Magickal

Good ol' fashioned fun and fantasy - I really enjoyed The Brothers Grimm. Sure it does weave odd tangles in a relatively simple plot, that is basically a mish mash of any and every faerie tayle, and not just Grimm ones - but it delivers satisfaction and well toned suspension of belief.

I first saw adds for this in Japan on late night countdown shows and thought it looked spectacular. It came out on DVD I think, the week before I left Hitachi. I was bit too busy with cleaning and packing and worrying to watch too many movies.

Brothers Grimm also manages to maintain the sort of moral ambiguity of traditional "happily ever after .... well maybe not" tales. We have a beloved father commiting infantcide to satisfy a n enchanted lover; trees eating people; a rather minced kitten; fraudsters masquerading as heroes; and noone really gets the girl in the end - leaving the resolution rather sexless in all.

It makes for good fantasy. It isn't supposed to make sense, be fair, its meant to be a fun ride - and if you learn a lesson all the better for it. And some very real lessons learned - don't trust vain corpses, sometimes parents can be monsters, shiny armour is still armour even if its not enchanted ...


Now I have to prepare myself not to be reduced to a shivering wreck while watching the Grudge. At least its daytime.

A Sequel to the Best Apocalyptic Children's Video

C'mon muppets did not get anymore hardcore than they did in Dark Crystal.

I remember the first few times I watched this I got really freaked out by the scene where they try and drain life essences out of the poor little girl elfin. As you generaly do.
And yes, that statement means I have watched this plenty of times.

Anyway somewhere in the interweb grapevine there is mention of a Dark Crystal sequel involving CGI backgrounds to puppeteering.

I change my mind - Labyrinth probably ties for hardcore muppeting, and it has Bowie.

Whatever happened to cool kids fantasy movies like them? Or maybe I just grew up?

*sigh*

My sister's birthday is coming up

I'm stuck for a present I can get her that will be useful and appreciated while she works/lives/travels in Canada a while longer.

But I don't think a jar of pickled squirrel heads is a good idea. But, I also have a cousin who is getting married this weekend...

Not exactly for the faint hearted, Custom Creature Taxidermy has some great stuff (there is G-rated section too). It's a bit different from my last experience with award-winning taxidermy at the Stones and Bones museum my uncle works at.

Taxidermy is a cool and creepy (in a good way) artform. Let's hope hippies don't kill it off.

Some of my picks from the galleries:

• ever-practical conversation starter - The Squirrel Lamp
• bickering Squirrel Siamese Twins
• Two Headed Franken-Squirrel
• It's my Sign: A Capricorn
• A cool collection of Griffins
• A mummified Chupacabra (the goat sucker)
• like you haven't wondered what a boxing match between two skinned headless cat carcasses looked like?
• when goth cam-whores go one step to far
• it looks happy...?
• Mystery goodness: is it lucky, or not?
• stuck for a stocking filler? Look no further than Mummified Squirrel Heads by the dozen