Not Your Grandmother’s Alice

“Last time a girl called Alice came through here from your world she brought down a whole pack of cards.”

Nope, those aren’t Lewis Carroll’s words nor are they from the forthcoming Tim Burton film.  You see there is yet another Alice headed our way, this one coming to the Syfy channel in December.  It is from the same folks who did Tin Man, a very urban fantasy-ish version of Baum’s story. This Alice features Tim Curry as the Hatter, Kathy Bates as the Queen of Hearts,  and Harry Dean Stanton as the Caterpillar.  Unsurprisingly, the director Nick Willing called it a, “much racier, tougher, sexier” version.  Here’s the promo trailer:

Tim Burton’s Alice, a Teaser Trailer

Hm….see what YOU think!

Guys Messing about With Girl Books

According to Mr. Grahame-Smith, who confessed to being “bored to tears” by “Pride and Prejudice” in high school, the idea was mostly to sell resistant readers on the joys of Jane while having a bit of fun.

From  “I Was A Regency Zombie“, about the latest Austen variant complete with zombies.  For some reason the above quote by the creator of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies made me think of Frank Beddors who also was inspired by a negative experience with another classic book,  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  Says Beddors:

… I hated the books growing up. A lot of people have mirrored that thought, in interviews. We come to a point where we’re supposed to like them. I respect the wit, writing, and imagination, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t enjoy them like I enjoyed Treasure Island or “The Hardy Boys” or “Johnny Quest.’ I didn’t think the book was cool, I thought it was a girl’s book.

And so he wrote the The Looking-Glass Wars and its sequels, video-game-like stories filled with reinvisioned Wonderland characters.

What strikes me is that both these guys had very hostile reactions to books that are very much seen as girl/woman books and pushed back hard. (Now I don’t see Alice as particularly girly at all, but Beddors clearly does.)  I wasn’t a fan of the Beddors’ book, but will wait to see how the Austen zombies play out as I am not entirely down on playing off classical books and characters.  Jasper Fforde (still another guy!) does it wonderfully well, for example.

Fine. I Did it. 25 Random Things About You

I was tagged to do this on facebook, ended up having fun doing it, and so here  is a slightly edited version of what I did over there. The rules are: once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you. (I did some tagging over at facebook, but if anyone wants to do it on their blog — consider yourself tagged as well.)

1. Fortunately, I remembered Remy Charlip’s book Fortunately.

Fortunately, Ned was invited to a surprise party.

Unfortunately, the party was a thousand miles away.

Fortunately, a friend loaned Ned an airplane.

Unfortunately, the motor exploded.

Fortunately, there was a parachute in the airplane.

Unfortunately, there was a hole in the parachute.

2. Unfortunately, that only gave me my first random thing.

3. Fortunately, even though I’m not always into these things, I hate to be left out so I am happy to have been tagged for this. (Thanks Jen and April!)

4. Unfortunately, it makes me self-conscious as I wonder what anyone really would want to know about me.

5. Fortunately, I have a certain degree of hubris so will forge ahead.

6. Unfortunately, that means I just have to mention my dog, Lucy. A poodle. She turned me into a sappy dog person. Love to watch The Dog Whisperer and feel smug as she is not like those dogs —so far (she’s still a puppy).

7. Fortunately, I do like other living things too. Say cats.

“Name the different kinds of people,” said Miss Lupescu. “Now.”

Bod thought for a moment. “The living, ” he said. “Er. The dead.” he stopped. Then, “…Cats? he offered, uncertainly.

Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

8. Unfortunately, I’m terribly allergic to them. Cats, that is.

9. Fortunately, that means no cat boxes in my house.

10. Unfortunately, it probably means Sharyn November thinks a bit less of me.

11. Fortunately, there are a few other dog folks out there hopefully tolerant of my new status as one of them.

12. Unfortunately, this thread seems to be dribbling away and I’ve got to come up with another random thing. Ah, the living and the dead…

13. Fortunately, my favorite book this year won the Newbery!!!!

14. Unfortunately, my favorite book of all time, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland did not.

15. Fortunately, it couldn’t and that doesn’t matter to Lewis Carroll. He’s dead.

16. Unfortunately, the Newbery appeared out of touch to some of the living out there.

17. Fortunately, it does matter to Neil Gaiman and other living (and, I’d like to think, dead).

18. Unfortunately, I’ve got to move on again.

19. Fortunately, we’ve got Obama.

20. Unfortunately, he’s got a hell of a mess to clean up.

21. Fortunately, he appears up to the task.

22. Unfortunately, the world is still as it was — full of war, famine, and horror.

23. Fortunately, the world is still as it was — full of hope, goodness, and happiness.

24. Unfortunately, I’m not sure these are all random facts about me.

25. Fortunately, I think that is okay.

The Ambassador, the Poet, the Composer, and the Illustrator

I spent Saturday in the company of a bunch of Carrollians at the fall meeting of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. Wait! Don’t go yet!  Before you decide you have no interest in them, let me tell you that this meeting had speakers that might even interest those with no affinity for Alice and her friends.

First up was Jon Scieszcka, our most honorable ambassador of children’s literature.  I’ve long felt Jon has a Carrollian sense of humor, best manifested in the clever parodies in Science Verse and since his retelling of the Disney Alice (in a picture book for the very young with terrific artwork by the movie’s conceptual artist, Mary Blair) is just out he was game. Jon spoke about some of the challenges he experienced doing the retelling, his strong feelings about children and their need for humor, and various amusing anecdotes related to his ambassadorial duties. (He willingly did a photo op wearing his new medal.)

After lunch we heard from the remarkable Nancy Willard, author of the Newbery-award winner, A Visit to William Blake’s Inn.  (I must admit that I feel our choice of last year, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!, is in the tradition of Willard’s book, being equally unconventional, and was delighted when Nancy told me how much she liked Laura’s book and how she had it on reserve for her students at Vassar. Hope you read this, Laura!)

Nancy spoke about two kinds of teachers: the visible and the invisible.  And then she spoke of how Carroll was her invisible teacher and how she learned about writing unconsciously from her many readings of the Alice books.  She described her vivid memory of reading the book when she was eight (and I too remember having the book read to me by my father when I was that age).  She then went on to show us the power of dialog, the way Carroll brilliantly used it to tell the story.  She felt then and now as if a real person was speaking to her and reminded us through excerpts of that ironic and witty voice. The voice of the storyteller which Carroll was.  There are so many wonderful asides to the reader throughout the book; often these tell us more about Alice than she can herself.  (Say when he describes her boxing her own ears or talking to herself.)

Nancy marveled at the way Carroll uses conversation as a storytelling device.  She also referenced the etiquette books of the period she also had read when age eight and how they emphasized the importance of being able to converse well.  This explains Alice’s constant efforts to engage the other characters in sensible conversations and her frustration when they can’t or are rude.  Carroll also turns conversation into a game and repeatedly reminds us of the power of play, especially word play.  A remarkable talk that needs to be published — most likely will be in the society’s journal, The Knight Letter, but perhaps it can then be reprinted elsewhere.   Roger Sutton, are you listening?

We then heard an intriguing talk by the composer Peter Westergaard on his Alice opera.  I was very impressed by how Peter used Carrollian structures and motifs as he composed the music for this opera. He gave us several excerpts, a complete libretto, and showed us an extended clip from the Tea Party scene.  Fascinating stuff!

Our final speaker was Mahendra Singh, an illustrator, graphic designer, and art director who is doing a remarkable graphic novel version of The Hunting of the Snark. The presentation was tremendously interesting.  Mahendra is taking a Surrealist slant to his interpretation of this poem and fills each of his panel with literary and artistic references galore. Rather than telling you about them I suggest you go see them for yourself.  Mahendra is putting the panels on a blog as he does them here.  You can also download it here.

An excellent day. I mark it with a white stone.

Alice in Burtonland

Yesterday Betsy Bird pointed out that some of the recent casting news for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland involved characters from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass.   I’ve been following this for a while, being both a fan of Carroll’s work (educating alice, remember?) and Burton’s, and I’d say that combining the two works (as was done with the older Disney animated film) is the least of it.  Above is a shot from the set of Alice herself (looking much older than Carroll’s eight year-old) and from what I can tell from this Tim Burton fan site, a whole lot of adapting is going on.

Enduring Alice

A very nice essay on the appeal of Carroll’s book.

Go read Alice, I think she’ll know

Lewis Carroll Society Fall Meeting

The Lewis Carroll Society of North America is having its fall meeting on Saturday, October 25, at the Fales Library (3rd floor of the Bobst Library) at New York University.  Speakers include:

National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature  Jon Scieszka (who has a new adaptation of Disney’s Alice illustrated by Mary Blair out), poet and children’s book writer Nancy Willard, composer Peter Westergaard (on his Alice opera) and illustrator Mahendra Singh (who is illustrating The Hunting of the Snark).   The all-day event is free to the public.  For more information go here.

Best Olympic Sport That Doesn’t Exist in Real Life

1. Croquet (from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
Like regular croquet, but using flamingos for mallets.
And the gold goes to: England.

Calvinball, Quidditch, and Other Fictional Sports We Wish the Olympics Would Adopt — Vulture — Entertainment & Culture Blog — New York Magazine

Wonderland Expedition Kit

“Artifacts, Specimen, and Ephemera salvaged from the Wonderlands”

When Alice fell through the rabbit hole, she tore a rift between our two universes. Through this open rift, “nonsense” began leaking out of Wonderland. With a decreasing amount of nonsense, Wonderland became a more logical place, and since vanishing cats and singing flowers cannot exist in a logical universe, Wonderland began to die.

Professor Jonathan Lake, of Miskatonic University, traveled to Wonderland in attempt to catalog and archive the remaining flora and fauna so that Wonderland would not disappear into the forgotten depths of history. This is his collection of specimens, artifacts, and ephemera salvaged from the Wonderlands.

This is so, so, SO cool! Go here to see what’s inside. (Thanks to melyndahuskey for the tip.)