I’m really upset that I missed an early screening of this film Religulous in Chicago last Thursday. A blog writer from Chicago who goes by the name Capone for the website Aintitcoolnews.com was offering to give out fifty free tickets if you emailed him what you think is the most ridiculous religion and why. This task is a pretty hard one to take on. Who’s to say which one religion is the most ridiculous. Religion is so touchy of a subject that it’s pretty much considered taboo to question the actual origin and meanings of some of the largest ones in the world. This documentary deals with confronting the odd customs and superstitions that are considered natural to each specified religion, focusing mainly on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Religion is such a hard topic for people to talk about just because there are so many hypotheses to the big questions in this world, creation, god, etc, but nobody is able to agree on one basic explanation. Everyone thinks they are right in what they and their fellow congregation believes in. Religion has spawned wars both small and large, and nobody really knows what the hell they’re really fighting for. I’m excited to see Bill Maher’s take on the whole topic because he’s not afraid of being an asshole to get answers to questions, even if they have to do with controversial topics. This film may only appeal to the non-religious type person, but hey if you’re religious and can take a comedic look at what you believe in, then bless your soul. The film hits limited theaters tomorrow and will go wider on Friday. Have fun!

So my summer has taken a bit of a detour recently. After having had a job ripped out from under my feet in Champaign (they told me I had the job!!!), I went on a mad goose chase for some employment to support my spending needs. Seems that no one wants to hire a fairly hardworking male U of I student (I may be exaggerating that word “hardworking”). In my need for money I found myself packing up and heading back home to a place I could at least live more cheaply. I’m still having a tough time getting a job here too, but at least I’m getting some free home-cooked grub. So to go along with my somewhat slacker lifestyle, I rented the new straight-to-dvd film Super High Me.

The film stars the one and only Doug Benson….you know…one of those guys that does the commentaries on Best Week Ever and a contestant on one of the Last Comic Standing seasons. Doug Benson was also voted by High Times as “Stoner of the Year” in 2006. This fact being the most relevant since the whole plot of the movie revolves around Doug going thirty days without smoking marijuana, taking multiple physical and mental tests, and then blazing for thirty days straight and to see how he does on those same tests. What ensues is pretty hilarious and yet educational (sort of).

Doug Benson is able to purchase weed legally in the movie because he lives and California and has a medical license that allows him to buy from an assortment of different strands from a vast number of medical marijuana shops. The film shows that the marijuana actually has little affect on Doug’s both mental and physical performance, and he would actually prefer to be on it constantly. But since Doug Benson himself is known for being a pretty big pothead before the filming of this movie, the statistical research he conducts can’t really be taken for face value. It have to be someone who’s never tried a drug in their life (does someone like that really exist out there) and see the affects it takes on them. Well, my main goal really wasn’t to try and learn much, even though I did learn about national enforcement on state laws and how it is actually a quite confusing dilemma.

The film as a whole wasn’t the funniest things I’ve ever seen, I mean you can’t really beat Half Baked or Cheech and Chong films in pot-comedy, but Doug’s a really funny guy even though he uses weed as the source of much of his comedic material. I say light up and enjoy the film (if you’re into that sort of thing I mean).