Pinned
You are not childish for wishing the world was better than it is. We were owed that by the people who knew better before us, just like we too will owe the people who’ll come after us. But defeatism does nothing. It puts nothing on the plate you’ll hand to your child, your friend, your lover. You may never live to see the world become as good as it should, but that should never stop you from trying to improve it anyway.
I just wanna say also that, especially as an atheist, I love that Wake Up Dead Man was not Christian versus atheist. It was weaponizer of power Christian versus faith and kindness Christian.
Not to get on my soap box but I have a lot more in common with a Christian of my own values than a fellow atheist without. And a good-faith Christian has a lot more in common with a good-faith person of any other religion or lack-there-of than they ever could a manipulative, power-hungry, fear-mongering Christian.
I think the story often told doesn't draw those lines where they should be drawn, and it was something lovely to see. That Jud is in the same category as "proud heretic" Benoit. Wicks the same as Miles Bron.
Caterpillar Sweater Crochet Pattern by madelinecrochetaway
jud duplenticy writes some fantastic lines in his account of the murder like "The darkness of that story was the bedrock of this place" or "Testing tolerances, tapping deep poisoned wells, hardening, binding with complicity" or "Because in the part of my soul that cannot lie to Christ, or myself, or you…" but he did also write "Young, dumb, and full of Christ" which doesn't necessarily undermine his skill as a storyteller or anything but what an insane thing that is to say to benoit at this point in the story
"The hearts of men are easily corrupted." Wake Up Dead Man (2025) & Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Bonus for @mykingdomforasong:
One thing I enjoyed a lot in Wake Up Dead Man was how Benoit Blanc was called out for visibly enjoying getting to sum up the case for a riveted audience. I enjoyed the fact that he realises the way to properly solve the case is to give that up, to stop and pretend he doesn’t know the true culprit. That to solve this the right way, he had to allow the culprit to confess - to a priest - and not be shamed on a pulpit like the evil Monsignor had done. It would’ve been solved either way. But one was compassionate, the other selfish, and he chose compassion.
I like it, too, because he’s well aware that Cy is recording Blanc’s summation. He’s completely and totally aware that Cy will be posting it online, for the whole world to see. He’s Benoit Blanc, the world renowned detective who’s never failed to solve a case. He’s Benoit Blanc, the man so incredibly observant, there’s no way he missed that. He looks directly at Cy, even. He’s Benoit Blanc, happily married gay man who hates Christianity for how his mother treated him out of structured homophobia.
He’s Benoit Blanc, who chose to make a fool of himself and pretend this case was impossible to solve, allowing a cruel man to gain ammunition that “ruins” Blanc’s sterling reputation. A reputation he would’ve maintained perfectly well if he’d kept going and simply accused the culprit. Instead, he chose to let the culprit confess, in a way that satisfied both justice and religious forgiveness of sin.
Cats Copy. Hence the phrase copy cat. And this cat is clearly fond of this dog as a family member, and just now realized by observing:
"OH WAIT Human is making biscuits on this dog brother and it HELPS with his pain??? Hey I can do that!! I can do that too! Look! Biscuits!!"
Veterinarian at the next follow up: "Dog is looking really good! But I'm concerned - with this kind of progress, it looks like Dog is getting HOURS of massage every day. If you work yourself into a repetitive motion injury, you won't be able to keep up with Dog's home physical therapy, and, you know, you'll be hurt, too."
Human: "I give Dog a massage for about 30 minutes a day. The rest is all Cat."
#....wow.#shrimp colors of heresy happening here#i mean that's fairly standard for american evangelicals but like. even for them. (via @qqueenofhades)
It kills me to admit that when I first googled this the first results weren't even USian Evangelical:
“We never had the impression he was saying strange things,” said Schmid. “But of course we could never guarantee that he wouldn’t say anything strange.”...Schmid said: “I think there is a thirst to talk with Jesus. People want to have an answer: they want words and to listen to what he’s saying. I think that’s one element of it. Then of course there’s the curiosity of it. They want to see what this is.”
The fact that this guy is a theologian, and presumably had to read that whole 'worshipping the golden cow' story at least once, is pretty hilarious I'll be honest.
Then I searched to see if this was happening in the US too, and was not disappointed with this title:
One of the first words I saw while scanning this article was 'megachurch', which did not surprise me at all.
San Jose, California-based megachurch pastor Ron Carpenter has even created an AI app promising "1-on-1 personalized interactions" with a bot version of him for $49 per month.
Of course he does.
But this link has my favourite doozy so far:
Text With Jesus offers users an interactive experience with a religious deity. In other words, users can text questions to Jesus and get a response. (Premium users can also converse with Satan.)
I'll be honest, I'm pretty lapsed as far as Christianity goes; can someone remind me if 'paying money to talk with Satan' is one of those Biblical no-nos or is God pretty chill with that?
...I'm gonna start taking bets on how long it is before Trump and Vance get in on this.
PREMIUM USERS CAN ALSO CONVERSE WITH SATAN.
