With all of the insane natural disasters that have happened recently and the ominous year 2012 creeping ever closer, it seems like end-of-the-world chatter is the norm lately. So why not soothe our fears by transferring those apocalyptic visions into the comforting world of children’s cartoons and fairy tales? This appears to be the idea behind Korea-based installation artist So Hyun Woo‘s collection of stainless steel mosaic Disney and fairy tale sculptures that are adorned with an action hero evoking twist. The eccentric series, Cruel Fairy Tales 3, features adored storybook characters like Winnie the Pooh, Donald Duck, and Tinker Bell as they prepare to fight the unknown with bazookas, machine guns, machetes, and more. Check out the unsettling collection below, and let us know what you think about the combat-ready character art.
Here’s the coolest thing we’ve seen all day: You know the Mad Tea Party from Disney’s version of Alice in Wonderland? Well, fans, although that movie was animated, the tea party itself really happened. Walt Disney was known for staging scenes with his voice actors to give animators an idea of what a sequence should look like, and it just so happens that he did so for this famous moment. And there’s more — he liked the results so much that he used the audio from the take in the final film. Watch the test footage and the finished animation, placed side by side, in a video by YouTube’s lostvocals4 after the jump.
If you’re like us, you were sad to read the news that Albert Uderzo is retiring after 52 years as the artist behind Asterix the Gaul. Asterix was a huge part of Flavorpill’s childhood, and the books are also those rarest of things — children’s books that adults can also enjoy. We’ve pulled together a selection of other books from our childhood that we can still enjoy in adulthood — and, in doing so, we can’t help but notice that most of them are pretty long in the tooth these days. Are kids’ books becoming less sophisticated? Or have we just missed a whole bunch now that we’re a) not children any more and b) not parents yet?
These aren’t the paper dolls you remember from childhood. Ranging from morbid (headless historic figures) to creepy (childhood classics go steampunk) to just plain ol’ strange, these paper dolls put a unique spin on cultural icons and famous works of art. You’ll see Princess Leia on Spring Break, a date-ready Michelangelo’s David, Lady Gaga with a wig of spilled lo mein, and notorious 19th-century New England murderer Lizzie Borden, with that infamous ax in hand — not even Betty White is safe. So grab your scissors and check out our roundup of the Internet’s weirdest paper dolls, after the jump.
If you’re feeling nostalgic for childhood stories, then Jayme McGowan, the creative spirit behind Roadside Projects, is the artist for you! Drawing inspiration from fables, novels and fairy tales, the Sacramento-stationed illustrator creates gorgeous, kaleidoscopic-hued 3D illustrations. For her Paper Dahls series, McGowan tears the magical worlds of Roald Dahl off the page, depicting scenes from Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and more. She has also taken on Where The Wild Things Are, dabbled in fairy tales with Little Red Riding Hood, and produced odes to Disney’s Snow White and Alice In Wonderland. Relive your adored childhood book memories after the cut.
By our estimation, late summer is the perfect time for garden parties. The weather’s hot, but there’s not enough time left to feel happy cooped up by the air conditioner, and everyone’s in a social mood. While planning our next event, we decided to take some inspiration from a few iconic garden parties from art, film, literature and well, abroad to give us the boost we need to start that ‘Come over!’ email. We might even take some style inspiration from these iconic events — the overarching message we’re seeing is that it’s all about the hats. Click through to see ten of our favorite iconic garden parties, and let us know which of your own favorites we’ve missed in the comments!
We admit it, we’re suckers for anything Alice in Wonderland-related (come on, who isn’t?). So when we caught a glimpse of Maggie Taylor’s collection of Wonderland art over at How to be a Retronaut, we were hooked. Taylor creates surreal, pieced-together portraits of Lewis Carroll’s characters, managing to evoke the original magic with vintage edges and a contemporary sense of unease. Not to mention plenty of flamingos. Taylor’s solo show, Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland, recently opened at the Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad, CA, so if you’re in the neighborhood, make sure to check it out! If not, you can always peruse her adorable website from anywhere in the world.
From where we’re sitting, Katie Alvie’s incredibly detailed eye shadow homages to films like Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, and The Lion King rank right up there with that Twin Peaks manicure that we showed you last week — granted, the former makes it kind of impossible to open your eyes. Do you think it would be too much to wear them both at the same time? Click through to check out Alvie’s designs, and visit her profile on deviantART for more crazy makeup ideas.
Yesterday may have been Groundhog Day, but today belongs to a different woodland critter entirely. Chinese New Year falls on February 3rd in 2011, which means the year of the tiger is over (sorry, Amy Chua) and the rabbit’s reign has begun. Characterized in the Chinese zodiac as friendly, sensitive, and creative, they’re better known in Western culture as, well, horny. Whatever you associate with them, they’re incredibly well represented in pop culture, from highbrow literature to Saturday morning cartoons. After the jump, we ring in the new year with 40 of the most culturally relevant rabbits of all time.
If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: Lewis Carroll’s strange and lovely Alice.
