Monthly Archives: January 2022

You Can’t Sit at Our Table

Posted on January 31, 2022 by Nathan

Today, I wanted to look at the Table of Nations from Genesis 10. The Hebrew word that’s usually translated “nations” is goyim, which became gentilis in the Latin Vulgate. Both words have come to mean non-Jewish people in general, and … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Christianity, Egyptian, Ethnicity, Etymology, Families, Greek Mythology, History, Judaism, Language, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Prejudice, Religion | Tagged abraham, aegyptus, agenor, andromeda, atlas, babylon, belus, bible, bosporus, canaan, carthage, cetus, crete, danaus, eber, egypt, esau, ethiopia, euripides, europa, flavius josephus, flood, genesis, good news bible, ham, hellen, hera, herodotus, heth, hittites, iapetus, inachus, incest, Iran, ishmael, isis, israel, jacob, japheth, jonah, king cepheus, king solomon, king xerxes i, libya, lydia, magog, mesopotamia, mizraim, moab, mycenae, nimrod, noah, ophir, paul of tarsus, perses, perseus, phoenicia, poseidon, prometheus, racism, scythia, sea monsters, shem, table of nations, tarshish, tartessos, the rose and the ring, titans, tros, troy, william makepeace thackeray, zeus | 1 Comment

From the Cosmos to Crete

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Nathan

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers – This story involves a crew of various species serving on a ship that makes wormholes. There’s a pretty large cast, and I can’t remember all of them. That … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Feminism, Greek Mythology, Magic, Music, Mythology, october daye, Philosophy, Politics, Relationships, seanan mcguire | Tagged a red-rose chain, aliens, ariadne, becky chambers, burlesque, circe, dionysus, drawing blood, fairies, helios, jennifer saint, kim boekbinder, madeline miller, molly crabapple, occupy wall street, patriarchy, phaedra, the long way to a small angry planet, theseus, zeus | 1 Comment

Winners and Choosers

Posted on January 28, 2022 by Nathan

After looking at the notion of people chosen by the gods, I became curious as to how the concept of a specific person being the Chosen One originated. It’s a pretty common trope in fantasy, someone being prophesied to save the world … Continue reading →

Posted in Arthurian Legend, Authors, Babylonian, British, Captain N: The Game Master, Cartoons, Characters, Christianity, Discworld, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Futurama, Greek Mythology, Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkien, Magic, Mario, Mythology, Oz, Philosophy, Religion, Semitic, Star Wars, Television, Terry Pratchett, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged anakin skywalker, andrew heller, aragorn, armor, bender's big score, brain spawn, carrot ironfoundersson, chosen ones, chosen people, dark king, darth plagueis, darth vader, donald abbott, dorothy gale, dragon quest iii, dragon quest iv, dragon quest v, emperor palpatine, epic of gilgamesh, erdrick, fate, final fantasy mystic quest, flood, gilgamesh, glinda, gondor, hammurabi, how the wizard came to oz, hyrule, jedi, jesus, king arthur, king david, kylo ren, link, lord of the rings, middle-earth, nibblonians, oedipus, oz: the great and powerful, philip j. fry, professor hubert farnsworth, prophecy, return of the jedi, sith, swords, time travel, utnapishtim, voldemort, weapons, witches, wizard of oz | Leave a comment

Nonestic Promotion, Part 2: Didja Ever Hear of Oz?

Posted on January 26, 2022 by Nathan

While Ruth Plumly Thompson would eventually become frustrated at how little promotion Reilly & Lee did for the Oz books, they did make some attempts early on in her tenure as Royal Historian. One such promotion was a short play … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Characters, Gina Wickwar, Humor, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Music, Oz, Oz Authors, Plays, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged a day in oz, bungle the glass cat, carter green, conventions, cowardly lion, dorothy gale, eric gjovaag, fix city, jack pumpkinhead, jack pumpkinhead of oz, norman sherred, oz centennial convention, oz convention, ozga, ozma, pastoria, patchwork girl, puns, scarecrow, scraps from oz, signs, sissajig and other surprises, the cowardly lion of oz, the hidden prince of oz, the hungry tiger of oz, the lost king of oz, the royal book of oz, the wonder city of oz, tik-tok, tik-tok of oz, tin woodman, wizard of oz | 2 Comments

Illuminating the Issues

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Nathan

WARNING! SPOILERS for all three films! The Secret of Kells – I knew pretty much nothing about this 2009 French animated film. It takes place at a monastery in ninth century Ireland, where a curious boy named Brendan lives with … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cartoons, Celtic, Christianity, Conspiracy Theories, Frank Black/Black Francis, History, Magic, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Politics, Relationships, Religion | Tagged adam sandler, book of kells, chinatown, crom cruach, fairies, film noir, gospels, jack nicholson, mystery, paul thomas anderson, punch-drunk love, roman polanski, the secret of kells, who framed roger rabbit, william mulholland | 1 Comment

Another Fine Messiah

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Nathan

The concept of the Messiah is a significant one in both Judaism and Christianity, but I think it was in my Apocalypse class in college that I learned what it actually means, and how the concept developed, particularly in the context … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Cults, History, Judaism, Religion, Zoroastrianism | Tagged ahura mazda, angra mainyu, antiochus epiphanes, bethlehem, book of enoch, cyrus the great, daniel, david koresh, enoch, gospel of john, gospel of luke, gospel of matthew, gospels, jesus, king david, maccabees, messiah, messianic age, prophecy, resurrection, second coming, son of man, talmud | 2 Comments

Nonestic Promotion

Posted on January 20, 2022 by Nathan

One thing I think about occasionally is the promotion that the Oz books received in their heyday. L. Frank Baum had been a salesman and a contributor to a magazine about decorating shop windows, so it’s not too surprising that he … Continue reading →

Posted in Plays, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged amusement parks, dorothy and the wizard in oz, fairylogue and radio-plays, john dough, john dough and the cherub, land of oz park, madame tussaud, martin gardner, mifkets, otis turner, oz convention, ozma, pedloe island, professor wogglebug, queer visitors from the marvelous land of oz, romola remus, selig polygraph company, the baum bugle, the oz-toy book, the patchwork girl of oz, the wizard of oz (1939), the wogglebug game of conundrums, the wonderful game of oz, the wonderful wizard of oz, tik-tok of oz, w.w. denslow, woozy, yankee in oz | Leave a comment

The Gods Must Be Choosy

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Nathan

Paul Dana suggested a few weeks ago that I should look into the concept of chosen people in religion, and how common that was. Nowadays, it’s mostly used to refer to the Jewish people, or sometimes to other religions that … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Christianity, Comics, Discworld, Greek Mythology, History, Judaism, Mythology, Neil Gaiman, Religion, Semitic, Terry Pratchett | Tagged 2 kings, american gods, animal sacrifice, athena, bible, chemosh, chosen people, covenant, hogfather, human sacrifice, israel, jesus, john of patmos, judah, maasai, mesha of moab, mesha stele, moab, poseidon, revelation, sacrifice, small gods, spider-man, stan lee, supersessionism, twelve tribes of israel | 1 Comment

Deadwood Oaks and Duende

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Nathan

I feel like I’ve pretty much exhausted all the Oz books, or at least the ones that are generally consistent with the original series (not that everyone even agrees on what that is). I’ll occasionally come across lists of interesting-sounding … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Book Reviews, Characters, Chris Dulabone, Humor, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, March Laumer, Marcus Mebes, Music, Mythology, Oz, Oz Authors | Tagged a million miles from here is oz, alexander volkov, cap'n bill, dagmar in oz, david f. salas, deadwood oaks, dorothy and the wooden soldiers of oz, dorothy gale, duende, fairies, fighting trees, glinda, hammer-heads, ken romer, lucky bucky in oz, magic land, nome king, polychrome, quiet victory, robin hess, the deadly desert around oz, the duende of oz, the lost tales of oz, the patchwork girl of oz, the spelling bee of oz, three-headed elvis clone found in flying saucer over oz, tin woodman, trot griffiths, urfin jus, urfin jus and his wooden soldiers, victor columbia edison, wicked witch of the east | Leave a comment

The Secret Lives of Stars

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Nathan

It’s kind of an odd inspiration, I suppose, but I got an idea to write a post about star mythology from this tweet, for which I’m honestly not sure how serious the original posters were. There is some basis in … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Babylonian, Christianity, Greek Mythology, Judaism, Mythology, Religion, Science, Semitic | Tagged angels, antiochus epiphanes, archangel michael, baal, bible, book of daniel, book of enoch, bootes, constellations, demeter, enoch, ezekiel, firmament, genesis, gospel of luke, heaven, isaiah, ishtar, jesus, job, lucifer, nephilim, persephone, pleiades, revelation, satan, scorpio, stars, underworld, ursa major, ursa minor, venus | Leave a comment

Monthly Archives: January 2022

You Can’t Sit at Our Table

From the Cosmos to Crete

Winners and Choosers

Nonestic Promotion, Part 2: Didja Ever Hear of Oz?

Illuminating the Issues

Another Fine Messiah

Nonestic Promotion

The Gods Must Be Choosy

Deadwood Oaks and Duende

The Secret Lives of Stars

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