Category Archives: Chinese

Women and Demons

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Nathan

Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, by Natalie Haynes – I believe I first saw this book mentioned in a list of online recommendations, but it was also discussed on the Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! podcast. It focuses … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Book Reviews, Chinese, Christopher Moore, Feminism, Final Fantasy, Focus on the Foes, Gender, Greek Mythology, History, Humor, India, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Relationships, Religion, Roman, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sparrowhawk, Shabba Doo, and Shang-Chi

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Nathan

Tales from Earthsea – The directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro, it’s a loose adaptation of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea series, mostly The Farthest Shore and Tehanu. From what I’ve read, LeGuin didn’t really care for the finished product. … Continue reading →

Posted in Authors, Cartoons, Chinese, Comics, Families, Frank Black/Black Francis, Japanese, Magic, Mario, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Prejudice, Relationships, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Television, Ursula K. LeGuin, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Druun on Society

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Nathan

Raya and the Last Dragon – Beth and I had watched all of Walt Disney Animation Studios films, then last year we fell behind. We finally got around to watching this one last night. It takes place in a Southeast … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Cartoons, Chinese, Humor, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Revisiting Disney, VoVat Goes to the Movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Tigers Come at Night

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Nathan

Tiger Honor, by Yoon Ha Lee – Considering how quickly some of these Rick Riordan Presents books come out, it’s a little weird, but understandable, that it took so long for Dragon Pearl to get a sequel. This one focuses … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Authors, Book Reviews, Chinese, Families, Korean, Magic, Maps, Mythology, Names, october daye, Rick Riordan, seanan mcguire | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Self Called Erewhon

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Nathan

Erewhon and Erewhon Revisited, by Samuel Butler – The son of an Anglican priest, Butler spent some years as a sheep farmer in New Zealand, and both of those things influenced this work. “Erewhon” is almost “nowhere” spelled backwards, making … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Anglicanism, Authors, Book Reviews, Chinese, Christianity, Current Events, Humor, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Rick Riordan, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

When the World and I Were Young

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Nathan

Continuing on the theme of calendars from another recent post, I’ve done some investigation into different calculations of the age of the world. The Jewish calendar and the traditional Byzantine one both date from the Anno Mundi, or Year of … Continue reading →

Posted in African, Babylonian, Chinese, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox, Egyptian, Greek Philosophy, Hinduism, History, Judaism, Mathematics, Mayan, Mythology, Native American, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Semitic, Zoroastrianism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Changing of the Gods

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Nathan

Stories of gods having to fight other gods for dominance over the world are quite common in mythology, but there are a few different sorts. Some have the new gods overthrowing older, established ones. Others have gods going to war … Continue reading →

Posted in Babylonian, Celtic, Chinese, Greek Mythology, Hinduism, Hittite, Monsters, Mythology, Norse, Religion, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Drainpipes and Dragons

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Nathan

Dragons are a mainstay of fantasy fiction, and of course have appeared in a number of video games. Even Metroid has them, and that series is more science fiction than fantasy. Dragons in the Super Mario universe in particular are … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Biology, Cartoons, Chinese, Final Fantasy, Japanese, Language, Magic, Mario, Metroid, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Science, Semitic, Television, Video Games | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Nobody Ever Suspects the Butterfly

Posted on March 21, 2021 by Nathan

Picture by Carsten Witte In this post about a Chinese drama, there’s a mention of butterfly demons, and some possibilities as to how this links to mythology. Butterflies are apparently considered manifestations of the soul in Greek, Chinese, and Japanese culture. … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Aztec, Chinese, Dragon Quest, Greek Mythology, Japanese, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Native American, Roman, Urban Legends, Video Games, Zelda | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Falling for the Fairy Fellowship

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Nathan

I’ve mentioned the fairyland on the other side of the world from Oz a few times, but since I’m planning on writing some fiction that takes place there, I might as well detail what we know about it. It first … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Characters, Chinese, Greek Mythology, Greek Philosophy, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Melody Grandy, Monsters, Mythology, Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch, Oz, Oz Authors, Philosophy, Phyllis Ann Karr, Places, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment