Random Thread ～Owaranai Insomnia '25 ver.～

[Zunu]

a conference held via Zoom: the Mythopoeic Society's Online Midsummer Seminar, with the theme "Fantasy Goes to Hell: Depictions of Hell in Modern Fantasy Texts".

That looks intriguing, particularly that panel on The Underwords, Overworlds and Ocean Worlds. And the one about Mary Magdalene in Beren and Lúthien.

The whole conference sounds interesting. I had a kind of culty, apocalyptic, super-religious upbringing, and even after having broken free, I still ended up with a fascination for hell and other manifestations of "the demon-haunted world," to borrow a phrase from Carl Sagan. Which reminds me, some months back I saw a production of Hadestown. I went in with no idea what it was about (despite the description being right on the tin), and it was just stunning.

Apropos of The Mythopoeic Society, I've been meaning to check out (Inkling) Charles Williams, as I have zero familiarity with his work. I see on that page that he wrong a book called "The Greater Trumps." Consider me piqued.

[rikkikow]

^^ no wonder there wasn't any Zoom insights from the conference

[erilaz]

^^ The papers I enjoyed the most were Janet Brennan Croft's "'Nor Am I Out of It': The Modern Bureaucratic Hell on Page and Screen" and Mónica Sanz-Rodriguez's "Tolkien Goes to Hell: From the Deepest Underground to the Utmost Void". Both of these women know how to craft an engaging presentation.

Apropos of The Mythopoeic Society, I've been meaning to check out (Inkling) Charles Williams, as I have zero familiarity with his work. I see on that page that he wrong a book called "The Greater Trumps." Consider me piqued.

The Greater Trumps of the title are the original Tarot Deck, so The Fool is the one on the card.

It's been decades since I read Williams, but I seem to recall liking The Greater Trumps, even though that's not one of his books that I actually own. Williams's Arthurian poetry leaves me cold, but one of my close friends is a big fan and usually drags some of it out at our group's "Reading and Eating Meeting" in December.

[erilaz]

Today I went with a couple of friends to the King Tut Festival at the Coptic Orthodox Church in Hayward. I had lots of great Egyptian food at considerably lower prices than I normally see at festivals like this. For example, I got a dinner plate of chicken kebabs, lamb kebabs, rice, salad, and tahini for $14 and six loukoumades (large donut holes dipped in honey) for only $2. The really mind-blowing bargain was the stuffed grape leaves, which even had meat in them: the posted price was $5 for ten, but for my $5 they gave me at least twenty.

I have to say, though, that it was kinda strange seeing so many images of Ancient Egyptian deities at a Christian church festival!

[Shoujo Q]

^ We have a Greek festival here next week with like, the same menu but with a few additional Greek foods. I go every year because it’s the best time to get fresh baklava (of all sorts) around without going into the Boston area.

[erilaz]

^ We went to a Greek festival last weekend. The food there was good, but the food at the Coptic church was better. I'm looking forward to a couple of Armenian food festivals coming up in the next couple of months.

[rikkikow]

Cleos Back! (on the History Channel)

[rikkikow]

Two turkeys showed up today. Very friendly.

[boinsie]

Türkiye!
(Turkey--yay!! )

[rikkikow]

Today’s close encounter.

As I was coming out my front door this afternoon, I was hearing strange noises which sounded kind of happy to me. I was thinking those darn crows. But it was just three turkeys in my front flower bed. When I said what are you guys doing here, they scrammed. Then I noticed four more on my lawn which got out of Dodge too (must of thought they were in trouble). They found shade across the street and just relaxed there for a while.