the purpose of deflecting responsibility. It is derived from a fear of failure. Letting others down would cause them to condemn one's own path, causing one to have to face one's own inadequate nature. So we plod through life pursuing the morality of others in an effort to make them happy with us as some kind of affirmation. What a waste of life. To follow the path to our own happiness regardless of what others think is our birthright. No man's opinion matters more than yours. Nobody deserves to be happy more than you do.

So was it worth the marathon? I guess so. Would I recommend it? Not without a warning that it is long, slow moving, repetitive and that a large amount of the philosophy contained within seems derived from a cold war era fear of communism. You've got to really want it for it to be worth it. I'm glad I made it to the end, but I'm also glad it is over.