Hurricane Irene, the powerful storm that ripped the American East Coast and has left 45 people dead so far, was a message from God, if you believe Republican and Tea Party presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann, the fundamentalist religious, often controversial, quick to words candidate, had an interesting remark quoted in the St. Petersburg Times.

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians,” the newspaper reported she told voters during a rally in Sarasota, Fla. “We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

Bachmann’s campaign denied she meant the comments as a serious religious attack on the East Coast. “Obviously she was saying it in jest,” campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart told TalkingPointsMemo in a statement.

So the Rapture did not come Saturday as prophesied by Harold Camping.

It’s actually coming October 21, so be ready.

And here I was just thinking we’re all damned heathens.

The Christian radio host said Monday that the apocalypse will actually come five months after the May 21 date he originally forecast.

In an Associated Press report, the 89-year-old Camping said he felt so bad when the Rapture didn’t come Saturday that he holed up with his wife in a local motel.

We’re still not exactly sure why October 21 is the new date.

NEW YORK — For 11 days every September, the narrow streets of New York’s Little Italy are transformed into a grand carnival.

The Feast of San Gennaro has celebrated the Patron Saint of Naples with food, games and festivities for 84 years. Celebrators feast on Ferrara’s famous cannoli, sausages from Island Sausage & Pepper Co and other Italian fare like braciole and zeppole. Italian immigrants first celebrated this religious festival in the 1920s, and although the festival has changed in modern times with sidewalk karaoke and food trucks featuring cuisine from other cultures, it retains the festive spirit of its origins.

Photos by Nancy Kim for Blast Magazine

NCM.com just released a new “hypertrailer” for “Angels and Demons.”

There are also clips and red carpet movie premiere coverage here.

“Angels and Demons,” the best-selling thriller from Dan Brown, author of “The Da Vinci Code,” stars Tom Hanks as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. Langdon is called upon by the Vatican to counter an apparent threat by the Illuminati, an ancient brotherhood bent on revenge against the Catholic Church. Langdon joins forces with a beautiful Italian scientist and together they begin an adventure down the 400-year-old Path of Illumination in a quest to save the Vatican.

“Angels and Demons” also stars Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgard and Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer. Ron Howard directed.

Sony pictures is releasing the movie on Friday, May 15, and Blast attended a special screening Wednesday and will have a review shortly from John Guilfoil.

Do you really believe?

This seems to be the central question presented throughout Brian Flemming’s independent documentary, “The God Who Wasn’t There.”

Probing through the annals of Bible history, Flemming sets out to basically disprove–or at least argue against–the validity and existence of Jesus Christ.

The film—released by Beyond Belief Media—is an entertaining and thought-provoking watch, but it’s nothing that would sweep away the awards at Cannes.

Throughout the course of the film, Fleming consistently offers up credible and believable information that directly refutes the existence of Jesus, especially as a God among men. The strong point of this film is every documentarian’s dream: much of the evidence is cold hard fact.

Fleming points out instances of time lapses within the storyline of the Bible, leaving the narrative of Jesus totally susceptible to alteration or misinterpretation through time. He also draws attention to the fact that not many people actually know the full story of Jesus.

Herein lies the best part of the film: it’s unbelievably entertaining for yours truly to watch "devout" Christians explain the idea of Jesus Christ with complete vagueness and na¯vet©. All cynicism aside, it’s pretty mind boggling to think about the fact that even those who actually believe in him, don’t really know who he was.

In addition to the "regular Joe" testimonies he gets from various passersby, Flemming includes some substantial, educated talking heads; they’re all thoughtful, interesting scholars and they present valid arguments as to how Christianity and the story of Jesus may have been misinterpreted or lost in translation throughout time.

To bolster the entertainment value, Flemming employs clips from several well-known, bygone religion-themed movies, dating all the way back to the days of silent film. In its entirety, the film seems to shoot for a light-hearted mood, even though it’s basically challenging the foundation facts of one of the world’s oldest and most widely practiced monotheistic religions. Flemming’s little bits of humor can be detected through subtle ironies in the narration or, as mentioned before, in the painfully embarrassing testimonies of "believers."

Overall, this doc’s a pretty stimulating watch; you’ll enjoy it if you’re either a staunch agnostic, or just a simple doubting Thomas (no pun intended).