The Washington Ballet's Alice

Just gorgeous, simply gorgeous, breathtakingly gorgeous set of photos done for the Washington Ballet's production of Alice in Wonderland. And, curse my wretched lack of funds or a time-machine, I couldn't be in Washington between 11-15th April 2012. If there be a DVD on this particular ballet production, I am so getting it.

Creative & Art Direction: Jake Lefebure and Pum Lefebure of Design Army
Photography: Dean Alexander
Hair & Makeup: Dean Krapf for T.H.E. Artist Agency
Makeup: Jenn Quinn
Costume Designer: Liz Vandal
Costume Graphic Design: Julie Castan
Fabric Digital Printing & Glossy Finish & Swarovki Elements Applique By Masking Technologies & Innovations: Diane Beaudoin

Based on Lewis Carroll‘s beloved tale, “Alice” promises to be The Washington Ballet‘s grandest production yet with designs by Liz Vandal (Cirque du Soleil‘s “Ovo“) an original score by Matthew Pierce, choreography by Septime Webre, sets by Jim Cronzer, and puppets by Eric Van Wyk.  The Washington Ballet World Premiere runs April 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th in the Kennedy Center‘s Eisenhower Theatre.

A Library Find

I've been a regular library goer ever since I was old enough to be let loose on my own to the outside world. When I would be playing hooky from school, I wouldn't be hanging out in the malls or shopping centres, no, I would be found at the library usually. So yes, truancy is bad, bad, bad but I tried to negate it by doing something literary on the sly at least?

So here's my latest find from the library that caused me to emit a loud squeak of delight when I saw it on the shelf, still wonderfully new and fresh and barely borrowed by previous readers!

Alice in Zombieland!!

I'm still reading the book but how can I not instantly love the concept of combining one of my favorite books with one of my beloved genres. Yes, I'm a unabashed zombie lover, especially in films. Something about a post-apocalyptic world, overrun with flesh-eating undead and a bunch of survivors fighting to hold off the former really just appeals to my sensibilities. With regards to 'Alice in Zombieland', it basically merges Lewis Carroll's original prose with...ZOMBIES.

I CAN HAZ BRAINS, says Alice, as she wanders through a Wonderland filled with rotting, shuffling denizens while trying to decipher why is she just so hungry...

Weekly Alice : A Console Game for the Lolita

(Weekly Alice should be termed As and When Alice by now!)

I didn't really start playing video games until I got a PC that was capable of supporting all the necessary requirements around 2002. And even so, the games I like to play were rather selective. I've got a taste for survival horror and back then, excellent survival horror games on a PC format were few and rare in-between.

So in 2002, passing by a bookshop a few months after I got my nifty new PC, I noticed on the bargain rack, a title that caught my eye. After picking it up to check out the blurb, I had no hesitation whatsoever in plonking down S$19.90 for it.

American Mcgee's Alice is a third-person shooter PC game that came out way back in 2000. While not true survival horror, perhaps more geared towards action and gothic orientated, I LOVED this game to bits and still do! Everything about it reaches an almost perfect 10/10 in my gaming scores. The characters and game design is absolute genius. The backgrounds as you move through the game are unforgettably beautiful. Gameplay too is fun and exciting with an arsenal of unusual and different weapons. And of course, the story itself, of an Alice gone insane and committed to an asylum after her parents died tragically in a fire.

Blaming herself for her parents' horrific deaths, the Alice in the game is not someone Lewis Carroll would have imagined, 10 years later. After repeated suicide attempts, Alice is now confined, under restraints, at Rutledge Asylum and practically catatonic. This is the beginning of American McGee's game for the Alicephiles who might like things a lot darker.

After her stuffed bunny comes alive (or is it just a figment of Alice's badly fractured mind?) and implores her to save 'us', Alice is once more sucked into Wonderland but a twisted, malicious Wonderland that bleeds pools of blood, fire and brimstone, and where the Red Queen's card guards kills anything on sight.

Even after 11 years since it came out, the graphics of the game is still stunning to behold.



And a lovely bit of update is that American McGee has finally come out with a sequel to the game! And the sequel, entitled 'Alice: Madness Returns', looks even more gorgeously rendered and macabre than the first. The sequel will be out on PC, Xbox and PS3 format on 14 June 2011 which is...next month! And I confess I decided to buy a PS3 last December, partly because of the sequel, lol.

Alice's new outfit for the sequel? The kick-ass boots still remains though, yey!

I'm really excited for the new game and will be reserving my copy, no chances will be taken! You don't have to play the first Alice game to play the sequel but it would help to know some of the backstory first. Visit EA's official Alice: Madness Returns website if you like, it's fun, prettily designed with loads of Alice artwork to enjoy!

Weekly Alice

Oh dear, Weekly Alice seems to have become an As and When Weekly Alice, lol! I'm truly very sorry about this and I'll try to have more regular weekly posts.

For this week's spotlight on Alice, it's the 2009 miniseries 'Alice' which is a reimaging of the story and was broadcast on the Syfy Channel.

I've always rather liked exploring reimagings of classic tales. Syfy's Alice is set 150 years after the original Alice's visit. Though still clad in a blue frock, the Alice of this series is a cynical 21 year old karate instructor on a quest to rescue her missing boyfriend, so this isn't exactly your the traditional wide-eyed young waif who fell through a rabbit's hole in Victorian times.

Wonderland itself, 150 years later, has drastically morphed into a dysfunctional dystopia where the villainous Queen of Hearts has been kidnapping people from the real world into Wonderland and harvesting their emotions to package a much sought after drug.

Besides the butt-kicking adult Alice, the Mad Hatter has evolved into a scruffy, leather-jacket wearing, cool-cat hipster who helps Alice in retrieving her boyfriend. And maybe this series is where the recent rash of Alice/Hatter romances stems from! As the story progresses, Alice starts to realise that her lost love may not exactly be the right one for her...

The ending of the series is somewhat predictable but it's still a pretty nifty show with surprisingly excellent CGI effects. I highly recommend it for Alice-philes who might like modern retellings of their favourite classic tale and even for lolitas who aren't into Alice.

The complete DVD set is available on Amazon.

Weekly Alice

Now, Annie Leibovitz did do an incredibly wonderful and gorgeous Alice in Wonderland shoot a few years for Vogue, haute couture style. It rears its head up every so often on egl forums when someone re-posts. Therefore, I shall not be highlighting that particular shoot for Weekly Alice. If you haven't seen the Vogue photo spread and would like to, click here. 

Instead, I'll like to draw your attention to this other photo by Annie Leibovitz (I have much love for the latter's photography!).

Not overtly Alice in Wonderland themed, no, but still this photo of Kirsten Dunst depicted as the doomed Marie Antoinette has that aura of otherworldliness, a stranger in a strange land, to it. And I daresay Miss Dunst herself has never looked more ethereal or lovelier in this little gem of a photo.

Weekly Alice

Does anyone still remember Heart E? This lolita brand used to be more well-known during the early 2000s but seems to have sunk back into semi-obscurity with recent times. They're still in business and have an online web-store but only sells some selected pieces through the Kera Angel shopfronts.

Ever since Tim Burton came up with his take on the Alice in Wonderland mythos with his film last year, there was a period when all things Alice including costumes became quite popular in mainstream consciousness. And, somewhat surprisingly, Heart E also came up with their version of the blue dress that Alice wore for when she first appeared on the silver screen.

This film version to be precise

Annnnnd, here we have Heart E's version

I actually did manage to see Heart E's version in OIOI's Kera Angel store outlet last October when there. Needless to say, I did a little double-take when I caught sight of it and did a mini inspection on the spot!

Probably to avoid any potential sticky lawsuits from Disney since Japan does have a Disneyland of its own, the bodice front of the Heart E version has been modified and the curlique design at the dress hem has also been simplified to what looks like random scrawls, with Heart E's own logo emblazoned on it as well.

The Heart E dress is pretty enough in real life but since it's going for a cool retail price of 22890yen, I wouldn't really recommend it as the overall design is too simple to justify the amount and the construction of the dress was only so-so. It's cute as a novelty item and a lolita take on the film dress but otherwise, if one wants to dress up as Burton's Alice, I would say the officially licensed Disney Alice costume makes a better choice.

Disney approves! Retailing for US$49.90 currently

Weekly Alice

Just a quick post as I've been down with the flu lately and drugged up with antibiotics. Blocked nose and hacking cough, begone!

Almost every gothic lolita brand that is geared towards the sweet side, has probably come out with an Alice in Wonderland or related print before, one time or another. The prints can be anything from an original Alice rendition drawing or a re-print from John Tenniel's storybook illustrations.

Alice associated motifs such as spades, hearts or trumps can be popular as well. Most recent and notable being Angelic Pretty's Trump Carnival Card series.

At first sight, the print can look way too busy with rows of falling cards as well as sundry animals (I spy a rabbit there, hither and thither) and random alphabets to the eye. I do still think the print can be a bit overwhelming, around the bodice area especially, but the series does have two very vibrant blue and red colourways that help to negate the fussy print a lot.

Angelic Pretty demonstrates their suggested coordination for the jsk, which I feel, also geared towards the safe zone. Although I wouldn't necessarily go with stripes if I was trying to tone down the overall look but the striped stockings does have that extra 'Alice effect'. A hime cut hairstyle, the choice of black for the blouse, all helps to tone down the busy print while the Card Heart bag seals the deal, I would say!

Of course, one can always go the other extreme, going over the top instead of trying to dampen the overall look. Do the poofy hair, pile on the accessories and mis-matched stockings for example! It could look pretty fantastic if done right.

Weekly Alice

I love it when designers do their own take on Alice in Wonderland and I love it more when it works. It doesn't always have to be a blue dress with a white apron :)

Those slippers! Adorable~

"Alice in Wonderland” by Antonia Yordanova, Niki Phoeni, Hristov Momchil.

Weekly Alice

I'll like to start a regular blog post every week highlighting a particular Alice in Wonderland shot that grabs me or a gothic lolita item relating to Alice. Right. Way to tone down that small little Alice obsession I mentioned in an earlier post.  On the other hand, starting a Weekly Alice, as I term it, would give me something to post when I finally run out of things to write about.

To kick off this week's Weekly Alice, I stumbled across this themed shoot based on Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film. Nothing too out of the ordinary as the movie set off a renewed all things Alice craze for a time but what stood out for me is that this shoot is actually done for an engagement! How cool is that? Very, in my opinion. I love it when couples do out-of-the-box engagement shoots and when paired with an Alice theme, great photography and compositions, it's all good.

There's so many shots in this engagement shoot that I really like but I can't put them all up, lol. The photographer has a blog post about the shoot plus more photos here. And the bride-to-be seems to be wearing a lolita pinafore jsk as well although I can't quite place where it's from!

A small little thing: I do wish she wore a cute lolita blouse instead of the cap sleeve t-shirt although she looks lovely still.

All things Alice

I hesitate to call it an obsession as I CAN be discerning on what items or things to buy...but on the other hand, I know I am an Alice-phile in many ways (ah, denial in all its myriad forms).

I don't remember when I started liking Alice in Wonderland but I do know this liking was exacerbated when I played the game, American McGee's Alice, and got into gothic lolita fashion at around the same time. To an extent, Alice in Wonderland and lolita fashion is firmly intertwined for me. Lolita fashion may not have started out being influenced by Alice but it can't be argued that it isn't heavily associated with now, what with the Gothic Lolita Bibles doing semi-regular Alice fashion editorials and even Disney starting a range of gothic lolita Alice items to be sold in-store in February! Macaron Hearts did a recent post on the last event if you would like to know more about it.

As for me, I do enjoy it when brands come up with Alice prints but I absolutely love accessories with Alice motifs more often than not. Lately though, this seems to be extended to....scotch-tape of all things =X

Behold what I discovered in Daiso the other day and couldn't resist buying:

I don't know exactly what I plan to do with these tapes, in 3 colours no less, but I'll think of something...