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 My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: Thanks for stopping by!  |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies  The Amateur The Bad Guys 2 Caught Stealing Freakier Friday Highest 2 Lowest Jurassic Park: Rebirth K-Pop Demon Hunters Relay The Smurfs MovieI've been seeing a lot more movies in theaters lately, thanks to a new Regal Crown Club Unlimited membership and a friend of mine who got one too, so now we see the late showing of a movie almost every weekend, after the kids are in bed one night. That's how I ended up seeing Caught Stealing, Highest 2 Lowest, Jurassic Park: Rebirth, and Relay, all of which I generally enjoyed for different reasons. Relay was probably my favorite of the bunch, which was a decent thriller starring Riz Ahmed about a corporate whistleblower mediator who gets in over his head, but Highest 2 Lowest (a Spike Lee remake of a Kurosawa film) was really engaging as well. There were also quite a few movies I saw with the kids and, other than The Smurfs Movie, they were all pretty good. The Bad Guys 2 was a great sequel to the first movie (which I really enjoyed), and Freakier Friday was a lot better and more heartfelt than I was expecting. But the real surprise was K-Pop Demon Hunters which was actually really, really good. The songs are incredible, and the movie itself is pretty good with a solid message. My kids are obsessed with it right now and have watched it a dozen times... and honestly, I'm right there with them rewatching it.  Television The Bear (Season 4) Better Caul Saul (Season 1) Countdown (Season 1) — DNF On Call (Season 1) Paradise Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Season 1)I was pretty disappointed in the fourth season of The Bear, which didn't really work toward anything. The entire season was presumably about the restaurant trying to get a Michelin star... but then they spent the entire season on "character development" episodes and by the end of the season, there was no mention (let alone resolution) to the restaurant storyline. It felt kind of like they were just stalling for time and telling everyone "come back next season and maybe we'll move the story forward!" Countdown and On Call were a pretty generic action/thriller and procedural, respectively, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was a solid series from my employer that I finally got around to watching the finished episodes of, and I finally started watching Better Call Saul, which was really entertaining and well done. My favorite show of the month, though, was Paradise, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery from Dan Fogelman that was really well acted and well produced. TOP PICK: K-Pop Demon Hunters |
 Day 3936: “Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.” — Cormac McCarthy. What do your scars say about your past? As I get older, the more scars I develop. Not just physical ones on an aging body that has seen it's share of nicks, scratches, surgical incisions, etc., but also emotional scars that come from loving and losing people, life throwing you curve balls, etc. There was a time when I used to lament the scars I'd built up. Having dental cavities that needed to be filled, or an imperfection on my side where my appendix was taken out; these are the kinds of things that society often teaches us that we have to be self-conscious about. Imperfections that should be covered up, or concealed, or at least never spoken about as we pretend they don't exist. But like the scene in Lethal Weapon 3 where Martin Riggs and Lorna Cole are exchanging battle scar stories, scars tell a story of where we've been. The same is true of emotional scars. That said, I don't know that I fully agree with the McCarthy quote that they "remind us that our past is real." I don't think I've ever had an issue accepting the reality of the scars I've carried; I've just previously had an issue with thinking of them in a positive light.  Prompt: What are your thoughts about forgiveness of sin? Are there any unforgivable sins? According to the Bible, if I'm not mistaken, the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit ("Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” —Mark 3:28-29). That said, forgiveness of sin is not a question I ultimately spend a lot of time thinking about because it's not ultimately up to me to make that decision. Christian theology posits that we're all sinners and we're saved by grace, and since the grace we need is not mine but God's, there's not a lot I can do in terms of the forgiveness of sins (except for those sins against me, which I believe we're called to be merciful about). That said, I would imagine God is more concerned about the state of our hearts rather than the specific deeds we've done during our time on Earth. If someone commits a murder and is genuinely repentant and dedicated to changing their life for the better in the aftermath, I have a hard time believing that a kind and graceful God would tell someone that they're denied entry to Heaven because of something they did (and learned from) earlier in their life. By the same token, if someone maintains an appearance of piety on the outside but has hate in their heart for any of God's creations (especially their fellow man), I have a hard time believing that a just and fair god would tell someone that they get a pass into Heaven because they went to church every Sunday and put on a good show. At the end of the day, other people's salvation is not ours to determine, so it shouldn't be of concern to us. What we should each be concerned with is the forgiveness of our sins, and forgiving others who have sinned against us. And since I can't seems to find any sins against other people that are unforgivable as per the Bible, I think that means we're tasked with finding a way to forgive anything another person can or has done to us, no matter how difficult or painful it may be, or how reluctant we may be to let go of our grudges and resentments. |
Day 3934: On this day in 1998 The American search engine company Google Inc. was formally established as founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page filed incorporation papers. Do you feel Google is a reliable search engine? Did you know Google discriminates against some content, and in favor of other content, and maintains guides and tools that favor some websites in search results ranking? Is Google a reliable search engine? Sure. If you go searching for something, chances are very low that you'll get something just completely unrelated to the topic you're searching for. But is it a good search engine? I'd argue it's become a victim of its own success and the quality has been deteriorating for some time as a result. Case in point, yes, I'm aware that Google has been the subject of (and has lost) numerous lawsuits about their unfair business practices of deprioritizing some content (i.e., the content that doesn't pay to advertise our use their web tools) and favoring others (i.e., the content that does pay to play). I'm also aware that the quality of search results has degraded significantly in the past couple of years, thanks to two specific choices that Google has made. First, it's expanded the presence of its advertising, to the point where it's difficult to even tell which results are organic anymore. When you search for something on Google, the first four to six results are sponsored links. Plus there are the "Find related products & services" links. And the integrated local businesses on Google Maps that have paid to be associated with that keyword. Maybe, maybe half the content on the search results page is organic. I wouldn't be surprised if the actual number were much lower. Second, the integration of AI has been a real disappointment. Now, whenever you search for something, at the very top of the page is an "AI Overview" which attempts to predict what information you need and summarize it for you. And while I'll admit that the feature is handy in some cases, the AI is still wildly inaccurate at times. Some of the search results that Google's AI Overview feature has returned include: Advising people to include their name and birthdate for passwords to make them memorable. Recommending boiled mint leaves and a high-fiber diet to treat appendicitis. Reporting that gasoline can be used in cooking, the only caveat being that it's flammable. Adding non-toxic glue to pizza sauce to help the cheese layer not slide off the pizza. Chewing tobacco and smoking cigarettes can improve performance in sports. When asked which U.S. Presidents attended the University of Wisconsin, it listed several presidents who never attended the school, and in some cases cited graduation dates that occurred after their deaths.And, look, I understand that AI is an emerging technology and is bound to have some kinks that need to be worked out. But putting those kinds of results right at the top of the Google search results is creating a dangerous precedent where you're bound to have people just look at those topline results and assume they don't need to read any further. And while I don't necessarily worry about Darwin Award eligible people who are dumb enough to take AI's advice to treat appendicitis with a bran muffin or mix some Elmer's in with their tomato sauce for "added texture," I do worry that some of the more subtle errors will start to pervade the general consciousness (and in some cases already have). AI doesn't do a great job of making weighted value determinations. It scrapes data from the internet and presents it all equally. So when you get some of these wonky results, a lot of times it's because it'll take multiple conflicting sources and present them as equally valuable, saying things like, "Some believe that Barack Obama was America's first Muslim president while others believe that there have been no Muslim presidents," when there is overwhelming evidence and reliable third party sources that confirm Obama is Christian, but one nutty conspiracy theory website claims that he's Muslim. I think Google is a remarkable company that has developed some incredible products and technologies. Unfortunately, I think the quality of their search results is quickly becoming an afterthought as they continue to pursue new ventures.  Day 2663: What is your idea of a cozy home? Write about this in your Blog entry today. For me, a cozy home is one where everything has a place, there's plenty of room to spread out and give people privacy, and there's a clear sense of personality to the home without going overboard on decor or furnishings. I spent a lot of time looking at houses online. As a fan of architecture and someone who just finds interior design interesting, I like to see what types and styles of homes are out there. Some of the features that I would want in my cozy home include: Work and entertaining spaces that are separate from the sleeping spaces. I've been and lived in too many homes where it's a pain to do anything after the kids' bedtime because their rooms are directly above the dining room where you're having a dinner party, or where the living room is sharing a wall with a bedroom so you can't play the TV too loud after someone goes to sleep. I would love to have one of those houses where there's a basement or detached room for entertaining (or even on the other side of the house from the bedrooms) where you can be loud after hours and not disturb anyone who chooses to go to bed early. Extensive organized storage areas. I refuse to pay for an offsite storage unit, so I need everything I own to fit in my house. And while we certainly do our best to try and keep things pared down to a reasonable amount, I've only ever lived places where every closet is packed full because it's holding the winter coats and the suitcases and the board games and the vacuum cleaner. I'd love to have enough space to have a game closet, a cleaning closet, a storage room in the garage for occasionally-used items like the suitcases, etc. Creative places for personal effects. I get really tired of hanging pictures on flat walls. As someone who likes some personalization but not too much clutter, I'd love a variety of spaces that can be accented with things that make a house feel like a home. Some built-ins, shelves, nooks, etc. where I can put the souvenir I bought on that one vacation, or the treasured gift I got that one year at work. Plenty of parking. Granted, I live in a very urban area, but I've lived sooo many places where parking is impossible to find. The kind where you can't invite anyone over after 5pm because they'll spent an hour hunting for a parking spot and end up parking six blocks away, or where you can't park a car outside, or have to move it for street sweeping. My dream would be either ample street parking, or a long driveway that can accommodate several cars so that when we host, people can park right at the place they're supposed to be. Natural light and a view. Last but certainly not least, a big part of a "cozy" vibe for me includes natural light and some kind of a view to enjoy from inside the house. Living in a city, I've had my fill of tiny windows on one side of the residence only which mean you have to have your lights on all the time. And of windows that look out on an exterior wall of another building, or worse, into someone else's apartment. I'd love a little bit of space, and to work some elements of the natural world into the ambience of the home. Prompt: How has WDC affected your Spiritual journey? I don't really know that WdC has had a huge effect on my spiritual journey. I attribute that mostly to my wife, my pastor, and a few key relationships in real (offline) life that have heavily influenced my beliefs. Not that WdC is lacking for groups and activities that do a great job with that; it's just that the reason I'm here on the site has more to do with my interest in writing, being creative, etc. I know some members here see WdC as a "one stop shop" for all their needs and get their socializing, their writing, their faith, their other interests, etc. all poured into in the same convenient place, but I've never really lived my life that way. For me, it's more like WdC is where I go for my writing needs, my church is where I go for my spiritual needs, my weekly game group and my movie-watching friends are who I go to when I just want to be entertained, etc. I'm generally okay with the fact that there isn't a ton of crossover between different areas of my life. Which is not to say there isn't any... my game group, for example, is mostly Christians and we often talk about faith-related topics when we're chatting before and after the games... but that just kind of highlights why WdC isn't really necessary for the spiritual journey that I'm on. That said, I do really enjoy the spiritual and religious community on this site, as it's a chance to get to know people all over the world with both similar and radically different faith traditions. While not strictly connected with my own spiritual journey, I do enjoy the sense of community that comes from sharing and learning from others. |
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