I have a
friend. He's rolling his eyes right now, over my stupid title and my stupid opening; joke. I have started many posts with this cheesy opening and then go on to
say, something really, REALLY stupid, like “yeah, I know hard to believe.” Yesterday, a
good friend of mine who’s at least as cat-shit insane as I am said “I had a
friend, but the rope broke and they got away.” I responded with, “I had a friend. I ate mine.”
Tee hee. We think we’re funny. Anyway,
we do have people who at least tolerate us, or pretend to like us. That’s
rather hard to do on any sort of on-going basis though, isn’t it? We may all
rib one another, but let’s face it, we’ve all got some pretty awesome folks
that populate our lives.
One of my
pals is a gentleman who lives out in the open skies of Colorado, in a basement,
but is in the moving process. How one live under the stars in a basement right there is unique
upon unique, I think. Anyway, Mr. Sundae Rye is celebrating his second year living
independently of “the man.” Creating artwork, writing, blogging, I first ran
across his website sundaeryestudio.com from @SundaeRye on Twitter several months ago and spent hours
looking at the beautiful and strange artwork, reading his hilarious and furious
prose and thoroughly enjoying myself.
Sundae is
like me, a cat lover. He has 2 kitties!. I’ve noticed there are certain tendencies and similarities
that resonate with like minds on the internet. We may as well stop all of this
bullshit "IRL" and "internet" and "Virtual this" and "online" and "Outside." This isn’t “Logan’s
Run.” Last night I was on “Runescape” and one of my dippy friends pops up and
says “did you miss me?” This is the same genius who wanted to know if anything
besides green dragon monsters dropped green dragon skins. I said, “Yeah, ogres,”
and kept on killing lava guys. So, he says, “did you miss me?” I said. “Yeah, where were you?” He says,
brightly, “In real life.” I said “Oh. No shit! I thought you died or were in
the 5th dimension or haunting people.” He says, “Tee hee.” He knows
I’m going to be a smart ass.
So,
whether it’s on the internet or in real life, I’ve noticed that certain types
of people gravitate towards one another. Not exactly startling news, I guess.
Anyway, Sundae writes and writes very well, as well as photographing, painting and drawing. Truly a Renaissance Man, without Sir Thomas More's fate, I hope. His facility with writing and
expressing ideas is matched only by his ability to uncap at the precisely
needed moment, a fine anger towards an idea. He then unhorses that idea
explaining why it’s a bad one, coming up with a solution, or countering the
idea into neutrality.
This is
something Harlan Ellison does so well, as does Stephen King. The two know each
other; authors do seem to be a comradely group. I was shocked to find out that
the humorist Dave Barry, Stephen King, Greg Iles, Amy Tan and several others were in this horrible
rock group called the “Rock Bottom Remainders.” They played together and I
believe they still get together now and then for causes. My understanding is
they weren’t all that horrible. I’ve never heard them. I was a professional
violist for 35 years. I think the Vienna Philharmonic plays out of tune. I may get
around to actually hearing the “Rock Bottom Remainders,” some day. If I’m drunk. Then again,
maybe not. I'm a horrible music snob.
Anyway, I
started reading Sundae’s prose. This is about the time I think the warranty ran
out on my laugh. It was starting to get a bit rusty and screechy. Then I ran
across “Jesus Was a Zombie,” and all Hell broke loose. I think I lost
consciousness 2 or 3 times during that post, alone. JC had to pick me up out
from under my computer. He kept shouting, “Are you okay? Are you okay?” I’d
open my mouth to answer, and rusty springs would come out. That was one of the
funniest things and most honest pieces I’d ever read. The interesting thing is,
it in no way changes the way I view my relationship to God or Jesus Christ. It’s
a very personal thing. What Sundae believes is his belief. I respect that and I’m
no more saved than he is and he’s no more damned than I am. Anyone who doesn’t
get that is wrong.
This
world, this universe, this weltanschauung is infinite. If it cannot accommodate
the beliefs of a finite amount of people on a single planet, there is something
fundamentally wrong with the entire universe and ANY belief system is then
flawed. Period.
Anyway,
everyone needs to stampede on over to sundaeryestudios.com and give the man’s
website a look. His artwork is stunning; you’ll see works in progress. Lots of
it is reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch, but so much more is just Sundae. His
books are wonderful as well. The man is also generous to a fault. Ask him a
question, and you’ll get a conversation. He’s straight up and refreshing. Tell
him Hello for me.
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