We have a winner (Sillyness is only the beginning)

In the spirit of the awards season, since the Oscars are coming up soon, I decided I should announce another winner of a Gooseyness Award. I finally, finally got my hands on The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. (Terrwyn nominated it last month : http://gooseyness.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-decided-i-have-dallied-enough.html )

It's wonderful, I bet the animated version is beautiful too, but I just read the book so I can only talk about that. This book completely deserves a gooseyness award. It does have simple illustrations, but the fact there are no words, just pictures is charming. Sometimes you don't need words; words just get in the way.

So, I found The Snowman at the library, along with a few other of Raymond Briggs graphic novels. I read Gentleman Jim, a somewhat dark comical story about a man sick of his day job, who gets an idea into his head about becoming a highway robber (you know the type who steal from the rich and give to the poor) and living a life full of romanticized adventure. It doesn't quite work out for him, as he runs into problems with the law and trying to keep a donkey in his backyard. I also found Briggs' The Man, which sounds like an odd name for a book, but I can't imagine what else you'd call it. It was almost a fairy tale about a boy and a man who is seven inches tall. The quote at the beginning captures the essence of the book "After three days, fish and visitors begin to stink" (a Chinese proverb). The book had some amusing moments, capturing how the the boy looks after his small house guest, the difficulties of life when you're that small. It's a book of conversations between the two.  Lastly, I read Briggs' Ethel and Ernest: a true story, an illustrated biography about his parents from the 1920s to 1970s. It was an intimate view of life in England, a family portrait in a very real way, through the struggles of day to day life during the war, the tragedies and a simple triumphs.

I enjoyed them all, though only The Snowman wins the Gooseyness Award, it was by far my favorite.

Part of the rules for the Gooseyness Awards, I believe it was number 5, went as follows:  If the other person isn't familiar with the nominee, then they should try to read, watch, etc in order to decide yay or nay. Actually, that rule may be the most important. The reason behind that rule was when we find a silly person/story/song, etc we needed to share that goofy, glee-inducing person/story/song etc. I'm know I'm always looking for a good story - something that inspires me, thrills me, makes me want to dance or run around outside under the stars. I sometimes think I write because I can't always find stories and somewhere in my subconscious mind I decide, well, if I can't find them I'll just write them myself.

Gooseyness award nominations continued!

I have decided I have dallied enough with my real world toil and labor , and it is now time for me to attend to those things I have neglected on the stove and stick my finger into this pot of Gooseyness and add some spice of my own.

First, I would like to bring Tolkien into the mix and suggest we read some of his essay " On Fairy Stories".  I think we have an idea what we think Fairy Tales are. It's always nice to see what other's have to add. Here is a link to a brief explanation of the essay: http://www.tolkien-online.com/on-fairy-stories.html

Angelbird set out on a quest. A Quest to find the silliest and most utterly ridiculous piece of artistic tomfoolery known to man, woman, child, small animal, and Caterpillar. ( I have heard these are very wise insects and so I am including them in my list of knowing persons. The reader will notice that I have excluded dolls, fairies, nymphs, and smallish magical creatures in this list as trying to find something ridiculous to them is much harder than finding it for the above mentioned characters as I only known a handful of fairies and dolls...well dolls tend to change their minds so often that, when all is said and done,  I am not sure I know them very well at all.)

To recap, I am recalling the guidelines through cut and paste that Angelbird so diligently set out:

A Gooseyness Award should be given to anyone or anything who is silly, scatterbrained, or acts in utterly ridiculous manner.
The nominee can be a movie, a book, a character, a picture, a song, etc.
The nominee should be highly entertaining, worth sharing with others.
Fairy-Tale related is a bonus.
After you nominate someone(something)you need to share a description about why they deserve a Gooseyness Award.
If the other person isn't familiar with the nominee, then they should try to read, watch, etc in order to decide yay or nay.


My nominations for the Gooseyness award are as follows:

The Sore Feet Song. I think this song is an excellent contender for the coveted prize of Gooseyness because it is a pretender song-- deceptively serious sounding, the ridiculous lyrics mock the whimsical melody. The irony makes the song ridiculously entertaining.

The next nominee, I think, is a little bit more in line with the fairy tale scheme of things.  It's what I would fondly dub " THE ULTIMATE RETELLING OF SNOW WHITE ( and other such tales):

A coming of age tale for a young woman, using all the elements of a fairy tale and playing with the tools of the trade ( magic mirrors are excellent ways to travel through worlds, and magic bean that grants you a surplus of wishes to name a couple), 10th kingdom blossoms in the art of the ridiculous while still telling a very engaging story.

I am very fond of my third nomination as my fiancé introduced it to me.  It was a childhood favorite of his and I think, a delightfully captivating story with lighthearted moments.  I experienced the animated medium instead of the book medium. Apparently, the animated version was an Oscar nominee!!!!! But the book and illustrations are also captivating in the simplicity.  And you are dying to know, aren't you?



http://www.thesnowman.co.uk/home.htm

Raymond Briggs also has a nice website and you can experience the spirit of the book and some of the fabulous music from the animated version. I have included the link for your viewing pleasure.

The final nomination includes two characters from the very quirky book by Martin Millar entitled  The Good Fairies of New York: Heather and Morag, two Scottish punk rock band fairies who, after a night of too much Whiskey, wake up to throw up in the apartment of an antisocial, overweight, unpleasant, slob, located in..... New York City. Yes. New York City.  Not...Scotland.

 What happens there can only end in the bizarre and happy as the fairies try to work good deeds which, inevitably lead to more trouble than good.



A Quirky read. The language is more fun to read than the story.  But Heather and Morag take the cake as characters,  and certainly are scatterbrained and silly enough for the award. I can't spoil the end, but how much more silly can you be as punk rock band scottish  fairies........

I don't know.

Unless you are a punk, rock band...cowboy.