What You Are Laughing At

WARNING: SARCASM, SATIRE, SARDONIC TEXT TO FOLLOW.
LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT HUMOR CAST THE FIRST GROAN

"The Passion Of The Christ" Was Not "Merchandise Tie-in and 4% of Gross"

Mel Gibson's 'independent' film "The Passion Of The Christ" has soared past the $300-million mark. Made for $30Million, which in Hollywood can be found in the "Scientology Dues, March '04" envelope, the film has surpassed the critics expectations of a film starring Jim Caveizel. I was pretty astounded myself. I will not dive into the debate of "Religion And How It's Ruined By The Religious," or some such.
Religion is big business, always. Whether a person is Against The Use Of Religion As a Means Of Furthering a Secular Cause, or For The Use Of Religion As a Means of Life-long Guilt And Repression, the spiritual quests that humans find themselves in can be pilfered and plundered for profit, if you play your Tarot right. Now that we see a movie that is graphic in its depiction of the death of Jesus, how far behind are films for other Religions? I figure a lot of folks owe the positive changes in their lives to the teachings of Christ, Buddha, and Dr. Atkins, among others.
Now here's this movie about the final hours of Jesus' life, prior to and including the Crucifixion. That's not to be confused with the CruciFiction, likely the name of a grind-core metal band, nor with the title of countless poems soy-inked to Textiles 103-made paper by Liberal Arts majors who discovered the joys of Rice Protein and decorative clay beads. Father forgive them; they know not what they do with patchouli.
I have not seen the film, but I've heard a number of comments on it. When people throw around words like "Heartbreaking," "Powerful," and "Evocative," they are really trying to sound less-shallow than they are. I've heard some of these folks describe my Cappuccino Brownies and "2Fast 2Furious 4SmartPeople" in the same manner, so…
If you want to know where I fit in, because, after all, it's MY name on the bill for all of these webpages, I am a Spiritual person. Spirituality and Religion are not necessarily walking Hand-in-Hand, but they can see each other across the stream of Life. I'm connected with the Higher Power, I know that a piece of it is in all of us and that drives us forward to greater things if we acknowledge and nurture it, and I try to do the best I can to treat others with as much respect and dignity as I would want. I'm happy I got over my Masochist phase! So why aren't I more Religious? The biggest turn in my head comes when I realize that Religion is a lot like Spirituality, but with more homework and meetings. I guess I'm an independent-study kind of guy. Good? Bad? You decide. It's not my place to judge. (Those shoes don't go with the ensemble, btw)

This is all another case in the study of Perspective. To some, the most important person around is the Espresso Machine Repairman. If this were my job I'd organize a union and see that we got paid a percentage of every cup of kawfi that was sold after our repairs were done. I wish I could use this power for my own Good.

One Last Thingy
I swear I have no idea what to do about comedy right now. Stand-up comedy is taking a spanking in Seattle, and I don't know why. People WANT to laugh, but I think we're looking for more Realism and Direct Honesty right now. Too much realism and people have to read between the lines and feel belittled. Not enough realism and people know it's a sham. Or do they? I guess it's a fine line between comedy and commentary, but Comedy MUST be Funny. Funny is Subjective, therefore Comedy is Subjective, and therefore it will never be totally figured out. My passion for creative expression through Comedy has taken a seat in a dark corner of a smoke-free environment, and may very well be on its way through bottle of Merlot #4 unless I either:
1) Close its tab
2) Sit and drink and converse with it, slurred as it may be
3) Let it drink the pain away, and wrangle it early tomorrow when its head hurts and it wants to sleep in. I think it needs a jog around the park and a soy-protein shake. If I get my Passion back into fighting trim, I believe I can pay for the sins of numerous comics who have defiled stages before me.
There, but for the grace of Laughter, go I.

And I saw that it was good,
Geoffers