Anya Bast

Both Yasmine Galenorn and I have series that delve into the world of the fae. It’s a rich area, perfect for fiction writers, and a place not as often explored as, say, vampire or werewolf lore.

My series draws mostly from Irish myth, but I definitely put my own slant on it. I didn’t use any of the actual fairy tale characters in my world, like Little Red Riding Hood or Snow White, although I’m really fascinated by the dark symbolism in those stories. So, I was pretty interested in two new TV shows that recently started, Once Upon a Time and Grimm.

I’m not much of a TV watcher at all. We don’t have cable or satellite and any show I follow I get from Netflix a season late. For these two shows, though, I’m making an effort to tune in.

Once Upon a Time is from the producers of Lost, which I really liked (even though the story arc was pretty shaky). The premise is basically this: Evil witch (Snow White’s stepmother) pulls fairy tale characters through to our world and strands them in a town called Storybrooke without memory of their enchanted otherlife. When an adopted boy tracks down his bio mom, he’s sure she’s the lost daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White and is the only person who can break the witch’s evil spell.

This show has a soap opera sort of feel, which can work as long as the characters are compelling and the plot is layered and interesting. Lost had that same sort of feel. The main characters are all female, which I love. But I’m not sure what to expect from Once Upon a Time. Selfishly, because it uses fairy tales, I’m hoping people will like it and it will stay on the air. I’ve only seen the first ep so far…and I don’t know. We’ll see.

Grimm also draws from fairy tales, but it’s a much different show. The main characters of this one are male and it’s visually darker and more action-packed. The premise of this show in a nutshell is: Descendants of the Brothers Grimm are able to see the monsters among us and must fight them. The first episode features a pretty creepy spin on the Big Bad Wolf.

I want to like Once Upon a Time more (female main characters!!), but, honestly, after the first ep I prefer Grimm.

Have any of you seen these shows? If so, what do you think of them?

I did a blog over on the Bradford Bunch blog recently about a few of my favorite winterish things. Here’s the testosterone laced version.

A few of my favorite things male actors.

A few of them are gimmes, but how many can you name?

Being able to write sentences like this one is just one of the many reasons.

“I guess if my last lover had his head ripped off for having sex with me, I’d be a little jumpy too.”

~*~

And now, for your morning flashback edification. Really, really ugly and strange overalls. Black beanies with jaunty red balls on top. And, as a bonus, Madonna-hair like wow.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z9bPrUark4]

According to recent research, Americans spend an average of ten more minutes a week watching TV than they did five years ago. They spend forty minutes more a day than they did a decade ago.

On the flip side of the media coin, books sales have been steadily declining. Logic says that perhaps TV is replacing books as a favored form of entertainment. Scratch that, I’m sure TV has already replaced books as such.

The truth is that there are many competitors for the attention of our eyeballs. Not only are there TV and books, there are movies, the Internet and computer/video games too.

I admit I’m a big Internet junkie. I’m on the ‘Net a lot. Movies are another downfall of mine. I love to watch movies both in the theatre and at home. Computer/video games hold little interest for me.

And TV? We actually don’t have TV. Well, we have a TV, but it only gets one channel and we only watch one show. That would be Survivor. Yes, yes, I know. It’s one of my guiltiest pleasures. Otherwise, we don’t watch TV mostly because of the commercials. Commercials just freak me out, man. Most of them treat the viewers as if they have the intelligence of a three-year-old and others are just flat out frightening. Dancing bears and toilet paper, anyone? Mucus throwing parties in your sinus cavities? Shudder

We do Netflix some shows, however. Right now our favorites are Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, & Prison Break. We just started watching season one of Desperate Housewives too (blessedly without commercials). We’ll see if that show makes the cut. I absolutely loved Dead Like Me, Angel, Buffy and Firefly when they were on. (Bring back Dead Like Me and Firefly, you TV producers! They never got a fair shot!)

However books will always remain my favorite form of entertainment, and the reason reaches further than the fact I write them. Why? Well, read my last blog and you’ll understand.

When I watch movies or TV, everything is handed to me on a silver platter. They allow me no opportunity to create a world in my mind and fill it with my own sights, sounds, smells and tastes. TV and movies offer me no way to use my imagination. They don’t transport me the way a good book does. They usually don’t immerse me so deeply that I can’t hit the stop button and I end up watching all night, regardless of the fact I’ll be exhausted the next day. I can always flip off a TV show or a movie and not regret it. I can’t always close a book and not regret it. I never finish a movie and then instantly say, “I want to watch it again!”, the way I’ve closed some books, turned wistful for a moment, and then flipped to the first page again.

Movies and TV are wonderful and entertaining forms of media, but I guess overall I prefer the imagination expansion that reading allows me.

I’m snowed under with edits and deadlines. Therefore, not blogging much this week.

I have edits on Whisper of the Blade to do, a proposal due for my next Harlequin Spice novella, an article to write for a publication and Witch Blood (that would be the sequel to Witch Fire) to make some progress on.

Aaaah!

I am on vacayshun.   I’ll be back soon. 🙂

Am I the only person who thinks this is the coolest thing ever?

Avenging Unicorn Play Set
Everyone wants an imaginary unicorn friend that they can call forth to smite their enemies. The Avenging Unicorn Play Set has everything you need to use the power of the unicorn to rid your life of irritations.

Or do I just have a really sick sense of humor? (Could be that.)

This company also has the Avenging Narwhal Play Set and a whole collection of rubber Devil Duckies. I think the Ninja Devil Duckie is my favorite.

So I started thinking about what my favorite toys were when I was kid. Not that I think the Avenging Unicorn Playset is for kids. My mind just spins off on various tangents that way.

I was a typical girl, I guess. I loved Barbie. (I know! I know! The shame.) I had all the Barbie stuff. The Dream Car (it was perfect for my hamsters and guinea pigs to take joy rides in) and the Dream House. I had all the really, really pink dream stuff that I hope my daughter won’t ever like but, let’s face it, she probably will.

I loved my cabbage patch dolls too. I had a boy and girl. In fact, I still have my two worse-for-wear Cabbage Patch Kids. I also had a Cabbage Patch pet. I guess it was supposed to be a cat, but looked disconcertingly evuuul.

I loved that green ooozy glop that comes in a can and Playdough too. And I read…a lot. (Hold on, here’s another tangent. Wheee!) I could go on and on about children’s books. Actually, I’ve been collecting some of the books that are still print that I can remember loving as a child, like the Serendipity books and the Francis books (Bedtime for Francis, A Baby Sister for Francis), and the Teddy Bear’s Picnic. Not to mention all the young adult books I loved, books by Lloyd Alexander and Madeleine L’Engle, just to name two authors.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. What were some of your favorite toys and books as a child?