Bill Bodden's Blog - Posts Tagged "hope"

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This question came from Facebook friend Shawn Leisure, during one of my "give me ideas to blog about" pleas over there.

"Will there be gaming after the apocalypse?"

Short answer: of course there will be gaming after the apocalypse.

Gaming in its simplest form is escape: escape from problems, from bullies, even from your own loved ones. Escapism provides a safety valve, allowing us to blow off steam in a fun, productive way. After an apocalypse, people will need an escape more than ever. No doubt the search for food and other necessities will be paramount, but some kind of escape -- storytelling, daydreaming, telling jokes...

To view the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/01/30/will...

I've been thinking about zoos a lot lately. What started it all was a whiff of nostalgia: one of my all-time favorite commercials EVER, created by and for the Detroit Zoo circa 1982, showed up on YouTube. It was later modified to be a general-purpose zoo commercial run on national television in the US, frequently during Saturday morning cartoons. You can watch the original Detroit Zoo commercial on YouTube HERE .

It reminded me of...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/07/10/this...

I've been thinking lately about encouragement, and how seldom we as a culture are willing to give encouragement to others. I suspect much of that ties into toxic masculinity: the idea that people without sufficient skills or confidence to succeed deserve...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/10/29/an-u...

For the last two years, I've been using Facebook to spread a little bit of joy. Facebook, for it's MANY faults, does have a few useful features: one that I've found particularly handy is the birthday feature. A line-item on the right side of the page...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2017/11/10/a-si...

I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately, and what it means to me. I've had people declare that we are friends after we've just met, and that strikes me as odd; to me, a little bit more needs to go into the relationship to truly declare someone your friend.

Growing up, there were only a few kids in my neighborhood...

To read the rest of this post, please visit http://billbodden.com/2018/03/12/the-...

As if the title weren't obvious enough, this post contains harsh language and depressing themes. Be warned.

*****

It occurs to me that, more and more, Americans (and possibly the world) revel in being complete jerks to other people. Cries of "He speaks his mind." or "She tells it like it is!" seem to be code for "He/she enjoys belittling people for his/her own amusement."

Everybody is a jerk once in a while. I've been a jerk plenty of times, but it takes a special kind of asshole to be proud of treating people poorly. We're seeing it all too often today, and it's...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/05/14/assh...

IN a shocking development, there's a debate raging on the Internet -- I know, right? Anyway, a group of self-entitled fanboys are trying to raise money to REMAKE The Last Jedi. The Star Wars movie that JUST CAME OUT a couple of months ago. Disney apparently did it wrong, according to these folks.

The first thing that went through my head when I head this plan was: "Disney's lawyers will have plenty of work to keep them busy, I guess." The second thing was: what a colossal waste of time, money, and effort. Go out and create your own myths and legends if you don't like the ones being handed to you. The fact that folks feel the desperate need to protest something made for entertainment -- not for political or socio-economic reasons, but because it wasn't what they wanted -- makes me wonder...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/06/22/decl...

While we prepare and ponder adopting some new furry friends of our own, we visited one of our favorite sanctuaries over the weekend.
Valley of the Kings is a non-profit big-cat rescue located in southeastern Wisconsin, near the towns of Darien and Sharon, close to the Illinois border and only a short drive from Delevan and Lake Geneva. Valley of the Kings rescues big cats that were seized or surrendered by people who...

To read the rest of this post, please visit: http://billbodden.com/2018/06/25/a-ho...