Idiot, Idiom.

Well, as the saying goes, I have egg on my face.

Math is not my forte.  Never has been.  So I've a little correction to yesterday's post.  A little too pleased, I suppose, that there'd be more pictures, I stupidly added the 3 in that chapter to the total.  Really I should have just added 2.  For there'd already been 1 expected for that section... hence, it's not 17, but 16.  Sorry about that.  More on "math" here.

Egg on your face - what on earth?  What's the origin of thais idiom?  To the internet!

This idiom has two possible origins both coming from the 1950s. It may have come from a sloppy eater who had a lot of food on his or her face and was embarrassed by it. It also may have come from audiences throwing raw eggs at a performer on the stage that they didn't like. The performer would get very embarrassed.   Quoted from this site.

Just this past week, Bart's Dad and I wondered about the expression "Frog in my throat" when he said it after clearing his.  He looked it up later that day and sent me the answer.  This one, folks, is quite strange.  Apparently one answer to how it began is the 'ancient' medical practice of putting a frog in a patient's mouth as the secretions of the frog were thought to cure a sore throat.

Weird little world we live in...

...sorry about the math mistake.  16.

As of now, there are 16 illustrations in Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between.

17 Is the New 14

Well, folks, I'm almost done with the illustrations for the interquel Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between.  Actually, I probably would have completed the batch already but for one thing...

...and that one thing is good news for readers.

There will be more than the original amount promised!  Yes, really.  I'd said I'd aim for a picture each chapter (there are 14, like the number of the Darlings' house) but now there truly are some extras.

A chapter two-thirds of the way through is much longer than the others.  I couldn't decide which scene to depict.  So I took on the challenge of making all those I considered.  For it would have been a crime not to show certain characters and such...so yea, I've now three pictures in that chapter.

I'm halfway through creating the next chapter's - and that leaves but four more to produce.

Truth is I don't decide on what to illustrate until I've read through and format-tweaked each chapter, so I can't exactly give an estimate on when I'll have those four ready.  And even if I did plan on which ones, I'd still have to gather the necessary bits to create the scene, which also takes time.

So hang in there, readers.
Every day is a day closer to getting your hands on the "missing" part of Peter Pan's life.

*Correction to the # in next post.

Another Kind of British TV

I used to envy the way in which the television schedule worked in the United Kingdom.

Let me explain.  When I'd been a kid, all the new shows (whether it be actual new programs or a new batch of an old one) came out in the Fall.  That meant that all Summer (and sometimes Spring) long, you'd have to settle for reruns.  It seemed way too long for a kid, believe me.

Why couldn't we do it like the BBC, I'd wonder.  For I came to learn that their new shows were done in small chunks.  When a program aired, it only had a handful or episodes, 6 or 12 at the most.  When the episodes ran out, there'd be something else to take its place.  If the show had been successful, more were made and it came back in many less months of waiting... plus you had the other shows to boot.

Well, in today's world of "too many channels" it's almost as if we have the BBC way of doing the "telly."  It seems like when one show wraps it up for the time being, another old favorite has a slew of shows to air.  Then there's the "mid-season replacements" ... when networks test out a new show to see if gains a viewership.  Instead of a mammoth chunk of time when nothing new narrative-wise is on the small screen, we now have a constant stream and renewal of programs all throughout the year.

I, for one, am glad about it.  And now I no longer need to envy the British!  Well, at least not for that reason... if any other reason turns up, I'll let you know.

What Is Too Much to Be a Coincidence?

Yes, again,
Peter Pan and Barrie
on Jeopardy!

There's something at work here, whatever it is... Other Instances

Category:









Clue:






The contestant correctly responded with "Who is J.M. Barrie?"

(If you're wondering why I don't report these on the date of airing, it's because I don't always get to watch Jeopardy! on the actual airdates.  Sometimes I store them up and watch about 3 in a row.)

Opposite Orphans

Quite often I see that people have a tendency to think of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys as orphans.  I guess I can understand that notion, but only if one's knowledge of the story comes from not having read the book.

Peter Pan, esepcially, is not an orphan, folks.

In fact, thinking that he is undermines the very heart of the tale.  It pulls the punch of the gut-wrenching tragedy that is the events of the story.  It's not that Pan doesn't have a mother & father and thus flew away to the Neverland.  Quite the contrary, he sort of "oprhaned" his parents!  He's the one who went away suddenly and without warning, leaving them to pine for their lost boy.

So what about the Lost Boys?  It's the same with them.  They "abandoned" their parents, not the other way around.  I suppose it can be argued that the heart-strings aren't pulled as much as with Peter Pan, since Pan made a conscious choice to leave his home.  The Lost Boys, in a sense, are just that:  boys who are lost.  As Barrie puts it they:  fall out of their perambulators when the nurse is looking the other way. If they are not claimed in seven days they are sent far away to the Neverland to defray expenses.  So you see, it may or may not be the case that the boys of the Neverland (or NeverWorld, for that matter!) meant to be separated from their original family.  Barrie's boys tend to talk about their mothers and long for a "life" on the mainland (as evidenced by their interest in Wendy's stories of the mundane) so it's more likely that they didn't intend to end up as Lost.

Either way, it's another misconception of the story of Peter Pan.  Orphaning implies a sentimental outpouring for his loss.  Instead we are to be horrified by the loss Pan created in the other direction.  And for those who've read Peter Pan's NeverWorld, we know who else felt hurt by his decision to leave, now, don't we?

Why is it people tend to "soften" the blow of the tragic and disturbing elements in the tale of Peter Pan?

(A link to more misconceptions is in the sidebar)

Lil' Neverland

Back in January, I posted about a new friend I met online who lives in Kirriemuir, Barrie's birthplace.

As I am "friends" on Facebook with her, I saw these pictures she posted this past week.  She gave me permission to re-post them here.  It's a playground right beside the cemetery where you'll find the final resting place of Barrie (pictures of which are here, as granted by someone else.) 

It's nice to think there's a place for the kids (and kids at heart) to run around in with a theme of the Neverland to help spark their imaginations.  I bet Barrie would have approved.

Enjoy!  You can click on them to make them larger!

Thanks very much, "Mrs. Kirriemuir"!
*P.S. - Is Hook's iron claw on the wrong hand or am I just not viewing it correctly?  'Tis a pity if 'tis.

New Old School POOH - The Stuff(ing) of Legends

Perhaps you remember from previous posts that I've been "jazzed" for a long time about seeing the new Winnie-the-Pooh movie.

Fortunately, it's every bit as grand and reverent as I'd gleaned and hoped it would be.

It's the Pooh we remember.  There's nothing but charming scene after charming scene and it's not afraid to slow down.  At so-called "slow" parts the characters' personalities and interactions shine through and we eat it up like Pooh eats up honey.  Truth is it never truly becomes fast paced at all.  Sure, the characters are hurried and bothered, but the story remains at the leisurely comfort of curling up with a stuffed animal.

The animation is glorious.  Not just the production itself, but the re-production of Disney's classic Pooh shorts.  They've really found the niche.  The artwork is a sheer delight, as is the fluidity of the animation.  Bravo to the artists and animators.

There are also a number of musical sequences.  And I bet you can guess... they're delightful.  Each is funny, catchy and moves the story along without feeling out of place, forced or unwelcomed.  They even have the Tigger song.  You know, "The wonderful thing about Tiggers are Tiggers are wonderful things...." - that one.  But it's truncated.  Just a peppering to top off a scene with Tigger.  We didn't need the whole song again, and Disney knew that.  Just as they knew we needed a small smackerel.

I went with Bart and Josiecat, both of whom also adored the film.  Yes, they, too, deem it 'Old School' and just pleasing all around.  Josiecat hit the nail on the head in what they'd done to make this movie.  It's really only one chapter from the A.A. Milne Pooh stories, the one with the note that reads 'Bisy Backson.'  From there it expanded...by which we mean rerouted, heightened or inserted parts to create a new tale without ever losing sight of the origins.  Truly a remarkable feat.  But somehow it felt effortless, guided all the while by the shenanigans of Pooh and his friends.

I'd like to say it had been quite "Goldilocks."  In other words, just right.  It could have gone too far with the slapstick humor, but it does not.  It's stirred in gently and never reaches "too much/far."  It could have been an emotional fest, oozing a sappy feeling or message, especially when intending it to be such a nostalgic piece.  But it's not dripping with too much honey in the least.  (Metaphorically that is!) It would have been easy to push the envelope boundaries what with all the aforementioned 'expansion' but no, it all fits, nay flows nicely together. 

I also want to give a special mention to John Cleese and Craig Ferguson.  They lend their vocal talent as the Narrator and Owl respectively.  You couldn't ask for a better Narrator than Cleese when it comes to Winne-the-Pooh.  Yes, I agree, many people would be great like Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie or the like.  But there's something about the timbre of Cleese that fits right into the Hundred Acre Wood.  Ferguson is a wonderful Owl.  He's got it down and yet adds his own twist...and keeping suit, in a Goldilocks fashion.

Lastly, the title.  It's simply Winnie-the-Pooh.  It's direct, it's simple.  It's not some attention grabbing headline like Pooh: The NEW Movie or a story-informant such as Pooh and the Backson.  No, just a plain ol' Pooh movie for you.

I'm convinced.  The people who made this movie are the ones who, like me, waited all year for the Pooh TV special to come on, and when it did you can be sure the Footie Pajamas embroided with Pooh were on and the world stopped.  Joy radiated for who knows how long after.

If you have a Pooh bear (that's ours in the picture) give him a hug.  But go see this movie.  On the big screen.  When will you have the chance again to see a Pooh of this calibre on the big screen?  Go!  Relive the days when if you missed something when it aired, you missed it entirely!

Folks, Winnie-the-Pooh won't be in theaters forever.  Take this opportunity to see Pooh at LARGE.