“The Noble Hero Complex” Discussion Highlights: How You Play

Many thanks to everyone who read and commented on my Freshly Pressed post “You Are What You Play… Or Are You? – Experimenting With Morality In Video Games.” You all shared a lot of honest and interesting perspectives on morality in games and the “Noble Hero Complex,” and I greatly enjoyed hearing from so many thoughtful […]

The Racist Reset Program

Originally posted July 2013: There has been lots of shameful news lately which makes it very clear that even in our multicultural, globalized and information-inundated world, racism is alive and kicking. So far, we have not been able to find a lasting solution… What if we could push the “reset” button on people’s perceptions?

You Are What You Play… Or Are You? – Experimenting With Morality In Video Games

The lock clicks open and the door opens softly. I withdraw my lock pick and slide inside undetected, one with the shadows. He’s in here somewhere. It’s past midnight and he should be sleeping. There are no voices, no movements save my own muffled footsteps. I remind myself not to get distracted by the chest […]

If You Were Stranded On a Deserted Island With Only Five Blogs…

…which ones would you choose? When I launched Breaking Moulds a few weeks ago, I started using a new wordpress profile, which meant my “Reader” was reset to a clean slate. Even though I could go back to my other profile and check up on the blogs I follow there, there were a few I […]

Blog Love Postcard Promo

For today’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge I am meant to email a blog reader. Apparently some people enjoy receiving emails; this is news to me. My email inbox is the modern equivalent of my childhood closet – stuffed to bursting with unorganized junk I don’t need but can’t bring myself to […]

A Game of Thrones Primer for Canadian Politics

Who holds the power north of the border? Which up-and-coming Canadian politician would win in a fight to the death? Who heralds the coming of winter, and who ignores the cries to our peril? Politics is one of the topics I plan to occasionally tackle here, and I’ve noticed many of my readers so far […]

Blogging Boot Camp: The Elevator Pitch

The only people I ever talk to in elevators are friends and babies. Certainly not strangers, especially in Japan. But I’ve been challenged to think about how I would describe this blog to an inquiring-but-not-necessarily-caring stranger, in the time it takes to ride an elevator, were such a socially-inappropriate elevator conversation to occur. Why? Well, […]

The Gospel of… Hate?

When is the church going to figure out that when it broadcasts messages of hate, nobody wins? Not God, not Christians, and certainly not anyone else. For some reason, though, every time a morally-charged news story breaks, I find myself bracing for the hate-filled response from some embarrassing corner of Christianity. When the DOMA story […]

Why I’m Not Supposed To Like Video Games

There is no shortage of people in this world with opinions about what you should be, or do, or like, or believe. Or, almost more prevalent, what you shouldn’t. They may not always say it explicitly, but it’s pretty easy to get the hint. I, for example, shouldn’t like video games. Why not? Well, because […]

A Year of Biblical Womanhood – Book Review and Banning Controversy

Nothing makes me want to read a book like a little controversy. Even better if the controversy involves fundamentalist religious types who DON’T want something to be read. So when I heard an interview with author Rachel Held Evans, whose new book A Year of Biblical Womanhood had actually been refused by a number of […]