Tag: Greek

A Sad Tale, and Perhaps a Lesson: Ray Harryhausen’s Retirement @DenofGeekUS #DenOfGeek #MythologyMonday #MythologyMonandæg

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This is a link to a sad story for me, care of Den of Geek. It celebrates the birthday of the special effects pioneer, Ray Harryhausen. As I’ve written, I love Clash of the Titans. It was a huge part of my childhood. It’s a shame that it represents the end of an era. TL;DR: A brutal review of Clash of the Titans by a dense, visionless critic (not my favorite group of people) writing for Variety drowned out the positive reviews and disheartened Harryhausen. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, causing him to retire from filmmaking. While his techniques had largely (not completely!) become antiquated at that point, my guess is that he would have adapted if he had stayed. We’ll never know. Even if that’s not the case, the article points out that he was more than just a special effects guy.

For the average person, social media isn’t as focused as a movie review. That is, as a non-celebrity, I don’t wake up every morning expecting an attack on my character, but the volume of commentary is so large that you’d be a fool not to think it’ll come your way eventually. Don’t let it bum you out, especially when it comes from people that don’t know you that are saying things that aren’t true.

Ray left for Olympus in 2013. Rest in peace, good sir.

Wouldn’t it be cool if he were buried on Mt. Olympus?

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My Appreciation for Hephaestus #MythologyMonday #MythologyMonandæg

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Hephaestus got a bum deal. He was born ugly (not his fault), and for that he was cast out from Olympus by his mother, Hera. This disabled him. Or maybe the next casting out did. A lot of this depends on whom you ask.

This looks familiar.

Somehow, he made it back to Olympus, but despite always coming through for the gods via his skills as a blacksmith, this treatment continued. He was cast out again, this time by Zeus (who may have been his dad) after a family spat. He made it back a second time because some drunk hedonist named Dionysus snuck him in. Even Dionysus screwed him over, though, foiling his plans to teach Hera a lesson. As the archetype of the “middle child,” I can relate to all of this. I was always treated like crap despite being the only reliable member of the family. But hey, it was my fault for continuing to keep them in my life for the first forty years or so. Hephaestus should have cut ties as well.

However, Hephaestus ultimately had it better than I. He was put in an arranged marriage with Aphrodite in order to avoid a war among the other gods for her hand in marriage. I’m sure he liked this arrangement. Aphrodite has not returned my requests for comments on the matter, but her infidelity speaks volumes. In the end, she wasn’t much of an olive branch.

Yes, I used a hashtag including a Norse word in it. Norse gods >> Greek gods.

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Mythology Problems #MythologyMonday

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This is an oldie but goodie.

Here’s an example of #1

Here’s an example of #2

Here’s an example of #3

Here’s an example of #4

Spelling counts.

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