Many Britons of a certain age share a collective memory so firmly etched in their psyches that the very mention of it brings back childhood nightmares. In 1964, BBC television serialized a film abo…

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's charity has run into a problem: it's been declared delinquent by the state of California, but there's a perfectly good

Note: I have so many stories to get through today and it's already late, so please excuse me not going as much in depth into the stories as usual! An new PSA about sexual health and awareness of non-symptomatic STDs, stars our favorite not-so-little-anymore wooden boy, Pinocchio. I particularly like the twist that he doesn't know he's lying. From mediabistro: ...the spot is a reminder to girls everywhere that the dude you meet out at the club might have AIDS or Herpes or something but might not know it. Wrap that rascal, as the kids say. Rubber up! All the bawdy puns work to the campaign's advantage here because once you see this - and your mind fills with all the worst "woody" jokes you've ever heard - it's going to be difficult to forget. That's a good thing. And that's the whole point. The PSA is actually French, with the English version shown below, but don't worry. There's nothing here a kid hasn't seen before and it's technically safe for work but sexual situations are implied (obviously). Take a look (and show your teen): After so much time dancing around adults-only Pinocchio jokes whenever his character enters a storyline, it's great to see them being put to good use. If you'd like to find out more about the approach to the PSA, as well as the wooden boy effects, you can see a good half-English/half French "making of" video HERE. Be safe!

"These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which as they kiss consume."

I hope you're out playing right now! It's such a gorgeous day to be outside! Hopefully, we'll all be well and at school all week and the sickness of the past two weeks will be over. This week, you will be finishing your work on the Cinderella story from a foreign country that you are supposed to read, analyze, and compare to the "real" Cinderella. We will be trying to figure out why over 1,500 countries in the world have this story, and what the universal theme might be. Be thinking about it. I want to remind you to be reading 30 minutes each night even though I may not be giving you assignments. Your reading logs are due EVERY FRIDAY (I didn't get one turned in this past Friday.) Reading Logs are 10% of your grade--that means if you never turn one in, the highest grade you can make in literature is a B. Fill them out and turn them in every week, please. You will have your test over the genre of fairy tales this Thursday (I gave you each a study guide Friday), and a spelling test on Friday. You will also be starting to read King Arthur. We will all be reading the first section, The Coming of Arthur this week, and you will each choose one other Arthurian legend to read for next week. Below are your assignments for this week, and your spelling words for Friday's test. Your reading, analyzing, and comparison of your Cinderella story to the original story is DUE this Tuesday, February 1 For Wednesday (I will give you time in class on Tuesday, too) read Chapter 1 in King Arthur to discuss in class on Friday. I will be giving you a discussion grade, and you will need to be able to tell me if you think this book is a fairy tale or not, and why. Also study for your test over Fairy Tales and study your spelling words. For Thursday (I will give you time in class on Wednesday, too) read Chapter 2 in King Arthur to discuss in class on Friday. Also study for your test over Fairy Tales and study your spelling words. Fairy Tale test on Thursday. For Friday (I will give you time in class on Thursday, too) read Chapter 3 in King Arthur to discuss in class on Friday.) Spelling test on Friday For Monday, February 7, read Chapter 4 in King Arthur. SPELLING/VOCABULARY words for test on Friday, February 4 1. tournament = a contest among knights 2. lodgings = housing 3. complaint = an uttering of discomfort or dissatisfaction 4. pavilion = a tent 5. scabbard = a sheath for a sword 6. lamentation = an expression of grief 7. reproach = to rebuke or blame 8. vengeance = retribution against someone 9. villain = a wicked person 10. champion = a defender or protector; a winner in a tournament

Possibly the biggest fairy tale news trend this week is: it turns out Princess Buttercup grew up train Wonder Woman (as the Amazon warrior General Antiope) Robin Wright, who played Buttercup in 1987, also plays the Amazon warrior General Antiope in the new Wonder Woman movie, and it's resonating with people everywhere, especially those who grew up with The Princess Bride. It wasn't predictable, yet it seems... 'right'. For the generations that were inspired by Robin Wright's feisty farm girl-turned princess in The Princess Bride (a genre-defying treatment of fairy tales at the time), to see that heroine 'grow up' and become more of what she naturally seems to have been, developed fully through to a resistant warrior general, who still manages to hope and believe in love, seems a continuation of Buttercup's fairy tale - and one that fits the fairy tale heroine we always saw her to be, and now can be inspired by - in a fresh way - again. For our Fairy Tale News Room folks, who are extremely happy about the Wonder Woman movie, that the movie is as good as we hoped it would be, and that generations of girls - and boys - will grow up with Diana as a relevant and respected role model (rather than being 'genre-d' to a corner with the comic books geeks, like she often so sadly has been), it's this depiction of an already strong fairy tale princess coming into her own that inspires us most. After recently seeing another role model princess, Leia, become a general and have that resonate louder and stronger than Disney and filmmakers expected, Buttercup's 'fairy tale part II', is the groundwork of more of the same to come: princess power of a different sort. The kind of princess power where it's clear it isn't just the sword* that makes the warrior but the spirit. We've had a lot of those fairy tale princesses appear in novels for some years now, but it speaks volumes to have the general public instantly recognize - and resonate with - a fairy tale heroine, become whom she was meant to be, and that her fairy tale representation is part of that. This is now in pop culture, recognized by society, rather than just by a select group who have been tracking strong fairy tale females all along. Best of all, for those women especially, who have had this revelation and are thirsty for more fairy tale heroines to 'own it', we have already accumulated a whole lot of stories, books, collections and more to share. Here's a great excerpt from Tor.com's article that appeared not long after we began our own, titled "Princess Buttercup Became the Warrior General Who Trained Wonder Woman, All Dreams Are Now Viable": Antiope is the whispered possibility that many of us never dared to dream. What if (Buttercup) had grown in strength and stubbornness and power until she could train one of the greatest warriors of all time? What if Buttercup, who believed so desperately in love, had passed that wisdom on to a young girl who would hold that belief in trust for every person she met? What if that line between a princess bride and Princess Diana is as thin as a page in a storybook? ...Of all the outcomes, we somehow received the reality where Buttercup moved on to master archery and serve an Amazon queen and command legions. ...This progression seems not just plausible, but essential. It is an epilogue of a different kind. We recommend reading the whole article. It's very uplifting and celebrates strong fairy tale females who have inspired generations, as well as new and timely role models for girls and women who could use a little inspiration again. It also doesn't downgrade the importance of fairy tales in this process of 'becoming'. If anything, the article underlines the importance of fairy tales in the process, and that, even when empowerment is achieved, it's in our best interest to continue holding them close. We don't outgrow fairy tales. They can become part of us, even as they enable us to get there. Buttercup doesn't need to become Dread Pirate Roberts to 'fulfill her destiny'. The point is that, if she wanted to, she totally could. * And yes, we don't mind swords - or arrows - either!