so on this day I had a thought process from adam young scores (music he made around historical/major events) - Alice in wonderland (and looking glass etc.) - space (the golden record, sci-fi etc)

adam young scores, definitely one of my favourite artists ever, more well-known as his project name owl city, he did this series of scores around iconic events in human history, especially the ones that made an impact on him, which I think is a great combination of motivation behind the project, something that not only impacted him personally but on human history.. and the music itself is beautiful and narrative, it's just fascinating how people are able to tell stories using a non-visual medium like sound.

https://www.ayoungscores.com/

I was also thinking about Alice cause I was once again flipping through the book I have of the video game 'the art of Alice: madness returns' because I wanted to read about the Infernal Train featured as a central motif in the game:

"Being the second episode in the game series, we wanted Madness Returns to borrow certain elements from Through the Looking Glass, including the train line. In our game, the train has morphed into something quite different - a harbinger of doom, a representation of the end of Wonderland, and with it, Alice herself. It chases Alice through the world, haunting her."

I just find the train motif to be fascinating, and there will be a blog post more on this, including what Foucault said about the train. anyway, I also read the section on this level, the Dollhouse, (which is terrifying cute-creepy, I haven't even played it) and I was pleasantly surprised that they took inspiration from mark ryden who I also like a lot. I don't know why I haven't thought about it like this before but I appreciate the skills and artists working in the video game industry, I think it's genius, to be able to create an immersive atmosphere, one that you can move around in, with so many elements that you need to tweak to get it perfect. I guess it's like any video project, like a film, except your audience will be moving through it, and controlling, making choices, which makes it even more difficult, to get the balance between plot and play etc. and the concept art behind this world is just amazing, just seeing the artists at work. I really admire people who can do this, especially on the digital platform. I think the art of making an idea believable is something I'll always want to strive for. The reason why I like Alice so much is because it is based on a well-known story, and they make it believable that there is this side to Alice, and to be so engaging too, the visuals are stunning, the play is really fun, and the way you collect memories (and dialogue from her life plays as you run around, and you get these little pieces of her story) and transition between real life and wonderland is really representative of her mental state.

back to the train, I didn't know a train line was in Looking Glass - in fact, I don't know the story of Looking Glass. she apparently 'enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic (running helps you remain stationary, walking away from something brings you towards it, chessmen are alive, nursery rhyme characters exist, etc.)'
The mirror thing, of course reminds me of dorothea tanning's ideas, and I don't know why I haven't thought about this before but, Alice is a story of the nonsensical - and on the other end of that - logic - the story actually has a lot of mathematical elements to it - which is quite logical... I found out about this on wiki, actually... I did take some screenshots as I was reading through, they're at the end. this might be obvious but I don't know why it didn't occur to me, probably cause the Disney Alice as animated and it seemed to me to be, 'oh, of course this is happening, this is totally normal and makes sense in this universe' as an outside perspective. but when I look at the actual story now, it resembles amazingly to how a dream, an extremely tiring and vivid one, feels like, which I get from time to time. it feels like you haven't rested and you're so glad you've rested and at some times, glad you're home (like Dorothy when she wakes up from oz).. the colours used in the Disney Alice, from memory, were so bright and colourful with dark backgrounds, which seems representative of a dream-like atmosphere too. not dissimilar to the drunk dumbo scene. though they used more neon colours and it really felt like you were drunk and out of your mind, floating.

Through the Looking Glass concludes with 'Chapter Twelve – Which dreamed it?: The story ends with Alice recalling the speculation of the Tweedle brothers, that everything may have been a dream of the Red King, and that Alice might herself be no more than a figment of his imagination. The book ends with the line "Life, what is it but a dream?"

Also, I didn't know about this but the famous line 'why's a raven like a writing desk?' came from Alice in wonderland (and funnily enough, quoted in the shining)

“Mad Hatter: “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”
“Have you guessed the riddle yet?” the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
“No, I give it up,” Alice replied: “What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” said the Hatter”

A lot of people have offered an answer to the line, including caroll himself after being pushed, but the original line is not supposed to have an answer, sort of the peak of the nonsensical... I think in many ways this ties into surrealism and I'm thinking of the weird and wonderful compositions of surrealist paintings... of course, the iconic dali paintings:

The Persistence of Memory 1931

https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/salvador-dali-the-persistence-of-memory-1931/

[With its uncanny, otherworldly feel, and its melting pocket watches and mollusk-like central figure strewn about a barren landscape, Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory seems wholly imaginary. In fact, it sprang not only from the artist’s imagination, but also from his memories of the coastline of his native Catalonia, Spain. As he once explained: “This picture represented a landscape near Port Lligat, whose rocks were lighted by a transparent and melancholy twilight; in the foreground an olive tree with its branches cut, and without leaves.”

Dalí frequently described his works as “hand-painted dream photographs.” He applied the methods of Surrealism, tapping deep into the non-rational mechanisms of his mind—dreams, the imagination, and the subconscious—to generate the unreal forms that populate The Persistence of Memory. These blend seamlessly with features based on the real world, including the rocky ridge in the painting’s upper-right-hand corner, which describes the cliffs of the Cap de Creus peninsula. Utilizing what he called “the usual paralyzing tricks of eye-fooling,” Dalí claimed that he made this painting with “the most imperialist fury of precision,” but only “to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality.”]

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee
around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking, 1944

https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/dali-salvador/dream-caused-flight-bee-around-pomegranate-second-waking

on another note, I found this analysis on sparksnotes (open to interpretation..) and there were points made about how caroll felt threatened by darwin's research on evolution .. which challenged the Christian belief in a harmonious universe where animals and men coexisted...

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/through-the-looking-glass/section3/

Alice and the Gnat discuss in detail how one’s name should relate to one’s identity or physical characteristics. As they discuss the names of different insects in their respective worlds, the Gnat asks Alice about the purpose of names if the insects do not respond to the names when called by them. Alice explains that the names are not necessarily for animals and objects to identify themselves by and respond to, but rather, names help those with powers of language to label, classify, and organize what they experience. In Looking-Glass World, humans are not the only species with powers of language, which changes Alice’s perceptions about the act of naming and the properties of names. Alice’s interactions with the Fawn are initially friendly, but he bolts upon learning that it is a Fawn and she is a human child. Alice discovers that names do not simply label, but convey information about how something operates in the world in relation to other things. The Bread-and-butter-fly, as its name suggests, lives on weak tea with cream, and Fawns fear humans, their conditioned enemies.

The Fawn’s fear of Alice suggests Carroll’s preoccupation with Darwin’s theory of evolution. Carroll was a deeply religious man who felt threatened by Charles Darwin’s research on evolution, which was published at the same time that Carroll was writing. To Carroll, the theory of evolution challenged the Christian belief in a harmonious universe created by God in the manner described in the book of Genesis. As in Genesis, the forest resembles Eden, in which men and animals coexisted harmoniously. Alice and the Fawn exit the forest just as Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden after tasting from the Tree of Knowledge. Just like the story of the Fall of Eden, the Fawn becomes afraid once it remembers that Alice is a human and that she presents a threat to his safety. The reference to the Fall calls attention to Carroll’s anxiety about Darwin’s theories of evolution, which in his perception sought to undo the idea of a harmonious universe that might bring about a second Fall.
there was also a bit about the train (interesting how different parts of the train e.g. sounding like a train, is used as well)

"Trains and train imagery appear frequently to underscore the feeling of unstoppable forward motion that governs Alice’s journey toward womanhood. The Red King’s somnolent snoring resembles a train engine, while the White Queen screams like a train whistle before she pricks her finger. Alice skips forward several spaces when she finds herself unexpectedly on a train, shooting through the forest toward her destination and mimicking Alice’s forward movement as a pawn in the chess game. The train imagery suggests the irreversible and unstoppable movement toward adulthood that Alice becomes subject to in her journey through Looking-Glass World."

a great quote:

3. It’s a great huge game of chess that’s being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.

"This quote occurs in Chapter 2 of Through the Looking-Glass, as Alice looks out from the hill and sees a landscape checkered like a chessboard and different characters stationed on the board like chessmen. Carroll has already introduced the theme of chess, but Alice’s musing suggest that chess functions as a metaphor not only for the world of the novel but for our world as well. Carroll frequently espoused the idea of life as a game. Like Alice, we are pawns in our own lives, condemned to move forward through time with little knowledge and understanding of the wider world. Within our limited perspective, the world seems eminently ordered and explainable by nature and logic, much like a chessboard’s symmetrical and geometrical nature evokes a sense of determinable order."
so - wonderland/surrealist landscapes feels the opposite to the geometrical logical order as the chess possesses ??

/// the Golden Record** extending this in a newer post.

rough notes of my thought process:

-Adam Young scores, the journey, the land the human, like Quinn (but his more romantic? Poetry) Accidentally typing Alive instead of Alice and that film came up, which made me think of this and in description it said it left a big impression on him as a kid... human spirit, his whole series of scores , also the cinematic ep life is like a movie etc. like his thinking his composition of music , my struggle in picturing constructing music and sounds and beats etc, electronic music , sad lyrics upbeat etc, back to cinematic scores, and those with unique voices, strength like Aladdin fragility like hunger games and hopeless hopefull like great gatsby,

-Alice : started off by reading a bit of the book, realised dollhouse reference to Ryden and brothers quay, the combination of body to things or tech like in Jon roffman video and maybe maze runner and etc. Many examples,, experiment gone wrong, stitched together.. speaking of this and games, fran Bow has the peculiar chapter where she turns into a literal tree and while that may be comical it was completely disturbing ,, (collect) , anyways reading summaries of Alice and looking glass and learning about the people that Alice sort of was based on, and also the supposed suicide of the boy that inspired Peter Pan really sad . >> contrasted into the childhood game I played of Peter Pan, crazy franchise. anyway, all these different versions reimagines of Alice I want to check out, don’t know why but they always twisted. and idk why I didn’t realise this before but Alice is just like one very bizarre dream (it is) (but for some reason I treated like reality cause it was in cinema) like if I had that dream I’d be so tired my brain full, and looking glass - reminds me of Dorothea’s quote of the mirror and also heterotopia, and ‘looking glass’ instead of mirror?? also everything in the other side logic is reverse,, and in Alice wonderland too, didn’t know why it didn’t hit me earlier but best nonsensical out there yet it makes perfect sense. It’s like a dream but with the most exciting visuals and I can’t imagine it without Disney’s colours in it. (reminds me of dumbo drunk scene, something that gaudy and colourful) also, the raven and writing desk quote is fantastic, others even provided answers and they’re all valid, and even in the shining the boy utters an answer. Didn’t know the author was mathematician and some have said it is very mathematic. With nonsensical things it seems you can put endless logic on it - wait kind of like dream interpretation, reality onto the fantasy you experienced. (Need to read on Jung)

in the live action of Alice always thought mad hatter by depp was most compelling you feel for that character like scissorhands like wonka. so fragile you want to protect. it was probably the only moment that made me want to cry.

anyway the by the end of Alice the movie you get a sense of just wanting to go Home (more in the live action) it’s been fun but it’s time (ooh also time punishing them to be tea time forever) and this is similar to how I felt ofc in wizard of oz, those glittery iconic shoes that takes her home.. (just realised the Alice book I have I also bought the sequel and also lost boy which is Peter Pan. I think I made a post about Peter Pan and never growing up in a post back in first year. but I think from that time I’ve grown now.)

also the train (watch snowpiercer) - infernal in Alice madness returns , but apparently from looking glass (for some reason this reminds me of that narnia scene where waves crash’s from inside (?) also the wardrobe ? Lion witch and the wardrobe , three in words. Anyway, also nutcracker and arietty? (more on that too, miniature, survival, interior, domestic, family, space, beauty of nature) like, fantasy from interior? and barbie portrayal of nutcracker or other tales? the idea of that. and the rosy things she says and she’s the perfect girl.

-from googling voyager 1- golden record - images and sounds on it - how earth is portrayed to extra terrestrials- images/titles, maybe google image search or imagine it ? or text? or one big collage ? Make my own golden record / also space ?! (watch more Kurzegat videos ) space is a whole other realm - that speaks a lot on existence and time that’s relevant and maybe on the same wavelength as the digital too - Concept of the digital baffles me like stocks , abstract. infinity infinite space , distance and time . time capsule .. ‘space art’ Jon Lomberg who has art in the golden record - that exhibition in Lisbon ? how small we are in universe - sublime? like geraint said . Science fiction magazine aesthetic - also nelson said something about my box painting how there’s something sci fi? is this relating back to my trauma with alien exhibition (which is artificial but not real so double unreal ?) scale is terrifying . SCALE up and protagonist small again . which is like jules de balincourt except he also has figures in trees ??? anyway, science fiction magazines - reminds me of visual of that Fantsstic planet film animation but also a lot else I need to watch on letterboxd. like Alice / paprika , the dream-world. and shneddkye New York. even evangelion. all this out of the world digital stuff maybe relating to being at home in quarantine I go even further than normal like I wouldn’t usually like I skip the normal outside but straight out to space and abstract space... science fiction... (ofc super relevant to space odyssey how am I just realising that. also another note space between us/ learn to be human again even tho he is human, the sound artist said music is one of the fundamental things and I agree ) science fiction works (research)(gravity’s rainbow? ) (brave new world) also watched arrival) so much of our culture comes from this , prediction ? Of future or imaginings , technological advancement fast and slow at the same time it’s like I’m zooming in and out just like this quarantine and personally I realised I love technology I think it’s amazing and the switch I just want to get from the machine ) and science fiction (looking at first pic on wiki, is so different to the works of the fantasy like that illustrator similar on brown ground ) often said to ‘inspire a sense of wonder’ like a nature more wondrous than nature