Dick Whittington (and his cat, too)

I've Got No Strings (Petroushka)

First of all, many sincere apologies for not updating this blog. Things in general have been an absolute rollercoaster these past few months, but I've been particularly pre-occupied since the end of May/beginning of June (yet ultimately not for all that bad reasons). I've now found myself in a somewhat quieter period, though things will probably speed up once more come a few weeks time.

Anyhow, while I'm "stringless", so to speak, here's a picture of a living puppet other than Pinocchio. Igor Stravinsky's ballet Petroushka tells the story of a clown puppet at a winter carnival brought to life by his cruel master's magic flute. Though I've never seen the ballet (to be perfectly honest, it's not my cup of tea), the music and the story is beautiful. I believe that Walt Disney briefly considered animating it as a segment for his ambitious and sadly ill-fated Fantasia follow-up. If we ever do see another Fantasia film (highly unlikely as it is, unfortunately), I'm sure that this would be an excellent choice...