Merry Christmas from Berlin

My God, Germany is awesome around Christmas time. This has been circulating around town on flyers and billboards. I have no idea what they're selling, but I have a feeling if hard pressed I'd by three.

Please don't ask me about Santa's sack.

-Jared

O Holy Night...

If you're online and active in singer circles, you've probably already heard the "best" version of O Holy Night. I can't find it credited anywhere but sweet Jesus it brings tears to my eyes. Oh and remember to be brave....the best stuff is right towards the end.

http://www.burnsidewriterscollective.com/audio/oholynight.mp3

Amazing.

-jared

Edit: I'm also told that this is rather amusing. Even if you don't know anything about how organists should behave, you should be amused. Hallelujah indeed.

http://www.musicoftommy.com/Messiahorganistoncrack.mp3

My Lovely Lady Lumps

Dear Lord, I should have started reading my love's online diary a lot sooner. Take a look at why:

"Jared and I are wired differently when it comes to being late. Me? I freak out and rush like a madwoman. Him? He goes at his own pace, even stops to talk a bit... it drives me crazy! It's one of those things in our marriage that I've accepted I'll never understand or accept. So, I gave up and went back to bed. (Wednesday is my sleep-in day.) Then, I proceeded to have anxiety dreams about trying to get Jared out the door for work, including all kinds of crazy outfits that I threw at him (think pink and green sweater, and a big puffy coat), then him accidentally getting his pants wet, and I made him leave the house anyway, but then I caught him changing his pants on the outside stairwell. Then, there was the mad dream dash to find him a taxi, since he was too late for public transportation. I was in a strange city, indeed, with all variety of slow taxis (horse-drawn, electrical, etc), but I needed a FAST taxi! Sheesh...

And that, my friends, was the tamest of my dreams. By far. Like, bees were helping aliens take over the planet, while I was stuck in a paddle boat with no paddles, and the only one who could save us was the starving siamese twin still attached to her dead sister in the basement. With an uzi."

When you therapist says "Holy Crap, you're messed up", it's implied you're in a relationship with me apparently. Gah.
-jared

Opera Chaos 2007

You have no idea how happy I am with how this turned out. My only regret? It's on Cafe Press.

http://www.cafepress.com/jaredvonhindman.91654001

Click on "View Calendar Pages" to see a preview of what I'll put up on the site soon.

-jared

"not pimping"

Stupid Theories involving Charles Darwin....

I was doodling a comic about Charles Darwin for National Monkey Day, and a weird idea popped into my head when I found out what Darwin looked like. Check this bit of craziness out:

Charles Darwin was born in 1809. Growing up, a certain "scientific" movement was rather popular. Does anyone else out there recall Phrenology (or Physiognomy, depending)?

It was pretty much the study that said that we could determine how intelligent you are based off the shape of your head. It was used to justify all sorts of racism (because some races were "cursed" with "the brow of a criminal") and all other sorts of nastiness. The thing is, it was apparently crazy popular during Darwin's lifetime. This isn't that important, unless you actually take a look to see what Charles Darwin looked like:

If you look in the mirror every morning and see a brow ridge like that and live in a world where scientists can pretend to judge people based off your facial features, would it really be hard to think that one of these could be your ancestor?

I'm not discounting evolution at all...It makes a hell of a lot of sense and there's evidence for it all over the place. I've just had this in my brain and needed to vent. Scientists who came up with phrenology had a personal reason for doing so (justifying racism, for example)...just like my psychiatrist decided to become a psychiatrist for a reason (troubled childhood, for example). I just think it'd be funny if Darwin became, well DARWIN because he needed to justify what he saw in the mirror.

A totally wrong theory, but fun for some reason.

-jared

PS: Sorry for the lack of articles over the past few weeks...I've been stupid busy with commissions and other zaniness, which should all become clear (including 19 new Opera inks) very soon. Thanks for being patient with me.