I briefly linked to two animated versions of Bluebeard in my last post, but they’re both so interesting that I wanted to do them justice. The first, “Blue Beard’s Last Wife” (“La Dernière femme de barbe bleue”), blends the Bluebeard legend with ancient Greek mythology in an unexpected (and humorous) way. The second, “A Very Blue Beard” (“Ochen sinyaya boroda”) is a Russian musical short about a detective investigating Bluebeard’s crimes… with a surprising twist! So take a break, put your feet up, and watch a couple of really neat shorts!

One of my readings this week in Marina Warner’s From the Beast to the Blonde focuses on the symbolism and origins of the Bluebeard story. In a chapter titled “The Ogre’s Appetite”, Warner discusses many different iterations of a common theme: the serial murderer. What with Perrault’s fairy tales, medieval legends, devoured Catholic saints, and historical child killers, it’s pretty clear that society has been morbidly obsessed with these stories for centuries.

It has recently come to my attention that, as a child, I may not have been exposed to the normal sort of things one expects at that age. Instead of watching cartoons, I’d beg my parents to let me see new nature programs on the Discovery Channel. I knew Chaplin before Carrey, watched more Fred and Ginger musicals than Disney movies, and had a strange fascination with Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” before I even understood all the words.

In case you haven’t heard, a new law (Section 92 of the Copyright Amendment Act) is about to be passed in New Zealand that will force the removal of websites and internet service if there is a suspected (not proven) copyright violation. It won’t require evidence, a trial, or even any consequences for false accusations. The primary campaign against this law can be found at http://creativefreedom.org.nz/.

I’ve been doing quite a lot of thinking and reading about fairy tales and mythology lately, as part of my individual study this semester (and because I can’t stay away from them). As is often the case with fascinating reading, overwhelming and fascinating ideas have invaded and it’s been difficult to sort them into something that makes much sense. But–finally–I’m going to try. Even better, I’m going to try in a way that delineates my often strange mental connections between things that really shouldn’t be related. I hope.

Brady Earnhart, brilliant musician and professor, has a new song. And I got to make the music video! In beautiful HD glory…