It’s a big year for Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. There’s a fancy anniversary edition, “updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text.” There’s the promise of a big-budget TV adaptation. And most of all, a long-awaited sequel on the way.

via Neil Gaiman Reveals the Future of American Gods.

HBO is developing Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The popular 2001 novel details the adventures of an ex-convict named Shadow, laying out a battle between two sets of gods. (One set, the traditional spiritual gods and mythological creatures, is in danger of being supplanted by “a new set of gods, who reflect America’s preoccupation with technological advancements and obsessions with media, celebrity, technology and drugs.”) The project comes from Playtone, Tom Hanks’s production company, also behind Big Love and Band of Brothers. True Blood fans looking forward to HBO’s other upcoming fantasy series, Game of Thrones, should be pumped about this.

via Neil Gaiman’s American Gods Heads to HBO — Vulture.

Because Hinduism is polytheistic, our Hindu friends have a number of deities from which to choose. The ishta devata is the deity you choose. The idea here is to find a deity who speaks to you. You need to do some research. You find one you like. The deity must have some depth with characteristics you have or that you would like to develop. You use this deity as a focal point for meditation, devotion, and personal growth. The deity you choose is a vehicle for your own growth.

via Shuck and Jive: Ishta Devata: A Sermon.

Last month the Economist reported on an ongoing study called Explaining Religion. The project’s social scientists have spent the last three years gathering data on various aspects of religious practice with a focus on the “moral behaviour that religions often claim to govern.”

via Can Science Explain Religion? : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR.

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In the first-released Star Wars, we meet a Horus/Jesus analog (Luke Skywalker), an Osiris/Jesus who becomes a Set/Satan (Darth Vader), an Isis/Hathor/Mary amalgam in Princess Leia (who has Hthor’s warrior spirit), an Osiris/John the Baptist (Obi-Wan Kenobi), two Thoths in the droids C3PO and R2D2 (note similarity of the word ‘Droids’ to ‘Druids’) and an Anubis, split into the figures of Han Solo and Chewbacca (as Anubis the canine figure).

via The Secret Sun: Son of the Suns: The Star Wars Symbol Cycle.

From Confucius to Oprah, people have been preaching compassion for centuries — but many still haven’t learned to put it into practice. We regularly hear new accounts of bullying in schools, rhetorical battles in Washington and violence in the U.S. and around the world. Religious historian Karen Armstrong argues religion, which should be a vocal advocate for compassion, is often part of the problem. She’s now working to unite religious leaders from all faiths behind the common principle of compassion, based on The Golden Rule. In her new book, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, Armstrong talks about her project, the Charter for Compassion, and offers concrete ways to add compassion in our everyday lives.

via January 10th show : Blog Of The Nation : NPR.

Follow the link at the bottom to get to the original post with the Alan Moore documentary embedded.

Alan Moore needs no introduction around these parts. He’s the creator of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, the Jack the Ripper drama From Hell as well as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which I believe is the finest superhero fiction ever written. For those of you who haven’t read his work maybe this documentary will change your mind. I find it both intimidating and inspiring, maybe even a bit irritating given Moore’s diehard hippie solipsism. But it’s never boring, and if any of you out there are looking for a reason to continue in what creative pursuits you might have been putting off, Moore’s views on the nature of creativity will surely help provide one.

via The Secret Sun: Enter the Mindscape.

In a nutshell, rock and roll is a renewed expression of the deeply rooted ancient mysteries, such as those of Orpheus, Cybele and Attis, Isis, Mithra, the Druids, and so on.

via The Secret History of Rock ‘N’ Roll | Reviewed by D.M. Murdock | Acharya S.

Cast of Characters

I wish I’d known about GastroPhobia sooner: I would’ve worked it into the course. This blogger from io9.com gives you the lowdown on this irresistibly awesome web comic:

GastroPhobia elevates silliness to an art form. Phobia forms one half of our titular crew, a former Amazon warrior turned barbarian huntress who wanders the Grecian forests with her pudgy, smart-mouthed son Gastro. But the woods of this version of ancient Greece don’t hold mere Nemean lions or Erymanthian boar. No, Gastro and Phobia encounter a far odder creatures: a monstrous version of Bambi, warrior mockingbirds, time travelers, and, of course, those magical pretty ponies.

Despite McGuire’s talent for juggling anachronisms, GastroPhobia is at its heart a screwy sendup of Greek myths and legends, and there are sly references to the labors of Hercules and Zeus’ propensity for seducing women in animal form. And that poor Sphinx only has one riddle, and everyone already knows it.

via Greek myths you didn’t learn in school.