Call for Papers for The Monash Fairy Tale Salon's Annual Event Celebrating 150 Yrs of Alice

Hot off the press from The Monash Fairy Tale Salon in Melbourne Australia:

Grand Western Arcade Handmade Boutique

Well, it's that time of year again when we start to gear up for our annual event! So excited. Though it's slightly outside the traditional definition of a fairy tale, we had to do something to celebrate the birthday of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The Monash Fairy Tale Salon will be hosting a curious afternoon of madness and muchness as we go down the rabbit hole in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. 

Long before Tim Burton and Walt Disney stepped through the looking-glass, a mathematician, a Reverend and three girls went for a boating trip on the Isis. During the journey the mathematician regaled the party with a nonsense story that has become known as one of the favourite stories for children and adults alike. 

For one afternoon only, we will be hosting an exploration of all the impossible things we can do before breakfast. Come along and learn about the author and illustrators who shaped literary history and gave us such wonderfully uncommon nonsense. For the bold at heart (or the Queen of Hearts), come dressed as your favourite Wonderland character! 

Grand Western Arcade Handmade Boutique

This event is open to anyone who has a love for nonsense and will take place at the Theatrette, Glen Eira Town Hall, on Saturday June 13th, starting at 1pm, as part of the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival.

We are looking for interested participants who would like to present papers or original work in the form of readings or performances.

Areas of interest:

– Alice's Adventures in Wonderland scholarship (incl. literary studies, film & TV, drama studies, gender studies) 

– Live performance of Carroll inspired work  

– Carroll inspired readings (incl. readings of Carroll's work or work inspired by Alice)

Please send a 100-200 word summary or abstract to arts-fairytale@monash.edu by April 27th.  For more information, please contact us at arts-fairytale@monash.edu.

Reader Spotlight: Bluebird-cakes Goes Into The Woods

I was sent a picture of this delightful - and amazing! - cake recently, from a OUABlog reader and talented fairy tale community friend, Zoe Smith of Bluebird-cakes (aka Wintersgate fairy). She kindly gave me permission to share it and some of her other fairy tale creations with you. Thank you Zoe!

About the Into the Woods cake, Zoe says:

The Into the Woods cake was chocolate mud covered in ganache and decorated in fondant icing , and modelling chocolate was used for the detail of the head and trees.

Chocolate, chocolate ganache, more chocolate... mmm. I just don't know quite how you go about eating a witch's face... (Fingers? No problem. Face? Um... please don't curse me!) But seriously, can you imagine receiving this for your birthday? I think I wouldn't let anybody touch it. Ever! ("Don't never, ever, ever mess around with my greens cake!")
         
Zoe also shared a little more about herself, confirming her long time fairy tale obsession, er, love, and that she truly is one of us...

I am a cake decorator based in the North East of England, love all things fairy tale from dark Grimm's tales to the Spiderwick  Chronicles and I bleed Disney ! Love , love , love animation and we have a collection of DVDs that I pretend belong to my kids but they are truly mine . My books are half fairy tale /animation art , half cake decoration and recipes. And lastly , I am Pinterest obsessed !  Makes you wonder how my husband puts up with me ?!

                
Look at those little animated pansies!! I want a whole cake with singing Alice flowers now...

For those lucky people in the UK who can go see and taste test one of her cakes personally: I envy you.. and keep her in mind if you need something a little special, something made with enchantment. As you can see, Zoe is sure to deliver.

I also discovered that Zoe has an Etsy shop, something for which I have no idea how she finds time to create anything with cakes like these. But in the past she made - and sold - these adorable elf boots below. (Lucky customer!)

I have a feeling we'll see more magic from Zoe's corner before long. I've added her sites and information below.)

                       Zoe Smith - Bluebird-cakes
www.facebook.com/wintersgate
www.pinterest.com/wintersgatefae

Housekeeping & Getting to the Red Heart of Papercuts

Queen of Hearts & Card Army - out of real cards by Rei_Areaaaaaaa

I've been doing a little blog-housekeeping, checking links (the Pinterest one is now fixed!) and trying to catch up on archiving the stories on the Pinterest Fairy Tale News Headline boards. Although I'm not there yet, I'm getting close to completing the archiving for last year and the plan is to get to the rest as soon as possible so I can post fairy tale headlines there again on a daily basis.

In the meantime, since there's a whole heap of stuff happening here that doesn't result in any reading for you, and I'm resisting the urge to play rather than work, here's The Queen of Hearts, made out of cards. (Sorry -the only info on the artist is the identity above that I linked to.)

(Let the puns begin!)

I particularly like a brief exchange on Reddit regarding them:

Human_Sandwich: Very nice. How did you learn how to do that? Are you into origami? 

Superplayah: As an origami artist, you are refering to our much hated brethren, the kirigami artists. For centuries we have battled with them, and to our dismay, their scissors and x-acto knifes cut through our creations too well. Eventually the origami artists figured out how to turn the tides of the ever raging war by making modular origami that could have any damaged pieces replaced by an equally capable piece. People that disagreed with the conflict left their respective warring nations and founded their own bastard of a nation where origami artists place minor cuts into creations to achieve greater detail and kirigami artists make strangely shaped papers to create even stranger pieces. We called them abominations, disliked and rejected by purists of both sides. They preach that greater detail and freedom results from their style of art but it is only a ruse to corrupt purists and gain support. Only one side can win and it is only a matter of time before the war ends and we see who the real gods of paper are! 

LegacyCrono: But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked 

MrPaperchips: I'm going to bet on the side that has the knives.

Wow - beware the paper cut! This scenario sounds like it would fit right in the book actually.

More news very soon. :)

Jasmine Becket-Griffith's 'Snow White and Rose Red'

Snow White and Rose Red by Jasmine Becket-Griffith

Jasmine Becket-Griffith is collaborating on a Fairy Tale Oracle deck! She's busy creating artwork for it right now. This is one of the most recent pieces, unveiled on February 1 this year. It's a lot softer than much of her past work has been, giving it more of a classical look. I really like it!

On her Facebook page, she explains a little about the piece:

This painting - "Snow White and Rose Red" is for my long-awaited Fairytale Oracle deck project with Lucy Cavendish & Blue Angel Publishing. As Snow White and Rose Red is about two peasant girls, this is intentionally a nod to William Bouguereau, 1800s French painter who is the master of peasant-girl paintings, hehe. These two sisters are shown early in the story (not to be confused with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - a completely UNRELATED story of a character with a similarly translated name, ahem, this is about two sisters who befriend a bear - check it out!), Snow White has light clothing and hair, Rose Red has the darker, redder colours, and this corresponds with their two forest friends - a cardinal bird and a chickadee! I love this piece, be sure to look for it in my upcoming Fairytale Oracle deck. 

As Snow White and Rose Red is about two peasant girls, this is intentionally a nod to William Bouguereau, 1800s French painter who is the master of peasant-girl paintings, hehe.  

I'll have to try and remember to look for this deck - new fairy tale art is a-comin'!

in the meantime, Ms. Becket-Griffith will be showing new Disney licensed work at the WonderGround Gallery (in Disneyland, California) on March 1st, 2014, including new paintings (currently in progress) of Belle and Alice (sneak peek shown above). Always great to see an artist's interpretation of Disney classics!

Movie Pre-Production Update: Through the Looking Glass (aka Alice in Wonderland 2)

Announced yesterday afternoon, Through the Looking Glass has an "undisclosed villain" character, needing some star power to pull it off. As of yesterday it looks like it may possibly be played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who is officially "in talks" for the role. Cohen has worked with Director, James Bobin, before so it's not a complete surprise.

From Geeks of Doom:

Sacha Baron Cohen

Borat and Les Miserables star Sacha Baron Cohen has entered into talks forThrough the Looking Glass, a sequel to Disney’s megahit live-action/computer animated hybrid Alice in Wonderland. 

Baron Cohen would join returning stars Mia Wasikowska and Johnny Deppon the cast. Directing the sequel is The Muppets and Muppets Most Wantedhelmer James Bobin, who steps in for Alice director Tim Burton.
Who Baron Cohen is playing or what story the sequel will tell is not known specifically, as all details are being kept hush hush at the moment. What is known is that the actor would be playing the villain.

Is anyone looking forward to this? It's bizarre, but it seems to me that despite Johnny Depp and Mia Wasikowska signing back on, once Tim Burton left the project people haven't been too excited about it. The weirdest thing about it, is that it still has a chance to be a good film, although May 2016 (the scheduled release time) isn't quite as far away as it sounds. If Alice 2 is going to have anything like the amount of effects and post-production work (or more) that Alice did, they'd better get a shuffle on!

PS Aren't the chess pieces stunning? Not to mention the table..!!!

Here's some info on the artist and I recommend clicking the link HERE (and also HERE to see the table) to look at many more pieces as well as a very unique and mechanical display table.:

The famous sequel of the not less famous “Alice in Wonderland” called “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There” by Lewis Carroll has a very detailed description of a chess game with unique pieces which are rather to be called separate characters. One (FTNH edit: UNNAMED!) Ukrainian ivorycutting master was inspired to create a special table and a set of chess pieces for this particular game by his daughter’s interest to Carroll’s tales.

Update (and sorry for the late post - I had to do a lot of hunting to find this info):

I found artist names! As far as I can figure out, the (insanely detailed) carved table top with Alice falling down is by Vladimir Rusinov while the rest of the Through the Looking Glass chess table, including the pieces, was by Alexander Konyaev. [See HERE for the full (if somewhat confusing) artist credits but note that the above link on Konyaev's name seems to credit him with the complete work - I think it may have been his personal project, for which Rusinov created the table top.]

Alice In Wonderland 2 Gets 2016 Release Date

Alice In Wonderland 2 is definitely going ahead and both Johnny Depp (as the Mad Hatter) and Mia Wasikowska (as Alice) are on board. As rumors suggested, Tim Burton will NOT be helming it. That task will now be on The Muppets director's plate, James Bobin.

The release date, announced Friday, is now set for May 27, 2016 (Memorial Day weekend in the US) and will likely be just as CG-tastic as the last one was, but hopefully that's a good thing. No word on if the title will get a tag line of Through the Looking Glass or similar yet but I'd be surprised if they didn't add something to indicate the storyline won't be completely continuous from the first movie. Unless it is. Which would mean a whole new and different Alice adventure, which, (IMHO) is shaky ground with the first movie's reception - and continuing reviews - being quite varied, despite it's apparent "runaway success" (monetarily speaking).

I guess we shall see, though we probably won't hear any more about it until the second half of next year now. So many ways this could go, and I'm probably not as curious as I could be, although Bobin being a co-creator of Flight of the Conchords has me admittedly hoping for unexpectedly good things...

Source: Collider & The Hollywood Reporter

TOMORROW NIGHT ONLY: Select US Theaters - The Royal Opera House Ballet Series: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

I just caught wind of this and am still trying to catch up to exactly what it is. Basically, it's an acclaimed and extravagant production of Alice in Wonderland by The Royal Ballet company (Margot Fonteyn's old company) and it will be playing on "the Big Screen" - ie. as a movie - in select theaters throughout the US as a one-time only special event November 19, 2013 (which is tomorrow night!).

 

Here's a preview (you can see why they'd want to make the most of this production!):

So I can get the news out faster, in case you have some free time tomorrow night, I'm pasting in the press release from the official site:

Date: Tuesday, November 19 

Time: 7:00 PM local time 

Run Time: 3 hours 10 minutes (approximate) (includes two – 20 minute intermissions) 

            

Ticketing: Tickets are available by clicking on the orange “Buy Tickets” button. If online ticketing is not available for your location, you can purchase your tickets by visiting the box office at your local participating cinema. 

Special Fathom Features:  Behind the scenes look at the Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet and exclusive cast interviews. 

                         

Random aside: how much do I adore this balletic flamingo?? (Answer: lots)

NCM Fathom Events, Arts Alliance Media and the Royal Opera House invite you to experience a classic tale of magic and wonder when Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland comes to the big screen in a special one night event onTuesday, November 19 at 7:00pm (local time) in select 
cinemas nationwide. 

                                

Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland arrived on the stage in 2011 with a burst of colour, theatrical magic and inventive choreography. It was The Royal Ballet’s first full-length work since 1995 and was instantly acclaimed as a classic. Joby Talbot’s score combines sweeping melodies, which gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century, with contemporary effects. Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative sets and costumes draw on puppetry, projections and masks to bring Wonderland to life. 

Alice encounters a cast of extraordinary characters down the rabbit hole: from the highly-strung Queen of Hearts, who performs a hilarious rendition of the famous Rose Adagio from The Sleeping Beauty; to dancing playing cards; a sinuous caterpillar and a tap-dancing Mad Hatter. There is a love narrative for Alice and the Knave of Hearts, and they dance a tender pas de deux at the close of Act II. But the ballet does not avoid the darker undercurrents of Lewis Carroll’s story – a nightmarish kitchen, an eerily disembodied Cheshire Cat and an unhinged tea party are all created in vivid detail.

How can you find out if it's in your theater? Actually the list if pretty good. If you live within driving distance of a decent sized US city, especially if you have an IMAX theater, there's a good chance you could see it (although it's not clear that it's playing in IMAX format - I'd be very surprised if it was!). It's even playing in my local theater and we often miss out being not exactly central LA. You can find a list by state HERE.

There will be two intermissions (just like in the very old days of watching movies!) and audiences are encouraged to tweet comments (on Twitter) before, during the breaks and after the show using the hashtag #ROHalice.

Here's the 3 Act Synopsis:

I wish I'd heard about this before as my Tuesday night is already chock-a-block ... 

*balletomane sob* 

... but the fact that it's playing as a movie likely means a DVD will be available... 

Oh, and there it is! :)

Just Released: Marks & Spencer's "Believe in Magic & Sparkle" Xmas Fairy Tale Campaign (Yes. It's As Gorgeous As They Said It Would Be.)

So, here it is. I know you've all been on the edge of your seats... ;)

Actually it's quite lovely and I sort of wish it were longer... (You can tell me "I told you so" later, 'k?)

Wonderland and Oz work very well together here, as does Little Red and Hansel & Gretel. I'm guessing Arabian Nights was the most legitimate way they could think of to have Rosie in her underwear again, though they could have taken it one step further to make it Snow Queen-ish at the end before tumbling back down to Oz. I have to admit, the guy in the painting throws me a little as all I can think of are more obscure tales that he might be from but, other than that, there are more fairy tale references than I first thought there might be. It's an interesting take and mix, though some transition better than others (as in, why did she lose her clothes through the rabbit hole, exactly? "Part of the contract" is not a legitimate answer.).

Overall it's quite lovely and very "Christmassy".

Here's a behind-the-scenes look, which is fun to watch too, and gives some insight into the thought process behind using fairy tales for Christmas. I particularly like that the Director opted to do as much "in camera" as possible, rather than use green screen and CGI. It makes a huge difference to the acting and the end result.

(Side note: I wish OUAT would do more in camera. The effects in that show really pull me out of the scenes.)

They essentially say "fairy tales and Christmas go together", which is an interesting concept to me. It seems to be a consistent idea at M&S since this isn't the first Christmas fairy tales have been used to advertise the store. 

Interestingly, my six-year old, while watching this behind-the-scenes with me, said "Fairy tales aren't all Christmassy! They happen all the time.." (Seriously - I have the best kid ever!)

This at least the second time M&S have used fairy tales for their Christmas campaign (which apparently approaches the status of Superbowl commercials in the US). Here's an earlier ad, likely from a previous "Magic & Sparkle" Christmas campaign a few years back but uploaded earlier this year, with Patrick Stewart and pop-up fairy tale books! *swoon* This one is great too, but in a very different way.

(Note: Red Riding Hood is used in both Christmas campaigns - interesting. I guess the red against the white makes for wonderful visuals and red can equal Christmas all by itself. It's just not usually a tale you put into a Christmas collection - perhaps because of the gathering flowers reference - but I like the idea of transforming non-Christmas tales to be holiday-seasonal. Could be a new and interesting fairy tale collection... hint, hint.)

Enjoy!

I have to admit, the 2013 one in particular does set a magical and Wintery mood. So well done M&S.

What did you think? Are you now inspired to make your Christmas* season fairy tale-ish this year? (She says, hurriedly throwing out the rotting jack-o-lanterns and packing up various skeletal appendages and lightweight gravestones...)

* Where I'm from, "Christmas" isn't a religious term but more a description of the season. Though I celebrate more of the Winter Solstice, I love all the end of year/mid-Winter traditions from various faiths. And I still call it Christmas. :)

Let the Holiday (Advertising) Season Begin... With Marks & Spencer's "Magic & Sparkle" Fairy Tale

You know it's supposed to be a big deal when an ad gets a trailer. That's right. The new two minute ad campaign has a fifteen second preview. Apparently the new Marks & Spencer Christmas ad campaign is "highly anticipated" (not sure by whom exactly, but anyway...) and this week they released a sneak peek teaser of the ad and a special behind-the-scenes look.

Set to an enchanting orchestral soundtrack, the ad is shot in a filmic style as it takes the viewers into a world of 'magic and sparkle' from Alice in Wonderland to the Wizard of Oz. 

Rosie Huntington-Whitely is - of course - the leading lady, first seen pursuing a pretty little dog across a city street before tumbling from the real world into a snow dusted enchanted forest, seated at a fantastical feast.

The ad then follows the lingerie designer and model through a red riding house scene, an Arabian Nights flight and finally a walk along the yellow brick road, with a little help from the ever handsome David and a bewitching Helena Bonham Carter, whose appearance is seen as a huge coup for the retailer. (source)

You can read more details HERE.

Ok, yes. It's very pretty.

But even if this ad campaign is completely beautiful and lovely and worth its millions of dollars in production (not kidding on the $), it's essentially a fancy (and expensive) Christmas window to draw people into the stores.

In the meantime, it seems like Helena Bonham Carter is giving us a preview of her fairy godmother persona from the (Disney) live action Cinderella movie to top it off, although apparently she makes an appearance in Oz first.

I've thought about this waaay too much and there was a LOT more before I deleted. (You're welcome.) I'm going to blame the current time-shift (aka ending daylight savings), turn off my brain and just watch it...

 

Aahh, there, see? I get it now. "Ooh pretty. More please!"

The full two minutes, with many more "Believe in Magic & Sparkle" fairy tale references, will be available to watch online on YouTube, this coming Monday.

What I want to know is: do you see any differences and updating in the way these familiar tales are being retold and/or used? What does this ad say about the way we view these tales? (And when did the Mad Hatter change from creepy buck-toothed crazy-person to avoid at costs, into the mysterious, sexy man at the end of a table of bounty?!)

Sorry. Apparently my brain refuses to stay in "sleep" mode, unless it's lying on a pillow. Goodnight!

What American McGee (Really) Wants Is His Alice Back... (& Other Kickstarter Gaffs): Take II

I've umm-ed and aah-ed about posting on this story for over a month now, mainly because I have NOT been impressed with how McGee has gone about this whole thing, and it appears we don't quite have an outcome yet, but I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

I should make it clear I think his Alice property is (generally) interesting, unique and important (see statements in article at link - despite being over-the-top-ridiculously violent) and that his vision and games have been an important part of how Alice is viewed right now. I also think he had an interesting take on Oz too (Oz + Steampunk + Zombies = fun, although there's a little more to it than that as well)...

BUT.

That doesn't make for a free pass on how you go about things...

Here's how I've seen it unfold (I've included a lovely set of screen caps from the headlines and left the dates intact so you can track the progress, or whatever you want to call it):
✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Breaking (but expected) Casting News: Johnny Depp to Return in Alice 2

 Johnny Depp is returning as the Mad Hatter for Alice 2. Yay.

We're very... unsurprised (don't worry, you can use "un-anything" when talking about Wonderland).

 BUT we also have to be honest. We would have been a little... discombobulated if someone else had worn his hat as well.

He pulled some very different (acting) rabbits out of his... "bonnet" on that role (sorry - the puns are endless and difficult to avoid when you're late for an important date with your writing desk..). Sensitive, sympathetic, entirely mad and a little-much (yes, little-much) disturbing, yet you can almost see Alice falling for him. Even with those weridlio contact lenses. (Looking into those would be a challenge, even with Depp's eyes behind them!) So, yes, quite a feat. We doff our... caps on that account.

Whether you liked the movie or not, if you're planing on checking out the sequel, not having Mr. Depp on board would be... well, possibly mad.

So, it's OK to cheer. Rah.

On what Alice 2 - Through the Looking Glass will be like content-wise. here's an excerpt from whatculture, summarizing the details so far:

Depp’s production company Infinitum Nihil... are now putting the wheels in motion on Through The Looking Glass that would see Depp reprise his role as the Mad Hatter from Tim Burton’s 2010 live-action/CGI adaptation, with original screenwriter Linda Woolverton again on writing duties. 

Although the planned movie shares the same name as Lewis Carroll’s own follow-up to his classic tale about Alice and that fabled rabbit hole… it likely won’t resemble too much of the novel as Burton’s 2010 film was already a sequel of sorts to both Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass. 

(No word on the other original cast members joining) ...though it seems likely offers will be put out to them. 

There’s (also) no word yet on whether Tim Burton would direct... (Edit FTNH: or if James Bobin (The Muppets) would step into Burton's shoes. He's been in talks with Disney since late May about that possibility.)

Burton's Alice without Burton? Depp in a fantasy without Burton?? And what if Alice isn't herself? (I mean, if she's not Mia Wasikowska, because Alice is never herself, which is sort of the point...)

This is way weirder news than Depp returning as Hatter.

Curiouser and curiouser.