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You may remember my previous post about fairy tale physics. Well, here’s yet another one for ya…this one with different fairy tales, and more in depth science. It’s part of my Valentine’s Day gift for my Jesse, a physics teacher near Philly.
This article comes from LiveScience, and was written by a dude from the American Institute of Physics. Again, we are first treated to a look at Rapunzel:
Can human hair support the weight of another person? On average one strand of hair can support about three and one-half ounces, or about the weight of two candy bars. Each strand of dark hair is generally thicker, and therefore stronger, than blond hair. But, alas, Rapunzel must make do with blond locks. Given that blondes generally have about 140,000 hairs on their heads, her hair should easily support the weight of many, many princes. However, there is more to this story.
What If I Only Have 139,999 Hairs?!
I’m a brunette, so I’ve got it made. The article also includes this gem:
Three scientists recently published a paper in the journal Physical Review Letters showing that there are conditions under which a carpet could fly. They used the basic laws of physics to show that a small, thin carpet could fly if the air were vibrating at the right frequency, much like how a piece of tissue paper floats softly to the ground when it is dropped. Their calculations showed that small waves of air in repeated fast pulses could steer a carpet at a speed of around one foot per second.
I know what I want for Valentine’s Day. 
The article also discusses making the Little Mermaid lose her voice by creating “sound shields,” which sounds a little funky to me. I’ll stick with magic. It’s worked for the last dozen or so mermaids I’ve bewitched.
Finally, I get to blog about some fairy-tale art! Excellent! Ball State University (in Muncie, Indiana) is having a fairy tale art exhibit! It comes in two parts: Almost Alice: Illustrations of Wonderland, and Fantasy and Fairy Tales, which focuses on the dark undertones of original fairy tale prints.
Birds of a Feather, by Maggie Taylor
This is what the museum has to say about Maggie Taylor’s work with “Alice in Wonderland:”
“What makes this exhibition interesting is the way the artist combines Lewis Carroll’s nineteenth century sensibilities—his fantasy as well as his political satire—and the photomedia of that era, such as daguerreotypes, with the digital manipulation capabilities of our own era,” said Director Peter Blume. “By doing so, Taylor’s singular presentation makes Carroll’s story, and therefore the exhibition, meaningful to a whole new audience.”
And of the “Fantasy and Fairy Tales” collection:
Don’t let the title fool you, this isn’t an exhibition about love stories and happy endings. Most fairy tales and folk tales were cleaned up for children, but originally contained stories of violence and vengeance. The prints selected for this exhibition show the dark undercurrents of original folk tales from the 18th century onward. All of the prints included in the exhibition are from the museum’s collection.
I wish I could go! If anyone manages to pop by, please send me a line about it. That Maggie Taylor’s work looks promising (which means I’d either love it or hate it). And I’d jump in a vat of Jell-o for five hours for a chance to see the Goya and Picasso prints in the “Fantasy and Fairy Tales” collection.
Both exhibits run through May 22nd.
Hey all! So, you might have noticed that I’ve only recently returned to fairy-tale blogging. I’ve missed a lot of opportunities to post Fairy Tales on Fantastic Fairy Tale Fridays! So, instead of just jumping from October to February, I’m filling in the gaps.
That’s right! Over at the Fantastic Fairy Tale Fridays page, we have 9 new fairy tale for you, from all corners of the globe! We begin with a Columbian story told by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.
Now isn't that pretty?
There’s a complete list of all the new fairy tales after the jump, plus what you can expect in the future!
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In 2004, Great Ormond Street Hospital (which owns all rights to Peter Pan c/o J.M. Barrie’s will) launched a search for the person who’d write the Peter Pan sequel, and in 2006 it was released. Peter Pan in Scarlet is a terrific read (and one of these days I’ll actually be able to get my hands on it, and until then I make due with the Google Books edition).
Quite Pretty, Isn't It?
For those of you who don’t know, the basic plot is as follows: the Old Boys (those like the Darlings and the Lost Boys who were once in Neverland but returned) are dreaming of Neverland again. Peter needs them; it looks like the bombs from the Great War are tearing holes in the separation between the world and Neverland. They become children again by putting on their children’s clothes (Toodles only has daughters, so he becomes a girl). In fact, the book’s biggest theme revolves around the idea that clothes do (or don’t) make the man. Once in Neverland, they must help Peter, who is only interested in adventures. They are aided by an old circusmaster named Ravello. But is Ravello more than what he seems? And why is Peter behaving so strangely, since he found Captain Hook’s scarlet coat?
Well guess what? This delightful book is going to be made into a film! And its supposed to be coming out sometime this year. More after the jump.
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You really have to feel sorry for Hans Christian Andersen. He wasn’t pretty. He was unlucky in love. He had patrons who made him feel inferior his whole life. And to make matters worse, his originally promising friendship with Charles Dickens went crashing down like a lead blimp. Which is counterintuitive, when you think about it, because Dickens was also a fairy tale author of sorts (in the sense that his rags to riches, good beats evil stories are often so improbable that they are fairy tales in a way), and his stories share much in common with Andersen’s (think “Ugly Duckling” meets “Oliver Twist,” and you’ll get the idea).
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- Oh la, but I do have a fine beard!
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- This is a very flattering picture. Seriously, I’m a lot worse.
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- From the 1952 movie, starring Danny Kaye. See how much more attractive he is than the real deal?
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Andersen was always socially awkward in his own country, but he enjoyed great success when he visited England. There he met Dickens, and the two of them *gasp* walked out together onto a veranda, to talk in private. Andersen gushed about it in his letters, and after the party Dickens dropped off some book at Andersen’s lodgings. Clearly, thought Andersen, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. If only Dickens could have known what we know, that Andersen’s goal in life was to make people like him, and not just any people; people of high social or literary status:
You know that my greatest vanity, or call it rather joy, consists in making you realize that I am worthy of you. All the kind of appreciation I get makes me think of you. I am truly popular, truly appreciated abroad…all right, you are smiling…Oh, no one at home thinks of this, among the many who entirely ignore me… – from a letter to Jonas Collins, his patron
Yikes! Talk about a guy who wants approval. That appreciation from abroad of which he’s talking includes England…and Dickens. Since Andersen was so ignored by his patron and the upper-crust Danes, foreign approval meant all that much more to him, and when Dickens himself showed him appreciation, Andersen was on cloud nine. Which meant, basically, that he was going to hold onto Dickens like a leach, and Dickens was going to have a hell of a time letting go.
From the 1952 movie, starring Danny Kaye. See how much more attractive he is than the real deal?
Their friendship breaks after the jump:
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
::sigh:: I do love this book. I remember when I first got it. Fellow-blogger and bestest-buddy Catie and I were at a bookstore, and we both saw this book. We fell in love. In fact, we loved it so much that we each decided that we needed our own copy (weird for us, since we shared all our books). It’s a *must* for ever fairy tale, fantasy, sci-fi, and general lit fan out there. And no, its not all Middle Earth. In fact, it is decidedly not all Middle Earth (though yes, Mordor is there, with maps, I promise).
There are complete maps of Oz. Tourist descriptions of Pellucidar (map below) read: “Travellers are warned that standing on the inside of the earth is like standing at the boom of a bowl whose sides curve up to the sky on all sides. As result, perception of distance is very different very different to that experienced on the surface of the Earth.” So cute! Love it!
Pellucidar: Note the "Here There Be Tigers" In The Upper Right Corner
There are also some wonderful fairy-tale related entries as well.
So here I am, waiting for Disney to release The Princess and the Frog, and feeling bummed. You said 2009, Disney! It’s 2009! I drank the champagne! When’s the movie coming, hmmm?
That being said, I want to take another look at the actual fairy tale, which (unknown to most) actually has two titles. The first is “The Frog King,” but the second is “Iron Heinrich.” “The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich.” That’s right. Only the first half of the tale is about the Princess and the Frog. The original tale’s second half is all about the Frog King’s servant, Heinrich.
Show The Servants Some Love
So what’s the deal with the servant? And why do I think Disney has a chance to do something great?
