"Jack Milton: Fairy Tale Detective"

I recently discovered another fairy tale detective: "Jack Milton: Fairy Tale Detective"

Apparently this 18 minute short film won awards on the film festivals circuit! And don't let the funny animal costumes put you off - it's not really for kids.

From the YouTube description:

In a dark and morally corrupt fairy tale world, Detective Jack Milton and his trusty sidekick, Tom Thumb, strive to solve the murders of the world's most famous storybook characters.

Filmaker Tod Norwood created the film a few years ago in collaboration with 7 Fluid Oz. Productions. Says Todd (from his BLOG):

It was a fun film to shoot and it was a blast to travel the festival circuit with it. The cast is great in this and I met many long time collaborators who I’ve worked with many times later..

I sometimes get asked if there are any continuing adventures of Detective Milton and Tom Thumb. And the immediate answer is “yes.” I wrote a feature script about them. It follows our two intrepid heroes as they join forces with his estranged girlfriend, Snow White, and a new character, Freddy the Frog, (really the Frog Prince) as they uncover a worldwide conspiracy affecting all of Fairy Tale land.

The script uses select scenes from the short and spins it off into new directions. It’s very much a mystery/road trip flick, and introduces a lot of other famous characters in strange situations.

The film looks like a lot of fun so I'm really interested to see what a feature film would be like. In the meantime, hopefully Todd will release this little one on DVD.

He uploaded the short film to YouTube in July so everyone could see it but had to break it into four chapters to fit (which he says was an interesting experience - tends to give one a case of itchy-editors-fingers!) but he promises he didn't 'pull a Star Wars" and has kept the film intact (he did hint there may be an extra digital sheep or two in there though!)

Here are the four chapters for you to enjoy:

"Grimm for Grown-ups" Coming To The Québec Intercultural Storytelling Festival

During October the Québec Intercultural Storytelling Festival is set to take over many of the public venues in the city for their events and programmes.

On October 24th, a free presentation titled "Grimm for Grown-ups" is happening at the Goethe-Institut in Montreal as part of the Festival.From the Institute's website:

German storytellers who are special guests of the Quebec Intercultural Storytelling Festival will enchant your ears with traditional German folk and fairy tales for adults. Come discover the metaphors, Freudian slips, violence, beauty and poetry of these stories, which have crossed the ages and still speak to our hearts and imagination today.

You can find more information about the presentation HERE.

I wonder if anyone will be recording? This would make a great podcast!As for the rest of the Storytelling Festival it will be presented in both English and French , here's the rundown according to the press release:

The 10^th edition of the Québec Intercultural Storytelling Festival will take place from October the 16^th to the 25^th, in concert venues, libraries, and theatres around Montréal, Québec City and the Eastern Townships. More than 130 events will be presented, in French and in English, by no less than 120 storytellers. This year, the Festival's English Section is featuring artists from Germany, Israel, England, the Yukon, Ontario and Québec.

You can see the other events planned and look at the amazing number and range of talented storytellers coming to town for this event HERE.

While storytelling is often considered (at least in English-speaking countries) to be for children only, the reality is that storytelling - when done well and appropriately - has a profound impact on listeners no matter what the age. Storytelling is used, not only for recreational purposes and to communicate information but also for healing and therapy. (And just look at the news: There's a whole lot of storytelling happening right there! Sorry, couldn't resist.)

My favorite storyteller is still Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes, whom I discovered about ten years ago. A multi-award winning author and Jungian-analyst, who uses her storytelling to look at the human condition as well as for healing and therapy, she weaves fairy tales, folktales, myths and legends effortlessly into her presentations. I highly recommend her audiobooks:

• Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Women Archetypes (which was also a NY Times bestseller)
  

• The Red Shoes: On Torment and the Recovery of the Soul Life

• Warming the Stone Child: Stories and Myths About Abandonment and the Unmothered Child
  

• The Creative Fire: Myths and Stories About the Cycles of Creativity

It's worth tracking down the out-of-print titles. I especially enjoy how she uses a mix of well known tales and lesser known ones from all over the world. The result, at least for me, is that it makes it clear how tales can transcend boundaries of race and culture because the human experience is same the world over, albeit in different forms. It's good to be reminded of that from time to time.

Glass Slippers For Sale...

... for real!

I have to say my first thought is: OW! My feet hurt just looking at these. Did some poor model actually have to wear these? Or worse, walk in these?! You'd want to make REALLY sure they were what you wanted before pulling out the credit card/kid's college fund/life savings/etc. I'm guessing they're final sale sort of items...Here are some great comments (out of many!) from the post where I found these - they make you think again about the story (at least the version with the "glass slipper" anyway):

I want some! Only thing is, I'd end up tripping, falling, and end up with awful bloody feet with a doctor picking the glass out of my foot.

... these shoes of course are a blister's best friend...

I have a horrible image in my mind of someone trying to wear these and the glass heel going straight into their foot.

... (all that money)... and then you kick something...

I think you would need some hot toes/feet to pull off glass slippers. Cinderella didn't have bunions, yo.

Available at Maison Martin Margiela* stores in Hong Kong (possibly elsewhere, too). HK$9,899 each.

Yes - EACH!

Did you really think Cindy's slippers would come as a pair?

Looks like you opt for either a daily dust & windex or a painful evening ending with a date with a doctor... Ah-ha! I just discovered our heroine's back-up plan!

Found HERE along with the quoted comments and more to boot. (He he!)

* Martin Margiela is a Belgium designer, who’s made a name for himself by creating some really edgy, avant-garde shoes that push the envelope for shoe design. His three stores all appear to be in Hong Kong, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear this particular design gets a wider distribution...

Taking the Fairy Out of Fairy Tales - Article on Hans Christian Andersen

I saw this lovely article (complete with gorgeous pictures) last week from Art Passions and thought I'd link you.

Art Passions latest article, "Fairy Tales in Search of a Soul", discusses how Hans Christian Andersen's tales are different and specifically discusses The Little Mermaid and The Brave Tin Soldier as examples of his mastery of story telling elements.Mermaid (Transfiguration) by Sulamith Wulfing

Here's how the article begins, just to get you started:

I’ve been neglecting Hans Christian Andersen and I feel guilty about this. It’s partly because of all the noted fairy story tellers, he wrote mostly original work (rather than transcribing folk tales) and because of this, many of his stories labeled as “fairy tales” simply aren’t—at least from the perspective of popular assumptions about them. The popular term “fairy tale ending” presupposes a happy ending such as “lived happily ever after” and many authors and transcribers seem to assume that this is what both adult and child readers want. Andersen does provide this sort of ending, but his stories are more complex and the resolution not dependent on any of the magic that fairy stories depend on. The sense of magic we associate with fairy tales is not produced by transformations or spells, but often through the reader’s assumption of anthropomorphic qualities – and Andersen was a master of this process – thus allowing the reader to supply his own magic. His stories are not always from some distant past but rather draw from the edges of our imagination in the recent and present. Of all the fairy tale authors, he is among the most ironic. And he is nowhere more ironic than in his tragic tales of unrequited love.

Continue reading (along with more gorgeous illustrations) HERE.

Art Passions also have two other pieces of news:

1) They're on Twitter now, so you can follow them there and get their news as soon as it's announced. You can follow them HERE.

2) Art Passions have their calendars for 2010 ready for purchase. There are individual artist ones HERE as well as a variety wall calendar. Go HERE for more information and to order.

New "The Princess and the Frog" Artwork

In the last week, two new pieces of artwork from Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" have surfaced on the internet (you can click on the images for a larger view):

The first one is an International Poster. You'll notice this is almost identical to the artwork being used to promote the Disney preview events of the movie in Los Angeles and New York City. As you can see, there's quite a cast of characters in this version of "The Frog Prince/King."

The second is a mural of 'the shadow man' (a.k.a. the villain, Dr. Facilier), painted to promote the movie and being spotted at some theaters. You can see some close-ups HERE.

Jacque and the Kelp Stalk

Here's a different interpretation of Jack and the Beanstalk: an underwater version!Artist Richard Peter Han explains his interpretation (from his BLOG):

Jacque is a deepsea treasure hunter and scavenger, when he comes across a kelp field and see's a giant sea monster climbing up a gigantic stalk carrying treasures up into his kelp lair.

And here he is, 'running' from the giant/sea monster on a giant nautilis.Here are a couple of design drawings for the main characters:I highly recommend clicking for the full view on the main paintings and the Jacque character sheet in particular - the scope of the paintings are beautiful and the character sheet is wonderfully expressive!

You can see more of Pete's wonderful designs, concepts and drawings HERE.

Charles Vess Maps "Instructions"

A little while back I posted the announcement that Charles Vess was busy working hard on a illustrated version of Neil Gaiman's poem "Instructions". (You can find that post HERE.) He is now DONE! (40 paintings in two months apparently - I can't wait to see the results.)

Mr. Vess recently posted his illustration for 'mapping' the land which the reader needs 'instructions' to navigate.

To see a larger version, click HERE or on the image and be taken to his site to see it there.

Charles has also posted a few interesting fairy tale maps he's found along the way and I thought I'd do the same.

"The Land of Make Believe" by Jaro Hess. It was created in 1930 and is thought to be one of the first times all the fairy tale 'lands' were put together as if they exist/ed in the same space and time. You can find more interesting information about this map HERE.

The one above is a real map of a tour (it's actually a self-navigated route most of the time unless there's a promotion like the current Disney one) you can take in Germany to sites said to be the inspiration for the local versions of the Grimm's tales. SurLaLune had a brief post about a current Disney version of the tour, which you can find HERE.

I'm surprised there aren't more maps of fairy tales and make believe, available. I'm positive I've seen a map for the whole story of Disney's Snow White (when I was a child - not recently) but I can't find it, or reference to it, anywhere.

Do feel free to post a comment if you have any information, or other maps to share.

Keep Their Fairy Tales Away From Hospital

Here's a Romanian ad campaign for a recent charity ball (August 28th, 2009) for the Steps Towards Life Foundation. The English translation on the posters you see here was released this last week (mid-September 2009).The charity ball was run by "La Motoare" Club.

Here's the TV ad (In Romanian, but it's clearly part of the same campaign with some storytelling at the beginning).

The ad shows the phrase: "Ține poveștile copilăriei departe de spital." It translates (very roughly) as "(Keep) youngster story children (?) out from hospital":



You can see the ads full size HERE.

"The Tale of the Beauty and the Tail of the Beast" - the Musical

Paul Boyd's musical interpretation of Beauty and the Beast is going to Belfast for a season (December 4th, 2009 to January 9th, 2010), this time with extensive rewrites and a new production which promises to be funnier than ever.

The revamped-rewritten musical "The Tale of the Beauty and the Tail of the Beast" will be staged by Belfast's Lyric Theater and sounds like a lot of fun.

Essentially, it's Madame LePrince de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast as performed by an 18th century traveling theater troupe with all the players preoccupied with their own personal stories, resulting in a (smartly put-together) comedy of errors.

Paul Boyd is well known for his excellent musical adaptations of fairy tales in the UK. You can find out more about Paul HERE.From the Lyric Theater's UK website:

This fun-filled musical follows an 18th century acting troupe, Monsieur Affable’s Performing Players, one of whom has gone missing, another has delusions of grandeur and all are reading from a script that is entirely in the wrong order. This well known tale is given a hilarious and unusual twist. The multi-talented cast plays numerous roles delivering some of Paul Boyd’s funniest lines, cleverest lyrics and most captivating score.

Live music, played on stage by the actor-musicians wielding an impressive variety of instruments, is an integral part of the play and is a hailed aspect of the production. Here's a lovely preview (of the music) in the new 2009/2010 trailer:

You can find out more about the production HERE (and if you click on the link at the bottom of the page for more information you can see some photos from past productions too).

Amnesty International's Graphic Fairy Tales

Amnesty International has a campaign in Chile, South America, denouncing violence against women that uses fairy tale characters.

I'm only going to show one of the two posters here. The other one with Snow White is far too graphic for a general posting.

The ad campaign is this:

"Violence against women is violation of human rights.

Denounce."

You can see the Snow White poster HERE (Scroll down to see a thumbnail of the Snow White one. You can click on it for a larger view.).