Four Questions for Amalphia Treadwell: The Second Question.

Well here we go again, wish me luck. Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List to hear the last question I managed to ask Amalphia Treadwell.

Question 2 – For Cabriole Amalphia

Hello again, it’s me I’m back – I’m with a real newspaper this time. So how do you feel about doing a follow up interview…great…that’s great.

(One soft ball interview later to lull her into a false sense of security)

So, we’ve all seen the photos of you and Will Hearst, would it be fair to call him the new man in your life? Tell me how does he differ, if at all, from your former lover Aleksandr Zolotov?

Amalphia: Oh, you want to know about Will’s new company? That’s great.It’s great. I have LOTS of info to give you.

Wee Lassie: No, actually, I—

Amalphia: There’s these promo leaflets, and these photos, and this is the tour schedule… *Amalphia looks momentarily horrified before continuing* Come and see us soon. I’m sure you’ll love it.

And the Wee Lassie is pushed out the door again.

If you’ve enjoyed this small glimpse into the mind of Amalphia Treadwell why not check out her author, Ailish Sinclair’s blog here, along with her Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Goodreads, Facebook , YouTube, and Kofi. If you’ve enjoyed this very mildly pretentious question of mine, follow the wee blog if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Goodreads, YouTube, Facebook and Kofi.

Check out Fouetté on Amazon today.

Also, if you’d like to start from the beginning check out Tendu – which is made free for Christmas – on Amazon.

Four Questions for Amalphia Treadwell : Question the First

Hello wee readers, I hope you’re having a very happy holiday season. I know I am, because the final book of Ailish Sinclair’s Dancer Series, Fouetté, is out today. I knew I wanted to do something to celebrate that but I was slightly stumped as to what. If you will recall for the first book in her Dancer Series, Tendu, I released 8 1/2 Overly pretentious Questions for Ailish Sinclair. For her second book, the highly saucy Cabriole, I did the short blog series Ailish Sinclair’s Top Favourite Ballet Dancers of all time. But the question remained, what would I do for the new book?

I was pondering this exact question while speed reading through my brand new copy of Fouetté, and then very interesting thought occurred to me. In my previous blogs and or blog series I’ve always asked Ailish the questions, we’ll, obviously she’s the writer she would know. But wouldn’t it be interesting to ask the characters; now I’m not insane I know they’re not real people.

That’s why I’ve built my very own dimension jumping machine. I’ll just hop on in, pop on over to Amalphia Tredwell’s place of residence and ask her a question or two, I’m thinking four. And since the machine can also jump through time I’ll ask each question in four different stages of her life. What? Why are you looking at me like that, I’m not insane. I have a note from my doctor, even saying as much. Best not ask why I needed it in the first place.

Question 1 -For Tendu Amalphia.

Don’t scream, I’m from the local newspaper; your roommate let me in. I’m here to ask you a few questions. Cool? Cool.

Amalphia: No, not cool, actually.

(Several standered stock Questions later)

So, latest gossip has you linked to Aleksandr Zolotov, would you care to comment on that? What would you describe as the nature of your relationship?

Amalphia: What? How do you know about that? Nobody’s supposed to know about that. Not that there’s anything to know. And don’t go believing all that rubbish about Aleks on the internet. He’s a good man. You know… an amazing teacher. That’s how I know him, and that’s what our relationship is. But I’m going to have to ask you to leave now. You shouldn’t be in here anyway.

Amalphia closes the door over the Wee Lassie, but the following is overheard:

Amalphia: Justin, did you let that person in?”

Justin: Yes, Phi, I did. You’ll need to get used to being hounded by the press. We all know you’re going to be a star, darling…”

Check out Fouetté on Amazon today.

Also, if you’d like to start from the beginning check out Tendu – which is made free for Christmas – on Amazon.

The Wee Archive: The Final Glory

The Nine Glories Of the Rings of Powers: The Nineth Glory

What Ho, Wee Subscribers and Welcome to the Final Post in The Nine Glories of the Rings of Power blog series.

The Continuation of Tolkien’s Mythology

Whether it was through the choice to set it in the less exposed Second Age of Middle-Earth, the idea to diversfy the cast so that the world starts to look more real, the decsion to include Races – such as the Harfoots – that have not really been explored before, or just the fact that as a series rather than a film( even an extended one) it has more time to devote into exploring all these deifferent facets of Middle Earth;the fact stands that The Rings of Power has shown a very different Middle-Earth than the one we’ve grown used to.

And my argument is that this is not only a good thing, for both the francise and the fandom around it, but that Tolkien (the orginal creator) would not have actully disapproved. He did not view his work as a solid, unchanglbe text of facts about Middle-Earth, but rather as modern Mytholgy that would twist and shape itself into new forms over the years. With each new writer or telling, the story would grow, the world would expand not become less.
Was it a perfect show, by no means. Where there some things the books did better? Of course, all I’m saying is before you post that comment complaining about the scruffiness of the Harfoots, or the fact that the Lady Dwarves did not have hair on their chins (I feel your pain in that regard) remember that it’s very unlikely Tolkien would actually have minded.

So why should we?

After all, we were all able to live through the Ents becoming tree-like beings in the Peter Jackson Films, instead of the troll-like ones from the books. Oh yes, we all loved that change now didn’t we.I’m sorry if I’m seeming overly empassioned about this subject. I guess a story that takes a new and darker look at Middle-Earth, with an emphasis on the strange culture of the hobbit like creatures, is something that sticks close to my heart.

And in possibly unrelated news, I invite you all to pop over and have a look at my own recently completed Middle-Earth work (sadly not cannon at all) The War of the Dead . I think you’ll enjoy it, it’s got Zombies 😁

If you’ve enjoyed this little gem from a Tolkien obsessed fan girl, and would like to see the rest of them why not follow the Wee blog if you haven’t already. And check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Mastodon, Tumblr, TikTok, Facebook and Kofi. Until next time Wee Subscribers, stay safe and have a very bonny day

Wee Archive: Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

What Ho, Wee SubscribersWell here are the promised pictures, never before seen anywhere on the internet – and pried from the vault of my desktop. Enjoy and remember to follow the Wee blog if you haven’t already.If you’ve enjoyed this barrage of previously unseen pictures, why not check out the Wee Blog and give it a follow if you haven’t already. Also check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok , Facebook, and Kofi. Until next time Wee Subcribers, keep safe and a have a very Bonny day.

Ailish Sinclair’s 2nd top Ballet Dancer of All Time

Remember to sign up for the Wee Mailing List by the end of the Month to find out Ailish Sinclair’s top ballet dancer of all time.

Misha and his 11 pirouettes from White Nights.

Do I really need to give an introduction to Mikhail Baryshnikov? I think we all know who he is by now. I mean why else did we watch Sex and the City?

If you’ve enjoyed this small glimpse into the mind of my good friend Ailish Sinclair why not check out her blog here, along with her Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Goodreads, Facebook , YouTube, and Kofi. If you’ve enjoyed this very mildly pretentious question of mine, follow the wee blog if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, Pinterest, Tumblr, TikTok, Goodreads, YouTube, Facebook and Kofi.

Ailish Sinclair’s 3rd top Ballet Dancer of All Time

Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the End of the month to find out Ailish’s top Ballet Dancer of all time.

The Balletboyz

Balletboyz, Serpent. Matt Rees giving off some Will vibes there with his tatt. Check them out on their website here.

Ailish Sinclair’s Cabriole is out now, where all good books are sold.

Ailish Sinclair’s 4th top Ballet Dancer of All Time

Remember to sign up to the Wee Mailing List before the End of the month to find out Ailish’s top Ballet Dancer of all time.

Denis Matvienko in The Great Gatsby.

Born in Ukraine, studied at Kiev state choreographic school, and made his first stage appearance at the National opera and ballet theatre of Ukraine. ince March 2001 to March 2002 worked at Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg) as the leading ballet-dancer.

Ailish Sinclair’s Cabriole is out now, where all good books are sold.

Ailish Sinclair’s 5th favourite Ballet Dancer

Remember to sign up for the Wee Mailing List by the end of the month to discover Ailish’s top Ballet Dancer of All Time, until then sit back and enjoy her fifth choice.

Alessia Lugoboni of Lazy Dancer Tips.

Born in Verona, Italy and trained at New Zealand School of Dance and English National Ballet School. She offers ballet tutorials for all levels. It’s great fun; give it a try!

Ailish Sinclair’s Cabriole is out now, where all good books are sold.

Ailish Sinclair’s sixth favourite Ballet Dancer of All Time

What Ho Wee Readers, and welcome to the first post in my new blog series Ailish Sinclair’s Top Six Ballet Dancers of All time – I know it’s a bit of a mouthful but that’s the name I settled on so you’re just gonna have to lump it. Made in collaboration once again with my good friend Ailish Sinclair, to celebrate the next book in her Dancer Series, Cabriole. It’s out today, go check it out. Also siign up for The Wee Mailing List to find out Ailish’s top most Ballet dancer of all time.

Amanda Schull, Ethan Stiefel and Sascha Radetsky in Center Stage

Amanda Schull – American, a actress and former professional ballet dancer. You may know her from her work on One Tree Hill and Pretty Little Liars, as well as her recurring role on the show Suits. But her most memorable role, at least to Ailish, is Jody Sawyer struggling ballet student in the film Centre Stage. Also fun fact, she is also the daughter of the current president of Ballet Hawaii, not really relevant to this post but interesting none the less.

Ethan Stiefel – American, a ballet dancer, director and choreographer and former principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and former artistic director of the royal New Zealand Ballet. Also his surname means boot in German, which isn’t relevant to anything but I thought was really interesting.

Sascha Radetsky – Another American, trained in the Moscow’s Bolshoi Academy under Pyotr Pestov. He performed as a soloist with American Ballet Theatre, and a principal with Dutch National Ballet. As of 2018 the Artistic Director for American Ballet Theatre. He also appeared on the show Flesh and Bone as someone called Ross.

Ailish Sinclair’s Cabriole is out now, where all good books are sold.

The Wee Archive: Christmas Folklore – the Final Days

The Tenth Day

This Newsletter is a continueiotion of this blog series.

On the Tenth day of Christmas the universe gave to…ten candy canesA traditionally white and red peppermint sweet made in the shape of a shepherd’s crook, Candy Canes were often given out on Saint Nicholas Day celebrations. As they were said to represent the crosier of a bishop – like the one Saint Nicholas would have carried.

Folkloric tales say that candy canes first came into being in 1679 when a German choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral – wanting to make the children in his church shut up for a service, commissioned a local candy maker to make the children “sugar sticks”. And to justify bribing children in church, he ordered the sweets to be made in the shape of Shepherd Crooks to symbolise the shepherds who visited Jesus in his cradle.

I’d usually now go into some official history, but honestly nothing could top that.

The Eleventh Day

On the Eleventh day of Christmas the Universe gave to me…Eleven Shining Cards.The first recorded Christmas Card was actually sent from Michael Maier to James I of England and his son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1611. However it wouldn’t be until 1843 before Christmas Cards became commercially available to the general public.

Interestingly these early Christmas Cards did not often feature the kind of images modern people would recognise as a Christmas Cards. No Winter Wonderlands, or Santa Claus, or even religious scenes for that matter – which I found surprising. No instead they featured things like fairies or flowers, or other things heralding the coming of spring.

in the 1840s Queen Victoria began the tradition of “official Christmas cards” – that is cards sent out from important places, like the palace or Ten Downing Street. Which the American Presidents quickly snapped up. However it wouldn’t be until Franklin Roosevelt before they began using the card format instead of just personalised notes.

Which is kind of neat.

The Twelfth Day

On the Twelfth day of Christmas the Universe gave to me….12 creepy elves sitting in my chimney.

This is by far the most recent of the Christmas Traditions we’ve talked about in this series – spanning little more than 15 years in total. The Seemingly Strange notion of leaving little elf-shaped dolls around the house – at least as a globally embraced Christmas tradition – first began with the 2005 book “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition”. Written by author Carol Aebersold and based on a tradition she began for her own children.

The book tells the story of one of Santa’s ‘scout elves’. Who’s task it is to spy on the children of the world for the big fat man. Each Elf is assigned a family and hides in a different part of their house each day during the Christmas season. The rules say that the family – i.e. the children – can speak to the elf, but they must never touch it. Otherwise the Elf’s magic will vanish and Santa will never know if the family have been Naughty or Nice.

If this tradition / story seems a might creepy, or as The Atlantic columnist Kate Tuttle noted “bullying one’s child into thinking that good behavior equals gifts” – well…it’s not as if that hasn’t been a factor in the Santa Mythos from the very start. I mean taken out of context this is all just breaking and entering.

If you’ve enjoyed this Christmas Folklore / tradition titbit, why not Follow the Wee blog if you haven’t already. And remember to check me out on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, Tumblr, TikTok, Kofi and Facebook. Until Next time Wee Subscribers, have a very bonny day and a very merry Holiday season.