Our Secret 2015-12-09

[Jabberwonky]

No one's made mention of what this says about Jessie? Plain Americano on the outside, Gingerbread Latté with extra whipped cream and a shot of vanilla syrup on the inside. All business on the outside, sweet and comforting in the inside.
Maybe she gave up being the queen bee because she didn't like the job...

[GlytchMeister]

Ya know, if i were not a regular at Mucho Mocha/didn't know Tina ... if i walked in cold and met Panel One ... i'd probably turn 'round and walk Right Back Out.

Hy LIKE dis plaze! Verra interestink staff!

[Dave]

I get the feeling that the days leading up to Christmas we're going to see pretty much most of the cast... past and present as they approach the holidays. The only one I'm a little afraid of seeing is Monica coming face to face with Bud and Monica's Ex. Does Monica know they've been seeing each other? Has Bud been keeping Monica in the loop so it doesn't cause problems if they do happen upon each other while out and about? Bud has such a soft, caring attitude about her that I could actually see her discussing it with Monica before doing anything. The last thing on Bud's mind is hurting anyone or anything...

Dunno if anything has been said, but... the whole topic of Bud being interested in Kevin is one that Georgette brought up to Monica pretty directly when she urged Monica to break up with him (for his own sake among other reasons). Monica did go ahead and Dear Kevin him immediately thereafter, on the "You deserve better than what I'm giving you" grounds.

So, the possibility (at least) that Kevin and Bud might get together, is something Monica can't claim would be a total surprise.

And, you're right, Bud might have brought up the subject to Monica at some point... if Monica is still hanging around the gang at all frequently.

Whether she'll be comfortable with the actuality is another matter, of course. Awkward, like politics, is a gas - it expands to fill every possible open space.

[FreeFlier]

Ya know, if i were not a regular at Mucho Mocha/didn't know Tina ... if i walked in cold and met Panel One ... i'd probably turn 'round and walk Right Back Out.

I agree. The antlers, the swirling eyes, the exuberance... I think I might actually be paralyzed with shock for a few seconds before managing a retreat.

The eyes would be a little much, but the rest of it I see every Christmas season around here.

There's also a certain "crazed person" vibe.

Crazed persons are an everyday occurrence here in webfooted latteland.

--FreeFlier

[AnotherFairportfan]

There's also a certain "crazed person" vibe.

Isn't that rather to be expected when you are in the presence of a person whose business deals almost entirely in stimulants and sugar-glazed carbohydrates?

"I wonder what the vintner buys..."

[oldmanmickey]

Nothing says the holidays better than a good cup of coffee. As for how i might react to the first visit of the shop, well the odds are good i would be to busy looking at all the pretty ladies to really notice the eyes.

[Dave]

Nothing says the holidays better than a good cup of coffee.

Quite right.

says-the-holidays.jpg (57.78 KiB) Viewed 10747 times

[Typeminer]

Lucifer's building a special room just for you, Dave.

[GlytchMeister]

Lucifer's building a special room just for you, Dave.

Nah. Construction was canceled a while ago. He's gotten to the point where Hell won't even take him.

"Wait. Dave? That one punster?"
"Yup. Seem's he's due in a few months."
"No. No way. This place has way too much symbolism, he'll be like a kid in a candy store. Let the featherbacks deal with him, no way am I letting that guy into my kingdom."

[jwhouk]

Lucifer's building a special room just for you, Dave.

Nah. Construction was canceled a while ago. He's gotten to the point where Hell won't even take him.

"Wait. Dave? That one punster?"
"Yup. Seem's he's due in a few months."
"No. No way. This place has way too much symbolism, he'll be like a kid in a candy store. Let the featherbacks deal with him, no way am I letting that guy into my kingdom."

"But... but why?"

"Because. There'd be hell to pay."

[GlytchMeister]

Lucifer's building a special room just for you, Dave.

Nah. Construction was canceled a while ago. He's gotten to the point where Hell won't even take him.

"Wait. Dave? That one punster?"
"Yup. Seem's he's due in a few months."
"No. No way. This place has way too much symbolism, he'll be like a kid in a candy store. Let the featherbacks deal with him, no way am I letting that guy into my kingdom."

"But... but why?"

"Because. There'd be hell to pay."

*groan*

There really is no escape, is there?

[scantrontb]

Lucifer's building a special room just for you, Dave.

Nah. Construction was canceled a while ago. He's gotten to the point where Hell won't even take him.

"Wait. Dave? That one punster?"
"Yup. Seem's he's due in a few months."
"No. No way. This place has way too much symbolism, he'll be like a kid in a candy store. Let the featherbacks deal with him, no way am I letting that guy into my kingdom."

That's OK, he can just hang out with Buwaro and Rhea then...

[TazManiac]

No one's made mention of what this says about Jessie? Plain Americano on the outside, Gingerbread Latté with extra whipped cream and a shot of vanilla syrup on the inside. All business on the outside, sweet and comforting in the inside.
Maybe she gave up being the queen bee because she didn't like the job...

I point you to the first page w/ my undercover Freak Flag reference...

[Catawampus]

Eek. Antlers?!?

Are they decorations that she is merely wearing, or did she somehow cause her body to actually grow them?

The only one I'm a little afraid of seeing is Monica coming face to face with Bud and Monica's Ex. Does Monica know they've been seeing each other? Has Bud been keeping Monica in the loop so it doesn't cause problems if they do happen upon each other while out and about? Bud has such a soft, caring attitude about her that I could actually see her discussing it with Monica before doing anything.

Well, Monica did say that she hoped Bud and Kevin would get together. Of course, there's a difference between simply saying something and actually having it happen in front of you. . .

[Gyrrakavian]

Lucifer's building a special room just for you, Dave.

Nah. Construction was canceled a while ago. He's gotten to the point where Hell won't even take him.

"Wait. Dave? That one punster?"
"Yup. Seem's he's due in a few months."
"No. No way. This place has way too much symbolism, he'll be like a kid in a candy store. Let the featherbacks deal with him, no way am I letting that guy into my kingdom."

Man, pop culture really has a way of mucking up things over the centuries. Mixing all sorts of religions together thanks to lazy translations and English Romantic poets who can't be bothered to do proper research*.

- Hades runs a kingdom of the dead in the underworld in Greek mythology (there are no current practitioners, thus "mythology").
- Lucifer is being punished like the rest of those lost souls cast into Hell according to the Christian religion.

*Incidentally, these rich bums are also largely responsible for the now quite common inaccurate depictions of many mythological creatures and figures. Lamia, for example, DID NOT have a serpent tail in place of legs. That was the drakaina Sybaris. Lamia just had a distorted face. Hell, we even know which poet's fault it was, John Keats.

[Dave]

Man, pop culture really has a way of mucking up things over the centuries. Mixing all sorts of religions together thanks to lazy translations and English Romantic poets who can't be bothered to do proper research*.

- Hades runs a kingdom of the dead in the underworld in Greek mythology (there are no current practitioners, thus "mythology").
- Lucifer is being punished like the rest of those lost souls cast into Hell according to the Christian religion.

*Incidentally, these rich bums are also largely responsible for the now quite common inaccurate depictions of many mythological creatures and figures. Lamia, for example, DID NOT have a serpent tail in place of legs. That was the drakaina Sybaris. Lamia just had a distorted face. Hell, we even know which poet's fault it was, John Keats.

Yeah, but Keats was just following an older traditional practice. Much older. Probably 20,000 years older, or more.

The human race has been conflating, mixing, trading, renaming, and remapping attributes in its religions and mythologies for a very long time. Cultures meet and mix and conquer one another, and the names and attributes of the gods they worship mix and meld and melt together. The supreme god/gods/goddesses of one people are absorbed into another culture, often being "downgraded" to a lesser status (helper-god or angel) or declared to be an "aspect" of the new culture's own deity. It's got a five-dollar-word name - syncretism - and it's been going on for a long time and is still going on today.

Throughout much of this time, "pop culture" was 99% of what there was... few people could read and write, most cultural and religious traditions were passed down verbally, and there was often major differences between "folk religion" as actually practiced by the common folk and "temple religion" as practiced by the priests and rulers. If you look at (e.g.) Greek mythology, different writers recording the beliefs in different areas in Greece often ascribed significantly different ancestries and characteristics to the various gods and demigods and monsters. I don't think there's such a thing as any "pure" mythology... at most there seems to be a general consensus among most scholars about what was likely the most-commonly-held set of beliefs at a given place and time. The times that societies have tried to "purify" their own belief systems... acknowledging only one correct interpretation, and eliminating all that don't comply... well, these have usually been terribly, terribly bloody periods in history.

There's plenty of syncretism in the roots of Christianity. Look back at biblical scholarship about Yahweh, El, Elohim (plural), and the complex relationship between early Israelite religion and Canaanite beliefs. More recently, look at how Catholicism exists in much of the New World e.g. Central and South America - many of the local saints, and traditional ways of portraying Christian holy figures are derived or adapted from the local indigenous pre-Christian religious traditions. Consider the Peruvian and Bolivian Pachamama tradition, where the Virgin Mary has been syncretized with the Pachamama "Earth Mother" goddess figure. Even today, in Peru, if you go into a Catholic church, you'll see the Virgin Mary portrayed wearing a wide triangular dress with a profile like a mountain peak.. a traditional symbol for Pachamama, and quite unlike any European or Middle Eastern representation of the Virgin that I've ever seen. For another example, look at Louisiana Voodoo - a syncretic collision between western African regions and Catholicism.

So, if anybody wants a canonical "pure" mythology, I think you'll find it rather difficult to pin one down.

Look on the bright side, though. Among all these varied and inter-mixed deities, demigods, spirits, daemons, underworlds, and purgatories, I'm sure that you'll be able to find someone willing to make a pit to hold punsters like me!

[Warrl]

The human race has been conflating, mixing, trading, renaming, and remapping attributes in its religions and mythologies for a very long time. Cultures meet and mix and conquer one another, and the names and attributes of the gods they worship mix and meld and melt together. The supreme god/gods/goddesses of one people are absorbed into another culture, often being "downgraded" to a lesser status (helper-god or angel) or declared to be an "aspect" of the new culture's own deity.

Or, alternatively, declared to be adversaries of the new culture's gods.

Quite a lot of Judaeo-Christian names for Satan or various evil angels are variations - occasionally even direct copies - of the names of gods worshipped by the neighbors, or major prophets thereof. Ba'alzebub and Baphomet are two easy examples.

But they weren't the only ones to do that, and probably not the first. The Greeks had their gods fighting and overthrowing the Titans... who were the parents of several of the gods... and some of the Titans changed sides and fought for the younger generation.

In Irish mythology, the Celts with their gods displaced the Tuatha de Danaan who had had different gods, and who had won a prolonged war with the Fomorians who had had yet a different set of gods. By Celtic times the Fomorians' gods were mostly evil, while the Tuathan gods weren't exactly evil but were not to be trusted. One can reasonably guess that the Tuatha and the Fomorians (or whatever reality those legends are based on) did not share those opinions of their respective deities.

[AnotherFairportfan]

Or, alternatively, declared to be adversaries of the new culture's gods.

Quite a lot of Judaeo-Christian names for Satan or various evil angels are variations - occasionally even direct copies - of the names of gods worshipped by the neighbors, or major prophets thereof. Ba'alzebub and Baphomet are two easy examples.

Heh. I read somewhere that a lot of the white man's names for American Indian tribes are basically mispronunciations/misunderstandings of "those evile bastards over there" in the language of the tribe just to their east...

And then there's the story (probably apocryphal, but amusing) that the kangaroo got its name because an early white explorer asked his native guide what the hell was THAT, and the guide replied "How the hell should I know, I'm not from around here", the first part of which was "ki'n'garoo" or words to that effect...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Or, alternatively, declared to be adversaries of the new culture's gods.

Quite a lot of Judaeo-Christian names for Satan or various evil angels are variations - occasionally even direct copies - of the names of gods worshipped by the neighbors, or major prophets thereof. Ba'alzebub and Baphomet are two easy examples.

Heh. I read somewhere that a lot of the white man's names for American Indian tribes are basically mispronunciations/misunderstandings of "those evile bastards over there" in the language of the tribe just to their east...

And then there's the story (probably apocryphal, but amusing) that the kangaroo got its name because an early white explorer asked his native guide what the hell was THAT, and the guide replied "How the hell should I know, I'm not from around here", the first part of which was "ki'n'garoo" or words to that effect...

Texas got its name from the Tejas tribe. They got asked at muzzle-point what they were, they responded "Friends!", or Tejas. And so the name stuck, and Texas got it's nickname the friendly state.

In unfortunately related news, ISIS destroyed the Temple of Ba'al when they sacked Palmyra. One of the pieces of ancient history, destroyed by modern-day Gauls. Senseless violence perpetrated by senseless children with delusions of competence, touting their religion to support their own personal and political agendas and the desire to watch the world burn.

[Sgt. Howard]

Or, alternatively, declared to be adversaries of the new culture's gods.

Quite a lot of Judaeo-Christian names for Satan or various evil angels are variations - occasionally even direct copies - of the names of gods worshipped by the neighbors, or major prophets thereof. Ba'alzebub and Baphomet are two easy examples.

Heh. I read somewhere that a lot of the white man's names for American Indian tribes are basically mispronunciations/misunderstandings of "those evile bastards over there" in the language of the tribe just to their east...

And then there's the story (probably apocryphal, but amusing) that the kangaroo got its name because an early white explorer asked his native guide what the hell was THAT, and the guide replied "How the hell should I know, I'm not from around here", the first part of which was "ki'n'garoo" or words to that effect...

Texas got its name from the Tejas tribe. They got asked at muzzle-point what they were, they responded "Friends!", or Tejas. And so the name stuck, and Texas got it's nickname the friendly state.

In unfortunately related news, ISIS destroyed the Temple of Ba'al when they sacked Palmyra. One of the pieces of ancient history, destroyed by modern-day Gauls. Senseless violence perpetrated by senseless children with delusions of competence, touting their religion to support their own personal and political agendas and the desire to watch the world burn.

They follow a prophecy that they will conquer all of Rome (read 'Western Powers, noticeably the US") IF we invade... Their 'Madi' will obliterate all infidels and bring the world under one Caliphate after they defeat 'Rome' on their land... this is why their tactics seem to BEG for an invasion. It is also why Obama won't do it- he ALSO knows of the prophecy, and believes it