My favorite activities do not involve defending the Catholic Church.

Okay, I am taking a break from Jezebel. I pretty much stopped commenting a few months ago, and now I think I'm just done for awhile. I sent the comment mod this drawn out email about how it seems like the only group it's still okay to make horrible generalizations about is Catholics. I didn't even hear back. Every day it seems like there's another post with comments I find severely offensive that don't get moderated at all. The worst part about all of this is I actually had to defend the Church despite the fact that I have not been okay with the Church since 1996.

Okay, I'm just going to post what I wrote, because I don't feel like actually talking about it.

I really don't want to come off as whining or unreasonable, but I am really disheartened by the blatant anti-Catholic sentiment in the comments lately. I know you're making the effort, but its getting to the point where I just cannot read Jezebel anymore. It's not an issue of people politely disagreeing with Church doctrine -- I fully respect that -- but it seems like every three days there's at least one conversation that degrades from constructive discussion to flat-out hate. It's not even comments like, "oh, this archdiocese is doing a really boneheaded thing." It's like, "oh those Catholics, denying people basic human rights and raping young boys again." This is basically like saying, "Another suicide bomber? Oh those crazy Muslims!" And honestly, I don't think a comment like that would fly on Jezebel. So why is Catholic hate totally okay?

The Church has long been concerned with social justice, and I think it's unfair to make blanket statements against an entire religion and group of worshipers just because some of their leaders are out-of-touch. Just because something is happening in Brazil does not mean that all Catholics everywhere stand behind what one Cardinal says.

So yeah, saying something like,
"SHUT THE FUCK UP CHURCH JUST GO AWAY"
"Hey Catholicism, as far as your talk of murderers goes; it takes one to know one."
or calling the Church "evil corporation whose chief goal is self preservation and making money"
...is pretty disgusting to me. Even as an ex-Catholic. Especially when these statements come from people who don't even know what an Archdiocese is. I don't tell other religious groups to go fuck themselves; why can't the religion that I was raised in get the same respect?

Also, I apologize for the things I said about Descended Like Vultures. It's growing on me.

Someone remind me to write a Yelp review for Eye Q. I'm so happy with my new glasses.

Watchmen:

My incredibly shallow analysis of Watchmen where I don't give a damn about spoilers because everyone either knows the plot or doesn't care to know the plot:

• I thought Rorschach would be uglier. He was merely Hollywood ugly.


• I thought Dan would be fatter. He was merely Hollywood fat.


• I thought the Comedian would be less likable. I really felt conflicted. It was a good thing.


• I didn't like the condensing/changing of Rorschach's backstory. I am really caught up on the fact that he didn't leave the child murderer in a burning building with a saw to cut off his hand.


• But oh god Jackie Earle Haley was perfect.


• WTF at Mickey from Seinfeld showing up.


• Dr. Manhattan on Mars doesn't translate well to film, but I admire what Billy Crudup did with the character. And I'm kind of surprised that I didn't see him as "that kid in Almost Famous."


• Reading the trivia section on IMDb is kind of heart attack-inducing. Especially lines like, "X was slated to do Y, but turned it down." Especially when X is Tom Cruise or Michael Bay.


• The only sex scene I can think of that is more awkward than Dan and Laurie in Watchmen is in R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet.

No wedding updates for you!

My brain has been foggy as all hell lately, so I apologize for the lack of updates. Here's a media I've consumed update:

I had a serious F____ you for being done! moment this morning after I'd finished Shannon Burke's Black Flies. Even though it had a couple of typos. And you should know that it takes a lot for me to like a book with editing problems.

Gang Leader for a Day was a great read. I'm going to go ahead and say that you're an idiot if you're reading the book for statistics or an objective view of life in the projects. This is basically a memoir. It's more like reading Garfinkle than Pareto. Fair warning: you may or may not want to stab someone when you think about all the stupid things Venkatesh does (intentionally leaving his research in his subject's home? really?).

World War Z was a little contrived. It had a stark realness to it, sure, but so much predictability in the worst way possible. I mean, we're talking about plot twists M Night Shyamalan would write. "The dispatcher that saved her life was actually her imagination!" "That guy in the mental hospital that's being interviewed about a guy actually is the guy!"

I've been listening to Maritime's We, the Vehicles a lot. The songs you should listen to first are "Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts!" and "Tearing Up the Oxygen."

Rogue Wave's Descended Like Vultures is not as good as I thought it would be. I probably need to give it more of a chance though. Download "Love's Lost Guarantee" and you will be satisfied.

I got an Xbox 360 recently, so here are some mini(er) reviews:

Fable II: The main plot line ends in a really anticlimactic way. You can never be skinny if you want to have a good amount of health (my female hero did not have a neck despite existing solely on celery). I'm in the process of playing it through again without rushing.

Castle Crashers: ...is cute and fun!

Left 4 Dead: I am so bad at this game, but it's so much fun! I'm hoping I'll be a bit better once I get new glasses and maybe adjust the brightness a bit. I am sad that melee is not an effective way to kill zombies. I was expecting it to be like Halo where you can one-shot someone with a whack to the back of the head.

Rock Band 2: The adjustment from playing real drums to playing plastic drums is difficult. My hands are slow and stupid when it comes to regular guitar; the plastic guitar is no different. Maybe I should be playing lefty.