Little Red Riding Hood Goes to BurgerBoy

I originally saw this months ago through What? Salma Hayek sold burgers on TV as 'Little Red Riding Hood'? Yep, it's true by Rafael Abreu and finally decided to share:

Could you imagine that the wife of French businessman François-Henri Pinault once dressed up as 'Little Red Riding Hood' in a television commercial for BurgerBoy hamburgers in the '80s?

And yes, we've got the video to prove it.

The Mexican girl from Veracruz, who today mixes with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood and is herself a big box office draw, was the star of her own show even long ago in an outfit that looked less like Little Red Riding Hood and more like Snow White, all while she and her grandmother rode to the burger joint while she sang: "I'm Little Red Riding Hood and I'm going to visit my grandmother; I'm going to invite her for a burger at BurgerBoy."

I'm not into the "Oh, look at how the celebrities embarrassed themselves when they were poor and hungry and desperate for work" stories, but this commercial was so random that I had to share. Little Red, Grandma and the Big Bad Wolf all headed to BurgerBoy?

And here it is:

Follow-Up on The Types of International Folktales Books

If you have tried to order these books previously when they were out of print, reorder them. The bookstore is not going to contact you about the old order. It was essentially cancelled if the books were out of print when you placed it. They didn't contact me about the reprinting. They don't even know I exist as SurLaLune. I am just a customer to them who ordered the set a few weeks ago.

I have been checking back semi-regularly since the books were supposed to be reprinted in the early part of this year and never were. I have desperately wanted my own copies for a while to facilitate research and because copies are not easy to find in most university libraries yet. Check WorldCat and you'll see how rare they really are. Nashville is surrounded by university libraries and only one had copies of this set which are lent out, not kept as reference books, so essentially they are unavailable. Fortunately, I had some fair use photocopies of the pages I needed the most.

Place a new order with the new listings provided in my post yesterday and await the email. You won't be double charged for anything by the bookstore. The nice thing about their antiquated ordering system is that an actual person is handling your complete order once it is received. If you have questions, you can also email them at tiedekirja (at) tsv.fi They can communicate with you in English. It might not be fluent, but it is adequate to your needs. And, yes, the books are in English so no worries there.

You can send the email requesting a total. Include your shipping address and the following:

Tilatut tuoteet:
1kpl 33,00 eur/kpl 83-265-30282 Types of International Folktales . A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti A
1kpl 33,00 eur/kpl 83-265-30283 Types of International Folktales . A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti A
1kpl 33,00 eur/kpl 83-265-30284 Types of International Folktales . A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti

As for availability through Amazon, B&N and others, not that I've seen so far and perhaps never. Most likely the price would equal or surpass ordering them direct if they were. These are from a small academic press in another country. They are not going to be easy for distributors to distribute for a profit without a severe markup especially in today's publishing economy. But at 33 euros apiece, they are very reasonably priced through the publisher. I've paid much more for much less with American academic publishers.

Finally, these books are HIGHLY recommended. I find they are more intuitive than the previous versions of the system with helpful categories and resources. If you work with tale types, they are a must, the primary tool you will end up using. Is the system perfect? No. But this is the best for the intended purposes.

Questions About Kindle Books

    

Answering a few questions concerning recent posts:

No, you do not need a Kindle to read these discounted ebooks. The Kindle reading software is available for many different devices, including your computer. I have the software reader on my Kindles, computer, and iPhone. My husband has it on his iPad. With my phone, I am never without reading material and my life is so much happier. I use it more for reading than anything else. Yes, we are a mixed family, I am a PC and he's a Mac. Somehow we've made it work for almost fifteen years. Although I concede that Mac has done the phones and tablets the best so far. Visit this page to download the free softwares for whichever device you prefer.

I do highly recommend a Kindle, too, if you are an avid reader. I was VERY reluctant and am a full convert. A month ago I special ordered a new book from the UK, paying extra because I didn't want to wait for its February 2012 release in the US. The hardcover book arrived almost a month ago and is just slightly smaller than The Goblet of Fire with fluffed font size and page margins. It's not really that long of a book for the size of the object. It is big and heavy and uncomfortable to read. I don't want to carry it around. So my enthusiasm waned and the book is still unread. I bought the special offers Kindle a few months ago and it has paid for itself about twice now in book discounts and other coupons. The ads are not distracting--they only appear at the bottom of the top menu page and on your screensavers. After a few years of looking at the humdrum screensaver on the original Kindles, it's actually fun to see the new ads crop up with different and interesting images.

That said, Amazon's Tablet is rumored for a new release and announcement any day now. I don't know if it will have e-ink tech or not or be more like the iPad and Color Nook. If not, I won't be very interested. The e-ink tech is excellent. No, it is not for color illustrations--there is no color--but for plain reading, nothing beats it technology wise. I still prefer art books and picture books in paper. I don't want interactive picture books too much--kids get enough interactive in other ways and deserve the simplicity of a picture book. But 90% of my reading is straight text and e-ink is the surefire winner for me.

Finally, in my experience with friends and acquaintances who own Kindles--about 20 of them now--only one isn't a complete convert. I meet people for lunches who have their Kindles at hand. All of them say that they read faster and easier with the Kindle since it disappears once you adjust to it. This reaction has ranged from a retired college English professor to several mom friends and even my dad. The most surprising converts were my mom-in-law and sister-in-law who were averaging perhaps 10 books a year and have already read at least that many books since acquiring their own Kindles six months ago. They love adjusting the font size, getting overall less expensive books, and the convenience of book shopping. My sister-in-law was schooling me a few days ago about the various Kindle lights she has used and preferred. That was unexpected.

My dad even joked a few weeks ago that he missed his Kindle when he got two paper cuts from reading a paper book he had. Not that papercuts are common but they happen! Believe it or not, you won't miss FEELING THE PAGES nearly as much as you think you will. I have only heard that from people who have not tried one. Those who have actually TRIED ereaders never mention missing a physical book again. The caps are because that is the number one excuse I hear for not trying an ereader in general--it was one of my own years ago--but these days sounds like someone saying they don't like chocolate when they've never tasted it, vanilla is good enough for them because they love it. Well, I love both. (And now I am craving a chocolate and vanilla twist cone. Hmmmm....)

And reading is much more anonymous. I read a lot of genre fiction for fun and some of those covers are downright embarrassing. I no longer care because my Kindle is quite innocuous. Although it is interesting to read what other people have highlighted in the same books which adds to the shared reading experience of ebooks.

And most books are allowed on five devices at the minimum at a time so you can buy one book and read it along with your spouse, parent or whoever shares your account. You can also lend books with most titles although you can't access them on your account while they are lent out. The lending library technology is still under development with Amazon and libraries, but that is supposed to be available by the end of the year, too.

Buying an ebook reduces used book sales in which authors receive no money for their work. My priority is the author getting paid and an ebook purchase is better than a used book purchase for the author.

The Kindle is hypoallergenic, too. No allergies with older, yellowing books or library books filled with smoke or perfume odors. I am extremely sensitive to all of these issues so I prefer my Kindle even more.

Overall, everyone loves having less book clutter, adjustable font size and the ability to read one handed which more than doubles your comfortable reading positions. Or even no handed actually. I prop up my Kindle quite frequently and also use it while exercising on my elliptical. I use books all day long--I am not foregoing books in my life--I am swimming in them with my research and other pursuits. They are my life and one of my main sources of happiness. But I love my Kindle for its lightweight, easy reading.

Black as Snow by Nick Nolan

 

Black as Snow by Nick Nolan was released earlier this week in both paper and ebook formats. The ebook is discounted to $2.99 for the moment while the paper is $9.85. I'll admit this one doesn't appear to be to my personal taste or preferences, but it is fascinating all the same to read what the author does with the story.

Here's the description that explains why it would be of interest here and also prepares you to see the plot devices for what they are in the longer description that follows. (This paragraph is actually the last on the book's page, but I am moving it to the top.)

Black as Snow—from two-time winner of ForeWord's Book of the Year Award, author Nick Nolan—twists the beloved fairy tale of Snow White into a suspense-filled story of darkness, subterfuge and greed...and the unstoppable power of everyday love.

And the rest of the description:

A charismatic young luminary. Thousands gathered to hear his words. A single rifle shot. Black as Snow begins at the end—but then the story rewinds.

Sebastian Black is not only handsome and in possession of "…a sex-drive befitting a satyr on Viagra," but he’s also telepathic—especially when his life’s in danger or when someone's hungry for his bedtime companionship. And Black as Snow is crawling with people who are out to get him—in both respects.

Because Sebastian’s mother—prophetess Kitty Black—touts him as the "next species of man" and crowns him figurehead of their "green" religious cult, some Apocalypse-minded Christian militants chase the young man from his gleaming penthouse in Century City into the California wilderness. Then a frenetic cat-and-mouse ensues as Sebastian flees into the savage coastline of Big Sur and then hides in the tony marinas of Sausalito.

During his journey Sebastian is befriended by seven "everyday" people who obliterate his privileged worldview: an aging lesbian couple, one of whom is terminally ill; a methamphetamine addict; an elderly Mexican handyman; a vulnerable gay teenager; a less-than-brilliant college jock; and finally a lonely woman who’s battling bulimia. But during Sebastian’s absence Kitty’s cash starts dwindling, so she schemes to lure him home…even if it means conspiring with his enemies—in particular, a dashing Spaniard who darkly mirrors Sebastian's preternatural talents and beauty. And as the clock ticks backward to the beginning of the story, it's a race to see if Sebastian can save himself and those he has grown to love.

And more from the author interview about the fairy tale usage:

Jaime Flores: So will you finally tell your readers about this new book? You’ve been driving me crazy with it for years, but you’ve kept everyone else in the dark.

Nick Nolan: Black as Snow is a deconstruction of Snow White--only it isn’t for kids; Black as Snow is violent and sexy and dark and funny…and it’s sure to stir some controversy--especially where I mash up sex with religion in one unforgettable scene.

Jaime Flores: That scene’s going to raise some hackles.

Nick Nolan: Yep.

Jaime Flores: Which elements from Snow White did you include?

Nick Nolan: Just about all, but only after standing them on their heads: Sebastian Black--he plays Snow White--is the messianic figurehead of a new "green" religion that celebrates evolution and the coming of the next species of Man; the dwarfs are people who’ve been marginalized by our society but who teach Sebastian what really matters; Sebastian’s "evil" mother is a religious prophet... although I’ve also sketched her with humor and pathos; there’s a love story and some straight sex and gay sex and Christian militants and drug addiction and tragedy. And there are scenes where you’ll laugh.

Jaime Flores: What about the poisoned apple?

Nick Nolan: Let’s just say there’s a poisoned Apple in the story.

So you've been informed and warned and the decision to read it is up to you! The exact things that might spark your interest are the opposite of compelling to me, but I admit it sounds clever. The reader reviews rather confirm my suspicions, but I will be interested if any readers here are interested...

Back in Print: Newest Version of The Types of International Folktales

Good news!

One of the most frequently asked questions on SurLaLune is about the ATU Folktale Classification System, and more specifially since my post last year, on the availability of the three books containing the new system. The books have been out of print for well over a year.

So the good news is that the books are back in print. They are not inexpensive, but in comparison to other academic folklore books, they are very reasonable. Alas, the biggest expense is the shipping which equals the price of one book since they are shipped from Helsinki.

So how do I get me some of this wonderful, important, critical folklore goodness you may ask... Go to the bookstore's main page and search for Uther in the search box. Hint: The site is not in English, but you can switch it over by clicking the British flag in the upper right hand corner. The English isn't perfect, but it's usable. The three titles for The Types of International Folktales appear at the bottom of the search results. You do have to put each in your cart separately.

The links to the individual books are here but may break since the site doesn't maintain a linking stability in my experience, but we'll hope for the best:

The Types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Part I. Animal Tales, Tales of Magic, Religious Tales, and Realistic Tales, with an Introduction

The Types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Part II. Tales of the Stupid Ogre, Anecdotes and Jokes, and Formula Tales

The Types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Part III. Appendices

Add them to your cart. The tricky part is that the bookseller doesn't have an online merchant option. You have to order the books and then wait for an email with an order total in euros and a fax number. You can fax your credit card information to them. I chose to create a unique number with my credit card company with a specified credit limit and then emailed it back to the bookstore as an attachment to control any identity theft issues. I had difficulty getting the fax number to work and resorted to this method instead and so far have had no issues.

You may try to save money by ordering only Volume 1 (most of the popular fairy tales and other tales are in this volume) but Volume 3 is critical to using Volumes 1 & 2 since it contains the bibliographies. You won't know the citations in the first two volumes without it, in other words. You need those appendices.

My books arrived today. They are in perfect condition and hardcover to boot which is a boon to the usage I will give them. I had to sign for them and am grateful to not be working from my dogeared copies of critical pages from a local library edition that has been checked out for months anyway so I couldn't access it recently. There has been no other edition in my area. And the price of ordering all three copies is still less expensive than photocopying the books if that is your inclination. Unless you have free photocopying and an assistant to do the painful copy work, but that isn't quite legal anyway whatever the fair use. I had some page copies of pages for marking up with my research, but I am happy to have the originals on hand now, too.

The Seas by Samantha Hunt

 

 

A new discovery to me today thanks to a bargain book listing is The Seas by Samantha Hunt. The ebook is temporarily marked down to $2.99 while the paperback is $12.03 discounted at Amazon. The book was originally released in 2004 but somehow I have missed it until today. It draws inspiration from Undine and the Little Mermaid so it certainly deserves a mention on SurLaLune.

Book description from the publisher:

Ever since her father walked into the ocean eleven years ago, a young woman waits for him to return. Life in her coastal town is decidedly bleak. Her mother spends her time quietly monitoring the ocean for her missing husband. Her grandfather passes the days typesetting dictionaries that will never be printed.

Rather than suffer the contortions of becoming a woman and accepting her father's apparent suicide, the narrator convinces herself she is a mermaid and escapes her dreary, northern town life via a fantastic myth.

When not chamber-maiding at decrepit motels or dreaming of becoming a scientist, she dedicates her time to falling obsessively in love with Jude, a drinker and a sailor twice her age who bears more than a passing similarity to her father. She knows Jude has a troubling secret that will, when revealed, help to fulfill the narrator's peculiar sense of her identity.

Part modern Gothic, part coming-of-age story, The Seas explores the very real possibilities in the unreal, straddling the horizons between the ocean and the land, literature and science, wishing and reality.

Here are some journal reviews, too:

From Publishers Weekly

In this retelling of "The Little Mermaid," Hunt traps readers in an undertow of tragedy gripping a bleak Northern fishing town. A young woman meets Jude, a sailor whose experiences in Iraq have rendered him watery and insubstantial. Jude becomes both love interest and paternal figure for the girl, whose own father disappeared at sea years before. Convinced she is a mermaid, she believes her love dooms the mortal Jude, but she longs to take him into the ocean with her. The sea's presence is constantly felt in the bleak, isolated town. "There is little else to do here besides get drunk and it seems to make what is small, us, part of something that is drowned and large, something like the bottom of the sea...." Atmospherically, the book resembles Annie Proulx's The Shipping News, but in this story, chances for redemption are rare, and the line between reality and fairy tale is blurred. The girl's grandfather, a typesetter, fills her head with words and definitions, but despite determining to observe everything as a scientific experiment, she cannot find a way to define the wet footprints she finds in odd places, the strange things she sees on the beach and her drowning love for Jude. While Hunt occasionally hammers her themes too hard—in one instance even listing them for us—this book devastates with its lonely, cold imagery.

and

From Booklist

Hunt's fevered, reality-bending first novel is clearly inspired by the 1811 German novel Undine, about a female water spirit who falls in love with a mortal knight. When he betrays her, she kills him with a kiss. In Hunt's version, Undine is the nameless 19-year-old narrator who is in love with a 33-year-old fisherman, Jude, a former soldier (knight) who has returned to their small town in the far north unable--or unwilling--to speak about his experiences in the military. To extend the Undine analogy, the girl's father--before vanishing into the ocean 11 years earlier--has told her that she is a mermaid, "from the sea," a sentiment that obsesses the girl. Is she? And if so, will she kill her knight with a kiss? Some readers, overburdened by obscure symbols and narrative ambiguity, won't care. Others, however, will enjoy this fusion of fiction and folklore that is illuminated by flashes of quite fine writing. Michael Cart

The Story Sisters: A Novel by Alice Hoffman

 

The Story Sisters: A Novel by Alice Hoffman is another new bargain ebook for September which may be of some interest to readers here. The ebook for the month of September is priced at $1.99 vs. the $10.20 Amazon price for it in paper. The title is one of 100 on a special September 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less page which contains some excellent titles, especially in childrens and YA, too.

Description from the publisher:

From the New York Times Bestselling
Author of The Third Angel and Practical Magic

Alice Hoffman’s previous novel, The Third Angel, was hailed as "an unforgettable portrait of the depth of true love" (USA Today), "stunning" (Jodi Picoult), and "spellbinding" (Miami Herald). Her new novel, The Story Sisters, charts the lives of three sisters–Elv, Claire, and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who cannot tell the truth, a neighbor who is not who he appears to be, a clumsy boy in Paris who falls in love and stays there, a detective who finds his heart’s desire, and a demon who will not let go.

What does a mother do when one of her children goes astray? How does she save one daughter without sacrificing the others? How deep can love go, and how far can it take you? These are the questions this luminous novel asks.

At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, The Story Sisters sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them. It confirms Alice Hoffman’s reputation as "a writer whose keen ear for the measure struck by the beat of the human heart is unparalleled" (The Chicago Tribune).

The journal reviews explain the folklore/fairy tale influences in the book as well as almost opposite opinions on the book itself:

From Booklist

*Starred Review* A writer as virtuosic as Hoffman doesn’t bestow the name Story on a family lightly. So, yes, this is a many-storied novel about storytellers, brimming with magic and despair, atonement and redemption. The Story sisters, Elv, Meg, and Claire, are dark-haired beauties clustered in the attic of their old Long Island house, while their lonely mother broods below. Their all-female household, a sly variation on Little Women, is under a grim fairy-tale spell, and not even sojourns with their fairy-godmother-like grandmother in Paris can protect them. As always in Hoffman’s glimmering universe, nature is an awesome presence reflected in the mercurial human heart, and consequently, the Story girls are preternaturally sensitive to storms, ghosts, and plant and animal spirits. Meg is practical, while Elv and Claire share a tragic secret, and Elv channels her anguish into elaborate, demon-haunted tales of an imaginary parallel world until she discovers more effective means of self-punishment. The always dazzling Hoffman has outdone herself in this bewitching weave of psychologically astute fantasy and shattering realism, encompassing rape, drug addiction, disease, and fatal accidents. Her alluring characters are soulful, their suffering mythic, and though the sorrows are many and the body count high, this is an entrancing and romantic drama shot through with radiant beauty and belief in human resilience and transformation. --Donna Seaman

and

From Publishers Weekly

Lyrical but atypically monotonous, bestseller Hoffman's (The Third Angel) latest follows the dark family saga of Elv, Megan and Claire Story, sisters plagued by uncommon sadness. As a child, Elv spun fairy tales of a magical world for her sisters, but a period of savage sexual abuse—information about which slowly leaks out—sends her spiraling into years of drug addiction and painful self-abuse. Elv's story is unrelentingly grim, and without Hoffman's characteristic magic realism, its simple downward spiral becomes exhausting. Tragedy after tragedy befalls the family—Elv's commitment to a juvenile rehab facility, a deadly accident, a fatal illness and betrayal after betrayal. When the last third of the book turns to focus on Claire, who has been so damaged by the family crises that she refuses to speak, the slight glimmers of hope and goodness are too little, too late. Hoffman's prose is as lovely as ever: the imagined and real worlds of the Story sisters are rich and clear, but Elv's troubles and the Story family's nonstop catastrophes are wearying.

Ebook Markdown on The Fairy Tale Fiction of Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie

 

The Fairy Tale Fiction of Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchieedited by myself for the SurLaLune Fairy Tales line is now $2.99 for the ebook format. The paper edition is still $24.99.

Here's the description:

FAIRY tales have long been an important part of the world's history and literature, especially for women whose voices have often been trivialized, ignored or made anonymous. Old wives' tales, fairy tales, and folklore-whatever terms are chosen-are part of our earliest literature and have often provided the medium for women's voices, for women's stories. Like the women of the French Salons who used traditional stories to create and recreate tales that both inspired and criticized their world and its expectations, women writers have long been recording and rewriting fairy tales for their own generations. The practice continues up to current times and will easily continue on past our own generations into a distant future.

One such author from the Victorian era was Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, the eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray. Ritchie rewrote nine fairy tales into short stories and novellas, exploring and reinterpreting the tales for the audience of her time. She wasn't the first to do so--and certainly not the last--but she firmly belongs in this literary legacy, one in which she has all too often been overlooked.

Edited with a new introduction by Heidi Anne Heiner, this volume includes Anne Thackeray Ritchie's nine short stories and novellas from Five Old Friends and Bluebeard's Keys and Other Stories: "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood," "Cinderella," "Beauty and the Beast," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Jack the Giant-killer," "Bluebeard's Keys," "Riquet á la Houppe," "Jack and the Bean-stalk," and "The White Cat."

Additional materials include Ritchie's introduction to The Fairy Tales of Madame D'Aulnoy and "Bluebeard's Ghost" by William Makepeace Thackeray, Ritchie's father.

There are a few variations of this book available since it is primarily a compilation of old texts, but this one has been carefully scanned and edited from the originals and also offers my introduction about Ritchie, fascinating woman that she was. This is also the first collection to focus on her fairy tale explorations, at least to my knowledge and I've done some research.

Ritchie's retellings are particularly interesting to me because she set them in modern times--at least her modern times, meaning Victorian times--instead of the pseudo fairy tale settings so many retellings from the past would use. She also shies away from magical elements, but still uses the source materials in fascinating ways.

My Fairytale: Theatre in Solvang, CA

 

I've previously written about Solvang and the musical, My Fairytale. The play finally had its USA premiere last week in Solvang and the reviews have been positive. There are some successful names behind the production, so that is encouraging. I only wish I still lived in LA so I could drive up and see the play.

About the musical from its press release:

PCPA Theaterfest is proud to present the American Premiere of My Fairytale, a musical about Hans Christian Andersen directed by Scott Schwartz. My Fairytale previews in Santa Maria August 12 - 20, then opens in Solvang’s Festival Theater running from August 26 through September 25, 2011.

The musical is an enchanted journey into the imagination of one of the worlds’ greatest storytellers - it’s a place of wonder, mystery and danger, and where Andersen is confronted by the characters from his fairytales. His quest is to find the Nightingale for the ailing Emperor, but he is continually kept him from his goal, being sidetracked by the fairytale characters, a boy, and a shadow.

My Fairytale was originally produced in Denmark in 2005 in honor of the bi-centennial of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth. Director Scott Schwartz pointed out that this first American production, besides being presented in English for the first time, includes the introduction of puppets, some script rewrites, and additional music by Stephen Schwartz, which will make My Fairytale feel more like a world premiere production. And, it will only be seen at PCPA.

This breathtaking production is filled with a powerful score created by Stephen Schwartz, the award-winning composer of Wicked. The book is by Philip LaZebnik (Pocahontas), and it was originally created by Flemming Enevold, the famous Danish actor and singer.

From My Fairytale at Solvang Festival Theater: U.S. Premiere of Musical Set in the Imagination of Hans Christian Andersen Plays Through September 25 by Charles Donelan:

With the terrific new musical My Fairytale, Solvang enters its second century through the cosmic portal of Hans Christian Andersen’s imagination. PCPA and producer Michael Jackowitz have assembled a brilliant team to design, direct, and perform the vision supplied by Stephen Schwartz (composer) and Philip LaZebnik (author). Beginning with the lifelong conflict that Andersen experienced between his ambition to produce serious works of theater and his propensity to spin out fairy tales with seemingly childish subjects, the show demonstrates that these aims are not merely compatible but complementary.

Andersen, who is wonderfully played and sung by Kevin Cahoon, crashes a reception for the singer Jenny Lind in the opening scene, only to be rebuffed when he indicates that he would like to write a show for Lind and that he intends to audition for the job by putting on a puppet show. Left alone overnight in the Royal Danish National Theater by the snobby board of directors, Andersen anticipates his scheduled morning meeting with the sympathetic Lind by literally diving into his imagination. After a rousing number called “Andersen’s Shadow,” two figures, Andersen and his Shadow (Erik Stein), tumble into the puppet case, only to emerge moments later in a fantasy world that’s entirely constructed out of the figments of Andersen’s overflowing imagination.

Information about tickets, location and dates can be found here.

The Frog Prince (A Romantic Comedy) by Elle Lothlorien

The Frog Prince (A Romantic Comedy) by Elle Lothlorien just dropped in price on Amazon from $4.99 to $2.99. It's only available as an ebook and is self-published for those who are wary of that. However, there are plenty of positive reviews--and, no, they don't appear to be all by family and friends of the author.

As for me, I loved the cover and just wanted to put it here. I've added it to my Elliptical queue--books to read on my Kindle while I am exercising. I devour books when I am exercising and exercise longer and harder than if I am listening to music since books are my happiness. And when I am exercising the reading material can't be too heavy or serious so this sounds like a fun experiment...

Book description from the publisher:

It was his pheromones that did it. With one sniff, sex researcher Leigh Fromm recognizes that any offspring she might have with the mysterious stranger would have a better-than-average chance of surviving any number of impending pandemics.

But when Leigh finds out that the handsome “someone” at her great aunt’s wake is Prince Roman Habsburg von Lorraine of Austria, she suddenly doubts her instincts—not that she was intending to sleep with the guy. The royal house of Habsburg was once completely inbred, insanity and impotency among the highlights of their genetic pedigree. (The extreme “bulldog underbite” that plagued them wasn’t called the Habsburg Jaw for nothing.)

It doesn’t matter that his family hasn’t sat on a throne (other than the ones in their Toilette) since 1918, or that Austria is now a parliamentary democracy. Their lives couldn’t be more different: Roman is routinely mobbed by paparazzi in Europe. Leigh is regularly mocked for having the social skills of a potted plant. Even if she suddenly developed grace, charm and a pedigree that would withstand the scrutiny of the press and his family, what exactly is she supposed to do with this would-have-been king of Austria who is in self-imposed exile in Denver, Colorado?

Read more about the author and other books that are on the way at www.ellelothlorien.com.

Snow Queen and Other DVD Deals (Including Charlie and Lola)

Amazon has many popular BBC DVD titles on sale right now--I think it is ending soon since I am a little late on this--but one of the titles is The Snow Queen which was released in 2007. There are also many Jane Austen and Bronte sisters film adaptations on the list.

Here are some descriptions for the film:

Amazon.com

This staggeringly gorgeous interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale The Snow Queen began as a concert of the pretty music by Paul K. Joyce. The story is told in broad strokes: A mother (Juliet Stevenson, Truly Madly Deeply) and her daughter Gerda (teen soprano Sydney White, who's been tearing up the musical stages in England) take in a homeless boy named Kay. When Kay disappears, kidnapped by the vampiric Snow Queen (ancestress to the White Witch of Narnia, no doubt), Gerda sets off in pursuit and comes across helpful ravens, talking flowers, moving statues, and benevolent reindeer in the course of her hero-journey. The wholly digital world created for this film is astonishing; much of it looks like hand-painted Victorian photographs, each image suitable for framing. Ironically, as the story grows more magical, the imagery turns more conventionally "fantastic" (the Snow Queen's arctic lair is a bit like Superman's Fortress of Solitude). But the overall texture of the movie is engagingly stylized, with movement that seems staggered yet graceful, like a silent film. The Snow Queen demonstrates that digital technology can make a more ethereal aesthetic as vivid and startling as a slimy alien or a bigger explosion. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale comes to life in an enchanting mix of music and song, live drama and stunning animation. When Gerda and her mother take in the penniless beggar boy, Kay, powerful forces come into play that will take both children on a magical journey and test their friendship to the extreme. One cold winter night a splinter of ice pierces Kay's eye, turning his heart cold and making him angry and unhappy. He is enchanted by the Snow Queen and taken to her palace in the frozen North. Gerda decides that she must do whatever she can to find her friend. Faith, love and courage lead Gerda on a perilous quest through many strange lands. Will the little girl in the red velvet cloak be able to match the power of the Snow Queen?

While I have your attention, however, I have to admit what interested me most was the collection of Charlie and Lola DVDs which I adore. They are several dollars less than usual and I am considering adding to my own collection. These are some of the children's videos that just make me smile and that I have enjoyed watching over and over with my niece and others. It is most economical to buy Charlie and Lola, Vol. 1-8 for the first 8 dvds unless you already own them piecemeal as I do. But individually they make great gifts, too.

   

  

  

I love Charlie and Lola (the characters). I am an oldest so my sympathies are with Charlie but my heart wants to be Lola when I grow down.... Doesn't hurt that they were created by Lauren Child who has given us her share of fairy tale books, too. I know they are becoming over exposed in places but I still find fewer kids who know them here in the U.S.