Between the Panels

Growing up in the early 2000's (to some of you I am now old... watch out) one of my favourite shows to watch was the Teen Titans ! Five small heroes/sidekicks that formed their own team to fight off bad guys in the DC Comic Universe .  These heroes are Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy (at least in the show, there are more in the comics).  As a teen, I would get amped to rush down stairs in my dad's lazyboy recliner and watch the Teen Titans learn to fight beside eachother to save the world.  All the while having tiffs in their friendship or processing what kind of heroes they wanted to become; you know, regular teen stuff. More recently, this group has gone through significant changes with some members having their own comic series and storylines.  For a time it seemed like the Teen Tians were just a memory.  However, there was a series that came out that was bringing back the old gang under the title of the Titans , along with more dialog in proce...

I am bracing myself for some retaliation after making this comment and I ask for your forgiveness, but I have not watched Dragon Ball .... Don't worry, I expect that there will be torches and pitch forks assembling by my home sometime either today or tomorrow depending how far you are from Belleville. Something that most people are aware of in Dragon Ball is the immense power that their characters have (particularly the main character Goku ).  Within nerd culture, there is a phrase that comes up from time to time "Oh...they're going Super Saiyan !" when someone is going at something really hard, almost without limits.  When people go "Saiyan" or "Super Saiyan" they glow with what looks like fire around them which is actually their spiritual energy .  This became such a popular image within anime that other shows adapted it for their use ( Bleach being one of my favourite examples with Ichigo ). While watching these Super Saiyan moments, it's ...

What kind of lantern are you ? Kind of a weird question to ponder on isn't it. You might respond back with "Well what's the purpose of the lantern? What do you mean by using the word 'lantern'?" These are valid responses/questions to bring up, but I pose this question in processing what Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16 , " You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house . In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." Not going to lie, this makes me think of Kilowag (a Green Lantern member and mentor), teaching Hal Jordan on how to be a GL ( Green Lantern ) and how to use his ring. Hal joined something that he had no idea what he was doing: how do you fight with light? Jesus is doing the same thing.  In other parts of ...

Uncle Iroh is the most boss elderly man in animation.  It's just a fact.  Go ahead and watch any compilation video of Iroh ( Avatar: The Last Airbender ) and you will likely find two main themes: his words of wisdom and him getting buff/prepped to do battle. Honestly, he is one of the top elderly characters in an animated series that can bless you with wisdom and will go shoulder-to-shoulder with you in a fight (next to Jim Gordon , I had to rep BTAS here). A question I pose to you and to our culture in general is, how come it is so rare to see this kind of thing? How come we don't see more sages/elders who don't just drop wisdom bombs, but are ready to step up as warriors as well? 'Cause I would totally follow and listen to an elder like Iroh, who was there for his nephew at his lowest point and took the time to invest in him; showing him true wisdom as well as character that he could strive for. What spurred this on was some of my personal reading time in the book of...

A couple of Sundays ago, I was really challenged by something my pastor was sharing with us in his sermon.  His challenge/statement was that if we are neglecting our time with God in private, everything else we do publicly is just a show . Let that sink in for a moment.  Our tendency is to look for big spiritual hype in large crowds, where there is already a vibe on a group level to have this experience. It can almost at times become a show of comparing who had the deeper connection with God that day (Sundays usually).  However, we don't ask each other "How has been your personal time with God been?" The big reminder in this sermon was that we need to get back to those personal times with God, where we meet with Him without anyone knowing it. It kinda struck me as I was listening that this was like Bleach (shocker, I know, I am connecting a sermon to something nerdy).  Bleach fans love the big battles that Ichigo fights (Mr. Urahara, Captain Zaraki, Byakuya Kuchiki,...

From the very start of my D&D gaming/roleplaying career, Wisdom has always been a very important player statistic for me to invest in my characters.  I could be playing a Barbarian (who is all about Strength and Constitution btw) and I will almost always strive to make his Wisdom on par or better than his main stats. Why does wisdom matter in a game setting like D&D? How do you even use it? Excellent questions, my inquisitive reader or listener of our podcast 😉. In short, wisdom is about seeing the environment around yourself or other players and knowing how to best address it. Related skills under the wisdom stat are: animal handling, insight, medicine, perception, and survival. This differs from Intelligence which tends to be focused on facts or Charisma that focuses on your contribution to the environment around you. Wisdom is a bit passive, but it's actively looking for things that can help your adventure party in a bind to react well or to process intentions of other...

Back a few years ago I got into fantastic anime series:  The Rising of the Shield Hero .  What made this show amazing and also frustrating was the treatment of the main character Naofumi . I say that it was frustrating because this guy is teleported from his world to a fantasy world, asked to save a kingdom from destruction, but is treated like trash because he is the "weakest" hero of the four noble heroes. Not only that, they frame him for some pretty awful stuff and run him out of the kingdom to fend for himself. Naofumi of course doesn't like how he is treated and at first is very vocal about it, but over time he resigns himself to just push through it and live with integrity. This guy legitimately looks to help the kingdom and serve the common folk, he is the best hero amongst them. Over time you find out that Naofumi was actually being oppressed in more nefarious ways by certain members of the monarchy, yet he still stands/fights for them and the country.  You reall...