The St. Paul Pioneer Press has an article about the Minnesota chapter of JASNA, which is, like many JASNA chapters, expecting an increase in their ranks from the new film. Whether or not they hang around, of course, is another matter!

I first encountered the group six years ago, when a late-1990s explosion of Austen films led to a faddish surge in membership — of rather the wrong kind of women.

(”There were some who didn’t care to read the books” is how one of the members put it at the time, speaking with the politely frosty reserve typical of the Georgian tearoom.)

It is our experience that there is always a percentage of new Janeites created with each new adaptation, some of which become Janeites for life. Welcome to them!

The signs say that as you enter Hampshire, by the bye: Welcome to Jane Austen Country.

The Boston Herald does a tour of “Jane Austen Country,” including Hampshire, Bath, and several of the settings for the new P&P film.

Chawton in Hampshire, an hour southwest of London, is where Austen actually spent most of her life, though it is not featured in the movie. The Jane Austen’s Home & Museum (www.jane-austens-home-musuem.org.uk) is a modest two-story brick home located in a village of thatched-roof cottages. Here Austen penned “Pride & Prejudice,” as well as “Mansfield Park,” “Emma” and “Persuasion.” Her writing table and letters are on display.

Highly recommended!

Baldrick Dorothy, our cunning plan to poison the minds of America against P&P3 clearly did not succeed, as it pulled in an impressive $2.8 million at the box office this weekend despite being on only 215 screens nationwide. Damn you! Damn you all to hell!

For those of you in the U.K. whose diet is a trifle cheese-deficient, there’s an online petition demanding the Return of the Snog, at least for the DVD. The BBC says the scene was taken out because the British test audiences hated it. USAToday reports what the Evil Editrix heard from several independent sources but scrupled to post previously as she thought it a bit inflammatory: many in the audience at the JASNA AGM laughed out loud at the scene. (Thanks to Alert Janeites Lorraine and Sumita for the links.)

Clearly we’re just a bunch of purist cranks, so those of you who lurrrved the film, hie yourselves to Rotten Tomatoes, a site that syndicates many film reviews from all over. The current ranking is 91% Fresh. Wallow in the mushy tomato goodness.

And thanks to Alert Janeite Kirsty for sending us a link to so much Darcy you’ll probably pass out from it.