Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan) Tweeting Live On Sunday's Airing of "Once"

 

Fans on ABC's Once Upon A Time will be able to tweet questions to Jennifer Morrison, who plays lead character Emma Swan, and receive real time responses this Sunday night - on BOTH coasts.

Make sure you're following @jenmorrisonlive and are online at 8-9pm ET/PT - ie. whichever you are watching live. (Sorry Mountain Time folks but I don't have any details on what's best for you to do!)


Apparently Ms. Morrison will also offer commentary and behind-the-scenes anecdotes about working on the show, which should be fun if you've been following week to week.

From "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" - Once Upon A Time (ABC)

The episode this week is "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter",  featuring Sheriff Graham and more of Snow White's backstory from Fairy Tale. There are already spoilers around the web as to the details and "reveals" so unless you're OK with knowing ahead of time I suggest staying away from any entertainment news sites until after the airing. :)

By Kenneth Whitley

Jennifer Morrison's Twitter feed is HERE while her pal, Not-So-Little Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory), can be found HERE. And Ory is using this (see image at left) as her Twitter background. Nice, huh?

[From Vintagraph: Titled "Once Upon a Time," this poster by illustrator Kenneth Whitley shows Little Red Riding Hood and a wolf. The poster was produced by the WPA Federal Art Project and published circa 1939.]

The official "One Upon Upon A Time" Twitter feed is HERE, though it doesn't seem very active. The Facebook page has a little more content HERE.

What would you ask Ms. Morrison/Emma Swan if you could ask anything (and get a response!)?

I think I might ask her what's with all the key red pieces in her character's wardrobe (among other things)...

Posters By Mondo, A Fairy Tale Book Collection & More Coming from ABC's "Once Upon A Time"

 

From TV Overmind:

Mondo, the Alamo Drafthouse's collectible art boutique, uses world class artists to create limited edition screen printed posters based on television shows and movies.

Now, Mondo has partnered with ABC to create a series of posters based on the series Once Upon a Time, as well as the fairytale stories that have inspired the show's writers.  Six posters will be released for sale throughout December and January:

12/8 – Rapunzel
12/15 – Little Red Cap
12/22 – Sleeping Beauty
12/29 – Snow White
1/5 – Rumpelstiltskin
1/12 – Cinderella

ABC is revealing the posters on the dates shown HERE.

 The Rapunzel poster has well and truly sold out already in both the silver and gold prints but there are more coming, as you can see from the list above. Here's the website you need to keep an eye on HERE. You can see a large version of the Rapunzel posters there right now. But there's even better news.

What I'm most excited about is this:

The artwork on the posters will also be featured in an upcoming fairy tale collection book entitled "Once Upon a Time." Show creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote the foreword for the book and their pilot script will be featured in the ebook version.

This is one of my complete-fantasy wishlist items that's becoming reality - a fairy tale collection book from Once? I'm hoping for something truly beautiful and magnificent - and very different. (Please let it be different!)

Article: "Once" vs "Grimm" - Is There A Gender Issue?

NBC's Grimm Detective Nick Burkhardt & ABC's Emma Swan from Once Upon A Time

 This is an interesting article which considers that the differences between NBC's Grimm and ABC's Once Upon A Time may be gender based.  (The lighting, makeup and Photoshop work in the two lead photos above may give you a clue as to where this is going..! :D )

It's titled:

Gendering Fairy Tales: Or, the Difference Between Grimm and Once Upon a Time

...which brings up some intriguing thoughts.

Clearly the writer is smarting from how often women's fiction is considered second class but it's not just a rant on the inequalities of how women's fiction is treated. Starting at the third paragraph she begins to make a good case for why Grimm and Once fall into this category.

A striking case study of the gendered gap in pop culture is airing on television right now in the form of Grimm and Once Upon A time, both of which are playing with the fairytale genre. Seeing major networks attempt to bring fantasy to the lineup is exciting, but it’s telling to compare and contrast the presentation and reception of both shows, which clearly illustrate the divide when it comes to storytelling. Same genre, similar premise, but these two shows are handled very differently.

Note: I have to disagree with the last sentence of the quote. Though both shows use fairy tales, the premises and genre are very different - one is primarily a procedural, with crimes to solve and takes place in our world (albeit with fairy tale creatures living alongside us) while the other is a character drama and has an 'island' (fictional isolated town of Storbrooke) and parallel universe (the Land Of Fairy Tale) which is completely different to ours. But still, I understand what the writer is trying to say. You can't help but compare the two. Heck - we do it here all the time. ;)

This is a good comparison of the lead character's arcs:

The protagonists of both shows are experiencing similar trajectories. Nick (Grimm) and Emma (Once Upon A Time) are both coming to terms with the fact that things they thought were mythological, confined to books, are actually real. They’re also both tasked with saving people from threats they don’t even know about, can’t recognise, and probably couldn’t deal with if they saw them. They’re heavy with knowledge they can’t share with anyone, and occupy hero roles on both shows even as they have assistants to help them navigate the worlds they are inhabiting. The weight of the world is on their shoulders.

 

While I don't agree with every point in the article (eg the idea that "Emma is lesser because she's a girl" doesn't ring true for me), there are many good observations made with plenty of food for thoughts to chew on. The additional note at the end about the ads on Hulu is both funny and telling too.

You can read the whole article (recommended - as there are many different ideas there I haven't represented in this post) HERE.

I think there is a very good chance that Once has a higher viewership by women but not only for the reasons outlined in the article (which didn't even bring up the copious amounts of glitter present in Fairy Tale and re-occurring unicorn in the titles!). First of all it's on ABC which is considered a family channel (ie for women, plus their kids and hopefully the boys will stick around too). This alone counts for higher ratings opportunities - family friendly drama is far more likely to have a higher viewership than a gritty, at times gruesome police procedural.

Second, there's a lot of emphasis on the princess side of the land of Fairy Tale in Once, glitter included which seems designed to draw in kids and the romantically (and Disney-fan) inclined, while Grimm seems more aimed at an older and edgier audience. Not surprisingly, reports show it is growing in popularity among post-Twilight-movie fans for instance.

What do you think? Are the TV series really in a gender battle? Is Once doing a disservice to how women and womens issues are viewed? Which demographic is Grimm aimed at?

Article: What Does NBC's Grimm Look For When Choosing Fairy Tales To Adapt For The Series?

 

I really like that the Grimm producers and writers are talking about how they use fairy tales right now. No matter who is being interviewed - actors, producers, writers or effects and production people - or with regard to which aspect of the series everyone points the way back to the old fairy tales of Grimm and many others.

What would be particularly fun would be to be a fly on the wall as they're sorting through and choosing which fairy tale to tackle next. The Executive Producers of Grimm recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on the  basic aspects they look for with regard to any tale.

NBC’s new drama series, Grimm, combines the myth of fairy tales rehashed into a police procedural. On every episode, Brothers Grimm descendant, homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), is charged with protecting others from real life fairy tale creatures, along with his partner, Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby). There are hundreds of tales to pick from, but the show’s producers and writers have definite needs when it comes to which ones can be adapted for the series.

...The EPs say there are specific characteristics that they look for in the myths that ultimately make it on to the series. Here are four things that make a fairy tale ripe for adaptation.

I'll give you the summary (these are all excerpts - please read full article for complete text and series goodies):

1. Fairy tales that include a crime.“We look for something where there could be a crime and that we can really twist it,” says Greenwalt.  Being a procedural, each episode needs some foul play as its basic story line...  (see article for full text) But not all tales have one, though that doesn’t mean a fairy tale can’t be used. (Emphasis by InkGypsy.)That brings us to characteristic No. 2.

2. The tale lends itself to modernization. ...“There’s something fantastic [there - for example in The Pied Piper episode -] that can translate to our world today, like how would somebody get wronged and want to seek revenge using rats? How would you modernize that story?” says Greenwalt.

3. There’s a character or detail that stands out.“Not all the stories have crimes. But sometimes there’s a character that is interesting enough and other times it’s a setting,” Kouf tells THR...

4. A story can be retold from a different point of view.Many times, the series looks to myths, including popular ones, and tries to re-imagine them from a different perspective. “The Three Little Pigs,” which appears on Friday’s episode, is one example.... (see article for full text) So, it’s the fun of turning a well-known fairy tale on its head.”

I like that we got a sneak peek into one of their scripts-in-progress too. They've chosen the tale and are clearly fascinated by some aspects but are still nutting through the details of how to craft an updating and make it fit the series:

“One story has a bunch of suitors caught in a hedge of thorns,” Greenwaltsays. “And they die and they’re caught in this hedge. And we love the idea of doing the hedge that surrounds the castle that catches all the people that try to get through it. It’s a little tough to figure out how to move that into a modern context without getting too fantastical or too magical, but we’re working on it.”

Of course, if I personally had to choose, it would be hard for me to pick a tale that DOESN'T fit these requirements as explained by the "EPs". ;D But that's possibly just my fairy tale soaked brain. I've spent a lifetime finding the contemporary parallel stories and lessons in almost every tale I've read. LOL

Read the full article with all the insights into how the Grimm team are viewing fairy tales HERE.

"Glitches" - A Prequel & Introduction to Marissa Meyer's Cyborg Cinderella

"Glitches" by Goni Montes*

 [Excerpt]

CINDER

by Marissa Meyer

Chapter 1

THE SCREW THROUGH CINDER'S ANKLE HAD RUSTED, THE engraved cross marks worn to a mangled circle. Her knuckles ached from forcing the screwdriver into the joint as she struggled to loosen the screw one gritting twist after another. By the time it was extracted far enough for her to wrench free with her prosthetic steel hand, the hairline threads had been stripped clean.

Tossing the screwdriver onto the table, Cinder gripped her heel and yanked the foot from its socket. A spark singed her fingertips and she jerked away, leaving the foot to dangle from a tangle of red and yellow wires.

She slumped back with a relieved groan. A sense of release hovered at the end of those wires--freedom. Having loathed the too-small foot for four years, she swore to never put the piece of junk back on again. She just hoped Iko would be back soon with its replacement.

(keep reading...)

  And so begins the story of Cinder, debut author Marissa Meyer's Cyborg Cinderella. News and reviews about this book are sweeping the web with the much anticipated release happening on January 3rd, 2012.

But it turns out we now have the opportunity to find out just how Cinder got to where she was before Chapter one even starts.  

Tor.com is offering an exclusive prequel you can read online right now.

(Click HERE.)

Meet Cinder, gifted mechanic and cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. In "Glitches," we see the results of that illness play out, and the emotional toll that it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch....

Need more, now the prequel (and 1st chapter excerpt) has whet your appetite for this unusual Cinderella? You can read and/or download Chapters 1-5 HERE.

And of course, here's the book you should be putting on pre-order if you possibly can (click image):

 And since I adore seeing various versions of cover art for different countries as it gives you a different slant on the story, here is the one for Spain:

Ms Meyer has just posted her current (and still growing) tour schedule HERE, with this delightful little note: 

Note: Attending ladies, there's a grassroots movement to get as many girls wearing red shoes as possible, so break out those sexy red pumps!

Heidi over at the SurLaLune Fairy Tales Blog has had the opportunity to read an ARC and gives you more info there (hint: she REALLY liked it!) BUT she's also in the middle of a Favorite Fairy Tale Things Wish List competition with an ARC of Cinder as one of the prizes. Go enter! [Plus I want to see what you guys are craving in your fairy tale Christmas stockings this year. ;) ]

* For the art-process inclined (like me) you may enjoy seeing the artist's idea sketches and work in progress for the illustration above for the short story. Click HERE to see Goni Montes' blog posting with all the goodies.

The Serious Whimsy Of Beatrice Billard

 

Many of these works are a few years old now but the beautiful layering of the mysterious and the slight edge to these whimsical fairy tale paintings by Beatrice Billard never gets old.

Her portfolio included title and description so I thought those the best images to include. Her portfolio and blog have many many more beautiful and fantastic pieces so be sure to go check her out.

Endicott Studio did a short post on her in 2007 which gives us a little more information than is on her website. Check it out to see her artistic influences - you'll find yourself recognizing their influences but also marvel at how she's still made the art very much her own.

Many of these would be lovely as prints for a stairway or perhaps as a frieze for a little girl's room. Either way I'd love to find a set of cards with these tales so I could own a quality set of prints.

Although she has some work for sale in various places I haven't found any recent online activity by her for a couple of years. Hopefully that just means she's hard at work producing more beautiful pieces.

NBC's Grimm Gets Goldfever

Golden Eagle by Sue Warner

After Once's addition of King Midas, and his gold-creating fingers, Grimm has let leak their own gold-focused episode in the works.

TVLine got the exclusive on the news that (Lost's Titus) Welliver... will be playing Farley Holt in NBC’s supernatural procedural Grimm. Mr. Holt is described as a creature with the ability to morph into a steinadler, which according to google, is a golden eagle. Whether or not he’s a bad guy remains to be seen. We know from the reformed big-bad-wolf Monroe that not all of the creatures frequently hunted by Nick and the other Grimms are living an evil lifestyle.

Gold doesn’t just refer to the bird, either. TVLine says Welliver’s character will explain to Nick “the history behind a cache of gold coins that seem to exert an uncanny hold over whoever takes possession of them.” (The precious!)  

You can read the full article with extra info HERE.

Which fairy tale will this be based on? Any guesses*?

One idea is below - but it's a total guess. I'd be surprised if it is Snow White and Rose Red. Happily surprised, of course, but still surprised. :)

by Felicia Cano

* Other than Rumpelstiltskin, which doesn't have a gold eagle The Two Brothers springs to mind but that's such a long and complex tale. Another option - and it does have an eagle - is Snow White and Rose Red (with the ungrateful dwarf and his jewel and coin hoards.

Two New Episodes of NBCs Grimm Airing This Week

While both Once and Grimm took a break over Thanksgiving, Once has been back with a vengeance and we've already had six episodes and much drama and speculation grabbing people's imaginations over the town of Storybrooke and the parallel world of Fairy Tale (and ratings). To top that off, another episode less than a week away.

Grimm, on the other hand, is still in limbo back at episode four and has lost a lot of ratings ground with so much time off. In fact, with all the media buzz about Once's twists and turns and interviews with Producers and casting sneak peeks, Grimm has quietly slipped out of the spotlight with barely a new post to keep it in our minds.

However: :)

NBC is going to try and make up for that by airing two brand new episodes on consecutive nights - this Thursday and Friday.

The epiosdes are:
Thursday: Danse Macabre (loosely based on The Pied Piper)
Friday: The Three Bad Wolves (loosely based on The Three Little Pigs)

Here's a two episode teaser clip advertising the special two night event:



There are more clips and interviews HERE, including discussion of the production and effects (The Pied Piper episode is DEFINITELY NOT for kids with all the gruesome visuals) and Grimm's reformed Blutbad musing on music, history and his relationship with Detective Nick Burkhardt.

Yay for lots of new fairy tale  content this week! We'll see if a double dose of Grimm is enough to put them back on people's must-watch lists.

Bluebeard Illustration Roundup

Bluebeard by littlecrow (Ashley Vercekaites)

Bluebeard has been on my mind since the last Grimm episode on NBC so I thought I'd share what I found around the web (many of them led back to deviantArt accounts).

I always enjoy seeing different artist interpretations of a fairy tale. Every now and then you'll see something that makes you think about the tale in a slightly different way - and that's fantastic.  Many of these do that. Others I included just because the look is so different.

Please do click on the image above at the head of the post and see it full size. It's simply beautiful and I couldn't make it big enough here to do it justice.

Links to the artist's site, or where I found them, are below each image.

Bluebeard's Gallery by hogret

Bluebeard by biffno

Bluebeard by BleedingArt21

Bluebeard Colors by charkxl

Bluebeard by Benjamin Lacombe*

Bluebeard by Thierry Dedieu

Le Barbe Bleu by ZhdaNN

Barbe-bleue by ThornBulle

Bluebeard by Yulia Valeeva

Bluebeard conceptual cover by Franco Spagnolo

Bluebeard's Last Wife by hogret

 *Benjamin Lacombe is one of my favorite artists ever and I have two special posts in the making, waiting for the day I will finish them and post them!

Is ABC's "Once Upon A Time" Going To Run Out Of Fairy Tales?

Oof! I just realized all the content up today was rather dark and serious so I'm throwing this one post in as a bonus. :)

 This might seem like an absurd title for a blog entry here but this is what many fans of ABC's Once Upon A Time appear to be worrying about.

Considering Once Upon A Time is planning to stick around for a long time (think multiple seasons - the producers have ideas for at least three right now) are there enough fairy tales and fairy tale creatures to keep the series going?

We know Red Riding Hood will need to tell her story soon and there's been a lot of leaks about Beauty and her Beast/Gaston appearing soon (note: slight spoiler at the link). In Mr. Gold's pawn shop on Sunday night's airing we saw Aladdin's lamp and a tea set that looked rather Alice-like. There are calls on fan boards for appearances by Aladdin and Mulan but after that, what??! (Not my punctuation. :D )

E! Online grilled Jane Espenson (a producer and writer on the show) for details:

There will be fairy tales that branch out of the central European folklore: "I wouldn't be surprised to see fairy tales from other traditions coming in as well," consulting producer Jane Espenson teases. "So keep your eye out for some stuff that's maybe not quite so Swiss looking." 

 In addition to Hansel and Gretel, this certainly opens the doors for Greek mythology, Middle Eastern folktales, perhaps enough material for 50 seasons and two movies? We can only hope.

Regulars of this fairy tale blog and others are already very aware that this is one aspect fans should not worry about. For starters there are over 200 tales in the Grimm collections alone. That doesn't even exhaust the European options. This is one aspect of NBCs Grimm that is really solid - Grimm's producers are well educated in worldwide fairy tales (as are the actors, as it's mentioned in a lot of their interviews) and have planned to explore different tales and various folkloric creatures from all over the world since the beginning.

 

 

 To Once's credit they have already gone beyond the Disney vault and included Rumpelstiltskin, Red Riding Hood and King Midas so there are plenty of indications that they're already looking around.

Of course there are still quite a few of the Disney canon characters yet to appear (don't forget Disney's live action films too!) and there's a good chance they throw in some characters Disney has had gathering dust in their ideas box too (Snow Queen anyone?). It still makes me want to anonymously gift the Once producers with all the Andrew Lang color fairy books though.

Source for graphics HERE. It's a fantastic almost-daily Tumblr blog dedicated to all things Once Upon A Time but I can't quite bring myself to type the blogs title. :/ I DO recommend you visit though. Some truly gorgeous stuff here.