Missyisms

Marvel Pride and Prejudice

Marvel, yes the comic book people, are inking into the Jane Austen frenzy. They are releasing Pride and Prejudice in five-serial comic books. I believe the first issue will be released in April, but I can't say for sure.

If you need smelling salts to recover from the thought of P&P in comic book form, then you might want to pre-order all five editions from Marvel via this location. Personally, I'm the cautious type (OK, maybe over cautious), but I think I'd like to see them first and will try to find them in a local comic book store. Plus, I'd rather they arrive unbent from the post office. I can't say the cover art for the first edition thrills me, except "Bingleys Bring Bling" is rather funny.

It's also possible that Marvel will eventually combine the five comics into a hardback or trade paperback in the future. I'm not an expert on this, so check out the comments over at AustenBlog.com to see what other readers say about Marvel's habits in this regard.

(I'm still hoping for Lego Jane Austen. I want my Pemberley!)

UPDATE: There is conflicting information on whether Marvel will release hard cover or trade-paper editions of the comic strip. 

Image Copyright: Marvel Comics.

Going, Going, Firth Gone

The other day I told you that you could own a piece of the Firth as Darcy legacy. The painting went for 12,000 British pounds. I did not win the image. Oh wait, I didn't bid...so nothing gained, nothing lost. For more information check out the Bonhams website.

As I mentioned the other day, there is a Flash version of the photo available so viewers can zoom in for a better view. It's surprising how much this improves the image over what appears on the screen.

Here's the portrait with no zoom:

Not very impressive. But when we zoom in, I'm actually pleasantly surprised that it does, in fact, look like a Firth as a younger Darcy...that's exactly what it's supposed to look like.

Not bad...if the price had been lower I wouldn't have minded him hanging around my walls. Since the opportunity presented itself, I also zoomed in on that building on the right side of the painting.

I had to lighten the image some, but how sweet of them to put an image of Pemberley (or at least the Pemberley from this adaptation) into the portrait!

I was also interested in the book that Firth Darcy is holding...could it be...would they have done it...

Phooey...they didn't put the title First Impressions* on the book! How could they have not thought of that!

Oh well. At least we got to see the portrait in better detail and know that it isn't all that awful. Now, if whoever purchased it would send it on a tour around the globe....

*For those of you that don't know your Pride and Prejudice history, First Impressions was the original name of the novel.

Missy vs. Sally

Delmer blogged today about the Dick and Jane readers used in American schools in years past. This brings back some interesting memories for me. Sadly, I looked a little too much like Sally, the younger sister in the Dick and Jane series. Any time we'd read from the Dick and Jane readers, kids would call me Sally for days...I know that we're all too mature for that now. Right.

Here's Sally pretending to be the Morton Salt girl (sans the salt):

Here's me at about the same age, but in black and white (I still like Easter and I still like eggs, just not in that combination or excitement level):

Here's me in color at an older age than the two images above...but you can see the color matches (actually, this image has my hair redder than it really was):

Occasionally people would ask if I was the model for Sally...NO! I'm not that old! The books are from the 1930s! 

Hmm, need to search the Folks' home to find better pictures of me as Sally. Or maybe I should let the bad dreams fade....

Pride and Prejudice...Facebook Style

Missy is a fan of Pride and Prejudice Facebook style.

Well worth the reading. A few of my favorite lines from the above link:

Elizabeth Bennet and Caroline Bingley are attending the event Take a Turn about the Room.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is proposing to Elizabeth Bennet. It is not going well. :-/

Mrs. Bennet KNEW that single men with good fortunes would want wives.

It's all funny. Check it out and let us know what you think.

A Little Remix Terror

Did you know that Mr. Darcy, gentleman that he was, was really a menace. This YouTube video proves it. Well, it proves the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice does have an interesting sub-text when remixed a bit. The narration on this video is a little forced, but it is interesting how many images from the movie fit the narrator's theme. Great use of remixing the audio over the silhouette of Lizzie in the last shot of the video.

And YouTube recommended the following video because I watched the above. Yes, I always did think Laura Ingalls Wilder was a horror writer...or at least the TV show kind of turned it into horror with all the silly drama they added. I wonder why the video creator left out the blowing up and burning down of the city in the last episode? I mean, come on, that was right out of LIW's books; right. Here's a clip of the Little House horrors:

Sense and Sensibility (2007/08)

PBS aired part 1 of the last adaptation in their Complete Jane Austen with the BBC's new Sense and Sensibility. And, wow, finally one of these new adaptations that is not only decent, but pretty good! It's not perfect, but none of the adaptations, even Pride and Prejudice (1995) are perfect. But this one might actually rival the mid-90s S&S with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Hard to believe, but true. At the very least, they compliment each other. This version is longer and includes more characters and scenes, but is not as funny as the Thompson adaptation. We'll have to see if it can continue it's good pace next week in the conclusion.

A few nit-picky comments on the good and the bad:

• The actresses playing Elinor and Marianne are both very good. My only complaint here is that the Elinor presents many of her lines with the same delivery and intonation as Emma Thompson did...on purpose? But her heart is the center of the story and she carries it well.
• This Barton Cottage, which always seemed too nice, particularly the exterior, in the mid-90s version, is clearly a major step down in situation for the ladies. It's so bad when the arrive, one must question Sir John's rudeness for not better preparing it for them.
• A wonderful Colonel Brandon!
• This Edward is more home-spun and charming than Hugh Grant's, but (HELLO) Edward is supposed to be shy! This Edward might not be Tom Cruise on Oprah, but he wouldn't mind being interviewed by Oprah and that's just not Edward...still, he was well acted and believable.
• It's a little too obvious that Willoughby is the villain. For example, he doesn't seem upset when he's ordered to order to leave, almost relieved to escape. Plus, although Brandon doesn't like Willoughby, this adaptation makes him suspicious and that's incorrect.
• Mrs. Jennings is too flat, but maybe she'll liven up in part 2.
• Why were Marianne and Margaret (Meg?!?!) referring to Fanny as "aunt?" Not right. (Fanny must be a delightfully fun part to play!)
• A few times the music is over melodramatic...especially in the Willougby scenes. And how many shots must we have of Margaret's (Meg's) wind-chime sea shells?

Overall, I enjoyed this adaptation and am looking forward to part 2 next Sunday night. Part 1 re-airs at 2:00 A.M. in Chicagoland on Tuesday, April 1.

If I was more awake, I'd type more, but this will have to do for now. Did anyone else catch the show?

Austen's Men

As part of their Complete Jane Austen website, PBS has a section about the men of Austen. Go to this page and then select "Show the Men," which is a giggle itself. Once you're there, read some of the descriptions for a good laugh. A few comments:

• I think they have exaggerated the "current or today monetary value" of the men.
• When did Colonel Brandon acquire the name Christopher? I don't remember the book giving him a first name...does it? If the book does provide a name, I certainly don't think it's Christopher.
• How kind of them to list each of the boy's "Turn-ons" and "Turn-offs." Is this to make our hearts swoon or perhaps help us figure out how to trap one of the chaps...oh, wait, they're literary characters! Great ones, but still characters.

Go, visit, peruse, vote for your favorite Austen man. (I refrained from voting...too much politics already beating down on us).

The Key to Success?

Hmm, too bad I don't know John Williams. Otherwise I could do a similar storyline myself and be a billionaire. Them's the breaks.

(I've seen the above on a few blogs, but nobody credits the creator. No infringement intended.)

Persuasion -- 2007/8

The first episode of PBS's "The Complete Jane Austen" has just aired. They started with the novel Persuasion, which is one of my favorite Austen books.

Hmm, what to say about the adaptation. Overall it was a fairly decent production, but...and there are some huge BUTS:

• The ending was very odd and to be honest...a disaster! What's with all the running around Bath? The Anne Marathon? What was the purpose of that? Were they simply trying to be different than other adaptations? Being different for the sake of being different is not good writing. There should be a point, and this Anne Marathon seemed silly and pointless, not to mention inappropriate for the time. Anne running around Bath...HA!
• How did invalid Harriet Smith manage to get out of her home and meet Anne on the streets at the beginning of the Anne Marathon? She's an invalid and extremely poor, so how she managed to get across Bath is a mystery Jane Austen never would have been so stupid as to include.
• The Kiss at the end of the Anne Marathon was very breathy and strange.
• Captain Wentworth could NOT purphase Kellynch even if he wanted to...it's entailed!
• Why did Anne's conversation with Captain Harville about the fickleness of women vs. men bounce from the end of the story, where it is critical to the plot, to a plotless-meaningless-private conversation with Captain Benwick in the middle of the story?

Those are my major disappointments. But it also seemed rushed. That might be the fault of the edits mentioned in this post or that might be the fault of the script...probably both. This could/should have been a longer production. And there are a lot of characters in Persuasion and they really crammed them all in; more time would have better served the characters and the story.

Why did they have Anne looking straight at the camera so many times? And Anne's looks are supposed to re-blossom during the story, but that was missing.

But, the settings, locations, costumes, and the beginning of the adaptation were very good. This Captain Wentworth was dishier than the 1995 Wentworth, but not a better actor.

I think I'll watch this again to let it set in and sort of simmer about my thoughts. In the meantime, what did you think? Do share!

Masterpiece's In-"Complete Jane Austen"

As I mentioned here, this coming Sunday night PBS will begin airing adaptations of all six Jane Austen novels...ode that there were more. PBS is calling this the "Complete Jane Austen."

But is it really complete? PBS has acknowledged that they are airing shortened versions of each adaptation. This is not a surprise, it seems to me that PBS does this with all the British shows they air. Persuasion, the adaption airing this Sunday night will be about 7 minutes shorter than what aired in the U.K. If you want to see the full-length version...find the DVD. This will be true of all the adaptations. For more information, check out this post on AustenBlog. Skim the post's comments for additional details from people who attended a pre-screening and were able to ask Rebecca Eaton, PBS's executive producer for the series, several questions. Since PBS is not showing the complete shows...shouldn't this be called the "INcomplete Jane Austen?" Just a thought.

Here are some additional links for more information:

• Series website.
• PDF of Complete schedule.
• 28-page Teacher's Guide. (I haven't read this yet, but it looks like it might be good. One of these days I'll get myself the Jane Austen action figure they show.)