Posts Tagged ‘god’
11 items.
Let’s take this one step at a time. Am I implying that the Judeo-Christian God is frivolous? Yes. Am I implying that he is so frivolous that he would sacrifice his only son just so he could get his hands on some prime holiday real estate? You can bet your ass I am.
Ever noticed that with the New Testament comes a more loving and peaceful God? It’s because he finally had some vacation time.
I wonder if God has ever been on a Caribbean Cruise…
People always be talkin’ about how Christian holidays really aren’t Christian holidays. Looking at the historical record, that is pretty apparent. We have no real information on when Jesus was born though some scholars think it was probably in the Spring or in September. Nearly all of them agree that it was not December 25th. There was a long history of celebrations on the 25th before Christianity arrived on the scene. The Babylonians were known to party hardy, the Romans celebrated Saturnalia, and the Pagans of Northern Europe celebrated Yule. To get non-believers to convert to Christianity, the Christian leadership decided to adopt these times to celebrate various holidays with a more Christian spin. Some of them came about pretty early (the celebration of Jesus’s birth in December started around 350 with Pope Julius I) and others were added later.
This is pretty common knowledge at this point.
One of the interesting things to note about this is that the Christian God would almost certainly not have been cool with all this. One of the primary traits this God possesses is Jealousy (with a capital J). He states, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…” and later continues, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Celebrating the holidays (for all intents and purposes) of Pagan deities seems a bit contradictory to that message. While you may not be explicitly worshiping those particular deities, it is, at the very least, a bit strange to be celebrating their holidays. This is especially true seeing as the Jewish people (the roots of Christianity) had their own holidays specifically for their deity that Christians could have observed as well.
Regardless, the celebrations and rituals many people observe today are rooted in more history than they realize. That’s pretty cool when you think about it.
Let’s not worry about the weird contradictions that can sometimes bring up.
In other news, I saw Scott Pilgrim VS the World and found it strangely entertaining. It’s cool to see a comic artist with an interesting idea finally see some main stream success. I recommend going to check it out before it leaves theaters, it’s definitely one of those films you want to see on a big screen. And if you haven’t already, read the comic.
Also, I’m going to be at the Small Press Expo with William on September 11th and 12th! It will be taking place at the Bethesday North Marriot Hotel & Conference Center in Maryland. If you’re going to be in the area, stop by our table and say hello and I will give you a high five!
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Another God strip! Hooray!
An all powerful deity with human emotions was always something I found particularly funny in the Bible. There are many times where God is described as being angry or jealous or (as in the case of the New Testament) loving. I’ve talked about this before, but I find it hard to believe that a being with the power to create, animate, and infuse spirit into his creation would ever feel as we do. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. In the Old Testament, you get this sense that God is essentially a kid with an ant hill and a magnifying glass, just tormenting people for the fun of it. I mean, the Book of Job? What’s that all about?
I don’t think it’s wrong to believe in a God or anything like that, but ascribing such incredible flaws to a being we probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend is a bit myopic. Sure, it’s nice to think that he’s just like us, but that’s also really silly.
That said, that sort of God does make for an excellent comic character. Especially when he’s sulky and draping himself over things.
This is a weird strip, I’m not sure what to say about it specifically, really.
God makes a triumphant return, and, true to form he is totally gross and a little surprising.
There are times when I write the strip and I desperately want to come up with something for a particular character, god, or mythology, but it just doesn’t work. Lately, I’ve craved writing more Cat-God strips. The sheer ridiculousness of his replies to K’s philosophical questions are fun and they were the basis for this strip ever starting in the first place. It’s good to have written something new with him in it.
The fun thing about God (both in the strip and in life) is that his (or her or its) very nature stresses the concepts our brains hold dear. Finite reality is not something that can contain him (or her or it) and rules of social niceties do not phase him (or her or it). I think we (as a species) have sort of moved away from the idea of God as the man in the sky with the big white beard and have started to believe in his (or hers or its) existence as more of an abstract. Plenty of people don’t subscribe to that set of beliefs but even they are aware of the concept and I think this applies to them as well.
Personally, I always thought it’d be great if God weren’t subject to our rules but still acted and thought like us but was just a bit more rude and ridiculous. Hence his behavior in every strip he has been in thus far.
It’s like, yeah he could just tell Lil K the answers but that wouldn’t be fun. He’d rather give us some bullshit reply, gross us out, and watch us writhe, laughing the whole time.
You’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself, y’know? If God does exist, that might be his greatest gift to us. Humor in the face of adversity (or just life in general).
You’ll notice I’ve put up some space for Project Wonderful ads. I don’t really like advertising, especially since I feel like it ruins the continuity of my design, but I need some money to start paying for merchandise and PW is a great service. I also put the donation button back in. Hopefully these aren’t too intrusive…
Oh and here is yet another Thursday sketchblog update for your perusal.
Nanook, bear god of the Inuit people, seems to be pretty lazy these days. You would think that with shrinking ice for the polar bears and destruction of habitat for grizzlies and black bears, he would be laying some extinction on humanity. Turns out, he’s been sleeping. Leave it to Lil K to wake him up and destroy us all in his zeal.
How old is he anyway? A few strips back had him saying he was eleven and now he says he is eight. I guess that’s what you get for not having real parents and living with a Sasquatch.
I recently fixed my computer and started using Photoshop’s 32bit edition rather than the 64 I had been using and it is a lovely experience. Everything runs so much more smoothly for some reason. I have been feeling better about the art because of it, lately.
Also, we here at 10km are doing a group comic soon! To fill in the days of the week when neither Happle Tea nor Para-Ten are updating, we will be featuring a sketch comic done by William, Jessica, and myself. Pages will be done on a rotation (probably Jess -> Me -> William) and we will have no prior knowledge of what the previous person has done until they are finished with their page. Sound interesting? Sit tight, we will try to have it on the site in a few weeks.
Update:
The 10Km Store is now live! The button at the top works, so you can check it out if you so desire and I will alert everyone to any new things being offered. Right now we only have Prints available, but we are looking at getting buttons and shirts made. Unfortunately, shirts are rather expensive so until we start making more money from prints and donations, we can not print any just yet. I guess it gives us time to find the best place to get them printed.
I have also added some new links to the side bar! Feel free to utilize these to access the Ten Thousand Masks sketch blog and the new Fan-Art section. I am trying to get William and Jessica to update the blog as well, but there should be more frequent updates now in general.
Regular News
Mathematics tells us that the statistical probability that a person driving from Point A (anywhere in the United States) to Point B (Some ill conceived destination within the United States) will give or receive “the bird” is through the roof. In fact, I think we should change the old adage that the only things one may count on in life are death and taxes. We should be saying death, taxes, and the middle finger.
Needless to say, driving is nearly always a miserable activity for me. It stands to reason that there must be some horrifying overseer spreading misfortune, rage, and disgust across the highway system of America and, perhaps, elsewhere.
Addendum:
Do you have some Happle Tea fanart that you are proud of? Do you have some that you are deeply ashamed of? If you do, please drop me an email and let me know where I might find it. I am putting together a fan art section here on the site and would love to show off all the weird things people have done for HT. Please include your name (or alias, if you prefer not to have your name given out), your email address (if you want people to email you and say how much they love your work), and a link to your website if you have one (I will include it with the thumbnail and your name).
The best thing about this topic is that it is real. There are, indeed, adventure colleges in the world and they often bill themselves as liberal arts colleges with a focus on environmental sustainability. The reality is that they are training you to sleep with bears. If you can sleep with bears, why continue on in society? Why not, say, find yourself a comfortable cave, a furry new friend, and avoid all that messy loan-repayment?
An adventure program is a fairly interesting idea but one that I would not have the stamina for, personally. I love the outdoors but I am much more laid back in my appreciation for it. My idea of a good time outside generally involves draping myself over things in the sun as opposed to quietly practicing my peculiar obsession in the relative safety of my own home.
The only reason I heard about these schools was because of my brother who is my opposite number in many respects. The idea of hiking trails and leading people on adventure tours appeals to him and I have to respect that.
If I did not, he would probably beat me up.
If astrology were any cooler, it would be an ice cube. Woo!
Not a lot of news right now, I’m getting into the swing of schoolwork right now and working hard to keep up with the strip on top of all the animating and storyboarding. We’re still working on getting the print shop together, but I think William will have completed that sometime this week. The sketch blog has been updated and will be updated again with more interesting things soon. I think we will be putting up some full storyboards we put together for our junior animation projects. They are very cool looking.
Do you lack motivation? Perhaps you need to try draping yourself over things. I do it all the time and let me tell you, it works wonders for my outlook on life.
You may notice some changes to the website going on here and there. I managed to finally get a new banner done up today. I think it’s better than the crappy old one. You can also see that there’s a nice little picture over there on the right hand side for donations. Nobody is obligated to donate, and nobody will ever be required to pay for HT in its web format. Next year, before convention season, I’ll be printing up the strips into a small book to sell and THOSE will cost money. However, until then, if you’ve the means and the inclination and you really like what I do, donations would be appreciated. I’m a student, I’m moving into an apartment with 3 other people in September, and I am scrawny and need to eat. Even if everyone just donated a dollar a month, you could help keep me fed and sheltered! Wouldn’t that be nice? Donations will also keep me from having to put up advertising…blech.
I won’t carry on about donations very much. The button isn’t working just yet anyway, I’ve got to sort that out with Paypal.
I’m also starting to put up some handy links to various things, like the Ten Thousand Masks home page, William Gibbons’ comic Para-Ten, and the RSS subscription. This weekend, I’ll put up a few more things.
We’re also looking at setting up some forums for fans of Happle Tea and Para-Ten to discuss things and for non-fans to flame the shit out of us. I am also still working on figuring out how to get some merchandise going. Unfortunately, at this point, I don’t think I’d make enough from merchandise to justify the costs, but maybe in a few months if things carry on as they are, I’ll be able to go for it.
Anyway, thanks as always for commenting, telling friends, and just reading the strip. I hope it gives you some enjoyment!
First off, thanks to my brother for providing the foundation for this comic. I’d also like to thank him for always supporting me. He is a wonderful person.
Second, I’ll be honest. I’m not a huge fan of reality TV in general, but reality shows like Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers, and Deadliest Catch garner a great deal more of my scorn than your standard white trash Reality Television program. The latter is guilty only of being poorly produced and draining the intelligence of Americans, while the former blatantly glorifies the worst parts of humanity (greed, the rape of the natural world, etc) and puts it on a pedestal. I get that it’s the “Regular Joe” type guy against the odds, but that has never been me or anything I wish to identify with. For me, I’ll always prefer thought provoking work over things that glorify the status quo.
That was a sort of long-winded tirade.
It’s funny, a lot of the comic strips I write here are born out of frustration or slow-simmering rage with the world I live in. That might sound counter-intuitive, but I think most people that work with humour for a living operate this way. Comedy is a form of self-defense for people that examine things too much and too closely. It’s a way for us to, like a tai-chi master, redirect the energy of anger and rage to more positive things like humour and hilarity.
It’s pretty interesting when you stop and think about it.
Maybe it isn’t, though. Maybe you prefer to watch Deadliest Catch? I guess we’re all different.
This strip has nothing to do with Harry Potter. I assure you. That said, one can never be certain that their neighborhood is not, in fact, playing host to witchery.
God makes his triumphant return in cat form. I’m still not sure why he chooses to look like that, but I’m certain there’s a reason.
My good friend Sweet William, of Para-Ten fame, is going to be supplying a guest strip at some point, probably next week. Prepare for greatness! I don’t plan to allow a lot of guest strips but William is awesome and it will give me some time to relax. Working on the art for the strip takes a few hours, but writing can take a long time to come up with ideas I think are really worthy of being posted on the interwebs.
I wanted to say thanks to everyone leaving comments and telling their friends! I always appreciate the help and the kind words. I can’t explain how much doing this comic for a living (even a bit of one) would appeal to me, and getting the word out is step one!
So thanks! <3