Little Red Riding Blog

Still, on hiatus...

2010-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

...But just wanted to remind everyone about the new Twitter account. Even if you're not on Twitter, the feed turns up over there on the right, so you can follow it even from this site.

The latest tweet is about "Caperucita Feroz," an interesting-looking LRRH-themed t-shirt design featured at http://riptapparel.com/. This particular t-shirt is not available from there anymore (they only sell each t-shirt for 24 hours), but still, I recommend checking out the site anyway, which you can do by clicking on the ad link below.

Anyway, ciao, see you guys in the twitterverse!

Adieu!

2010-04-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Little Red Riding Blog is now effectively on permanent hiatus.

However, you can still follow along with this blog's new twitter account: redridingtweets, which shall continue providing links to LRRH/fairytale art and media, with updates certainly more frequent than they have been around here these last few months. Be sure to follow us in the twitterverse!

Syfy's "Red"

2010-03-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've been a negligent blogger of late, but semi-regular posting shall resume.

For now, I just want to let people know about the upcoming Syfy channel film Red, set to star Felicia Day (above) (link, link).

That's all for now. More substantial content soon...

Jill Thompson's Girl Comics #2 cover

2010-01-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Marvel Comics' Girl Comics is a series entirely written, drawn, edited, etc by female comics-creators. This has caused some controversy, as many claim that such a comic tends to marginalise rather than promote female comics creators.

Whilst I think the debate is interesting and certainly bares thinking about, I'd also like to draw your attention to the fab, Snow-White-themed cover for the upcoming second issue, by artist Jill Thompson.

Still, just because I'm largely keeping my thought to myself doesn't mean that you have to. Please feel free to let me know what you think of Girl Comics via the comments section.

SquidPig's FairyTales

2009-12-17T15:36:00.000-08:00

SquidPig is behind lots of incredibly cute (in that minimalist, japanese-y way) artwork, but I'd like to draw your attention in particular to their FairyTales series of pics. Warning: much "sqeeeing" may ensue upon viewing these pieces.

Little Red Hood

2009-12-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

Little Red Hood is an apparently uniquely awful game for the NES. I'd heard about its general terribleness from a number of different sources, but now there's a handy Angry Video Game Nerd video that sums up the game's flaws nicely.

Warning: this video contains strong language.

Video Games | ScrewAttack | Angry Video Game Nerd: Little Red Hood

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Jisuk Cho's "Broken Spell" Dark Fairytale playing cards

2009-12-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

Jisuk Cho has overseen the creation of a fabulous deck of cards featuring artwork by a slew of artists, each presenting their own dark interpretation of a famous fairy tale to be used as the face for a playing card; Little Red above (art bylastscionz), for example, is going to be the Ace of Diamonds. The deck is not for sale yet, but keep checking the project page to see when it does become available. When it does come up for sale, I recommend grabbing a set, as a chunk of the profits is going to go to charity.

Gretel and Hansel

2009-12-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

Gretel and Hansel is a short point-and-click adventure game in which you take on the role of Gretel on her quick search for stones she may use to mark a path through the forest, so that she will not be stranded once her parents lose her there.

Makopudding's game takes place in a grim watercolour world and also features a neat example of player goals and player-character goals being drastically at odds: the player is actually rewarded for finding all of the different ways one can make the protagonist die a horrible, violent death!

The game's author also promises that further episodes in the series are forthcoming and shall - of course - feature Gretel and Hansel in the forest and at the famous witch's house.

Warning: this game does contain bloody violence.

Fairy Tale Tarot decks

2009-11-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

This deviantart piece by Yamicool got me wondering whether there were any full fairytale-themed Tarot decks available out there and, lo and behold, there are.

Now, I don't for a second believe in the Tarot as a tool of divination, but I am fascinated by the imagery associated with them, which goes hand in hand with some of the imagery and stories within fairy tales really very well. I'd recommend checking out the two decks linked above and perhaps even purchasing a real set of each (although all of the images are available to view free) if you feel like it.

Kizer180's Artwork

2009-11-17T06:28:00.000-08:00

Kizer180's site features a great deal of very dynamic superhero-themed artwork but I was - naturally - especially drawn to his fairytale work, including several pieces featuring the LRRH figure above as well as some other portraits like the Cinderella one below (which comes complete with his own spin on the tale, found back on its original page).

False Nothings' photography

2009-11-14T10:53:00.001-08:00

False nothings is a photographer/model who frequently uses some sweet fairytale imagery, such as in the above Snow White piece.

Acrylicana's Little Red

2009-11-08T22:03:00.001-08:00

Found here.

Bawayan's Into the Woods Again

2009-11-08T01:10:00.001-08:00

Found here.

DalaiHarma's Jabberwocky

2009-11-08T01:07:00.001-08:00

DalaiHarma is an Australian portrait photographer behind some amazing pin-up/fetish/manga-inspired pieces, including the Jabberwocky series, based upon the Alice books.

Graeme Balchin's paintings

2009-10-17T03:55:00.000-07:00

Graeme Balchin is an Australian painter with a fairly impressive portfolio. His work includes lots of fairytale imagery and themes, but the above two pieces in particular caught my eye.

Vogue: Into the Woods

2009-10-17T03:45:00.001-07:00

Vogue magazine's September 2009 issue featured a LRRH-themed shoot by Grace Coddington and starring Natalia Vodianova. See Chic Report for more scans and more info on some of the fashion labels.

Little Red gone bad

2009-10-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Valentina Kallias is a photographer/model whose site features some fab gothic portraits, including this LRRH-inspired number.

A brief note

2009-09-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

I'm currently travelling at the moment, so the posting is going to be pretty lax for a while, but I just wanted to come on and mention that, on the last flight I took, this was one of the TV shows that they had on. It's a sort-of-interesting look at the "real" history behind fairy tales. I can't find a site for the English version of the show, although I know that it exists and they show it in Australia. Still, I'll have a look...

Little Red - The Prequel

2009-08-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

Wandering through the woods alone? Never mind worrying about wolves, just make sure you don't go and pick the wrong kind of mushroom. This sound enough advice is dramatised in this animation by WelshGed.

Burger King commercial

2009-08-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

Sticking with the advertising theme, here's a Burger King commercial in which the product is apparently even more tempting than a (bizarrely sexualised) Red Riding Hood.

Bensons for Beds commercial

2009-08-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Once again, the product trumps true love in this advert for Bensons for Beds.

Hansel Sandwiches commercials

2009-08-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

In this series of adverts for Hansel biscuit/cookie sandwiches, the message seems to be that the product is tasty enough to tempt these familiar fairytale characters away from the established narratives and help them avoid their traditional trials (the exception being the Sleeping Beauty commercial, where the product instead enables the expected ending; true love is overrated compared to chocolate snacks, it seems).

Run Baby Run

2009-08-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

There's certainly a LRRH vibe to Run Baby Run, what with it's focus on wolves chasing red-clad girls through the woods. Enjoy this sweet Pacman-esque game from redflash121.

Chibi Fairy Tale Spot 5

2009-08-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here's another fairytale-themed spot-the-difference game: Chibi Fairy Tale Spot 5, starring ultra-cutesy versions of various classic fairy tale characters and with art by the fabulous Kinkei.

The Lineup by Smartkat

2009-08-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

Red picks the Wolf from a line-up in this t-shirt design from Smartkat aka Katrina Greenslade.

I found this via Super Punch, a blog that actually has quite a lot of LRRH-related stuff which I urge readers to check out.

Bluefley's First Snow

2009-08-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

Here we have some more cyberpunk/steampunk LRRH, courtesy of Bluefley.

Prettyism's Red Riding Hood

2009-08-19T22:22:00.000-07:00

Prettyism presents a very sweet Red Riding Hood doll.

Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault - France

2009-08-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to track down much information on this one, but I just wanted to present this short animated version of Little Red Riding Hood, apparently originating from Japan. In this adaptation, the wolf is a distinctly comedic figure and comes to a rather unusual ending.

Ray Harryhausen's "The Story of Little Red Riding Hood"

2009-08-19T21:49:00.001-07:00

Watch Little Red Riding Hood ( 1949 ) in Anime | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Although much more famous for his work on monster and fantasy movies, Ray Harryhausen also produced a series of shorts based upon fairytales during the 1940s and '50s. These films included stop-motion animation versions of Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and of course, the above Little Red Riding Hood.

I have to admit to finding Harryhausen's version of LRRH a little odd, though. The narration seems to add little that isn't communicated by the animation itself and the whole story is strangely bowdlerised, with no-one getting harmed, eaten or killed (which raises the question of why the wolf doesn't just come back and get Red Riding Hood the next day, I think).

This video comes courtesy of Cometin-Jetson who has also posted the other Harryhausen works mentioned above.

Akazukin Chacha

2009-08-19T21:10:00.001-07:00

Akazukin Chacha - Creditless Opening 1 (Episodes 1 - 30)
by Yukito06

One of my favourite LRRH-themed TV shows is the Japanese children's animated series Akazukin Chacha (Red hood chacha) which tells the story of a young trainee witch and her misadventures.

This particular iteration of the opening credits sequence (of which there are several) makes a great deal out of the potential for romance between Chacha and her friend Liiya (alternately spelled as Riiya), a werewolf character no doubt inspired by the Big Bad Wolf (despite his cute and cuddly appearance here). The third side of this love triangle comes in the form of Shiine, a boy also training to become a witch.

Somewhat weirdly, Akazukin Chacha is a magical girl anime and features Chacha transforming, Sailor Moon-style, into an adult superhero who fights monsters. This seems to jar somewhat with the big-eyed cuteness of the rest of the show and is a feature that was ultimately cut from the series.

Theatre in the Forest: The Winter's Tale

2009-08-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

At first I couldn't work out the connection between Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale and the fairytale image presented above, other than the simple fact that this particular production takes place in a forest, which is a rather dubious link. Then I remembered that The Winter's Tale is the source of Shakespeare's most famously odd stage direction: "Exit, pursued by a bear," which I suppose explains the LRRH-meets-Goldilocks poster to some degree.

A larger picture, from a photograph taken by yours truly, is presented below.

This production of The Winter's Tale is by the Red Rose Chain Film & Theatre Company.

Little Rachel Riding Hood

2009-08-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

Rachel Nabors has a cute little Red Riding Hood-themed comic up at gURL comix. Personally, it reminds me very much of the Halloween scenes from Mean Girls ("I'm a mouse, d'uh!").

Steampunk Fairytales

2009-08-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Click here for a whole bunch of super-impressive steampunk fairytale images, courtesy of a DA contest (above image by NgJas).

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf Bento by Sheree

2009-08-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Little Red Riding Hood finally appears on this blog in bento form. Thanks, Sheree!

Banksy - "Stop and Search"

2009-08-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

I know it's Dorothy Gale, but I can't help but see Red Riding Hood every time I look at this particular Banksy work.

David Kaplan's Little Red Riding Hood

2009-08-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

It's somewhat hard to track down, but if you can, I recommend finding a copy of David Kaplan's 1997 short film version of Little Red Riding Hood featuring Christina Ricci and dancer Timour Bourtasenkov. This adaptation has a wide range of influences including classical ballet, German Expressionist film and the sensual cult classic The Company of Wolves. The whole thing is based upon this version of the classic tale and even features Quentin 'Naked Civil Servant' Crisp as narrator.

It's certainly not for everyone, though, and frankly does feature one of the worst cat puppets I've ever seen. Still, I'd recommend checking it out, and am now eager to see some of Kaplan's other fairy tale shorts.

The Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty

2009-08-16T22:03:00.001-07:00

Embedding is disabled on this one, but click here to see a very neat version of the Little Red Riding Hood segment from the ballet Sleeping Beauty (from the 2006 Royal Ballet version).

WereSonAmy - Little Red Riding Hood by Loor101

2009-08-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

This fan-made video by Loor101 features a whole host of images and video clips that present Sonic the Hedgehog (in werewolf form) and his occasional love interest Amy Rose as the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. (There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast in there too). I must say that this is some pretty niche 'shipping.

The Little Red Riding Hood

2009-08-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

World War imagery goes hand in hand with Looney Tunes logic in this short cartoon from Belarus.

The Little Red Riding-hood - The best bloopers are a click away

The Phisherman and Little Red Riding Hood

2009-08-16T21:30:00.001-07:00

A video from eBay Canada uses Little Red Riding Hood/Big Bad Wold imagery to help teach people about "phishing".

The Phisherman and Little Red Riding Hood - The best bloopers are a click away

Overlord: Dark Legend

2009-08-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

One of the levels of the Overlord: Dark Legend is based on none other than the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I have to be honest though, she doesn't come across particularly well in this version.

Sister Unity's Fierce Bitch

2009-08-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sister Unity of the inimitable Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence presents this take on Little Red Riding Hood that just tickles me in so many ways:

P.S. Be sure to check out the so-called "credits" for this video on its Youtube page.

7Up commercial

2009-08-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

This 2000 commercial for 7Up seems to sexualise the product to the point of parody...

...And then you realise that that's the whole point.

SpectalFairy's Crimson Fables

2009-08-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

SpectralFairy is apparently working on a novel entitled Lacrime Nere. In the midst of writing it, though, they've also taken the time to illustrate some of the characters from the novel using archetypes from fairytale fiction such as Bluebeard, Peter Pan, or indeed Little Red Riding Hood/The Company of Wolves as in the above picture (entitled "I never knew a wolf could cry" after a quotation from said film). These images are all done in a simply gorgeous gothic lineart style using only black & white and shades of red, which all works incredibly well to summon a certain sinister but also sensual mood.

SpectralFairy has also done a Snow White piece which is technically unrelated but still shares many of the elements of the above works.

Little Red Riding Hood: A Post Apocalyptic Adventure

2009-08-15T01:10:00.001-07:00

Little Red Riding Hood: A Post Apocalyptic Adventure is a fab spot-the-difference game from differencegames.com, featuring a new setting for the familiar tale and some neat manga-style artwork from Griffinfly.

Gregory Weir's Silent Conversation

2009-08-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

The fairytale connection here is rather dubious, although Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the featured texts, but I just simply had to link to Gregory Weir's Silent Conversation: a gaming/reading experience that, as the people at Jayisgames point out, neatly plays with the idea of a piece of writing as something where "the author provides the words as your footing, and you respond by touching each of them." Silent Conversation is essentially a classic platform game, where the story naturally progresses as you pass from left to right, except here the levels are literally (as it were) made up of the words of the story that you are experiencing. In the H. P. Lovecraft tale the words "the moon" hang in the middle of the sky of twilight-coloured letters and in Alice the rabbit hole the heroine crawls through is two narrowing lines of text that ultimately come to a tumbling hole of long, thin paragraphs. The words are both the literal text of the story and also the virtual building blocks of the story environment: a kind of concrete poetry mixed with experimental gaming.

The Snow White Project

2009-08-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

This mash-up/parody by BlackoutDOTcom nicely plays upon some of the common imagery between many fairytales and modern horror films, in particular the common trope of being lost in the woods.

[Warning: strong language]

Tomas Nilsson's "Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny"

2009-08-09T19:08:00.001-07:00

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Tomas Nilsson's version of Little Red Riding Hood is distinctly reminiscent of H5's music video for Röyksopp's "Remind Me", with a neat infographics aesthetic. (Video discovered via Suvudu)

Fairytale Fights

2009-08-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Fairytale Fights Trailer Gameplay
by FrenchGamers

Fairytale Fights is an odd-looking upcoming video game for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 that features a bizarre mix of cartoony visuals and heapings of bloody violence. I'm not quite what sure to make of this one, although my initial reaction is skepticism, I'll be honest.

Fairytales in Dominoes: Snow White

2009-08-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Dominodayfreak's "Fairytales in Dominoes" is pretty much exactly what it sounds like and it really is fairly spectacular.

Felixxkatt's Snow White Queen

2009-08-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Felix Eddy (aka Felixxkatt) is the artist behind some frankly wonderful fairytale-esque works, including the wonderful picture above which incorporates elements of "a winter goddess, a white witch, a snow queen and a version of snow white and a little bit of the Swan Princess."

P.S.

Eddy also has a Little Red Riding Hood piece too.

Jeftoon01's Twisted Princesses

2009-08-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey Thomas (aka Jeftoon01) has a whole series of images based upon "twisted" variants of the classic Disney Princesses, from Aurora and Ariel to Mulan and Nala (of The Lion King). My personal favourites are his Cinderella and Snow White (which appears to co-star a cast of Critters).

Ophelias Overdose's Freaky Little Red Riding Hood

2009-08-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ophelias Overdose is a goth/fetish model who appears in a number of great fairytale-themed photographs, including ones of Sleeping Beauty, the Frog Prince, Alice and of course, Red Riding Hood (who appears to have developed something of a drinking problem, possibly inspired by real world paranoia about the tale).

Emilysaurusrex's Red Riding Hood I-IV

2009-08-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Emilysaurusrex's series of Red Riding Hood photographs really is quite sinister, especially by it's conclusion.

Krawuzi's Red Riding Hood

2009-08-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

There's quite a bit of fairytale-themed photography that incorporates elements of fetish and glamour, but still, Krawuzi's set of Little Red Riding Hood images really are quite well composed.

P.S.

Kawuzi also has a fab set of photos based on Disney's Ariel, the Little Mermaid. If you're headed over to her site, I'd recommend checking out those too.

Imagewall's Weird Little Red Riding Hood

2009-08-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

This image by Fabio Caserini (aka imagewall) features a nice mix of the macabre and the comic which makes it really stand out to me.

MoonYen's Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

2009-08-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

MoonYen's deviantart page features dozens and dozens of fabulous little knitted bunny characters, including Bunny Darth Maul, Bunny Watchmen and Bunny Freddy Kreuger. There are also fairytale-themed bunnies including Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast and of course, the above Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

Areejak's Little Red Riding Hood

2009-08-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Areejak has a neat little abstract/minimalist animation about Red Riding Hood over at her deviantart page.

Vertiklychalingd's "The REAL New Princess"

2009-08-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

This cartoon by vertiklychalingd raises a good point. I recently got around to seeing Disney's Enchanted and yet, it never once occured to me whilst watching it that, despite being referred to as such multiple times even within the text of the film itself, "Princess" Giselle is at no point technically a princess at all. It is Nancy (played by the wonderful Idina Menzel from Wicked) who ends up marrying the film's prince. Ultimately, it all comes down to the fact that the notion of "princessness" has transcended any actual reality attached to the term. Instead, "princess", and in particular the "Disney princess" brand, has become a sort of hyper-real notion that describes a set of behaviours, attitudes and appearances, regardless of whether one is actually a legitimate princess or not.

"Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" Étude

2009-07-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

How had I never heard of Rachmaninoff's "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" Étude until now?

Here it is as performed by Valentina Lisitsa.

Twisted Tales by Polawat

2009-07-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

Polawat's Twisted Tales series features fairytale-based works that are gory, disturbing and include Cronenberg-level body horror. Still, his stuff is definitely strangely compelling and I'd certainly recommend it to those willing to give it a look. Just remember that you have been suitably warned.

The Path article at NPR

2009-07-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

NPR have a fairly interesting little article up on Red Riding Hood analogue The Path and how it feels to play the game. A hat tip to Feministing for this one.

Queens

2009-06-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

When it comes to trying to describe Noonat's game Queens, I really can't do it more justice than auntie pixelante does in her description:

in most difficult contemporary jumping games, it’s taken for granted that the player will die and try again many times, most likely taking many incarnations to reach the end of the game. in queens, these lives are characters and the repeating cycle of their deaths and replacement is the narrative, suggesting the expendability of women (who are neither faceless nor nameless) to a henry viii-style patriarch.

Dina Goldstein's "Fallen Princesses"

2009-06-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

Photographer Dina Goldstein has an excellent series of photos available to view at JPG Magazine. Her Fallen Princesses series juxtaposes Disneyfied fairytales with modern, real-world issues facing women, such as war, disease and body issues.

Eva Soulu's "Fairytale"

2009-06-10T01:38:00.000-07:00

Eva Soula has got a very interesting take on the Little Red Riding Hood story that is partly available - along with some illustrations like the one above - at the website for her art group, 'LAMP'.

Dark Princesses: Snow White

2009-06-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Doing a little more research into Alabaster, I came across the work of artist ClaireBeauchamp, via the blog of Alabaster co-creator Emily Short. Claire has done a fair few fairytale/Disney-related pieces, but the one that most stands out to me, especially in the wake of Alabaster, is her Dark Snow White, featured above. I'd also recommend checking out other works by Short, too.

Alabaster

2009-06-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Now to revisit a genre I don't see often enough on here: interactive fiction. Alabaster is a wonderful piece of IF that places you in the position of the hunter in the tale of Snow White. Like certain other narrative-driven fairytale games before it, Alabaster exploits that fact that there are many different paths that one could take from a story's simple starting point, and there are many endings to discover. Additionally, Alabaster also brings in influences from a wide range of myths and folklore that extend beyond Snow White, including tales of witchcraft, vampires and even apocryphal Judeo-Christian myth (a little hint of Gregory Maguire's Mirror Mirror there, perhaps).

Have fun discovering some weird and wonderful secrets in this really very creepy take on an already rather unsettling tale.

Target Women: Story Time/StilletoREVOLT

2009-06-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

I adore Sarah Haskins, and wouldn't you know it, she's gone and done a fairytale-related piece for her regular piece on stupid advertising aimed at women, "Target Women".

Also, allow me to point out this awesome post on fairy tale images in advertising over at StilettoREVOLT. Here's a little preview of the kind of stuff they cover (note, as they rightly point out on the site, how exactly the reality of the Britney/Kevin relationship went).

Randal Kleiser's Red Riding Hood

2009-03-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Randal Kleiser's 2006 film Red Riding Hood is one of those films that I've never seen, but keep hearing positive about all over the internet. However, it appears all of these positive things must surely be being put about solely by people directly involved in the movie's production in some way, as whenever I hop over to something like the imdb to gauge the public opinion, the unanimous impression seems to be that this film really sucks. Still, here's a clip to help you make up your own minds.

The Path update

2009-03-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

The Path has now been released. I would download it immediately and tell you what I think, but I'm currently using my old laptop which apparently doesn't even meet the basic system requirements (grr).

The Wizard of Oz word-image

2009-03-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

I discovered this over at award-winning comic book artist Derek Kirk Kim's blog. I'm not too sure about the original source, though. You probably can't tell unless you click on it and see it blown up much larger, but it's a picture made up of the text from the first eleven chapters of Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I love things that play around with the ambiguous space where text/images overlap, and this, something that literally uses the words to paint a picture, creates such a great visual pun.

Update: I try to be curteous and host my own images rather than hotlink, but Blogger only allows images of a certain size. Clicking on the above image will not blow it up large enough to see the text that makes it up. Please head on over to DKK's blog instead to see the image in full.

Little Pigs

2009-03-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

More "Three Little Pigs"-themed metal now, but this time a slightly more energetic (that's certainly one phrase for it) track from Mucky Pup.

There really isn't a lot of substance to this video/song, so not much to say, but I decided I pretty much had to put this up after posting the Green Jelly vid; it was only fair.

Once Upon a Crime

2009-03-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

It already came up in the comments section of a previous post, but I really ought to give another mention to Once Upon a Crime, an old-school point-and-click adventure by Bjorn "Ghost" Ludwig (and thanks again to SSH for pointing this game out to me). In OUaC you play as newly-licenced Private Investigator Little Red Riding Hood who is called upon to solve the recent murder of the Big Bad Wolf (although surely she'd be considered an obvious suspect, no?).

The game is reasonably short (a couple of hours of gameplay, maybe) but has some colourful and charming character designs and a lot of humour, as well as (although I don't want to give too much away) a pretty neat post-modern twist towards the end, which I enjoyed immensely.

OUaC is free to download. Personally, I found a couple of the puzzles a little frustrating, but luckily, there is a guide available.

Incidentally, and this is in no way a slight against OUaC, the fairytale-character-turned-private-investigator subgenre sure is popular, no?

Three Little Pigs

2009-03-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, it seems I just need to post a silly metal video.

As far as I'm aware I don't tend to get any children visiting this blog, but just in case, I'd better warn that the following video for "Three Little Pigs" by metal band Green Jello (a.k.a. Green Jelly)* does include some mild drug use and sex references. Still, in the spirit of Celebrity Deathmatch, "it's only clay!"**

The below video is actually slightly redacted. The full (embedding disabled) video is here.

*One day I'll learn how to put heavy metal umlauts in a blog post
**Or, in keeping with the appendix to the ful-length video, only a "stupid puppet show".

Emerald City Confidential

2009-03-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

When it comes to finding a way to describe the overall mise-on-scene of point-and-click-adventure game Emerald City Confidential, I really can't do better than the game's own creator, Dave Gilbert, who calls it "Raymond Chandler meets L. Frank Baum." Emerald City Confidential is a gem of a game that puts a film noir spin on the wonderful world of Oz, coming up with something that's a little Sam Spade, a little Gregory Maguire and with just a hint of Sam & Max (I was right, I really couldn't do better than the game's creator).

ECC is a thoroughly engaging game that's sure to be an especial treat for Oz geeks. For more on this game and its genesis, check out the video below which features an interview with the game's creator (from which I snagged the above quotation).

Hansel and Gretel

2009-02-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't seen it, so I can't make any claims as to its quality, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think this South Korean film based on Hansel and Gretel didn't look really interesting (warning: some minor violent imagery in the below video).

An American remake is supposedly set for a 2011 release.

Bri-Chan's Princesses

2009-02-28T15:34:00.001-08:00

You've probably seen her stuff elsewhere on the internet already, and Disney Princesses are arguably in a category all of their own which might be slightly removed from what I typically deal with, but I couldn't resist linking to Bri-Chan's (Brianna Garcia) deviant art page and the typically cheeky and amusingly iconoclastic images of the Disney fairytale princesses that she posts there. Enjoy!

No Spider-Man or Avengers Fairy Tales trades, it seems

2009-02-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

It's sad to see that, despite the fact that C.B. Cebulski's X-Men Fairy Tales comic book miniseries was released in trade paperback form, the follow-ups Spider-Man Fairy Tales and Avengers Fairy Tales will not, meaning that the casual comic book consumer - or those that simply don't have great access to comic shops - will likely not get to experience them. Still, I'd advise having a look out for these series in online stores if you're interested, as the concept is still a very good one that often yielded some quite interesting results. Also, the series often featured artists you're not likely to see doing work in mainstream American comics too often, so was frequently a visual treat as well.

Edited to add: Ok, I'm an idiot. Apparently Spider-Man Fairy Tales has indeed been released as a TPB and I just somehow missed it. Still, it looks like there's going be at least quite some delay before the Avengers edition comes out.

Yet more 'The Path'

2009-02-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Just an update, the website for the LRRH-themed game The Path (due within a month) is now located at grandmothers-house.net. Just don't stray from the path on your way there, you hear me?

Gang of Wolves and the Girl

2009-01-06T11:56:00.001-08:00

I haven't seen it, but based on this particular trailer, this troupe's take on what is clearly the story of Little Red Riding Hood looks like quite a spectacle, with lots of great costume design, singing, dancing and circus arts on display. I may have to investigate these guys further.

The Girl & The Wolf

2009-01-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

A fairly straightforward modern, animated take on LRRH from Button Films via James Thurber's amusing interpretation.

The Red Hat and the Wolf

2009-01-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely certain what this is. It appears to be some sort of public service announcement to do with (online) sexual predators. This is actually a fairly common reading of some of the themes at work in the LRRH story. Still, I'll be honest, this isn't exactly the greatest vid I've ever posted on here.

Big Wolf and Little Girl

2009-01-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

The animation may be crude (to be fair, it's all done in MSpaint!) but there's a few neat touches in this little animation from 'fherueda'.

Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

2009-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

LRRH and the Wolf may compete, but they seem a lot happier when getting along in George Gendi's neat little animation.

I like that the traditional story is eschewed in favour of a simple noughts & crosses (tic tac toe) game. The roles of LRRH and the wolf are reduced to their basic functions of antagonists of one another, so the overall story of the piece still very much comes across (plus, I bet that tic tac toe game was much easier to animate than the alternative).

The Big Bad

2008-12-14T18:03:00.000-08:00

Once again, the underlying themes of illicit sex and murder present in the classic fairytale are exploded, this time in The Big Bad, a short film from amateur film-maker "LimeAftertasteLLC," who gives the story a sapphic twist. If I'm being frank though, some of the acting on display is questionable at best.

(warning: mature content)

All Roads Lead From Home

2008-12-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

It may not be strictly a LRRH game, but there's definitely some familiar themes going on in old favourite auntie pixelante's game All Roads Lead From Home. Just remember: it's dangerous to stray from the path, young child!

Fesign's Little Red Riding Hood

2008-12-14T17:27:00.001-08:00

More Flickr now, this time with fesign's take on Little Red Riding Hood (warning: some more mature-themed photography in this photographer's stream).

Denise Alba's Fairytale Flickr

2008-12-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

Denise Alba has a great fairytale-themed set up on Flickr, including images of LRRH as well as other fairytale-inspired creations, all of which have the same wonderful aesthetic on display.

A pair of The Company of Wolves fan videos

2008-11-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

I've nothing really substantial to post right now, but the fact that I caught both Time Bandits and Legend on TV this weekend has really put me in the mood for some '80s fantasy films. In lieu of a more substantial post on the subject, here's a nice little erotic vignette featuring clips from The Company of Wolves and music from Meat Loaf.

...And yet another fan-made music video, using clips from same:

The Path

2008-11-27T01:09:00.000-08:00

Far and away one of the most interesting LRRH-themed games I've heard about is Tale of Tales' The Path, due for release next year. From the official website:

The Path is a short horror game with a unique form of gameplay, designed to immerse you deeply into the dark themes of its story. Every interaction in the game expresses an aspect of the narrative.

There is one rule in the game. And it needs to be broken.
There is one goal. And when you attain it, you die.

Obviously I can't speak on the quality of the finished product, but based on the concept alone this seems like a fascinating game: a perfect example of form mirroring content. As the title illustrates, the game focuses primarily on what path you take through the forest and what choices you, as Little Red Riding Hood(s) make whilst inside. Video games have a complicated relationship with free will and determinism: the player has the illusion of choice, but is really very constricted by both the limiting path mapped out by the game and by the limited grammar of the game's construction, preventing one from truly doing whatever one wants.

The Path exploits this idea, relating it back to the way in which fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood operate. The game not only reflects events within the classic tale - Red's choice of the path of needles or the path of pins, the way her mother advised or the way the wolf dares her to travel - but also highlights the meta-narrative of the tale, the fact that the Little Red Riding Hood story itself is one that can go through countless differing iterations (multiple paths) but ultimately must follow the same basic structure and come to the same (in the game, fatal) conclusion.

The game further illustrates this theme of the similar-yet-different stories through the multiple takes on Little Red Riding Hood herself. The game does not limit itself by having one protagonist - just as there is not one Little Red Riding Hood - but instead features multiple lead characters who seem to be reflections on one another and also representative of the various different ways of presenting individual versions of the tale, from Robin, the kid-friendly one, to Ruby, the more American McGee-influenced one, to the adult Scarlet, no doubt representing versions of the tale that seem to explore a more adult sensibility.

Even the structure of the game seems based around the notion of retelling; a key feature of any notable fairy tale. The same story is told over and over again and yet never told twice.

What's also interesting is of course the way that this game focuses on the importance of audience interaction. Video games are naturally a medium entirely based around the concept of the player becoming an active participant in a story crafted by someone else, but the same can also be said of the way fairytales are told, either with young children becoming active participants in the storytelling (chiming along with repitions of "what big eyes you have," etc.) or with the fact that tale-hearers ultimately become tale-tellers, and interact with and construct variations on the story themselves. In the game, the player not only constructs their own version of the story (again, within set limits), but their actions also manipulate such things as the ambient music, "mixed in real time through in-game activity."

Really though, I could go on about this game for ages. At first glance you may just brush it off as some kind of Fable clone, but that would be doing this game a great disservice. The Path doesn't just feature differing paths towards the same end, but uses those paths and the nature of the game's own construction to make a point about the very essence of fairy tales and oral folk tales (and video games) and the way the same stories can repeat over and over again, throughout various stages in our lives (represented by the differing ages of the Red Riding Hood characters) without ever becoming truly tired or repetitive. And wow, do I love it when form is married together with content.

I will very much be anticipating this game's release, set for Spring 2009 for Windows. Look forward to an update some time after that.

Wizard of Oz: Kele-6

2008-11-26T17:14:00.000-08:00

More Wizard of Oz stuff now, and yet another rap music video, too:

The rappers in question are Israeli group Kele-6.

The Oz purist in me is mildly annoyed that this video changes the order in which 'Dorothy' meets her three companions (it took me the longest time to realise that the second guy she meets was not just a really poor rendition of the Tin Man, so deeply was the idea of the narrative order ingrained in me). Also, is the Tin Man wearing a necklace made of spoons?

Voyager LRRH

2008-11-22T01:20:00.001-08:00

Janeway is Red Riding Hood and Chakotay is the Wolf in yet another wonderfully geeky fan-made music video for that song.

Red Riding Hood Papercut

2008-11-17T22:22:00.000-08:00

A rather impressive example of LRRH-themed papercraft from Elsita (via flickr).

Red Riding Hood (2003)

2008-11-17T22:10:00.001-08:00

Your own tolerance for low-budget European horror may vary from my own, but if you do happen to like that sort of thing, you can do a lot worse than Giacomo Cimini's 2003 gory horror that actually features a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humour, as well as a curious performance from the young girl playing the protagonist.

Here's the trailer for the film at imdb, although bizarrely, the trailer is attached to another, Bulgarian film.

Pokemon Lil' Red Version

2008-11-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Some total (and somewhat asinine) silliness now from some Pokemon-loving youtubers:

Personally though, my favourite Pokemon vid is still the Smosh one. I haven't even seen There Will Be Blood and yet I still think this is hilarious.

Plazma

2008-11-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

The fact that so many popular fairy tales feature imagery that can traverse cultures and languages can be a boon to those in advertising, who are often trying to reach as broad an audience as possible in order to best hawk their wares. Still, I'd be lying if I said that I can actually understand the actual text of these adverts, or even what Plazma is, other than some generic-looking type of snack food/biscuit-ty thing.

To be honest, I'm not even sure that this is such a good commercial. I mean, what is it saying, exactly? Eating Plazma will attract wolves? It'll make you sexy and therefore attractive to figurative wolves? It'll make you feel like you're a little kid who's lost in the woods? A certain Luc Besson commerical this ain't.

Oz Squad

2008-11-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

Now, I haven't actually read Steve Ahlquist's Oz Squad, so I can't claim to give a fair appraisal of it, but from what I have read about it, I certainly seem to agree with Dave Campbell's comment that it seems "gratuitously irreverent," and I imagine that if I ever read it, I might come down on the side of critic and Oz fan Steve Teller, who called it "The most repellent published work with the name Oz in the title I have ever seen." From what I can tell, it seems to take the "add in some sex, death and swearing and that'll make it more 'mature'" attitude that ultimately of course only serves to make things far more puerile. But then again, it all seems to be done with a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humour, so at this stage, who am I to judge?

Still, if you're interested in learning more, Dave's post on the subject and this site about the comic might provide some decent starting points.

Oooh

2008-11-12T20:03:00.001-08:00

Borrowing imagery from the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz and also likely the '70s urban reimagining The Wiz, here's the music video for De La Soul & Redman's "Oooh":

RIZ-ZOAWD

2008-11-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

It's all in Japanese, so it may be of limited use for those of us who don't speak the language, but check out the official website for RIZ-ZOAWD, a new videogame for the Nintendo DS set in the world of Oz. As far as I can ascertain from the website, the game features lots of running around using an ersatz trackball. The character designs are much more interesting than the gameplay, methinks.

My Little Elphaba

2008-11-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of fanart/fancraft out there relating not just to the Wizard of Oz, but more specifically, to the novel/play Wicked and its protagonist Elphaba Thropp, aka the Wicked Witch of the West. The below image represents what happens when Wicked meets the world of custom My Little Pony (and even features a custom Galinda/Glinda, too):

Many thanks to midnightflurry for the creations.