ambassador for spiritual fad

I read an article entitled: Madonna: I'm an 'ambassador for Judaism'.

Here's an excerpt:

"Madonna, who was raised a Roman Catholic, has taken the Hebrew name Esther, and has been seen wearing a red thread on her wrist in a Jewish tradition to ward off the evil eye.

But her interest in Kabbalah in recent years has been criticized by Orthodox Jews, who say it is an abomination.

Other celebrities who flew in for the Kabbalah conference included movie star Demi Moore and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, Rosie O'Donnell and fashion designer Donna Karan. Madonna came with her film director husband Guy Ritchie.

The Haaretz daily quoted Kutcher as telling a group of Israeli businessmen and entertainers on Saturday that Kabbalah had answered fundamental questions in his life and made him a better actor."

Kabbalah seems to be the latest spiritual fad, especially among the cultural elites of film, music, and television. Kabbalah's giving Scientology a run for its money. Seems that the way to go about religion these days is by popularity and pragmatism. Truth is passé. Go with whatever works for you and enhances your life the most. It's all a matter of personal preference right? Do you want cheez-its or pringles? You pick. Drive stick or automatic? You choose what you like. Kabbalah, Buddhism, Christianity, eastern mysticism, atheism? Just go with what works for you and helps you in life. I mean, if Kabbalah makes you a better actor, why not?

looks like a toddler

Grace is eleven months old now. It seems that in the past two months she's made the transition into toddlerhood. When you're shoveling dirt, when does a pile become a mound? I don't know. Same with the baby to toddler thing.

She's been walking for about a month now. She calls me "Dadad" and points at stuff and says, "W'ssat?" If you laugh, she often will laugh to copy. She makes faces because she likes when we laugh. She goes berserk when she sees dogs and cats because she loves them so much...she flails her limbs about in excitement and laughs. And she now enjoys dancing when I beat box, though she often loses her balance while bouncing. She is a funny, adorable kid. We get another one in about 4 months!

Listen Carefully...

...pay special attention when the countdown hits 13 seconds

Avant-garde Comics

My friend Dan came up with his own comic strip. I forget the title. I think it's called "Grayson". Awhile back, Dan and I worked to create a number of different "episodes" (I don't know what to call them). He did all the drawings. Below are four separate ones. Each line is its own episode, unrelated to the others. They are a bit avant-garde, you might say. I don't know if people will find these funny. But we could not stop laughing.

As you may know, humor is derived from the incongruities in life. Something has to be incongruous enough, and incongruous in the right way, to be funny. But it is possible, I think, to push the incongruity envelope too far, and you lose all connections and slide into complete randomness, which then doesn't make any sense and isn't funny.

We tried to push the incongruity envelope to the edge--so far that some may think the humor is lost. But we think it's there. It's dangling on the edge. But it's there conceptually. If there's a common thread in them, it's that the outcome is opposite of what is expected (irony). I won't be offended, though, if you don't find these funny. But please, read them slowly, contemplate, pay particular attention to the facial expressions, and enjoy the humor derived from the incongruity.

(For awhile, when my friend Chris and I thought something was funny and we laughed, we'd say, "How incongruous!")

(The comics below are small and hard to read so I've typed out the dialog below by frame)


1: My dad can beat up your dad
2: No he can't
3: Yes he can
4: I know


1: Well, look who we have here.
2: Wait a minute...Who are you?


1: Would you PLEASE just get out of my life

3: I love you so much


1: Do you wanna get some corn?
2: No. Do you wanna get out of my face?
3: Corn?