Paul from KeiraWeb.com has given us a treasure! He captured the segment from the television programme “Flog It!” that was filmed at Chawton, showing some of the Austen memorabilia, including first editions of all the novels–both an uncut, unbound edition of S&S and all of Edward Austen Knight’s copies of the novels, bound for his library, much as Mr. Darcy would have done for the library at Pemberley. There is also a letter written by Jane, the table where she wrote, and other items. The host gets all the history spot-on, which is nearly unknown on these types of shows–we usually end up throwing at least one soft item at the telly when there’s something on about Jane.

The files are on the main page at KeiraWeb.com in two parts, or here are direct links:

Part One (4.5 Mb)
Part Two (6.5 Mb)

PLEASE REMEMBER TO RIGHT-CLICK AND DOWNLOAD THE FILES TO YOUR OWN COMPUTER! Even the gerbil on the wheel that powers the computer at AustenBlog World Headquarters had no objection to the downloads, and the time spent is worth it. The files will play in Windows Media Player, or Paul suggests downloading the VLC Player, which plays many different media types.

Many thanks to Paul for the lovely treat!

According to the Oregonian, a generation has been inspired by the film CLUELESS, which was, of course, inspired by Jane Austen’s novel Emma.

Lindsay Rowan and gal-pal Tabitha “Tabby” Calhoun can rattle off the film’s dialogue and definitions with barely a second breath.

A Betty? “A hot chick. Also called a Monet,” says Rowan, 25.

No, no, no…Betty and Monet are not synonymous. Amber was the Monet, because “from far away she’s okay, but up close she’s a big old mess!”

And what about their heroine Cher Horowitz’s favorite response? Hands fly up, thumbs lock, index fingers extend as each makes the signature “W” sign.

That was Amber, too.

Besides instantly adding about a dozen new words to the teen lexicon, like “Betty,” “Baldwin” and “Outie” (”Clueless” to English translation: “We’re out of here!”)

Umm…we believe that’s “We’re Audi.” Like the car. Rhymes with “outie,” short for “outtahere.” Which is, like, funny. *sigh*

Whatever.

(Note: An inspection of the film closed captioning reveals that it is, indeed, “Audi” as in the car. HAH!)

(The Editrix wrote a term paper on CLUELESS. Can you tell?)

But here’s some good news:

“It’s one of those movies that when it’s on you have to watch it,” says fan Alex Ranch, 21, who estimates with only slight exaggeration that the number of times she’s seen it is nearing the “million” mark. “I saw it on HBO when I was a kid. Then heard it was about ‘Emma,’ and read the Jane Austen book, and then rented the A&E (Network) movie of ‘Emma,’ just because I couldn’t get enough of the story.”

w00t!

And even more good news for us CLUELESS fans…to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the film’s release, Paramount Home Video will release a new version of the DVD, called “The Whatever Version,” in August. DVD features include:

• Available subtitles: English, Spanish
• Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• The Class of ‘95 - A look at the cast, then and now
• Creative Writing - Director Amy Heckerling talkes about creating the world of Clueless
• Fashion 101 - How the filmmakers invented the trend-setting fashions
• How To Play the “Suck ‘n Blow” Game - A Tutorial
• Driver’s Ed - Get behind the wheel with the cast and crew
• We’re History - Stories from the cast and crew
• 2 Theatrical Trailers

Wow. That’s, like, cooler than getting a pink Jeep for your sixteenth birthday!

The Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, Kentucky will stage a production of “The Last of Jane Austen” from July 26 through August 6. We previously reported a September production of the play in Wichita, Kansas.

Curious, we Googled the play and discovered that a television film, LADIES AND THE CHAMP, was made in 2001 based upon the play. Still haven’t a clue what it has to do with Jane Austen, but it sure sounds like a good play.

Well, here is a P&P3 still we haven’t seen yet…

In other P&P3 news, Paul from KeiraWeb.com writes to tell us that Variety has reported that the MPAA rating for P&P3 will be PG-13 (the official site still says it is unrated). Must be the Regency Cleavage^TM, although in this case we suppose it is properly Georgian Cleavage^TM.

Actually, we have always wondered why people think P&P is so innocent. We doubt that Lydia and Wickham spent their time playing whist during the fortnight in which they cohabited in London, and Mr. Bennet says flat-out to Lizzy that he fears she will have an affair if she marries a man she cannot respect. In the 1940 film version of P&P, the Hays office (which censored films in the U.S. from the 1930s until the MPAA ratings were established in the 1960s) would not allow the filmmakers to portray Mr. Collins as a clergyman, because it was disrespectful to portray a clergyman as a buffoon. Tame old Jane Austen, unable to pass the prewar respectability test; who would have thought it?

P.S. Private to the author of the piece: that’s Knightley and Macfadyen.

It’s pretty sad when your Editrix could not get No. 2. It really didn’t describe any Austen novel with which we are familiar (and frankly we think Lady Susan the best choice for the clue given).

In an interview conducted by Melissa Anelli of The Leaky Cauldron (the site that inspired AustenBlog) and Emerson Spartz of MuggleNet, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and well-known Friend of Jane, seems to understand the impulse that causes the creation of fan fiction, both of her books and of Jane Austen’s novels:

Also I think people will continue to theorize about the characters even at the end of book seven because some people are very interested in certain characters whose past lives are not germane to the plot, they’re not central to the story, so there is big leeway there still for fanfiction, just as there is, I mean – Jane Austen, I’m a huge Jane Austen fan and you wonder about the characters lives at the end of the story. They still exist, they still live, you’re bound to wonder, aren’t you?

Ms. Rowling, we would be delighted to hook you up if you’re really wondering.

Jane Austen herself often spoke to family members about the characters in her books and their lives after the story ended. There’s a wonderful passage in one of her letters about finding “Mrs. Bingley’s” portrait at an exhibition, and looking for “Mrs. Darcy” but not finding her, and finally deciding that Mr. Darcy would not allow a portrait of his wife to be publicly exhibited.

WARNING: If you have not finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and want to remain unspoiled, you might want to skip the J.K. Rowling interview till you have finished the book.

Speaking of Harry Potter and Jane Austen, and pray forgive the blog-pimping, the Editrix dropped in at Woodston Parsonage on Saturday to make sure the rector and his wife had received their copy of HBP…