Bulletin Board of the Brain

Kj’s Corner: Mythopoeia, Monsters and Jesus Oh My!

For my second Kj’s Corner in “Theology & the Artistic Impulse” I explored the concept of Mythopoeia as described primarily by George MacDonald, JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis. For part of the lecture, (screenshots below) I also used a scene from the documentary Monster Camp (see the trailer below) and the preview for the [...]

Posted in Books, Film, History, Lists, Mars Hill Graduate School, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, Quotes, Seattle, The Universe, intertextuality, theology | No Comments »

And That Makes 108

I just turned in my final paper of graduate school. I took fewer classes this spring and summer. The “extra” time went to finishing my integrative project (#1 on the list) and being a research assistant for “Theology & the Artistic Impulse.”

Also, I did some research that spanned more than one class, hence two papers [...]

Posted in Books, History, Lists, Mars Hill Graduate School, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, Seattle, intertextuality, theology | No Comments »

Kj’s Corner: Real Presences & Adaptation

This summer I had the opportunity to serve as research assistant to Dr. Chelle Stearns for her course on “Theology & the Artistic Impulse.” This meant I got to give two lectures on the class material. (At MHGS we don’t use student TA’s due to dual relationship concerns- so research assistant is a kind of [...]

Posted in Art, Books, Cultural Shifts, Film, Lists, Mars Hill Graduate School, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, Quotes, Seattle, intertextuality, theology | 6 Comments »

Do You Remember?: Exile, Identity and Prince Caspian

For the C.S. Lewis class, four of us did a presentation on Prince Caspian. We focused on the novel’s theme of exile and return, viewed through the lens of Isaiah. Since I first read the book in 1999, I’ve been haunted by the image of the Penvensie children wandering around the ruins of [...]

Posted in Books, History, Mars Hill Graduate School, Quotes, Seattle, intertextuality, theology | 4 Comments »

I Like Getting Paid in Gift Cards

Because then I “have” to buy stuff.

I did a few jobs for school that resulted in some Amazon.com money. Can’t wait till these folks show up at my door!

We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rules, Partners, Rivals
By Gillian Gill

The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination
By Sandra M Gilbert & [...]

Posted in Books, Film, History, Lists, Mars Hill Graduate School, Psychology/Being Human, Television, intertextuality, theatre, theology | No Comments »

Of Mice and Meals

Redwall by Brian Jacques
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Continuing in my process of reading books for young people that I neither read nor heard of as a young person, I’ve started the Redwall series. Actually, my friend Tucker holds Mossflower as one of the most influential books in his life, and I want [...]

Posted in Books, Cultural Shifts, History, Quotes | 4 Comments »

Today

I’m giving my 8 minute intro/overview of my Twilight paper at MHGS.

Quite a few people have asked to read the paper. I’m happy to email a copy to anyone who’s interested. Just let me know where to send it.

Cheers, Kj

Posted in Books, Mars Hill Graduate School, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, Quotes, Seattle, intertextuality, theology | 7 Comments »

2010 Pop Culture Conference Rundown

4 days, hundreds of professors, PhD/Grad/Undergraduate students and very short food breaks = the Southwest/Texas Popular and American Culture Association’s annual conference.

Ian Klein joined me in Albuquerque for another year of frying our brains with academic discourse on popular culture. We heard about 50 papers and drank a lot of smoothies. It was indescribably delightful.
Here’s [...]

Posted in Books, Cultural Shifts, Film, History, Lists, Mars Hill Graduate School, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, Quotes, The Universe, intertextuality, theology | 3 Comments »

Talking Twilight, or am I…?

Powerpoint sneak peaks from my presentation for this year’s Southwest/Texas American & Pop Culture Association’s conference. Best week ever kicking off next Tuesday!

Oh the power of correlation

Posted in Books, Lists, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, Quotes, intertextuality, theology | No Comments »

Adolescent Heroines and the Unexpected Epiphanies They Bring

Last Friday, six pages into Suzanne Collins Hunger Games, I had a revelation: I spent my entire adolescence reading about adults. I didn’t read The Chronicles of Narnia until my junior year of college. I read Little Women soon after. Madeline L’Engle’s Time Quartet was a college graduation gift I gave myself. A week [...]

Posted in Books, Bravery, History, Pop Culture, Psychology/Being Human, intertextuality | 3 Comments »