Original Series

Baby Doll

Published

3 years ago

December 24, 2020

Nicole C. Luttrell

“Alright, Jenny. Are you ready for your Christmas present?” Mom asked.

“Yes, yes I’m ready!” Jenny cried, jumping up and down in place.

“You’ve got to stand still,” Mom laughed.

Jenny tried to stand still, but it was so hard. It was Christmas morning, after all. What child could stand still on that day?

“Okay, sit down and hold your arms out,” Mom laughed.

Jenny did, nearly shaking with excitement. Mom placed something in her arms, and said, “Alright, you can open them now.”

There in Jenny’s arms was a baby doll.

A little boy doll dressed in blue and white striped pajamas.

“Really?” Jenny asked. “I wanted a PlayStation.”

“Honey, we couldn’t afford that this year,” Mom said.

“This is your present, Sweetie,” Dad added. He was beaming. “His name is Cody. Don’t you like him?”

“No,” Jenny said. She felt like crying. “No, take him back.”

Her parents laughed, which was more than she could take. She shoved the doll into her mother’s arms and started crying.

The doll began to cry too. A sad, pathetic little wail. Jenny tried to stop her tears, but the doll kept right on. “Why won’t it stop?” Jenny cried.

“Honey,” Mom said. But Jenny didn’t want to hear it. She ran to her room, furious. Who wanted a dumb doll for Christmas?

Jenny couldn’t be coaxed from her room all day. She refused to come out even when her dad begged and her mom threatened to throw away every toy she had.

She wrapped her arms around herself. What a terrible Christmas.

Eventually, she pouted long enough that it wore her out, and she fell asleep.

She woke sometime later to the sound of the doll crying again. One of her parents must have moved it upstairs. But why was it still crying? She shoved her head under the pillow, but she could still hear it.

Jenny pulled her head out from under her pillow. That stupid doll, it was broken on top of everything else. She couldn’t stand it, it wasn’t fair. The doll was the worst Christmas gift she’d ever gotten.

She jumped up from the bed and ran out of her room. The crying was coming from the spare bedroom at the end of the hall. Her parents had put the doll in there, in the bassinet she’d slept in when she was a baby. She snatched it up and gave it a shake.

“Shut up!” But the doll just kept right on wailing.

This was more than she could stand. With the doll in her arms, she ran to the railing that looked over the living room. She threw the doll down, hoping the fall would be enough to break it.

The doll landed on the hardwood floor. It was finally quiet.

Her parents’ bedroom door opened. “Jenny, what are you doing out of bed?” Mom asked.

Dad looked down over the railing. “My God, Cody!” he screamed and ran down the stairs. “Call an ambulance! Jenny, what happened to your brother?”

Original Series

AI journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 3 Final

Published

2 days ago

April 21, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.

Forget this talk of sheep, it isn't helping..., Dark Fantasy style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Dark Fantasy style, Aug. 1, 2023

A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.

So what about Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf?, Dark Fantasy, Aug. 1, 2023 — Dark Fantasy, Aug. 1, 2023

Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…

Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf, seriously we want to see her face!, Artistic Portrait, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait, Aug. 1, 2023

Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.

Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…

Little Red Riding Hood AI art montage, Nov. 4, 2023 — AI art generated Nov. 4, 2023

Prompts for Montage:

1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being?
2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found.
3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood.
4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you.
5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy.
6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface.
8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs.
9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy.
10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being.
11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon.
12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast
13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse.
14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond.
15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same.
16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost
17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without.
18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within

So thank you for joining us on another AI art journey. You can still catch the last AI art journey on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.

Original Series

AI Journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 2

Published

1 week ago

April 14, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.

Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf, Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023

How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?

Little Red Riding Hood woman with wolf head instead of her own, Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023

Ugh. Maybe not.

Wolf face peering out of red hooded cape, Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023

Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.

Wolf in sheep's clothing as Little Red Riding Hood, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.

And we continued to devolve, join us again next week for the final installment to see how this ended… And again, if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.

Original Series

AI Journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 1

Published

2 weeks ago

April 7, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

And as promised in Big Bad Poetry, we shall embark on our next AI journey, this time looking at Little Red Riding Hood. I had wanted to depict her as the Big Bad Wolf one and the same, although maybe not so big nor bad. But it just wasn’t happening quite as planned. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.

Little Red Riding Hood beautiful woman with red cape hiding her wolf face. Sinister style, July 29, 2023 — Sinister style, July 29, 2023

So I actually like this even better than my original vision, it is playful and even a bit serene (especially given the Sinister style). The wolf is just being a wolf. It’s quite lovely, really. But it wasn’t what I had in mind, so I revisited the idea later to see if I could get that result…

Little Red Riding Hood with wolf face, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

Well, that’s not quite right…

Wolf face Little Red Riding Hood, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

Yeah more of the same…

What part of wolf face don't you understand?, Hyperreal style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Hyperreal style, Aug. 1, 2023

And as you can see this is starting to devolve quickly. Join us again next week to see how this continued to develop… And if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.