[review] Ghost in the Shell (2017)

Ghost in the Shell (2017) surprised me. It isn't perfect, but it ended up being way better than I thought it would be. A lot of "hard-core" GitS fans were disappointed apparently, but, considering the quality of other film adaptations of anime, they were being unduly harsh. The Plot One of the major complaints about…

“The ancient Jews always blamed themselves when things fell apart. They acted as if God’s goodness – the goodness of reality – was axiomatic, and took responsibility for their own failure. That’s insanely responsible. But the alternative is to judge reality as insufficient, to criticize Being itself, and to sink into resentment and the desire for revenge.”

-12 Rules For Life, Dr. Jordan Peterson, 157.

[posting][opinion] Ceding INTJ Control: Part One

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. -Proverbs 3: 5-6 When it comes to being a Type 5w6 INTJ, I'm a pretty happy camper. However, there are some times when I frustrate myself or catch…

[posting] Theologizing Landscapes: the Rural and the Urban

For the past eight and a half years of my life, I have been living abroad in an Asian city of about nine million people. Upon returning home, I did not experience the usual reverse culture shock, except in regards to the breadth of the Canadian sky. There is something about the Ottawa summer sky…

“Our desiring model – our romantic theology – has emphasized that we are creatures who love first and foremost. The most basic way that we intend the world is on the affective order of love. This love constitutes our fundamental and governing orientation to the world. As such, our love is always ultimately aimed at a telos, a picture of the good life that pulls us toward it, thus shaping our actions and behavior. This orientation is something that comes before thinking; thus we’ve described it as precognitive. It is more at work at the level of the adaptive unconsciousness or the “social imaginary”. Our love is aimed from the fulcrum of our desire – the habits that constitute our character, or core identity. And the way our love or desire gets aimed in specific directions is through practices that shape, mold, and direct our love.”

-James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, 80.

[opinion] The INTJ Internal Debate

On the outside, I look quite calm. My face may even be described stony... You might as me, "Hey, how are you doing?", and I'd probably answer with the standard, "OK". But I'm not OK. I just don't know how NOT OK I am. It's not always easy for people like me to understand on…

[literary] The Uncanny Landscape

The Uncanny Landscape In what ways do our environments reflect and link to ourselves and our health – and vice versa? In what ways is selfhood mirrored and submerged within our various internal and external landscapes? Stemming from revelations, how does the uncanny operate as a space for questioning and negotiation? Before answering these questions,…

Maturity

A discussion on maturity with one of my reviewers. The initial question on maturity was: Q: On Byleistr, is he older than Loki? If so, he acts less mature, and I'm wondering if the way Jotuns normally mature is different from Asgard? or was it because Loki had to deal with so much that he…