Monday, December 14, 2009

12 Days: Fairy Tale Quilt

Fairy tales are a popular choice for advanced quilters (many of whom might be considered fiber artists with their innovative use of dying fabrics, applique and embroidery combinations). I have a few unique artworks in my archives to show you sometime, including the original subject I was looking for - a Princess and the Pea quilt - but while I didn't find any P&tP quilts that stood out to me, I did find a simpler, lovely multi-tale quilt for sale on Etsy. It comes with a rod pocket sewn into it so you can choose to use it as a wall hanging if you wish.This one is by MoonGazerQuilts and I'd consider grabbing it myself if it had a more gender-neutral color for the border. It's called "Fairy Tales and Dreams" and you can find the quilt HERE (for under $50!) and also see the details of a lovely Noah's Ark quilt at the shop too.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)


Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close IN LESS THAN A WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
(A preview of the prize is coming soon too.)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

12 Days: Snow Queen Vodka

I was searching for drinks on a fairy tale theme and found this lovely looking bottle called Snow Queen Vodka. Apparently it's a multi-award winning 'distill' (I think that's the right word) and people are raving about how smooth and fine it is. It's also, so I'm reading, not marketed in any normal sort of fashion - the company relies on word of mouth, which keeps it from being well known and ultra commercial- exactly what the company wants (apparently). Although it's classed as a luxury vodka it's not priced like one (you can find 750ml bottles for around $30), which is very nice.Here's a little story I found to go with it:
Once upon a time there was a vodka called Snow Queen. She was born in the far-away land of Kazakhstan. Her father was the finest organic wheat and her mother was the purest water that flowed through the snow-capped mountains. Soon, Snow Queen became known as the smoothest, most beautiful vodka of them all. (FTNH edit: 'she' actually won the Gold Medal last year at the Vodka Masters.) Experts came from far and wide and were amazed that such a perfect drink existed. They showered her with prizes. Gold Medals. Awards and Diplomas. But what is the secret of her beauty? It was quite simple. Unlike any other vodkas, Snow Queen had been distilled not once, twice, thrice, not even four times. She had been distilled five times. That's what gave her such a unique, smooth, velvety taste.

(FTNH edit: here comes my favorite part) But, of course, as happens so often in fairy tales, her beauty carried a terrible curse. For whoever put Snow Queen to his lips was condemned to fall in love with her for the rest of his life.
Love it. I'm a sucker for products that have a story developed to go with them, I'm afraid - especially if they're fairy tale themed.The official website is HERE (aim the target at your country for your language) but you can buy bottle online all over the place, all over the world.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)


Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close IN ONE WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
(A preview of the prize is coming in the next couple of days too.)

Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

12 Days: Frog Prince Cuff Links

These aren't cheap but I wouldn't expect sterling silver frogs with 18k gold crowns to be found at a bargain-basement price. Good timing for the release of "The Princess and the Frog" movie, some very nice Frog Prince cuff links from Red Envelope, found HERE. These would made a lovely wedding gift too.NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)



Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister - Screen Adaptation

I missed "Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister" when it was shown on TV (based on the book of the same name, by Gregory Maguire, which is a retelling of Cinderella) by only a couple of hours and have had it in my TiVo 'watch-list' ever since. It's never aired again, as far as I know and I've only seen dubious looking DVDs available (see the 'cover' above). I can't believe they haven't officially released this mini-series as I often hear requests for it. (Probably mired down in a copyright issue.) What I didn't realize is that some kind person put it on YouTube a while back for us all to see. (Yay! And thank you to them!)

It's in 9 parts and I'm trying something different. I made a playlist and am attempting to embed it below (so it will automatically play through the parts in order without you having to find and click the next one). I hope it works! (You should see arrows at the sides of the YouTube frame to navigate back and forth between the parts.) Oh - and you may want to click that 'full screen' button too. :)

Enjoy!

Here's the cover of the book the movie is based on. You can find more information on it by clicking the image.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Alice in Steampunkland

I found this really great set of photos on deviantArt by a Cosplay group who really thought about what they were doing with the costumes, the props (yes, they made them too), the concepts and the photography. This was an entry for AFA 2009 (Anime Festival Asia) at the end of November.

Here's the story:
The Beginning of a beginning
"Off with her head!", the heartless Queen commanded.
And heartless was right - for to rule with fist and scepter, to command both fear and respect, the Queen had her own heart locked up in a secret dungeon somewhere beneath her castle's winding shadowy halls.
But all secrets find their way out.
With the help of a whispered clue from a mischevious Cheshire Cat, a defiant Alice freed herself from the grasp of the royal guards, dove into the darkness of the castle dungeons and stole the Queen's heart.
The furious Queen and her soldiers chased after her. And Alice, desperate to escape, leapt into the Rabbit's time portal and found herself in a world and time completely different from hers - one where clockwork constructs roamed the streets and steam powered engines reigned supreme.
These guys did a really great job of their own retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story. It's nice to see such a professional approach. They even made a little film:

And a little behind-the-scenes look:


These guys want to expand their team - and their characters - next year. I'd be very interested in seeing what they do next.

You can find details of the cosplay artists HERE. Check out their other cosplay shoots while you're there. Some amazing stuff!

12 Days: Snow Queen Mahjong (Computer Game)

I haven't tried this but I like the idea of a puzzle game based on The Snow Queen. The storyline is pretty similar to the fairy tale, though Kai is Gerda's brother, not her childhood sweetheart.

From the blurb:
Enter a quaint, whimsical snow village with Greta as she searches for her missing brother. Kidnapped by the evil Snow Queen, you must match tile sets and melt the ice to free him. Move along the map towards the Queens castle and witness six stunning lands. Snow Queen Mahjong is packed full of classic gameplay, three difficulty levels, and exciting new twists.
My understanding of mahjong is that's it's mainly a strategy game with a little luck thrown in. I haven't trialed this myself so suggest you download the free version and check it out if you're thinking of gifting it. You can download a free version to trial it and the full version is under $10.
You can find the game HERE and HERE, with the second site having a preview of the screens and a demo video.

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)




Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

12 Days: Nesting Dolls Measuring Cups

This makes complete sense and is sweet and fairy tale-ish too: nesting dolls that are actually measuring cups.

The cups measure 1 cup, 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/4 cup. The only drawback is they're plastic and not ceramic or porcelain as I initially thought when I first saw them.You can find them HERE (but be sure to shop around as I don't think the is the only place offering them).

NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)



Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

The Princess and the Frog Featurette: Magic of the Bayou

One more featurette before the big release day tomorrow. This one revives my enthusiasm for seeing the movie (the opening scene with the young Tiana greatly dampened it for a while there).This featurette is called Magic of the Bayou and gives us glimpses of scenes we haven't seen before. I particularly like the way the good magic of Mama Odie (in the movie it's voodoo) balances the bad of Dr. Facilier (also voodoo).Nice use of color palettes for good vs evil, yes? You may notice there's also a strong set of shapes for each set: long, lean and stretched for the baddies, round, earthy and comfortably plump for the good. I've yet to see all the magic effects but the clips I've seen and pics like these show curly, sinuously moving creeping magic for Dr. Facilier while Mama Odie's is strong and ray-like.

Here's the featurette - enjoy!


I sincerely hope the movie does well and revives people's enthusiasm for fairy tales. It's been a while since they've been in popular culture and, despite the Disneyfication of the tales (and this story, while taking inspiration from The Frog Prince and some ideas from the book "The Frog Princess" by E.D. Baker, is really more of a Disney original story than a retelling) there's no doubt we owe Disney a great deal of thanks for keeping fairy tales in the popular consciousness.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

"The Princess and the Frog" Soundtrack Preview

Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" is finally opening Friday (December 11th, 2009) and the 'pre-buzz' (from all those who are managing to get into the exclusive previews) is excellent from many different quarters.Here's a little treat, especially if you love New Orleans-type jazz and zydeco (albeit rather Disney-fied). Disney has released the soundtrack to listen to online (for free).
The link is HERE.
A heads up: it opens a Windows Media Player so don't be alarmed when it pops up.
And a warning: the music clip opens with the contemporary song Disney seems to feel compelled to include for their end credits (and contemporary tie-in). I couldn't fast forward past it to the actual screen tracks but hang in there. If you enjoy jazz you should find some pieces you'll enjoy, especially if you like Randy Newman's music.
You can see a track listing with some other details HERE.

12 Days: Nebulous Kingdom iPod & Laptop Skins

Here are s0me different and lovely 'skins' for your various electronic items. From iPods to laptops, Anne-Julie Aubrey, who creates fairy tale themed paintings under the banner "Nebulous Kingdom", has made a few of her designs available as 'skins' to put on your portable electronics. You can find the pieces and see a preview of them on various items HERE. (Amounts are in Euros but you can also pay through PayPal.)There's also an Etsy shop with a large and lovely range of fairy tale-type prints (I've included just a few in this post), cards, notebooks and more HERE.Just a note: Ms. Aubrey is closing the shop for a vacation from December 17th through to the first week of January, so if you're ordering for Christmas be sure to do it soon.NOTE: As usual, please note I am not affiliated with any of these stores or products. I do not receive any commission from any visit to the site or any purchase. These are just items I thought may interest people as fairy tale themed gifts for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yuletide/Holiday Season. :)



Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.
Details for the giveaway are HERE and the wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Fables TV Series Pilot Greenlit

As announced in my previous post on Disney's Snow Queen, you may want to note that ABC (owned by Disney) is looking to produce a TV series adaptation of Fables, which features Kai and the Snow Queen as characters (Snow Queen shown below), is currently in the Pilot production stage (i.e. greenlit and beyond). No news on whether Kai and the Snow Queen will be featured yet, of course. It's probably not at all related but considering it's very early in Snow Queen's development (assuming they start from scratch - which, since having the opportunity to see some development a few years ago, I sincerely hope they do) I'm sure artists (at Disney Feature Animation) will be taking note at how the characters are handled if they appear, despite that they're Bill Willingham's versions.OK, now I've repeated that, here's a little more of the Fables TV Series news:

The news was leaked yesterday by The Hollywood Reporter, much to all involved's surprise apparently. (The announcement is HERE.)

From Newsarama:
Vertigo’s Fables may soon be translated to television as ABC has committed to a pilot for an hour-long drama series based on the comic book.
The pilot for the Fables television series will be produced by Warner Bros. TV and written by Six Degrees' Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner, who describe themselves as "lifelong comic book fans" that fell in love with the Fables comic when it debuted in 2002.
Newsarama also talked to Bill Willingham about his thoughts on Fables going to TV.
NRAMA: Do you like the idea of Fables being a TV series? Do you see it as something that would work for episodic television?
BW: Well, I think it's probably better suited to an episodic presentation on TV than it is to, like, a major motion picture. That said, I would have loved to see the scope of a feature film.
You can read the whole article and interview HERE.2010 looks like it's going to be FULL of fairy tales on all fronts. :D

Snow Queen Confirmed As Next Full-Length Disney Feature

The rumors about Disney working on Snow Queen have been around for a long time now and it's true it has been in development and then taken off the boards in the past (so to speak). Now, however, it's been confirmed as being back in the development stage of production (with a release likely in 2013).Pixar's John Lassiter made it very clear he wanted to do more fairy tales when he took over the revamping of Disney Feature Animation and he was just as passionate about returning to hand drawn animation. Snow Queen has not been confirmed as the next full-length hand drawn animated feature going into production after the Winnie-the-Pooh feature (which doesn't appear to be full-length from the way it's spoken about, but I could be wrong on that count). It appears they're fully on track with the announcement that they plan to "release a hand-drawn animated film every 2 year keeping in with the tradition and work that built Disney to where it is today".You can see a very brief announcement HERE by Producer Peter Del Vecho and a little speculation about it. (Whether the project is titled "The Snow Queen" or just "Snow Queen" isn't clear.)

I found an article HERE from June which effectively assembled all the rumors and past tidbits on Snow Queen and is quite informative with interview quotes. It was one of the first places to give some substance to the idea Snow Queen was back in the feature plan this year, though it hasn't been updated with this news from the last couple of days (the comments section confirms it as of November though).The concept art you're seeing here is by development artist and animator Harald Siepermann who released a ton of old sketches from his portfolio a while back. These Snow Queen pieces were among them (you can see all of the sketches from the different projects HERE). He was interviewed back in 2008 and had this to say about the designs he was working on:
HS: I worked together with Dick Zondag on The Snow Queen. I’ve known him since Balto, actually, which we did for Steven Spielberg animation. When the time came for The Snow Queen, they gave me call and then I did some first design based on a young Meryl Streep kind of character. Unluckily, the project was canceled because Disney didn’t want to go into fairytales anymore at that time. They said that they wanted something wise, witty and more modern, because at that time, you know, everybody said that the Disney formula was dead and nobody wanted to see princesses and stuff like that. So, that project was canceled, sadly. But I spent a couple of weeks on some Queens, trying different levels of caricature on her, some more cartoony, others less.
No news on the artists attached to this project yet, though Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid") is said to already be at work on the score.

You may want to note that ABC (owned by Disney) is looking to produce a TV series adaptation of Fables, which features Kai and the Snow Queen as characters, is currently in the Pilot production stage (i.e. greenlit and beyond). No news on whether Kai and the Snow Queen will be featured yet, of course. It's probably not at all related but considering it's very early in Snow Queen's development (assuming they start from scratch - which, since having the opportunity to see some development a few years ago, I sincerely hope they do) I'm sure artists (at Disney Feature Animation) will be taking note at how the characters are handled if they appear, despite that they're Bill Willingham's versions.

Hmm. Perhaps that announcement should have been in a separate post. OK - I'll repeat that info shortly... ;)