Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Conspiracy Theory Continues: Now You See Her, Now You Don't

Image @Screenhead

Ah, the language of publicists. It is so precise, is it not? Designed to make you think that something which has not happened might. Let's take the case of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie, which has been in the making for over 1 1/2 years, an eon in the film-making business, which swoops down on the most salable, drool worthy topic of the moment and churns out flicks to take maximum advantage of the latest craze. One might venture to say that given the nano-second of time that fads enjoy, P&P&Z has entered the Stonehenge Age. Even if the film gets made and distributed, who cares? Zombies will have had their day.

Here's the latest scoop about the non-saga of this film: Emma Stone Won't Be Starring in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I love these sentences: "It's important to note at this juncture that the story didn't say that she was confirmed to star, and it didn't say that she was negotiating a deal. Do you see where this is going yet?"

You betcha!

Note the headline: The title of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is in it. That's all that counts. Somehow the the book has managed to remain in the spotlight, wringing every morsel of publicity that it can, for two whole years. Brilliant.

Which actress will be trotted up next for the role? Curious minds want to know.

• Judgment about the film from Screenhead
• More about my Pride and Prejudice and Zombie Conspiracy Theory
• My Pride and Prejudice and Zombie Conspiracy Theory Continues

What Do You Love? Jane Austen, Of Course!

Google asks: What do you love?

Sly creature... What could I love? All things, Jane. Jane Austen, of course!

Click here for the answer.

Posted by Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Portugues

About What Do You Love, a new feature by Google. PCWorld provides the best explanation: What Do You Love is a mash up of Google's services, including Maps, SketchUp, Patent Search, Photos, Books, Translation, and more. Some services, like Gmail and Google Voice, don't change much depending on your search term...It's well-designed and an efficient discovery engine that turns simple search terms into opportunities to experiment with Google's expansive portfolio of products -- some of which you may have never seen before such as Google Moderator.

Jane Austen Trail: Discover Jane Austen Country This Summer

For those visiting England this summer, this Jane Austen Trail map from the Winchester city council might come in handy. Jane Austen trail at the Curtis Museum provides information by the Hampshire County Council.

For those wanting a personal guide, look no further than the following resources:

• Tony Grant, London Calling: A personal guide, Tony also writes for Jane Austen Today and Jane Austen's World: Tony offers small tours customized to his clients' wishes in any location in England. He provides the following email on his blog - generalg (dot) tony (at) gmail (dot) com. You can request his services at Tours by Locals.

Pump Room window. Image @Tony Grant

• Jane Austen Walking Tours, Bath: Tours start at 11:00 AM and last for 1 1/2 hours.

• Free MP3 Walking Tours of Bath: This self guided tour offers a tour rout map and podcasts chapter by chapter

Detail, tour route map of Bath

• Jane Austen Trail Map: Of Alton and Chawton: Free maps from Alton Chamber Enterprises.

• Map: Winchester Austen Trail. Press CTRL and + simultaneously to enlarge this informative document by the Winchester City Council.

Detail of Jane Austen Trail Map, Alton

• Jane Austen Tours:The service is run by Julian Spencer Rouse, your driver-guide.

• Finding Jane Austen in England: Slow Travel Tours

• A three day Jane Austen tour from Tours International

• Walking Tour of Basingstoke and Deane

• The Wayfarers Walking Vacation: Jane Austen Country

• Literary Lyme Walking Tours

Pride and Prejudice Clothespins

Set of six Pride and Prejudice clothespins from Brookish on Etsy

I love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice so much, that I thought of a new way to spread the goodness of the classic novel to all you fans out there.

Here we have six standard clothespins covered with text on both sides, and sealed for a little extra durability. The little snips of sentences are enough to let you know what scene you're reading, which results in putting a smile on your face.

Not only are they pretty in themselves, but they serve a purpose:

• hold bills, receipts and papers together
• hang cards and postcards on a piece of ribbon or twine
• attach a note to a pretty package or flower arrangement
• creative money clip
• placecard holder at your next tea party (hey, hostess gift?)
• stylish chip clip (as pictured)

...the sky's the limit!

Comes in a handmade, stamped muslin bag, ready for gift-giving.

(not recommended for hanging out wet laundry, but it's a nice thought)

PLEASE NOTE: the text depicted in photo does not match the text you will receive. (Text from Brookish on Etsy)

Jane Austen Fashion Throwdown:

In May, 1801, Jane wrote to Cassandra from Bath:

"In the evening, I hope you honoured my toilette and ball with a thought; I dressed myself as well as I could, and had all my finery much admired at home. By nine o'clock my uncle, aunt, and I entered the rooms, and linked Miss Winstone on to us. Before tea it was rather a dull affair; but then the before tea did not last long, for there was only one dance, danced by four couple. Think of four couple, surrounded by about an hundred people, dancing in the Upper Rooms at Bath. 

After tea we cheered up; the breaking up of private parties sent some scores more to the ball, and though it was shockingly and inhumanly thin for this place, there were people enough, I suppose, to have made five or six very pretty Basingstoke assemblies." 

What finery would Jane have chosen to wear? In 1801, Regency ball dresses were heavily influenced by Neoclassical motifs and the costumes seen in the paintings and on statues of the ancient world. Evening dresses would have a full gathering at the waist in the back and a short train. Jane probably could no afford to have had her seamstress make a new ball dress every time she went to an assembly, and her fashion might have been a little "safe" and embellished with new ribbons, head wear, shoes, gloves, shawl, fan and/or reticule.

A. 1801 ball gown. Image from
Fashion-era

B. & C. Ladies Monthly Evening wear. 

D. & E. Evening dresses

Evening dress for Jane Austen in 1801
	A
	B
	C
	D
	E
pollcode.com free polls

Jane Austen's Regency World Magazine: A New Issue

The July/August 2011 issue of Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine is now on sale and has been mailed to subscribers.

In the new issue:

JANE AUSTEN FESTIVAL IN BATH A preview of the exciting programme lined up for September

THEATRICAL PAINTINGS The amazing set of costumed portraits collected by Somerset Maugham is now in safe hands

COAST DELIGHTS How Jane Austen depicts the seaside in her novels

FORGOTTEN BROTHER Maggie Lane traces the life of George Austen, Jane’s little-known brother

LUNAR RIOTS The day a Georgian society in Birmingham was attacked by a mob

WHEN WE ARE GONE How did Cassandra handle Jane’s legacy, and what about ours?

JANE’S MEN Our favourite author was not only an expert on women, she had a strong insight into the minds of men

Plus: All the latest news from the world of Jane Austen, as well as letters, book reviews, quiz, competition and news from JAS and JASNA.

Jane Austen’s Regency World will be at the following events, and look forward to meeting many subscribers, old and new:

July 9 &10 Jane Austen Festival, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Sept 17 Jane Austen Festival, Bath, UK (country fayre)

Oct 13-15 JASNA AGM, Fort Worth, Texas, USA


For further information, and to subscribe, visit: www.janeaustenmagazine.co.uk

Friday Find: An English village named Sherrington

Just recently, Tony Grant, who acts as a guide in Jane Austen country for tourists, took a Canadian family to Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath. Tony wrote:

To Sherrington, Church Lane. Image @Google Street View

"One of the ladies had family that originated from a little village between Stonehenge and Bath called Sherrington. She asked if we could stop there on the way to Bath. It wasn't far from the A36, the main road to Bath. however it felt as though, within a mile of coming off the main road we had entered an idyllic, picturesque dream like world. The village was in the bottom of a valley hidden from the outside world by great green folds in the landscape. It was indescribably beautiful. It was another world. And the sun shone on us from a blue sky and bird song was all around. It felt as though we had gone to heaven."

Tony's pictures are mostly of Sherrington church, called St Cosmas and Damian and the interior shots.

Sherrington to Boyton, Wiltshire, England 

I added images created through Google street view. They have the soft, fuzzy edges. Wikipedia says this about the village:

"Sherrington has the remains of a motte-and-bailey castle, presumed to have been made late in the 11th or early in the 12th century. 

Sherrington had a parish church by 1252 and it was dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian by 1341. [The church] was completely rebuilt in 1624; the new building includes the early 14th century east and west windows of the original building. It has a bellcot that was added in he 19th century. 

The village has a large mill pond."

Whilst virtually traveling through Google street view, I saw only a picturesque place. No fast food joints. No nasty 21st century signs.

Emma to Play Lizzie in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Remember my Pride and Prejudice and Zombies conspiracy theory? The one that asserts that announcements and pronouncements regarding the making of the film are designed to keep the book front and center in the publicity rumor mill? Well, another announcement about the film's casting has been made.

Emma Stone, she of the red hot upwardly spiraling career, has been named as a viable candidate for playing Lizzie Bennet, zombie slayer extraordinaire. Emma's had experience playing a zombie slayer in Zombie land, so why not? Click on this link to read the news article. 

Zombieland, the poster

Emma Stone as zombie slayer  Wichita

Emma Stone and Jesse Eisenberg in action ...

...slaying zombies

Lizzie Bennet in action in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The actress can clean up nicely to look romantic.

Will Banned Books Get Boys Interested in Jane Austen?

From Annual Jane Austen Night*

Geek Mom offered an interesting article on Wired on how to get teenage boys to read the classics.

Why, simple! Give them a list of banned books, like:

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• The Stranger by Albert Camus
• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Whoa! Pride and Prejudice? Darcy's dip in the lake certainly was not written by Jane. Even Geek Mom knew that. So she went to the source to find out why pimply pre-pubescent boys would read a spinster's 200 year-old-novel:

"If you’re wondering about that last one … well, as Nick, another of the boys in the group, explained, “It’s good to read to get the cultural references.” I suspect the allusions Nick was trying to understand involved the Undead, but hey, I’m not going to argue with anything that could get my kids to voluntarily pick up Jane Austen."

They're reading the original in order to understand Pride and Prejudice and Zombies??!!!! Ack! Guess that's is better than endlessly playing World of Warcraft or hanging around the mall.

*Image: Click on this link

Jane Austen Character Throwdown

You are a keen observer of personality oddities and collector of outrageous statements. Which Jane Austen character would you wish to observe most through visits and one-on-one interaction? If you prefer another character, please leave a comment.

Mr. Collins - Pride and Prejudice

Lady Catherine de Bourgh - Pride and Prejudice

Mr. Palmer - Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Elton - Emma

Jane Austen Character Throwdown
	Mr Collins
	Lady Catherine de Bourgh
	Mr Palmer
	Mrs Elton
pollcode.com free polls

Mr. Darcy Goes Overboard by Belinda Roberts

Sourcebooks has released Belinda Robert's Mr. Darcy Goes Overboard: A Tale of Tide & Prejudice!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a yacht must be in want of a female crew…

The balmy seaside resort town of Salcombe boasts the best in bikinis, sandcastle contests, and a fiercely competitive squad of buff local lifeguards as Regatta Week approaches. And if that weren’t enough excitement, Mrs Bennet hears that the splendid villa Netherpollock has been rented by a young man of great fortune. She is determined he’ll go out with one of her daughters, until Mr Darcy glides in on his stunning yacht Pemberley and she decides he would be the better catch...

• Follow the blog tour at Austenprose!
• Order the book at Sourcebooks.

Sense & Sensibility - Listen and Read with CC Prose

I've recommended to readers who have a difficult time with Jane Austen's prose to listen to her novels in podcasts, tapes, or CDs. This interactive series allows newbies to Jane Austen to read her prose and listen at the same time. Click here to read/listen to 50 chapters of Sense and Sensibility with synchronized text, interactive transcript, and closed captions.



I can download these videos onto my iTouch, and listen/read to them whenever I have some spare time.All audio on this channel is through the courtesy of Librivox.org.

The Hats at the Royal Ascot Races, 2011

Queen Anne first saw the potential for a racecourse at Ascot, then called East Cote. Whilst out riding in 1711, she came upon an area of open heath, not far from Windsor Castle, that looked an ideal place for “horses to gallop at full stretch”. The first race meeting held at Ascot took place on Saturday 11 August 1711. Her Majesty’s Plate, worth 100 guineas and open to any horse, mare or gelding over the age of six, was the inaugural event. - Ascot Racecourse

Royal Ascot, 2011

I have been fascinated by the hats worn at the Royal Ascot races since I saw Cecil Beaton's creations for My Fair Lady. Who can forget Eliza Doolittle's fabulous faux pas? "Come on, Dover, move yer bloomin' arse!"

The incomparable Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle

This year's hats are fascinating as always, starting with this Marie Antoinette-like creation:

Anneka Tanakas Svenka in a Louise Mariette head piece

More Anneka

Just can't get enough of Anneka

Belinda Stradwick, dahlings

Isabelle Kristiensen

Incredible peacock hat

More peacock hat

Mrs Florence Claridge in Daisy Hat

Veronica Veronina in a Victoria Grant hat

Tracy Rose in a windmill hat

Another view of Tracy

Spot the bird

Wooden sticks and horses

Pink butterfly hat

Pink rose hat

Classic car

Milliner David Shilling

Trio of hats

Julian Fellowes (script writer of Downton Abbey) and wife Emma Joy Kitchener

Daffodil hat

QE2

Jane Austen Back-to-Back Throwdown

Modified image of a Gerald Scharfe illustration
for The New Yorker.**

This is a first for Jane Austen Today, gentle readers, but I could not resist offering a back-to-back throwdown. It has been reported that Jacketcopy will produce a steamy version of Pride and Prejudice (as if that concept is new). Pride and Prejudice as a bodice ripper? Would you read such a trashy ripoff  intriguing novel?

Pride and Prejudice as a steamy bodice ripper
	Yes, I'll read it
	No way
	Only if I can get it for free
	Still thinking
pollcode.com free polls

**Original Illustration, Gerald Scharfe - The New Yorker, Everybody Loves Jane

Jane Austen Character Throwdown

Which Jane Austen secondary character would you be friends with? Part 2. In last week's friend showdown, you overwhelmingly voted for Colonel Fitzwilliam and Eleanor Tilney, with Mrs. Gardiner a close third. Poor Lady Russell came dead last with a little over 5% of the votes. This week you will consider characters from Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Mansfield Park. You may pick as many as you like, or none.

Emma & Mrs. Weston

Emma

Mrs. Weston (Miss Taylor)

Robert Martin

Sir John Middleton & Mrs. Jennings

Sense and Sensibility

Mrs. Jennings

Sir John Middleton

Pug by Gainsborough

Mansfield Park

Pug

Mrs. Grant

Which secondary Jane Austen character would you be friends with?
	Mrs Weston (Miss Taylor)
	Robert Martin
	Mrs Jennings
	Sir John Middleton
	Pug
	Mrs Grant
pollcode.com free polls