Bibbidi Bobbidi Basketball Jerseys

1. THE PLEASURE ISLAND MONSTROS

A Whale of a Team

The man-eating beast lurking around the shores of Pleasure Island has inspired this team’s monstrous stats. Watch out for their end game (and their toothier front, as well)!

Fairy tales and sports: it's one of those combinations I have to weed through daily to find the 'real' fairy tale news, but this time the two have been combined wonderfully by the talented graphic design team at shirts.com.

These guys looked like they had a lot of fun making these! 

4. THE FORBIDDEN MOUNTAIN THORN BUSHES

A Thorny Lineup

You’ve got to watch out for these players! They have infamous elbow jabs and they know how to use them. If they’re behind at the half, they become real fire-breathing hot heads.

15. THE SNUGGLY DUCKLING DREAMERS

Breakin' Femurs

The only team in the league that can somehow play with hook hands. They’ve got big dreams to win the whole thing and nothing is going to stop them except, perhaps, a spontaneous frying pan duel. 

Very clever!

Here's their introduction (and I like their notes about the teams too):

16. THE ARENDELLE ICE HEARTS

It Takes Heart

Beware the frozen heart!

They’ve got icy resolve to win at any cost.

They keep their home games as cold as an eternal winter,

 the cold never bothered their biggest fans, anyway.

It’s that time of year again: the sneakers are squeaking, the balls are bouncing, and you’ve finally spotted your first referee of the season. It can only mean one thing -- March Madness is here! 

While we’re all basketball mad around the office with our brackets all stacked with care, we noticed that we have a year-round-madness that is much more magical than even the hottest NCAA game. We’re speaking, of course, about Disney magic! So, we thought it would be a wonderful idea to take our two passions and mash them up. 

If the Disney universe held its own basketball tournament, these are the jerseys all the fans would be proudly sporting to every game.

I have to say, if these were real products, I'd be pulling out my wallet to order a couple of them right now.

14. THE XIAN LUCKY CRICKETS

Lucky Shot

If your team can deal with the incessant cricket noises throughout the game, we think they’ll have no problem winning the match. Either way, fans love the fireworks show at the end buzzer!

(I like the cricket one because it makes me think of lots of different folktales too, not just the movie source.)

You can go see them all, full size, HERE - and guess which jersey belongs to which team (movie).

Now we just wish they were real.

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Folktales (Must See!)

I have less than 10 minutes to write this post so please forgive the intense brevity!
First a quote on the gorgeous patchwork quilt design created for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics:

In the concept design, every patch was infused with the history and personality of traditional crafts from each of Russia’s 89 regions: in a single tapestry we combined Uftyuzhskaya painting and Vologda lace, Gzhel and Zhostovo painting, Kubachi patterns and the flowers of Pavlo Posad shawls, Mezenskaya painting and Khokhloma, Yakutsk patterns, fabrics of Ivanovo and other distinctive Russian patterns. That is how we arrived at a modern, distinctive and unmistakeably Russian Look of the Games.”

(See HERE for more on the Sochi quilt designs, including examples of the folk art it drew on.)

Sochi Olympic Opening = folktales coming to life!

If you haven't seen it - go find and watch! Many allusions to folktales, traditions, beliefs displayed in art, dance, film and theater.

My favorites: the Tolstoy tribute and Tchaikovsky's 'Spinning Lake' (the former = dance-theater par excellence, & the latter = wondrous + incredible physical physical feat!).

Adored the amount of regular people involved in behind-the-scenes and in performing (over 2 000 regular every day people), as well as world renowned artists, proving that with hard work, good design and planned timing ordinary people can make real magic too.

The opening ceremony was breathtaking, often incredibly beautiful, classical yet contemporary, very innovative, overall wondrous and technically marvelous.

Seriously, the tech side was perfect, (minus one, unfortunately very visible glitch), the technology used was cutting edge but felt classical and beautiful, and the best of all the arts - music, design, theater, dance, puppetry, film, animation, ballet, opera & more - were represented with uniquely Russian flair and the physical feats some of the performers had to pull off (LIVE!) were astonishing, yet looked effortless.

Folktales were represented throughout in story moments, in film, in images and motifs, in song, in pattern and movement.

The design of the banners for the Olympics reminds us that wonder stories are a strong part of Russia's heritage and still part of Russia's cultural expression.

The word that keeps appearing in the media across the world the day after the Opening aired is "fairytale", and they don't mean the 'glitter and happy endings' types. They mean the timeless, beautiful, rooted and often raw stories that remind us of who we are and guide our path to the future.

Out of time! Posting some pics from the opening, despite the fact that they do not do the performance (even the imperfect & heavily edited TV broadcast) justice! Seeing it all move is... magic.

Wish I had time to put this together better for you but hopefully it will be a good reminder for those who saw it and a prompt for those who haven't yet.

Enjoy!

The Sochi Olympics Are Going to be Epic! (Or Mythic. Or Both.)

You may be wondering why the heck I'm posting a trailer for the Olympics on a fairy tale blog. But then, if you're asking that - you haven't seen it. It's epic, mythic and like something out of Asgard (or maybe Niflheim is more accurate), Middle Earth or Mount Olympus... well, hey isn't that appropriate? Take a look:

Savage North cover by Wayne Reynolds

Frost Giant Jarl for Dungeon Magazine
(Artist Unknown)

I kind of love that the ad is all about conquering nature instead of about "being the best" or putting down other countries of athletes. This focus, while at first seeming grandiose (no - it is NOT a trailer from a new Lord of the Rings movie), the spot attempts to capture just how epic a thing it is that these athletes do at the Winter Olympics. And, in my opinion, kudos to the team that created this for doing so*. This is where it started - with the gods watching and mortal man defying nature, his own nature and the limitations the gods had thought they'd put on humans.

Myth and fairy tale are often linked in very cold regions. Sometimes it's hard to tell where a Norse fairy tale ends and the myth begins. The Frost Giants of legend make appearances in fairy tale, as do ice kings, queens, maidens, trolls and giants.

The chilling voiceover makes it clear: this is a story of epic proportions we're telling here; one future generations will talk about forever. Here's the transcript, narrated at full  grandmaster intensity, by British actor Charles Dance (who plays Tywin Lannister on Game of Thrones**):

At the Wall (Game of Thrones Comic #7 cover)
Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister & Ghost

I am the dreadful menace.

The one whose will is done.

The haunting chill upon your neck.

I am the conundrum.

I will summon armies.

Of wind and rain and snow.

I made the black cloud overhead.

The ice, like glass below.

Not you, nor any other.

Can fathom what is nigh.

I will tell you when to jump.

And I’ll dictate how high.

The ones that came before you.

Stood strong and tall and brave.

But I stole their dreams away.

Those dreams could not be saved.

But now you stand before me.

Devoid of all dismay.

Could it be? Just maybe.

I’ll let you have your day.

And can't you see all those fairy tale creatures living in this setting, ready to challenge our modern day heroes? While our heroes wear technologically enhanced athletic gear for speed (and survival) and to gain a prize, are the heroes of our fairy tales seeking treasures in the ice and glass mountains so different? Granted, it's unlikely these people will lose their heads, their fortunes or their families (though they often skirt the edge of mortality) but it's not unheard of for these heroes to win a "princess" (or two) after the trial, or gain the key to the treasure vault of their city (sometimes literally!).

Too often I think we consider ourselves far away from all these old stories, from fairy tales and from myth but really, we're just the modern version of it.

And I love that this ad reminded me of all that.

And I'll be tuning in to the BBC (who have some of the best coverage of all the nations competing at the Olympics IMHO) to watch the athletes go "North of the Wall" and conquer Winter.

Bring on the 2014 Games!
(And snow, please. Sochi could REALLY use a heavy dose of snow over the next few weeks...)

* The trailer was directed by Tomasz Bagiński, polish director and animator. His film "The Cathedral". was nominated for an Oscar a few years ago.

** I wonder how long it took them to decide that there's no way they could have Mr. Dance say "Winter is coming.." without having this epically intense trailer dive bomb into a parody? Although it would have been funny - I'm glad they didn't (but just wait for the memes..!)