Corsets & Corpses

Somethings are just so wrong on so many levels. This cover falls into that category or should I just say the really gory. Tonight with beloved Cuz we discovered this odd contribution to the Austen cannon. We thumbed through the book, looked at the juvenile fictionesque illustrations which we agreed were disappointing. Okay, if we suspend all disbelief and move beyond the whole zombie thing. It was difficult to forgive the Victorian drawings for a regency time period. And the ninja thing was unforgivable. Oh and conceptionally, I just don't like zombies. However, the discussion questions at the end of the book were in fact delightful and in our opinion the best part of the book.

I see some friends sitting around after too much to drink and coming up with this idea. The next day Mr. Grahame-Smith, who is in between jobs, reading the note on his hand about Austen and zombies. He sat down and wrote a book proposal on the spot. I just can't get over the juxtaposition of Austen and zombies. What's next Austen in space?

First Impressions

Jane Austin originally used First Impressions as her working title for Pride and Prejudice. And I think the second title was the right choice, but truly the novel is about how false first impressions can cripple a budding attraction. Poor Elizabeth and Darcy spend over half of the book disliking one or other. So it can be said of most that when meeting people we often misjudge the person sitting next to us. Over time and association we see the error of our ways and thank all that is divine that we do!

Last night after work I went to Ari's Restaurant to connect with the core knitting tribe for an after knit night dinner. One of group was being feted for her upcoming birthday. After the food and drink we sat around and just talked. It was that kind of intimate conversation that the hour and the company had combined to make all of us just a little more free with our thoughts and responses. It came up how we had perceived each other on first meetings. The level of open honesty and love was so heart-breakingly wonderful I wanted to weep and laugh simultaneously. I had been so terribly wrong about some of our assembled group and yet so amazingly fortune in falling in with them all. I felt warm and satiated and stayed in the caring embraces of my friends until the hard working waitress ushered us out into the cold night. At the door we departed giving each other bone crushing hugs and tender kisses on cool checks. It was magic. Magic that heals what is wounded in each of us, and makes us stronger.

I came up with a single word for each of these fair knitters and wonder if they can find the qualities I see in them: Intelligent, Nurturing, Serenity, Loyalty, Mirth, Vitality, Brilliance, and Strength. And to the lone male who braved our company last night I would call him, Humor. Finally I add, "And I still have the box it came in."

Miss Potter

A week ago I totally lambasted the movie Becoming Jane. This week I watched Miss Potter and surprised myself, by really liking it. Now I am going to compare it to Miss Potter and Becoming Jane and try to figure out why I liked one and not the other. I have spent the last couple of days contemplating the difference between the two films and have come up with several similarities instead. Both are about British women authors. Predictably, both are stifled by the environment in which they live. Also, these women are misunderstood as artists, in other words put down by the patriarchy. The final commonality is that both films are Hollywood's clumsy attempt to fictionalize these women's romantic lives.

But the difference which tipped one film over to the like category was I am so unfamiliar with Beatrix Potter that she could have been Harry Potter's aunt for all I knew. I found the frumpy Renee and nerdy Ewan charming. The story unfolded with a clueless me enjoying the slow pace of the narrative as I happily knitted along. Where Hathway's Jane was perky, Renee's Miss Potter was feisty and persevered. She was convincing as an artist first and a woman second. Also Miss Potter had something Miss Austen did not, money. It is amazing what financially independence does for a woman with some serious spunk. And my final recommendation is the scenery, the views of the lake country are awesome. I wept with longing to go there after seeing this film. My final analysis is I liked it and at the end did not feel as if I had been pricked to death with a thousand quills.

Oh joy, spellcheck has returned to my blog dashboard. Life is good.

And then the Fat Lady Sang

Sometimes I wish I had slept more in my history and literature classes. If I had maybe I would be one of those people who was shocked when the at the end of The Titanic the ship sank. Or that the perky Kirsten Dunst gets beheaded in Marie Antionnette. I tell myself when I watch something like Zodiac, knowing the story, this fictionalized flim somehow will bring new insights into my perspective of the case. So flush from my orgiastic Jane Austen fest on PBS, I checked out Becoming Jane from the library. I had the added bonus of being the first person to check this DVD out, no skips or scratches for me baby. I prepped myself with snacks, a drink and all my knitting accessories with in reach, needles in hand I hit play.

Expecting entertainment and intellligent dialogue, I was sorely disappointed. To begin with Anne Hathway mumbled through her lines and the erstwhile Mr. Darcy (Mr. Lefroy), lacked charm enough to woo even a spaniel onto his lap. But I will not blame the acting for the annoyance level of this film. I will blame my own knowledge of Jane Austin. Being a literature nerd I knew how this was going to turn out, and this is not a spoiler folks it is fact, poor Jane ends up a spinster. The film became me waiting for Jane to realize she ends up a spinster.

The defining moment of the film becomes after the spinster Jane has listened to an opera singer she meets her old beau and his daughter named (cressendo music here) JANE. She is happy that his child with another woman is named after her. I wanted to fling the remote at the TV. The only upside here was that I got several rows of knitting done while watch this crap.