Saturday, September 29, 2012

Jafar meets Family Guy


The satirical animated series Family Guy has aimed its focus on Disney, with this brief segment, thank you to Michael for passing it along!  Here is the Family Guy wiki page's info on Jafar's appearances - http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Jafar




Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Moby Dick - Herman Melville


Chapter 97
 
The Lamp
 
      Had you descended from the Pequod's try-works to the Pequod's forecastle, where the off duty watch were sleeping, for one single moment you would have almost thought you were standing in some illuminated shrine of canonized kings and counsellors.  There they lay in their triangular oaken vaults, each mariner a chiselled muteness; a score of lamps flashing upon his hooded eyes.

In merchantmen, oil for the sailor is more scarce than the milk of queens.  To dress in the dark, and eat in the dark, and stumble in darkness to his pallet, this is his usual lot.  But the whaleman, as he seeks the food of light, so he lives in light.  He makes his berth an Aladdin's lamp, and lays him down in it; so that in the pitchiest night the ship's black hull still houses an illumination.

See with what entire freedom the whaleman takes his handful of lamps - often but old bottles and vials, though - to the copper cooler at the try-works, and replenishes them there, as mugs of ale at a vat.  He burns, too, the purest of oil, in its unmanufactured, and, therefore, unvitiated state; a fluid unknown to solar, lunar, or astral contrivances ashore.  It is sweet as early grass butter in April.  He goes and hunts for his oil, so as to be sure of its freshness and geniuneness, even as the traveller on the prairie hunts up his own supper of game.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Michael Lundell's "Pasolini's Splendid Infidelities"



I humbly announce the publication of my article "Pasolini's Splendid Infidelities:  Un/Faithful Film Versions of The Thousand and One Nights" in the Journal Adaptation:  The Journal of Literature On Screen Studies.

Here is a link to the article:  http://adaptation.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/aps022?ijkey=KzP5cPrkMEUQBZA&keytype=ref

And here is the abstract:

"This article argues that Pasolini’s 1974 film Il fiore delle mille e una notte seems to be the most faithful adaptation, in its emphasis on sexuality, of The 1001 Nights in its oldest form. This success is surprising and possibly inadvertent but it presents a potentially measurable connection between the written and filmic Nights. By comparing Il fiore’s ending with three other potential ‘Nights films’ the article suggests a more flexible approach to adaptation studies, posits the existence of a fundamental identity of the Nights, and places Pasolini’s emphasis on sexuality into the context of the oldest manuscript of the Nights."

Thanks so much to everyone who was a part of this creation, in particular my chair and mentor Alain J.-J. Cohen at UCSD.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Sinbad (SKY 1 - 2012) Coming to the USA

Many thanks to Paul for keeping me up to date with Sinbad, the SKY 1 (though AdWeek says it's also BBC Worldwide owned - who can keep track) series which he has been watching up in Canada but which I, across the border down south, have been sorely missing out on.

Until now!

The Sci Fi channel, now known as Syfy, (as an aside - my undergraduate house had the tv on for about 24 hrs with the countdown to the launch of this channel, I think Star Wars (the real one, episode IV) was the first thing they showed, and their countdown was tantalizing to us (hey it was the 90s we didn't have much to do) and thanks to wikipedia that day was September 24, 1992!), is set to launch the series in the USA.

Unfortunately it won't air until next April (2013) though, I suppose they have to have meetings about things for a year first? Or Americanize it?

 It stars Naveen Andrews of Lost fame.

Here's the news from AdWeekhttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/bbc-worldwide-americas-sinbad-says-open-sesame-syfy-143421

"Finally, a show with the word "Sinbad" in the title that won't make you think of Jingle All the Way. BBC Worldwide America's Arabian Nights riff Sinbad is coming to NBCUniversal's cable network Syfy in April of next year. The 12-segment series stars Elliot Knight as the eponymous sailor and follows him on his voyages as he evades bad guy Lord Akbari (Naveen Andrews, of Lost) along with the rest of the crew aboard the Providence."

Here is the trailer:



 Here is wikipedia on the show:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinbad_%28TV_series%29





Monday, September 3, 2012

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Magi:  The Labyrinth of Magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi_%28manga%29) has been a long running manga series by Shinobu Ohtaka being released as an anime series beginning next month.  It has a Nights theme and bases itself on several Nights-esque tales (via the unique frame of manga).

And here is the commercial for the series:

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Paul Nurse reviews Marina Warner

The Globe and Mail has recently published a new review of Marina Warner's Nights book Stranger Magic.  The review is written by Paul Nurse, author of Eastern Dreams:  How the Arabian Nights Came to the World, a fine history of the Nights.

Here is the link to the review, excerpts are pasted below: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/why-has-the-arabian-nights-proved-so-enduring/article4480676/

"Review: Non-fiction

Why has The Arabian Nights proved so enduring?