Lost in Austen

This is my recommended movie of the week ~ Lost in Austen. In a nutshell, the movie is about a present day girl (Amanda Price)--an ardent Austen/Pride & Prejudice fan--who ends up swapping places with the apparently not-so-fictional Elizabeth Bennet. Of course, Amanda knows exactly who everyone is and what should happen with them all, but things don't quite go as they ought to, and Amanda feels that it's up to her to fix things and get the story back on track.
If you know the story of Pride & Prejudice well, this movie will be hilarious to you, as it's full of inside jokes about the book and its characters. All of the actors are great. In fact, if they used this cast to do the real Pride & Prejudice, it would be perfect.

Amanda Price (aka, the substitute Elizabeth Bennet) is played by Jemima Rooper, and the real Elizabeth Bennet is played by Gemma Arterton. Mr. Darcy is played by Elliot Cowan, and Bingley is played by Tom Mison.

This is one of the funniest parts of the movie ~ 

"I am having a bit of a strange post-modern moment here" (Amanda)

The Bennet sisters ~

Jane, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia

Darcy, Caroline Bingley, and Charles Bingley

Mr. Wickham, Lydia Bennet, Kitty Bennet, Jane Bennet, Amanda Price, Mary Bennet, Mrs. Bennet

This movie is clean, funny, and just all-around enjoyable. I love the changes they made to the story... how things go wrong, for Amanda to try to fix (like Jane marrying Mr. Collins); but mostly I like the change they made with Wickham. We all know the story of what Wickham did to Georgiana and how he wronged her and Darcy, etc. But in this version they completely change that, and make it so Wickham comes across as a "bad" character, but is quite the opposite. He's actually one of my favourite characters in the whole movie ~ especially when he purposely causes trouble (ie: telling everyone that Amanda's father was a notorious fish-monger), and proves to be the most helpful and dedicated friend to Amanda at times when she needs his help ("Everyone you love, Miss Price, will one day prise your fingers from the raft and watch you drown. Everyone, Miss Price, except me.")

This following clip is one of my favourite parts of the whole movie... 

And then Charles' comment after:
"Brava, Miss Price! And whenever life is getting me down, I shall be sure to go downtown."

Anyway, that's my recommendation today. If you get a chance to watch this movie someday, I hope you enjoy it and get a good laugh from it! 

Absence

I just wanted to post quick and apologize for my absence the past few days! I've been spending my spare time, which I usually would spend posting here, working on something else. I was talking to a friend this weekend and somehow we got on the subject of embroidery, and discovered that it was a hobby of us both; but that we both also have the horrible habit of spending so much time working on a project, and then would get tired of working on it, and put it away and not touch it for months on end. Then finally pick it back up and work on it like crazy, then get tired of it, put it away, etc, etc, etc. It made me decide to get out a cross-stitch that I have been working on for a while, and to finally finish it! I don't have much to do... just the back stitching (which is my least favourite part, hence why I keep putting it off). So the past couple of days, when I get some spare time, I pick it up and work on it (well, as much as Mulligan will let me...). And I won't put it away this time ~ I promise I'll finish it! ;)
But, until then, I may be a bit slacking with posts here. I'll be sure to show you when I'm done though! Here's what it looks like right now:

On a completely different note... I was thinking this morning that it was just last week that we had that major snowstorm. Last week mom and Aunt Joanne were supposed to come over, but they couldn't because the roads were so bad, and Aunt Jo's kids were home from school, etc. It was an awful snowy day. Now, exactly one week later, it's gorgeous and sunny outside ~ you'd never know that only 7 days ago we were all snowed in! 

Though, I did get a little worried because there was a cloud in the sky this morning... but thankfully it didn't amount to anything. (haha)

Elmore Court

Season 1, Episode 2 of Country House Rescue featured Elmore Court ~ an estate worth 25,000,000 pounds. 36-year-old Anselm Guise had just inherited it, when his uncle died very suddenly. Anselm was a DJ in London, and suddenly was the owner of the 1,200 acre estate, which has been in his family since 1262. Unfortunately, Anselm was quite immature and basically just liked to party and do whatever he wanted, and when his uncle was alive, he didn't believe Anselm was capable of keeping Elmore Court maintained. So, Anselm wanted to prove him wrong, but was having a hard time since it would cost 40,000 pounds per year to maintain; and there was no money at all for the repairs and redecorating that needed to be done inside and out. In came Ruth Watson (the host of the show) to share her ideas of how to save the estate and make money to keep it maintained throughout the years.
Anselm's idea was to turn the main mansion into a cooking school. Ruth actually liked this idea, and they decided to go with it. Instead of turning the coach house into rooms for people to stay, they just used some of the 18 bedrooms inside the mansion. They had to completely re-do the old kitchens, and to do that, they raised money by bringing things from around the house to auction. In the end, the kitchen conversion was successful, the rooms were neatly made into guest rooms, and the cooking school trial was a complete success! So it looks like Elmore Court will survive!

Here are the screen shots I took throughout the show...

(it has 16 tenanted cottages, and 6 working farms, 

besides the main house)

 

Sunny Saturday

Happy Saturday! It's great to see the sun out again today ~ especially after getting so much snow again. It's super cold out still, but at least there's sun! My plants seem to be enjoying the sunshine as much as I am... I've got blooms everywhere all of a sudden! It's making me crave Spring even more ~ particularly to get planting some containers outside!

Mulligan has also been loving the sunshine, especially ever since he's discovered how much he loves going on the balcony. 

And, as always, he's forever getting into mischief...

Have a happy and sunny Saturday!

Jane Eyre

I owe a great big thanks to Ruth Ann for bringing this to my attention! I am super excited to see that there is a brand new version of Jane Eyre that was made, and is in theaters now! Though, unfortunately it's not in any theaters around here ~ the closest is in either Mississauga or Toronto. But I'm still excited nonetheless! It'll give me something to look forward to when it comes out on DVD.  :)

Here's some information about the movie:

Jane is played by Mia Wasikowska (she was Alice, in the new Alice in Wonderland), and so far, based on several reviews, it seems like she's the best Jane yet. It'll be interesting because she's much younger than any other actresses who have played Jane (~ and that was actually the director's choice... he wanted an actress approximately the same age as Jane was in the book).
Mr. Rochester is played by Michael Fassbender ~ someone I know nothing about! But he looks like a good Mr. Rochester, and again, reviews seem to say only great things about him.
Also in the cast is Judi Dench (as Mrs. Fairfax), Sallie Hawkins (an actress I know because she played the lead in my favourite version of Persuasion), Jamie Bell (the boy who played Billy Elliot!), and Tamzin Merchant (the girl who played Georgiana Darcy in the newest version of Pride & Prejudice). Looks pretty good!

Here is the main trailer for it. It definitely looks pretty dark... again, something the director was aiming for. She said she was trying to capture the spookiness that plagues the entire story, because in other adaptations they don't show as much of that side of it (but rather focus more on making it a romantic period movie). Anyway, you can see for yourself in the trailer:

And one more thing to note, that I'm particularly looking forward to, is that Dario Marianelli did the soundtrack for it (he did the newest Pride & Prejudice soundtrack). Should be great!

Cothay Manor

I have started watching the first season of Country House Rescue, and I'm enjoying it so much that I thought I would share about it on here. When I'm watching it, I'm constantly "oooh-ing" and "aaah-ing" at the scenery and homes ~ they're incredible! So, to share, I took some screen caps of some of my favourite parts and made them into pictures I can post. Enjoy!

New Cards

I don't have much to write today, but I do have a new set of cards to show you. I saw these dogs and thought they were so cute, so I made a set of 4 cards with them, for a fun way to say "hello" to someone! Here they are:

  

  

And on a completely different note: I got the soundtrack of the new Emma movie, and it's great! I have a couple of songs from it on my playlist on this page so you can hear a bit. There's some beautiful songs on the soundtrack ~ I definitely recommend it!

New Emma

I just discovered, by chance the other day, that there was a new version of Jane Austen's Emma made by the BBC. I love it when the BBC does these classic movies because they really go by the book. So I was pretty excited just knowing there was a new Austen movie out; and then was even more excited when I saw the cast! There's so many great actors/actresses in this one. First there's Romola Garai, who plays Emma (and she's pretty much exactly what I always pictured Emma to look like); Michael Gambon plays Emma's father (what a great character!!); and best of all, Mr. Knightly is played by Jonny Lee Miller (who played my favourite character in Mansfield Park - Edmund Bertram).

Emma & Mr. Knightly

This version of Emma is approximately 4 hours long and comes in 4 parts. You can see some clips and read character bios on the BBC site for it here.
It's kind of funny how many versions there are of all of Jane Austen's books. Here's what's all out there:
(note: I've put stars next to my favourites!)

PRIDE & PREJUDICE:
~ "Big Screen" version, with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (1940)

~ BBC version, with no one I know (1980)

~ BBC version, with Colin Firth (1995) ***

~ "Big Screen" version, with Kiera Knightly and Matthew MacFadyen (2005) ***

PERSUASION:
~ BBC version, with no one I know (1960)
~ BBC version, with no one I know (1971)
~ "Big Screen" version, with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root (1995)
~ ITV version, with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones (2007) ***

EMMA:

~ "Big Screen" version, with Gwenyth Paltrow (1996) ***

~ ITV version, with Kate Beckinsale (1996)

~ BBC version, with Romola Garai (2009) ***

SENSE & SENSIBILITY:

~ BBC version, with no one I know (1981)

~ "Big Screen" version, with Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson (1995) ***

~ BBC version, with no one I know (2008)

MANSFIELD PARK:
~ BBC version, with no one I know (1983)
~ "Big Screen" version, with Jonny Lee Miller and Frances O'Connor (1999) ***
~ ITV version, with Billie Piper (2007) ***


NORTHANGER ABBEY:
~ BBC version, with no one I know (1986)
~ ITV version, with no one I know (2007) ***

Suffice it to say, there's lots!! I guess people just can't get enough of them!

Cards

I've been making some random cards... very simple, but I think they're cute. Personally, I love sending random cards to my friends (Fresh Ink cards are great!) and receiving random cards back is just as great (perfect example: Carol cut her own hair). So a couple of these are random, but most are just pretty and plain. Enjoy!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The following are just some quick examples of more stamps I can use... I wouldn't necessarily place them as they are, and many would have text, but again, it's just for example. If you have any requests, let me know and I'll make something specifically for you!