Proppian Fairy Tale Generator

from Yahoo!Picks

Trickery! Villainy! Violation! Pursuit! In the 1930s, a Russian scholar named Vladimir Propp studied the "basic plot components" of his country's folk tales and came up with a list of the mythic stories' "series of actions"—or "functions." Though the Eastern European thinker surely didn't imagine the rise of the Internet, an imaginative class at Brown University has brought Web and academic together with the Proppian Fairy Tale Generator. This ingenious online game presents the basic structures of the fables Propp dissected. You, the reader, select which functions you like. Click as many as you want: Mediation? Branding? Reconnaissance? Hit "generate" and a fairy tale based on your choices will appear before your very eyes. Note: Disney these ain't. Even the "preset" versions of Cinderella, Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel read like nothing you've heard (or seen) before. The legends woven by this raconteur of a generator are imaginative, richly detailed, and undomesticated. The Grimms would approve. So, we like to think, would Vladimir Propp.

it's ok to miss the bed on the first jump

I'm taking a stab at watching Good Morning America online, so as not to interrupt the beauty sleep of my sister, who's visiting me in my hotel of residence, but didn't get in until 12:30 last night (and of course we had to visit before going to bed!).

So, anyway, I just watched a GMA clip on this book, "It's OK to Miss the Bed on the First Jump". The author is one of today's recognized funny TV guys, and the book seems like it's real sweet. Hint: it's about dogs.

bad public speakers

As should be obvious from looking at this blog, I love to read. So when I get the opportunity to see a writer whose works I've read, I am excited to hear, live, some of the sentiment that goes into the general soul of each of the writer's books.

I've seen a few writers who are very nice to see live. They have entertaining anecdotes, and, if they repeat something that's in a book, there's usually a new, refreshing twist on the material that causes the knowing reader to smile.

Oh, but I've seen some authors who were at risk for causing me to not want to read something of theirs again because I wasn't impressed at their "presence".

One author was supposedly a comedian. But I hadn't been real excited by his comedy. Then he wrote a book that I thought was very entertaining. Soon after that I got to see him as the keynote speaker for a conference I went to. I was reminded of why I hadn't been impressed by his comedy.

Well, this week I had a similar experience. I've been going to this local lecture series. I am so happy that my friend organized several of us to sit near each other. I hadn't even known about the lecture series and she brought it to my attention.

The speaker for this week was really not worth going to see in a "large audience" format. I liked his book, but he repeated most of it in the lecture, even reading approximately 10 pages at a time from it. Atop of that he was a very quiet, bedroom slippers, kind of personality. I really wished I could be at home laying on the couch (reading something, perhaps). I'm sure he would be nice to talk to 1:1, and there was a reception afterwards that I could have gone to, but I was just too darn sleepy.

Better luck next time. I'm told the lecture before this one, that I missed, was great.

Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini

In October, I went to the first of a series of lectures being held by renound authors. The October lecture was given by Amy Tan. In preparation, I wanted to make sure I read one of her books. I hadn't read anything of hers before.

I chose The Hundred Secret Senses.

I am glad I chose this one. What she said in her lecture was very much part of this book. I could tell that her philosopies were very much like those of the American sister (the protagonist).

The general story involves two girls/women (they're half-sisters) of Chinese descent, and the story starts somewhere in the US (California, maybe?). There is an awful wrong that the American sister does to the Chinese sister when they are kids. When they are adults they end up in China, and there is much that the American sister learns while they are there.

I recommend this book for women. There is another book, The Kite Runner, that had the same flavor, that may have more universal appeal.

The Kite Runner is about a kid growing up in Afghanistan in the 60s or something where one fanatic group, then another, invaded and ruined life for the people who were living there. Basically created anarchy somewhat similar to the anarchy that reigns in Iraq today. I hear that it's getting better? (but I digress . . .)

The kid does something awful to his best friend, and his Dad escape Afghanistan and go to live in California. Everything happens in California, I guess. There are stories about culture shifts, adapting, etc.

The reason I compare these two books is because they both discuss confusion surrounding different cultures, plus there is a deep regret that the protagonist in each story has about a wrong they caused in someone who was very important to them.

what I'm reading - Michener's Texas

I've been reading James Michener's Texas, written in 1985. It was hanging around on my bookshelf as one of the many "based on factual history" fiction novels that he has written, and I wanted a book to read without exerting too much effort to find one. Besides, I've been curious about the cultural background of our current president. I am a fan of the Michener books because I am interested in history, yet I have trouble reading it without a slice of life perspective. This is a history of Texas from ~500 years ago to the present. It starts with Spanish migration from Mexico on upward (they tried, but never really had an interest, given all the troubles that were involved). It includes migration from many countries (how the Texas population got built), war events, including Mexico and US (I'm just past the Civil War at this point). The first Michener book I ever read was The Covenant (about South Africa). It had a similar sort of slice-of-life style to it. Both books have characters returning through historical events and, coincidentally, they all are connected in one way or another.

The only thing different that he did in the Texas book, which I have not seen in the others so far, is that he frames the history around a modern day lecture series on Texas, and the lectures they provide are the historical story. I wasn't comfortable with that at first, but have, by now (about 800 pages into it) gotten used to it, and actually like tracking the current day characters to their respective ancestries.

10/30/06: I finished this book in the beginning of October, then quickly moved on to read a book by Amy Tan, in preparation for attending a lecture that would be given by her. I thought this (Michener) book was good, 'though I found the ending nothing special. But, with further consideration, I could not recall the endings of any of the other Michener books I've read. It's almost like they are "a slice of history." Like there is not necessarily any meaning to "it all," it just is.

The Lady and the Unicorn

Just got done reading this book. I'd read Girl with a Pearl Earring back before the movie came out, and really liked it. So I suspected I'd like other books by Tracy Chevalier. I was not disappointed. In Girl with a Pearl Earring there's no sex that I can recall, though. In The Lady and the Unicorn, there was a bit of sex. But for even the most promiscuous guy in the book, his human side was made well known to the reader with plenty of subtleties. It was a very quick read.

The Atonement

I just got finished reading The Atonement. I didn't like it for the whole first half, because I kept wondering if the author was as mistaken about life as the characters he was describing.

The second half was much different than the first half (although they did go together), and all in all it was a good read, but I don't think I'll be going back to this author soon.

It does provide an in-depth "what if" scenario (as the whole book), and that is cool. It also has WWII atmosphere - like All Quiet On the Western Front, which I had to read in high school.

update 7/30/05: As I think back on this book, I like it more and more. It does go through a person's thoughts in a very similar way as The Brothers Karamazov does.

self-publish a book

I saw this link and thought of you, bro'. Hope you like it. :-)

Narnia

I'm reading through "The Chronicles of Narnia," by C.S. Lewis. The most popular book in the series was, I understand, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

I have just read the 1st and 2nd books, and have started the 3rd. In the 2nd one, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," there is an event that really reminded me of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection. I'm interested to find (1) full-color images inspired by these books, and (2) written analyses of the spirituality of the books.