Jesus Guitars

When I showed these to someone prior to this post, the reaction I got was "dude this is so ugly it's beautyful!" This is, of course, about the ultimate praise anyone can bestow on anything at all. And I do quite agree. Down to the very tear dripping from Christ's wooden eye. Perfection! Forget about the Goldfish guitars, this is the real deal!

Whohoow, I now actually see the thorn-ornaments (thornaments?) on the fretboard! My hat to the designer. My hat to you sir!

Stick With Jesus

Yes one thing led to another. Want to prove your love for Christ through the use of printed musical instruments but you're a drummer and not a guitarist? Have no fear! The Stick With Jesus drumsticks are here! And, as with the Pick Jesus picks, there are T-shirts in turn made of the Stick With Jesus drumsticks. Why-o-why? And more importantly: Why don't I have a pair yet! Or the shirt for that matter!

Black... Sticks... of Jesus!

Call me blasphemous (and by all means do!) but I can't help but imagine Jesus behind a drumset in a white robe with a pair of expensive sunglasses beating out the fill of a lifetime with His very own sticks, rocking away those cool long locks of hair of his and with a big smile on his face. You go Jesus!

Pick Jesus

Yesterday I wrote about the Goldfish guitars. They came with Fishpicks and that made me wonder if there are actually guitar picks out there with Jesus on them. Small wonder that turned out to be. You have this whole line of Jesus picks or, I should say, pick Jesus. Yes what a delightful play of words there. I think I came across them before, when writing about God's Girlz toy dolls, where one of the dolls is wearing a pick Jesus shirt. This is another thing, this Jesus pick has been turned itself into a symbol. People wear it around their neck or wear pick Jesus shirts with the pick on it. What does that mean? What do these people want to express with that? That they like the word play? That they love Jesus but also love rock 'n' roll? This still puzzles me.

Goldfish Guitars

Oh what joy when I opened my mail and read the news letter from the Cornerstone annual Christian rock festival in Illinois. They were giving away free Goldfish guitars. I had no idea these existed. Really folks, it's an Ichthus guitar, but I suppose they called it Goldfish guitar to give it more broad appeal. Even though Ichthus sounds cooler to me than Goldfish. Christians once again underestimating the worth of the symbolic goods they have in their own treasure chest. Anyway, to know that these Ichthus Goldfish guitars exist is great and now I want one! :)

Oooh they even come with Fishpicks! Kickass!
Website: http://goldfishguitars.com

Vocation Dolls

And if it's Catholic love you're after, why not get yourself one of these Vocation Dolls! Father Juan Pablo will... teach you all about... the rich tradition of warm love of the Catholics... in all it's facets... let your children be touched by the tender care of the Roman church... Oh folks it's so hard not to make any politically incorrect jokes about this but I'm trying! I'm trying!!!

By the way I love that they stitched a pair of glasses on his head.

From My Own Backyard

So, to keep myself afloat during studies, I work at this kitschy postcard store in Amsterdam. Probably hardly a surprise and perhaps even more of an explanation of where I get some of my inspiration for this blog. Luckily, we also sell some reli-kitsch, be it not all that much (never enough!) and even more luckily, the owners of this store have a Catholic background! Enough said, I'd think. Currently however we don't have too many items bearing the seal of Christ, but we do have some nice notebooks. I'll leave it at that for this time but I'll probably display some of the wonderful fruits from my own garden some more sometime. They come and go. By the way, dear reader, I beg your forgiveness for the so-so quality of my pictures. They were hastily shot using a smartphone.

Since selling this stuff also pays my rent, whenever you find yourself in Amsterdam, do pop by!

Van de Kaart Shop
Leidsestraat 57
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
http://www.vandekaartshop.nl

Buddha Buddha Life

So after yesterday, I realized I had hardly anything on Buddhism. So let's continue this trend. There is so much Buddhist beauty out there! I knew of great Buddhist statues because I spotted one at someone's house once. I searched for that one but found far better ones. These Buddha piggy (no disrespect there Buddha, it's just what they're called) banks!

They sort of remind me of the Chibi Jesus art, but then Buddha style. Website: http://buddhabuddhalife.com

Huggable Buddha

Have you followed the eightfold path? Have you severed all ties with family? Have you not spoken in years? Have you given up all your belongings? You've reached Nirvana and it sucks big time? Then have no fear for the Huggy Buddha is here, to give you a great big hug!

Order yours today! http://www.bigbuddha.nl/

Christian Art: Del Parson

Oh man I love this good stuff! I keep telling you, it's the Mormons that truly excel at this type of ultra-hyper-sentimental art. And it's the (other) Protestants that fall for it, condemning LDS with one tongue, yet praising this art with another. Whatever, I'm getting political already, who want's to dispute when one can marvel? Classic stuff on here too, like the one of Christ holding a lamb (guess it wasn't a dinolizard after all) and the one of Christ emanating from his grave. I like the one where Christ seems to be smiling apologetically after having let one rip.

Website: http://delparson.com/

Life Is Worth Living

Catholic Archbischop in America Fulton J. Sheen was quite the media figure. I can't help but think he sort of looks like count Dracula in that picture that I found on Wikipedia. Anyway, he was friends with television and made quite a few "Life Is Worth Living" bits. Arguably it was some televangelist trailblazing that Mr. Sheen did.

Tom Cruise's Scientology Video

Probably biologists and cultural analysts alike would agree with me that things can get pretty interesting if you isolate a culture and just let it develop, to lift the rock a little while later and be amazed with the completely unexpected and incredible result you find. Some of you might be thinking of Jersey Shore right now, I was thinking more of Tom Cruise. Probably Hollywood has an isolating effect on it's own. It is near impossible to just be amongst the people sometimes. Add to this religious zeal and what comes rolling out of the equation? Tom Cruise. This little film clip is just so very strange because, well, not because the things that Mr. Cruise is saying might be considered strange, but more because he absolutely seems to not realize the weirdness of what he's saying. It's a little while back that I saw this but it's just so strange. Also the length of it. And the total amateurishness. Seeing Mr. Top Gun / Mission Impossible / whatever other slick Hollywood blockbuster be in this far too long poorly edited bit with the Mission Impossible theme drilling on embarrassingly in the background is just not something you'd expect to see. I certainly was impressed by his presentation but probably not for the reasons he had in mind.

Who Is Your Ally?

Another great one that Hidde sent me. There is something commie about Jesus' moustache or something. Was Jesus a communist? Ahhh, sure he was! ;)

Brides of Christ

Sister Marie Keyrouz

Sister Marie Keyrouz is a nun from Lebanon. A Lebanun yes. She likes to sing that post-civil war trauma right out of the window! I'm sure she sings like an angel but there is still something decades-of-monastery-killed-my-soul about her. I can very much imagine her whip the daylight out of little orphans fingers if you know what I mean.

This wouldn't be much of a post about a singing nun if I didn't include a song now would it?

Website: http://www.keyrouz.com/

Christian Art: Lars Justinen

I think it's time for some art. Today on the menu: Lars Justinen. There is some stuff out there that is good but that is either too small or all copyright-crossed out so I don't want to include it here, but do go out and seeketh the other pictures for they are great. The fruit bearing girl makes up for a lot though! Good to see where the Jesus emerging from the water came from too. I love it when I see that one as a desktop background in real life somewhere!

Website: http://larsjustinen.com/

Carman

A new month and let's start with a jewel. There are those things in life that make you divide it in a before and after. Before you got married, after you got married, before you got a kid, after you got a kid, that sort of thing. I definitely would like to split my life up around a very significant moment. Before I learned about Carman and after I learned about Carman. He's an evangelical singer, entertainer and performer and he manages to make evangelicals feel ashamed of him. Yes that's right. Evangelicals... are shamed by him. That, in it's own right, is quite an achievement. But he does seem to have what it takes. It's sort of an evangelical version of Vanilla Ice. But that still doesn't do him justice. His videos are about as narcissistic as they are spectacular. He usually plays all the roles himself and he is unapologetically Christian, somehow mocking what tends to be fundamentalism while practicing it. Truly, an artist! His acting strongly reminds me of that of Will Ferrell only Carman does it without the slightest hint of irony. By now it should be clear that I am at a loss for words praising this God of a man. I'll include several videos that I had to watch a few times over in order to actually confirm that they indeed do exist.