IF I HAD A HAMMER (A POST YULE REFLECTION ON COMPARATIVE RELIGION)

Ever since the time, as a young lad, I saw Kirk Douglas in the movie The Vikings, I have always considered the idea of worshiping Odin, Thor and the rest just as appealing as any other theological baloney. (This was, of course, before Jedi had become an acceptable mode of worship.) And thus this stir-crazy inmate in Utah gets all of my support. I mean, the Norse didn’t stone adulterous women (who also had the vote, incidently) or throw drunks into spurious rehab. I fact, I don’t think they even threw drunks out of Valhalla.

"An inmate is suing the Utah Department of Corrections for denying him his right to practice an ancient Nordic religion while behind bars. Michael Polk is serving time for aggravated assault and robbery. He filed a lawsuit against corrections officials in federal court, accusing them of denying him religious items that he says are necessary to practice the Asatru religion. The religion worships ancient Nordic gods like Odin, Thor, Tyr and Heimdal. In the lawsuit, Polk says he has been a member of the Asatru faith since 2005, and in order to properly practice it he needs items including: a Thor's Hammer, a prayer cloth, a Mead Horn used for drinking Wassail, a drum made of wood and boar skin, a rune staff and a sword."

AND FOR WASSAIL GOOD MEASURE
Here’s the return of The Viking Kittens

The secret word is Mead

And finally I have review-of-the-year media column in LA CityBeat that took on a life of its own and turned all kinda Yeatsian