Last Unicorn Tour and SQUEEE
May. 7th, 2014 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseWhile I can't quite give it as high an acclaim as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
matociquala, the Last Unicorn has a pretty strong place of honour in my childhood formative experiences. I showed the movie for both my seventh and eighth birthdays (I think. Might have been eighth and ninth) by accident, and while I was a bit embarrassed at the gaffe, I also couldn't understand why my friend was complaining. I cannot at this late date say whether I read the book before or after seeing the movie, but it was definitely in close proximity, though I think I understood the book and the differences better ... later.
I've rewatched the movie semi-regularly since, rather quirky German-peasant animation style and all. I got seriously peeved when, in my sixth-grade year or so, a second grader got into the creative writing anthology our school division put out by literally rewriting the plot of the movie in a single short paragraph, because obviously the teacher should have KNOWN it wasn't original. (Where I was writing, seriously, a fantasy-based tragic melodrama.) And I had some distinct stretches of being All About Unicorns. These days, I try to restrain that, partly because of some of the associations that have attached themselves to unicorns with rainbows and hearts and My Little Pony pastels and sentiments**. (Although a longtime favourite sweater has unicorns, hearts and flowers on it, and pastel pink and purple touches, it's partly so because it looks nothing like that description probably made you imagine. And if I'd been thinking straight, I'd have been wearing it on Monday. oh, well.)
The last time I reread the book was February or March somewhere. I hadn't in some years, and I kept thinking I should. And the writing, oh god, the poetry. Yes, the book is as good as they say.
And the germinating seed for the Pretty Little Horses mural, before I ended up going in an actual horsey direction, was wondering if it was even possible to make a giant unicorn mural and not have it be considered girly. I thought a good starting place would be basing the unicorn directly on a warhorse or a workhorse, something big and not at all dainty, and probably brown or bay. This is enough against my personal conceptions of unicorns that I ended up with actual horses.
Monday Night was the Winnipeg stop in the Last Unicorn Tour, showing the film in full theatre and with Peter S. Beagle present to talk about it, and anything else his fans want to ask.
Officially it was a sold out show. Less officially, they ended up moving it to a bigger theatre and could have fit some extra people (Sorry,senekal, I didn't know in time to reach you). I arrived late enough that even without having had supper I opted to stay in my seat and not vanish to hunt nibbles.
I went, and met up with some friends there.
The talk was entertaining. I asked something I've occasionally wondered before, which was whether Beagle, who is a musician, had ever considered putting his own songs and lyrics into the movie, since they run throughout the book and even get the last word. The answer was that he was just so grateful that instead of the guy in charge of the studio doing it himself like usual (With the obvious expected results re: quality) they'd gotten a professional musician he respected to write for the movie. Which, fair enough. It's not like the music is, oh, Ladyhawke... even though Mia Farrow cannot pull off her song, I LOVE the main theme, and I like some of the other songs and the majority of the incidental music. But I always thought Beagle's own lyrics would have been an even quirkier counterpoint. Especially as a cure for the "standard love song" trope.
I liked better his added admission that the lyrics, as well as being his nod to Tolkien in existing at all, were also the one part of the book he actively enjoyed writing.
My favourite answer from the Q&A was actually Peter's admission that there's exactly one character in the book based on a real person, and it's the only time he has ever done it as such; the butterfly is based on himself. (I know exactly how those sorts of random-association song sets can go...)
I also liked his description of starting the first draft of the book.
Then they had a draw for a bunch of swag. Being the oldest among my friends, I was the fan for the longest. But for various reasons, when the draw came up, I was cheering forleonacarver. Partly because really I don't need a lot more swag, and partly just because she's awesome (I would have been just as pleased for A or T... I think in all honesty I was prioritizing writer over artists because Beagle is also a writer, though he said later he's from a rather artistic family). So when the final prize came up, a t-shirt whose detail was kept hidden, and also involves ending up down by the stage getting your picture taken with Peter, I was genuinely startled to have my number called.
(Squee!) I e-mailed after the fact to ask if I could get a copy of the picture. I probably look horrid, but hey.
So the story behind the shirt is as follows: apparently, until Peter S. Beagle wrote the line "The Unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone." they can find No Record of anyone else who'd ever written about a FEMALE unicorn.
Of course, these days, as I noted above, the unicorn as feminine thing is ubiquitous, painfully so.** Thus:
__
(The unicorn wands are each unique, made of their own and hugely varied mix of fabrics and decoration. So the fact that the one I chose to buy is deeply purple, fuzzy, and ridiculously girly is, in spite of my footnote about my own *depictions* of unicorns in prose and art, very much my choice.)
Anyhow, I got to get him to sign books, including my unbelievably battered copy of the relevant book and two others, and I got to tell him at least a bit about my admiration. Me and most of the theatre, but he took his time over signing and talked to everyone. As did Connor Cochran, who was admittedly partly minding merchandise, but he seemed to love to talk about related subjects beyond that. So what with bussing, I got home at almost 11:30 and only THEN finally made myself some supper.
OH, and that picture was REMARKABLY hard to take for a picture of still objects. Here's why:
At least he doesn't look like he thinks it's Peter S. Beagle's fault.
_________
**that don't suit them AT ALL. The way I draw and think on unicorns is, um, not a horse with a horn. And not always nice.
matociquala, the Last Unicorn has a pretty strong place of honour in my childhood formative experiences. I showed the movie for both my seventh and eighth birthdays (I think. Might have been eighth and ninth) by accident, and while I was a bit embarrassed at the gaffe, I also couldn't understand why my friend was complaining. I cannot at this late date say whether I read the book before or after seeing the movie, but it was definitely in close proximity, though I think I understood the book and the differences better ... later.I've rewatched the movie semi-regularly since, rather quirky German-peasant animation style and all. I got seriously peeved when, in my sixth-grade year or so, a second grader got into the creative writing anthology our school division put out by literally rewriting the plot of the movie in a single short paragraph, because obviously the teacher should have KNOWN it wasn't original. (Where I was writing, seriously, a fantasy-based tragic melodrama.) And I had some distinct stretches of being All About Unicorns. These days, I try to restrain that, partly because of some of the associations that have attached themselves to unicorns with rainbows and hearts and My Little Pony pastels and sentiments**. (Although a longtime favourite sweater has unicorns, hearts and flowers on it, and pastel pink and purple touches, it's partly so because it looks nothing like that description probably made you imagine. And if I'd been thinking straight, I'd have been wearing it on Monday. oh, well.)
The last time I reread the book was February or March somewhere. I hadn't in some years, and I kept thinking I should. And the writing, oh god, the poetry. Yes, the book is as good as they say.
And the germinating seed for the Pretty Little Horses mural, before I ended up going in an actual horsey direction, was wondering if it was even possible to make a giant unicorn mural and not have it be considered girly. I thought a good starting place would be basing the unicorn directly on a warhorse or a workhorse, something big and not at all dainty, and probably brown or bay. This is enough against my personal conceptions of unicorns that I ended up with actual horses.
Monday Night was the Winnipeg stop in the Last Unicorn Tour, showing the film in full theatre and with Peter S. Beagle present to talk about it, and anything else his fans want to ask.
Officially it was a sold out show. Less officially, they ended up moving it to a bigger theatre and could have fit some extra people (Sorry,
senekal, I didn't know in time to reach you). I arrived late enough that even without having had supper I opted to stay in my seat and not vanish to hunt nibbles.I went, and met up with some friends there.
The talk was entertaining. I asked something I've occasionally wondered before, which was whether Beagle, who is a musician, had ever considered putting his own songs and lyrics into the movie, since they run throughout the book and even get the last word. The answer was that he was just so grateful that instead of the guy in charge of the studio doing it himself like usual (With the obvious expected results re: quality) they'd gotten a professional musician he respected to write for the movie. Which, fair enough. It's not like the music is, oh, Ladyhawke... even though Mia Farrow cannot pull off her song, I LOVE the main theme, and I like some of the other songs and the majority of the incidental music. But I always thought Beagle's own lyrics would have been an even quirkier counterpoint. Especially as a cure for the "standard love song" trope.
I liked better his added admission that the lyrics, as well as being his nod to Tolkien in existing at all, were also the one part of the book he actively enjoyed writing.
My favourite answer from the Q&A was actually Peter's admission that there's exactly one character in the book based on a real person, and it's the only time he has ever done it as such; the butterfly is based on himself. (I know exactly how those sorts of random-association song sets can go...)
I also liked his description of starting the first draft of the book.
Then they had a draw for a bunch of swag. Being the oldest among my friends, I was the fan for the longest. But for various reasons, when the draw came up, I was cheering for
leonacarver. Partly because really I don't need a lot more swag, and partly just because she's awesome (I would have been just as pleased for A or T... I think in all honesty I was prioritizing writer over artists because Beagle is also a writer, though he said later he's from a rather artistic family). So when the final prize came up, a t-shirt whose detail was kept hidden, and also involves ending up down by the stage getting your picture taken with Peter, I was genuinely startled to have my number called.(Squee!) I e-mailed after the fact to ask if I could get a copy of the picture. I probably look horrid, but hey.
So the story behind the shirt is as follows: apparently, until Peter S. Beagle wrote the line "The Unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone." they can find No Record of anyone else who'd ever written about a FEMALE unicorn.
Of course, these days, as I noted above, the unicorn as feminine thing is ubiquitous, painfully so.** Thus:
__
(The unicorn wands are each unique, made of their own and hugely varied mix of fabrics and decoration. So the fact that the one I chose to buy is deeply purple, fuzzy, and ridiculously girly is, in spite of my footnote about my own *depictions* of unicorns in prose and art, very much my choice.)
Anyhow, I got to get him to sign books, including my unbelievably battered copy of the relevant book and two others, and I got to tell him at least a bit about my admiration. Me and most of the theatre, but he took his time over signing and talked to everyone. As did Connor Cochran, who was admittedly partly minding merchandise, but he seemed to love to talk about related subjects beyond that. So what with bussing, I got home at almost 11:30 and only THEN finally made myself some supper.
OH, and that picture was REMARKABLY hard to take for a picture of still objects. Here's why:
At least he doesn't look like he thinks it's Peter S. Beagle's fault.
_________
**that don't suit them AT ALL. The way I draw and think on unicorns is, um, not a horse with a horn. And not always nice.
