Can I Get A Witness?

From 1919. (via Undine)

Icarus

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Creepy Dave Bumblebee

In case you can't understand Ze Frank's accent, he's telling us about bumblebees. Once upon a time, a bumblebee was caught peeing in a flower, and the flower fairies cursed the species to forever after spend their days cleaning flowers. 

Part of Your World

The Shiki Theater Company is the biggest such company in Japan, and they have a longstanding relationship with Disney. Beginning in August they will stage the musical The Little Mermaid at the Maihama Amphitheater in Maihama, near Tokyo. Rina Tachibana stars as Ariel. She has a lovely voice (crucial for the plot, I know) and belts out "Part of Your World" that sounds very much like the movie version, except it's in Japanese. But how does she do it while floating through the water? And how do they make swimming underwater look so effortless and even realistic onstage (here's a rehearsal clip)? For that matter, how are they going to pull this off in an amphitheater? During the song, we also get glimpses of other scenes from The Little Mermaid. (via Kuriositas) 

Meet Typhon

I've never seriously studied Greek mythology, so I was completely unfamiliar with Typhon. This mythological monster was made of snakes and lava and had no father, so of course he was bad news. He was so powerful that he was a serious rival for Zeus, who had to put Typhon in his place. That doesn't mean Zeus killed him, but it does explain volcanoes, thunderstorms, and tsunamis. However, the stories of Typhon vary depending on who wrote them. 

Dr. Emily Zarka explains who Typhon was supposed to be. He's not described as a god, but was powerful enough to challenge Zeus for the title of supreme being. He and his wife Echidna spawned plenty of other mythological monsters that somewhat resemble real and usually scary animals. His later obscurity among laypeople like me may have to do with how he was dispatched early in the Greek mythology saga. 

Charming

In so many movies, the real drama or action happens to men, while women are there as tokens or window dressing, and are often the reward for the hero that "gets the girl" in the end. The notable exception are Disney fairy tales. Disney princess movies are centered around a young woman who goes through travails and gets her wealthy and handsome prince as a reward in the end. 

But who are these princes? In the older films, they have no personality at all. Sometimes they don't even have a name. They have no responsibilities, except for being handsome and waiting for the king to die. Their heroism in only in service to the real star of the show. In the song "Charming," three of them complain about their unimportance.     

Mythbusting

From 1911. (via Undine)

Sleeping Beauty

 

Fractured Fairy Tales turns the tale of Sleeping Beauty on its head by giving it a more modern twist. It doesn't work, and the story gets more ridiculous by the minute.

The Fisherman and His Wife

This episode of Fractured Fairy Tales is about two really stupid people. No wonder kids laughed at it. (Thanks, WTM!)

"Let It Go" in Klingon

@emeraldcitycomicco 🖖 Our fans are so talented! #frozen #startrek #cosplaytiktok #cosplay #eccc ♬ original sound - ECCC

The pop culture mashup you didn't know you needed. (via Neatorama) 

Gavric

Click to the right to advance the story. This gripping tale is the work of Skeleton Claw. 

The Princess and the Goblins

The Princess and the Goblin by Scottish poet and novelist George MacDonald was first published in 1872. There was a low-budget film of the story that came out in the 1990s. But we can all enjoy this Fractured Fairytales version that was part of season two of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends in 1960. (Thanks, WTM!)

Nightmare

Even nightmares can have nightmares. Sometimes it's best to do something besides listening to the news before bedtime. This comic is from Jim Benton. 

Princesses Reading

(via Pleated-Jeans)

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Shirley Șerban reworked the old tale of The Emperor's New Clothes into a song to befit the president who thinks he's a king.  

The Universal Dragon

The mythical dragon as a reptile that can fly and breathe fire is astonishingly universal. Ancient stories of dragons are found in all corners of the earth. How did such an iconic yet mythical creature find its way into such diverse cultures?

According to history as it is written, the first dinosaur fossil was discovered in 1677. Actually, it was the first such find that was studied and illustrated, and naturalist Robert Plot didn't know what it was. The idea of dinosaurs didn't take root until the early 19th century. But we can be sure that dinosaur fossils were discovered by plenty of people long before any of that, even before written language. People just called them dragons.

Still, that doesn't explain all the features of a dragon, like the fire-breathing part. For that, we may have to look at what the earth was like when people looked to stories to explain the more mysterious and frightening parts of their lives. This TED-Ed lesson looks at some of those stories and how they may have contributed to our idea of dragons.  

The Story of Medusa

We are all familiar with Medusa, the mythological Gorgon with snakes for hair and the ability to turn men to stone just by making eye contact. But how much do you know about her backstory? In ancient Greek mythology, she was a straightforward monster that needed to be killed. But in a later retelling by the Roman poet Ovid, Medusa started out as a perfectly normal young woman who was raped and then blamed for it. Her punishment turned her into a monster in more ways than one. Ovid's story is tragic, but much richer with the themes of trauma and injustice. In this TED-Ed lesson from historian and archaeologist Laura Aitken-Burt, we get an animated version of Ovid's tale. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

Beauty and The Hulk

Disney gave us a live-action version of Beauty and the Beast a few years ago. Marvel also has its own beast, and a few beauties, too. So Darth Blender made this mashup, lining up video clips of the Hulk, Black Widow, and other Marvel characters into the audio for the Beauty and the Beast trailer. It works well. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

Villain

(via Bored Panda)

Frog

A reminder that you cannot believe everything someone says. Or anything, for that matter. This comic is from Dan Wheeler at Big Fat Comics. (via Geeks Are Sexy)