rainmage

Oh man, my paid LJ account is expiring soon!

Also, I promise I'll reply to your comments in other posts soon. I've been really lazy...

Not a lot to say, besides that I watched The Avengers the other day and had a blast! I'm not sure if I'll make a post about it, but it's really hard to move on with this movie because Tumblr won't shut up about it. And I don't even follow Avengers-centric blogs! This fandom is eating everything up, even the mythology tag. Which brings us to today's post, kinda.

Because I realized that if I start talking about Norse myths now, people who have no idea but watched Avengers and/or Thor will be confused as fuck. So I'm not going to make a long list of differences between mythology and Marvel movies, as you can google it if you want. But I'm bringing a graphic of relationship differences that will be useful.

( Not exactly family trees; you can google for those too )

(Dreamwidth copy over there)

Okay, okay, I swear that this time I'll make a post about something nicer. Here is a story that has a happy ending or at least it's happy if you're not the random old guy who saw it all. This is one of my favorite myths because the main character not only is a trickster, he actually gets away with it without a scratch and gets his life made because of his trolling. If you've read tales with more traditional tricksters (Loki, Coyote, Anansi, etc.) you'll be aware that it's a rare occurrence. Even Bugs Bunny loses sometimes. This awesome dude only loses when he lets you win.

This is the only story where Hermes of the Greco-Roman pantheon gets the leading role. They probably were too scared to let him be main character again when he got older, so from now on he's only the best support character. But that's a topic for another day, how Hermes is such a strange trickster. For now, let's go on with the story.

( Turnabout Cattle )

(Dreamwidth copy over there)

Actual mythology post later today. I just have a lot of feels that Tumblr and Plurk aren't good for.

Here's the thing. The only ongoing American comics I'm following right -thanks to DC- now are the Marvel Thorverse. I know, I know. I had this on-and-off fling with the current continuity that has nothing to do with the movieverse and more with me considering Asgard(ia) a character of her own. Plus mythology bitchery, you know how I am. The interesting thing about the Thor comics is them tending to be more fantasy action than superhero action most of the times, in later decades having more inner supernatural baddies and cosmic menaces than rich men with a lot of power -except when Doctor Doom comes to troll.

I started with the JMS run, and I'm still reading the two ongoing series (Journey Into Mystery is my favorite thing ever, adorbs baby trickster ♥) So I slowly want to read the old stuff, and I wanted to start from the very Silver Age beginning. It was... very different, a little hard to swallow too, and the original myth butchery by Stan Lee was very painful. So after a few issues (as in comic issues, not mental issues), I decided to jump into the Walterson run because it's universally accepted as the best. But then suddenly Balder had just recovered from ded and was white-haired, and I hadn't seen Sif becoming an actual character; I wanted more context here, so I guess I'll be back to it afterwards. So I haven't taken Simonson yet.

BUT I'M MISSING THE POINT WITH BACKSTORY HERE. Since the modern Thor comics mention the last Ragnarok a lot, I decided to read the Thor: Disassembled/Ragnarok arc to understand exactly how it happened.

OH GOD. JESUS CHRIST ON A ROLLER COASTER. IT WAS LIKE SOMEONE PUT THOR COMICS, A REAL BOOK OF NORSE MYTHOLOGY, AND A BUNCH OF MANGA VOLUMES BY CLAMP ON A BLENDER.

I mean. I know it is Ragnarok, and I knew that rocks fell and everyone died, and I knew it was really tragic. I just didn't expect it to be written by Nanase Ohkawa!! I don't know how to feel! Because the thing was well-written but it was so frustrating and CLAMPish it felt like a kick on the stomach.

Hnnnnnngggggg. When I said that Marvel is the CLAMP of superhero fandoms, I didn't mean it so literally :(((((( TWO LOST EYEBALLS.

(Dreamwidth copy over there)

Nope, I haven't forgotten! I've just been sick lately and I wasn't feeling geeky enough to do it. I was going to make more graphics too, but in the end I thought it was too bleagh of an idea. So anyway, here's the disgusting conclusion to the Norse creation myth.

Warnings: bit of gore again, dwarf bashing, lack of cheerful LEGO

( More Ymir products and the Nine Worlds )

So anyway, welcome to anyone who came here to read this posts. I hope you enjoy them or learn something from this mess :D

(Dreamwidth copy over there)

Don't get scared, I'll try not to only make that kind of posts!

So. I tried anime of genres I usually don't care for. Except zombies. Fuck overrated rotting zombies, especially with moe bishoujo plots.

→ Jormungand (1 episode)
Come on, with that title! So this is about a gun dealer lady who has a little army of bodyguards, and how she avoids getting killed off. The other main character is a former child-soldier boy from Africa (except he looks 100% like a Ishvalan from Fullmetal Alchemist...) who hates guns, just hired by said dealer. I'm not really into pew-pew-pew kind of mafia-like stories, but Coco -the dealer- is kinda delightful (half badass, half dork) so I'll try to give one or two more episodes a go. Even if it's just to add more cool females in my watch list like a boss.

→ Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna (2 episodes)
I've watched loose Lupin III episodes of a couple of series, and I like the fun cheese it is. So a prequel series about the only recurrent female character, having sexy thief adventures, should be fun, right? Yeaaaaah, I didn't took into count that she's the femme fatale type, and they play it a little heavier than I expected. I was hoping for a more empowering kind of seduction, but it all comes off a bit skeevy male gaze as she's half naked a la sexism is over!1! for most screentime. A real pity. Also, the entirety of the opening is so NSFW it's pretty much soft porn, so don't watch this anime on the bus or near anyone else.

→ Sakamichi no Apollon (1 episode)
This season's cool josei with the cool music. I liked the three characters and all (yes, including the sweet class rep, who gets ignored because girly bits), but I can never get into this particular kind of series and... I really should get into it because everyone loves it, but if I couldn't get attached to others in the genre (Nodame, Honey and Clover, etc) I doubt this one will do the trick. It is very cute, though. I'd also feel out of place because instead of seeing Teh Gay, I just see a goddamn threesome. Megane is clearly "doki doki" at both Class Rep and Jazzy Thug, and viceversa. And mind you, I normally don't get OT3, but this time... just share the pretty prissy transfer student, kids.

→ Uchuu Kyoudai (2 episodes)
Two brothers saw an UFO once and decided to become astronauts when they grew up. While the little brother makes it and is about to be on the moon, the big brother was fired from his successful job designing cars for punching his boss. Then Hirota reminds Muuta of their promise, so now big bro is studying to become an astronaut too. This one should be really boring and yet, I suddenly had the need to know if Muuta will pass his exams. I think it's because he's a well written character and it's easy to root for him. So far I'm following it although I'm still baffled.

→ Tsuritama (1 episode)
I watched on a whim because I couldn't make tails of the summary (is it high school slice of life? is it sports shounen? is it sci-fi action?) And you know what, I still can't. I have no idea what's gonna be. But the intro! They gave me a random legend in cute quirky art and that's something I ADORE seeing in my video games. So I had to keep watching after that. And then they gave me a spazzy sparkly blond alien boy. Well shit, my weakness. Plus the art is looking nice in a slightly Mamoru Hosoda-movie kind of way. So yeah, I'm intrigued as fucked and enjoying the visuals and the characters so far, so this might be my favorite "watched randomly" one this season.

(Dreamwidth copy over there)

Since you guys seemed more interested in learning Norse, we'll go focus on a bit of Norse too. So let's go with the beginning, literally the beginning. Creation myth!

Warnings and triggers: A bit of gore and gratuitous violence, sweaty armpits, and cows with a licking fetish.

( The original Song of Ice and Fire )

(Dreamwidth copy over there)

Okay, since this is pretty much dead and I miss having something to say, I'll emulate lil_1337 and do this challenge.




{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

My theme will be 100 curious things about mythology because I'm a nerd.

Next post will be the start.

Yeah, so I still haven't a clue of what shows I'll even try this season except for a couple that are a MUST. Which ones? You'll see below, although this is mostly a GIF review of things from last season (or a previous season, period).

Inside:
- Oh right, Persona 4: The Animation ended... kinda.
- Polar bears, pandas, and penguins! Oh my!
- And a lot of baths were given that da-- I mean, century.
- My lesbian crush on King Arthur, in the middle of political magic duels.

( I question my anime taste sometimes, but not today )