This past Sunday, the History Channel debuted its first scripted drama series, VIKINGS. (If you missed it, or if, like me, you don't actually have a television, iTunes had the first episode available for free, at least at the time of writing.)
VIKINGS follows the exploits of a de-mythologized Ragnar Lodbrok, a hero of Viking myths and sagas. Going by the first episode, the show hardly appears to be a straight adaptation of Ragnar's Saga; little about the show's hero remains the same as either the sagas or, as best as I can tell, the best guesses at the historical life of Ragnar. (I suppose that's not necessarily a bad thing, though it's a strange choice - nobody in America except serious Viking buffs will even recognize the name, and the people who recognize it will be confused as to why the character doesn't resemble the Ragnar of the sagas. Who knows.)
5. Vits er þörf, þeim er víða ratar; dælt er heima hvat; at augabragði verðr, sá er ekki kann ok með snotrum sitr.
6. At hyggjandi sinni skylit maðr hræsinn vera, heldr gætinn at geði; þá er horskr ok þögull kemr heimisgarða til, sjaldan verðr víti vörum, því at óbrigðra vin fær maðr aldregi en mannvit mikit.
7. Inn vari gestr, er til verðar kemr, þunnu hljóði þegir, eyrum hlýðir, en augum skoðar; svá nýsisk fróðra hverr fyrir.
8. Hinn er sæll, er sér of getr lof ok líknstafi; ódælla er við þat, er maðr eiga skal annars brjóstum í.
9. Sá er sæll, er sjalfr of á lof ok vit, meðan lifir; því at ill ráð hefr maðr oft þegit annars brjóstum ór.
Comics are my first love. I taught myself to read with Spiderman; my first after-school job primarily financed my $100 a month comics habit. And even today, comics may be my favorite medium, even if I have left the month-to-month antics of superheroes behind me. (Not for outgrowing superheroes, mind you, but because I was fed up with the companies behind them. I'm sure I'll end up ranting about this at some point.)
Anthony Gresham
Well, in "The Three 'Only' Things" by Robert Moss: "a coincidence is a meaningful convergence of inner and outer experiences. The sense of meaning co...
Steven Posch
For years, the Honeywell Project here held protest after protest against the Honeywell Corporation, which at the time was manufacturing (ye gods) clus...
Anthony Gresham
I watched an interesting video by that 'Religion for Breakfast' guy on YouTube. It was called "Would Jesus vote Republican or Democrat?" His basic p...
Mark Green
I could not disagree more.Our religions should be SUFFUSED with politics. If we're not here to make a better world, what is the damned point?Other tha...
Happy your more recent post led me read your backlog.
I'm delighted to hear it!
Beautifully rendered. I believe that it's hospitality that is the common denominator in world religion and world culture.
