Jack and the Beanstalk (and Wolfie)

I took this picture at Sundown Adventureland and as usual I am sharing it here because it goes perfectly well with today's topic. Anyway, yesterday and the day before yesterday I cut the rosemary by the entrance of our house because it got way too big. Wolfie wanted to assist me in this exercise and was adamant that I cut a lot of the rosemary and the weed that had grown as well. Apparently, he does not want it to "turn into a beanstalk" and for "the Englishman" to come down. I never thought that he remembered Jack and the Beanstalk so well and that it gave him such a strong impression. I bought him a book with the fairy tale a few months ago. We read it a couple of times, but that was it. I'm glad he has such a strong imagination, although I hope he does not become scare of giants living in the clouds.

D&Dr: popular again?

This is the cover from the Dragon Magazine number 254, released in November 1998. One of the few later covers I liked, drawn by Jeff Easley. I had wanted to blog about Dungeons & Dragons again, but did not know exactly what angle to take this time. An article in today's Guardian gave me the opportunity for it: apparently, D&Dr is getting popular again. For many reasons, one of them being of course the nostalgic factor. I am glad. I think it is a valuable past time that makes you socialize and allows you to develop your imagination even as an adult. So I am not surprised, in a time dominated by nostalgia, that this old game is getting traction among old players who go back to it and new players who discover it. Anyway, read the article, it is fascinating. As for me, I will eagerly wait for our future games this coming month.

"I smell the blood of an Englishman!"

"Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!" These famous lines are of course from Jack and the Beanstalk, but this is also the new signal start of all the games of rough and tumble Wolfie and I play. I say the words, I stress the "Englishman" bit and it makes my son giggles with excitement, sometimes he replies with a roar. I take the role of the giant, he takes the one of the giant killer (him being English and all). I will let you guess who the winner always is.

Thor fights the giant Hrungnir

I know that for my American friends, we are Thanksgiving. But for me it is merely Thursday. Which means the day of Thor. I am referring to the Viking god of course. So I decided to commemorate this Thursday with an image from this book. It represents the story of Thor fighting the giant Hrungnir. You can read tellings of of the story here and here. But I much, much prefer the version of Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology. It was simply more dramatic, made you feel like you were there, watching the fight. The impressive drawings of Giovanni Caselli did help the narrative. It is one of my favourite stories from Norse mythology. I was so impressed by it that in high school, I made an oral presentation on it that bored stiff the class and my teacher. We were supposed to do an oral on an adventure story, the teacher was strongly recommending to take one of those real life stories from the Reader's (In)Digest. I thought what is more of an  adventure than a duel to the death with a giant. After the oral presentation, my teacher had said, with a condescending smile: "Well, it's complicated, your story." Idiot. I had a good mark, but I thought it was a way for him to make sure I'd stay off his back. Moral of the story (mine, not the Viking one): school often sucks big time and does not care one bit about education.

Skulls in the fireplace

Here is the post for tonight's countdown to Halloween (although I may write one more). Like yesterday's, it is somewhat about a pub. This picture was taken last year, in a nearby pub, a week or so before Halloween. I was walking back from work and they were putting up their decorations. As I was taking a few pictures of the outside, the landlord invited me to visit the insite, already fully decorated. He was very warm and friendly, telling me about the special events on the weekend before Halloween and the Halloween party that was planned. I guess he wanted to be nice with a future punter.

To tell you the truth, I don't like this pub much. It is set in a beautiful old house, like there are so many in England, but the choice of drinks is rather uninspired and uninspiring, they didn't do much with the building and the inside is just bland and it is a rather rough place, where there has been a few fights and even some people stabbed. I only went there and stayed for a drink a couple of times, I think I could still count them. That said, I went quickly for a glance and I have to say, they know how to make a place atmospheric during Halloween. I took a picture of these two skulls in the fireplace, covered with cobweb. The large skulls are not human, they could belong to giants or ogres. Which makes us leave the world of horror fiction to enter the ones of old folklore and maybe even medieval fantasy, but nevertheless, it was a beautifully sinister display. I hope it gives you inspiration to write a horror story, or any kind of story.

Thor's Journey to Utgard

It is Thursday, which mean's the Norse god Thor's Day, which is a good excuse as any to upload on Vraie Fiction another image from Gods & Heroes from Viking Mythology, another beautiful drawing by Giovanni Caselli. I really wonder how an Italian artist can draw Viking mythology so well. This is one of the bookmark-like image that are at the beginning of every chapter/story of the book. The story in question was titled Thor in the giants' stronghold and was about Thor's journey to Utgard, a giants's fortress where Utgard-Loki reigned (not to be mixed with the God Loki, also featured in the story). You can read an version of the adventure here. There are others you can easily find if you Google. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that in this story, the great Thor seems that he may have met his match. it is a rare thing to see Thor struggling against his sworn enemies the giants and here he struggles to the point of defeat. But nothing is as it seems in mythology. In the image, you can see Thor and his companion journeying into Jotunheim, the land of the giants, surrounded by "typical plants of the northern woods". You can see at the back the mortal Thialfi, his sister Roskva, then Loki the Mischief Maker (gotta love those nicknames) and of course opening the way Thor the Thunder God, holding Mjolnir. Somehow, it reminds me of a players characters party in Dungeons & Dragons, when they venture in a forest.

A (geeky) confession about Christmas carols

I know, I blogged about it before, but I have to mention it again for another post, in a complete rewrite of the first one two years ago: I associate Christmas carols with Dungeons & Dragons. Read: it puts me in the mood to play, I think also it is an excellent background music when we play. Of course, it depends of the particular interpretation. I wouldn't put Bing Crosby in the background, obviously. But there is just something about many Christmas carols that are I guess pseudo-medieval, and there is something about the role playing game that fits winter. The Viking legends that both Christmas and D&Dr feed from probably play an important role into this association. Maybe it is only because I only play D&Dr at Christmas now. When I can actually get home...

This is a drawing from Larry Elmore and it is called Avalyne the Life giver. I have no idea if it was drawn for a story or if it is just a title. I just love it since I first saw it in a Monstrous Compendium. A snowy winter day in a Nordic country, pine trees in the background, an evil giant vaguely Krampus looking (more on the darker side of Christmas here), death and life (heck, death and rebirth) on display, an angelic looking cleric, this is a picture for the season. We played similar scenes over and over again during our games.

So when I listen to Jessye Norman singing O come, O come Emmanuel in Christmastide, I always imagine our characters setting off for a journey on a snowy wintery day. La marche des rois (listen to it here) is also a song for those journeys our characters take, while Coventry Carol is for when they warm their bones by the fire in the night, eating a grub. I have decided to out here Loreena McKennitt's take on Veni, Veni Emmanuel in A Midwinter Night's Dream. Looking at some Youtube videos with the song, this one in particular, I can see I am not the only one making this association.