Alexx's Journal

I have recently become mildly obsessed with the YouTube channel of Dr. Jackson Crawford, a scholar who for the last couple years has been spreading knowledge of Old Norse mythology and culture in brief, informative mini-lecture videos. There’s videos on sources, specific myths, topics of general interest, and language and pronunciation. The videos link to each other, and to other sources, forming a massive hypertext corpus in bite-size chunks.  Crawford is an engaging speaker, and (essential to any good scholar) is willing to correct his mistakes, and to admit when he doesn’t actually know something.

 He also has a good sense of humor, and is clearly engaged with 21^st Century culture. I was particularly tickled by the video Canon, "Fanon," and Variation in Norse Myth. He also refers to some later sources as “Medieval fanfic” of earlier ones. Indeed, his first go-round with internet-fame was back in 2010, when he wrote Tattúínárdǿla saga, a mock-scholarly work about the Icelandic  sagas that George Lucas based Star Wars upon. More recently, he’s recorder a couple versions of The Cowboy Hávamál, the classic Norse work of advice on life, translated into the idiom of a cowboy in the American West.

 Whether you’re new to Norse Myth, or want a deep dive into details, he’s got a lot worth seeing. Very Highly Recommended.

 (I miss Kali…)