Folklore TV on the Interwebs

Sometimes I don't know how things like this can go under my radar for so long, but there was a charming television show produced by North Carolina Public Television called "Folkways" hosted by musician David Holt.

I came across this by reading the latest Foxfire collection, which I recommend picking up.

You can find the show here at UNC-TV online. Viewing these episodes requires Realplayer, and I don't like Realplayer. But, happily, they are also available -FOR FREE! - on iTunes. I already have a few episodes loaded on my iPod for my next trip to the gym.

Add These to Your Bookshelf

It's the beginning of the month, and that means one thing at The New Vernacular Culture - that it's time to check out the new titles of interest to folklorists of all stripes. Here are some of the books I would like to add to my bookshelf soon:

• The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore: A Study in Comparative Archaeology - Christian Blinkenberg. Cambridge University Press. This book was originally published in 1911. It's in the Public Domain and can also be found here. And here. If you want a hard copy - for cheaper - try out the Harvard Bookstore; their machine Gutenberg will print out any pdf in minutes flat.
• Demonology and Devil-lore - Moncure Daniel Conway. Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge, Cambridge University Press. Reprint of 19th century work, in two volumes. Volume two here. Also free in many formats at Archive.org.
• Religion and the Decline in Magic - Keith Thomas. Penguin History, Penguin Global.
• Lord of the Dead: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl - Rudolfo Anaya. University of New Mexico Press.
• Ragnarok: The End of the Gods - A. S. Byatt. Myths Series, Grove Press. I don't know, I kind of like John Hodgman's version.
• The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale - Caroline Sumpter. Palgrave Studies in 19th Century, Palgrave Macmillan.

This month more than others, it appears that there is a surfeit of re-published folklore books and print-on-demand titles. Most of these titles are available for free many places - for the Kindle, on Archive.org and over at Google Books.