Cecilia Hammarborg

Finding news about fairy tales this month is rather difficult with a bazillion articles about various pantos (always fun, but rather exhausting to sort through) as well as Nutcracker and the usual sports and government themes. Then there is the media blitz about Princess and the Frog opening this Friday. (Never fear, I will devote the week next week to The Frog Prince, but not necessarily Princess and the Frog itself the entire week.)

Anyway, I did find a throwaway article about some trends for fairy tales for adults at Away with the fairies: Awake your inner child by Stephanie Hirschmiller today. Nothing of much news there, but I discovered these two paragraphs about Cecilia Hammarborg.

The new “Black River Falls” collection from the brilliant Swanfield Co-Operative member and designer to watch (find her at Topshop EDIT or Kingly Court), is inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s fairytales and the lesser known 1800’s book entitled “Wisconsin Deathtrip” from which she derived the title for her collection.

We find ourselves fiendishly torn between her divine Blue Riding Hood coat – all the better to be seen in and her Storm Petrel coat inspired by the tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon". It’s all about a young girl who in her search for truth is carried about the stormy corners of the world by a massive white Bear. And with its Cossack style high collar, fishtail hem and puff sleeves, truth is certainly a beautiful thing.

What fun! I had to see these and online was my only chance seeing as how Top Shop is a UK entity and nowhere near Nashville and my offline life. So the above images are from Hammarborg's website featuring her Riding Hood coats and dress and below are the Storm Petrel coats inspired by East of the Sun. These were released earlier this fall and are thus a little late in the news department, but since most of us probably didn't know about this, these are fun. And there may still be time to find thse for yourself for the holidays if you are in the UK. (And I wish the blue coat was more available because I really like since I usually choose brighter colors, but I think all of them are quite fetching and would wear any of them.)




I'm not affiliated with any of these designers or shops. This is just news.

Wise and Otherwise Board Game

I am traveling this week and had the opportunity over the weekend to explore a game store and discover a few more games of interest to me and perhaps you. The first is one I am considering for my own family, Wise and Otherwise.

This game is on the slant for the blog but still applicable because it uses folklore in a way. It is similar to Balderdash, a favorite in my family for several years, the game in which everyone writes definitions for obscure words and then tries to guess the correct ones. Wise and Unwise offers old and obscure old sayings from around the world, letting players create new endings and then everyone has to guess the correct one.


Editorial review from Amazon:

Voted a Best Party Game of the Year by Games magazine, Wise and Otherwise belongs next to Pictionary and Scrabble in your arsenal of fun. This creative, interactive game (read: everybody shouting, flailing, laughing) revolves around 500 cards, each emblazoned with five obscure and long-forgotten sayings from around the world. For example, one old Chinese saying is, "Don't add salt to a boatload of salt fish." One side of the card states, "Don't add salt to..." and it is the job of the players to devise probable endings. "Don't add salt to salty soup," for example. Or, "Don't add salt to the open wound." (The actual endings are listed on the flip sides of the cards.) A player wins points when other players vote for his or her special ending, or when the player guesses the actual ending, so the goal is to finish the proverb as convincingly as possible given the geographic region in question. Each elegant box contains one game board, 500 cards, six writing pads, six pencils, one die, and six player pawns. People who love language, oddly hilarious translations, offbeat proverbs, or just making people look foolish by guessing their very clever answers will adore this game. We predict: The one who plays this game ... will hear the laughter.

Product description from manufacturer:

In Wise and Otherwise there are 2,500 wise, funny and unusual old sayings from around the world, and more than a few possible endings! During play the first part of an actual but little known old saying is read aloud. Then, with a little wit and imagination each player writes an ending to go with the beginning. The made-up sayings are read aloud along with the actual old sayings, and everyone tries to guess the real one. You'll get points when other players think your ending is the real one, and points for guessing the real old saying. Contents of Wise and Otherwise: Gameboard 2,500 sayings on 500 cards Writing pads 6 pencils 1 six-sided die 6 player pawns Instructions

And I wonder how many of the old sayings were gathered from old folktales. I know this is the type of game we would play without the game board, usually not even taking score beyond congratulating whoever wrote the best ending in each round. Half of my family is very uncompetitive and so just enjoys playing for the fun of it. This is the type of game that easily accommodates our tastes. And in some ways it would be more fun than Balderdash, perhaps easier to write endings to sayings than convincing definitions. We also learned long ago that Balderdash isn't as much fun with players who have a strong Latin background because they can figure out many of the answers anyway. Although the newer versions of the game don't offer defintions exclusively. And of course, it was always a game that could be easily played with a good dictionary around and no game set at all. Old proverbs are not so easily gathered for a casual game at home for most of us.

So if anyone has played Wise and Otherwise, let me know if it is as fun as it looks.

Little Match Girl Week: Short Film by Roger Allers

This is an online video version of Disney/Pixar's Little Match Girl, a short. For a better quality version, you can find the short as an extra on The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Platinum Edition) from Disney.


The music is by Alexander Borodin (String Quartet No. 2 in D Major: Third Movement: Notturno) and a lovely choice. I'm partial to Borodin myself because he's one of my husband's favorites. He loves the Polovtsian Dances.

Amrita Rao new Photoshoot

Bollywood actress Amrita Rao is making good use of her new makeover in her latest photo shoot. The normally clean cut, girl next door, Amrita Rao is turning heads with her b0ld makeover. However she is looking good in all types of looks. Amrita Rao new Photoshoot. After giving some h0tshots in the movie ‘ShorKut’, Amrita Rao has tried very hard to look glamorous and $exy. Check her out in her 16 latest photo shoot. I think the Girl Next Door image is really missing here. What say ? Enjoy 16 Images.

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Daily Fun

Daily Fun, 19 more images after the break...

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Antibiotics Not Always Needed

Two common conditions that afflict women are yeast infections and cystitis (often called urinary tract infections). Cystitis results from bacterial infections. There can be some other causes at times including: medications, radiation or chemotherapy. Yeast infections occur when there is too much accumulation of yeast in moist and warm spots of the body. Too much bacteria can result in yeast infections. Antibiotics being used to treat other infections can also result in yeast related infections.

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Little Match Girl Week: Matchless by Gregory Maguire

Matchless: A Christmas Story by Gregory Maguire came out earlier this year, although a version of it was first read by the author on NPR last year. You can still listen to the story (or read it) on the NPR site or read an transcript of the program here.

Every year, NPR asks a writer to compose an original story with a Christmas theme. This year, Gregory Maguire reinvents the Hans Christian Andersen classic "The Little Match Girl" for a new time and new audiences.

When it was first translated from Danish and published in England in the mid-19th century, audiences likely interpreted the Little Match Girl's dying visions of lights and a grandmother in heaven as metaphors of religious salvation. Maguire's new piece, entitled, "Matchless," re-illuminates Andersen's classic, using his storytelling magic to rekindle Andersen's original intentions, and to suggest transcendence, the permanence of spirit and the continuity that links the living and the dead.

An illustrated gift edition of "Matchless" will be published by William Morrow in fall 2009.

And so it was and is now available for purchase.

Maguire is familiar with fairy tale retellings, some traditional tales, but is most famous for his Wicked, retelling the witches's stories from Wizard of Oz.

I've been saving a post on Matchless for several weeks, debating whether or not to devote a week to the tale this December. After focusing on The Nutcracker last week, I decided to continue with another week devoted to Andersen's tale. It is bittersweet, but still a lovely story for this time of year and perhaps the fairy tale best associated with the holiday season.

I, of course, have the tale annotated on SurLaLune, but I will highlight books and other materials about the tale this week.