The Introverted Detective

This topic is a real mind-blower. Do horror and Christianity get along? Do horror movies illuminate fears and help us face them, or do they give Satan a foothold and open up doors better left unopened? Vincent Price If you want a clear answer of yes or no you came to the wrong place. I deep-dived into research on this and found so many opinions. I'm dividing this into for and against, or rather, should you or should you not. There is no consensus on whether they benefit or harm you in the psychology department.  First of all, my advice to anyone who can't handle dark content is to not hit play. Simple. If you can, okay, but if you can't handle much horror at all leave the room or don't watch it. There is no shame in that. I can't handle some dark of content, so you are not alone if you can't hit play because you won't sleep. The Positives You may be saying "what positives?", but keep on reading. While there is bad influence, there is also potential...

Crime, Christianity, and suspense, Oh my! Will Christianity and crime novels work together? Let's dive into that. Christian books are somewhat restricted under the guidelines of the genre itself. Cussing is out the window if you are under this umbrella. Some readers love it, others avoid it, but it still exists. Crime and suspense are a tough tightrope walk for some authors and writers. Others are not afraid to scare reality into their readers by showing them the dark forces at their worst, then piercing it with light. The contrast is rather perfect, actually, and wonderfully effective. Some go fluffy and cozy. Some get intense. It depends on your author and their publisher. With brick-and-morter Christian book stores closing, they now have to compete with nonchristian books.  An introduction to crime and suspense is in order here. We have books that are formulaic- ending with an episode of Scooby Doo-like relief every novel, and others that end with your jaw on the floor and your ...

The Christian genre is a somewhat cursed genre - even amongst Christian circles - due to it's predictable, unrealistic nature. Hallmark channel uses this genre often because it is not upsetting and goes under the category of "easy watching" or "feel good" films. You don't see cussing, intensity, or shocking images in it. Let's dive into why it is a somewhat cursed genre.  First of all, I will defend some authors and films in the Christian genre. Ted Dekker is a thriller and suspense writer that reaches intensity levels that keep you on the edge of your seat. He is making good points on Christianity while avoiding Hallmark levels of unrealistic. The films by Sherwood pictures are also realistic and aren't cheesy. That being said, Christian genre fiction and nonfiction can be a bit cheesy, ignorant of reality outside the Christian bubble, or be a self-help book in disguise. Not all authors and directors go under this genre, including C.S. Lewis and J.R...

Playboy bunnies, a subject you would never expect from me. Except that I started watching Drunk History and I was inspired by one that showcased Gloria Stienem doing an expose on 1960s Playboy clubs. What was it like to be a bunny for Hugh Hefner? Let's dive into that.  The late Hugh Hefner and his wife Crystal Harris Hefner Gloria Steinem wrote on the less-glamorous aspects of the Playboy club, such as sore feet, pay lower than promised, and crude comments from customers. According to Drunk History, the club members could date the bunnies if they held a membership key, though I can't find any reference to this anywhere else. I'm not saying that Drunk History has any reason to lie, but I can't find it in writing. I seriously doubt they'd advertise something so close to prostitution in their "Bunny Manual" if it happened. A little bit of history on the Playboy Club is in order. Only 21 percent of members even came in the door, mostly because they only neede...

The old west has been used by Hollywood to show a wild time when gunfights were common and outlaws were rampant. From 1803 to 1890 is considered "the west". Let's dive into that and see what it really was.  To be fair to Hollywood and various others in the film industry, there were gunfights. That wasn't a lie. What is a lie is that the gunfight at OK Corral happened at OK Corral with rifles. Truthfully, it happened with handguns, beside a photography studio, and lasted 30 seconds. They were all six feet from each other or closer.  Westerns portraying the 1900s and violent times are significantly less accurate, too. The west was cleaned up far more by that time. It is around the first settlements that it was the roughest. Imagine single men with guns bought from the gold rush cash they acquired, all of them scarred from the Civil War and dealing with Native Americans defending their homes. Add the raiding parties and bandits, then we have a violent time. Most traveled...

Men are visual. A phrase that most women have heard every time they wear short shorts at summer church camp. That phrase is not entirely understood unless you look at the situation from a man's point of view. Shall we dive in? Based on the research I found, it is irrefutable and I have no doubts. Men are far more visually stimulated than women. Unfortunately, it is a fact used (sometimes) to make dress code violations one-sided. Men can control their actions. They are not animals. However, we should be as kind as possible to them in what we wear (and I'm not just saying this to be restrictive). To be entirely fair to men here, they can't just turn it off. There may not be much we can do, truthfully, to help when the advertising world is making it hard to avoid. There was an experiment proving this done at Emery University Health Sciences Center. The men processed visual stimulation differently than women and you can read about the whole study by clicking my first source lin...

False news! Misinformation! Controversy and shock! Let's talk about how reliable your news is. Did you ever wonder how much power your local news station held over you? You'd be surprised how much it dictates your thoughts.    Now, your news may not tell you what to think, but it is biased. No human is entirely without bias. I blog and I can tell you that bias is everywhere. Including here. And, to boot, your news tells you what is important and should be discussed. During the coverage of George Floyd you may remember Covid 19 going into the background real quick, and that was because the news stopped covering Covid 19 when a less-stale lead came up for them to follow.  Is this anything new? No, they've been doing this for years. Sensationalism? Yellow journalism? It is still out there. Look at war newspapers and tell me what you see. One can quickly come to the conclusion that there is nothing new under the sun. The media still tells us what to focus on and converse abou...