PicoBlog

A fashion newsletter about clothes and style, with a particular emphasis on how to get dressed — that is, how to wear and have fun with the clothes you have to accommodate the style you like. Or maybe it’s not always the clothes you have — this newsletter also breaks down what is worth buying and why. Twice a week. On Tuesdays, I publish a public post, which is usually wrapped up in the how of getting dressed: what to wear (outfit ideas), when to wear it (occasion-specific), and why you like it — with references to what is happening within fashion culture to anchor some of the trends we often find ourselves gravitating towards.

Disco Elysium is a hard game to recommend to people. It is one of the best RPGs ever made with a complex story that touches on complex themes and political commentary without coming off as pretentious. It is one of the few RPGs that lets the player actually roleplay. But when you actually describe what the game is and how you play it comes off as a depressing game about a sad drunk with a pseudo-intellectual writing style and no real gameplay.

If you know me, you know I love maps. No matter where I travel, I love to see the area from the top down, to understand where I am and where I am going. So that’s why we’re building the ultimate Chef’s List map of everywhere we talk about…my suggestions, plus my friends’ suggestions, plus YOUR suggestions. I’ll be adding mine as we go, and my team will look through all of yours—in the comments, in our threads, or emailed to us at chefslist@joseandres.

Season 3, Episode 1 — ‘Homecoming’ Matthew 5-7; Luke 8 Synopsis. In A.D. 24, Matthew becomes his parents’ tax collector, and is immediately rejected by his father. Two years later, Matthew attends the Sermon on the Mount, and is moved by Jesus’ teachings about reconciliation. After the Sermon, Judas meets Jesus and joins the movement. A woman named Joanna, whose husband works in Herod’s court, comes with a financial offering for the ministry and a message from John the Baptist.

Season 2, Episode 8 — ‘Beyond Mountains’ Matthew 5-7 Synopsis. Little James, Thaddaeus, and Nathanael are walking around Galilee, looking for a place where Jesus can deliver his Sermon on the Mount. They find a spot they like, but the local landowner is reluctant to let them draw a crowd there. As they all talk about it in the pub, a couple of businessmen with an interest in real estate overhear the conversation and propose a deal that works for everyone.

Season 2, Episode 3 — ‘Matthew 4:24’ Matthew 4:24 Synopsis. A long line of people are waiting to be healed by Jesus in a field in Syria. The disciples take turns doing crowd control, and the off-duty disciples sit by the fire and talk about their hopes, their childhoods, and how to interpret different prophecies. Jesus’ mother Mary arrives and joins the disciples, and she shares some memories of the night that Jesus was born.

Like many Jesus movies, particularly those that harmonize the four gospels, The Chosen takes bits and pieces from the New Testament and rearranges them to tell its own story. It is also full of references to the past and future, as characters quote the Old Testament while doing things that foreshadow the later parts of the New Testament. (Two episodes even have scenes set during the time of Acts!) In my analysis of the first two seasons of The Chosen, I have pointed out all the scripture references that I could detect, noting which passages the episodes dramatized and which passages were referenced and foreshadowed.

From the better-late-than-never pile, a few brief thoughts about The Chosen Season 4: Episodes 1-3, which ended its theatrical run last week. No detailed analysis or formal review, as such, yet; just various points that occurred to me. I hope to say more about these episodes in the future, after I’ve had a chance to revisit them. Fair warning: I will get into spoilers here, but I’ll comment on different aspects of the episodes more-or-less in chronological order.

The podcast Psychology & The Cross started as a research project to get a better understanding of C.G Jung’s relationship to Christianity. In my own training to become a Jungian Analyst in Zurich, questions related to Christianity were often a part of the discussion. I felt at times though, that our outlook on Christianity was biased, viewing it merely as an object of study from the interpretative lens of Analytical Psychology, its theory, and concepts.