76 - New gods are created every day
Hey there, !
As a non-religious guy, I love thinking about mythology / theology / gods / goddesses. I’ve been playing Hades, an absolutely FANTASTIC game on the Switch (and also PC) that tells the story of Zagreus, Hades’ son, trying to escape from Tartarus. I’ll go into more detail in ✔️ Real Life Recommendations below!)
The gods in the story are the traditional gods from Greek mythology that we’ve come to know - Zeus, Poseidon, Artemis, Ares, Athena etc. They are gods of the natural forces of the world (like thunder, the sea, the sun) or of human creations (like war, hunting, harvest, wisdom).
I understand why they’ve come to be, but I always wonder about small gods. I’ve been attached to this concept since I read Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. Actually, most of Terry Pratchett’s conceptions of gods are hilarious - there’s a crocodile god that loves eating sausages, there’s a minor goddess of Things That Stick In Drawers (“How can it close on the damned thing but not open with it? Who bought this? Do we ever use it?”), and there’s an ‘Oh God of Hangovers’, who, rather than being able to drink and never get a hangover (like Dionysus / Bacchus), always has a hangover even though he never drinks!
And so my thoughts turned inward. In Greek and Roman mythology, there are also a gods of love (Eros, Cupid, Aphrodite), but…
…who looks after the single people? Maybe in the olden days there was a lot more focus on being married, coupled up, having kids and growing the family, but in more modern times, surely there can be updates?
Introducing…the God of Singlehood: Monos - the patron god of self-reflection, introspection, and hatred of PDA:
- Great friends with Dionysus and Bacchus, the gods of partying and general revelry, as well as the Muses, who Monos sends to people for inspiration
- Continuously ensures that streaming services have excellent content to watch
- Blesses your plants with healthy, happy growth
- Clears your schedule with which you can mould to your heart’s content
- Bestows pets upon the devoted (Monos seems to really like cats…)
- Ensures your newsletter grows more and more over time 👀
- Engender strong feelings of jealousy, insecurity and loneliness (gods are fickle, y’know?)
Anything else I missed? :D
Chat soon :)
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✔️ Real Life Recommendations
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Hades - a FANTASTIC game on PC and Switch. Developed by Supergiant Games (who also created the fantastic game Bastion), this game is a masterpiece not only in gameplay, but also in narrative storytelling. In the game, you play as Zagreus, son of Hades, trying to escape Hell and get to the surface. Every time you die, you are respawned back in Hell, to repeat the same torturous climb up to the surface again and again. However, the key beauty of this is that every time you die, you progress the story - people will reveal more details about the world, your abilities, the various relationships you have with other characters, and unlock more upgrades to the world. It’s an incredibly fun game to pick up and play as well (which is why I have it on the Switch) - and I’ve sunk an ungodly amount of time into it. Highly recommended!
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Mythos / Heroes - Stephen Fry retells the stories of the Greek Gods (and Heroes) in a clear, simple way. I think we all peripherally know about their stories (e.g. Hercules by Disney), but actually reading things like how the Pegasus was actually birthed, or about the creation myth, or the 12 Labours of Hercules, the quest for the Golden Fleece, or the badass female huntress Atalanta - they’re just so fascinating to read. It’s a really easy way to get into Greek mythology if you’re keen :)
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Why is there a Bucatini shortage in America? - sometimes, investigative reporters get on to really weird tangents. An interesting article that was ultimately solved in a follow-up article here, but had incredible quotes such as the below:
Ultimately, I had more questions than I did answers. I did not, for example, understand who from Big Pasta had targeted De Cecco and why. I was also slightly worried that I had inadvertently made myself a target of Big Pasta. And more importantly, I did not know if I would get to taste De Cecco’s brilliant, sentient noodle ever again.
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Friendcatchers - a ‘friendcatcher’, is something you offer for free, that helps you catch friends. The words comes from ‘dreamcatcher’ (something that hangs above you while you sleep and catches dreams / nightmares) and came from the author’s friend’s mum:
Patrick, you should learn to cook. Don’t learn to cook because you want to eat food - learn to cook because if you learn to cook you will have an excuse for the rest of your life to bring people over to your house.
No one who knows how to cook will ever lack for friends.
I mean, that was the concept I loved most from the article; acquiring skills for the purpose of connecting with other people - the rest is about building your portfolio online by helping others (snore).
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How to Date like a Game Theorist - an overthought way of dating through apps using decision making frameworks…which isn’t bad but I think is a bit overexplained. Still, it’s an interesting read if you’re on the hunt for an economist partner :D