Myths Go to the Movies: Alice in Wonderland
It’s a poorly-kept secret that nowadays, myths have gone to Hollywood. Joseph Campbell spent time holed up with filmmaker George Lucas, helping him hash out the first Star Wars movies (and to my mind,...
View ArticleGodzilla, Akira, Mononoke: Japan’s Fear
Professor Peter Winn Kirby of Oxford has a thoughtful and painfully spot-on essay about how the original Godzilla movies, far from being mere campy horror flicks, in fact were fictional dramatizations...
View ArticleThe Ham Sandwich and Eternal Happiness
An old logic joke goes like this: I. Nothing is better than eternal happiness. II. A ham sandwich is better than nothing. III. Therefore, a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness! It turns out...
View ArticleRapture vs. Ragnarök: A Pagan Apocalypse
While the earthquakes of Harold Camping’s apocalypse failed to roll around the globe at precisely 6PM (God has apparently modernized enough to observe human time zones), I spent the day reading The...
View ArticleThe Ritual of the Gift
A Time magazine article this week notes that traditional ink-and-paper paper books are seeing a surprising spike in sales this year, as they did last year, despite the meteoric rise in popularity of...
View ArticleSecret Service Code Names: The Power of Names in Politics
U.S. Secret Service code names have been used to refer to the president and VIPs since the Truman Administration. I find them fascinating, because they are a modern expression of a very old...
View ArticleAndroids, Electronic Sheep, Psychology and Mythology
Many science fiction authors have written about androids — robotic humans simulating human intelligence with powerful software — and as usual, science fiction (20th century mythology) is becoming...
View ArticleFlower Crowns: Ancient & Modern
The interwebs are an ever-changing culture, and the blooming trends of today will have withered by next week. Nevertheless, the recent fad of Photoshopping “flower crowns” on popular figures from TV,...
View Article
