WAHOO! 

I actually can't believe that I've finally gotten around to creating this website/blog. I've been wanting to make it for a while now and finally downloaded Visual Studio to practice HTML/CSS/JS. Honestly, the progress has been slow since I have too many interests and so little time.

For now, I think my "About Me" does a decent job of introducing myself at a glance. I'm honestly pretty excited and wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow so I could work on my website all night, LOL. Honestly, though ... it feels a bit liberating to have my own section of the internet. The main reason I decided to start a website is because there's no online platform that satisfies me. Not just in terms of content management, but I don't like thinking of engagement or analytics. Not to mention some of the algorithms are pure rage bait. I don't need that kind of stuff in my life.

The main hurdle I see is in keeping up with projects I'm interested in. There's a few indie creators who's stuff I really enjoy, but they only have a twitter. My thought is to create a page with a feed for those specific accounts that I want to keep following, but I haven't thought of it too hard yet. 

And that's my issue with platforms on the internet. It doesn't feel like the World Wide Web anymore. It's just YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, etc. and the occasional shopping page in between all the ads we're forced to watch. What inspired this project was a website called Nekoweb, it's a hosting service for people who are passionate for the old internet. It features A LOT of creative websites that I want to take inspiration from when I'm working on my own. So many talented people are hosted on there and I recommend taking a look if you're bored or have the time to spare. 

Kuleshov Effect

Kuleshov Effect is the working title for my new story. Last time I attempted to write a story was about 8 years ago. I didn't know how to end it, so I rushed and killed the main character off and never worked on it again. I wouldn't say that my writing skills have gotten any better since then, but I think I've been more aware of patterns in storytelling that it can help me navigate through some of the harder parts of the writing process. 

I haven't told anyone about what my story is about until now, mainly because my blog is probably the best space for it since I'm not limited by word count. 

Kuleshov Effect (name subject to change) is about a man who is given an artificial human body when he's faced with a terminal illness. It is set about 100 years from now (2120), during an ongoing worldwide conflict. Thanks to the advancement of technology and the discovery of a new substance called Prima Materia, capable combat androids have mostly replaced humans to keep casualties to a minimum.

Expecting to die, the ill man volunteers to donate his body for research. On the day of his expected death, he's not only surprised to find himself alive, but completely free of his ailment. However, he quickly realizes that much of him feels different. When he looks at himself in the mirror, he sees the reflection of a gynoid, a female-looking android. 

The description above is the tip of the iceberg. A lot the inspiration for the story comes from alchemy and the works of Carl Jung. Currently, I'm reading Man and His Symbols as an introduction to his work. Jung took an approach to psychology that left a lasting impact in the field. However, I think a lot of that also had to do with his research into alchemy as a metaphor for self-enlightenment. It's really a deep rabbit hole if you ever want to look into it. 

The Rebis (see above), is the main inspiration for the story I am writing. For many, I think it's common to hear that the goal of alchemy is to turn lead into gold. However, Jung believes that people were doing alchemy as a representation of the journey to becoming a "whole" person. Imagine it as a giant LARP session that spanned centuries with people acting out how to go about self-actualizing through interpretive science. That's my best way to describe it, even though it sounds very lame when I put it like that. 

In my story, these alchemic processes are real, but also borrow heavily from Gnosticism and Jewish mysticism along with certain aspects of Catholicism. The man, also known as Amagi, realizes that body psyche has been fractured in many ways. The archetypes of Anima/Animus which Jung describes as an inner, unconscious counterpart to ourselves, play a role here as well. Amagi, now in an (artificial) female body, is struggling with his identity. He begins to doubt if the memories he has from his human life are even real. At the same time, however, this lost inner counterpart of his, where is it? Has it taken over his being? 

As mentioned in the caption for The Rebis, the ultimate goal of alchemy was to create the union of opposites. The Rebis can also be subsituted for the fabled Philosopher's Stone or any example of complete wholeness, divinity, and ... Jesus Christ? 

I'm not really religious, but I highly respect religious texts from a historical and analytical lens. Whether or not you believe a guy named Yeshua was walking around the middle east 2000 years ago is up to each individual. However, I think having this person as a figure, as a guide or prime example of enlightenment is really cool. Christ surpassed death, not only because of God, but because he devoted his life to being this perfect being, a teacher, and left by taking on the weight and responsibility for humanity's sins. There's a lot of analyze there and it's getting late so I REALLY wanna wrap up, but alchemy in a roundabout way was describing that process. At least, that's what I understand from Carl Jung. 

The process of taking the prima materia, the first ingredient to make the philosopher's stone, and turning it into this seemingly unattainable thing is an ongoing process of breaking down unwanted materials (lead, rocks, whatever) and refining them into something desirable (gold, fountain of youth, etc). The constant references to the different aspects of the self, the union of opposites, it's all REALLY overwhelming. The message of both Christ's ascension and alchemy could be boiled down to the goal of self-acceptance and self-actualizing (being the best version of YOU) through the laborous ongoing process of breaking down what's not working in your life and rebuilding it. 

However, Amagi won't be going to therapy or reading self-help books. No, Amagi will actually encounter a philosopher stone that was made with millions of dead bodies and fused along with it trigger the second coming of Jesus Christ.

LOL what a first post