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This is my blog and I do whatever I want here. I write my thoughts about things and short stories, I take photos, and have lots of book reviews. Make sure to check out the PRODUCTS page to order your edgy t-shirts or the PRINTS page to get prints of my photography! Use the search bar at the bottom of this page to discover more posts. Use the ARCHIVE page to see all my posts. Categorical searches will also yield good results for those who want more of a specific group of posts such as “Photo Journal” or “Book Review”. Check out the OLD BLOG for over 270 posts that go back to 2010 and get your PRINTS at the Prints Store!

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Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

September 07, 2021 by Joe Gray in Book Review

This book is not a book. It is an allegory. A parable. A quick philosophical pondering wrapped in narrative simplicity. The moral of the story is that when you seek safety and equality you give up on what makes life worth living. The movie Equilibrium is based on this same idea. Equilibrium is a very fun movie and stars Christian Bale. It is about a world where all emotions are repressed by a drug and all cultural items are outlawed. Books, art, and music are all banned and people live only for the work that the state provides. They live lives of colorless monotony but when Christian Bale is forced to kill his partner, who stopped taking his pills and begins to enjoy reading, he starts to question his assumptions. He stops taking his pills and starts to work for the resistance to stop the state's supply of pills to release people from the trance of emotionless slavery.

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September 07, 2021 /Joe Gray
literature, books, reviews, writing, Lois Lowry, goodreads, reading, book review, The Giver, Equilibrium, philosophy, community, politics, parables, morals
Book Review

Book Review: Odd Billy Todd by N.C. Reed

September 14, 2020 by Joe Gray in Book Review

A potential apocalyptic event is a common topic among my friends. What would cause it and what would we do in such a scenario can easily take up hours of conversation. As well as what kind of preparations we might make in reality and what is reasonable to actually do today based on the fact that it is an extremely unlikely thing to happen. This year has been no exception and with the rise of COVID and now, with the recent fires and terrible air quality the idea of survival preparedness is maybe not so far fetched. A few months ago my friend could not stop talking about Odd Billy Todd and so when I had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy, borrowed from my brother, I went into it with heightened anticipation.

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September 14, 2020 /Joe Gray
action, apocalypse, blog, blogger, book review, endoftheworld, fiction, goodreads, guns, morals, N.C.Reed, novel, novels, Odd Billy Todd, plague, post apocalyptic, reviews, survival, violence, writing
Book Review

Online Ethics: Some Thoughts

September 28, 2018 by Joe Gray in Cultural Musings, Ethics

What considerations should be examined when looking at business ethics on social media?
Is it OK to promote yourself through multiple accounts? Why not just create thousands of accounts and follow yourself? 

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September 28, 2018 /Joe Gray
bots, entertainment, ethical, ethics, facebook, freedom, internet, moral, morality, morals, notes, online, philosophy, questions, robots, shame, thoughts, youtube
Cultural Musings, Ethics

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