Random Post is Not Actually Random

[ultranos]

1) Anyone got any decent resources on Jungian psychology and archetypes? My brain wants to run full-tilt into a particular windmill for a project, and while I'm distracting it with gnostic interpretations of technology in the modern world (whyyyyy?), I'm going to lose this fight and I might as well bow to the inevitable.

1b) Oh hell, my brain just added Xenogears into the mix. SEND HELP NOW. (Oh, Xenogears, you who taught me much of everything I know about Freudian psychology and the gnostic tradition. For the uninitiated, Xenogears is 80 hours of really trippy mindscrew)

2) Finally joined the party and saw Inception last week. It was very good. I like thinky movies. Is it the be-all-end-all of cinema? No. Is it better than 90% of the stuff out there? Yes.

3) Mainlined Scott Pilgrim in approximately 2 hours. Now I can't wait for the game when it comes out on Tuesday (16-bit style multi-player sidescroller! EEEEEE!), and the movie I have on good authority will be awesome.

4) Trying to get my hands on copies of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies that are currently out. Bonus points for subtitles that are NOT IN SPANISH. *facepalm* Between NGE and Xenogears, I'm starting to wonder if my brain suddenly decided it wanted to be 16 again. DO NOT WANT.

5) Need to datamine mythologies again. I guess it might be time for me to actually read Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces. *sigh* Not that I'm sure it will help.

6) There is no 6.

7) Need to play more P3P. This "being a Real Person" thing is cutting into my gaming time. *pout* Akihiko, whyyy are you SUCH A DORK?! :D

8) Sadly, I know of the coherent thoughts running through all of these, tying them all together. What this says about my mental state, I'm not sure I want to know.

Comments

[havocthecat]

"Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious," by C.G. Jung. Jung wrote a metric fuckton of books and papers.

Alternately, I can try to scan some of my old psych textbooks or relevent Campbell books if you're looking for something specific.

[ultranos]

Yeah, I noticed he was...prolific. Mostly I looked at the list, then wondered if there was a "Complete Idiot's Guide" or "For Dummies" version, because holy crap.

Campbell, well, there is some aspect to the monomyth I'm thinking about, but I'm also looking at creation myths to see if there are common threads. Also, looking at non-Classical mythologies and legends and folklore, because the big ones are so very overdone.

(The current list to poke at includes Aztec, Arthurian legend, pre-Christian folklore, Gaelic, Celtic, Gnostic traditions, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Babylonian, and other things as I wander through them.)

[rodlox.livejournal.com]

as to #8, I also know what the common thread is: you thought them all.
(since it is possible to think of non-things, that includes #6)

you're the best Real Person I know.

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

Heh, that IS, in fact, also true. :)

And aw, thanks.

[arresi.livejournal.com]

Nothing specifically on Jung, but Joseph Campbell, and I think Bruno Bettelheim, uses him as a reference on folklore and mythology, and Myers-Briggs (as in the personality test) uses him as a reference on psychology. Also, Google Books has excerpts of his "Four archetypes: mother, rebirth, spirit, trickster" online, so you can skim and see if you like him.

I don't know what exactly you need (or want) to know about Campbell, but his "The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers" (a PBS show, but an illustrated transcription was published as well) and Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" (which summarizes the basics of the Hero's Journey for writers) are both readable. "Hero with a 1000 faces" is a bit scholarly-dry. What're you're looking for? I *might* be able to tell you where to look, or even summarize a bit.

[ultranos-fic.livejournal.com]

So, I'm kind of looking in a general sense, but I'm interested in examples of the monomyth (heroic journey) from not-necessarily-classical-mythology, and examples of creation myths as well. Part of the latter is examining if there is a common sort of thread of some sort in creation myths and legends.

I'm looking for non-classical (Greek and Roman) mythologies in particular, because the major ones out of those have been overdone, and I'm interested in examining/playing with something new.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

2) I saw it Saturday! (I managed to only cough a few times!) I really liked it and can totally see where it might become a fannish hit, although I'm not feeling that fannish about it myself. It was fun and smart! The audience laughed at the very, very end--we all KNEW it was coming, but still!