Wednesday, December 9, 2009

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... ;)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

12 Days: Stone Soup Kit

This is a delightful idea - gardening - then cooking - on a fairy tale theme. The kit is based on the story "Stone Soup".

The Stone Soup Kit includes seeds for beans, cabbage, peas, carrots, tomatoes and onions. It comes in a little burlap bag with instructions for each type of seed, the Stone Soup recipe and, most importantly, the all important stone. ;) Here are the seed details:
  • Organic Red Acre Cabbage Seeds
  • Organic Little Fingers Carrot Seeds
  • Organic Mammoth Melting Pea Seeds
  • Organic Evergreen Bunching Onion Seeds
  • Organic Roma Tomato Seeds
  • Organic Blue Lake Pole Bean Seeds
This product appears to have been discontinued, though there are still a few kits floating around in different places such as HERE, HERE and HERE (I suggest you shop around a bit - I've noticed the prices vary and change.)

By the way - Wikipedia has some very interesting notes on this story. It's the first time I've seen all these references in one place. Worth a peek HERE.

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.

Fairy Tale Ad: Bakers Biscuits

I have a few fairy tale ads in my archives so thought I'd share...

Today's product is "Bakers Biscuits" but what I really want to know is where that enchanted wood is the children are skipping through..!

There's a ton of fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters in this one. I grabbed a couple of screen caps as examples but there are many, many more.

Enjoy!


Monday, December 7, 2009

12 Days: Classic Storytime Felt Character Patterns

The 12 Days of [Gifts Before] Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule/Holiday continues...

In contrast to yesterday's expensive item, today I bring you something very affordable and perfect for crafty people on either the giving or receiving end.

Buggabug's Etsy shop sells lovely little patterns and instructions for a variety of things, including some storytime sets.I love the Billy Goats Gruff set in particular, even though it doesn't fold up for self-contained storage like many of the others. Each set is only $6 and you have the choice of buying the patterns and instructions (and perhaps the supplies) to give to someone, or if you're crafty yourself, you can make these sets for a handmade gift.For the “There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly…” pattern:
The animals are designed to easily slip into the old woman’s mouth as the story is told. When story time is over, the animals stay stored inside the tummy of the old woman for safe and organized storage.
Cute!

You can see all the sets available HERE.

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 mails 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.

Nutcracker Heading For An Action Movie Makeover

The Nutcracker
Poster design for Jefferson Performing Arts Society
by Lisa K. Weber

This could be a lot of fun - "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" is heading for a family action film in the vein of "The Chronicles of Narnia".

There aren't a lot of details yet. The pitch was just accepted by New Line Cinema from the writer behind Jack the Giant Killer (Darren Lemke), currently in production under the direction of Bryan Singer, making news today.

It would seem the film will be going back to the original E.T.A. Hoffman story which is rather more complex than the tale is portrayed as being in the popular Christmas ballet.From Reuters & ABC:

The story centers on a 12-year-old girl, her brother and sister, who receive gifts from their clockmaker-inventor godfather on Christmas Eve, one of which is a Nutcracker doll. That night, the girl embarks on an adventure that includes a war involving a seven-headed Mouse King and his army of mice.

The story, with its themes of ugliness and beauty, has been adapted into various forms of animation, and the ballet version has found itself on screens many times.

... Lemke has worked often with folk and fairy tales; in addition to writing "Giant," he worked on DreamWorks Animation's fairy tale-skewing "Shrek Forever After." He also worked with Temple Hill on an update of "The Wizard of Oz."

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

There seems to be some skepticism about the concept but then I'm guessing those people haven't read the original story. There are some insights HERE on the kind of man and writer Hoffman was. I also found a very interesting article on the illustrator of the pieces shown in this post (bar the illustrations at the head and tail), Jan Pienkowski. Mr. Pienkowski purposely explored the darker side of the Hoffman story in his illustrations and discusses that in this interesting article HERE.Here's an excerpt:

Pienkowski realised the story of The Nutcracker could be drawn in a way that was not as we have come to know it - all sugary sweet like the Tchaikovsky ballet. It became clear that his portrayal could be dark and magical, reflecting the much scarier tale first written in German in 1816 by ETA Hoffmann. And so, in Nut Cracker, a new version of the story translated by David Walser (Pienkowski's lifelong partner) and published in time for Christmas, a gothic Godfather Drossel­meier has been born, complete with spiked hair and biker boots...

... In Hoffmann's - and Pienkowski's - version the tale takes place over several nights and is far more complicated and menacing. The story of the war of the mice is told by Drosselmeier himself, perched on top of a clock with his cloak spread out behind him like wings. The tale he tells is of a time when he was clockmaker to the royal palace. In an act of revenge on the King and Queen for the murder of her seven sons, the Mouse Queen turns the royal baby, Princess Pirlipat, into a shrivelled creature with piercing eyes and a mouth 'like a gash from ear to ear'. The only way of lifting the spell on the Princess is to find a boy capable of cracking a Krakatuk nut. The boy who can crack the nut turns out to be Drosselmeier's nephew, but as he lifts the curse on the Princess it falls on him, and he in turn is changed into a shrivelled creature with a wide mouth - a nutcracker. The only way for Drossel­meier's nephew to be restored is to kill the Mouse Queen's seven-headed son, born after the deaths of her other sons. The battle that ensues is the beginning of the ballet as we know it.

'There was a bit at the end of the German original when the nutcracker becomes a real man, introduced to Clara and her family, and then suddenly starts walking around the drawing-room cracking nuts with his teeth,' Walser says. 'I thought this rather far-fetched and sinister so I cut it out. But when I told a seven-year-old girl I'd cut it, she was so disappointed. Children like that kind of dark complexity, you see.'

You can read the whole of the long article HERE.

Drosselmeyer's workshop...
by Steering For North/Cate

If the movie makers do their research we could be in for a very interesting movie.

The SurLaLune blog just had a week dedicated to Nutcracker so be sure to go and check those entries for more Nutcracker goodness (HERE).

Sunday, December 6, 2009

SyFy Presents "Alice"

The SyFy Channel is airing a much anticipated version of Alice in Wonderland for two nights, starting this evening. With Tim Burton's fantastical vision on it's way in early next year, it'll be an interesting contrast to see this modernized version, which, while it has fantastic aspects is definitely not a family film.Cast includes:
  • Caterina Scorsone (Crash TV Series) as Alice
  • Kathy Bates (Misery) as The Queen of Hearts
  • Tim Curry (Rocky Horror Picture Show) as Dodo,
  • Colm Meaney (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as the King of Hearts,
  • Philip Winchester (Crusoe) as Jack Chase,
  • Matt Frewer (Watchmen) as the White Knight,
  • Andrew Lee Potts (Primeval) as Hatter,
  • Harry Dean Stanton (Big Love) as the Caterpillar,
  • Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica) as 9 of Clubs,
  • Timothy Webber (Taken) as Carpenter,
  • Alex Diakun (Sanctuary) as Ratcatcher,
  • Zak Santiago (Kingdom Hospital) as 10 of Clubs, and
  • Eugene Lipinski (Animorphs) as Doctors Dee and Dum.
The official site is HERE and there's an interesting article, which talks a little bit about how this version is different, HERE.As you can see from the images here this is very much a contemporary take with a sci-fi slant and this Alice is a little different from the usual heroine. There's an all-star cast and award winning creators, definitely worth a looksee.

Here's a trailer for a little more:

"Alice" is airing on SyFy at 9/8pm central standard time in the US.

12 Days: Bento Boxes


Continuing the 12 Days of [Gifts Before] Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Yule fairy tale themed things for gifting with something far more affordable this time!

Sweet, cute and original designs of Snow White and Alice in Wonderland for two-tiered bento boxes.

Available HERE for $34.95 each from Monkeytail & Wellington.

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.

12 Days: East o' the Sun West O' the Moon Weathervane

I never thought of a weathervane inspired by East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon before, but it makes perfect sense - of course! This piece is out of the range of most of our wallets but perhaps it can help inspire some other gift ideas along the same line.

Forged brass and bronze, this one is very pricey but oh so lovely I had to share. You can find it (and other weathervanes) HERE.

[Please note: as per my fine print in the sidebar, I am not affiliated with any company or product mentioned or linked to in this blog. I do not receive any benefit from any purchase or visit to any site. If you wish to support people working with fairy tales, however, I would like to suggest Heidi Anne Heiner's SurLaLune SITE and BLOG. Any purchase made through her links helps support the awesome work she has done - and continues to do - in providing us all with one of the best fairy tale resources on the web.]



Don't forget the "Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway!
Entries close December 20th, so be sure to mails 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.