Well I have been thinking a lot about Christianity. Something that I have trauma from. As far back as a tiny tiny child I remember hating church because everyone looked at me funny when I didnt know what to do. I remember hating that church school..thingy...because they said stupid things that absolutely could not be true and I was yelled at for staunchly refusing to believe that Satan existed. I remember being terrified thereafter, because they told me that missing church was a sin and that I was going to hell if I didnt go, and since they convinced me that hell was real I forced my poor Wiccan mother to go to church with me for like a week. I was always a smart and curious child, and I never really bought it. I still dont and I never will.
The concept of god in the eyes of Christianity, is something I cannot fathom. There was no beginning to god and there is no end...well you sunk my battleship with that one. God always forgives eh, even killers and rapists, well that seems counterproductive to the whole human decency thing. God is all powerful and all knowing, well then he must have thrown sin in there to keep things interesting right? Silly god! We are all made in the example of god, well then god clearly didnt do that correctly because I havent really been all powerful and all knowing since freshman year came along...beat the heck out of me! These are just the basics. I mean Im sure that if I read the bible all the answers would be there right? Je ne crois pas.
If the Christian god comdemns the gays that will not find happiness without being able to accept themselves the way they are made, created sentient beings just so we could murder them for food, and can forgive repentant murderers but lets proud psychics go to hell, than I dont want any part in god.
Im a born and raised Wiccan who had Catholicism forced down her throat early on by a grand parent. My religion is neither more believable or more rational to a Christian than Christianity is to me, but we dont comdemn people or animals. We believe in natures forces. Im not saying we are right but Im bitter.
Im bitter from being handed pamphlets, pamphlets that say that my beautiful, loving, smart, giving mother is going to hell because she is a witch and a psychic. I dont believe in hell, I dont believe in your god, and if Im standing in front of a giant pentacle dressed as a gypsy do I look like I need yours or "gods" guidance?
I read these pamphlets that I get. I got them all the time at the restaurant I used to work at, when Im at my mothers card reading business, when Im chilling in Salem on Halloween. I always read them. I stash them in my house. I have never gotten a good reason why magic is of the devil, did the devil come up from his smoke room and leave a post-it on your car window during lunch or something, flier hander person?? My mother is using magic to guide people, to help people get over their past, to give people someone to talk to, she is using it for good, so how on earth is this fiery demon thing involved?
I read these pamphlets and not a single one of the people handing them to me picked up a flier, and they are not supposed to read any of our books because they are books of the devil. Theres no give here, just "god bless you" and a pamphlet and gone.

The odd thing is, I love Christians in a general sense. I love hearing about and watching movies about the Bible. I love the tales, I love the morals, and I love the general feeling of faith around me. I believe Jesus existed, I believe he did wonderful things, I may even believe in all the unbelievable tales in the Bible, because I believe in magic. I have even considdered pretending that I was Christian just to go to a youth conference and feel the love and faith of so many people who are moral and good in their own right. But I hate that it has come to this. I hate that Christianity excludes, defines, and belittles as much as I have experienced. Because of who I am, a Witch, I get the blunt end of the Christianity stick.
Heres a nice idea to chew on, magic=faith. What is sending us to hell in the eyes of some christians is just our way of expressing our belief in the greatness of our goddess, her creation, and everything she has given us. You....are sending us to hell for PRAYING?

Roundhouse kick to the face: Explain to me why god created animals for us to eat? He is all powerful, WHY would he make a sentient being SUFFER and DIE, when he could have made some kind of painless and less sick way of eating. A meat-tree perhaps. Something without a nervous system and conscious thought.
Do animals have souls?
Do the animals you eat go to hell?
Do you think that your god would condone the terrible conditions in factory farms?
Do the people that beat, mistreat, humiliate, and murder, animals for slaughter go to hell like every other dirty murderer?





Hit me with your best shot

!
<3Gb

Today a friend texted me two statements that just made me stare at the text message in awe.
First of all he suggested that I go see Wall-e and then asked if I had gotten to see The Dark Knight yet.
I am a movie connoisseur and I just have happened to see every summer blockbuster excluding a select few that I just could not get myself to pay money to see (Satc, Hellboy II, Mama mia, Wanted, Kung fu Panda). I talk about movies in an annoying amount, now why would someone who considders themselves my bff have to question my being first in line to see the two most anticipated movies of the summer. I was running to the pre-ordered ticket machine to see The Dark Knight and I cried in the line when my movie crew voted against waiting in the longer line to see it thirty minutes sooner, Then I ran frantically to the perfect middle screen, not to far not to close, theater seats (to be honest I probably would have fought someone who sat there first), then I held my over active bladder filled with diet coke for and hour and a half because I was too into the movie. Any one who says that the movie wasnt ah-mayz-ing can meet me in the lobby, Ill be the chick punching jaws, just come over and say hi and then Ill punch you in the jaw (Dane Cook chaneling over, sorry!).
You might want to ask, hey why is greenbean so into movies? Well that is a mystery to me and my sister as well. We just started going to see a movie every friday, then at that friday movie screening we would see a preview of something coming out the next friday and think, hmm, this seems interesting, and it would sit in our minds all week until we finally cave and realize that no rest will come until we see this movie, then we started seeing previews for movies two weeks away, and started formulating plans around cinematic adventures, we racked up the movies, racked up the binging on stale popcorn and paying the 25 cents extra for the large diet coke instead of the medium, we formulated habits, found the perfect seating for all of us, and perfected the witty banter littered with movie quotes. Now it is a way of life my friend. What weird music that no one has heard of is to scene girls, movies that "changed my life a little" are to my sister and I (and Andrew for transportation and lame jokes).

Heres my mini review so far:

Baby mama- funny but unremarkable, too romantic comedyish for me.

Strangers- Scary, but you realize after the terror, that there is no plot, and really no sense to the small attempt at a plot that lingered somewhere beyond Liv Tylers beauty.

The Zohan- I was laughing, and disgusted, and offended, and confused. This movie tried wayy to hard to be funny. Adam Sandler was really great in it though.

Love Guru- This is another attempt that Mike Myers is making to never ever EVER have to play another character, this was Wayne meets Austin Powers, non-surprizingly using all of the same humor with a dash of pop culture and Jessica Alba. I didnt laugh, once. If I did it was because I was trying really hard to make the movie worth the $10.50. This was the movie that made The Zohan look hilarious to me. Taco Bell was required to cheer me up.

Get Smart- Great movie! I loved all the old school spy humor. Steve Carell is hilarious with his dry humor and Anne Hathaways beauty definately added something to the movie. It was interesting, funny, not to long, and really exciting. This was one of my favorites of the summer. Just dont tell my movie crew that because I kinda ditched them to go see it :(.

The Hulk- Okay a little disclaimer here, anything I say about this movie is incredibly biased due to the fact that I am madly in love with Ed Norton. He is my all time favorite actor from Fight club, to Death to Smoochy, to American History X, I cant not like a movie with him in it. If he was in SATC I would have probably stomached two hours of SJP just to look at him *shudders at the thought*. This was an incredibly exciting action movie though. This reminded me of my love of marvel comic thingies as well as my total devotion to Kevin Smith movies, strange train of though I know but all very reinforcing. Liv Tyler is not a good actress, period, but she is gorgeous! 

Wall-e- This was a great movie, dare I say, for all ages. It had a message about laziness, obesity, and pollution, while still retaining its lovely youthful glow. It was heartwarming, and funny! But honestly, I cried, I cried tears of happiness at the end. There werent a lot of lines in the first hour or so of the movie and I was still enthralled and thats hard to do! All in all it is my second favorite of the summer.

Hancock- I....dont....know, I absolutely loved this movie for the first hour. I thought Will Smith's character was very well played and the visual affects of the movie made it an interesting combination of moving and surreal. Then, Hancock cleaned up his act and all the super hero, super natural, hot chick, stuff started happening. The woman in the movie, whatever too-skinny-too-hot actress she is, punched me right in my feminist side. I mean the scene when she is trying to open the jar and has to ask her husband, even though she has super strength, made me fur-eee-ous! What is that supposed to be saying eh? Is it supposed to mean that she is acting like a normal woman thus acting weak, or that shes trying to boost her husbands ego, thus saying that men have weak egos and women need to boost them? I dont know who thought that was funny but whoever did can meet me in the lobby and Ill be the one punching jaws...I already did that didnt I? Also the moment she turns super she sheds layers of clothes, acquires pounds of makeup and gets sexy bed head. Is this part of her superness or does she have to run to the bathroom and dress herself up to save the world, this is shallow on all levels. Im also still creeped out by Will Smith ever since I saw I Am Legend. If you havent seen that, WATCH IT!

THE DARK KNIGHT- I cannot get over this movie. I told my sister that I was going to review it for days but that it needed to "sink in" first. Its not going to sink in. This movie was so well done. I have seen and vaguely remember the other batman movies but thats not the point, the dark twisted psychological side of this movie is what got me. I am a psychologist and psychological thrillers always get me right to the bone. This is why the joker character was so enchanting to me, his seeming psychotic and antisocial personality are completely believable yet so fantastic.
Also for people who actually listen to the dialogue there are so many philosophical wormholes opened up her such as the difference between good and evil, "this is what happens when and unstoppable force meets and unmovable object", "its all part of the plan" and "introduce a little anarchy", "people show their true selves right before death", not only the script for the joker, but the way Ledger plays the chilling mentally unstable character is b e a u t i f u l. I also love dark humor and there was plenty of that peppered (the scene in the hospital with that silly nurse outfit).
But my all time favorite scene is when the joker is in jail, and his cronies are in the holding pin, and that guy is screaming "it hurts inside", and "the boss told me that he would make the voices go away, and fill me with light, like christmas", and no one is listening to him. This is saddeningly true of the treatment of people who are chronically mentally ill, they usually arent listened to unless they act out, then they end up in jail or poorly run and funded psych wards. On the streets they fall into bad situations of drugs and crime, and fall under the hand of bad people.
Then he explodes, being most literally filled with light, and I was like, wow. Then I cried.

I could go on and on but I wont...

Looking forward to:
Step Brothers (this BETTER be funny because Im expecting to laugh)
Swing Vote (Kevin Costner and Kelsey Grammar=love)
Tropic thunder! (very very excited about this one!)

and in the far far future with many a movie in between, Watchmen, the trailer got me and got me good.

Im writing a screen play because movies and writing are my passions I need more friends on this thing because Im expecting some feed back. I am an odd writer and tend to milk artistic license for all its worth (some of my favorite books are Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Foer, A Clockwork Orange by  Anthony Burgess, and The Sound And The Fury by Faulkner, look them up you will understand) and my favorite movie is Figh Club, yeah.

BE MY FRIEND GAHHR!

<Gb