I saw this entry on Tumblr this week and found it hilarious so had to share. All the images are from the comic series by Charles Vess that was eventually released in the GORGEOUS book, shown at the top of the post.
Anything that begins “as I was a-walking” is probably not going to end well, which is at least a good two-thirds of the ones I know
366 days is the right length of time to wait before you give up on anything
If you’re going to drown somebody, for God’s sake weigh the body down with rocks or something so nobody comes along and MAKES A F-ING HARP OUT OF IT ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS because that harp is going to drop the dime on you so fast
Note: I'm not convinced there are really spoilers here. I don't think it reveals very much about what's happened all season and with this twist, everything is completely different anyway, so I think you'll be safe... Maybe don't watch the trailers if you're truly concerned about spoiling your finale viewing.
There are all sorts of promises being made about this season's finale for Once Upon A Time. You're probably aware that the first half of this season was the "Frozen" season (-sigh-) and that the second half has been about the villains looking for their happy ending (ditto -sigh-).
I have to say, I've been less than riveted for most of it BUT we have been promised writing that uses a full two hours to explore a whole flip side to the storyline - thanks to a devious move of "rewriting" by the nefarious 'Author', everyone switches roles: the good become "evil" and the 'evil' become good.
There have been a few gem-like pieces of writing that have been stand-outs this season* so I know they have the chops. I'm really hoping they had someone work as hard on getting this finale to work 'just right' for as long as it took, rather than have it be handled in the usual speed-writing manner of TV series, because, if they do it right, it could bring Once Upon A Time back onto the 'series you should be watching' map, but if they do the "everyone switches roles exactly and says each others' lines from previous episodes" (like the example preview I saw), I'm not going to be too impressed. (Must think positive!)
This finale, titled Heroes and Villains (add the hashtag to follow all the crazy on Twitter!) has potential to be interesting, that's for sure, and I'm glad they're just keeping it to the two episode/two hour length to explore it too - hopefully that will keep it tight and focused. Here's the official description and promises making the rounds to get you excited before Sunday. But hang on - we need the trailer too. Make that two trailers...:
Things are really getting shaken up in the "Once Upon a Time" Season 4 finale. The above clip shows that the Author (Patrick Fischler) is having fun switching roles. The Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) is good, while Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) have slipped to the dark side.
What else is in store for the finale? Creators Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis tell Zap2it that fans should be ready for "Once Upon a Time" film experience. "The finale has to be when the Author starts writing," Kitsis says. "[Fans] should be prepared for a two-hour movie."
This means the Season 4 finale will work much like the Season 3 season finale that introduced the "Frozen" story arc, rather than two different stories being forced together.
"There's a unifying story idea that takes place over the two hours. It's not two separate episodes back to back," Horowitz clarifies.
Kitsis uses the phrase 'concept world' to describe the changes coming to the Enchanted Forest -- but he doesn't want over-hype the finale before people get a chance to see it.
"We don't want to over-promise, but just maybe. Our hope is that people will say that."
See who turns out to be hero or a villain when "Once Upon a Time's" Season 4 finale airs Sunday, May 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT
Oh and in other OUAT news? It has been renewed for a FIFTH season. (Please don't hit the reset button - again!)
Is that watery ink..?
* The Ice Queen was wonderfully drawn/written - and especially wonderfully played. Ursula's story was really interesting but far too short and easily wrapped up and the Author being revealed as a job rather than a specific person was great too. Despite my lack of love for the villains in general, Maleficent losing her egg-baby was heart wrenching and Cruella De Vil was completely evil through and through - and she always had been. It was wonderfully refreshing after the patterns we've seen.
For those who don't know, Lon Po Po is a Chinese variant of Red Riding Hood. It's fairly widely known, especially as a book by Ed Young was awarded a Caldecott medal and, as a result, can usually be found in libraries and schools.
A theatrical version of Lon Po Po, however, is unusual to come across! I love that they get the children involved with this, learning Chinese, twisting the tale around a bit, helping the children in the story know what to do - it's a great interactive way to learn the story, and the variant. (I love the multicultural cast involved too.)
CLARKS SUMMIT – A free performance of “Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China” will be presented at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 9, hosted by The Gathering Place at the Clarks Summit Borough building, 304 South State St.
This interactive play for children and their families is the final performance in a series presented by the Dietrich Children’s Theatre and The Gathering Place for Community, Arts and Education, a new nonprofit currently fundraising to turn the former Clarks Summit firehouse into an arts and education center.
“Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China” takes audience members on a trip to the Chinese countryside. Join three small children as they bid farewell to their father who is traveling overnight to visit their sick grandmother. The children are warned not to open the door to anyone, as the wolf may be lurking nearby. When there is a knock on the door late at night, however, the children are uncertain.
Is it their grandmother or the wolf?
Audience members will join the Dietrich Children’s Theatre and help the children figure out what to do in this unique retelling of a well-known story.
Dietrich Theater has a great collection of storytelling plays for children, including:
Balto: A True Story of the Bravest Dog In America
The Fairy Wife of Llyn Y Fan Fach (Welsh tale)
The Gifts of Wali Dad (Pakistani tale)
The Gingerbread Man
The Mouse's Marriage (Japanese folktale)
Peter and the Wolf (Russian story to teach children about musical instruments)
Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears (West African folktale)
Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (more than Mowgli!)
Coyote: A Native American Trickster Tale
Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China (which remain part of their regular repertoire).
You can see a little preview of the performance on YouTube HERE.
And here's a great reading of the book by Ed Young, complete with music and animation. I couldn't find a better version of the video, sorry, but you get a pretty good idea from this one. It's a beautiful book and the story is wonderful - highly recommended:
Developed in Melbourne Australia, it's one of the most fun-looking - and beautiful - storybooks I've seen (and it's a few years old now!). I had seen image shots but didn't realize the level interactivity till looking at it again recently.
I've included a video so you can see what I mean, but first, a description: Beauty and the Beast HD brings to life Walter Cranes sensational original illustrations, combining them with tilt and touch controlled physics elements, touch animations, drag-able character cutouts and a whole array of fantastic sound effects. A fairytale picture book that stays true to its gritty origin, complete with soothing music, antique visual style and beautiful art work presents a truly gorgeous addition to your digital book collection.
Lay back, relax and experience this fantastic, incredibly rare 138 year old version of Beauty and the Beast reimagined for the iPad. Beauty and the Beast HD brings to life Walter Cranes sensational original illustrations, combining them with tilt and touch controlled physics elements, touch animations, drag-able character cutouts and a whole array of fantastic sound effects. Inspired by a love of books, we have carefully retain the original and authentic published text. A fairytale picture book that stays true to its gritty origin, complete with antique visual style and the soothing music of Georg Philip Telemann, making this book app a truly gorgeous addition to your digital book library.
Features: ★ Beautifully rendered illustrations ★ Lute performed by Jon Sayles ★ Music performed by Roxana Pavel Goldstein & Elias Goldstein. ★ Fun and enchanting interactive compositions ★ Artwork reproduce from high-resolution archival scans
And here's the video (note - I'm fairly sure this music isn't the same that's included, but just for a fun preview):
Before you ask: NO - there is no official word that anything from Beauty and the Beast will be shown, released or teased BUT they will have to mention it so there's a strong possibility it will be one of those bonus surprise things (like a shot of an enchanted rose, if they follow the Cinderella trend!), on the day for attendees/Gold Members. (We shall see).
Here's the official press announcement:
Opening day of the D23 Expo will feature the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony as well as peeks at Disney and Pixar’s animation slate, including looks at “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory.” Disney’s live-action properties, such as its upcoming take on “The Jungle Book” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” will be previewed on Saturday.
See? Fairy tale adjacent only (but still interesting to us fairy tale folk).
The D23 Expo 2015 will be held during August 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center (Los Angeles). Tickets are available now.
By the way, I found this schedule online, which confirms Disney's animated Jack and the Beanstalk take, Giants, is still happening - and has a firm release date, albeit it very, very far away.
Also a little PSA: on April 30th, 2015 the Disney animated films The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and Cinderella went back in the vault for the next seven years (sorry folks!).
What's coming out this year to replace them? Well, we have to wait till Fall and then again till February 2016 for more, but for this year: Aladdin: October 6th, 2015 - first time on Blu-ray
Our beloved Heidi who is the mastermind, creator, curator and wrangler for the amazing SurLaLune fairy tales site, as well as the accompanying blog, is having a birthday today!
(See? You announce it on your blog and the information stays here forever... ;)
We cannot tell you how much we appreciate all you've done and all you continue to do. I'm sure many of us would not have been half so successful in pursuing our passions, research and writing with fairy tales if it hadn't been for your work!
So, on behalf of all the readers at Once Upon A Blog: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!
If you'd like to give Heidi an extra-specially great day, go buy one of her books HERE (or, if you have them all already, buy one for a friend!).
You have a great list to choose from (and she's still creating these awesome resources!):
Rapunzel and Other Maiden in the Tower Tales From Around the World: Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends and Other Tales About Maidens in Towers
Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales From Around the World
Cinderella Tales From Around the World
Beauty and the Beast Tales From Around the World
The Frog Prince and Other Frog Tales From Around the World: Fairy Tales, Fables and Folklore about Frogs
Mermaid and Other Water Spirit Tales From Around the World
Bluebeard Tales From Around the World
Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales From Around the World
The Fairy Tale Fiction of Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie
Big news for Kirsty Mitchellfans: 1) she's having a 'selling exhibition' starting TODAY (May 7th) in London for 2(ish) weeks, featuring gorgeous 2 meter prints (6 foot prints for the non-metric folks), that show all the teensy details in each amazing shot 2) she also aims to have a book available of her Wonderland work by the end of THIS YEAR! (ie hopefully ready for Christmas!)
By the end of 2015, she hopes to realize a 'Wonderland' book in collaboration with esteemed British book designer Stuart Smith through the launch of a campaign on Kickstarter backed by the photography platform LensCulture.
(I can hear you cheering from here!)
But back to the exhibition. Here are the details from the press release. I'm including the biography and summary notes about Ms. Mitchell and how this series came to be, for those who don't know much about her work:
Kirsty Mitchell ‘WONDERLAND’
7th – 23rd May 2015
Mead Carney Fine Art, 45 Dover Street, W1S 4FF
The show is kindly sponsored by Nikon UK.
Mead Carney is pleased to present 'Wonderland', a new selling exhibition by award winning fine art photographer Kirsty Mitchell.
'Wonderland' is a project created over the course of five years as an homage to the artist's mother who tragically passed away in 2008.
Having worked in fashion for a number of years, Kirsty understood the constructed and filmic nature of the photographic image. Building on this, she incorporated childlike whim through the creation of her favorite fairytales that her mother read to her as a child. With minimal support and finances, she built what can be likened to a film set in order to stage each frame. The tailor-made dresses and make-up add an element of high fashion into the work. However, props such as ships, headdresses and books transform the image further; each item carefully built and placed so as to convey a personal sense of imagination.
Kirsty's oeuvre is whimsical and dream-like. It consists of over 70 photographs that intertwine fantasy, literature and personal mediations. The selection presented shows the breadth and complexity of the highly constructed artworks. The highly saturated colours give a vivid, fairytale quality to each image. Intense contrasts intensify the surreal quality of each work; reality is undermined by the lack of gravity and soft lighting.
Upon completion in November 2014, 'Wonderland' immediately won 2 international awards, with over 280,000 followers on its social media. It has been extensively featured throughout the world achieving a viral status online, and has been published by prestigious names such as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue Italia, The Guardian, BBC news, Germany's Spiegel Online and Stern magazine to name but a few. The images warranted coverage from BBC News, Italian Vogue, and Polish Harper's Bazaar, to name a few. She won a number of awards including the grand prize for visual storytelling by Lensculture in 2014 and a place as the Nikon Ambassador of Fine Art Photography.
I had to include one of her wonderful behind-the-scenes videos, which I highly recommend for fans, photographers and storytellers alike:
I'm also linking you to her video behind-the-scenes of prepping the ENORMOUS prints for this exhibit. Just amazing stuff. You can watch it HERE, along with finding out extra details about the gallery, the Wonderland show (what will and what will not be shown - only some is shown in the panorama shots below) and her note to fans about the upcoming book.
For those of us who can't see the exhibition, you can see the series at Mitchell's website HERE. And while you're there, I recommend checking out her other galleries too. Some of her personal portraits are truly stunning. (I've also collected a variety on a Pinterest board HERE, along with costume shots and behind the scenes pics, since these photos wouldn't be what they are with all Mitchell's artistry in design, costume and prop making - that's right - she designs and makes them all herself!)
And we'll be keeping our eye on Kickstarter for the rest of the year and cheer this book on to get published. I'd love to see more about the stories behind the photos - not just how the photos were made but which stories told her by her mother inspired which pieces. Clearly there is a fairy tale sensibility here as well as a 'modern-Victorian' faery atmosphere as well, which I would love to hear more about.
And then there's the future. If this is where she journeyed to creatively over five years, we have to wonder: just what amazing things will she do next?!
Note: Today's special Beauty & the Beast post is for a lovely girl who adores this fairy tale above all others.
Happy Birthday dear friend!
This library has to be seen to be believed. It really is like stepping into the Beast's library...
And who'd bother going to the ballroom when there's all this space and beautifully Baroque surroundings (not to mention the smell of books)?
In late December of 2014, a creative team, led by the innovative Von Wong, were given a few precious evening hours to shoot some photographs (and a little video) in this amazing place, which houses the largest monastery library hall in the world. Admont Abbey itself dates back to the 1st century (and is still functioning as a working monastery) but the library dates back to the same time period as the first version of Beauty and the Beast, so it's more than appropriate they were paying homage to the fairy tale there.
What's even cooler? This was the first creative photo shoot ever made there. Take a look at some of the gorgeous results!
About this project Von Wong said:
I have always loved photography for the adventures and opportunities that it brings, not the hours I would spend retouching in front of a computer. As a result the desire to search and explore the most exotic locations and make a shoot out of it, has always been a particular passion of mine.
Projects like these are particularly magical because of how they bring people together. From fans (now turned friends) Eva Creel and Nicolas Cormier, American expats and photographers living in Germany willing to embark on a spontaneous roadtrip to drive me across Germany so that I can indulge in my creative shenanigans, to friends of friends like Oliver Schlichtherle, who drove all the way from Switzerland through Austria just to assist in whatever capacity possible… People from all walks of life somehow end up gravitating towards these amazing projects.
And at the end, we not only have fantastic imagery to share with the world… but a story to laugh and remember for the rest out our lives. Dream big, anything is possible.
You can learn more about the process, the lighting challenges (can you believe it was night tine when they shot everything?) and see a few more behind-the-scenes images on Von Wong's blog HERE.
There's also a great behind-the-scenes video detailing two projects, one in a cave system and this as the other. I've embedded it below for your enjoyment (the cave one - also lovely - is first):
From the Tam Lin Balladry Tumblr HERE:
