By: Amy Jelf,
on 4/27/2016
Season Six of Game of Thrones is about to air. One of the great pleasures of watching the show is the way in which George R. R. Martin, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and the show-producers, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, build their imagined world from the real and […]
The post The Poetic Edda, Game of Thrones, and Ragnarök appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Maryann Yin,
on 4/15/2011
Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods could be coming as an HBO series. The cable company is discussing the acquisition of the fantasy novel with Gaiman and his collaborators.
Here’s more from Deadline: “The project was brought to HBO by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and it was brought to them by Robert Richardson. The plan is for Richardson and Gaiman to write the pilot together.”
In 2002, American Gods won the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards in the Best Novel category. Last year, American Gods was voted as the title to kick off the One Book, One Twitter program.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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By: Lauren,
on 10/13/2010
Why indeed? But despite our financial woes, I am interested in the origin of the idiom, not in exorbitant prices. On the face of it (and the nose cannot be separated from the face), the idiom pay through the nose makes no sense. Current since the second half of the 17th century and probably transparent to the contemporaries, it later joined such puzzling phrases as kick the bucket and bees’ knees.
Idioms are harder to trace to their “roots” than words. Etymology, though not an exact science, is governed by certain regularities (sound correspondences, patterns of semantic change, and so forth), but a search for the origin of idioms rarely needs the expertise of historical linguists. They will offer good advice only when words have changed their meaning, as happened, for example, in curry favor (where curry means “brush, groom” and favor once referred to a donkey and later to a horse) or forlorn hope (from Dutch), in which hope meant “group, detachment of soldiers” (a cognate of Engl. heap) and forlorn had the sense of “lost” (a cognate of Engl. lorn and German verloren). It is possible that nose in pay through the nose did have a meaning different from the one we now ascribe to it, but, other than that, we cannot account for the odd phrase unless we succeed in reconstructing the circumstances in which it was coined. A product of popular culture? An obscene joke from a Restoration comedy? A borrowing from the language of thieves? In the 13th century, the famous Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson explained to his countrymen the meaning of numerous phrases that originated in ancient myths. By his time, more than two hundred years after the Christianization of Iceland, those myths had either fallen or were falling into oblivion. I wish we had someone like him who would be capable of solving our puzzles. But this is a forlorn hope. So to business.
The Internet supplies those who look for the history of pay through the nose with four or five explanations from books bearing the generic title Phrase Origins. All of them, regardless of their reliability, have a fatal flaw: they do not cite their sources. At best, they say it is usually believed or according to legend, but never add where they found the legend, who wrote what they repeat, or even approximately where the gossip originated. Only dictionaries of quotations try to discover the authors of famous lines, and their efforts have been crowned with great success.
This is what we can find. “If you were caught stealing in medieval times, they sliced a slit in your nose.” Anywhere (or only in England?) in the Middle Ages at any time? “In medieval times, when the Jews were being bled for money, any objection by them to paying was greeted with a slitting of their noses.” Again the Middle Ages (which, incidentally, lasted more than a thousand years), but now it is the Jews, rather than the Swedes. The allusion to bleeding noses will recur below. “Odin laid a tax of a penny a nose upon every Swede.” However, Odin (or Othinn) was the greatest god of the Scandinavian pantheon, and it is hard to understand what he could have done with such a tax, for he neither sold nor bought anything. Some time ago, I explained (in this blog) the origin of the idiom it rains cats and dogs. According to one of the nonsensical articles I had consulted, Odin was surrounded by cats and dogs, and they caused rain. This is a lie bordering on blasphemy. Odin stayed away from cats and dogs, and those ani
When Heracles was born, he made enemies with Hera, one of the most powerful gods of Greek Mythology. When Heracles was a baby, Hera sent two serpents down upon him, but Heracles crushed both of them with his bare hands. As Heracles enters manhood, he accomplishes the impossible “Labours of Heracles”. Heracles eventually dies when the centaur, Nessus tricks his wife into poisoning him. During his moments of life, Heracles makes a funeral pyre for himself. As the flames engulfed this legendary hero, Zeus lifts his son up into the sky and Heracles takes his rightful place as a God of Olympus.
Heracles Crushing the Serpents
Heracles Wrestling Cerebus, the Guard of the Underworld
This warrior god of Norse Mythology was the son of the “mighty Odin”, king of gods. Thor is one of the most powerful gods of Asgard. Thor wields a short hammer called Mjolnir which has the ability to launch thunderbolts and it magically returns to the wielder whenever it is thrown. Thor travels around in a magical chariot that scorches the Earth as it soars through the sky. Thor is also known as a dangerous enemy toward the giants.
Thor Fights the Giants
Marvel’s Adaption of Thor
This hero of the Trojan Wars is one of the most well known figures of Greek Mythology. Achilles was the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus. When Achilles was a child, Thetis dangled Achilles on a mystical fire and started to burn away her son’s mortal half, her practice was interrupted by Peleus who was appalled at the sight. Thetis successfully burned away most of Achille’s mortal half except one small weakness, her son’s heel. Achilles set out to the Trojan War and won many victories for the Greeks. Achilles challenged Hector, prince of Troy to a duel and defeated him. After this event, he dragged Hector’s around Troy refusing to bury the warrior. This action offended the Gods and it eventually lead to his downfall. Paris, Hector’s brother shot an arrow guided by the god Apollo into Achilles’s heal. Then the great warrior fell, never to rise again.
Achilles Offends the Gods
- Note: Prince Hector’s dead body
Death of Achilles
This legendary outlaw of English folklore known by people everywhere. Robin Hood is mainly known for his adventures with his outlaw group, the “Merry Men”. Robin Hood is known to have lived in the Sherwood Forest of Nottingham-shire. He is known mainly for his “stealing from the rich, and saving the poor.” Robin Hood is known as a skilled archer and in many tales, the enemy of the sheriff. Whether this figure is real or not, he has clearly earned a place in the top 5 mythical figures.
The Memorial of Robin Hood
The Classic Disney Adaption of Robin Hood
King Arthur, the legendary leader of the Britons is a classic symbol of chivalry and the Medieval Age. According to most Medieval histories and romances, he lead the defense of Britain from the Saxons during the 6th century. Many mystical figures surround the tales of King Arthur such as the wizard Merlin, the enchantress Moran Le Fay, and the mysterious Lady of the Lake. Arthur also wields the infamous Excalibur which makes the user win every duel and its scabbard enables the user to be invincible. At peak of his power, Arthur established the Round Table and the mystical kingdom of Camelot prospered. Arthur’s kingdom eventually fell after knights were corrupted and the king passed away.
King Arthur and the Holy Grail
King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake
By: Darth Corder,
on 8/19/2008
Smile when you say that partner, it is I once again, the coolest Sith this side of Clint Eastwood, Darth Bill. Now I know your going to look at the two books I reviewed this go round and ask: "Bill, these books have girls as their main characters. What's up with that?" Well I'll tell you; even though these books have girls as the main characters, they kick some serious butt!!!!!! One of the books reviewed Runemarks has some serious cool dudes and chicks such as:
Odin - The All Father
Runemarks by Joanne Harris - This story is set 500 years after Ragnarok that ended the old world ruled by the Norse Gods. The main character in this story is a young girl named Maddy Smith who is born with a strange and magical birthmark. In Maddy's world "The Word" rules all with an iron-fist. In her world magic is taboo and imagination is highly discouraged. Because of what people perceive as Maddy's strangeness she is ignored by her father and has no friends. That is until one day when she meets and old wanderer called One-Eye who befriends here and teaches her to use the magic that has been lying asleep inside her. This book is filled with Norse Gods, Heroes, Villains and Monsters. This book will suck you in and you will not be able to put it down once you start reading it. This is a great book that I would put right up there with Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" book series. The one obvious difference is that this book rekindles excitement in Norse Mythology as opposed to Greek Mythology. This book definitely is one of my candidates for best book of 2008. Warning: This book does include some occasional curse words and probably should not be read if you or your parents are offended by such.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman Adapted & Illustrated by P. Craig Russel - Do you think it would be cool to get everything you wanted from your parents. Never having to hear then say no you can't do that or no you can't have that, etc. Well in this Graphic Novel Coraline and her parents have moved into a new house that has some very peculiar aspects to it. She finds through a bricked up doorway a gateway into another world that is exactly like hers yet different. She finds in this other world she has an other mother and father who refuse her nothing. Yet something does not feel right about this other world and worse Coraline's other mother does not want her to leave. Many mysteries and challenges Coraline must overcome if she is to return to the real world. This is a great adaption of a great book that I highly recommend.
