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Pagan News Beagle: Airy Monday, July 6

Welcome back to Airy Monday! Once again we start off the week with a round-up of stories dealing with magic and religion in pop culture. Join us as we take a look at reactions to Victorian gothic horror show Penny Dreadful's second season finale, the surprising theism of Doctor Who, and The Washington Post's analysis of the ongoing battle at Etsy about witchcraft. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Are any of you watching Penny Dreadful? Inspired by Victorian literature like Frankenstein and Dracula, the gothic horror show imagines a version of Victorian Britain where monsters and magic are both real and quite dangerous. For those of you who have been following it, science fiction and fantasy website io9 has their review for the second season's finale.

Is the Doctor of the hit British science fiction show Doctor Who a god? Perhaps not, but over the years the show's writers have certainly played with the concept, playing up the alien time traveler's extraordinary powers and profound influence on everyone and everything with whom he interacts. Feminist pop culture website The Mary Sue examines the theistic underpinnings of some of Doctor Who's storylines here.

Though their dominance as the pillar of pop culture is arguably past, books remain one of the most celebrated forms of media around. And although traditional bookstores have faced increasingly aggressive competition from websites like Amazon.com, this article from The Guardian argues that there's still a unique value to "brick and mortar" bookstores which makes them worth preserving. What do you think?

By now you've no doubt heard of the battle for the heart of Etsy, waged over the issue of magic and spellwork for sale. If you haven't or you want to understand more about what people are talking abut, take a look at this piece from The Washington Post, which examines the issue from both sides.

Lastly, we take a glance at Inside Out, Pixar's newest film, about a young girl's internal struggle with her emotions after a disruptive change in her life. According to Slate the film speaks in a lot of ways to how women and girls are always encouraged to "be happy" or to "smile." Have you seen Inside Out? If so, do you agree with Slate's analysis?

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Aryós Héngwis (or the more modest Héngwis for short) is a native of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, born some 5000 years ago, near the village of Dereivka. In his youth he stood out from the other snakes for his love of learning and culture, eventually coming into the service of the local reǵs before moving westward toward Europe. Most recently, Aryós Héngwis left his home to pursue a new life in America, where he has come under the employ of BBI Media as an internet watchdog (or watchsnake, if you will), ever poised to strike the unwary troll.

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