Sunday, August 23, 2009

Planes and Lost , and Jane

I "celebrated" my booking of my flight portion of my trip by watching the rest of Lost in Austen [another thing completed on my Everything Austen List], I love the scene where Amanda has Darcy go into the pool just to have her postmodern moment. Then after I poked around looking at the hotels available in the Hampshire area I retired for the night; I turned on the TV and was flipping through the channels and found that Becoming Jane was starting so I flipped to it and watched it. While I liked it I thought there were parts of it that were a little far-fetched, like people speaking lines directly from Austen's books [this does not include the voice-overs of Jane talking as she writes]. Watching the film it is interesting to remember that Jane herself, not even having the benefit of the typewriter let alone a word processor or computer things that we take for granted. I must admit I would love to have a script as elegant as hers and those of her era, mine looks like I should be a Dr. of medicine half the time. I am a little bit sleep deprived as the film didn't end until 2:30 AM this morning but I can always go to sleep early today so it is all good.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Everything Austen So Far

I have been pretty busy over the past 10 days so I have not had the opportunity to blog my Everything Austen accomplishments. I am well into reading Sense and Sensibility and took a break from my reading time to watch Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Bridget Jones' Diary and half of Lost in Austen[the rest of it airs later this week], I have lucked out that they have been on TV ;o). I have also decided to make my holiday this year all about Jane. I have been to England several times before including going to Bath (I took the picture of Bath Abbey above on one of my previous trips) and have seen many of its sites including the Jane Austen Centre but this time I will make the pilgrimage to more Jane Austen landmarks. I will visit Winchester Cathedral and Chawton as well as Steventon and as many other areas related to Jane's life and her works as I am able to fit into an 8- 10 day trip.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Everything Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged, by those who know me, that when I read about something Jane Austen it piques my interest. It is for that reason that I have taken on the challenge of Everything Austen. I am not going to let my late start deter me from rising to the challenge, I have decided that I will rise to the challenge by reading the following books and watching the following films:

books:
Sense & Sensibility
Pride & Prejudice
Bridget Jones' Diary
Jane Austen's guide to dating
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
Austenland
Emma

Films:
BBC Pride & Prejudice [Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle]
Bridget Jones' diary
Sense & Sensibility
Pride & Prejudice [Keira Knightley & Matthew MacFadyen]
Lost in Austen
Mansfield Park

So wish me well and now off to continue Sense & Sensibility.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Passions

I know, I should have started with the explanation of my blog first but the bibliophile in me just couldn't wait to share with other Austenites that I was about to get stuck into another of Jane Austen's novels. I will therefore begin the explanation of what brought me to begin this blog now.

The American Chef Julia Child said of work “Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it". I agree with Child's mantra and think that it is even more important for how one chooses to spend their hours away from work. In this modern age the amount of time that we have to enjoy and indulge in our passions for the pure and unencumbered enjoyment of them, even if one's means of employment is their passion, is less than it was even a generation ago. I can quote from many medical and social research studies that show that people who take time to relax and take time to employ themselves in passions, or leisure activities that they enjoy tend to be healthier, happier and even more productive than those who do not. The important thing about taking the time to partake in one's passions is that one is partaking in them purely for the pleasure it brings to oneself, provided it is legal and does not harm anybody else.

For me three of my biggest passions are travelling, reading and music; hence, the title of the blog. In addition to, and sometimes as a result of these passions, I am able to indulge in other passions including: photography, writing, cooking and theatre, amongst others, which connect themselves nicely to the three large passions. This blog will be a journalising of my experiences in enjoying my passions. I never want to be the person on their deathbed who says that they wish that they had had taken the time to indulge in at least some of their passions. If one loves opera music and their partner would rather listen to the screeching of nails on a chalkboard I believe that one shouldn’t give up on their passion entirely. In the case of the opera-lover and the opera-hater the opera lover could rent a CD from the library and listen on headphones, or one could try if it is possible to see a live performance, whether armature or professional. If one loves to write poetry one needn’t feel that their prose, or verse, needs to impress others; often, the best poetry stems from the writer casting aside the perception that others will not approve. While my passions tend to the more artistic side the need to partake in one’s passions is true for the more athletically inclined as well. If one has a golf handicap that would have more numbers in it than are currently known to follow the decimal in PI one need not toss one’s clubs into the lake. If proficiency were a precedent to enjoyment of passions few people would have hobbies. Will you who golf and have PI length handicaps be the next Tiger Woods?, likely not, but you will be a happier person at the end of your days if you took yourself to the green every now and then. I therefore hope to encourage those of you who read my blog to follow your bliss!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Sense & Sensibility

They were showing the 1995 version of Sense & Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet & Hugh Grant on TV the other night so I watched it twice both the Eastern [early] and Pacific [late] airings of it. Incidentally Hugh Laurie is also in this fillm as Mr. Jennings, the husband of the Dashwood's friend Mrs. Charlotte Jennings Palmer. Rewatching the film has given me the inspiration to reread this book, something I haven't done in ..gasp... two years. I will be updating the blog with my progress.