I’ve never looked at a Michigan Map so intently before today, and I’ve never noticed how many lake islands there are in that state. Nothing like an election to get a better sense of a state’s geography 🤪
Monica Vale
@themythicglass.com
🪞🐍 Writing articles about how myths, religion, and history create identity and cultural systems on Offprint (& Substack for now). 👾 Streaming my research and marginalia notes on Twitch. 🌈 Personal blog on Pckt. LINKS TO ALL↓ https://lnk.bio/themythicglass
Hooray, my state actually doing something good. Too bad that the politicians that put shit like this on the ballot keep getting elected… Missouri keeps electing progressive policies but anti progressive politicians—it’s infuriating.
With the people’s power to effect change on the line, Missouri voters showed up to defend their rights. And in November, when abortion rights are on the ballot, they’ll do it again.
Seems like an appropriate way to wrap up a wild week in classics is an Onion article about ✨the discourse✨
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
I read Discontent by Beatriz Serrano in one afternoon. I really enjoyed this book, and may identify with this protagonist than I’d like to admit. 😅 It truly put to words the existential dread of having to work in a capitalist world with such snark. I definitely recommend! #booksky
Wait-film people are mad about Wilson's review? When a movie is called "The Odyssey" and is based on the poem, it deserves critique for how it failed. Nolan had NO expert ancient world consultants-major hubris on Nolan's part...
Boy do I have a deal for this guy.
Demon Guard
Are demons preventing you from liberty and happiness? It’s nothing to be ashamed of, the wicked often prey on the righteous. Demon Guard is an easy-to-wear patch that secretes holy water and minerals ...
store.theonion.com
Colorado GOP Gov candidate Victor Marx says God has given him a "gift" to uncover people's demons and rid them of evil spirits through a specialized prayer. Marx says you, too, can learn how to do it. The eight-part course is $99. www.9news.com/article/news...
I heard someone on a podcast essentially saying that if you call yourself a feminist and anti-imperialist but found anything enjoyable or worth praising in Nolan’s Odyssey then you’re a traitor to both feminism and anti-imperialism. 🧵
Robert Pattinson's Antinous is definitely one of the best parts of the movie The Odyssey. I'll be the annoying friend in the group chat using this GIF to death:
9. By far my favorite thing in the film is Robert Pattinson's hilarious and sexy Antinous. If anyone ever wants to make a spin off TV series with Antinous risen from the dead to mess with other mythical households, I would be so there for it.
"I have learned that you get a lot more out of classics if you allow it to be a disruptive challenge to self-serving modern certainties, rather than turn it into an untouchable ancestor in whose shadow you should count yourself lucky to sit." Seems poignant to remember as folks watch The Odyssey.💙📚
Another great thread from a translator of The Odyssey, this time on the cover which features the “Ladies in Blue” fresco from Crete.
Odysseus repeatedly tells lies about coming from Crete. Crete is a land of a past that never happened. The Cretan cover says: As you read this Odyssey, think about lying, identity, story-telling, myth, and whether the past can ever be truly recaptured.
Well no matter how you feel about Nolan’s Odyssey, you know it’s 100% better than a Musk made Grok slip fest
Presumably including a historically accurate cyclops
The belly-aching, whining shade of Homer's Agamemnon in the Odyssey thanks Nolan for his service to revamp his cool factor:
Benny Safdie Does Some Major Aura Farming as Agamemnon in ‘The Odyssey’
The actor-director explains how he embraced the aggressive physicality of the Trojan War commander in Christopher Nolan’s new epic.
menshealth.com
🚨Get HADES II for 30% off, and the original HADES for 70% off, now till next week on Steam!🌖 Now's a great time to battle beyond the Underworld and get to know that Odysseus guy everybody's been talking about, plus dozens more from Greek myth.⛵️ Links in the replies⤵️
My mom died two weeks ago, and while I'm not ready to get into *all* the ways that impacts me, I DID want to briefly talk about how I wasn't anticipating how damn *exhausting* the grief process is, at least for me. I'm feeling it accurately as the beginning of a new week is here, yet again.
My mom died two weeks ago, and part of me went with her.
CW: parental death (obvi) but nothing in detail. Still, take care while reading if you need. 💜
monicavale.com
Finishing this weekend by continuing “Son of Nobody” by Yann Martel—which I’m enjoying immensely. It’s one thing for a novelist to retell a Greek epic, but another thing to create their OWN epic *and* tell the story of the translator at the same time. #booksky #currentlyreading
All translations of literature should be critiqued, but there's a unique flavor that a lot of the criticisms of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey have. They read like butthurt elites pissed at the audacity to let the plebs in the ivory tower, but they bury their big feelings in jargon.🧵/1
Ooo boy, this Odyssey discourse is wild. From the criticism & praise for the movie to translations of the poem, from right to left wing politics, it’s interesting to see how many people tie their identity to this story.
A timely thread considering a certain recently released movie 🏺
A thread rating every amphora emoji 🏺
Just got back from seeing The Odyssey in theaters. There’s a lot that I really liked and some changes from the poem that make sense for the film. The only thing I *loathed* was what the film did to Helen (and not because of who played her! Lupita Nyong'o is wonderful!)
I’m always excited to see a detailed thread from Emily Wilson. And this time she comes through in a thread before Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey comes out! 🧵
On the language of Homeric Greek, and the language of a certain forthcoming film: here are a few simple observations.
Maybe it's internalized misogyny mixed with some old-fashioned self-deprecation, but I can't help but call my inner critic a sarcastic bitch. As I've gotten older, I've become better at dealing with her, no matter how mean she is to me. And by deal with, I mean blog about on my @pckt.blog
Apologies to the self-love advocates, but ngl, my inner critic is a sarcastic bitch.
Why is it so hard to do the thing you wish you had more time (or more energy) to do? That thing is different for each of us, but there's a common string that connects them all. My thing is writing about a subject extremely important to me, but another person's thing could be painting, sewing projects, or creating music. Maybe yet another person's thing isn't so traditionally creative as producing art or creating a tangible object; maybe this person's thing is coding or programming.
monicavale.com
I see that Athena not only beautified Penelope in the Odyssey, but that extended to Anne Hathaway as well because she looks absolutely gorgeous.
There's a part in the book "Careless People" where the author beats Zuck at Settlers of Catan, and he is absolutely wrecked by it. Someone pulls her aside to explain everyone else has been letting him win for years. I think about this a lot re: why tech bros think everyone will love AI chatbots.
People who spiral out overusing LLM chatbots are really just experiencing the kind of brain-damaging stream of unconditional validation that’s always been the norm for the hyper-wealthy, which explains a lot.
I found a letter I wrote to myself as a freshman in high school. (2007) It brought tears to my eyes...until I read that my favorite band was Nickelback. Out of curiosity, I refreshed my memory today by listening to the '01-'05 albums. It's amazing how well the brain can retain song lyrics.
Come join “one of the most intellectual channels on Twitch” today (7/6) at 6:00 pm CST (4:00 pm PST / 11:00 pm GMT) for a Co-Working and Study session! 🧵 1/3
Obviously Swift is better than Elon Musk (not sure why everyone always jumps to that anytime someone criticizes Swift) but her donations are drops in the bucket for her. Yes it’s better than nothing, and obvi better than musk, but that also doesn’t give her a free pass to avoid all criticism ever
Billionaire Taylor Swift donates MILLIONS to charities before her wedding. Trillionaire Elon Must *takes* millions away for starving children in Africa and otherwise does *nothing* to help anyone but himself. And I see people on here accusing *her* of being "self-indulgent." Excuse me?
The ancient Phoenicians didn’t just give us the alphabet, but they’re using it to control us from Hell. 😆 Thank you @realinfowars.bsky.social and I hope Alex Jones is absolutely hating what's happening to Info Wars now youtu.be/tnz6PTSXiI0?...
Oh hello my beautiful new friend! My collection of @princetonupress.bsky.social books continues to grow! #booksky #currentlyreading
It's usually never a good thing when something's trending on Bsky. So, seeing Obsidian on the list freaked me out. I use @obsidian.md to store ALL my notes and writing projects. Thankfully, it seems like it was for a different Obsidian than the notetaking software! 🙏 Crisis averted.
Ok, well that seals it. I was already thinking about getting "Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep," but with this review from @gabino.bsky.social, I'm *definitely* getting it. #booksky #tbr
My review of @paultremblay.bsky.social’s Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep, from @wmmorrowbooks.bsky.social, is now up at @npr.org. www.npr.org/2026/06/30/n...