Amazon & Goodreads Human-Hand Review For My Book!

Good morning folks!

I feel delighted this morning as I realized immediately with the start of the day, I had received my first, human hand book review - besides ChatGPT and Gemini - through the Booksprout campaign platform for my fairytale fantasy pocket book When Magic Truly Happens!

"Christian fantasy narrative"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 July 2024

 

"Jennifer meets Jack, who sees something in her. Jack invites Jennifer to meet his world and all his friends in Snow White's circle. This is an extremely short story with a Christian message alongside the fantasy narrative.

I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily."

 

By Louise

 

Reviews are distributed via the platform across all possible touchpoints - retailers - selected, so I want to truly thank Louise for the comments as well as people in Booksprout for the continuous support they offer before, during and after campaigns!

Stay tuned for what's next!

On 'When Magic Truly Happens' Short Story To Film Adaptation!

Dear friends, I feel delightful to say my fairytale fantasy 'When Magic Truly Happens' is now included into a complete and signed contract of producing a 25 minutes long animated film, based on the adaptation of the short story. Collaborating with an experienced Indian writer that will create the screenplay, this means we will discuss the potentials of the story (in terms of genre, narrator's voice, plot, writing format, characters, setting) so that short story to film portrayal will be as effective as possible. Before Hollywood-nature evaluations and transformations of considering the product for the big screen it all begins with storytelling. Sooner or later I will present to you analytical details of this collaboration of mine. Stay tuned!

The Art & Science Of Fantasy Writing!

Where have you gone to, dreamer? Whose dreams are you dreaming now? I’ve memorized this quote from an epic fantasy game, known to many of you as Dreamfall. The edition included game over options and it seemed quite uncomfortable for me to play it back then, even though it couldn’t run properly. Perhaps I should now watch it as a movie in YouTube to get the complete perspective! What am I talking about? About the importance for creatives following their own dreams, listening their own voices and not somebody else’s. Journeying the creative spirit sometimes blocks us in mammoth problems that test our ideas on group norms, socializing, leadership or proper behavior. But this is the general mindset now applied in creative writing.

Crafting a story on what you do, why you do it, how you do it and where do you think it will take you, is important to get freed from dogma at somewhere around the middle of the journey. But then you seem haunted by another reality: kickstart, middle part and end of story. Fiction literature is influential enough to make our imaginations hatch through the power of imagery, wannabe robust writing and vocabulary, plot and taste. Imagery is all about imaginative language with pictures, sometimes intended to uplift our minds to the spiritual. There are five main types of imagery, each related to one of the human senses: Visual imagery (sight), Auditory imagery (hearing), Olfactory imagery (smell), Gustatory imagery (taste), Tactile imagery (touch) plus another two: Kinesthetic and Organic.

Kinesthetic has to do with the entire, complete, full sense of experiencing a project whereas organic has to do with all parts, schemes and canons of written word embraced in a script as a whole, an organism in other words. Nevertheless, besides specialized analysis we all acknowledge that the power of the image in our century has been tremendous, huge. First of all, sight could be addressed to the mesmerizing descriptions of how we envision a world, how can a universe be created by music, how The Battle of Hogwarts begins. Hearing is all about dialogue, noise, explosions, etc. Smell and taste become somewhat detailed descriptions of the exact action. And touch does not refer to The Untouchables but becoming tangible e.g. with objects or artifacts.

Let’s now get to some bare facts related with fantasy. Facts, contrary to fantasy have to do with all these allegories, messages in a script, parallel realities, experiences of the writer in the real world that show us that fairytales may not be that fairytales after all, moving on with irony, distortion or just criticism of what happened. Epic fairytales have dealt as well with the issue of death and resurrection, issues of temptations that couldn’t be more dramatic nowadays, the issue of betrayal, relationship issues or plain portrayal of one problem solving. So, the writer obviously asks: How am I supposed to find my true and unique voice in all the above? The answer, for me at least, couldn’t be simpler: Exposition.

Nevertheless, this isn’t a one size fits all solution nor you are obliged to follow it. Exposition to scripts and content, exposition with education, exposition with creative experimentation, exposition with arts and sciences, exposition with technology, exposition with argumentations, exposition to business, have all been extremely strong experiences for me that led me to venture with writing and screenwriting. As I have stated above it’s all about the kinesthetic you, that differs from one person to another! It’s all about not fearing to get crushed. So, how can all the above be integrated to fantasy stories? Making choices, choosing sides, creating, laughing and crying with your writing, getting organized at some point, will probably make the wish come true.

For me, it has been an amazing experience that I would like to share with you. So, I will motivate you to navigate my Independent Authors Network page I created a little while ago. You can see my books already attached in this article, here’s the link: bit.ly/39chSSQ   

Creative Engagement With Fiction Literature!

The White Rabbit

Hio folks, there’s plenty of enthusiasm in my mind now that sooner or later I’ll be engaged again in writing a fairytale fantasy in Greek, as a novella. That’s why I wanted to grab this opportunity and talk about fiction literature, talk about fantasy universes such as this of the Narnians, or Alice’s in Wonderland or Harry Potter. And state my interests in these as a writer! First of all, can there be fiction literature if ‘world building’ does not exist? What is the role of symbols and semiotics in fiction? A necessary evil or a creative elixir? Furthermore, what’s the power of all the above not only to litterateurs and writers but free thinkers as well? What’s that unique and special about fiction? Let’s just take things analytically beginning from storytelling. For every human being, a writer or not, effective storytelling is about freedom and control… When the narrative works, we’re free to enjoy our success. When the narrative is blocked and blocks us as well, we have to control it! Finding a pathway and a genetic compass so that words can flow in ages of drought means the most for everyone.

 

My fairytale fantasy

Being a free spirit, freed from dogma is a vital element for writers who want to uplevel their creative power. It’s also a canon of losing yourselves in good fiction. The freer the mind the better the fiction hence being eclectic in creative writing choices, further uplevels one project. Gardens and flowers with human faces e.g. in Alice were magnificent stating the surrealistic will of Man to communicate with nature, as well as with talking beasts, wands of sorcerers that choose their master or becoming lyrical and poetic with aspects affecting the creation of cosmos. Fantasy contradicts reality whereas the myth and the fairytale are certain types of stories. Moving away from world building in writing, towards the area of story-building for the writer can have a tremendous impact in cases where the creation of 'a world' is not feasible in terms of economy of language as well as the writer’s vision. World building takes volume of writing whereas there have been legendary stories that did not follow that pattern.

My romantic drama

Can there be explainable science fiction, simplistic, without exposing readers to thread loss or lack of understanding? Philip Pullman’s books has been one such case in terms of “His dark materials” trilogy where they also act as an example of using symbols and semiotics effectively. You simply want to make it look scientific, or pseudo-scientific and keep addressing to young children without worrying they won’t understand. It takes talent and persistence from the writer in terms of using effective language. With that in mind, choices matter. It simply matters what you choose for a scientific paradigm. It can be a telescope, an invention, a mechanism but not Large Hadron Collider. Readers just need to know without knowing really! It’s where all math finally work! The previous arguments pose the exact distinction of whether notions and meaning are a necessary evil or make the work look simply majestic and act as the creative elixir for scriptwriters. 

Conclusively, I have always dreamed of fiction literature as an independent and special genre, a type of projects that require special care… So, why’s that at the end of the day? As Man is too small, restricted and fragile to understand all secrets of our cosmos, all the magnificents of nature, the universe, God or magical realism, he can still do so with fantasy, metaphors and symbolic logic. That’s why I believe carefully chosen themes in fantasy matter. For those of you that would like to get a first sample of my fantasy writing, you can navigate at my Independent Authors Network page where I portray the total of my work so far. It’s the books you can see attached in this article as well! Here’s the link: bit.ly/39chSSQ

The elf had just opened a gate to a fantasy realm!

 

There was a looking glass just next to the fireplace, which Jennifer’s family had decorated with picture frames, sentimental cultural items and miniatures. Jennifer’s family had a delicate taste and a passion for classy decoration. As the melody of the flute diffused in the entire place, suddenly the mirror acquired some kind of liquid form.

“Hey, Jack, the glass!” Jennifer shouted with awe.

The elf had just opened a gate to a fantasy realm! The ‘Flux’ universe, as he used to call it.

“I have friends there!” Jack said. “This would be an amazing chance to meet them.”

“There? Meet them? Really?!” Jennifer replied enthusiastically.

“Hey, come on, come on!”

The elf took Jennifer’s hand, while putting the flute in his backpack. As they raised their hands carefully and walked close to the magical mirror, they passed through the looking glass and, immediately afterwards, through a whirling vortex, they found themselves sitting at an empty place around the majestic fire, playing relaxing music with the seven dwarfs and singing all together!

“I’m Butcher!”

“I’m Will Grimm!”

“I’m Half Pint!”

“I’m Napoleon!” the four dwarfs said joyfully in succession as, one by one, they started playing the flute, the harmonica, the drums and the accordion. The seven dwarfs were a little smaller than Jennifer, wearing colorful berets, having friendly and warm faces. Jennifer felt ecstatic and fascinated.

"Hey, come, see what we can do together"

 

Actually trying to keep the magic alive, here's another excerpt of my forthcoming book. I continue the story, so, here's how our two heroes continue, they continue:

 

“There are people who can see, my dear. You may be good at school, but hurting and mocking your classmates who may be more vulnerable than you means that you are impatient to ‘use power’.”

“We are all like that,” continued Jennifer sharply.

“It may be so, but the looking glass knows the consequences this will have for you as a grown-up. You may do that now, but hurrying, being impatient to act like an adult will get you disappointed later on. I came to you to fix that!”

“Are there only fixes in your mind, Jack? Can’t you act a bit more happily?”

The elf, partly dressed, as the winter had not come yet, with pointy ears, brown hair, brown pants and a backpack over his shoulders and at the same height with Jennifer, began playing music. The flute sounded wonderful to the little child as Jack started smiling, moving right and left and then making steps to dance.

“Hey, come, see what we can do together,” he continued.

"...There are people who can see..."

 

One day, Jennifer invited Jack to her house to sing, play music and eat together. The fall had already come and they had a wonderful time. Jennifer believed mirrors are magical. The little child believed that the mirror her family kept at the sitting room had extraordinary powers.

“Do you truly believe in magic, Jennifer?” asked Jack hopefully. “That’s been my greatest concern, since I came to you.”

“Of course, I believe, Jack! But why are you worried?”

“It happens that I know a few things about you!” stated Jack seriously. “I come from another world where a magical mirror judges all of us, including you.”

“Am I judged?! Really?! What do I do wrong?!” asked Jennifer surprised.

“There are people who can see, my dear. You may be good at school, but hurting and mocking your classmates who may be more vulnerable than you means that you are impatient to ‘use power’.”

 

Soon the magical book will be a publishing reality. What do you enjoy most about it?

 

They say our world is created out of music!

Jennifer believed in magic. One day, she met Jack, a rather short elf who played the flute, just outside their glamorous detached house, in the garden next to the plane tree. During their first time together, Jack told Jennifer something that she was meant to memorize.

“They say our world is created out of music,” Jack said.

“Who says that, Jack?” Jennifer continued.

“A lot of people, from our worlds, actually. I would die to show you what we can do together.”

Well, it’s true that some people don’t forget easily. So, Jennifer and the elf decided to find out what this meant. 

 

The above excerpt has been a piece from my forthcoming book! What do you think of it?

Once upon a time, there was little Jennifer... The inception of my fairytale fantasy!

                     

Hello folks, here's how my fairytale fantasy begins! I feel beautifully to share it's inception. Here's an excerpt to read at the pre-launch period. So, then, When Magic Truly Happens, enjoy!

 

Once upon a time, there was little Jennifer, a kind, extremely smart, polite, vibrant little girl. She liked reading fairytales and being the best she could at school.

“She is my best pupil,” her teacher, Kevin, once said.

Her family was proud of her and gave her warmth and love to forge the best in her, but, like all children, Jennifer was not just good. She also had weak points that could harm her as a grown up. She wanted to do everything with her classmates, be adventurous and think like grown-ups.

They even created alphabets of their own, depictions of symbols, so that, when they wrote paper messages to other students in class, their teacher wouldn’t be able to understand what they were saying, if he happened to take notice of them!

When Magic Truly Happens Book To Be Published!

                                  

Dear folks, I am in the delightful position to say I just completed registration for international copyright at the U.S. Copyright Office, of the final version of my fairytale fantasy book When Magic Truly Happens!

It will be published as a pocket book (an ebook and a paperback) in the global internet. By this way, I would like to share my work with you, believing that word of mouth communication before actual publishing will give you a hint of my concept and trigger nice impressions!

Below is the Back Cover Script:

Little Jennifer meets Jack, the elf, who plays the flute and, through the looking glass, they're magically shifted to a fantasy realm known as Flux, a world created by music. Together with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Jennifer makes new friends, while she discovers the magical mirror plays an important role in her life.

For all ages above 9 years old.

To Be Published!

The Cards of Vladimir Propp in Fairytales!

The cards of Vladimir Propp was the analysis Propp used after studying several Russian fairytales to describe their structure and in some sense their model and archetypal nature, elements that could be found many times. Although it's a theory and not a canon or an unbreakable pattern, it's very powerful in describing the inner voice of the writer.

A characteristic side of the ingenuity of Leonardo Da Vinci, that was being excellently brought to light by an article of the magazine Sientse (Italian Version of Scientific American) is constituted  at his ability to regard for the first time in history every machine not as a unique organism, an unrepeated prototype but as a set of simpler machines.
 
Leonardo analyzed machines in elements, in functions. Thus, he accomplished to study independently, for example, the function of friction and this study led him to design ball bearings spherical and conic, even cylinders with the form of truncated cone, that were being constructed at least in our days for the function of gyroscope, that are necessary for the aviating navigation.
 
With similar studies Leonardo would manage to be entertained as well. It was discovered recently his plan for a funny devising of him: an “amortisseur to brake the fall of a man from above”. It shows a falling man, we don’t know where from, the fall of which brakes a system of wedges that are being connected between them and at the final point of fall, from a woolen ball, the resistance of which at hitting is being controlled and measured from a last wedge. It is probable that we should attribute to Leonardo the invention of “useless machines” that were being constructed for play, to follow a daydreaming, designed with a smile, that were instantly being confronted and rose against the utilitarian canon of technical-scientific progress.
 
Something similar with the Leonardian deconstruction of machines at its functions was actualized, as far as folkloric fairytales are concerned, the Soviet ethnologist Vladimir Propp at his work «Morphology of the tale» and at his study «Transformation at the fairytales of magic».
 
Propp became rightly famous for his book «The historical roots of the wonder tale», at which he exposes with a charming way and, at least from the poetic angle, persuasive, the theory according to which the most ancient core of fairytales originates from the initiation rituals that were being used at the primitive societies.
 
This that fairytales tell – or at the end of transfiguration, hide – would once happen: Reaching a definite age, children would be absent from family and were led into the forest (like in Hop-o’-my-Thumb, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White)… where the wizards of the tribe, dressed in a scaring way, with the face covered by horrible masks (that bring us to mind witches and wizards)… would force them in tough tests and often deadly (all the protagonists of fairytales meet them on their way)… children would listen the storytelling of the tribal myths and were thus ready to bring weapons (the magical presents that supernatural donors at fairytales share to the protagonists that are endangered)… and, finally, would come back at their home often with another name (and the protagonists of fairytales sometimes return incognito)… and finally mature get married (like in fairytales, that nine out of ten times finish with a wedding celebration)…
 
At the structure of a fairytale this of a ritual is repeated. By this observation Vladimir Propp (and not only him) came out with the theory, according to which the fairytale began to live as we know it, since the ancient ritual declined, leaving behind it only narration. Narrators, throughout centuries, would betray more and more the memory of the ritual and would serve the autonomous demands of the fairytale, that with the word of mouth transfigurated, accumulated deviations, followed the nations (Indo-European) at their migrations, absorbed the results of historical and social changes. Thus, the speakers, at the duration of a few centuries, transform a language until they give life to a new language: How many centuries passed since the Latin of roman decline until the Romance languages?

Fairytales, anyway, must be born from the fall of the sacred world to the folkloric: like from the fall reached the children world, having become toys, objects that in previous seasons were ritual and cultural, for example dolls, the spinning top. Doesn’t it exist thus in the roots of theater a same process from the sacred to the desecrated?
 
Around the primitive magical core, fairytales collected other myths that were being deprived of their sacred values, adventurous narrations, legends, anecdotes, next to the wizarding protagonists set up the protagonists of the agricultural world (for example the sly and the silly). There was created a dense and complex magma, a skein of one hundred colors, of which though – Propp says – the primitive thread is what we described.
 
A theory is of equal value with another and maybe none is at the position to give us a complete explanation about fairytales. This of Propp has a special charm because it establishes a deep bond – someone will say of the “collective unconscious” – between the prehistorical child that lived the initiation rituals and at the historical child that lives exactly with the fairytale his first initiation into the world of human. This identification between the young spectator and the Hop-o’-my-Thumb of fairytales that his mother narrates to him, doesn’t only have a psychological excuse, it has a deeper one, where its roots are being found at the darkness of blood.
 
By analyzing the structure of folkloric fairytale – with special caution at the Russian folkloric fairytales (which, moreover, belong widely to the same Indo-European heritage, together with German and Italian)-, Propp managed to state three principles: 1) “the stable elements, permanent in fairytales, are the functions of the protagonists, independent from the executor and the way of executing” 2) “the number of functions that appear in fairytales of magic is limited” 3) “the succession of functions is always the same”.
 
At Propp’s system the functions are thirty-one and are enough, with the variations and their internal structures, to describe the form of fairytales:

1.ABSENTATION
2.INTERDICTION
3.VIOLATION of INTERDICTION
4.RECONNAISSANCE
5.DELIVERY (TREACHERY)
6.TRICKERY
7.COMPLICITY
8.VILLAINY or LACKING
9.MEDIATION
10.BEGINNING COUNTERACTION
11.DEPARTURE
12.FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR
13.HERO'S REACTION
14.RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT
15.GUIDANCE
16.STRUGGLE
17.BRANDING
18.VICTORY
19.LIQUIDATION
20.RETURN
21.PURSUIT
22.RESCUE
23.UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL
24.UNFOUNDED CLAIMS
25.DIFFICULT TASK
26.SOLUTION
27.RECOGNITION
28.EXPOSURE
29.TRANSFIGURATION
30.PUNISHMENT
31.WEDDING
 
Of course, not in all fairytales all functions exist: at the obligatory succession we have jumps, unifications, syntheses, which do not contradict the general line. A fairytale can start from the first, the seventh or the twelfth function, but – if it’s old enough – it’s difficult to make jumps backwards, to reacquire the passages it lost.
 
The function of absentation, which Propp places at the first position, can be fulfilled by one hero that is taken away from home for whatever reason, a prince that starts for war, a father who dies, a parent that goes to work (telling children – here’s the forbiddance (interdiction) – do not open the door to anyone or do not touch anything), a trader that travels for jobs etc. Every “function” can contain its opposite: “interdiction” can be presented through a “positive” order.
 
But we won’t go further with our observations about Propp’s functions, but only to suggest to whoever has the appetite to exercise, by comparing their succession with the plot of any movie with the accomplishments of 007 agent: he will be surprised by finding a big number, almost at the appropriate order, so live and stubbornly present is the structure of fairytale in our education. Many adventure books have the same trace.
 
For us, “functions” interest us because we can use them for the construction of infinite stories, like with twelve notes (ignoring quadrants and remaining always closed at the limited sound system of West before electronic music) we can synthesize infinite melodies.
 
At Reggio Emilia, for us to test the productivity of “functions”, we decreased them motu proprio in twenty, by leaving some and substituting others with the indication of equal in number “themes” of fairytales. Two painters, friends, designed twenty game “cards”, each one noting a word (the generalized title of function) and with a fit symbolic picture or caricature in terms of all the above functions.

Next there was a team that worked to create a story, by using in order the twenty “cards of Propp”. Being entertained a lot, I owe to say and with remarkable parody results.
 
I saw that children manage easily to make a fairytale, by following the trace from the cards, because each word of the order (“function” or “theme of fairytale”) is presented loaded with mythic meanings and is disposed at an endless game of variations. I remember an original interpretation of interdiction: A father leaves the house, by forbidding his children to throw pots with flowers at the heads of passengers from the balcony… And between the “tough tests” there was not absent the obligation to go to the cemetery at midnight: the maximum of horror and courage until a specific age.
 
But children like to mix the cards, by improvising rules: pick up three by luck and creating a full story, begin from the last card of the order, share the bunch with two teams and synthesizing two stories competing each other. Often a card is enough to inspire them a fairytale. That with the magical presents reached a pupil to improvise a story of a pen that would write school assignments on its own.
 
Anyone can create by himself a bunch with “cards of Propp”, with twenty, or thirty or fifty, as many as he wants: as long as he writes each card the title of “function” or the “theme”, illustration is not necessary.
 
The game can only remind by accident the structure of a puzzle or a brain teaser, at which exist twenty or one thousand pieces of a plan mixed, with the duty to resynthesize, as in mosaic, the entire plan. Cards of Vladimir Propp allow oppositely, as we said, the construction of an infinite number of plans, because each piece doesn’t have only one interpretation, but it’s open to many meanings. … …

Source: Book Grammar of Fantasy by Gianni Rodari

Working on my short story...!

Dear friends, I am happy to announce I have completed a short story (the kind of word) at the category of fairytale fantasy (the genre of the script) which I am thinking of publishing as a pocket book, in terms of its dimensions, at the global internet, as an ebook and print on demand!
It has to do with a fairytale fantasy which according to the book Grammar of Fantasy of highly distinguished writer, teacher and journalist Gianni Rodari (he was awarded the Andersen Prize in 1970, the greatest distinction globally for a writer of children literature) follows the technique of salad of fairytales.
Example, my heroine meets Pinocchio and learns precious allegories as well as consequences about truth and lies (Pinocchio's nose grows bigger when he tells lies). Adventures are mingled and the 2 stories occur at the diagonal as they both act at the same point, the resultant. Even though my own work is original!
Stay tuned for the book being for children and grown-ups!

P.J. Hogan's Peter Pan Stays True To Its Literary Roots!

The 2003 adaptation brings J.M. Barrie’s famous story into current-day while still honoring its source material.

Oh, the cleverness of Peter Pan. Even those who have not read J.M. Barrie’s classic have a basic understanding of its themes thanks to the very many iterations it’s inspired: Barrie himself transformed his own original version, a play, into a novel. Walt Disney took a pass at a retelling in the 1953 animated film version, and through the years we’ve seen adaptations, prequels and sequels, from Steven Spielberg’s iconic Hook starring Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams, to the latest (less memorable) revamp, Pan, by Joe Wright. Many of these films offer their own takes on the story of the boy who refused to grow up, oftentimes sacrificing the incredible language, impishness and poignancy of Barrie’s source material. 2003’s Peter Pan, written and directed by P.J. Hogan (director of My Best Friend’s Wedding), however, brings back what was lost.

Hogan wisely allows his updates roll with the times, keeping it fresh, while still maintaining the essence of the original work. Wendy Darling is our real hero: We follow her from London to Neverland and back, watching as she takes captivates with her storytelling, sword fights with the best of them, and ultimately realizes when it’s time to return home. She is a strong female character in a world full of self-assured men, and holds her own in every scene. One of the film’s few misses might be that it wasn’t called Peter and Wendy, the alternate title of the play.

Stocked with kid-friendly elements, Hogan’s Peter Pan may be a film for children, but is one of the few that retains the true darkness of Barrie’s version. Wendy (Rachel Hurd-Wood), a young girl who loves to tell stories and play pretend with her brothers, is faced with the fact that she is on the verge of growing up. Try as she might, she cannot conceal the maturity that comes through on her face in the form of a secret “kiss” — a dimple on her chin, similar to the one her mother (played by the luminescent Olivia Williams) bears. Faced with the prospect of leaving her imaginary world behind, Wendy flies off with a strange boy to Neverland, but her adoration of Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) slowly dims as she learns his ability to stay youthful comes at a cost — his emotions are over-simplified, and he cannot truly love her the way she wants. Peter Pan has always been about the realization that we cannot — nor should we — cling to our childhood. The greatest adventures come from living life to the fullest.

Heavy stuff for a “kids’ movie,” but this was the dilemma Barrie asked his audiences to consider, and Hogan’s film, visually reminiscent of a young person’s Moulin Rouge, does the same. The movie does not sacrifice imagination for depth, nor does it go so far into action-adventure that it is without emotional impact.The scene where Peter screams into the void about believing in fairies to desperately revive a dying Tinkerbell is full of purity and emotion, and will have you reciting the words with him as the music swells.

Hogan maintains accuracy to scenes and dialogue in a manner other adaptations do not, from building a house around a fallen Wendy, to the reminder of how children emulate adult things without understanding their full definition (the rowdy Lost Boys are thrilled to have a “Mother” when Wendy arrives so that someone can tell them stories and make them take their medicine, for instance.)

Another favorite choice: Allowing the talented Jason Isaacs (of the Harry Potter series) to serve as both George Darling and James Hook, just as it was written in the play. These thoughtful details link the movie to the Barrie’s work, and despite an adjusted ending, Hogan’s Peter Pan is the most touching and accurate film version of the play.

“To die would be an awfully big adventure,” says Peter. Deep words for a child, but wholly appropriate in a film that believe a kids’ movie can possess a literary soul, true emotion and thoughtful questions. 

Source: https://www.hbo.com/movies/staff-picks/peter-pan-2003-live-action

Hobbiton Movie Set Tours Website

Their Story: 

In 1998, Sir Peter Jackson’s team of location scouts were searching for the iconic rolling hills and lush green pastures of Hobbiton™. An aerial search led them to the Alexander farm, a stunning 1,250 acre sheep farm in the heart of the Waikato. They noted the area’s striking similarity to The Shire™, as described by JRR Tolkien, and quickly realised that the Hobbits™ had found a home.

In one particular part of the farm, a magnificent pine tree towered over a nearby lake, adjacent to a rising hill. Bag End now sits atop that hill, overlooking the Party Tree, as that pine would later be known. The surrounding areas were untouched; no power lines, no buildings and no roads in sight. This meant that Sir Peter Jackson could leave the 20th century behind, and fully submerge himself in the fantasy world of Middle-earth™.

In March 1999 the crew began the nine month quest to bring the ideas for Hobbiton to fruition; help was provided by the New Zealand Army, and soon 39 temporary Hobbit Holes™ were scattered across the 12 acre plot used for the set. Secrecy was key, and strict security measures were put in place by the production company throughout construction and filming. Filming commenced in December 1999, and it took around three months to get a wrap on The Shire.

After an initial attempt at demolition, 17 bare plywood facades remained. These shells would serve as the catalyst that propelled Hobbiton forward into the public eye, with guided tours commencing in 2002.

In 2009, Sir Peter Jackson returned to film The Hobbit trilogy, and he left behind the beautiful movie set you’ll see today; 44 permanently reconstructed Hobbit Holes, in the same fantastic detail seen in the movies. In 2012 The Green Dragon™ Inn was opened as the finale to the journey. Guests now finish their Hobbiton Movie Set experience with a refreshing beverage from the Hobbit™ Southfarthing™ Range. There’s an abundance of movie magic nestled inside the fully operational farm.

Source:  https://www.hobbitontours.com/en/

Frodo Baggins at The Lord Of The Rings!

Frodo Baggins, son of Drogo Baggins, was a Hobbit of the Shire during the Third Age. He was, and still is, Tolkien's most renowned character for his leading role in the Quest of the Ring, in which he bore the One Ring to Mount Doom, where it was destroyed. He was a Ring-bearer, best friend to his gardener, Samwise Gamgee, and one of the three Hobbits who sailed from Middle-earth to the Uttermost West at the end of the Third Age.

Biography

Childhood

Much of Frodo's youth was spent at Brandy Hall in Buckland, the ancestral home of the Brandybuck family, including his mother (Primula Brandybuck). Frodo was known as something of a rascal, befriending Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck and Peregrin (Pippin) Took and causing trouble wherever they went. They would often steal mushrooms from Farmer Maggot's farm Bamfurlong. 

In TA 2980, when Frodo was only 12 years old, his parents drowned in a boating accident on the Brandywine River. An only child, Frodo stayed in Brandy Hall until his 99-year-old "uncle" Bilbo adopted him in TA 2989. Bilbo took Frodo to live with him in his home at Bag End and made him his heir.

The two grew very close in the following years; Frodo learned much of the Elvish language during his time with Bilbo, as well as much of the lore of Middle-earth. The two shared the same birthday, September 22 by Shire Reckoning (around September 12–14 of our calendar),[1] and a party of special magnificence was held at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring when Frodo came of age of thirty-three and Bilbo hit the peculiar year of 111.

Bilbo gave a memorable Birthday Speech before playing a joke on his fellow hobbits by using the One Ring to disappear, at which Gandalf quickly reacted and used his staff to create a blinding flash where Bilbo had been standing. The hobbits at the Party were left confused and disgruntled, and Bilbo was never again seen in the Shire.

Before departing for his journey to Rivendell, Bilbo had a long conversation with Gandalf, who finally persuaded him to voluntarily surrender the One Ring. Bilbo left it on the fireplace mantel with a note for Frodo, who would now become the next Ring-bearer.

Council of Elrond

After his healing, Frodo was summoned to a great Council that Elrond had organized. Representatives of all the Free Peoples of Middle-earth discussed the history of the Rings of Power and decided that the One Ring must be destroyed. As the ring was shown and tempers flared, argument broke out as to who should carry the Ring on this mission, until Frodo bravely volunteered to take the Ring to Mordor and cast it into the fires of Mount Doom. A member of each of the Free Peoples offered to join Frodo in his quest, thus forming the Fellowship of the Ring.

The Fellowship consisted of Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir of Gondor, Legolas of the Woodland Realm, and Gimli of the Dwarves. Before leaving Rivendell, Bilbo gave Frodo his dwarf-made coat of mithril mail and his elven blade Sting. The mithril coat had been given to Bilbo by Thorin after the events of The Hobbit, and Sting had been taken by Bilbo from the den of a troll. On December 25, the Fellowship of the Ring departed from Rivendell and headed south.

Moria

On January 11, 3019, the Fellowship attempted to cross the Misty Mountains (specifically the Pass of Caradhras), but were unable to due to a snowstorm. They instead traveled through the underground city of Moria at the urging of Gimli.

Moria (also named Khazad-dum), was the most ancient and grand of Dwarven cities, but was deserted when the dwarves uncovered a Balrog, known only as Durin's Bane, beneath the city, and had been defeated by legions of goblins. When they entered the Chamber of Mazarbul, the Fellowship was attacked by Orcs and a cave-troll. Frodo helped to defeat the troll before he was stabbed by an orc captain, his mithril shirt saving him from a deadly blow. The Fellowship ran through Moria to the Bridge of Khazad-dum, where Gandalf fell while confronting Durin's Bane. Once outside Moria, while the Fellowship was grieving, Gimli took Frodo and Sam to look upon the Mirrormere, even in their great hurry.

Lothlórien

Deeply grieved by their loss, the Fellowship journeyed to the Elven kingdom of Lothlórien, where they met the Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn. Galadriel showed Frodo a vision of the future in her Mirror. Frodo offered her the One Ring, but she resisted the temptation to take it, passing the test that was laid before her, and accepting the diminishing of the power of the elves. Before the Fellowship departed from Lothlórien, Galadriel gave each member a gift. To Frodo, she gave a phial with the light of the star Eärendil captured inside; this gift would prove hugely important later on in the quest. They were also provided with elven way-bread, other supplies, and ships for their voyage down the Anduin River.

Mordor and Mount Doom

Frodo and Sam crawled onward through the empty plains of Mordor, as the Orcs had been sent to the Black Gate to stop the Men of the West's army, and, after falling in and out of a company of Orcs, started to climb Mount Doom. They journeyed on for many days with hardly any food or water, and Frodo became progressively weaker as the Ring's power over him grew the closer they came to Orodruin. Frodo was eventually unable to go on, and Sam was forced to carry him a fair distance while his master rested upon his back. It was then that Gollum decided to reappear, and after a brief struggle, Sam cut Gollum in the stomach, and Frodo fled up the mountain.

Inside the Crack of Doom, Frodo finally had the chance to destroy the ring, and rid himself of his burden, but the power of the ring was at its strongest, due to the proximity of the cracks. It was here that Frodo finally yielded to the temptation and power of the ring. Sam yelled for Frodo to destroy the Ring, but Frodo was overcome by its power and claimed the Ring for himself. Gollum attacked Sam, who fell and hit his head on a rock, temporarily knocking him unconscious. When he came to he saw Gollum fighting with an unseen foe (Frodo, having put on the Ring). Then Gollum bit off Frodo's finger, Ring and all, and was reunited with his treasure for a short time, until dancing with joy he toppled off the brink and fell into the depths, destroying himself and the One Ring.

The two hobbits tried to escape as the volcano erupted. Just as it looked as though they were doomed, Gwaihir the Lord of Eagles saw them, and with his Eagle companions Landroval and Meneldor rescued Sam and Frodo and flew them to safety. 

Source: https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings/

Mad Hatter in Alice's Adventures!

Tarrant Hightopp, also know as The Mad Hatter or simply The Hatter, is the deuteragonist of the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland and the main protagonist in its sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. He is a hat maker that has been poisoned by mercury, hence his orange hair. He is part of the resistance to bring down the Red Queen's command of Underland and thus end her bloody rule. He is portrayed by Johnny Depp.

Personality

Tarrant's origins involve him with the Hightopp Clan, a family of hatters, which was supposedly destroyed by the Jabberwock, sent by the Red Queen during a visit by the White Queen to their village on the "Horevendush Day". The Hightopps did not indeed perish though, as it turns out they were actually captured and imprisoned by the Red Queen out of revenge. Though the White Queen was safely spirited away, the Vorpal Sword (as well as her crown) was lost in the confusion. Tarrant was thought to be the only member of his clan left- everybody and everything else was supposedly killed or burned to the ground. Tarrant only escaped the destruction because he led the White Queen's panicked horse away from the initial attack. He returns after to find the village burnt to the ground, a shocked look on his face he bends down to pick up his trademark hat. When we next see his face it is clear from the half smile that his sanity has shattered. A scene of Tarrant's past can be seen-the Jabberwock blowing fire down on the clan, when he and Alice are travelling and they pass through the remains of his home, causing him to briefly flash back to the destruction.

The destruction of his clan broke something in Tarrant's mind - causing him to become detached from reality and also develop a slight split personality. When he becomes upset his eyes change from green to a golden yellow and he begins speaking in a noticeable Scottish brogue. Tarrant can become violent in this state unless someone snaps him out of it. Mallymkun the Dormouse snaps him out of it the first time by shouting, "Hatter!!" when he is about to attack the Chesire cat who he blames for the attack on his clan. Alice later snaps him out of one of his episodes when he is imprisoned at the Red Queen's castle making hats. Tarrant himself is vaguely aware of his personality problem telling Alice that he has to get out of the Red Queen's castle saying its getting harder for him to think clearly there. 

Source: Alice in Wonderland Wiki:  https://aliceinwonderland.fandom.com/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_Wiki

Fairytale Fairies!

My YouTube Video Inspired by Fairytale Fairies