Finnish Artist Creates Humanly Possible Anna & Elsa

So this is not normally the type of thing I post on the blog, especially when I'm so behind on all the regular fairy tale happenings around the globe but when I saw how this artist had transformed Anna, I felt like the character of Gerda could be in there, and had to share. It's not a reaction I've ever had, not with all the cosplay, nor with Once upon A Time's 'humanization' (let's just say that's a word, OK?) of the Frozen sisters. (Despite how wonderful an acting job the actresses who portrayed Anna and Elsa did on OUAT, never did I not feel like I was watching some extended Disneyland promo.)

While the result is clearly "not human" the images are hugely more realistic than any of the drawn characters and do give an interesting interpretation of what these characters might look like in life. I quite like that they are sort of human-like illustrations. Not being perfectly human gives them that otherworldly storybook quality and keeps them out of the "bad-cosplay" zone, something that appeals to me personally.

I had to add Elsa because it's weird seeing one sister without the other when they're getting any 'treatment". She finally has realistic body proportions (and still looks great) but she doesn't look as related to her sister as I'd expect.

You've seen this artist's work before. Jirka Vinse Jonatan Väätäinen is a native Finn, currently based and working in Melbourne, Australia. He's been around for a while now, transforming Disney princesses into something approximating real life girls and doing an amazing job. He works in graphic design, illustration and photo manipulation and it's via his realistic portraits of Disney girls that he's gained world wide fame.

- Images are created by combining small elements, textures, and features several tens of real photos. In addition, this "photo compositing" technology and image manipulation in addition to the process also includes a digital painting, says the artist. (Source)

I also had to add his Merida, whom I don't remember seeing before. Interestingly, this version isn't so very far from Pixar's original take on the character, though in comparison to her "doll reincarnation" (the one lots of people got upset about - and I don't blame them), she's completely different. What does that tell you?

You can find Väätäinen's website, with all the characters to date, HERE, along with his other impressive work. (To see his other Real Life Disney, click on the title of the same name, under the Pocahontas picture on the site.)

Review: "The Outsorcerer’s Apprentice" by Kevin J.J. Carpenter

"The Outsorcerer’s Apprentice" 

(A Novel of Overlords, Underlings and Inhuman Resources)

Review by Kevin J.J. Carpenter

Editor's Note: When you pick this book up in its paper incarnation, the initial impression is that maybe it fell out of the box on the way to the shelves... perhaps even a couple of times. Then you realize, wait: are those scorch marks? The very capable Kevin J.J. Carpenter has the rest of the report.

Jacket description: 

A happy workforce, it is said, is a productive workforce.

Mmmm.

Try telling that to an army of belligerent goblins. Or the Big Bad Wolf. Or a professional dragon slayer. 

Who is looking after their well-being? Who gives a damn about their intolerable working conditions, lack of adequate health insurance, and terrible coffee in the canteen?

Thankfully, with access to an astonishingly diverse workforce and limitless natural resources, maximizing and improving operating profit has never really been an issue for the one they call "the Wizard." 

Until now.

Because now a perfectly good business model -- based on sound fiscal planning, entrepreneurial flair, and only one or two of the infinite parallel worlds that make up our universe -- is about to be disrupted by a young man not entirely aware of what's going on.

There's also a slight risk that the fabric of reality will be torn to shreds. You really do have to be awfully careful with these things.

This is a fun book! With The Outsorcerer's Apprentice, Tom Holt weaves a satirical mosaic hidden under the guise of an eccentric -albeit clunky- fairy tale perfectly suited for the modern world. There's plenty of techno-talk, a wealth of socio-political overtones, enough caustic language to garner a giggle, and most of the characters have an extreme case of cynical meta-syndrome, an increasingly popular trope in literature. The story has been penned solely for the internet generation, and all is held together by a surplus of sardonic humour.

The world Holt introduces to us is an amalgam of classic stories and while the presentation of this alternate reality is graceless and cumbersome, a coherent understanding of its complicated history is evidentially not the author's intention.* A little dubiety no doubt goes a long way in allowing readers to appreciate Holt's foreign fairy land. When one also considers that the world is described as nothing more than a patchwork of city-states, each weaved from our childhood imaginations, it is easy to understand why the author chose a less-explicative approach.

The story itself can best be described as a modern fairy tale. The familiar beats are all here and Holt uses a host of time-honoured tropes. There's the typical 'Once upon a time' opening, the particularly persistent Big Bad Wolf, and a strong female protagonist who practically begs to be the brainchild of the Brothers Grimm. Holt also offers plenty unanticipated twists to the genre staples. For example, the childhood fear of wicked relatives and cannibalistic witches has been updated to include an emphasis on economic instability. Quite ingeniously, Holt never treats the issue as anything more than allegorical, even going as far to state that economics is a 'wizard's word'. Furthermore, Holt portrays his goblin king as an empathetic characters, shown to genuinely care for the safety and longevity of his goblin-kin. This beast of the underdark is far removed from the gluttonous pigs of Rossetti's Goblin Market or the industrious demons from The Lord of the Rings, and it's a refreshing interpretation of a stale cliché.

Although Holt's peculiar novel can be a gratifying and amusing experience, the enjoyment factor is entirely dependent on how one approaches the story. At least a spattering of interest in the mythical is crucial. A base knowledge of pseudo-science and admitting to a guilty pleasure of the satirical would certainly go a long way toward appreciating the core substance of Holt's wacky world. As I said before, this is a fun book, and it doesn't try to be anything more than that.

*After a little research, it appears The Outsorcerer's Apprentice is actually the conclusion to the YouSpace Trilogy, which might account for some of the disorientation in the text, but can still be enjoyed as a standalone novel.

Disclosure: A complimentary copy of the book was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Kevin J.J. Carpenter is a professional editor, writer and an avid reader. He enjoys all genres, particularly the classics, and has a personal library of nearly 1,500 books. He currently resides in Sydney, Australia. For more of his reviews, you can visit his GoodReads page HERE. ( https://www.goodreads.com/kevinjjcarpenter )

Gaming: "The Little Mermaid" Meets A.I. in Upcoming Game "The Lost Pisces"

I'll be the first to admit this territory of advanced gaming is something I'm not very familiar with. I'm learning along with my kid (who's already much better than I am) and rarely play adult games so when it comes to what people are into, excited about and how this upcoming video game is so different, it takes me a couple of read-throughs to get it - why it's so "epic" and why people are looking forward to it, but once I got there, I knew I had to try and break it down, to bring you in on what's happening here (and with a fairy tale we know well) - because it's pretty.. well.. "epic".

Unlike you might expect, the new game "The Lost Pisces" does more than reference a fairy tale. It bases it's entire premise on Hans Christian Andersen's melancholy The Little Mermaid and then takes it a step further. I'll let them explain.

From OverclockersClub:

The Lost Pisces, or rather just PISCES, is "an experiment in connecting a gamer with an artificial intelligence," according to an interview with designer and artist Dan Rutkowski, just in a way that's different from past instances. PISCES draws its inspirations from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," where the mermaid is taken away and replaced with a machine that is simply terrified of disappearing. Rutkowski says this machine, the woman seen in the screenshots, is in search for a soul, much like in the original version of "The Little Mermaid," and wants to find that her life will go on after death. 

Sirenum (Edit: the Indie company creating the game) wants players to feel emotionally connected with the protagonist, especially since she learns from the players actions and becomes unique to each player. The team wants to create believable AI in PISCES, one that starts off as a blank slate, but learns and adapts from the player. The AI takes what we do and changes based on that, and if you happen to use a Kinect while playing, the faces you make while playing will reflect on the character. Playing with a Kinect isn't required, but perhaps recommended to get an even better connection with the AI.

Interesting, right? I've never seen The Little Mermaid paralleled so obviously with Artificial Intelligence before, but I can see how they got there. In a high powered digital world where you don't even know if the people you're friends with on the internet, whom you've never met in person, are truly who they say they are - or, to take it a step further, are even real - loss of identity, the feeling of aloneness while surrounded by millions and the feeling of anonymity that can happen though you are in full public view on the internet, can make people feel lost... And not real.

The game takes this idea that is, unfortunately, very prevalent among social media users on platforms that encourage social interactions to be boiled down to "likes" and "dislikes" (that is, Facebook) and gives it another metaphor. Somewhere between a mermaid's hunt for a soul and a little wooden puppet's longing to be real is a story people identify strongly with and for that reason alone, this game has the potential to make some very loyal and intense fans.

In fact, the initial exclusive interview with the creator was titled:
THE LOST PISCES – NEW UE4 ADVENTURE PROMISING AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE THAT STICKS WITH YOU LONG AFTER COMPLETION

Creator) Rutkowski says. “This is the Hans Cristian Andersen version, it’s a little bit darker. The idea behind The Little Mermaid, when he wrote it he had a strictly Christian background, and there’s this notion that nothing except for human beings have souls. So in The Little Mermaid, she’s not really after the Prince necessarily, like in the Disney story, what’s she actually looking for is a soul. So I was naturally attracted to that idea, because it was so in line with artificial intelligence. 

He continues: “If you follow the story of The Little Mermaid, she’s looking for a soul because she knows at the end of her days, she’ll die and turn into sea foam. That’s why she goes to the undersea witch, which in this story is actually more of a witchdoctor, rather than having malevolent intentions. So she trades all these things to become human, but the spell has a timeframe and you have to fall in love. But the undertone of trying to attain a soul is a beautiful idea, especially for this coming era of artificial intelligence; this notion of what makes up consciousness and what makes up a soul. It was a natural thing to graft the story of The Little Mermaid into PISCES. The story goes, that PISCES is The Little Mermaid, this machine that’s suddenly found a tiny bit of consciousness and she, no matter what, wants to gain a soul. She becomes terrified that at the end of her days, she might live for 300 years being a machine, but there’s nothing for her to go on to, no possibility of an afterlife.” 

...“One of the things that we’re going to show... is how powerful the PISCES character actually is. She can manifest these black shards that float around her and she can cast them out. Those shards can pull across the ground and create massive boulders that you can use to bash against the larger robots. As she turns more and more human, the thing is that she loses that ability, so she becomes weaker and weaker. What will happen is you will see her as more and more human. She’s evolving beyond just being a machine, and you have to take up the slack, up to the gamer’s character to fulfill that role.”

For the setting:

PISCES takes place in a technological Atlantis, but the end of it when the water levels are rising and people are heading higher up into the mountains.

There are a ton more details in the original interview HERE, that take you through the gaming specifics, what they're trying to achieve and the challenges in doing that, especially since, as the creator says, if they can't get the gamer to care about this character it's a failure. They're employing an unbelievably huge and complex system to make this work - from developing the visuals to be even more beautiful and dynamic, to motion and micro-expression sensors aimed at the players so that the "girl" can learn and develop her "humanity" from the gamer. It's a daunting task but sounds amazing if they can pull it off.

If anyone ever asks you if fairy tales can be relevant today in a fast-paced digital gaming and social media world, just point to this example. It's clear that no matter how society and technology change, people essentially don't - and we still have the same fears, loves and longings we've always had.

The official website for Pisces can be found HERE and to get a better idea of how things will look and play, follow them on Twitter HERE for lots of development and art updates.

Ask Baba Yaga: Should I Put Out The Fire In My Belly?

Baba Yaga and Vasilissa by Marisa Firebaugh

So this is a tricky one: you finally come in to your element, only to find you're burning people. What to do?

Today's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

Baba Yaga (companion piece) by Marisa Firebaugh

Hm. This might take a while.Maybe I should ask my friends to wear flame retardant clothing while I'm in training...

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Casting Update: Ian McKellen = Cogsworth

In case you missed the announcement, here's what The Hollywood Reporter announced on Friday:

Ian McKellen has joined the all-star lineup of Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. 

...McKellen will play Cogsworth, the Prince’s butler who is transformed into a clock. While the character doesn’t have any major musical numbers, he does make part of the Be Our Guest show-stopper. 

The veteran actor is best known to modern audiences for playing Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies as well as the evil mutant Magneto in the X-Men movies. He can also be see currently on screen playing an aging Sherlock Holmes in the indie Mr. Holmes.

There have been 'clues' from various Instagram accounts (specifically Luke Evans' account, aka Gaston) that training, rehearsing and travelling to the UK shooting location for the movie is already underway

Next up: Lumiere. (We assume... though Fifi, Lumiere's "flame" [sorry], will likely feature as well, and we still need a Chip and a Monsieur D'Arque, the Asylum Owner/Keeper.)

"The Selfish Giant" illustrated by Wladimir Dowgialo

I've been hanging on to these gorgeous illustrations for a little while now and since I just posted on an Oscar Wilde tale, I thought - why not add some gorgeous art based on another of his fairy tales? This one, is The Selfish Giant, one of Wilde's tales that seems to have remained somewhat popular around the world. (If you're not familiar with it, you can find the text HERE.)

This story seems to be one of those "illustrators's dream" assignments as I've rarely seen a sub-par set of illustrations for this fairy tale. And how could it not be? Giants, children, seasons, castles, trees, a little visit from a not-quite-human visitor and a village populated with interesting characters.. there's so much to work with.

The amazing artist this time around is Wladimir Dowgialo (yes, Wladimir - with a 'w'), whom I know very little about except that, he's from Belarus, got his degree in Illustration there and likes to illustrate fairy tales (and we like the illustrations he creates!). 

You can see a selection of his work HERE (it's amazing!) and you can find much of his work if you search. 

For today, enjoy his Selfish Giant!

Theater: Oscar Wilde's "The Fisherman And His Soul" Playing Now Through April 25 (Idaho)

The Fisherman and His Soul by Simone Rein

Boise Contemporary Theater are bringing to life an Oscar Wilde fairy tale that used to be much better known when I was a girl. The Fisherman and His Soul was one of those stories teachers interested in the classics, used to use in education, but it's been many, many years since I've seen any reference to it anywhere, apart from the odd art work here and there.

One of the great things about contemporary theater is the ability to try unconventional staging, mix up the media and, be bold in trying new approaches to old stories.

Artist unknown

The pictures you generally see for this fairy tale tend to focus on the man and the mermaid, the romance, and a somewhat sad and dark atmosphere (I've added a variety of atypical illustrations for the post on purpose). Boise Theater's adaptation appears to mix that right up. 

But before I show you their promo video, let me bring you up to speed if you're not familiar with the tale.

I'll start with the press introduction by the troupe, which seems to either expect you to know the story, or to completely surprise you by what's coming:

The Fisherman and His Soul  

Music/Shadows/Magic  (FTNH edit: take note! Shadows! Magic! This should be quite interesting...)

by Michael Baltzell and Michael Hartwell adapted from Oscar Wilde
“Every evening the young Fisherman went out upon the sea, and threw his nets into the water.” So begins the 1891 fairy tale by Oscar Wilde that will come to life on the BCT stage in the spring of 2015. What the fisherman finds in his net will get your imagination whirling: “But no fish at all was in it, nor any monster or thing of horror, but only a little Mermaid lying fast asleep.”

So, very briefly: Fisherman catches mermaid. Fisherman proposes. Mermaid says "No. You have a soul. Get rid of it. Then, I can love you." (Fisherfolk have no souls.) Fisherman learns shadows are really Souls. Fisherman cuts off his shadow. Mermaid says "yes". Soul sent away, into the world. Soul has no heart. Soul scours world; looks for ways to lure Fisherman back out of the sea... 

(You can read the whole fascinating tale HERE. Just be prepared to take a few minutes - it's not a super-quick read.)

Now that the scene is set, take a look at the promo video. It may not be quite what you expect:

To pick up from there I'll switch to a review from BoiseWeekly:

The play is visually marvelous. In the first act, the mermaid is bedecked in LED lights and crashing waves are simulated with a lightweight sheet and a high-powered fan. However, the practical effects are a sorbet for the lighting effects dominating the second act when the fisherman's soul recounts adventures of strong-arming kings, dueling imperial guards and stealing precious treasure in elaborate shadow plays that make his tall tales larger than life. 

Based on a story by Oscar Wilde, Fisherman maintains a firm grasp on weighty ideas. Wilde, who studied Greek and Roman antiquity at Oxford, was familiar with divisions of the soul and hierarchy of desires: Without a heart to guide him, the fisherman's soul appeases its basest appetites with terrible consequences. "Love," the fisherman tells his soul, "is better" than all the wisdom and riches in the world. 

... Fisherman turns a simple story into a visually and audibly vibrant spectacle sure to lure in audiences. 

(You can read the full BoiseWeekly review of the show HERE.)

The Fisherman and His Soul IV by Germano Ovani (part of a narrative series of 4)

And an additional quick summary, to include some insight into the presentation from IdahoStatesman:

"The Fisherman and His Soul" will offer a bounty of Victorian theatrical devices and storytelling motifs, such as shadow puppetry, physical theater, burlesque arts and live musical performance. They based the play on Oscar Wilde's short story about a fisherman who catches a mermaid in his net, then must choose between his love for her and his own soul.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/03/27/3719483/the-fisherman-and-his-soul.html#storylink=cpy

Oh yes! I was extremely happy to find (with a little extra digging) that they were using shadow play inspired by Wayang, traditional Indonesian shadow puppetry. I grew up regularly exposed to Balinese shadow puppetry, which is very similar, and close to my heart, so was very glad to see this! It's the perfect medium for this fairy tale.

If you'd like to go, here are the details:

The Fisherman and His Soul @ Boise Contemporary Theater

• Wednesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m. and Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m. Continues through April 25 $26-$32