Newsweek profiles Aishwarya Rai, star of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE. In the interview she discusses Bond, bikinis, Bollywood, and of course, BRIDE AND PREJUDICE:

…I definitely think the Hindi film industry offers wonderful, feel-good cinema. Movies like “Lagaan” [where Indian villagers beat the British at cricket] or “Devdas” [a tale of star-crossed lovers] and movies that have reached that kind of caliber have had the world audience reacting to their feel-good element and their focus on family values. When we were on the set [of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE], Martin [Henderson], my co-star in “Bride,” kept saying: “There’s just this innocence to the emotion of love in this movie, which makes it very pure.”

Mr. Darcy’s wet shirt is even famous amongst rugby fans.

In that spate of second-half English scoring, those rolling mauls become the most exciting sight on national television - in a thoroughly Neanderthal way - since Pride and Prejudice produced Mr Darcy in his shirt dripping wet from a river.

River?

A Cornell student reviews the video game Donkey Konga, and further shares with his readers that:

If I was stranded on a desert island, I would want three things: a gun, Pride and Prejudice, and Donkey Konga.

We couldn’t resist sharing such a charming idea, though we would like to point out that Jane Austen’s Complete Novels can count as your one desert island book. And according to The Scotsman, putting the Complete Jane on your holiday gift list “shows refinement.” Here at AustenBlog World Headquarters, we are nothing if not refined.

The Winter 2004 issue of Persuasions Online has been posted on the JASNA Web site with a good selection of articles. We are certain that you Mr. Darcy fans (you know who you are) will be delighted to read “‘One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it’: The Development of Darcy in Pride and Prejudice” and there are several articles for us Persuasionites as well. Those of us who enjoy reading books about and inspired by Jane, as well of those bemused by her continuing popularity, will be fascinated by Barry Roth’s annual Jane Austen Bibliography.

In other JASNA news, the topic of the 2005 Essay Contest has been posted: “Jane Austen’s Letters in Fact and Fiction,” probably not coincidentally the topic of the 2005 Annual General Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The contest is open to high school, undergraduate and post-graduate students. The 2004 essay contest winners have been posted on the Web site, and you can read the winning essay as well.

The Omaha World-Herald tells us that there will be a Jane Austen Birthday Tea this Saturday, December 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Omaha Public Library. (Free, but bring your own tea cup!) We thought it might be a JASNA-related event, but a perusal of their Web site reveals that there is no regional group in Nebraska (quel dommage!). Thus, if any Omaha Janeites are reading this, consider yourselves informed! And write to JASNA and ask if you can form a regional group!