James Enge
@jamesenge.bsky.social
We could count Dionysus, too. But, somewhat like R&R's situation, his birth mother isn't available.
Maybe this uneven distribution of foster parents is due to patriarchy: the male hero needs a male sponsor in an anti-egalitarian society, whereas he isn't perceived as needing a female sponsor.
3/3
Maybe this uneven distribution of foster parents is due to patriarchy: the male hero needs a male sponsor in an anti-egalitarian society, whereas he isn't perceived as needing a female sponsor.
3/3
November 28, 2025 at 8:20 PM
We could count Dionysus, too. But, somewhat like R&R's situation, his birth mother isn't available.
Maybe this uneven distribution of foster parents is due to patriarchy: the male hero needs a male sponsor in an anti-egalitarian society, whereas he isn't perceived as needing a female sponsor.
3/3
Maybe this uneven distribution of foster parents is due to patriarchy: the male hero needs a male sponsor in an anti-egalitarian society, whereas he isn't perceived as needing a female sponsor.
3/3
There are demigods with goddesses for mothers & mortal fathers (e.g. Achilles, Aeneas). These guys don't seem to have mortal foster mothers.
The only heroes I can think of who have foster-mothers are Romulus&Remus—marginal examples in a few ways. (Correct me if I'm missing something.)
2/x
The only heroes I can think of who have foster-mothers are Romulus&Remus—marginal examples in a few ways. (Correct me if I'm missing something.)
2/x
November 28, 2025 at 8:20 PM
There are demigods with goddesses for mothers & mortal fathers (e.g. Achilles, Aeneas). These guys don't seem to have mortal foster mothers.
The only heroes I can think of who have foster-mothers are Romulus&Remus—marginal examples in a few ways. (Correct me if I'm missing something.)
2/x
The only heroes I can think of who have foster-mothers are Romulus&Remus—marginal examples in a few ways. (Correct me if I'm missing something.)
2/x
In Greek myth, there are a lot of demigods who have gods for fathers and mortal mothers (e.g. Heracles, offspring of Zeus and Alcmena). These guys often have a mortal father on earth and an immortal father in heaven (e.g. Herc and his two fathers, Amphitryon and Zeus).
(1/x)
(1/x)
November 28, 2025 at 8:20 PM
In Greek myth, there are a lot of demigods who have gods for fathers and mortal mothers (e.g. Heracles, offspring of Zeus and Alcmena). These guys often have a mortal father on earth and an immortal father in heaven (e.g. Herc and his two fathers, Amphitryon and Zeus).
(1/x)
(1/x)
November 8, 2025 at 12:02 AM
A pretty short ballot in the Swamp this election day, but I never miss voting if I can help it. If nothing else, there’s that one guy I will always show up to vote against.
November 5, 2025 at 1:25 AM
A pretty short ballot in the Swamp this election day, but I never miss voting if I can help it. If nothing else, there’s that one guy I will always show up to vote against.
November 2, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Also proof—if any were needed—that #everythingisstartrek. Commander J.J. Adams, on detached intertemporal duty from the Federation Police Squad, is so intent on suppressing the imagination of his crew that he doesn't even dream he's sitting next to an alien interloper from the Andromeda Galaxy.
2/2
2/2
November 1, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Also proof—if any were needed—that #everythingisstartrek. Commander J.J. Adams, on detached intertemporal duty from the Federation Police Squad, is so intent on suppressing the imagination of his crew that he doesn't even dream he's sitting next to an alien interloper from the Andromeda Galaxy.
2/2
2/2
Shocktober 32: FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956). Although it contains vile slander and hate-smeared rhetoric against philologists (self-evidently the wisest and most humane of humankind), this remains the greatest sf movie between METROPOLIS and 2001.
1/2
1/2
November 1, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Shocktober 32: FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956). Although it contains vile slander and hate-smeared rhetoric against philologists (self-evidently the wisest and most humane of humankind), this remains the greatest sf movie between METROPOLIS and 2001.
1/2
1/2
Shocktober 31: HALLOWEEN (1978). Still pretty great, almost fifty years later.
October 31, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Shocktober 31: HALLOWEEN (1978). Still pretty great, almost fifty years later.
Shocktober 30: THE BIRDS (1963). Watching this on TV as a kid in a dark house with one of my brothers was the only genuinely terrifying movie experience I've ever had. It was great (in retrospect). The movie still holds up, creaky FX notwithstanding. (They were never that great.)
October 31, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Shocktober 30: THE BIRDS (1963). Watching this on TV as a kid in a dark house with one of my brothers was the only genuinely terrifying movie experience I've ever had. It was great (in retrospect). The movie still holds up, creaky FX notwithstanding. (They were never that great.)
From the demented genius of Cris Shapan: Price Krispies. The text on the box works best when read in your Vincent Price impression. (Don't tell me you don't have one; it will just make me sad.)
October 30, 2025 at 6:02 PM
From the demented genius of Cris Shapan: Price Krispies. The text on the box works best when read in your Vincent Price impression. (Don't tell me you don't have one; it will just make me sad.)
Shocktober 29: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939). Great sets & cinematography, a clumsy plot, the worst acting of Basil Rathbone's career, & a toxically saccharine child actor. Not sure why this adds up to a favorite film of mine, candidly. But it does have some great scenes, especially toward the end.
October 30, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Shocktober 29: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939). Great sets & cinematography, a clumsy plot, the worst acting of Basil Rathbone's career, & a toxically saccharine child actor. Not sure why this adds up to a favorite film of mine, candidly. But it does have some great scenes, especially toward the end.
Shocktober 28: THE HOST (2006). A lively, highly rewatchable monster movie where the worst monsters and the heroes are just people doing the best they can.
October 29, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Shocktober 28: THE HOST (2006). A lively, highly rewatchable monster movie where the worst monsters and the heroes are just people doing the best they can.
Shocktober 27: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974). My favorite Mel Brooks movie, my favorite Gene Wilder Movie, my favorite Madeline Kahn movie, and maybe my favorite Frankenstein movie (edging out SON OF by a tuft of fox-hair).
October 28, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Shocktober 27: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974). My favorite Mel Brooks movie, my favorite Gene Wilder Movie, my favorite Madeline Kahn movie, and maybe my favorite Frankenstein movie (edging out SON OF by a tuft of fox-hair).
Shocktober 26: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944). An appalling tale of serial murder, insanity, & family dysfunction. I guess this hardly qualifies as a horror movie, despite a body count higher than some of the movies I've watched this month, but it's Halloween-themed, so it sneaks in, like Mr. Spinalzo.
October 27, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Shocktober 26: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944). An appalling tale of serial murder, insanity, & family dysfunction. I guess this hardly qualifies as a horror movie, despite a body count higher than some of the movies I've watched this month, but it's Halloween-themed, so it sneaks in, like Mr. Spinalzo.
It's being called a comedy, maybe because of Byrne's comic chops and because it features actors like Conan O'Brien. It's more like a tragedy, except no one knows what that means anymore.
But Byrne deserves every goatskin full of wine for this movie. So does writer/director Mary Bronstein.
(2/2)
But Byrne deserves every goatskin full of wine for this movie. So does writer/director Mary Bronstein.
(2/2)
October 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM
It's being called a comedy, maybe because of Byrne's comic chops and because it features actors like Conan O'Brien. It's more like a tragedy, except no one knows what that means anymore.
But Byrne deserves every goatskin full of wine for this movie. So does writer/director Mary Bronstein.
(2/2)
But Byrne deserves every goatskin full of wine for this movie. So does writer/director Mary Bronstein.
(2/2)
Shocktober 25: IF I HAD LEGS, I'D KICK YOU (2025). Not really a horror film, yet more horrifying than WEAPONS in a lot of ways. A waking nightmare of the loneliness, the shame, the guilt, the anger of being a caregiver.
(1/x)
(1/x)
October 26, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Shocktober 25: IF I HAD LEGS, I'D KICK YOU (2025). Not really a horror film, yet more horrifying than WEAPONS in a lot of ways. A waking nightmare of the loneliness, the shame, the guilt, the anger of being a caregiver.
(1/x)
(1/x)
Shocktober 24: WEAPONS (2025). Yikes. An insane but utterly logical descent into hell. Many if not most supernatural horror movies lose their momentum when you start to understand what’s going on. This kept moving like a freight train through its horrifying, strangely satisfying conclusion.
October 26, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Shocktober 24: WEAPONS (2025). Yikes. An insane but utterly logical descent into hell. Many if not most supernatural horror movies lose their momentum when you start to understand what’s going on. This kept moving like a freight train through its horrifying, strangely satisfying conclusion.
Shocktober 23: “The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham”. Either Mr Pelham is drifting into insanity, or something much more sinister is happening. Or both, of course.
October 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Shocktober 23: “The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham”. Either Mr Pelham is drifting into insanity, or something much more sinister is happening. Or both, of course.
At the Fortress of Engitude, we're celebrating the Day of Might, proclaimed by the late, unceasingly great Howard Jones as a day for celebrating sword and sorcery, heroic fantasy, and heroic fiction generally.
jamesenge.com/2025/10/23/o...
jamesenge.com/2025/10/23/o...
October 23, 2025 at 5:09 PM
At the Fortress of Engitude, we're celebrating the Day of Might, proclaimed by the late, unceasingly great Howard Jones as a day for celebrating sword and sorcery, heroic fantasy, and heroic fiction generally.
jamesenge.com/2025/10/23/o...
jamesenge.com/2025/10/23/o...
Shocktober 22: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). I liked this movie pretty well when I was 9 or 10, but not as much as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS. Now I'm thinking I'd better not rewatch that one, either.
October 23, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Shocktober 22: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). I liked this movie pretty well when I was 9 or 10, but not as much as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS. Now I'm thinking I'd better not rewatch that one, either.
Shocktober 21: DRAUG (2018). A Swedish movie about the restless dead, set late in the Viking era. Grimly watchable, with a bleak but strangely satisfying ending.
October 22, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Shocktober 21: DRAUG (2018). A Swedish movie about the restless dead, set late in the Viking era. Grimly watchable, with a bleak but strangely satisfying ending.
Shocktober 20: A CHINESE GHOST STORY II (1990). Not quite as coherent as the original, but another throw-everything-against-the-wall fantasy adventure with some great monsters.
October 21, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Shocktober 20: A CHINESE GHOST STORY II (1990). Not quite as coherent as the original, but another throw-everything-against-the-wall fantasy adventure with some great monsters.
Shocktober 19: THE THING (1982). We were in the mood for a slam dunk. Consider the dunk slammed.
October 20, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Shocktober 19: THE THING (1982). We were in the mood for a slam dunk. Consider the dunk slammed.