Author: Ben

I have challenged myself to write 1 small essay relating to our weekly discussion on Words About Books. I probably should have waited until Nate’s Nightmare November ended before starting this challenge, but in my infinite naivety, I didn’t think it would be a problem. No one told me we would be doing 3 episodes on Hulk Hogan and 2...

For those who may not know, there is a subgenre of manga that is often referred to as “Shonen Battler.” Typical examples of this genre are: (my beloved) Dragonball Z, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, etc. There is usually a hero who is tasked with defeating a Big Bad Evil Guy. The hero starts out at...

Believe it or not, most of us have been engaging in ontological debates since we were children. Ontology is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of being. Basically, ontologically looks to find out what exists, what is real, is it all one big thing or is it a bunch of discrete things. When your least favorite friend develops...

This week on the podcast Nathaniel committed a betrayal second only to that of Judas Iscariot by tricking me into another 2-hour discussion of Hulk Hogan’s life. As part of my committment to writing a pseudo-intellectual literary essay on each of our episodes, I am now forced to come up with something more to say about the Philosophy of Hulk...

In his “Apology,” Plato tells us that Socrates said, “The life which is unexamined is not worth living.” This quote is often taken out of context to mean that we should always be examining ourselves, and the world, in pursuit of wisdom and virtue. In context, Socrates was speaking a little more specifically about his examination of the lives and...

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that I’ve been doing something a little different with my last few posts on the blog. I’ve been focusing more on small essays. It’s a little goal of mine to try to find an interesting…dare I say, intellectual…angle on the things we’ve been reading. The killers, Jeff and Jane, presented a bit of a challenge...

I have a fascination with systems of thought: philosophies, theologies, doctrines, ideologies, beliefs, superstitions, etc. I’m very interested in how people navigate reality and try to make sense of the world around them. This week on the podcast we discussed Silent Invasion The Pennsylvania UFO-Bigfoot Casebook by Stan Gordon. This book chronicles Stan Gordon and a team of like-minded paranormal...

Ordinarily, in these blog posts, I try to explore aspects of a topic that weren’t fully addressed in the corresponding episodes of the podcast. When it comes to these Mass Effect episodes, it’s difficult to imagine any aspect of the story that was not covered, perhaps to death, in the 4 hours we were on mic. There was something that...