Little Red Riding Hood and the Temptation of Maturity in Fairy Tales

The color of that riding hood should not be taken as mere coincidence, of course, since red is perhaps the most striking color of the spectrum and has long a favorite for use as a symbol of sexuality. The plot device that has Red Riding Hood taking off on her journey to grandmother’s house should be viewed in terms of a metaphoric journey toward maturity. The woods in fairy tales are not only dark and mysterious, but more importantly they are overflowing with temptation. The words are the crucible in which Little Red Riding Hood will face a test of her maturity through the temptation that is the greatest obstacle to the process of maturation.

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Unusual Song Choices in Murder Scenes in Movies

There are two songs in particular that I think are superior candidates for exactly this type of twisting of expectations. One is considered among the most romantic standards of all time, as well as the very model of slow-dance doo-wop song. The Flamingos recorded the ultimate version of “I Only Have Eyes For You.” I don’t know if it’s the bass line, those shoo-bop-shoo-bop or the incessantly repetitive tinkling of the same piano keys, but something about this song gives it an unsettling, almost macabre edge to it. There is a feeling to this song of something dark and dangerous beneath its lyrics of undying love.

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Staging Shakespeare’s the Winter’s Tale as Soap Opera Meta-Narrative

Taken on a purely literal level, the ideas involved in this scene are ludicrous: that nobody would recognize that the statue of Leonte’s wife who has supposedly been dead for sixteen years is real, that Hermione would allow herself to be imprisoned for sixteen years, and that Leontes would make a vow to a servant to never remarry. It definitely crosses the line into one of those soap opera plot devices; like when Tad Martin appeared to be die at the hands of Billy Joe Tuggle on All My Children, only to come back from the grave.

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There was More to the Athens, Georgia Music Scene Than REM and the B-52’s

Pylon suffered from the fact their music wasn’t quite as accessible as REM’s, nor were they tempted toward going as mainstream as Stipe and the fellas. The music of Pylon had more in common with Gang of Four than the country rock that got REM played on college radio stations across the country. And the lyrical content of Pylon’s songs had to deal a subtle complexity that was even more of a hindrance than Stipe’s inability to speak coherently:

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Word Origins and Phrase Origins to Make You Smarter

You know, I actually once saw someone “eat their hat.” I don’t want to get into details and because it didn’t come out well in the end…if you get my drift. Anyway, what on earth is that supposed to mean when someone says blah-blah-blah or I’ll eat my hat? Well, I’ll tells ya. It actually has nothing at all to do with headwear so my unfortunate friend could have saved himself a whole load of trouble if he’d read this first. Such a literal guy, he is.

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