Planet Atheism » MothRust

My freaking favstar fascination

MothRust — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Earlier this year I discovered Twitter and it really worked for me. I enjoyed meeting like-minded people and sharing thoughts and jokes about what was on at the movies or on TV. It was a great social experience and I was completely addicted, amassing about a thousand followers in a few months as I followed every lead.

Every now and then I'd write a tweet that got Retweeted and I thought that was great. It was an honour that someone thought my 'joke' was good enough to share with their followers, and I started working hard to write catchy retweetable one-liners. I hadn't yet heard of favstar. I was blissfully ignorant of the pressure I was about to put myself under.

I thought Twitter's 'favorite' stars were bookmarks, and they were, but a separate website called favstar collects that data so you are able to see who has been 'bookmarking', or favoriting, your tweets. I thought this was fascinating, and I started obsessively checking the site to see how my tweets were faring. Man, I thought Twitter was for the narcissistic, but favstar is another step up. Once I discovered that you could win Trophies from other users who were using the bonus features, I was in. A few years ago I was involved with a poetry website called AllPoetry and I worked my ass off for there for pixellated trophies too. I drove all my friends nuts.

And so I started favstarring about three weeks ago. I've been frantically starring other tweets and adding followers to my list, and churning my brain to write the perfect tweets that might capture the interest of these special breed of favstar people, and special many of them are. There are some brilliantly funny Tweeters who can write creative, original, funny one-liners, one after the other... and there are also the people who think they can. This is the place to go for people who believe they are comedians, in much the same way as SingStar is for those who think they can sing. You might sound okay in the shower, but in fact, you suck. I like to think I sound good when I karaoke, and I also hope to the gods my tweets are as funny to others as they are to me.

I've been practically begging for trophies to validate the monstrous ego within me that feeds on validation and praise. The rush of star applause that comes after posting a witty tweet is far too addictive to avoid, but every day that goes by without getting a trophy is a blow I can't seem to handle. It's a problem for me. It's also been a problem for my work and family life. It's time to stop fucking caring about these trophies. I'm getting grumpy and resentful seeing these very precious trophies being given away to tweets that just aren't all that funny, in my opinion, or to people that already have dozens... and I feel like punching bunnies.

Someone gave me a trophy recently, and I quickly thanked them, but they didn't receive the thankful tweet because I forgot to put their @ username in it. Less than a day went by and I got a very abusive message and a 'block' from this unhappy little tweeter. I was called an arrogant fuck! This favstar thing was serious and a little scary now. I was hurt, and there were strict rules to follow. *Note: I did manage to explain what happened and she did apologise for her reaction. We're all human twitterers after all... well, apart from the bots.

No more am I discussing horror movies and my favourite television shows that I once enjoyed doing. The friends I had made have been much ignored as I now appeal to the Twitter Elite who have the power to star me. I'm rewriting tweets that I wrote when I only had a few hundred followers and hoping no one notices. I'm finding myself deleting tweets that don't get enough stars and deleting response tweets because someone dared star them, messing up my 'Recent Tweets' favstar page. I'm stressing out because a tweet didn't make it to the Leaderboard quickly enough. I'm doing it all wrong!

I think I've burnt myself out already. I'm not saying I'm committing favstarcide yet, but I've got to stop obsessing about what others think of me and write tweets that 'I' like. Five trophies is probably good for three weeks work and I'm damn proud of my Best Of list. I've nearly got about 1600 followers and I've met a lot of people that are funny as hell. I just need step back a bit and find that balance, because as my partner @eekjoey says, "It's just fucking Twitter".

My Life in Film (Movie meme over my 40 years)

MothRust — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:08:00 +0000

My life in film. The idea is to pick out a movie of personal note for each year of your life from the year they were released. You don't need to have seen it in that particular year.

1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: Wow, it's been 40 years since this movie was released. Yep, I'm forty. I'd say something about this movie, but I'm too depressed now... 40.

1972 Monty Python's Flying Circus: When I was one years old the English discovered that you didn't need a punchline.

1973 The Exorcist: There have been very few completely awesome demon possession movies since. It was already kinda nailed. The only time I saw vomit used so well in a movie was 'Stand by me', and Monty Python's 'The Meaning of Life'.

1974 Young Frankenstein: Goddam, Gene Wilder was awesome.

1975 Jaws: Some movie about a shark whose name 'Jaws' never gets mentioned.

1976 Bugsy Malone: Jody Foster's name was Talula and she lived til she died. Wasn't Chachi in this movie?

1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind: As a kid I was so confused by this movie title. Was this the third in a trilogy? Where were the other two?

1978 Superman: What can I say. I just remember going to Hungry Jacks (Burger King) afterwards and staring into my Coke in awe of what just happened.

1979 Breaking Away: I honestly spent that year of school trying to speak Italian. Drove family and friends absolutely bonkers. Belissimo!

1980 Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back: Imagine nine year olds arguing about the soap opera aspects of Darth being Luke's dad etc... long conversations from memory.

1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark: I wouldn't let my little brother see this because of the 'graphic' scenes. I was a douchey big brother.

1982 E.T. The book had m&ms while the movie used Reece's Pieces. That's one of my strongest memories.

1983 Star Wars Return of the Jedi: Man, I loved the original Ewok celebration song at the end. Nub nub nibbidy boo, or something close to that.

1984 Ghostbusters -Nightmare on Elm Street, Beverly Hills Cop, The karate kid. This was a big year for movies, but for absolute brilliance, who ya gonna call? No, honestly? Who?

1985 The Breakfast Club: I just always thought they would have made a good Superhero Team up, Teen Titans, or Power Ranger style. Power of a princess. Power of a Geek... Jock... Emo kid... and etc.

1986 Aliens: The ultimate false ending. Two climaxes!

1987 The Princess Bride: There are people who haven't seen this movie. Worse yet, there are people who have seen it but didn't love it. Go away.

1988 Roger Rabbit: Wow. Nowadays you could make this sort of movie in the tenth of the time with our new fangled CG, but they'd never come close to this level of amazement.

1989 Batman: I almost cried from disappointment that there weren't enough Batman money shots. I learned to love it after I got some more perspective. More of my thoughts on Burton's Batman here.

1990 Ghost: I liked it.

1991 Terminator 2: Shiny melty man. Yeah, I'm getting bored now. Read on.

1992 Unforgiven: When I went to see this movie with some of my douche Christian friends, some of them did a 'walk out'. I was uncomfortable too. God I love this movie.

1993 Groundhog Day: If I was stuck in a time-loop repeating day I would... umm... you know what? Groundhog Day covered EVERYTHING

1994 The Lion King: Elton John was a big deal to me back then. We saw it a few times in the cinema, and it was animated! A new era was dawning.

1996 Braveheart: Soundtrack, battle scenes, script. GUSH

1997 Independence Day: Fun

1998 Titanic: I saw this in the cinema four times, as did everyone else I knew. I was a very gay man, I'm now thinking.

1999 The Prince of Egypt: Yeah, I was still a Christian at that point. This was 'way' cool for my types.

2000 Gladiator: See notes for Braveheart

2001 A.I. - Don't hate on me. I fell in love with this film and I completely loved and teared up at the ending.

2002 Spider-man: Cool. I just kept on rewinding that last city swing scene.

2003 Finding Nemo: Freaking awesome eye candy, and Ellen was perfect as Dora the fishy explorer.

2004 Before Sunset: The most fulfilling and beautiful romantic film of all time. It's one long chat, but we love it and its sequel to bits. Ethan Hawke gets a free ticket for life from me, for this.

2005 Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith: Nooooooooo!

2006 Borat: So funny. So freaking funny. As was Bruno.

2007 The Brave One: I like vigilantes and Jodie Foster, from Bugsy Malone to this.

2008 The dark knight: OMG OMG OMG (See Dark Knight blog post)

2009 Avatar: 3D done damn right. Remember 12 months earlier we were promised this would be 'F*cking' our eyeballs. It did.

2010 127 hrs: Yeah, go humans! We can do it! Inspiring stuff. Oh yeah, and I love it when Jo nestles her head in my arms and can't watch gory bits.

My first animated Twitter movie: Twitter and Twatter

MothRust — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:58:00 +0000

My End of the World Rapture Tweets… from Twitter

MothRust — Sun, 22 May 2011 07:11:00 +0000

Make the most of the end of the world on the 21st. We won't get another one until December next year.
God's not rapturing anybody until he gets a Starship. Jesus, didn't anybody see Star Trek 5?
I can confidently predict the the Great Rupture, when all the hopes of Last Day idiots will be deflated.
If there are any end-time Christians reading this who may have rare comic books, could you possibly send them to me before the 21st?
I'm not gonna get this bucket list done by the 21st. Hopefully someone else bitch slaps Kesha for me soon.
Christians are waiting for that great and terrible day when they can finally say, "I told you so!"
I bet all the people were twittering jokes on papyrus outside the Ark before the rain started.
I hope everyone else is set up for skeet shooting when the rapture starts.This is gonna be great!
What if the world did end at Y2K and we've all been haunting it unknowingly ever since? Wake up! Series finale of LOST for everyone!
Don't worry, there'll be some 'chosen one' somewhere to vanquish the Big Bad End-Day evil. There always is.
You know why Jesus is coming back, don't you? He always had issues with planks. The whole planking thing is pushing him too far people.
If we can find the where the Hammer is we might be able to track down where Jesus will be returning.
The slightest earthquake 'anywhere' today is gonna give Harold Camping a feeling of justification. Nobody touch anything!
I can't find my TV remotes? Where are the remotes! Has everyone else's remotes disappeared!? It's happening!
It's now the 21st of May here. The sound of screams fill the air & stench of blood reeks strong. My god, I had no idea. This is not a drill.
Oh wait a minute. I'm watching Spartacus... Blood, sex and screaming is a good thing. So far no rapture.
I missed out. Apparently, they won't rapture people who wear Crocs. I should have listened. I should have listened.
So far no one's thanking me for all the virgin sacrifices I've had to make to avert this apocalypse. You're welcome anyway!
According to quantum physics it may have been the right date but wrong parallel universe.
I was hoping at least one of our kids would have been raptured. Oh well, back to feeding six bloody mouths again.
Just kidding guys. Don't get raptured, stay down here... we'll face hell and tribulation together.
I hope when Jesus does comes back he comes out of the closet as well, just to piss of the Westbro Baptist Church.

HASH/TAGS

#iftheworldendsonsaturday there will be NO Avengers movies, and if that happens, Jesus... I'm coming for you! And it'll be personal.
My two kittens are fighting a little rougher today than usual. So there's that. #EndOfTheWord
#endoftheworldconfessions Okay, I shot the deputy as well.
I hope Jesus looks like Josh Holloway! Shirtless. Crap, it's the end of the world and I finally realised I'm gay. #endoftheworldconfessions

My Cinematic Alphabet – ‘S’ stands for Superman: The Movie

MothRust — Sun, 22 May 2011 06:27:00 +0000

Superman: The Movie. There was no mistaking this for a comic, or a toothbrush. This was a movie and the movie title said so. Thanks for the head's up, marketers. It reminds me of the first Star Trek movie, The Motion Picture; and the recent Simpsons' Movie, so titled. It's a redundant adage, but it solidifies it as an 'event'.

A real actor that looks like Clark Kent and has a real flapping cape! A superhero suit that looks as good, if not better than the one in the actual comic book? Unbelievable. The idea that a man can fly? Believable.

The opening credits were a bit long, but the soundtrack was a magical mix of mythical melody that immediately spilt into our skulls. And stayed there. The Krypton sequence... too long. The sulky Smallville years... not as long. The amount of time before we saw him in flight? About an hour and ten minutes.

Sure, Lex should have been bald. Sure, he shouldn't be hanging around with morons. Sure, Superman should not be able to go back in time whenever Lois dies. But that sky scream he gives by the car? Awesome. The montage that included saving the kitty from the tree? Cute. The wink he gives the audience thereby breaking the fourth wall, at the end? Totally forgivable. Superman II was more of a continuation and was even more fun. The other sequels, including Supergirl and Superman Returns? Never happened.

How I got sucked into Twitter

MothRust — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:49:00 +0000

I've been on Twitter for nearly three months now and I've amassed over 3000 tweets and have had the good fortune to find about 700 fun and funny followers. And yep, that's more than 30 tweets a day on average. These statistics aren't lying. I'm a Twitter addict, much to my partner's chagrin.

I still use facebook, and it's great to touch base with family and old old friends, with photos and crap. It's a great communicative tool, but the truth is, I don't have a lot in common with many of those people. There are only precious few that don't whinge about how much they hate work and Mondays, or how much they love the meal they just ate. It has its place and, don't get me wrong, I love it. Me though, or 'I', I want an audience and peers who will give a damn about the latest comic book made to film, or a horror movie I saw. If I post a short review onto facebook about a film I've just seen, I'd be lucky to get a response. Heck, I mightn't even be showing up on their feed.

The following are some bad examples of some broadcast tweets I wrote. Not to be confused with social tweets which are more conversational. Other common tweets include web links (or course) or pics that can be easily revealed by the twitter stream.

Instead of putting pins in voodoo dolls, put them into the actual people. Cut out the middle man.
Fingers, some of the things my kids can truly count on.
Oh, I heard it as The King's Peach. Oh... Ok, that makes a lot more sense now.
Making the kids a quicksand-pit was a HUGE mistake.
Whoever named the 'Abominable Snowman' was just being a pretentious twat. I just say Bad Snowman.

I also want to be able to spill random thoughts out, and plenty of them. I feel like I'm annoying people on facebook if I'm updating my status too much. Twitterers though, they get off on good one-liners, and this is the place to go to read short sharp smart quirky quips. I'm in awe of what some people can do with 140 characters. I didn't think that it would be so addictive coming up with tweets but - my god - it is, and there's something very satisfying about coming up with an original line. It's even more rewarding if someone 'Retweets' it, or stars it as a favourite. There's the addictive part. The social aspect. The narcissistic ego driven self-centred awesomeness of it all... getting attention. But there's a fine line.

If you don't interact on Twitter, it's not going to be rewarding. There is an art to conversation in the Twittersphere, in that it's tidier if your participating tweets also stand alone to some degree, if you want to play that game. If you constantly tweet about yourself, you're not going to get many followers. Even the many hipsters, know-it-all geeks and pompous assholes want to feel special. The heart of Twitter is about following the right people, and that is something that comes with a lot of time acquired savvy. Twitter takes investment and there are traps, cons, and unwritten rules on Twitter that I will blog about another time. It's an interesting environment that can get very competitive almost to a hostile point as tweeters throw the friendly fire in response to a hash-tag joke or trend (I'll leave it to you to google that jargon if you're unfamiliar).

Twitter is an amazing hub to all any and all sorts of information. When the earthquake hit Japan, I saw the ripple immediately on the timeline, and I read tweets and saw pics from people who were stuck in traffic watching their city shake. When Charlie Sheen went wild, I was there... dumbstruck by his public tweets and new language of winning. It's simply cool, the way Twitter links us in, and the celebrity/fan environment has changed dramatically. I've mentioned enjoying reading a book, and had the author thank me personally. I've had an Australian talk show host tweet me in response to a question. I've had an have (extremely brief) chat with an actress from Joss Whedon's Angel. Nothing to boast about really, but each cool in their own geeky fanboy pretentious type of way.

Exactly three months ago I started Twittering. I thought I'd run out of things to say, but apparently, there's no end to the crap I can dribble. I wrote the following tweet this morning, and out of the 3000 I've written previously, this one has been Retweeted the most. It also prompted me to realise I've lost touch with reality:

"I told something to another teacher this morning and she repeated it to clarify. I froze for a moment as I took in a real life Retweet."

I don't think many people do this, but I'm an unapologetic narcissist, and I've posted what I consider to be the best of my tweets here in the blog. Click here for my Retweets.

Batman Began

MothRust — Sat, 14 May 2011 13:19:00 +0000

This was the moment - True Love

In 1988, I discovered Batman when the newspapers ran with the story that Robin's death would be voted on by readers. Yep, the new readership they wanted by writing sensational event stories sucked me in. Until then I read black and white Phantom comics and had never considered buying the more expensive American magazines. And besides, Batman was some campy crap from TV. I was ignorant to the comic series, but this news that the Joker had pounded Robin to a bloody pulp with a crowbar got me interested. It seemed the campy stuff was over long ago. The first actual Batman comic I saw completely won me over. It showed him upside down, hanging from a tree. Oh yeah, I wanted to be that guy. It was the most striking image I had ever seen. I was smitten, and I still am.

Nipple free

I started to devour all things Batman. All the back stories and stand alone graphic novels, all the compendiums, and toys... everything. I drew batman icons on paper, and made suits for costume parties. There's something about that icon that is primal to me. I've even got a Batman symbol tattooed on my shoulder and I never tire of it. I became obsessive for the Dark Knight and I studied the character with devoted admiration. Soon after, I discovered that Tim Burton was making a film, and my imagination went wild. What would the Bat suit look like, and the car, and the cave? How would they show the years of dedicated training that formed this dark and disturbed yet focussed superior hero (yes, superhero) detective. It was a big budget movie and I hope it was going to be the biggest movie event of my lifetime.

Batman broods, and I like that idea. A hero that sulks. I could do that. Bruce Wayne is the epitome of obsessiveness and was a normal guy with billions of dollars, and dedication. Much like the Phantom, I was interested in the idea that anyone could be a superhero if you had a good reason and some determination. I've had plenty of arguments with people about the label 'Superhero', but I'll stand by it. Batman is 'super' enabled, much like most of the heroes of Gotham. He's more than ordinary... Super Ordinary? He's completely honed, so bad guys are completely owned.

Cool. Very cool.

Back to the movie. It opened to some deep emotionally charged soundtrack and a camera angle that weaved and swooped us through a maze that later revealed itself as the Batman emblem itself, in all its glory. It was beautiful and perfect. This was going to be great! The first scene involved a very dramatic and operatic caped figure instilling fear into a couple of thugs, and he told them... he, was Batman. The Batsuit looked dark and shiny and although he had a fat looking head and a chest emblem that didn't quite look right AT ALL, it had flair and presence.

It was all set up to be something more than magic, but then the Joker showed up, and literally stole the show. He stole it. He was in most of the scenes whereas I wanted to see more Batman. Not a Clark Kentish Bruce Wayne clutzing about and NOT the Joker being campy. I wanted to see the batsuit again. I wanted to see the cape fluttering by as he swang through the city and jumped from rooftops. He could hardly move his neck. He had so much rubber on him I couldn't see how he could make like Bruce-Lee and stealthily get around and kick ass, but for me, it's all about the cape, and the cape looked great.

Issue #700

I left the movie completely disappointed. Why wasn't he swinging through the city and jumping between rooftops? Why wasn't the movie simply called 'Joker'. I was underwhelmed, and kinda upset. On subsequent viewings I got a better perspective, but it wasn't my Batman. It was 'a' Batman though, and there was a lot to love about the movie. We never got enough time with BatBruce, and decades on we're still begging for more time with the man. In Batman Begins, we did at least get some backstory to the Bat story and then later we were lucky enough to get another Batman/Joker movie. Yeah, he still has the clunky bat-suit, and unfortunately it looks like it was made from car tires, tread and all, but it was a huge brilliant movie (although full of plot-holes). It'll probably be another twenty years before we see Batman and Joker at it again where their Dynamic Dual can be dissected some more, but I'm learning to be patient.

My Cinematic Alphabet – ‘R’ stands for Raiders and Robocop

MothRust — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:03:00 +0000

Raiders of the Lost Ark

This is how I like my Indiana Jones: young, non-wrinkled and free of flying fridges. Indiana was the quintessential serialised rugged action hero plucked from a non-existent radio series and given eternal life by Lucas. God bless 'im for the wonder years of cinema, before he regurgitated them into the plunder years of cinema. My god, Indy 4 winked at itself so much that I could feel a breeze. You have to consider it a spoof rather than a sequel and then strike it from the records. I think most of us have already. I do hear the lego game version is great. Lego 'anything' is cute. Heck even a lego Steve Buscemi with a Predator's mandible mouth would be cute.

'Raiders' was there first with the greatest epic dusty action adventure of the modern age, and it had the score, the man, the hat and the whip we boys all wanted to own. I would've ruled the schoolyard with a whip like that. Indy was great when he was hunting religious relics and we were there in awe when the Ark was finally opened. Then we rewound the VHSs again and wewatched it many more times watching Nazi's faces melt off. Good times.

Robocop

Never before has the story of Jesus been told so eloquently, and with so many high tech machine guns. If Jesus died and rose again sometime in the future, how could he not want to do it Robocop style? Oh yeah, the whole 'peace' thing. Whatever. The late 80s was an amazing time for action movies with Die Hard, First Blood and Lethal Weapon, and they didn't hold back on the swearing, drug use, and memorable one-liners.

Robocop had it all! Sweet stop-start animation, and a costume design that never dated. NEVER. It's just gorgeous to look at and have as an action figure that I'm not allowed to display. All the robot designs were timeless. I loved Robocop 2 also, and I think it was an awesome thing with some real nasty stuff RoboMurphy had to deal with, despite Frank Miller not being able to do exactly what he wanted with it.

Thirty years later it seems Hollywood is trying hard to recapture the feel of those movies, but it just seems they're over. A reboot to Robocop has been mulled over for a while now, but Robo's resurrection was already done to perfection, and then overdone by the time the crappy Robocop 3 was released, plus subsequent TV series. No actor nowadays is going to sign up for a movie where half of his face is going to be covered up for the most part. Robocop has no Bruce Wayne alias that allows him to go out at night to sip cocktails. He's a brooking hulk of a figure that misses his wife and kid.

He's only human. Onya Murph.

Actor’s Filmography meme (Bruce Willis)

MothRust — Tue, 03 May 2011 09:48:00 +0000

Using only movie titles from one actor or actress, cleverly answer these questions. Check Wikiipedia or imdb for filmographies.

Pick an actor: Bruce Willis

1. Are you male or female: Last Boy Scout

2. Describe yourself: The Bonfilre of Vanities

3. How do you feel about yourself: The Kid

4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: Perfect Stranger

5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: What just happened?

6. Describe your current location: Striking Distance

7. Describe where you want to be: Sin City

8. Your best friend is: Nobody's Fool

9. Your favorite color is: The Colour of Night

10. You know that: Rugrats go wild

11. What’s the weather like: Tears of the Sun

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called? Moonlighting

13. What is life to you: The Story of Us

14. What is the best advice you have to give: Die Hard

15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Hudson Hawk

What to tweet?

MothRust — Sun, 01 May 2011 14:31:00 +0000

I'm retweeting my own tweets here, so they can be ignored in both places. Handy, huh?

Ah, another day, another successful rotation of the planet.
Life's like a box of chocolates - you're born, schooled, conned, stressed, beaten - goddam it, no it's not like a box of damn chocolates.
Only extreme contortionists can be truly pigeonholed.
I practice my Tweets on those idiots at Facebook. This particular one wasn't very well received.
I'm watching people tweet about not watching the royal wedding.
I bought a 'Wookie' Cushion by mistake. When you sit on it it emits a gargling yawn sound.
One of my students is trying to tell me the time is 60 to 1. I'm failing as a teacher. I should Twitter less maybe.
Twitter > facebook: It's nice to be able to just add people without getting a, "Who are you?! How do I know you?!
ArTHor - The hilarious tale of a drunken Norse thunder god.
I wouldn't touch you with a forty foot barge pole. I'd probably use my fingers
In nature, bats never ever hang around with robins! The whole DC universe just fell apart in front of me.
Hustler or Playboy haven't explored the possibility of making pop-up books yet. Amazing.
After a transporter uniform malfunction on the Enterprise, Picard nodded at Data and told Riker to 'Make it sew'.
When girls chew gum it looks sexy, when guys chew gum they look like arrogant fucktards. #DunnoWhy
Constipated? There's a crAPP for that.
Sometimes I wish we'd evolved from frill necked lizards. We'd have had fun decorating those things around our necks, and scaring each other.
It's bigger than a matchbox and smaller than a house. What could it be? These are fairly inadequate units of measurement.
I've heard sadomasochism is difficult, but I reckon I could do it with my hands tied behind my back.
Needs some fruit? There's an APPle for that.
I have more of a fear of lows than a fear of heights.
When I'm not sure what to reply, I just quote from The Princess Bride. It's gotten me through most job interviews, unsuccessfully
Actually, I have more of a fear of widths than a fear of lows.
THOR was great, but I was disappointed he didn't pause during a fight at some stage and say, "Stop... Hammer time."
The platypus is a mammal with a beak. It lays eggs and is venomous. It's an actual Pokemon.
I can't take credit for my tweets. I just type whatever the dog barks from next door. I ignore him when he says to kill everyone.

#KidsBooksAboutLOST
4 fish 8 fish 15 fish 16 fish 23 fish 42 fish red fish blue fish
108 Dalmations
Are you my Constant?
Curious Locke
The very hungry Hurley

My Cinematic Alphabet – ‘Q’ stands for Westerns?

MothRust — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Quigley

After Die Hard, not only did we want more Bruce Willis, but we wanted more Alan Rickman, and we wanted him as a bad guy. So we got him in 'Quigley' and he was "Hans Gruber Returns" as far as I was concerned, and he returned in Australia, of all places. This was, of course, a Western, but in my great brown land, which is more of a Southern than a western. I should add that Tom Selleck was great in this movie and he had a huge freaking gun along with a huge freaking Selleck mustache. I remember this having a soundtrack that impressed on me too, but I'll have to chase this movie up and check it out better because it's been way too long. Not a great title, I might add.

Later Colonel Sanders went on to sell fried chicken

The Quick and the Dead

Sam Raimi directed this gem of a western, and Sharon Stone played the unknown girl looking for revenge. There is so much spaghetti in this western that you can hardly see the meatballs, but meatballs there are and plenty of 'em /spit-chew. What a cast! Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobin Bell, Kevin Conway, Gary Sinese AND the awesome Millennium man himself, Lance Henriksen. Sharon Stone's most memorable role besides the beaver movie.

Sharon Stone, the lead in a Western? it happened.

Quantum of Solace

Hardly a western, but James Bond did roam around in a desert for a while. I thought this was a worthy sequel to Casino Royale apart from the damned quick MTV action editing. I like this Bond so much better than all the previous 'hams'. I was never a fan of the Die Another Yesterday Forever gimmicky Bonds. I hope there's move of it, and soon.

I'd give anything for a 00 7-11 right now.

The kids and I star in JibJab Star Wars

MothRust — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:31:00 +0000

My Retweeted Tweets – Part 2 (OR Tweets that should have been RT-ed!)

MothRust — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:52:00 +0000

Most of these Tweets were inspired :P, so I think it best that I put them somewhere they can be easily found. RT @mothpete

THAW: The mighty god of defrosting
I bet the origin to the phrase, "When the shit hits the fan," is one heck of a story.
People are so black and white when it comes to Chess..
Terminator 5 'could' work if Arnie has a robot suit that shoots freeze rays, and he peels off hilarious ice puns to go with it. no wait...
That Human Centipede movie sucked ass.
Apple presents the next Scream movie - iScream: Frozen with fear.
Tweeters with long usernames just haven't thought ahead.
After four days of constipation Watson muttered the now famous phrase, "No shit, Sherlock?"
Thed ayt hespac ebars wentw ild and chan gedev erything!
Concrete footpaths are such a grey area.
From memory, Johnny Depp gets out his scissorhands to fight Freddy during a dream. Been a while since I watched this.
Whoever this 'Helina Handbag' lady is, it sounds like I do not want to know her.
1. Retweeted or not, my message is getting out there. 2. I don't have a message.
The A-team had Mr T. Could it be he's on the wrong team? Somewhere, there's a consonants gang with a missing member.
God cursed Eve with painful childbirth, because she ate the forbidden fruit. Heck, how big must have her vagina been BEFORE that?
If the damage I've seen to iphones is any indication, Skynet can be taken down easily by making a huge toilet bowl to drop it into.
I'd like to sun-bake under some venetian blinds for the stripey tanned look.
I've never gotten over the disappointment that Grease 2 didn't start where Grease left off, and explained the flying car.
The human Centipede was actually a remake of an un-aired episode of Catdog.
I think I downloaded a virus into myself somehow.
Did Krusty the clown also fall into an acid vat at the Gotham Ace Chemical plant? The place needs goddam safety rails.
We're freaking lucky we had ten fingers, or the decimal system would have been that much more confusing.
Is it ever acceptable to end a sentence with a question mark and an exclamation mark?!
The most amazing powers of all that superheroes possess is that of invisible seams and unwrinkled capes.
If I drilled & traveled through the planet to the diametrical side, I would be in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, so I won't.
Superman became upset and a little embarrassed that none of the other superheroes used the first letters of their names as chest emblems.
I don't even wanna know how Donkey Kong earned his name.
Drawing straws is really difficult without a straight edge ruler.
The Passion 2: Double Crossed
I'm pretty sure it will be photocopiers who lead the way when the robots uprise. They're already evil bastards.
All this alien probing news has me really concerned about what actually went down between E.T. and Elliot. E.T. was in the closet a lot too.

My Cinematic Alphabet – ‘P’

MothRust — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:49:00 +0000

The Princess Bride

There are people who haven't seen this movie. I know it's difficult to believe, and I know it's shocking, but there it is. Even stranger, there are people who have seen it and didn't like it. It's inconceivable! I've met those people, and I've had to commit to ignoring them for the rest of my natural life. I suppose the former of those two groups of people may not have seen the film due to their young age, or due to the film looking like a fluffy fairytale romance. Most of the time I'm able to convince them to see it, and I get a good report back and endless thanks and praise. Sometimes I get refusals on my recommendation because I was once 'that' guy who didn't mind Mars Attacks. People forgive a bad movie recommendation, but they never forget. It's hard to get that trust back.

And honestly, I have to say, if you didn't appreciate the Princess Bride and its romance, and humour, and soundtrack, and cast, then... unfriend me, unfollow me, unfamily me, if you can, because you sir or madam cannot be someone I would be able to hold a conversation with. At some point in the chat we're going to get to The Dreaded Pirate Roberts, and you just won't be on board. Goodbye to you. Skip to the Poltergeist review because you'll probably hate The Phantom too. As you wish.

This is a 'true' film. Truly brilliant. Do you think that comes along every day?

"I will always come for you." Double entendre?

Poltergeist

Poltergeist certainly stood on its own as an effectively fun and frightening film and was satisfying because it pulled at the string and unraveled everything. It's an amazing concept enough just to have a chair move a short distance. It's scope increases when everything in the room spirals in a whirlwind, and then the whole thing snowballs into terror when the house take Kerry-Anne into the depths of their souls.

Scary things covered: Clown doll ✔ Creepy tree outside window ✔ Ghosts ✔ Skeletons ✔. The sound effects were perfect, especially the eerie voice of the little girl between worlds. The special effects went into overdrive in the final showdown, and blew everything away, including the house. Just awesome.

Spielberg made this back to back with E.T. and it shows. There's the same fun, charm, and familiarity. The 'Wonder' of it all was in their eyes of this amazing cast. A cast that had some fall victim to the Poltergeist curse over following years, or simply to bad luck, which is more likely the case. The sequel was bigger and even better and it was great to see these character come back and deal with the 'Big Bad'. The third was 'meh', but made good use of the 'mirror' concept before other films 'mirrored' that idea to death.


They're here! Finally 3D Television.

The Phantom

I was a Phantom Comic collector from the age of 15 and I have a huge collection of them. I wore the good and bad marks of the Phantom on my fingers. Rumours of a movie version had come and gone so many times that we stopped believing them. Still, we had hope, and one day it happened. They were shooting the film in our area! Everyone in my circles wanted to be an extra, and those of us who did never made it off the cutting room floor, yet alone on the film.

I thought Billy Zane was perfect for the role of the wise-cracking superhero, and filled the suit out with pride. The purple suit looked much better than I could have ever anticipated (Due to a coloring error in the 30s-40s the suit became purple when it was supposed to be grey 1. to blend into the shadows, and 2. To mimic the statue of the ghost who ruled the land). It was a low budget film that showed some of the spunk and spirit of Mr Walker, the Ghost who never dies... The Phantom. It was a period piece which rang true to the original comics also, and many a wink was given to the continuity that readers would identify with. They did break many rules though, which was disappointing: No one must ever see his eyes. He doesn't talk to his dead father. His ring isn't magic... the list goes on.

Hopefully he'll be back with a bigger budget one day. There's always hope.

Still looking for the Heart of the Ocean diamond from Titanic.

The 30 Day Song Challenge

MothRust — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:11:00 +0000

I'll be updating this post daily... Don't bother checking in too often. You won't like this list.

day 01 - your favorite song: Clocks - by Coldplay
day 02 - your least favorite song: Anything by KISS or AC-DC
day 03 - a song that makes you happy: Walkin on a dream - by Empire of the Sun
day 04 - a song that makes you sad: Downbound Train - by Bruce Springsteen
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone: Unusual You - by Britney Spears
day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere: Echo Beach - by Martha and the Muffins
day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event: The Greatest Discovery - by Elton John
day 08 - a song that you know all the words to: Ride on - by Evermore
day 09 - a song that you can dance to
day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleepSarah Blasko: As day follows night
day 11 - a song from your favorite band
day 12 - a song from a band you hate
day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure: Singing In The Rain / Umbrella (Glee Cast Version)
day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love
day 15 - a song that describes you
day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate
day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio
day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio
day 19 - a song from your favorite album
day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry
day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy
day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad: Fall to pieces - by Avril Lavigne
day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding
day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral
day 25 - a song that makes you laugh
day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument: Malibu - by Hole
day 27 - a song that you wish you could play
day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty: Incomplete - by The Backstreet Boys
day 29 - a song from your childhood
day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year: All I ever wanted - by Basshunter

My Cinematic Alphabet – ‘O’

MothRust — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:18:00 +0000

'O' is a tricky movie theme in this meme. There's just not a lot of greats to choose from, and although the following two wouldn't fall into my top 50 movies, they're the top of the Os for me.

Office Space

The highlight of this movie was seeing a Xerox photocopier machine get done to it what we would all want to do. And that is to beat the living crap out of the freaking awful machines before they go 'self aware' on us all and take over the planet. This is a movie for everyone who hates their job and would love to be able to give the finger to the boss and do whatever.

Office Space starts great, and even Jennifer Aniston has a good part. It slows down towards the end, but It's a classic comedy that was the best 'office' flick around before Ricky Gervais came onto the scene and got 'definitive' with the scenario.

We need to talk about your TPS reports... yeah...

Open Water

A low/no budget film that delivered real shark fear, and without the swimming Xerox machine that was the original Jaws. The actors made me feel the desperation and futility of the situation. A great and chilling film with a final scene that has you staring at the credits, deep in thought... I love those moments.

I live on the east coast of Australia and I often swim in waters where all sorts of sharks roam. I've never seen a shark in the wild - never - but I jump at shadows all the time. Imagine knowing those shadows WERE sharks and there were plenty of them, circling you. Scary stuff.

Open Water 2 had its merits, while The Reef, 2011, which was a mix of the two, just completely sucked in comparison.

Maybe it's just an angry dolphin, ya think?

My Cinematic Alphabet – N

MothRust — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:38:00 +0000

I started doing a movie meme called 'My Cinematic Alphabet' and got through the letters A to M. When I started getting tired of messing with the clunky and cumbersome Blogspot formatting I instead decided to focus on one letter at a time. The meme rules state that one movie must be picked per letter, but I just can't. I can't. This reworked meme will also serve to actually give me something to freakin' blog about each day or so or week. Today's blog is brought to you by the letter 'N'.

Napoleon Dynamite

My first impulse is to feature Napoleon Dynamite, because I completely love every line of that movie. It's awkward, and real, and sweet, and cringe-worthy, and is one of a kind. I'm a real sucker for coming of age movies and although I'm not sure he did 'come-of-age', it's a movie that hits me in a part of my brain that remembers being that age all to well. in fact, I think I stayed there.

Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills

The Notebook

The second honorable mention goes to The Notebook, because of quotes like these and how they affected my/our lives:

"The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. I love you. I'll be seeing you."

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What's it look like? If it's with him, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again. If I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out."

Q. Do you think our love can make miracles? A. I do.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

My third of four favourite movies, to the Nth degree, is A Nightmare on Elm Street. Freddy was a killer character that actually DID exist, if only in the young fertile imagination of my mind. He regularly intruded into my nightmares as a teen, and they were the sort of dreams that actually woke me up in fear, and I loved it. I'm still fascinated by dreams that can fill my head with that level of unreality and terror. The original movie was perfect and the third was great fun with the idea of the dream warriors being able to inhabit the same dream between them.

I can't really remember the fourth and fifth movies (Dream child... dunno, and no I'm not googling it right now), but I remember putting the 3D glasses on for what was supposed to be the 6th and Final Nightmare. After that, Wes Craven's New Nightmare was inventive, and Freddy vs. Jason was crossover coolness. I never saw the reboot, and don't care if I don't, but I probably will... and soon.

Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet

Noise

The final movie, and the one that is most important to me, is a little Australian movie called 'Noise,' written and directed by Matthew Saville.

Tinnitus sucks. It really does.

The community reels after an incident on a suburban train. A young cop, beset with doubt and afflicted with tinnitus, is pitched into the chaos that follows this tragic event. He struggles to clear the noises in his head while all around him deal with the after burn of the crime.

I have a particular bias towards this film, and not just because it's VERY Australian, but because of the condition our lead character suffers with: Tinnitus. I've had chronic Tinnitus for ten years now, and it only gradually gets easier to live with. The constant high pitched shriek in my ears is like a demon that never sleeps, but whose very existence is to torment and torture me for all my living days in this world, but hey... I've got a blog for that already.

Loneliness and emptiness are states that Aussies can't help but explore. The twenty million of us live in a broad brown land with vast oceans between our neighbours, and some of them used our giant island as a prison for their unwanted citizens. There are shades of film noir in this movie accompanied by brilliant art direction and visually stunning cinematography. It is a very moving story that may leave you sadly speechless when the film ends. Warning: there may be plot holes a plenty.

Officer Graham grapples with the non-stop noise of Tinnitus in his head while manning a caravan that the public can visit and report to should they have any pertinent information to the crime. Graham is a nobody who few have respect for, and he's been kicked out of normal duty to do these late night shifts at the van. But perchance, his little van gets some shady characters that may or may not have information . How do you deal with the noise? How do you deal with people responsibly when the noise in your head frustrates you to the point where it take precedence over anything else? I've been there and it lingers.

This is a simple but brilliant film that has a lot to enjoy and will easily give you a subject for conversation afterwards, because I know, in every crowd of people there's some poor soul there, like me, with a demon in his ear.

Charlie Sheen vs. Jesus Christ – Animated

MothRust — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 06:58:00 +0000

Short Film & TV Poems

MothRust — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:12:00 +0000

Walt's making crystal meth and problem solving every glitch.
Jesse's Breaking Bad 'cause yo man, life's a ... bitch.

Crashed and LOST on an island. Two godlike brothers play their doom.
The survivors flash back here and there, then all meet up and ...poom

The 'Limitless' drug opens up your mind and give you your goals.
A great fun film, if you ignore the giant plot holes.

Driving Angry with Nic Cage after he's dead,
is like Ghostrider but worse, with no flaming head.

Ryan Reynolds' character is buried underground,
just a mobile phone and no one else around.

127 Hours. Stuck between cliff and rock.
Crazy thoughts and memories. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

THOR is a Hammering Superhero; can you hear that thunder?
Who else could play a cranky god, but a guy from Down Under

Twitter Hash-Tag gags

#MathMovies
American Pi 3.14159265: Full Circle

#MustSeeMovieSequels
Buried 2: Decomposing

#InsaneSequels
AVP3: Illegal Aliens vs Sexual Predators

#WhenTVMovieWorldCollide
127/24 Jack Bauer's arm gets wedged between a rock and terrorist.

My Cinematic Alphabet (A to M)

MothRust — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:44:00 +0000

If there's a meme going around, I'll do it. I caught this one at my Twitter-mate's blog, FrontRoomCinema. I'm a shameless follower and of trends, and of my own favourite movies. I think I'll have to do a separate list for horror movies and independent films. Some of the letters were a little tricky, e.g. O and Y, but here we go.

A is for Aliens AND Avatar.

Okay right off the bat I'm cheating with two movies in a 'letter', but there are so many similarities between these two that they're almost in the same universe. I'd like an Avatar vs Alien movie - AvA: Black vs. Blue. A Na'vi Xenomorph hybrid would be interesting.

Get the Mech outta here!

B is for Braveheart

It was an epic movie like no other. All other big battle scenes would be measured by those in this movie, but it was there first, and it found the sweet spot. Cheering and crying for William Wallace was all made easier by a beautiful and haunting soundtrack. Now, you can dance to it... check out the techno mix below. Love it!

Can I borrow a hair tie?

C is for Con-Air

For me, this was the ultimate popcorn action flick. This was when Nicholas Cage was gold and John Cusack was cool. Big action scenes. Big bad guys. Quotable quotes and Steve Buscemi as Garland Greene. I'm still a little pissed he survived to wear more people's heads as hats though (no, the caravan park girl didn't reform him).

This is Nicholas Cage's hair done right.

D is for Die Hard

Oh Dark Knight... I'm so so very sorry, but even my beloved Batman can't trump the perfection that is Die Hard. A movie THIS re-watchable and unapologetic in its swearing and kills? Brilliant. Like Con-Air, I completely love a movie where the wise-cracking every-man has to step in and save the mother-fucking day. There should be more of those please. And if you haven't heard this tribute song yet, I'll do you a favour. Check the youtube clip:

I hope I don't get another three of these days

E is for E.T.

Spielberg performed magic in the cinemas; absolute freaking magic. Who knew one day he'd go on to make Indy 4: KOCS? Sad. But, back then, he simply blew our minds with the sort of stuff we daydreamed about, and to see it on the screen and make it believable was a truly astonishing thing. This is me at Universal Studios, 1984. This was the same year m&m's were introduced into Australia. Good times. I don't know how E.T. contorted himself to fit in that basket.

How did E.T.'s body fit in that basket?

F is for First Blood and Finding Nemo

...because they're quite similar when you think about it.

They're just guys trying to... umm... I'm really reaching for any similarity here. They both start with the letter F, and Rambo gets wet at one point. Okay, from here on in, only one movie per letter.

I'm coming for you

G is for Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day

Did I just say only one movie per letter? I guess I did, however, this is the exception that makes or breaks the rule (whatever that means). Both happen to star Bill Murray and Harold Ramis. 'Stripes' could almost be thrown in to complete this trilogy of hilarity. Bill Murray was the king of laconic sarcasm and god I wished he'd made more movies with Harold that didn't include the lackluster Ghostbusters 2. Still, better than no sequel at all, in my opinion. Rumour is now that he's signed on to a third and fourth... we'll see. Oh, and check this link for 101 reasons to love Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Busters

H is for Harry Potter

Because the only other film I could think of off-hand was Home Alone, which was freaking funny. I remember the fun of being in the cinema and just hearing non-stop laughter from everyone in the theatre. It was fun and funny. Harry Potter is good too, 'spose.

I think the Hollywood teal and orange wash fad started here

I is for The Incredibles

Brad Bird and Pixar did a superhero ensemble completely right, and it was funny and amazing to look at. Personally, I like my supers to wear capes, but I can see how annoying it would be on a super speedster, or a stretchy woman. I'd like to see these guys go head to head with the FF (I'm not going to say who the FF are... you should know). They were no ordinary family.

Btw, the redhead is a bad guy because they ARE evil.

I made this giff

J is for Jaws and Jurassic Park

Okay, this meme is NOW the 'One or Two' movies per alphabet letter. Both of these 'J' movies are Spielberg directed and feature ancient creatures with really big teeth. Jaws made it so that no other movie maker could ever make a decent shark movie compared to the perfection of this one. I think the same can be said for Jurassic Park. The wonder and terror from seeing all these creatures come to life is what movies are all about. We don't even need a rebooted Jaws with a CG shark, because we're happy enough with Roboshark himself.

Glasses on. Glasses off

K is for The Karate Kid

In all the history of movie 'money-shots' this was the one that stretched VHS tapes and filled the screen with fuzzy bits. How many times did I rewind that final Crane Technique kick? A lot of times. I loved the whole trilogy, even the final Bonsai Buddy film where he had lost the girls he fought for in the previous two. Let's not speak of the Next Karate Kid, or the rebooted Kung-fu Karate kid... I just couldn't care about Will Smith's preteen kid finding balance in his life. Danielson, I cared about.

Get him a body bag... bwa ha ha

L is for Lost in Translation

There was something about this movie that I couldn't put my finger on, but loved nevertheless. In 2003 I identified with the emptiness Bill's character had. To be in a strange land, then to meet somebody and make a connection. It was a real movie, and had a real ending. I could identify with the characters and the idea of finding a soul mate. Soon after this movie I did find my soul mate, then lost her in translation, then found her again. Love you Joey.

M is for Music, The Sound of

Hey this is my list, and I've got to keep the S category free for Superman, and being my list I have to include the favourite movie of my childhood: The Sound of Music. Every sound and sight is ingrained into my head, and the soundtrack to it was the first CD I ever bought.

It would wait every year for network TV to play it and then try to stay up and watch the whole movie. It then took me longer to work out what the nun had in her hands and how the Von Trapp family got away. No apologies for my love of Maria and the captain.

How DO you solve a problem like Maria?

Goodbye and farewell, until I get time to do the second half of the alphabet.

My Top Tweets

MothRust — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:19:00 +0000

I tweet often 'cause I'm needy & insecure thereby needing the undeserved attention of others. Plus I like the clicky clacky keyboard sound.
The Big Bang happened this day 15.54334 billions years ago.
Before corn is cooked it is Hard Pore Corn.
I bet she only sells those seashells by the seashore to piss off her ex-boyfriend who must've had a lisp.
Twitterers don't self-deprecate themselves enough. I suck at self-deprecation
I think someone should make a prequel to Genesis.
He's the man of steel; Lois Lane is the woman of soft human flesh, some parts softer than others. I just can't see it working out.
Mother's Day. Mary Mother of Jesus was born on this day 2029 year ago.
Taurus: Your stars are billions of light years away and therefore have absolutely no significance on your life.
I always wonder how different my life would have been if my parents had named me Fonzie.
Every time I consider dieting, I remember pizza and think, 'oh yeah'. :(
America. If this 'bacon sundae' is for real, we're all coming over to slap you silly. Love, Australia.
When I see a Tweeterer much funnier than I'll ever be, I get ❒delighted ❒jealous ❒inspired ❒psycotic ✔insecure ❒needy
It could have been a radio-active sloth. Something must've happened to give me my enhanced powers of laziness.
How do you hold a cloud and pin it down and How DO you keep the waves upon the sand? These questions have not been answered yet.
Q. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? A. Whichever of the two was male.
As long as you serial kill to a code, it's alright nowadays. I only kill people who don't indicate at roundabouts.
The grass is always greener on the other side if they've bothered to fertilize it. Me, I'm twittering. The grass is dead.
The last thing I remember was writing this tweet.

TV and Me

MothRust — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:35:00 +0000

I haven't written anything that spans multiple paragraphs for a long time. A long long time. I mark and criticise the writing of others (my young class members), but have forgotten what it takes to construct a piece of writing, yet alone try to make it interesting or funny. This is about me, but I'll branch out beyond the confines of my skull sometime soon. Not too far though. I've gotten a little addicted to the power of print after a couple of months of 'tweeting' and it's freeing to break out of the 140 characters for a change. @mothpete btw.

I was brought up in front of the TV. I was brought up by the TV. I don't hold any negativity towards my actual parents for sitting me in front of the thing, because I enjoyed it. Like Homer, I cite Tom Bosley as my father and I can thank Mr Cunningham, along with Michael Landon, for instilling me my ethics and morality. These were dashed by my 80's love of teen movies, but I watched enough Little House on the Prairie to know how to be some sort of human being. I'm amazed I got through my childhood with anything resembling an Australian accent.

I never watched or played sport. I never understood how something without a storyline could be deemed as entertainment. I remember having a family, but I don't remember interacting with them too much. We didn't sit around a table. My parents took their meat and mashed potatoes down to their television while my li'l brother and I watched Doctor Who and The Goodies on the ABC. I'd watched, laughed and cried with Hawkeye through the Korean war more times than Radar drank grape nehi. These characters were real to me, and goddamit... the are real. At this my partner Joey, will rolleth her eyes, but let me repeat. These character are real...

Jesus was real to me. I spent a long time believing in this 'character', but he is real. He's as real to me as Batman is. We created these personalities and gave them life, and power over ourselves. We care about what happens to them and invest in them, sometimes entirely giving ourselves over to them.

I like to think Jesus will make everything better. I wish he would. I enjoy the idea of Batman swooping in to cover my ass when I'm about to get mugged at the corner shop, but my reality isn't that skewed. I want to take this blog away from religious concepts, pretty much entirely, because I think I'm past that. My years living in religious guilt and condemnation have shaped me and will continue to bias my thoughts but I'll try not to focus on it anymore.

I don't want to ramble, and I want to confine future posts into singular topics, and movie reviews, and whatever. Thanks for reading. It'll be nice to blog actual text in this thing rather than random videos of religious nutters speaking in tongues.

Quoting the Bible

MothRust — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:54:00 +0000

I still don’t know if there is or isn’t a god

MothRust — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:05:00 +0000

"A sinless god bore our sin!" is the cry I hear from the Christian front

This is sacrilegious but...

But really... 'big deal'. He seemed to cope with bearing the sins. I mean, it stressed him out heaps, for sure, but it didn't kill him until he let the mob whip and crucify him, but even then it was only for a few days. People have suffered more and longer, and for less chivalrous reasons as Jesus'. I've no yard stick for the pain and hassle taking on all the 'sins' that we were all so guilty of. I guess it's like Superman when he flies around the world and gets uber-stressed because he can hear all the crimes happening, and he gets frustrated because he can't help out everyone. Jesus saved everyone... apart from all the exceptions, of which there are plenty.

Of course, Jesus is 'true', apparently, and Jesus could fix all the 'sin' problems, by this mysterious sacrifice and temporary sin-bearing. I'm sure there are a dozen books that could be recommended to clear my naive views on the subject. On the surface though, it certainly IS a mystery. Sinless god became a sinner for a short period of time, and then undid it, and suffered for us when he would probably have 'rathered' be sunning himself on a beach in some better universe he'd created previously.

I've asked this question in many ways to various Christian believers, and I've never got a memorable or logical answer other than, 'It just is, OK!'. If it came down to blind faith in the inconceivable then one may as well pick any religion to believe in.

I still truly battle within myself wondering if he exists or not. I honestly don't know, although I lean in favour of such a belief, but I don't feel as though I should start going to church and getting married, and doing all the Ned Flander's things in order to make 'him' happy and not allow me to be tortured forever when I die. This brain is all I've got to work with, and ironically it'd be the one he gave me that fails to grasp what I should be doing and believing.

And if I lived my life worrying about all the 'ifs'... If China attacks... if there'll be an earthquake... if there's a Jesus... if there's this god or the other... then I would be sitting in a bunker with foil on my head. If Jesus isn't true then life was what it was, a handing of the baton to the next generation, then I'll die happy knowing I did the best I could. If Jesus is true and I didn't jump through the correct hoops in order to trigger his salvation from sin scheme for me, then I'll have to live in eternal hell marveling at the craziness of the whole thing.

I still think Christianity is neat (compared to other religions) but it's just not a logical thing unless you prescribe to certain beliefs.

* This is a excerpt from a question I asked a theologian friend posted in a forum. I thought he answered them pretty well, dammit.

A magic baby is born in Bethlehem (Family Guy)

MothRust — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:46:00 +0000

Jesus’ advertisements are intrusive

MothRust — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:56:00 +0000

Jesus is a little heavy with the product placement I reckon. Check out the this blog to see an organised array of smudges and stains that look like a bearded man... or Doctor Zaius.

Jesus’ advertisements are intrusive

MothRust — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:56:00 +0000

Jesus is a little heavy with the product placement I reckon. Check out the this blog to see an organised array of smudges and stains that look like a bearded man... or Doctor Zaius.

The Revival Fellowship Centres International

MothRust — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:18:00 +0000

This is a series of animated videos I created in a cathartic exercise to exorcise the sect that had a hold on my mind for almost 17 years. They're mostly 'in-jokes' to those who have some knowledge of the Australian born 'Revival Centres' family of churches. They're mostly infamous for their belief that only believers who 'speak in tongues' are actually Christian. Everyone else is fooling themselves. This wacky cult also enforce marriage on sexual-sinners, and hold onto British Israelism prophesy, as well as Bible Mathematics and Pyramidology. Their founder, Lloyd Longfield' is depicted in the banner above; he's still alive and insane.

The banner is a link to the rest of the video series.

The video below is a preview:

The Revival Fellowship Centres International

MothRust — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:18:00 +0000

Marc Maron visits the Creation Museum

MothRust — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 12:08:00 +0000

Recently, I've been a podcast listener, and am enjoying such comedians as Greg Fitzerald and this guy... Marc Maron, who recently took a crew and a microphone into the Creation Museum. He was fairly respectful, and had some funny things to say as he went through.

Ricky and Karl discuss Christmas

MothRust — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 09:35:00 +0000

If you've never heard Ricky Gervais chat with Karl before... this is your perfect entry point. I'm amazed that there are people that haven't fallen in love with the Gervais podcasts, and I'm equally amazed that people haven't even seen or heard of the recordings (record breaking podcast recordings) made by Ricky, Karl Pilkington and Steve Merchant.

One among you shall betray me

MothRust — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:37:00 +0000

Agnostics

MothRust — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:01:00 +0000

The Darth Knight

MothRust — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:47:00 +0000

I've always thought about this mash-up... Bruce Skywalker. Erin Fife’s mash-up of the two iconic dark pop culture icons is dated 2007, but has only begun to spread around the web this week. Found via Reddit,

Dalek toilet

MothRust — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0000

I took this photo at a recent school camp.

Not enough people know what daleks are, or how to spell them.

Some Christians are COMPLETELY wAcK!

MothRust — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:57:00 +0000

Speaking in tongues is ‘mental’

MothRust — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:46:00 +0000

The thinking atheist videos – animated (funny)

MothRust — Sun, 02 May 2010 04:05:00 +0000