Sheri's blog

Snatchin' Yo People Up

For real.

I was in a meeting yesterday, and while we were waiting for Maya to load a giant set, the supervising producer decided to show off his new LCD TV in his office by showing us youtube videos.  Of course.

First up:

Video So Wrong But Funny Azz News Clip Of The Week Crackhead Breaks In A Huntsville, Alabama Apart

And my favorite:

Snatchin Yo People Up Remix 720p

How had I not seen this before?!  This is a perfect example of making something beautiful and awesome out of something tragic and horrible. 

Or something.

The God Delusion

I just finished watching an interesting documentary about religion that has a definitive atheist viewpoint.

I've watched a lot of documentaries on religion, but none of them have ever had a self-proclaimed atheist as the narrator/interviewer.  I think I'm going to use the word, "interesting" a lot here, so bear with me.

There's an interview in the first part with Ted Haggard (you know, the former evangelical pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs who had sex and bought crystal meth from a male prostitute, Mike Jones, over a period of three years) telling the obviously enraged filmmaker in a very smug, condescending tone, "not to be so arrogant" and that science constantly "contradicts itself" while the Bible doesn't.

The doc doesn't just cover Christianity.  It kind of goes all over the place, which is awesome.  Each religion, through various representatives, (pastors, priests, bishops, clerics, etc) has someone/something to blame for the evils of the world.  Fornication is a big one that pretty much every religion has a problem with.  Some blame other religions and peoples, of course.  Islam blames the West for not controlling their women (who dress like whores).  Evangelicals have a problem with abortion and homosexuality and really seem to focus all of their energy there.

And he actually attacks religion, which is kind of a new concept to me in documentary filmmaking.  My experience has been with filmmakers carefully tiptoeing around their interviews, never directly criticizing religion.  I have to admit, I was kind of taken aback, despite the fact that there is never any shortage of religious representatives attacking whatever they see as evil.

The idea that you need religion to be your moral compass is beyond absurd to me, and it frightens me that there are people that actually believe that you need religion to stop you from raping and murdering people.

Here's a good lecture on morality sans religion:

Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions

There's that pesky science again.

If you're interested, you can check out the documentary here:

The God Delusion

Art Stuff! Kinda...

So it's not my usual kind of thing, but I wanted to put together a concept for the upcoming Ecolodeon* show that illustrates some type of eco-friendly concept for the future.  So this is what I did:

GreenHouse_Final

I wanted it to look concept-y.  Something annotated that conveys a big-ish idea.  I think it does that.  Pretty much everyone that I've run it by hates something about the design, but understands the idea.  So that's good.  It's a departure from my norm to do an idea-based design like this.  I'm usually all about characters and their individual emotions and situations and crap.

I'm going to mount the print (it's about 7.5" x 14") on black illustration board.  The thing's due Monday.  I've had the idea for awhile, but really only got down to business yesterday.  When I thought of the photosynthesis thing, my co-worker sent me this article.  He had no idea that I was working on this.  It was just a weird coincidence.

*"Eco" and "Nickelodeon" combined.  Get it?  :P

Monday Tidbits

• I just got a forwarded email that I am dying to share with the world.  Or at least the 2-3 people who read this.  But I'll contain myself until Friday in accordance with my new "Forward Friday".  Who knows?  Maybe I'll get one this week that's even better!

• I just found out that I'm moving into an office with five other people on Wednesday.  I knew that it was coming, but I didn't think it would be so soon.  I'll miss you, giant office that I don't have to share.

• Yesterday was the LA Marathon.  I took the subway everywhere instead of driving.  Jen and I hit up the Hollywood Farmer's Market for some cheap, local produce, then caught The Runaways.  It was good times.  And I highly recommend seeing The Runaways.  Cherry Bomb was the first song that I learned on the guitar.  I Love Rock 'n Roll was the second.  I have since pretty much forgotten how to play both. 

• I also found out this weekend that The Hump, a sushi restaurant in Santa Monica that was caught selling illegal, endangered whale a few weeks ago, closed its doors.  I checked out Yelp's site on it, and I've seen a few people outraged that they would be forced to close like that.  Yeah, it sucks that people lost their jobs because their employer was doing some seriously illegal stuff, but it's kind of ridiculous to say, "How dare those people report that restaurant for serving illegal whale meat!  I care more about people than animals!"  Dude, The Hump voluntarily closed their doors after being called out for this.  Illegal actions generally have consequences.  And yes, selling endangered species' meat should be illegal.    

• The health care bill passed yesterday, and there's been no shortage of controversy and name calling.  Anti-abortionist Bart Stupak is pretty much the reason that the vote tipped in favor of health care.  The president promised to reaffirm the ban on federal funding of abortions (which he lifted on his third day in office) and Bart Stupak along with a handful of other anti-abortion Democrats got on board.  I have mixed feelings about it, but I do hope that Rush Limbaugh stays true to his promise to move out of the U.S. until 2012.  Although, I do find it a bit ironic that he would choose to move to Costa Rica...

• Also, it's now officially Spring.  My new favorite website has instructions on how to spring clean with nontoxic home-made products.

Forward Friday!

It's time for Forward Friday, where I share my favorite forwarded email of the week.  This week, it's Us vs. Them.

Us = Good, hard-working, God-fearing Americans
Them = Illegal immigrants, gays, lazy poor people

Enjoy!

...she wants YOU to share your wealth but she isn't going to give a dime of her family's millions.  And this is on top of the millions you as a taxpayer spend every year flying her back & forth from DC to Calif on Airforce II.  Talk about a hypocrite

 

Thanks for the update on whom may be our next president :oO  Frightening, isn't she.  Wish I knew how to get her out of office - the 30 million Gays in San Fran aren't going to vote their beloved Mum out.  Guess it is up to the rest of the nation to figure out how to impeach her before she does more damage to the nation's economy.  You'd think her partnership with ACORN in bringing down the housing market would have been enough, but so many are still saying "George Did It!"

Guess we need to wake up soon.

 

 

Subject: Fwd: Pelosi plan to save California WOW!!!!!!!!

---

 

 

 

Is this a  wonderful world, or  what?                       This is  incredible......Nancy Pelosi... wants  the remaining 49 states to pull  California out of  bankruptcy....      And we (she)  wonder(s) why the State of California is  broke? This is  a rerun with poor graphics but people need  to be reminded what we are up  against.   Just  One State   This   is only one State................If this  doesn't open your eyes,  nothing  will!     From   the L. A. Times 1. 40% of   all workers in      L. A. County ( L. A. County has   10..2 million people) are  working  for cash and not paying   taxes    This is because they are predominantly illegal  immigrants  working without a green  card. 2.    95% of   warrants for murder  in Los  Angeles are  for illegal   aliens. 3.    75% of   people on the most wanted list  in Los  Angeles are   illegal aliens.     4.   Over 2/3 of all births  in Los  Angeles County are   to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal,  whose births were paid  for by  taxpayers. 5. Nearly   35% of   all inmates in California detention  centers are  Mexican nationals here  illegally. 6. Over   300,000 illegal  aliens in Los   Angeles County  are  living in garages. 7.   The FBI reports half of all gang members  in Los   Angeles are  most likely illegal aliens from south of the   border. 8 Nearly   60% of   all occupants of HUD properties are  illegal.. 9.   21 radio stations  in L. A. are  Spanish speaking. 10..   In L. A. County 5.1 million people   speak English, 3.9  million speak  Spanish. (There   are 10.2 million people  in L. A. County .   )      (All 10   of the above facts were published in  the Los Angeles   Times)     Less   than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our  crops,  but 29% are   on welfare.     Over 70% of the United  States '  annual population  growth (and over 90%  of California's, Florida's,  and New  York's )  results from   immigration.  29%   of inmates in federal prisons are illegal   aliens .             We  are fools for letting this continue            HOW  CAN YOU HELP ?        Send  copies of this letter to at least two other  people.   100 would  be even  better. This  is only one   State..............      If   this doesn't open your eyes nothing  will. You must  know why Nancy Pelosi wants them  to become voters.                                                      ************************************* LET'S   IMPEACH HER NOW BEFORE SHE DOES FURTHER  DAMAGE!!  WHAT AN   IDIOT!! IF   YOU DON'T AGREE JUST DELETE--IF YOU  DO--PASS IT ON!!  WHERE  DO WE GET  THESE MORONS'

My New Favorite Website(s)

Two years ago, when I first heard about Twitter, I thought, what the eff kind of self-involved social network is that? 

I never thought I'd say this, but I love Twitter.

Also, my new favorite website:

GOOD
http://www.good.is/

I almost entered this contest.  I found out about it a little too late though, and didn't want to half-ass a design three days before the deadline.  I'll probably finish out the idea that I had for it though.  It'll be perfect for the Ecolodeon show.  I just found out the title of the show: "Green Schemes: Planning for a better future." 

So I guess I'll start planning that future this weekend, which also happens to be in the future. 

Oh, elusive future, how I'll miss you when you never arrive.

Not Surprising

Whale Kills Trainer as Horrified Crowd Watches

12_22_Dawn_Brancheau_450

I also like how Fox news feels like they have to say that they're "fair and balanced." 

Rad Tattoos

I saw these today on dailyfork.com:

Pig-radish

The Cove

I watched The Cove last night for the second time.  On Sunday, I saw Avatar for the second time.  And yesterday, I watched a short documentary called, The Global Brain, which was made in 1983. 

As I was watching The Cove again, I realized that The Global Brain was really ahead of its time.  Peter Russell talks about the earth as a living organism, and that by the year 2000, we would become more aware of being part of this living organism.  At first, I was a little skeptical about humans actually having any more awareness than we did 20 or 30 years ago, but the more I think about it, I think we do.  At least in developed nations.  People in developing countries are more concerned with basic survival and agriculture than anything else.  But I like this idea of interconnectivity.   

Back to The Cove.  I recommend seeing it.  It's pretty horrific what happens in Taiji, Japan, in this cove.  The fishermen there have such a blatant disregard and disrespect for life, and the government goes to great lengths to keep this all private.  And towards the end of the film, the main guy responsible for the whole mission to stop the slaughter of dolphins says something like, "If we can't stop this in this one little cove, we can forget about the bigger stuff."  And I completely agree with that.  If we can't fix something like this, how can we fix anything bigger than this?  It goes back to the interconnectedness of everything.

Avatar covers the same territory in a fictional story.  It's all really interesting.  I think it's done so well, in part, because of this growing awareness.  But is it really all enough to change our society enough to make a difference?  And not just domestically, but globally?               

Yay for the First Amendment!

I am so happy that this is the country that I live in:

Fan Photos from FB Group O.B.A.M.A.

I mean that.  There are few places in the world where you can criticize your government at all without retribution, let alone in such a crude, racist way.  Going into the comments section on these photos is somewhat dizzying, what with their lack of spelling and grammar, not to mention contradictory ideas.

From one commenter:

well the law, from Dec. 24 1952 til Nov. 13 1986, states that for someone to seek Presidential Office requires a natural-born citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. parents. If only one parent was a US Citizen at the time of birth, that parent must have resided in the US for at least 10 years, at least 5 years after the age of 16. Barack's father was not a US Citizen and his mother was only 18 when Obama was born. Hawaii was a Territory. thus, he is a Naturalized citizen and a naturalized citizen is ineligible to hold the office of President.

I'm not sure what any of this means, but I'm pretty sure it's incorrect.  The Constitution, whether or not you agree with it, is pretty clear on this issue.  And Hawaii became a state in 1959.  Barack Obama was born in 1961.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that 1961 came after 1959.

I know that there's been a lot of "controversy" around Obama's birth certificate.  It has been produced, which should lay any theories that he's not a citizen to rest, right?

So why are there people out there still hung up on this issue?  Is it because they're unhappy and they need someone to blame?  And instead of voicing their woes in a way that would actually do some good, they create a Facebook page dedicated to bigotry and slander?  It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  I mean, why not spend more time and energy on something productive, like learning basic English and critical thinking?