Hail London.

So on the holiest of holy days (Easter I am going to assume is the holiest day of the year for Christians), I got an offer to accompany some folks to an Easter Sunday service at the Church of England. I figured what the hell, I’ve been in churches before and haven’t exploded, so why not give it a go?

The church was in the middle of nowhere, off on its own through some fields and in the woods. When I asked why this was, I was informed that the church was the center of the village hundreds of years ago, but then there was a little thing called the Black Death which came through and exterminated the entire village. So they tore down and burned everything, except the church of course. So I’m going to church in a previously plagued village. Neat. Points for the church in my book.

Easter service was what you’d expect, lots of hymn singing (which I’d rather listen to any day of the week over fucking Dope), lots of remembrance of Jesus Christ etc., with of course the focus on the resurrection and new life and new beginnings.

There was also plenty of “blood of the Lord” and “body of Christ” talk, especially around communion, which I took without spontaneously combusting. I drank blood today. I went to church with a load of vampires.

I didn’t feel so out of place though, as apparently these people have similar tastes in music. My favorite game of the day was looking through the prayers and sermon and hymns and finding lots of metal bands names, such as:

• Lamb of God (most frequently referenced band)
• Living Sacrifice (R.I.P.)
• Most Precious Blood
• Testament (LOOOOOOOOW)
• Grave
• Creed (metal!)
• Goatwhore (not really)
• Amen
• Strife

It was a funny experience hearing Requiem, Break You, and 11th Hour blasting over and over in your head in between all of the Hallelujahs.

Now I don’t know about you, but whenever I stumble upon a monument to people who were burned alive, my interest is piqued a bit. While searching for things of an evil nature, nothing says evil like burning your fellow man (or woman, we are not sexist here at the Devil’s Demons) alive. ESPECIALLY when it’s over religion. You know, the thing that’s supposed to bring peace and harmony and stability to people’s lives, but has caused more deaths and wars than any other cause throughout history. Alas, I digress.

Today, while on Easter holiday in the countryside of the United Kingdom (they love their jesus over here, as long as it gets me days off of work, I am down), we visited a monument which was in memory of 17 protestants who were burned alive while under the reign of Queen Mary, specifically in the town of Lewes. Excuse me, Bloody Mary, who went on a crusade of persecution against the Protestants.

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And buy this:

I can also get Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, and a few other rock/metal magazines. This makes me ultra happy. I can buy my beer and cheese, and pick up a magazine. I kinda feel like a soccer mom picking up some Better Home and Gardens or Vanity Fair after doing the grocery shopping, but one who drives a fucking bulldozer instead of a van. It’s the little things that make life great.

This magazine cover makes me ponder two things. 1) The prevalence of metal as an accepted and respectable genre of music in the UK. Not quite as much of an outcast genre as it seems in the States. And by that I mean I never felt ostracized for my liking of metal, but the “metal kids” probably do. Here, not so much. More power.

2) I love magazine covers with this much gore. Gore is much more accepted here as well. TV shows are much more violent, advertising is more violent, attractions (see Tower of London) emphasize the evil bits to attract the crowds. I guess on a historical scale, much more evil and bloody shit has happened here, so it’s more accepted. I don’t know, I don’t care, because I just love it all the same.

So last night, I was doing what I do best, which was getting too drunk, making a mess trying to crack peanuts open, and flipping around the few channels I get free in London. One of these happened to be BBC3, and Being Human happened to be on. When Vincent originally wrote about this, I failed to put 2 and 2 together to realize I’d have a chance to watch it live.

As all of those BBC shows seem to run together, cut out of the same mold, it took me a bit to realize what I was watching. It became pretty clear when two people were essentially having a blood orgy in a bathroom. My interest was gotten.

The bit of the show I saw was very promising. As mentioned, the gore factor was a lot more intense than I would have imagined. Good strong language helped as well. I think this was the 2nd episode, so they were definitely in character introduction mode. I hope to rewatch the first 2 and get to see the 3rd on its normal debut time.

I’m hoping I have found a new show to follow now that Dexter is done for the year.

Drunkenly stumbled upon this particular bag last night. Still a lame-ass bag, but at least it’s Dracula. And just like the bag says, they’re frighteningly good.