The Perfect Villain(or at least mine anyway)

Mitchell

The Epic Hero's Journey

9/30/13

Imagine a tall man, about 6' 2", but weighing no more than 120 pounds at most. He is thin enough so that you can see almost every bone in his body, but can lift a Smart Car with a bit of effort. His eyes are sunken deep within his skull, sullen by sleepless purple bags as a result of heavy drug use and very little sleep, looking even deeper by clearly visible cheek bones. His teeth are broken and yellow, and as he smiles his brownish gums overwhelm his smile. One eye is the same color as his teeth, the other is purple. He sports a very worn denim jacket and raggedy tanktop, both covered in stains of hues ranging from black to brown to a mottled crimson. His denim pants are destroyed, showing scraped, stained knees. His shoes are battered and falling apart, but he cares naught. He saunters about, hands in his pockets, holding who knows what, but only he knows of his nastiest secret, for all others who find out last little longer before finding out.

As a result of an accidental heroin substitute/toxic waste injection, he has the ability to collapse his skeletal structure and remake it into a new shape, with rapidly healing and accomidating skin and flesh to match, meaning he can weaponize his bones by breaking them, forcing them through his skin, and taking a new form to accommodate for the new appendage.

In his pre-powered stage of life, he woukd pay prostitutes and strippers in whatever drugs he couls scrounge up, but they would tend not to "suit his needs" simply because he was so heinous. Unfortunately for them, they are no longer safe, and will be repaying what they should have long ago, whether they like it or not. This tension has led him to have virtually no sexual preferences, and tends to get brutally intimate with his prisoners, often leading to death. When he isn't raping them, he cripples them in hot pursuit, and takes great joy in viewing them limp to a false sense of safety before eating them alive.

The only person able to kill him is the guy who hooks him up with his fixes, working at a nuclear reactor, and all done so by chance. Eventually, our villian will be lead into charging in blind rage at the hero whilst transformed, who will deftly bludgeon the abomination in the eye with a lead pipe and kick him into a vat of waste, degrading him faster than he can regenerate and ultimately destroying him for good.

Society's-and my own-fears he represents are torture, serial killers, rape, serious drug abuse, and the uncanny valley complex. [On uncanny valley; he is *almost* human, but the transforming while still resembling a human just totally sets him off and freaks you the hell out.]

A sketch is in the works. 

No, I do not have any serious issues to speak of.

Joseph Campbell Response

Mitchell

The Epic Hero's Journey

9/25/13

              The Father of Philosophy

Today in class we watched "The Hero's Adventure" with Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. What an experience! Campbell is absolutely fantastic in every way, shape, and form. Not only does he know everything on the topic down to a tee, but he seems as if he has made all of these journeys himself. He speaks of them and about them like a being from the beyond, one who finds these great quests to find ourselves as petty as a stroll across the street, but at the same time, he holds the journeys in incredible respect, and doesn't once poke fun at them. He has deciphered every and all aspects of them flawlessly, and put it simple enough for anyone to understand. The way he speaks and his voice further accentuate how much he knows, and how little we do, but he hints at the beyond and our fate. He knows the truth of our kind, as humans- he knows what will save us and what will destroy us, and also knows that all we can do to help is reach his level of consciousness, which is, unfortunately, nigh impossible. In short, Joseph Campbell is a marvel, no less, and I am more than saddened that we lost him to time.

A Grievous Reminder

I forgot what it was like to get stabbed in the back.

Not good.

Our Heroes

Mitchell
The Epic Hero's Journey
9/23/13

Our Heroes

Who our heroes are can determine what in society we look for; help, idols, and inspiration, to name a few. For example, people who look up to soldiers as heroes perhaps idolize people with courage, strength, and the will to sacrifice for others, whereas people who look up to moms care more for patience and nurture in their idol figures. People who take fictional characters as their heroes- and there are plenty- may use them for any of the qualities above (usually the former).

Sleep- what's really going on?

What goes on in our sleep? When we do, we occasionally, or often, visit worlds beyond naturalistic limitations, which are called dreams. It is claimed that dreams are just mushed together happenings from the real world, but is this entirely true? Why can't we remember all of our dreams/forget them as we wake up, or have so many of them at a time? Could out unconscious minds be hiding the truth from us? 

Not only is it strange to think about, but dangerous to study. Lucid dreaming- the act of controlling one's dream as they sleep- is very dangerous, as one is susceptible to a specific kind of sleep paralysis linked only to lucid dreaming, leaving the dreamer locked in an unconscious state and unable to be awoken by outside forces, sometimes resulting in coma and even death. 

If our minds do this to us when we are on the verge of finding out, who knows what kind of knowledge we will obtain when the secret is finally uncovered.

Peddling Ponders- Perennial Philosophy

Mitchell

The Epic Hero's Journey

9/13/2013

Something about this topic is positively fascinating to me. I find the idea of "the Inner Self" to be incredible, and something we should all put great effort into pursuing. Wouldn't we all like to know the grand Truth, and see what living is like from the ethereal perspective? I most certainly would. To have soul and body linked as one would make you feel as a god in your own world, or the closest we mortal beings can get to/to be one.

I am left with questions however. Is one allowed to disrupt the life of another for survival, or is this to be condoned? Is a single act of harming another make it impossible to ascend? Is this just a passage to the proper death, and do we repeat living until we can find the Truth?

There is only one way to find out.

What Are We?

"What is your purpose here, Arisen? If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away. But then, tell me, child of man....what does it mean to live in truth? To wage war against the passing days? To pray to the unseen for a few breaths more? To raise grand cities from stone, and spawn new life in turn? Mankind has done this, yes, and more. But is the tapestry you weave truly of your own design?"

-Grigori, Dragon's Dogma