Weekly thingy and The Ace of Wands/Cinderella
So first some weird news – I finally cleaned out the trunk of my car (in Houston, in August, dear god the humanity) and I found a box of tarot decks hiding in there! I knew I seemed to have run out too soon but god forbid I think to check the car that is basically an additional storage unit for my apartment. Anyway, if you missed out on the Neurotic Owl Tarot I have eight whole decks all of a sudden, so I’m tossing them up on Etsy and will happily ship them out to better homes than mine.
And now we’re into the minor arcana on this, my second insane tarot project! I played with a few ideas for the ace of wands, but as soon as I thought of Cindy’s ghost mom tree it just seemed ideal. Obviously this isn’t in the Disney version, where the tree was replaced by a fairy godmother, but I feel like Stephen Sondheim including the tree in Into the Woods has kept it a better known story element that most things Disney changed.
About that – I was chatting with friends the other night about this and realized I’d probably never said it here. I do have a general preference for the older versions of fairytales – they tend to be weirder and wackier and filled with intriguing subtext that modern tellings often iron out. That being said, I’ve hopefully been pretty good about calling them older versions, not real or original ones. In the case of Hans Christian Andersen stories sure, there is an actual original text and we can see exactly where it’s changed in modern reimaginings. But when it comes to stories like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty – there is not one definitive version as far as I’m concerned. Cinderella stories pop up all over the globe in lots of forms; they cross over with other closely related stories, they pop up independently. There is no one right version, which means the Disney versions are no less right. As far as I’m concerned, if a wonder tale crosses into the cultural consciousness and gets retold and remembered, that’s a legit story, not some bastardized version.
Speaking of, as usual people are up in their feelings about a new Cinderella movie happening and I have no patience for it. Like the thing or don’t because it appeals to you or not, but if retelling a classic story was somehow wrong every Shakespeare festival in the world would have to shut down. I’m an easy sell, I will nearly always want to see a fairytale reimagined, and also BILLY FREAKING PORTER IS THE FAIRY GODMOTHER COULD YOU EVEN. So don’t sigh to me about it, I am a whore for fairytales and I will watch them all.
Places to buy stuff!
- TEEPUBLIC: mostly t-shirts, a few other products. Watch for sales, when shirts drop from $20 to $14!
- REDBUBBLE: Just, I don’t know, a ton of different stuff. T-shirts are more expensive than Teepublic, but there are a lot more options.
- AMAZON: Home of the Geeky Gals Coloring Book! Daydreams and Whimsies! AND NOW, The Neurotic Owl Compendium!
- ETSY: paper dolls, a knitting bag pattern, and a bunch of vintage dolls of various sorts from my collection
Did I miss something? I think that’s everything.
What’s making me happy this week:
- Hahaha forgot to give you a new one last week. I have done a bunch of tidying and organizing in my apartment in my last few days of surprise vacation and again this weekend, so at least I’m not going back into the busy season with a total disaster at home? I mean there’s still clutter everywhere, I have a small home and many hobbies, but it’s moderately more organized clutter.
Neurotic Owl 
“BILLY FREAKING PORTER IS THE FAIRY GODMOTHER COULD YOU EVEN.”
I know, right?!
Also, lovely illustrating, there, my dear.