J is for... Jesus Got Laid!

Ok, I tried to ignore it, but people are still going on about it... People are still asking the question: "Did that mythological character Jesus really have a wife?!", because of this papyrus...



Now, I'm going to begin by telling you all simply: I dislike religious historians. I can’t for the life of me fathom how any of them are able to take their profession seriously considering they have so much invested in their beliefs. I mean, they're blatantly not going to be willing to question the historical accuracy of their own God. And even if they are, can we trust that their ridiculously subjective views wouldn't make it impossible for them to be objective?!

G is for... "God Told Me To Rape Your Daughter, Mate."

Err.. yeah, my cult research took a turn for the sinister yesterday, and I've realised they're not actually that funny anymore... :/

This is a small case study on the Church of the First Born and General Assembly of Heaven (great name, sure).


So, nine months after their teenage son died of an infection from a burst appendix, a couple from Creswell who chose prayer over medical care for their son, admitted criminal responsibility for his death.

Russel and Brandi Bellew each pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Lane County Circuit Court to charges of criminally negligent homicide, as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

B is for... Benners: Episode 2

It is that time of the week where I hand you over to the talented Benners, folks! Enjoy... :]


EP2 'Vancouver and the Three Sea-Shells Complex (Demolition Man).'




Before I begin, here is a bit of background information on me, Benners: I don't like talking about myself much if I'm being totally honest, which I know must seem like total hypocrisy given I'm writing about my travels in this blog and indeed, planning to talk about myself for the next few paragraphs exclusively; but I assure you, I do this firstly because I've been asked to, and secondly because, truth be told, I feel a little homesick (mainly due to the language barrier I'm currently experiencing) and writing gives me a chance to connect with friends both old and new.

I is for... "I'd Let Chris Brown Beat Me"

Chris Brown's tattoo. Where to start... I figure you've all seen it already, but if not, here you go:



When I first saw it, I sort of dismissed it as I have no respect for him (or Rihanna, but I'll come to that), as far as I was concerned it was just another outrageous publicity stunt that I had to time for. But then I stumbled across a really interesting article on it by American blogger Amanda Marcotte. I think you guys should read the whole thing, but it really made me stop and think and played on my mind quite a lot (which I don't ever get from any celeb culture articles), so I'm going to go into it here...

You all know that Chris Brown beat up Rihanna when they were dating, I won't focus on the story... No doubt you've all seen this picture:


So Amanda Marcotte reflects in her article my thoughts exactly: that this tattoo is Chris Brown's way of publicly bragging about what he did.

"Men who beat and rape women want to feel powerful. They want to feel manly. And because hitting women and raping women makes them feel these things, they want to brag about it… A tattoo commemorating beating down your girlfriend is a trophy."

H is for... How to Start Your Cult

I just wanted to start by saying thanks to all of you guys who have showed so much support to Benners ;]. I have had to change his name to, you know, protect his professional identity. A future employer wouldn't have to Google very hard to expose any of his darkest secrets, so we feel it's better to be safe than, well, really sorry...

But yeah, his post went down super well! I think I've given him enough of the spotlight now though; I'm getting all needy for your attention. so I'm back with this post for you guys...

I have spent a lot of time recently indulging the hermit and the geek in me. By which I mean I have spent a lot of time indoors on my laptop and iPad watching videos on atheism, UFOs and back-to-back episodes of Arrested Development. This isn't very cool, and I probably shouldn't share things like this so publicly - but you know what? I'm alright about that...

I'm ok about it because I have learnt some pretty cool things. On of these things, I am going to be kind enough to share with you.

As well as all of the riveting activities listed above, I also spent a lot of time Googling weird cults, and came across some great ones! I won't share them all with you because they're probably no weirder than Scientology, and I've already covered that... But this one was a personal favourite:



The Manson "Family"

So there was this guy called Charles Manson, who learned to play guitar in prison and formed his infamous "Family" of criminals in 1968. Manson insisted that an apocalyptic race war between whites and blacks would occur in 1969, after which the commune would rule the new world. When it didn't happen, he sent his followers on a string of murders to "show blacks how to do it," but, Manson just selected victims who were those who had not helped him with his music career. Brilliant!

I is for... INTRODUCING BENNERS

It is with great pleasure folks, that I introduce to you one of my dearest friends, Ross. Here he is!:


Ross is going to be doing a whole series of guest posts for me - hence why I have given him his own page up there ^.

Ross has completed a TEFL course and has gone away for a year to travel Canada and America and do some teaching... Sounds pretty normal. Thing is, it's Ross. And those of you who know Ross will know that it is in his nature to get himself into some of the most hilarious situations ever. Those of you who don't know Ross... be prepared to laugh a lot, and potentially be quite disgusted at some of his stories!!

Anyway, really hope you guys like these weekly interlude guest posts from Ross as much as I know I am going to! Apologies in advance for his use of profanity and graphic metaphor... You will grow to love it ;].

D is for... DNC Run-Down.



Really wanted to call this post "Run DNC", but it wasn't in keeping with my "R is for... RNC Run-Down" post, and I clearly had no forethought when writing that, so this point is now a little redundant... But just so you know- I did try and get a good pun in there (as always).

Sooooo, where to start?! I think the best way to describe how I feel about last week's convention is "deflated". But I kind of expected that. In a similar vein to my RNC post, I am going to talk about ten things I learned from the DNC - the title of which is as follows: "We're your bezzie mates!! <3"...

Here are ten things the Democrats are sure you'll have in common...

N is for... “No means yes!“

This weekend I've mainly just found myself talking. A lot. I don't know what it is, maybe something in the air - but I haven't been able to have one regular conversation in two days. Everytime I've spoken to someone it's escalated into a massive deep-and-meaningful.

I went to a "BBQ" yesterday afternoon, which wasn't so much a BBQ, as just a gathering of people getting wasted in a barn... Having a substantial hangover (cheers @vintage_pockets), I was force-fed (yeah, right) a bloody Mary to get back to normal. It worked, and started the chat flow once more.

A is for... A Little Porn Perspective.



Well, well, well... Yesterday I found myself tackling the age-old porn debate...

Before you start... No. My research did not (unfortunately) involve hours of extensive porn viewing. Much to my dismay - there is actually quite a lot of intellectual chat going on about this...

The reason for doing this post is partially because of the GOP, I am not going to lie to you - but also partially after hearing some rather negative views just generally towards porn of late. So, without further a-do, here we go...

P is for... Penis-Sucking Jews (literally)

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
This is a subject I wasn't going to cover; if I'm honest, because I didn't know if I could handle it. But it's been brought to my attention in the news again this week and upon reflection, I think it's good to bring this kind of religious practice to people's attention. Even if just one of you didn't know about this and is made aware by me doing this blog post- I will consider it a success.

R is for... RNC Run-Down.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos
Probably wasn't going to ignore it, was I?! So Thursday saw the end of the Republican National Convention (RNC) 2012, probably with the strippers of Tampa, Florida seeing a massive rise in tips (I don't suppose the organisers were aware that Tampa is one of America's biggest cities for strip clubs?), but who's stereotyping?! I've taken the past few days to process my thoughts about the convention, and have collated my top ten favourite things I learnt from the RNC! Here we go...