the rewriting of fairy tales

Recently in the movies, there have been remakes of several fairy tales ... Beauty and the Beast and Snow White (I don't count the re-re-releases of the Disney Classics as retellings).

Fairy Tale Magazine has actually solicited re-tellings of several stories, most recently Snow White ... Their next is going to be Cinderella.

What makes this unique?  Easy.  They want a different point of view for their pieces.

I wrote, and scrapped, the story of Rumpelstiltskin from the point of view of a field mouse in the hay.  The lower the hay bale, the colder I felt about the piece.  When it came to Snow White, I kept wanting to write about a layoff in the land of far away and having to reduce the number of dwarves to four or five (to be done by combining names of some and altering personalities of others).  My idea was not well received ... never are truly great ideas appreciated until after the death of the visionary. 

Their next story up for grabs is Cinderella.  I'm thinking what about a very harried fairy godmother who has been known to show up a day late and a dollar short, or cross her wires with someone and go to the wrong job ... then again, this might not work for them at all.

I repeat, the truly unique perspectives aren't appreciated at first presentation.  *sigh*  (Insert inspiration for fairy godmothers here)

http://www.fairytalemagazine.com/

Truth in Advertising

I spent a lot of time working in various sales offices and I am proud to say that we only offered products and services that had value and integrity both.  When things were flawed, our customers told us and we would right the wrong, always.

Lately there have been a lot of car commercials on television offering rock bottom prices.  There have been even more about mortgages.  If you watch enough daytime TV, there are advertisements for technical colleges (some good, some just expensive).  These ads always make me think about what the catch is and when it would boomerang on the consumer.


When I was at the beach a while back, I saw something that at first appalled me and then appealed to me because it truly is/was truth in advertising (even if I wasn't so sure about the message).

the science experiement in my refrigerator

I'm not proud of the science experiment I grew in my refrigerator, mostly because I didn't know that was what I was doing at the time. 

Before you go all 'ick' and 'yuck' on me, I need to start with a confession:  I don't eat onions if I can avoid it.  I was raised in a mostly onion free home and have remained such to this day.  Sure I know the rest of the world likes them and eats them, but I have never learned to embrace the bulb.

So when I cook an onion and don't need it all, it goes into a baggie and sits where the butter would be in the fridge.


I had no idea just how long the onion had been in the fridge or quite what would happen to the bulb if left alone.

Who knew that the onion could sprout and grow - and grow well - in my refrigerator (other than my husband the reformed science geek)?

The only thing we've planted this spring that has really done well and taken true root has been that onion.

In metaphysics, there is so much talk about 'peeling the onion' to get to the core of a problem or issue.  Maybe it should be more about cutting the onion and seeing if it will grow?

Just rambling ...

the gift of romance, who knew?

Several years ago, an important person in my life died of anal cancer.  Since then, I've had several friends suffer with colon cancer.

Since having the joy of one form of cancer, I now get screened more often than most for ALL kinds of cancer.  So this year, as a Valentine's day present to me, I had a colonoscopy.

Romantic?  Not really.  Life affirming?  Yes, actually.  I found that no only I DON'T have this particular cancer (thank heavens), but I'm cleared for three more years.

I did get a lovely stuffed animal from the husband which the dog swiped as soon as he could ... how soon we forget who really runs things.

Get checked. It isn't as bad as it once was and you'll be able to spend more time with your loved ones in the years to come.

Really.

Three Cheers for the Colorectal Surgeon!

Valentine's Day in my life isn't like a Kay's Jeweler's ad, darn it.  There is no ice skating on a frozen pond or romantic walks in the snow covered woods (okay, so I live in the desert and they romanticize cold and slush).

This year Santa and I are celebrating Valentine's Day with a colonoscopy for one.  Unfortunately, that one is me.

I am a firm believer that attitude is everything, so this is my attitude about the whole darned thing.