Long time, no blog
from austenicons
It is me! I am alive!
Life has been very, very busy. Too busy, sadly, for my darling lj. I am back at school, as one might expect, and classes have started (obviously), and remember all of that happiness about being done with my articles? Yeah, not so much anymore. A whole bunch came for me when I got back here, and there are currently (if I remember correctly) 29 ILL books on the floor under the futon. Also, taking five classes is hard. Just in case you weren't aware. Although I do really enjoy my classes. Fiction and Poetry Workshop is the hardest, just because it makes me edgy. I have read one poem out loud, but being there makes me feel usually like I suck and/or that I'm not doing things right. It's a very unsettling feeling.
Aside from that, there have been personal difficulties-- not necessarily mine, but those of the people around me, and if you don't know what I'm talking about it's probably none of your business. But the general result has been a LOT of busyness and a LOT of stress.
Here are some things, though, which have made me happy so far this year:
1. The Office. This show is just so good. And it makes me laugh and feel good. I really like the characters, the actors, and the writers (and there is overlap between the three categories, which is awesome). This is something, like Pride and Prejudice, that I can watch over and over again and know that I will come out with an improved mood and outlook on things.
2. Story Time with Erin. This is a special time when, sometimes, Bethany and my roommate Erin will sit down and listen to me reading Pride and Prejudice. Which is not only great fun, but also a good stres reliever. After P&P, we're reading Jane Eyre, and Bethany is going to take the part of Adele, because she can translate the French for us. Whitney has asked to be Rochester, so it could turn into a fun roleplaying time.
3. The prospect of costumes for the show we're doing in November, The Government Inspector. I have only five lines (although some of them are pretty good lines), but the costumes are going to be Regency/ Georgian/ Empire style! And mine gets to be fancy because I'm an aristocrat! Squee!
4. Jane Eyre the Musical. This has sort of become comfort music; I don't know why. I also listen to it when I'm happy, but there are times when I'll just think, "I need to hear Marla Schaffel and James Barbour singing to me." A lot of clips have also been showing up on YouTube, here. The group is courtesy of Bronteana. You really ought to watch them; there are deleted songs, and there's a great combination of awesome and cheese. In the realm of cheese, stage exposition is hilarious ("She's gone! All of her things are still here! All of the things I gave her!"), and James Barbour (despite having one of the prettiest voices in the history of ever) gestures HUGELY ("What am I now, Jane?" "Are you being a mime, sir?" "Exactly! Precisely! A mime trapped in a box!"), and in the Farewell, Good Angel clip, Marla has a truly fugly veil. Anthony Crivello, on the other hand, looks a lot like a guy who finally graduated here last year. And in the Opening Song, Jane holds her infant self. But in the realm of awesome, Marla Schaffel rocks my socks off. She has such intensity and focus in her performance, and truth. She's one of those actresses who isn't afraid to look a little ugly. And I have now seen or heard about five different recordings of The Proposal, and she performs it differently every single time. He delivery in the scene is excellent.
There is about to be a new BBC miniseries of Jane Eyre. Well, actually, it's already airing on the BBC, but it's airing over here in January. Although it's available on the internet, I'm holding off until January to watch it so that I can watch it with my girls. And I'll probably recap it, too, because I'm a dork. Anyway, I have made a whole slew of icons with pictures from this new miniseries, courtesy of the BBC website and Bronteana.
One of my favorites. I faded a picture of "Thornfield" (Haddon Hall) on "fire" into a picture of Jane standing in front of Thornfield, and it looks very cool. You can't even really tell that the house is from two different angles (shhhh, don't tell).
Lines from the book, pictures from photoshoots.
Okay, this screencap actually subtitles Adele's words "My lover gets jealous... I'm such a flirt!" Adele is about nine (though she looks a bit older in this version). But she did learn a lot of opera stuff from her mother. This is another one of my favorites.
Lines from the musical. The first one is from the deleted song "Let Me Be Brave."
Okay, so, on Bronteana, someone commented that they were so giddy and fangirly while reading an article that they misread "Despite a rocky start, [Rochester] and Jane form a strong bond" as "He and Jane form a rock band." And I think that would be awesome. I decided that the name of this band would be Sweet Madness. Coming to a town near you! Whoooo!
Another thing from Bronteana. The administrator of the site actually wrote all of this under this picture when it was first posted online. I just put it in icon form.
This one is for Whitney. Because Mr. Rochester is a silly. And one night, Whitney's Rochester (an epic performance not to be missed) decided that he was going to narrate the last third of the book. And he did. Hilarity ensued.
I'm not sure how well this picture can be made out, but it's Mr. Rochester apparently staring at the FIRE CONSUMING HIS BED like, "Huh? Whazzah? Huh?"
Jane and Young Jane enjoy a break together. And the space-time continuum explodes. (Also, this picture is super cute.)
And a bonus picture from the upcoming BBC production of The Wide Sargasso Sea. Look at her! She so crazy! She crazy Bertha Antoinetta Mason Rochester!