Monthly Archives: June 2015

Words for Sale: A Critical Political Economy of Paganism

aboymadeofsky's avatarGODS & RADICALS

by Jonathan Woolley

Image from flickr. Creative Commons Licence. Image created by Tax Credits, sourced from Flickr, used under a Creative Commons Licence.

A couple of days ago, Rhyd wrote an excellent essay on the Faustian pact of Google Analytics, and other similar software packages. Sure, you get all sorts of interesting information out, he explained, but at its heart, this seemingly benign, innovative means of objectively assessing impact and reach – the sort of thing authors endlessly agonise about, particularly in such a crowded forum as the internet – allows Google and other organisations to collect detailed information about your readership; for sale to the highest bidder. Like so much in our society, when you reflect upon the ways in which influence, money, management and labour intersect within SEO, social media, and the like – a form of reflection called “political economy” – an unsavory commercial logic emerges from the undergrowth.

Sadly…

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The HAES® files: From Dieter to Freedom

I agree with the writer of this post about WW being abusive; you’re never good enough, never doing it right and every six months the plans change just to keep you buying their products. I tried WW and Slimming World repeatedly. WW was definitely the worst, always noting every little bit of food, obsessing constantly about food, feeling a useless failure after the first few weeks of losing a few pounds because I’d started putting weight back on. It was horrible. And expensive; I was either unemployed or on a low income a lot of the time and trying to find the money every week for meetings and then their products was difficult, and the reason I stopped going. Why pay for someone else to make me miserable, I can do that on my own.
Thanks to Lara Frater at the HAES blog for writing this blog post.

Review: ‘Buddhism for Dudes’ by Gerry Stribling

Buddhism for Dudes: A Jarhead’s Field Guide to Mindfulness

Gerry Stribling

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Published by: Wisdom Publications
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 9781614292296
Price: $14.95 (USD)
Publication Date: 25th August, 2015   

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Review: Stormbringer by Alis Franklin

Stormbringer
Book 2 of the Wyrd

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Alis Franklin

Published by: Random House Publishing Group – Hydra
Edition: Ebook
ISBN: 9780553394627
Price: $2.99 (USD)
Publication Date: 21st July, 2015

Blurb
Ragnarok—aka the end of the world—was supposed to doom the gods as well. Instead, it was a cosmic rebooting. Now low-level IT tech and comic-book geek Sigmund Sussman finds himself an avatar of a Norse goddess. His boyfriend, the wealthy entrepreneur Lain Laufeyjarson, is channeling none other than Loki, the trickster god. His best friends, Em and Wayne, harbor the spirits of slain Valkyries. Cool, right?

The problem is, the gods who survived the apocalypse are still around—and they don’t exactly make a great welcoming committee. The children of Thor are hellbent on reclaiming their scattered birthright: the gloves, belt, and hammer of the Thunder God. Meanwhile, the dwarves are scheming, the giants are pissed, and the goddess of the dead is demanding sanctuary for herself and her entire realm.

Caught in the coils of the Wyrd, the ancient force that governs gods and mortals alike, Sigmund and his crew are suddenly facing a second Ragnarok that threatens to finish what the first one started. And all that stands in the way are four nerds bound by courage, love, divine powers, and an encyclopedic knowledge of gaming lore.

MY REVIEW

I giggled so much reading this book. I think I enjoyed it more than the first one, Liesmith, because now that we know the characters their stories have a chance to blossom.

I love the characters of Lain, Sig, Em and Wayne. Hel and her siblings are very sympathetically written, and the younger gods are such teenage brats! If their actions weren’t so awful then it’d be funny.
The book could do with an editor, there were minor spelling and grammar errors that look like a slip of the keyboard, but nothing to distract from the story.

Very enjoyable second book.

4/5