Redesigning the Church

I've been telling myself for months now that the Church of Maasa's design needs a bit of an overhaul, but I'd never actually gotten around to doing anything about it. The old design was simple enough that it worked, but it also happened to be pretty ugly.

But Blogger have recently unveiled their new layout designer, and so this morning I spent a few hours playing around with various templates. Before long, I had unwittingly created a layout that worked quite well - the one which you see before you now.

All that remained was to replace the old header. Like the skin itself, the old header was incredibly simple, but also incredibly ugly. It was something that I'd just thrown together in an hour or so when I first made the blog. So that had to go too. Now, I'm no graphics designer - if I were, I would have done a better job the first time, so I enlisted the help of my friend Liamers who has long been my go-to guy for graphics. He made all the headers I've ever used on my other blog, Berryz Kyuuden. He also made many of the forum signitures which I've used over the years (though, incidentally, not the current "L♡VE" one, which was made by myself). I guess it's fair to say that he is one of the few people I trust to do a good job of something as important to me as this blog. And he did an excellent job, at that.

I've had a little feedback so far, and it's been entirely positive. The design is nicer on the eyes, and simply friendlier - a change which reflects the changing attitude of the Church from the totalitarian do-or-die to the more open accepting religion that we find ourselves a part of today. Fundamentalism is still very much an aspect of the Church, but at the same time, changing attitudes towards H!P and our alliances with the Captainist Party mean that we can no longer be solely about promoting Maaist Idealism through simple offense, but also through cooperation and collaboration. And we needed a new look which reflects this change for the better.

The reality is that changes are coming... They must come, and we all must share in bringing them.

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The Church Expands!

 

It's come to my attention that this blog doesn't get nearly the same amount of attention that I want to give it, or that it deserves. And so I have decided that it's time to go back and put my initial plans into action.

When I first created this blog, I was inspired by other worship blogs on the blogosphere, while at the same time pushed into action by the conversations in Hello!Online's Maasa thread, how that led to the creation of the Church is now documented in the Origins entry, the first post I made to the blog.

But when I created it, I had in mind a blog and a church which was community driven. A Church where it didn't rely on me to dictate everything, but to where the believers had choice. They could put forward their own ideas about what Maaism trully was. Where people of all walks of life could be brought together by their desire to create and their love for the Holy Mother. Even now, 18 months later, this idea still lingers in my mind as the goal I want to achieve.

And so it comes to me now that perhaps it's time to throw open the doors to the Cathedral and let the people inside.

I posted an advertisement on, what I felt was the best place for it, the Hello!Online Maasa thread. The very place where the Church was born. And in this advertisement I said that I was looking for willing writers to take up positions of authority within the Church and help contribute to the blog. Response was fairly disconcerting. There were many people who said that they would love to join, but lacked the free time or the confidence in their English to do so. There are some promising results, however.

Garlix, who you would know if you read his first post on the blog Do You Read the Bible, decided that despite limitations to the time he can spend writing he would help out. He serves us now, not only as a member of the Clergy, but also as an Ambassador to the Captain Party, which you may remember the earlier post L'Entente Cordiale brought an end to a year of hostilities between the Church and the Party.

So please, continue to contribute and comment, everyone. In the name of Maasa, we can only grow stronger.

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Message to the Church of AKB

AKB48 Worshippers,

We have been watching you, and we believe that your ideals directly conflict with our own in such a way that is unacceptable. Your false and heretical worship, your persecution and suppression of the true way - the Maaist way, have all led to this. We can not allow you to continue such pursuits, and as such I am writing this message in the hopes of persuading you back to the true path before it is too late.

AKB48 have long been my personal enemy and stand very much in the way of this Church's ideals and beliefs. We follow a tradition of monotheism and adherence to the words of Maasa, "I'm am Maasa your idol, thou shall have no other idols before me," is one of the most sacred laws of Maaism. AKB promote idols and ideals, a word that arguably has it's roots in the word "Idol", different to this. Because of this heresy these so-called Idols and their fans have strayed from the path and have dissapointed Maasa.

Members of the Church of AKB, a term coined by myself to describe those fans who commited themselves to worshipping the heretical teachings of those residing atop the Tower of Evil in Akihabara's Don Quijote store, who have strayed can still repent. Maasa forgives. Maasa saves. Maasa asks only for your faith and loyalty. And so I put it to you, would you rather live a life of damnation in the hands of AKB? Or repent and live your life in the protection of Our Holy Matriarch?

I think we all know which is the better choice, don't we?

Repent, lost children, and feel the warmth of Maasa's embrace.

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Public Service Announcement: Don't Worship False Idols

Many believe that Maasa, in times long past, gave us these words; "I am Maasa your Idol. Thou shall worship no other Idol before me." It's debatable, but we do believe that these words were later adapted for use by later religions.

Well, my brothers and sisters, I have a confession to make. I wasn't always the monotheist that the Church requires me to be. They were darker times than these, in a place known as Musume-Central where a battle of Survival raged between Yajima Maimi and Suzuki Airi. I supported Maimi, of course. But support was much greater for Airi than for Maimi. We were fighting a losing battle, but did not give face. We fought on and the battle drew out for several days until we were finally overcome. But we knew we had fought the good fight. And, brace yourselves, this is where my treachery happened. In the middle of everything, I began to preach about The Golden Maimi and how, in the afterlife, we would be greatly rewarded for standing by her to the end - and of course that redemption was still a choice for the Airi supporters.

So my message to you, brothers, is don't get caught up in the moment. Think carefully about which Idol you choose to worship. And in the end, if you have thought long and hard, you will come to the conclusion that Maasa is the only true idol. Those who would have you believe otherwise are heratics willing to start a Holy War between two or more idols.

Take that anti-religious pretender Sougisou, for example, he and his communist support for Shimizu Saki would have Maasa's titles stripped and her supporters destroyed! Fear not, however, because only the true prevail. Now take Murr, who commited slander and other acts of Heresy in the name of her false idol - Niigaki Risa. Ever since tensions have been high between myself and those few supporters of that cult. However, I can't lose my own integrity. Not again. We must stand tall and proud, and do our best to peacefully convert these cultists back to the light. The worship of their false and obscure idols is dangerous. A danger to society, to themselves, and to us.

We do not wish for a holy war, brothers! But should one break out, you can sleep soundly knowing that it is us who will become one with Maasa - the greatest honour known to man.

And a message to the non-believers: Join us. We are the true way. Swear your loyalty to the Church and to Maasa and you shall never look back. Just look at how happy Tokunaga Chinami was when she first joined the Church!

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