The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

I was skeptical at first. To be honest though, I'm always skeptical, it lesson the likelihood of disappointment. Yes, I always have been a little rain cloud. I digress. My kooky and wonderful friend Jess (who may be doing her history masters focusing in Viking history-- I know some amazing people), showed me this vlog called "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries."
The premise is this: Elizabeth Bennet is a 21st century woman. She lives in California with her sisters Jane and Lydia, their father, and their southern belle mother who is constantly trying to get them settled. Lizzie doing her MA in Communications while living at home and making video blogs with the help of her best friend Charlotte.
The way they adapt Pride and Prejudice to a modern setting is very clever. It's probably one of the better modernizations of Austen's work I've seen. Perhaps because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Rather than getting too caught up on the "Romance" genre constantly imposed on Austen's work, it's very funny, but occasionally hits some serious notes. There are allusions to Austen throughout as well.
Overall it's very fun and makes for perfect guilty pleasure viewing (I needed new literary shenanigans since Strindberg and Helium haven't updated in ages...). Each video is 3-7 minutes long and they update quite regularly. I believe the team is up to about 55 videos and the story is just beginning. Here's the first:

Beautiful British Men

It has been far too long since I've done a shallow man-centric post. It's just the thing to cheer me up. Here are some of my current favorites in no particular order:

John Simm- A more subtly attractive man, he has a quiet quality that is sexier than mere looks, though he is equipped in that arena as well. I first saw him as The Master in Doctor Who, but he has also starred in The Devil's Whore, Life on Mars, and Exile.

Rufus Sewell- A man who is aging beautifully, if I may say so. He never tries to be a boy, but sits comfortably in the man he is. I first discovered him in A Knight's Tale, buy have enjoyed his work in The Illusionist, Shakespeare Retold: The Taming of The Shrew, The Pillars of the Earth, and the recent series Zen.

Benedict Cumberbatch- He has the unfair advantage of playing one of the sexiest characters ever in Sherlock, his intelligence and beautiful voice increase his appeal. His other films include The Last Enemy, Atonement, The Other Boleyn Girl, and the upcoming The Hobbit

Michael Fassbender- This beautiful actor of Irish/German descent has played roles in Inglorious Basterds, 3oo, Angel, The Devil's Whore, and Jane Eyre, . Perhaps what is most attractive about him (other than those eyes...) is his intensity which he brings to emotional moments.

There are, of course, many more worthy gentlemen that could be in this post, but I don't have the time for all of them. Here are just a few that I have not sufficiently written raptures about on my blog before.

A Crack in the Lens by Darlene Cypser

“Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his high powered lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his.” -A Scandal in Bohemia

A young Sherlock Holmes returns to his home in the English countryside after living abroad for his health’s sake. He has a history of poor health, but now at age seventeen he’s gained strength in his time on the continent and through his study of fencing. He soon gets wrapped up in his home estate. His eldest brother, Sherrinford marries and the daughter of a tenant named Violet Rushdale catches young Sherlock’s eye. However, he is plagued by a tenuous relationship with his father, the squire. His father doesn’t think he’ll amount to much and intends to send Sherlock to study as an engineer.
His father engages a tutor to come prepare Sherlock for university. A mathematical genius, young Professor Moriarty arrives and soon he and Sherlock are engaged in a battle of wits that will endanger Sherlock and people he cares for.

Darlene Cypser paints a rich landscape for her Holmesian prequel. Well researched and thought out, it gives a possible beginning to Sherlock Holmes’ story. It gives a look at the young man before he became the calculating machine described by Watson and how his interest in solving the unsolvable originated. It’s a quick read with plenty of suspense.
Unlike prequels such as The Young Sherlock Holmes that had to rewrite history to make the story work, Cypser sticks with the story. Though initially, I was skeptical about her inserting of Moriarty into the story, Cypser fills out the image of Moriarty. She also develops a back story between Holmes and Moriarty that emphasizes why Holmes is so bent on Moriarty’s removal from society in “The Final Problem.”

Goodnight Mr. Holmes by Carole Nelson Douglas

Goonight Mr. Holmes: An Irene Adler Novel tells the story of Sherlock Holmes' worthy opponent from the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia," Irene Adler. According to the short story, "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman."
The story is told from the perspective of Penelope Huxliegh, the daughter of a country curate, she finds herself orphaned and out of the job in the middle of London. When Irene Adler rescues her from an urchin trying to steal her bag, the two soon become friends and roommates. She is, in a sense, Irene's Watson. Her friend and biographer that helps keep her grounded.
Penelope or Nell is a very interesting and well rounded character in her own right, a good creation on the part of Douglas. She assists Irene, who enjoys solving problems, solving puzzles, and finding missing items for people while she waits for her opera career to take off. Among Irene's friends and clients are historical figures such as Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and the famous jeweler, Mr. Tiffany. Though it's clear that Irene's focus is her musical career, rather than detective work, she has trouble resisting the lure mysteries such as that surrounding a spectacular length of diamonds that has been missing for several generations.
Douglas's novel shows that there were several times when Adler nearly met Sherlock Holmes, their paths narrowly crossing before the events of "Scandal."
The novel creates a rich background to Adler's life before she finds herself involved with the King of Bohemia, how and why she flees his company, and how she tricked Sherlock Holmes and escaped England.
It's a loving tribute to a fantastic character that has captured readers' imaginations more than any other woman from Doyle's canon. Indeed, perhaps it is a kind of literary justice that Adler has been incorporated into so many stories by other authors. The way Douglas presents the story allows her to show the mutual fascination between Holmes and Adler without pushing a romantic relationship between them. However, Godfrey Norton, the man Adler eventually marries plays a big part and also become a much more rounded character than Doyle originally wrote.
Douglas also pulls the classic "I'm not the author, I'm the editor" gimmick, creating the illusion of the story coming straight from Penelope's diaries, and even a few portions from Dr. Watson's journals not previously published. It's a common enough style of presenting this sort of thing- Laurie King does something similar with her Mary Russell series. Douglas's post-script to the novel lays it on a little thick, however.
Overall, a good read for fans of Adler that wish she had been more developed. It is an interesting story that paints a portrait of friendship just as appealing as the classic relationship between Holmes and Watson, but in this case exploring a feminine version of this friendship, between Irene and Penelope.

Banned Book of the Day: The Great Gatsby

I'm starting my Banned Books Week celebration a little early because I'm feeling down and nothing perks me up like a lively literary discussion.
As some of my regular readers know, I read The Great Gatsby for the first time this summer. In spite of my hesitance, I discovered that I loved it. It was a beautifully tragic novel with a theme just as modern as when it was first published. Whether the ALA's list of top 100 Banned or Challenged Classics is in any sort of order or not is unclear, but either way, The Great Gatsby is the first book on the list. Also on the site, some reasons and instances of banning are listed. Here is the reason given for Gatsby:
"Challenged at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC (1987) because of "language and sexual references in the book." Source: 2010 Banned Books Resource Guide by Robert P. Doyle."

After my initial reaction of "What?" I truly thought about the content of the book and though there are themes that might be unpleasant or involved sexuality, there is nothing explicit. Not explicit enough to gain my notice. The language, I remember being quite mild especially compared to much of the film and literature present at 1987, the year mentioned for the challenging.
Perhaps I wouldn't recommend it for my eight year old nephew, but it is an important novel that I believe every high schooler should experience.

Mainly why I decided to post on this tonight is because The Elevator Repair Service is doing another production of Gatz starting the 26th at the Public Theatre in New York. After Performing it all over the world, ERS is finally bringing it to New York City. The six hour performance (with two intermissions and a dinner break) performs the complete text of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel.
The company is also just coming off the run of their adaptation of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Incidentally, another top 100 Challenged Classic, number 20 on their current list.

Review: Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman

"Maybe she'll regret coming back, but right now there is nowhere on earth that could feel more familiar." In this modern re-imagining of Emily Brönte's classic Wuthering Heights, the Cathy character, March, returns home years after marrying the right man, having his child, and resisting the temptation to return to her first love, Hollis, once. Can she resist it again?
Though based off of Brönte's novel, it diverges nicely, and becomes its own story, a story of the destructive quality love has and how much choice we have in the direction our lives take. Written with immediacy, Hoffman doesn't limit herself to the characters and events of the original novel, she introduces her readers to a town full of distinctive and realistic characters. Her landscape is incredibly detailed and stories about all these characters are woven through making the audience feel like they grew up in this town, they are up on all the gossip. She also plays with setting, she uses the marshes and back woods of the town as characters themselves, much the way Brönte painted her scene with the wild moors of England. The mystical qualities of the original have also been incorporated without being copied. Small town superstition comes together with the style known as magical realism (seen in works by Gabriel García Márquez, Laura Esquivel, etc.) where things happen that aren't possible, but yet feel possible. Hoffman often plays on the sense of scent; characters are able to smell feelings like rage and desire.
Hoffman also plays with language. Certain descriptions deteriorate throughout the book, she allows vulgarity and profane colloquialism to invade situations, but that only reinforces the actions of the characters. Also, by putting the story in a modern setting I think it personalizes the main characters. Sometimes when reading a text written in an era that was over long before you were born I think people have a tendency to romanticize the characters and situations. One of my pet peeves about film adaptations of Wuthering Heights is that Cathy and Heathcliff come across as too nice. Too loving and cruelly trapped by fate that is out their hands, too justified in the way they treat people. Putting it in a context that is closer to modern readers, I think, assists in creating a more even-handed view of the characters. Some might argue that they aren't the same characters from the original novel, and that's true, but this adaptation did give me a new perspective on Cathy and Heathcliff.
Even if you weren't a fan of Wuthering Heights or have never read it, you will be able to enjoy this as an independent story that is well told. If you are a fan of the original, you'll enjoy seeing the way the characters are adapted to a modern setting, but appreciate that it doesn't chain itself to Brönte's text.

This book is book #2 for my All About the Bröntes Challenge
This is "Book with a place in the title" (Earth) for What's in a Name? Challenge

This Week

So after last night's Robin Hood the main story arch is finally speeding toward the inevitable climax. It's a relief, there were a few episodes that didn't do much to push the season forward, but now we are moving. Looking forward to some fantastic performances, an unexpected twist, and a heartbreaking finale. Saturday the 31st the eighth episode premiers in America.
Also on the 31st TCM is doing a special tribute to Mad Scientists. Their showing Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde starring Spencer Tracy from 1941. It's based off the short novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and also stars Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Not a bad film, but it bears little resemblance to original story.
I've decided to do a little series of reviews comparing various film adaptations to their original texts.
Any suggestions?
Update: I'm a few chapters into The Blood of Flowers now, it's very engaging. One custom/superstition mentioned in the book that I found very interesting was the idea of "stealing" something from a loved one going on a journey to ensure that they'll come back to you. Without even realizing it I think we've all done it. Photographs, letters, trinkets, little things we give an take. When one of my friends and I had to seperate to go off to college we swapped books so that we would be sure to meet up again. We had to swap them back.