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About This Author
I am SoCalScribe. This is my InkSpot.
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Blogocentric Formulations
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
Thanks for stopping by! 
November 30, 2025 at 9:41pm November 30, 2025 at 9:41pm
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Day 2731: “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” - James M. Barrie. Happy December! What does "roses in December" bring to your mind?
I think "roses in December" is a metaphor for anything pleasant in times of difficulty. December is often associated with inclement weather where not a lot grows (well, at least so I'm told... I live on Southern California where "winter" just means the months of the year that are less warm than rest  ), and roses are often a symbol of beauty and vitality, so this quote is just a way of saying that memory is what allows us to remember beauty and more abundant times when we're currently struggling.
Prompt for December 1, 2025: What do you believe the Bible says about making plans for your future?
I think the Bible is pretty clear that God's plans for your life are the ones you need to follow, but He also gave us free will and the ability to think and reason, so it's a fair assumption that He's not going to lead you around and give you a great big blinking neon sign telling you everything your future holds (I'd love it if he would do that from time to time! ). A lot of the time, we're left to our own devices, and to decide for ourselves how to handle a particular situation, decision, etc. It's in those moments where it's important to be prayerful and discerning to make sure that your plans don't contradict God's plans, or act in opposition to the instructions he's given us for living life in the Spirit.
Beyond that, I don't think there's anything wrong with making plans for your own future. As long as your plans don't supersede God's plans or put God in the passenger seat of your life.
Day 4017: I am happy I completed this year.
We still have a month to go, but I will be very happy to have completed this year as well. This has been a frustrating year in a lot of ways (both my wife and I have had a lot of drama at our jobs, there are always challenges with raising kids, etc.), and I think we're both going to be happy to have it in the rear view.
There are also a lot of really good memories and lessons learned from this year that we'll carry forward, but I'm definitely more of a "look to the horizon" person than someone who spends a lot of time dwelling on the past, and I don't expect this year to be any different. This is the time of year that I start to think about getting through the next few weeks and what I need to do to "land the plane" well... stuff I want to wrap up and complete and be able to say I've finished by the end of the year. But this is mostly the time of year where I start looking to January and starting the new year and starting it with the best of intentions.
Exercise, eating better, improving my personal relationships, spending more time writing and less wasting time... the clock resets on all of those goals (and more), and I'm excited to see if next year will be the year where substantive process on those fronts can be made.
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November 3, 2025 at 4:32pm November 3, 2025 at 4:32pm
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To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish.
Movies
 Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
The Naked Gun (2025)
The Smashing Machine
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Tron: Ares
Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie was, uh, not a good movie. Then again, I don't think it was meant to be, because it's clearly a kids' movie that had zero intention of being appealing to anyone other than kids. The only saving grace of the film was Kristen Wiig, who has the remarkable ability of being able to fully throw herself into every role she plays, no matter how silly or ridiculous.
This year's remake of The Naked Gun was surprisingly good. Liam Neeson was a genuine surprise in a comedic leading man role and, while I don't think anything will ever top the original which is one of the best spoof movies of all time, it was a worthy successor and updated entry into the franchise.
The Smashing Machine was a bit of a letdown. It felt like the filmmakers really wanted to focus on the life of the guy, when the more interesting story was about how MMA got started. Maybe they couldn't get the rights they needed or something, but it felt like it was a biopic where they chose character over story, and where the story is the more interesting part rather than this specific guy's personal life.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere was great. I actually didn't know a lot about the life of Bruce Springsteen prior to stepping into the theater, and I didn't even know that he struggled with depression or that this movie was specifically about his battle with depression while he recorded Nebraska. The movie felt a little long, but it was a really compelling story.
Tron: Ares was a bit of a letdown, but wasn't surprising. I think the movies in the Tron franchise have always struggled to find an audience, and this was no exception. The visual effects were great, of course, and I actually like the fact that they figured out a narrative reason to get the digital elements into the real world so the entire movie didn't take place entirely within a digital construct, but Jared Leto felt mis-cast and it felt like the movie just kind of assumed you remembered what happened in prior installments even though they were released in 1982 and 2010, and I don't think anybody remembers them.
Television
The Rainmaker (Season 1)
Selling Sunset (Season 9)
I was pleasantly surprised by The Rainmaker. It definitely wasn't perfect (the lead actor seemed to slip in and out of his southern persona, and made some real dumb choices for someone who's supposed to be the best legal mind of his generation), and it was pretty predictable since John Grisham tends to write the same kind of books over and over again. But the supporting cast was excellent, and they did a great job of bringing everything together at the very end.
The ninth season of Selling Sunset was a bit of a letdown. The producers are very clearly trying to manufacture drama at this point, and it seems like the cast is kind of over their blatant shenanigans trying to get everyone on the cast to fight with one another. But all of that is kind of part and parcel of the reality TV genre, so that would have been fine... but they also just ended the season abruptly (not even a cliffhanger for next season) and immediately advertised the "reunion" show as something to tune into next week. And while "reunion" shows (the cast talking about the season after the fact, and fighting all over again) are very popular for reality TV, this was the first time it seems like they built a season around the reunion. It really felt like they said, "Thanks for watching this season... but make sure you tune into the reunion show in a week where the real drama will happen." It was weird to invest in a season of a show that felt like it was relying an an out-of-season interaction to end things.
TOP PICK:
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
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