Fables: The Last Castle

Because everyone needs to be exposed to some James Jean every now and again, here's his cover to the Fables one-shot: The Last Castle. That's Red at the top (note: she's actually riding for once) and Boy Blue (with his horn, 'natch) at the bottom.

Jean actually recently announced that he's going to be leaving Fables soon, and I for one will be sad to see him go, as his work on the series has been phenomenal all the way through and even helped earned him six of his impressive seven Eisner awards.

Incidentally, Fables itself has picked up many more Eisners since the point that the above comic was published* and now has many more, including three (so far) in the "Best Serialised Story" category. I really cannot recommend it highly enough to anyone with an interest in either fairytales or just astonishingly well told serialised stories.

*Note to self: upload a decent text-less version of the above image when I find one.

Exploitica Rides Again!

And now, as both a follow-up to the previous post and for my own sordid amusement, here's Exploitica's take on K. Gordon Murray's Little Red Riding Hood.

WARNING: Adult humour

Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters

"King of the Kiddie Matinee" K. Gordon Murray was responsible for bringing a number of rather bizarre Spanish-language films over to the United States. Amongst these were a trilogy of films starring Little Red Riding Hood, as well as one or two films starring Tom Thumb, who seems to have worked his way into at least one of the Red Riding Hood sequels.

Just to give you a taste of what these films were like (and don't worry, I imagine I'll be posting more about them in the future), here's the trailer for Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters.

Pins & Needles

Moving away from advertising, but still sticking with non-stop Youtube-ing for the moment, here's a little something that I thought was too awesome not to share. It's a trailer for the independent short film Pins & Needles, a "gothic martial arts fantasy retelling of Red Riding Hood." Really, what more could I possibly add to that.

One additional note though, for people wondering about the title. As far as I'm aware, it relates to the two alternate paths Red Riding Hood can choose to take in some early forms of the tale: the "path of needles" or the "path of pins". I expect we'll be seeing some more references to those later on in the week.

Chanel no. 5

Probably the most famous use of LRRH in television advertising is this commercial for Chanel no. 5 starring model Estella Warren and directed by Luc Besson (of La Femme Nikita and The Fifth Element fame) and with music by Danny Elfman. As a treat, a somewhat more obscure variation on the ad is included below, also.



Critic Catherine Orenstein writes extensively about this and other examples of the inherent sexuality of the Little Red Riding Hood story being exploited by modern media in her wonderful book Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked, which comes highly recommended by this blogger.

Optimum commercial(s)

Sticking with the theme of adverts for the moment, here's an ad (in both Spanish and English language editions) for digital TV/DSL/phone providers Optimum, which actually makes quite clever use of the common Little Red Riding Hood trope of "Oh grandma, what big x you have..." to highlight their various services.

Japanese commercial

And now, some random silliness from youtube. If anyone can offer any information on what this LRRH-themed ad is actually about, I'd be much obliged.

Little Red Riding Hood by Nuno Plati

Nuno Plati's blog is a great place to check out lots fantastic works from this wonderfully talented artist. Largely, his stuff focuses on American superheroes, and I have to say that I adore his takes on certain popular characters.
He's also one of the artists who has worked on Marvel's line of fairy tale-inspired books, a line that has done a great job of spotlighting various usually-obscure but always very talented artists within the industry, but I'll likely post more on those at a later date (because yes, there is a LRRH issue that I wish to highlight).
And of course, in case you couldn't tell, he's also the artist behind the above piece. Enjoy, and make sure to check out his blog for more of his stuff. Especially his superhero stuff; I for one simply cannot get enough of his bright, dynamic figures.

American McGee's Grimm

American McGee, video game producer and the man behind the wonderfully gothic Alice, is currently in charge of an episodic series of games entitled American McGee's Grimm. The games' premise is a somewhat intriguing one: the player controls "Grimm", a dwarf who must spread a vile and malevolent influence throughout numerous fairytale stories, returning them to their supposedly darker roots, far from the saccharine versions that we know today. The stories range from the well-known, such as Little Red Riding Hood, to certain less famous Grimm brothers tales, such as "The Girl Without Hands".

For more info., and to actually play the games, please check out GameTap's official American McGee's Grimm site.

Into the Hoods

One of my favourite new West End shows is the absolutely wonderful fairy tale-inspired dance show Into the Hoods. Naturally, the show has its own Red Riding Hood in the form of "Lil' Red" (below), who wishes to become a big name in the music business, but has to watch for the machinations of the conniving "Wolf" of "Big Teef" records. The whole thing is a great, high-energy lark, and I highly recommend that anyone with access to the West End go and see it.

Little Red Ridinghood

...And from the sublime to the ridiculous: some LRRH-themed Eurodance, courtesy of A-Moe.

Pretty When You Cry

"Pretty When You Cry" by VAST, one of my all-time favourite LRRH-themed music videos. This one is just so mesmerising and deliciously perverse.

Zombie BBQ

I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a certain upcoming game for the Nintendo DS, namely: Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ (also starring Momotarō from Japanese folklore).

I really don't know what information I can add that hasn't already been imparted by the title, really. Although I do have to say that this particular rendition of LRRH looks like she owes a debt to Darkstalkers' Bulletta.

Modern Red Riding Hood

Entroid provides us with this modern take on LRRH. I particularly love how much information is imparted through the little details in this one (the "granny's" bag, for example), which actually makes one mentally conjure a quite different narrative to that of the clasic tale(s). Plus, gotta love the chucks.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

For more like this, see Bagaak's photostream.

Chaperon Rouge

Tristan Michel et al have produced this wonderfully polished-looking 3D-animated take on Little Red Riding Hood. For more information on this film, please check out the film's website.

Little Red Riding Hood by Sanjai Bhana

I particularly like the way in which the wolf appears to be constructed out of the very forest itself. The eyes that line up with LRRH's own are also a nice touch.

For more artwork like this, please check out Sanjai Bhana's illustration & design blog.

Hmm...

Heh, I may have egg on my face right now, as it seems I've just discovered a blog with a very similar title/mission statement to my own: Little Red Riding Blog... (make that a practically identical title, I guess).

I can assure you that there's been no deliberate plagiarism on my part. Still, it appears that we have two slightly differing goals anyway, what with mine being to collect various LRRH-related media, and theirs being to collect various LRRH stories. So I guess, while I urge you no to get our two blos confused, why not also check out the other Little Red RIding Blog (the one with the ellipsis).

Falsehood

Since it's my first day, I guess you get two LRRH-posts for the price of one.




Falsehood is but one of many revisionist short films (though at over thirty minutes this is more of a "featurette", I guess) about LRRH, but it's certainly a goodie. Enjoy!

In the Woods

Auntie Pixelante created the fab LRRH-themed text adventure In the Woods a little while back. Why not go and give it a try.

Incidentally, I'd also recommend several of Auntie's other games, such as the wonderful Mighty Jill Off, "one of the more notable offbeat, indie, retro, lesbian-BDSM-themed jumping games of the year" say the people at Feministe, and indeed, who am I to argue.

(Also: yay, first post!)