AustenBlog...she's everywhere

17 November 2005

Back in fashion again

Filed under: Jane in the News — Mags @ 12:15 am

We know that we should be more charitable about the new film bringing a great deal of positive attention to Jane Austen’s work, so we shall put aside our well-tended persona of Spinsterly Curmudgeonliness to point out some of the articles that have sprung up in its wake.

The Seattle Times provides some stronger stuff for those hooked by the gateway drug of the film. It’s a pretty representative list, from serious criticism to the Jane Austen Mysteries.

USAToday has an article about Kirstin Olsen, who has written a two-volume, 800-page encyclopedia called All About Austen. We find this astounding.

Details on Austen’s world are scattered, so research led Olsen to universities, the Library of Congress and the Internet. She located experts on pens, vehicles, optics and dress with a goal to synthesize information and present it in entertaining fashion.

The dangers of spoilage

Filed under: Pride and Prejudice (2005) — Mags @ 12:02 am

We were amused by an article in the LAist from someone who was spoiled not wisely but too well before her viewing of P&P3…

But there was one line in her review that stuck with us throughout the entire movie:

The film’s single false note comes in a post-wedding scene on a balcony at Pemberley Hall that’s unfortunately reminiscent of “Sixteen Candles.”

And unfortunately, since we’re big fans of Sixteen Candles and the other Brat Pack-era films like The Outsiders, St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club, et al, it was hard to wipe away that image of Molly Ringwald’s Samantha and her beau, Jake, sitting cross-legged oogling each other across a lit birthday cake. When we watched the denouement in Pride and Prejudice, all of a sudden we could hear Long Duk Dong across the English moors…

Now, there’s a new take on the UnAusten Coda: Imagine half-dressed Darcy, the worse for a couple of bottles of claret, chasing Lizzy around saying, “Oh sexy girlllllllfriennnnnnd…”

 

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