therefore vicariously he loves you

You would not believe how badly I want to see The Two Towers. The TV mocks me with its incessant previews, Cate Blanchett's voiceovers, and snapshots of Legolas' buttkickin'. Arrrrrrrrgh.

I'm usually not home to watch South Park but something possessed me to do it tonight. It's not always a miserable display of how low the human sense of humor can go. Strangely enough this episode is giving me a hankering to see Blackhawk Down again. Last time I saw the movie my brother was in the Army. That sort of interfered with my enjoyment of the film. I liked it - but every time I saw a soldier go down I was reminded that each one was a real guy. And each one was someone's brother. And that it could be my brother soon. That lent the movie a certain weight - the people in the row behind us laughed at a few points in the movie and I was actually annoyed. Well, thank God Dave is out of the Army, because his very unit is in Afghanistan right now, and has been for a while.

Back to this South Park episode...it appears to be a 'tribute' to Blackhawk Down. Santa was shot down over Iraq; Kyle and Company went to find Jesus, because He can save everyone. So they get Jesus in the backup sleigh and head over to Baghdad to save Santa, who's being tortured by an Iraqi (once again a la Blackhawk Down). I just watched an animated Jesus die from a gunshot wound in an animated Santa's arms, after saving Santa. As Stan put it: "this is pretty f*d up right here."

Haahaa - the end of the episode made me laugh pretty hard, actually. At the end of the episode Santa tells everyone how "a brave man named Jesus died for him. So from now on, December 25th shall be a time we remember this man named Jesus and thank Him for what he did!"

So after a half-hour of what some people would call sacrilege, the creators of South Park ironically remind everybody what Christmas is supposed to be about. Jesus. In a way that would connect with some people today much more than any production a church put on to remind them that Christmas is about Jesus. I'm not sure what to think about that.