The 'Frozen' Hotel You Can Stay In + 'Frozen' Released On Blu-ray & DVD this Week (But No 3D Yet)

I've been meaning for a while now to do a post on the "sudden increasing popularity" of ice castles and particularly of the Hotel de Glace (aka The Ice Hotel) in Quebec City* that created a special Frozen themed suite. This was THE 'livable' structure created from snow and ice that the Frozen team visited but didn't stay the night in as originally planned. (??!! Wha..? Never mind..)

Although I don't have time to write the article I originally planned...

... there's a whole company who, though they've been building ice castles for a while, has now developed a technique very similar to what Elsa does in Frozen, albeit it at a much slower rate, but it can accurately now be described as ice castle growing....

“We’re technically farmers,” Livingood said. “We grow icicles, we handpick them, harvest them, take them out and hand place them around sprinklers, and then we turn on those sprinklers and they grow more.” ...

... it turns out that the Directors of Frozen, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, recently returned to The Ice Hotel to visit the amazing Frozen themed work done there (and to promote the DVD/Bu-ray release this week - make sure you know what the options are before you buy - not all deals out there are the same content-wise and I haven't seen it in 3D anywhere, so you know that's still coming).

It's this real life application (done in cooperation with Disney but by the local specialists) that I find interesting in terms of people exploring the idea of the story specifically because it's due to this manifestation (The Frozen Suite, The Ice Hotel itself and similar projects) that people have gone back to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale and thought more about the Snow Queen character, her castle and how Kai might have fared there.

If Disney are going to insist on referring to Hans Christian Andersen's tale as the inspiration in the bold print below-title blurb, it can happen that the marketing will go both ways: the familiarity of The Snow Queen title (kept intact in many foreign interpretations, rather than colloquial-izing it to Frozen like in English) and name-dropping Hans Christian Andersen to make it 'sound' like a real fairy tale to draw in audiences, sometimes means that people will go back to find out what started all the fuss. In this case, the HCA tale, printed variations, theatrical adaptations and art is picking up in popularity again (something that didn't seem to happen anywhere near as much with Tangled and Rapunzel).

Needless to say (but I will anyway) we LIKE this development! *thumbs up*

Here are the two interviews with the movie's directors worth watching for glimpses of the Frozen Suite and a little reality check on the cold factor (yes they're different, despite the similar looking screens here):

For all the work and paper/computer research done, nothing quite compares to experiencing it person - and they STILL didn't stay the night! *eyeroll*

Since researching earlier in the year and seeing the creativity (and engineering expertise) used in snowy areas in Winter every year, I am incomplete awe of what people can create out of snow and ice. We all know about ice sculptures (and how they inconveniently melt at weddings in movies) but there are festivals of ice carving, snow structure building and much, much more that are held and celebrated every year in the coldest countries in the world and many of these things are worthy of any magical Snow Queen. The only difference a real Snow Queen might make is a way to stop them melting in fluctuating weather. It's when you discover these things that you begin to understand more about where those original stories came from, what their real core is, and how much of a triumph of the human heart those tales are. It's interesting watching the filmmakers, who did their best to translate some of those ideas to animation and film (and succeeded) being faced with that large, cold reality of their own imaginations.

That's a story right there. :)

What do you think? Would you stay the night?

*There are Ice Hotels in other chilly places in the world, including Sweden and Switzerland.

'Grimm' Just Got Renewed for Season 4 (Rated WIN!)

I am so very, very happy with this news, and yes, it's official. NBC's Grimm has been going from strength to strength. The fan base is strong and growing (more fan art - yay!), the cast is solid, the banter has been awesome and the story lines have had some delicious layering, especially since they've taken the focus off trying to "retell" a whole fairy tale or legend in a single swing, er, episode. In fact, as of March 18, 2014 "“Grimm” is the #1 scripted series of the night on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX in adults 18-49."(Source)

Due to a ridiculously long and ongoing bout of insomnia (lucky me!) I have been re-watching Grimm from the beginning in back-to-back episodes. Although I've enjoyed it from the start, I'm definitely enjoying it more now. The writing is better than I remember and the arc of female characters moving from victim to empowerment gets stronger episode by episode. While the initial promos were very "females are victims (and look pretty dead)" it's clear the writers immediately moved to depart from that mentality with the very first episode. While the lead, Nick, in particular, does take a while to find his feet, as soon as he "gets his Grimm on" and the Scooby-gang potential (ie ensemble efforts against the 'big bad' of which Nick is just the leader) starts building, things quickly get better and more complex. The more the writers took only a few key motifs from a tale and worked with those, the better those episodes got too, especially when they worked into the overall long term arcs building. It's the episodes that focus too heavily on completing a familiar tale in a recognizable form that tend to be the weakest.

That seems to be key, actually. Rather than trying to retell a whole fairy tale in a modern setting, Grimm works much better when the episodes only contain 'tale motifs' (or Aarne-Thompson tale-type touchstones), within an original and unique story, rather than whole familiar fairy tales. I thought The Little Mermaid themed episode did a great job of this. Despite it being clear what tale they were drawing from, it didn't stick to every story beat and make it frustratingly predictable. Instead it added a lot to the seasons themes and character development, rather than sticking out like a sore-thumb one-off episode. And has anyone noticed the Baba Yaga references in the B-story of Adelind trying to regain her witch powers? *happy dance* It brings to mind the premise of Seanan McGuire's Indexing, which does much of the same regarding the real world cases, even though the point of view in Indexing is from a very fairy-tale-savvy/immersed team...

Aside: I hope to write more on Indexing at another time as it really deserves it's own post - and a whole lot more fans. What Ms. McGuire has done with this is fantastic, and exactly the sort of thing fairy tale need to bring back the more obscure tales and variants to popular attention. For now: I recently read the (recently released) paper edition in a few sittings - overall the awesome is high, though it seemed to finish a little too hurriedly. I want more, much more, with more exploration, detail and more tale variants... aka, please let Ms. McGuire and her publishers know that we'd REALLY love to see "season 2" of her serial fairy tale! Also, this is begging to be made into a multimedia radio-like play... Seriously fun that includes nice and juicy TT [tale type] research and tidbits scattered throughout for avid fairy tale students.

But back to Grimm news.

I'm glad to see Grimm have continued with the opening quotes from texts and tales as well, though I would love to hear more from the creators and writers on how they choose what they do. (The first Grimm magazine issue had a wonderful double-page spread on those which I will try to remember to scan for you if I can't find an online version.) Those snippets, if you're paying attention and try to figure out their origin before watching the episode, make it even better and you never quite know when the text is referring to just that episode or to themes and key issues in one of the series arcs - or both.

Although some people's impression of Grimm is rather, well, grim, particularly due to the creatures, I find it very much has a fairy tale feel, albeit the darker version. I've been collecting images that reflect my impression of the show in a Pinterest board for a while, to try and show how varied it actually is, and how it has that all important fairy tale hope and "triumph against the odds" feel running through it as well. You can find that board HERE.

I can't believe season 3 is wrapping so soon. But yay season 4! Though you know they're going to have one of those cliff-hanger-y type endings again, don't you?

Oh, and by the way, did you know Grimm ALSO HAVE MULTIPLE WEB SERIES?! (the link takes you to one, but they're all on the official YouTube Grimm channel) *fistpump*
So they're only 7 or 8 minutes each, I don't care. More Grimm equals more happy. :)

Note for sensitive viewers: This is still a monster show and they've gotten particularly good with some of the scary stuff, (Aswang anybody? *shudder*) so do be prepared. I do detect a Buffy-air about it all - complete with some of that serious pathos of the darker and very powerful episodes contrasted with laugh out loud funny moments, or, alternatively, touching moments - but that's a good thing - real world scare with snarky repartee (or truly moving moments) equals win (and that shouldn't be surprising with David Greenwalt being one of the Producers). If you're sensitive to that kind of thing though, please take note. Some of the scenes may not be so easy to forget in the middle of the night. Viewer discretion is, indeed, advised.

Sofia Coppola To Direct 'The Little Mermaid'?

Ooh yes please! Ms. Coppola is a truly interesting filmmaker (and not afraid to go big when it suits - aka Marie Antoinette! Amazing) and I'd be very curious to see what she would do with the fairy tale. In fact, it could be her very experience of directing something as lavish as Marie Antoinette (lots of dresses, heightened style sense) is exactly the reason Universal wants her to helm the project (the previous director attached was Joe Wright).

Another interesting thing is that, if this goes forward, it will be the first time Ms. Coppola has directed someone else's script.

Last we heard (Dec 2013), Ms. Coppola had just bought the rights to Alysia Abbott’s Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father (which is not quite the fairy land most of us immediately think of by the way) with the intent of co-writing, producing and directing a movie based on it with her brother Roman. Not sure what the status of this project is but it's unlikely it will have an impact on Mermaid with Universal holding the pocket book.

From Variety:

Sofia Coppola is in negotiations to direct "The Little Mermaid" for Working Title and Universal Pictures. 

Caroline Thompson will rewrite the script with previous drafts penned by Kelly Marcel and Abi Morgan. 

Not much is known about how this take will compare to previous versions of the Hans Christian Andersen novel, which followed a mermaid who wished to become human after falling in love with a man she saved from drowning.

Never heard of Caroline Thompson? Does Edward Scissorhands ring a bell? I'm taking this as a great sign.

Movieweb currently shows a release date of 2016 and already has Ms. Coppola credited as director (papers aren't quite finalized yet, as I understand it, but things are looking good for it).

In case you didn't already know, Emma Watson will NOT be The Little Mermaid, or a live-action Ariel at any point in the future at this time. Her next fairy tale is Guillermo del Toro's Beauty and the Beast (which, I believe has been put on hold briefly, yet again, although they're still saying it will be filmed this year...)

In the meantime, despite the news being less than a day old (at this writing) the alternate 'dream-casting' has already begun on the Hollywood and gossip blogs... If you like that sort of thing, I suggest google - which already has plenty to offer you. Enjoy.

Note: A special thank you and shout out to fairy tale friend and very talented filmmaker, Lisa Stock of InByTheEye who kept me in the loop on this during a busy week!

Lisa has just made her most recent short film, Hell, available for everyone to see online. It's an amazing collaborative effort, created, helmed and directed by Lisa with women filmmakers from all over the globe, each giving their different take on a different circle of Hell. The themes of this particular myth share much with fairy tale so if you haven't already, go take a look.

And keep your eyes peeled for news on her current project Titania. It's already amazing!

Dragon! (aka Maleficent Trailer #3 - the Full Version)

Do I really need to add anything else?

Here you go:

My first impression: this dragon is WAAAAY better than OUAT's dragon (thank the Universe!). And it was ridiculously satisfying seeing the silly fairies get, well, 'flipped off' Maleficent-style.

More please. :)

Also, especially for those super-psyched about this latest peek, you MAY be able to see more tonight. From the official Facebook page:

Tonight, don't miss an exclusive look at Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie 8|7c on Pretty Little Liars

Goblin Fruit ~ Winter 2014 Issue Is Live

Header/border by Zarina Liew

Renowned fantastic poetry journal, Goblin Fruit, has just released their latest quarterly collection of new fairy tale work and it's a truly lovely collection.

Here's an excerpt from the introduction by the Editors:

"...into the chattering season's teeth we throw this small morsel to sate it once and for all: here are songs of love and death, poems of winter's beauties but also of their banishment, of confrontation and change. Against the pale brilliance of glass, diamonds and cold stars are set colours all the brighter for striking against white — rose petals, apples, the feathers of hunting birds. This is an issue of women grasping their stories by the shoulders and shaking them into difference, tattering gowns into more comfortable wear; impossible as it seems, dear readers, Winter will break itself against a blossom growing out of a shoe."

So lovely and inspiring! That should make you want to drop everything else you're doing for the next little while and go grab yourself some fruit.

Here are this issue's contents:

The Cat on Love by Catt Kingsgrave 

Godfather Drosselmeyer by Sonya Taaffe 

The Vow of Frozen Time by Alexandra Seidel 

Through the Heron Door by Jack H. Marr 

The Right of It by Seanan McGuire 

Dear Prince by Kristina McDonald 

Said Rapunzel to the Wolf by Sally Rosen Kindred 

Spelling for Worse by Peg Duthie 

After the End by Kellelynne H. Riley

My favorites are The Right Of It by Seanan McGuire and Dear Prince by Kristina McDonald. I found these two in particular both inspiring and liberating. (Thank you Ms. McGuire, Ms. McDonald and Goblin Fruit!)

You can read the new works from Goblin Fruit HERE.

You should also be aware that Goblin Fruit is looking for patrons (your choice of amount you pledge per issue) to help expand more of what they do. When patronage builds to $100 per issue they'll be able to produce a podcast for each issue. At twice that they'll be able to triple the (almost token) amount paid to the truly excellent writers/contributors for each issue and ultimately they hope to be able to produce more print and e-book chapbook collections of each issue. Here's the summary from the patron pledge site:

Since April of 2006 Goblin Fruit has been publishing some of the best fantastical poetry out there, by new and established authors alike, putting out four issues a year without fail, for free and without ads. We've been fortunate enough to showcase these poems alongside the work of tremendously talented artists such as Oliver Hunter, Galen Dara, Betsie Withey, Elisabeth Heller, Paula Friedlander, and many more.   

For its first five years Goblin Fruit was a labour of love paid out of pocket by its editors; we opened up to donations with our Fifth Anniversary issue and have operated on that basis since 2011. With Patreon we hope to reach out to new readers, enable our current readers to support us more easily and with reward options, and bank towards running a podcast by April 2014 as well as produce more print and e-book chapbook collections.

And here's the promotional video for the journal: 

A promotional video for Goblin Fruit (http://www.goblinfruit.net) - the internet's coolest online fantasy poetry zine, published quarterly. Music is "The Night Journey," words by Terri Windling, vocals and instrumentals by Oliver Hunter.

You can contribute any amount from $1 up, HERE.
In the meantime, go read (and listen to) the issue. Be inspired.* It won't take very long, but it will stay with you, in the best way, for a long time to come.

* This issue is so deeply gorgeous, I would love to see what artists might create in response to these! Even if you don't consider yourself "an artist" and only create in private and for yourself, go read. This issue is like a creative well to dip into.

Maleficent Soars in New Trailer

Have you been wondering about the fairy but no wings aspect of Maleficent? The latest trailer gives us a little more backstory...

"All the other fairies fly. Why don't you?"

I thought we might see wings for Maleficent at one point but I wasn't expecting the full-sized version. I also find it interesting that the wings are raven-like, yet claw-tipped. Shades of a dragon-to-come methinks - which I couldn't be more pleased about.

It might take me, personally, a bit to get used to the winged Maleficent shown here but it would seem first responses across the board are ecstatic over the reveal.

It's going to be very interesting to watch the response to this movie - not to mention the resulting impact on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale variants. THAT I can't wait for. *rubs hands together in glee* From the looks of the fairy discussion, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more varied fairy properties in the works after this as well. (Or valkyries, because she definitely has shades of a valkyrie in this teaser!)

What do you think?

Snow White (& Her Apple) is on Display at the American Museum of Natural History

The poisonous apple that Snow White ate, causing her to collapse, produced a similar effect to pufferfish poison, according to the exhibit. The poison blocks nerve signals that make muscles move, but victims are otherwise awake.

A new exhibit called The Power of Poison opened in late November in New York, at the American Museum of Natural History, last year and our gal Snow White - and her poisoned fruit - features as a major installment. (Yay!)

The whole exhibit looks fascinating but the section on Poison in Myth and Legend (get a brief overview HERE, though I gather there is much, much more) looks particularly so, with nods to the Mad Hatter, Harry Potter, the witches of Macbeth and much more. Take a look at this brief video by curator Mark Siddall (who seems very in touch with the 'now' and obviously loves educating people in the most entertaining way possible) and tell me you're not intrigued:

Here's a summary of the exhibit from popular family blogger MommyPoppins, who picked it as one of the best family exhibits currently out there this 2013/2014 Winter:

The exhibit begins by putting you in a Columbian rainforest, complete with toxic creatures...

The Power of Poison examines facts, fictions and legends about deadly toxins. While the subject may seem offbeat for families (how many kids know what arsenic or mercury are anyway?), the presentation is totally engaging. Kids can explore the role of poison in famous fairy tales, solve mysteries at digital kiosks, get up close and personal with deadly creatures, and watch a live presentation about a historic poisoning. Both my son and I were completely absorbed by the one-of-a-kind display. For once, picking our poison had a totally awesome outcome. 

The Power of Poison is divided into two distinct sections connected by a live dramatic presentation. The first part explores the back story of toxins: where they come from, what they do, how they were used and who used them. Armed with this knowledge, you're able to solve three different poison-related mysteries in the second section. 

You enter The Power of Poison through a dimly lit Colombian jungle where you're introduced to poisonous plants and animals like live golden poison frogs and Zebra Longwing caterpillars. There's also an interesting short about a lone camper found dead in the woods with no evidence of foul play. I won't give away the ending, let's just say the culprit turns out to be one of nature's toxic creatures. 

One of our favorite parts was the Poison in Myth and Legend gallery, where life-size dioramas reveal the truth behind well known legends and stories. Find out why Lewis Carroll called hatters mad in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, whether Snow White would have really died from eating a poisoned apple and just what those witches in Macbeth were brewing up in their cauldron. 

We also enjoyed searching through the Hogwarts-style magic book, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and Dioscorides' De Materia Medica. As you flip through the animated tome about poisonous plants, the text and illustrations seem to appear out of nowhere as if the book were enchanted... 

(Read more on the fascinating exhibit areas HERE.)

Apparently the presentation is quite different from the usual AMNH exhibits, being rather more interactive and hands on. There's even a section where you can solve a mystery by following clues It's very multi-media too. There are full-scale, semi-animated scenes, actual venomous/poisonous creatures, audio and visual presentations and slideshows and a very special interactive projected 'Enchanted Book' (also mentioned above), which looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts library, that you can turn the pages of and see move under your hands when you touch the pages (much like you might expect a magic book to do), to learn more about poisons. There's an online version of it HERE. 

This “enchanted” book resembles an ancient botanical volume. It displays animations of poisonous plants and how they were used in the past. Drawings appear to come to life as the reader touches the pages.

While it's nothing compared to the exhibit piece, it still gives a lot of truly fascinating information on various poisons, how they came to be, the history and myth-tory behind them and more and is well worth your time to browse through and set all the animations and videos happening.)

The exhibit also explores myths and legends associated with poison. It features a life-sized scene of the Mad Hatter from the book "Alice in Wonderland" to explain the origin of the term "mad as a hatter." The saying dates back to the 19th century when mercuric nitrate was used by hat makers to turn fur into felt. Prolonged exposure led to mercury poisoning with symptoms that included trembling, memory loss, and anxiety.

I'm so thrilled that fairy tales are not only included in the exhibit but are showcased the way they have been. While the truth is you could have an entire exhibit just on poisons in fairy tales, getting people thinking about possible real-world origins of tales is a good way to get people to go back and look at their favorite tales, rethink folklore they know, and maybe do a little research beyond as well. Blogger Sonic Eclectic looks to be one of these since their summary of this part of the exhibit is as follows (section in bold is my emphasis):

Once the exhibit gets into the details of the environment then the specifics of countering poisons and folklore arrives.  Details are offered about witches, stories of Hercules using the toxic hydra blood, an excerpt of Snow White, and also information from Harry Potter.  What’s best is the exhibit ties the fiction and folklore to real life.  Tying poison and its affects to literature is something I would not have guessed to read and see.  Paired with the information are well-crafted artistic visuals and interactive information you can touch and hear.  Thankfully we don’t have to smell it if we could because that would not be enjoyable.

This life-size diorama of three witches circling a boiling cauldron recreates a famous scene in Shakespeare's "Macbeth." The witches are drawing on the magical powers of a few highly-poisonous plants.

The AMofNH also has a great Pinterest board full of information (and cool visuals) that you can browse HERE. While fairy tales aren't featured here, it's still intriguing (I need more words for fascinating...).

You can see more displays from the exhibit HERE and there's a whole set of behind-the-scenes photos on creating the exhibit HERE, where you can see much larger images of those below, get more information about the section, what went into putting it together and some of the varied skills employed for the presentation. (I don't see the video and animation artists included but no doubt they were hard at work as well.)

I now want to see a fairy tale exhibit JUST LIKE THIS! (Please.)
The Power of Poison runs until August 10, 2014.

"The Tale of Princess Kaguya" Is Coming to the US This Fall - Yay! (In the Meantime, Enjoy the 'Art Of' Book)

Kaguya Hime by doll artist Wakatsuki Mariko* (who adores fairy tales from all over the world)

Distribution for this reportedly gorgeous animated film of Japan's oldest fairy tale, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (aka The Moon Princess), has been picked up by GKIDS. (You may want to take note of the name since they'll also be bringing us Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea when it's ready.)

From Cartoon Brew:

Studio Ghibli is producing an English-language version of the film... 

Kaguya, which is based on the folktake “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” has been a modest success in its home country of Japan, grossing $22.7 million to date (or less than a fifth of the box office gross of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises). The film will be released in the U.S. this fall and will be submitted for Oscar qualification.

With the US distribution happening later in the year, it's likely other English speaking countries will see it soon after as well. (Here's hoping, anyway...) 

I know more than a few animation buffs who are well primed for this and, knowing the ending isn't all sugar and sweetness but is more true to the original tale, I can't wait to see how the film resolves as well. I'm really glad we'll be getting the chance to see it in theaters. Here's a quick write-up of the artistic achievement by director Takahata on this film:

The visual expressions of director Isao Takahata’s “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” were groundbreaking. Up until that point, animations had been made with separate drawing styles for background and cell images, but Takahata paved the way for a new animation, telling a story that existed on a single page. This exhibition presents several illustrations unique to Takahata’s style of lightly colored animation, while also introducing Japanese art in the forms of folding screens, hanging scrolls, and picture scrolls.

In the meantime, for those net savvy international buyer people, there is a new book: The Art of The Tale of Princess Kaguya (images in this post are from the book). While the text is Japanese (as it has been for other Ghibli "art of" books) most of the presentation is visual, so it will still be a good addition to your Art Of library.

There is also a storyboard art book as well, which you can find HERE. You can see more artwork, some merchandising and a theater pamphlet HERE.

*  Wakatsuki Mariko may be Japanese, but her work is quite similar to that of Western artists. She opened her studio, Atelier La Lune, in Japan in 1989 and has produced lines of porcelain fairy dolls in large editions. She also exhibits one-of-a-kind or small-edition porcelain dolls at solo exhibitions. Before studying dollmaking at Ecole de Simon, Mariko did not have any experience with dolls. She was inspired by Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolism paintings, and she decided she would create works in three dimensions, rather than two. She believed dolls to be somehow similar to paintings because they express the world through imagination. Mariko is a bibliophile, and books are the root of her creations, so she seeks literary essence in her dolls. She is especially fond of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen and Japanese author Ogawa Mimei. Through their tales, she learned about good will and the meaning of happiness. Through her dolls, Mariko hopes to deliver love, dreams and hope to all who enjoy them. (From Dolls Magazine)