Lost in Austen--Thoughts on the Movie

I NetFlix'd this movie, and watched it the other night. It was interesting, but just not my cup of tea. The main reason I didn't really like it was because the main character, Amanda Price, was obviously a Mary Sue, and the entire movie was about fulfilling her wish to replace Elizabeth Bennett and marry Mr. Darcy herself. Meanwhile, Elizabeth took Amanda's place in modern-day London and became a macrobiotic nanny who knows how to use Google. That just seems completely wrong to me. Not to mention, all of the male characters, at one point or another, fell over their own tongues to pursue Amanda, and Mrs. Bennett, Jane and Caroline de Bourge all either hated or liked her depending on which part of the plot they were in.

A few of the other characters had some differences as well. They were fun differences, but ultimately just fed the Mary Sue theme. For instance, Caroline Bingley was portrayed as a lesbian who only pursued Mr. Darcy because of his money and society's expectations that she marry (which she revealed to Amanda because Amanda had told Mr. Bingley she was a lesbian in order to get him to stop going after her and go after Jane Bennett instead). Also, Georgiana Darcy and Mr. Wickham were shown to be opposite their characters in the actual book--in the movie, Wickham had allowed his name to be dragged through the mud, because Georgiana had actually tried to seduce him, but she was afraid that Mr. Darcy would kick her out if he knew that.

So, while it was interesting, I'd have to give Lost in Austen a less-than-stellar review, due to the fact that its whole plot was solely a form of wish fullfillment.

Well, I did it.

Friday the 21st was another D&D night, and my character got enough experience to move up to 2nd level. Yay!

On Saturday the 22nd, I managed to finish Mansfield Park. By 11:00pm, I was finished with the article for the Commuter, as well as a neat little sidebar I thought up to go with it.

I went over to Mom & Dad's house after that, and Anna and I watched some TV before we fell asleep.

Sunday, Kayla wasn't there (she was spending 10 days with her family in Alabama), so we didn't watch any Buffy or Angel. Instead, I read The Jane Austen Book Club, which I borrowed from Anna. I was kind of on a Jane Austen kick the whole weekend, despite having just finished all six of her novels--I just wanted more! And Anna wouldn't watch any of the movies (she has Pride and Prejudice times two, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma).

Tuesday was our mid-term for Astronomy. Most of the questions were multiple choice (and therefore extremely cinchy), then there were four short answer questions. The whole test was pretty easy--the only question I wasn't entirely sure about was the last one.

Wednesday, I went over to the Haven and did some reading about the fictional place that the game I've been playing on Friday nights is set in. While I was reading, someone put a movie on the projector called The Gamers. I didn't catch very much of it, but it looked like a cheesy college project. What little I caught of it was funny though. After that movie, someone put in one from 1960 that had Angela Lansbury and the lady who played the mom in Mary Poppins in it. I can't remember the title.

There was no class yesterday, because of the mid-term on Tuesday, and Kayla came back, so I went to Mom & Dad's for dinner. We had tacos--Kayla's favorite. When I got home around 10:30-ish, I watched last night's Smallville, then one more episode of MacGyver. I'm somewhere in season 2 now.

Tonight is another D&D session, and I got paid today. Yay money!

Catching Up

On Thursday, I went to the Haven after work, and met a few people (there were actually more girls there than I thought there would be--I was only 1 of 4 that I saw). Then I played Rock Band on the X-Box there. I did drums and vocals, and I have to say I was better at the drums, since I didn't really know any of the song lyrics or anything.

Friday, I went back again, and got in on the D&D 3.5 game for newbies. My character is a ranger.

Saturday, after doing some things at home, I went to Mom & Dad's, and Anna, Kayla and I (and sometimes Jason) watched Buffy and Angel. Anna wanted to get through episode 18 of Buffy season 7 and Angel season 4 before Kayla left to go to Alabama for 8 days (or was it 10?). We finished Angel 4.18 around 12:30 Monday morning, and then went straight to sleep.

Yesterday, I went to get my allergy shots, then I went to Staples. I had gotten $175 for my work in the primary election last month, so I could afford a few more supplies that I needed. I got two more of each ink cartridge for my newer printer (an HP Deskjet F4135 All-in-One--my HP Deskjet 722C doesn't need new ink yet, since I haven't been using it for a while), a couple reams of paper, some batteries, and a little calculator to put on my keychain (since I'm sick of having to do math on paper, on my Palm Pilot, or in my head all the time).

When I got home, I watched a couple episodes of MacGyver (I'm now finished season 1, disc 2--so the next time I watch I'll be starting on episode 1.09), then finished Sense and Sensibility and started Emma. I only got one chapter into that though.

I have four days to finish Emma and read the entirety of Mansfield Park. If I don't finish the last one by Friday (or at the very latest, mid Saturday morning), then I won't have time to write that article for the school newspaper, because the deadline is Monday, March 24, and I know I won't be able to get any writing done at Mom & Dad's house.

I was originally thinking of going to the Haven for board game night tonight, but I've really got to crack down and finish my reading, so I'm going to stay in and do that. If I don't get back to the Haven by Thursday, then I'll definitely be going on Friday for the next session of D&D.

Let's Go . . .

Monday evening was good. I went straight from work back to Mom & Dad's house. When I got there, Anna was just getting in the car, so she took me to her work and we sent a fax that I needed to send, but my Dad's fax machine wouldn't work for.

Once we got back, we watched three episodes each of Buffy and Angel, including "The Body, Forever," and "Intervention." I can't remember the titles of the Angel episodes we watched, but they were the corresponding episodes from those three points in the second season.

I got home around midnight, then crashed.

Tuesday, I went to work, then came home and started my laundry. I got the first load washed and dried, and the second load was going in the dryer (third load in the wash) before I had to leave for class. After class, I finished the laundry while reading.

Speaking of reading, I finished Persuasion yesterday, and started Pride and Prejudice this morning. Since I've seen two different film versions of this book, I suspsect that I'll have an easier time discerning emotions, despite the very-formal language, since I already know what's going on.

After work yesterday, I took my kite across the street to the church parking lot. It was a very nice day for it, and I wanted to fly my kite before it got dark. I got the kite to fly to the end of its string, and stayed out until my hands got too cold. Then I went about the rest of my at-home stuff. I managed to get caught up on my fanfic reading, and took down some notes on Persuasion, as well as doing a little more research for the article I'm going to write about these books.

Anna and Kayla came over for a while, and Anna and I played a bunch of music. I taught her the first few bars of "Robinton's First Whistle Tune" on my recorder, and then we played various instruments, ending in me playing the piano (mostly one-handed) while we both sang a bit. She also tried my trumpet and my (broken) clarinet, and I played some guitar and trumpet too.

Before I went to sleep last night, I finished watching the first season of Duck Tails--finally. Now, I just have seven seasons of MacGyver to get through, and I'll be all caught up on my DVD-watching.

Tonight the sub-contractor for the DirecTV is supposed to come over. I've been checking WeatherBug constantly the past couple days, just to make sure there won't be any wind gusts this evening--I want to be able to watch TV (and not just movies and serieses on DVD) darn it!

I may be late for class tonight, if the sub-contractor stays later than 7:30. I'll have to leave by 7:30 to be on time for class, and I suspect I won't be able to leave an hour early and read in the foyer (or on a bench in the hallway) like I usually do, since I might have to wait for the guy to leave. If Amit's not home, Jenn won't want to be alone with the guy, and if neither of them are home, then I'll have to be there anyway. If both of them are home, I still want to be there, for anti-confusion purposes.

It's a good thing it's just a lab tonight. I can get it done pretty quickly, even if I'm a little late for class. If the guy stays past 9:00 (which isn't really likely) however, I'll probably just have to e-mail the teacher and get the lab from him on Tuesday or something. But it probably won't come to that.

Satellites and Museums and Concerts, Oh My!

Friday night, I stayed home, because my visiting teachers were coming that evening, and because I was expecting the DirecTV guy on Saturday. Sister W. gave me cookies with M&M's and chocolate chips in them--yum! On the way home from work, I had stopped at Blockbuster, because I wanted to see if they had any copies of the one movie made that was based on Northanger Abbey, but they didn't. So I looked at the pre-viewed movies instead, and bought Becoming Jane and Driving Lessons.

Saturday morning, at about 10, I got a call from the DirecTV guy. At first, he said that he wasn't going to be able to do anything because of the gusts of wind making it unsafe for him to climb on the roof with the ladder. Then, when I said we already had a dish set up, he said something about a smart box, and that he'd be there after he'd finished the four appointments he had in front of mine, and that he would call me back when he was on his way over.

The original appointment was for between 12 and 5 pm, so I figured I would hold off on taking a shower until 5, so as not to be caught in the shower when he called. I didn't get a call until almost exactly 5pm. He got there at about a quarter after, and then looked at the box which sends the cable to the rooms in the house.

Turns out, the sub-contractor who originally installed the dish didn't put down two cables like he was supposed to--only one. The one cable goes to the main hookup, and then the other one gets splitters on it to go to the other rooms with receivers.

But, since the wind was gusting at unpredictable moments that day, the DirecTV guy couldn't get up on the roof and add the second cable on Saturday. He said that the earliest he could reschedule would be for March 10th, but that the sub-contractor may have an earlier appointment open. Since it's the sub-contractor's fault, I won't have to pay for him to come out and do what he was supposed to do in the first place.

Around 6pm, the receptionist from the sub-contractor called (the DirecTV guy called the sub-contractor from his truck while he was parked outside the house), and set up an appointment for this coming Thursday (March 6th) between 4pm and 8pm. I figure, as long as he gets there after five, and before 7:30, I'll have no trouble getting to class on time. I want to be there myself, so that the guy can explain things coherently, and I won't get confused when I try to ask Jen and Amit what went on with it.

So, I have to go almost another full week until I can get regular TV in my room (as opposed to movies and serieses on DVD). Hopefully, there won't be any wind gusts on Thursday evening.

Anyway, after I got the call from the sub-contractor, I packed up to go to Mom & Dad's house for the weekend (or what was left of it, anyway).

I got to the house, and hung out with Anna for a while. We watched some TV, then got ready to sleep. I realized then that, in my hurry to pack and leave my house, I had not packed a single shirt! Sure, I had jeans, socks, and all of the other accoutrements for staying the night someplace, but I had no clean shirts with me. So I borrowed a shirt from Anna to sleep in, and took a shower. We watched a little more TV, then went to sleep after that.

Yesterday morning, Anna's alarm woke us up at 8:30, because Anna's art class was having a field trip, and she invited me as a guest. I borrowed another shirt while Anna showered.

We got to FCC around 9:45, and waited a while until the teachers, other students, and the bus came. We watched the first half of Driving Lessons on Anna's laptop on the way to the capital.

Once we were in D.C. (around 11am), we stopped at the National Gallery of Art and got off the bus. Anna and I looked around there for a few hours (had lunch in the underground concourse between the buildings), then sat outside on the main steps for about half an hour until the bus came back at 2.

The next stop was the Kennedy Center, where we saw the National Symphony Orchestra perform Peter and the Wolf. That was fun.

Once the concert was done, we went back to the school and took Anna's car back home. Both of us had headaches, and Anna suspects that it was because we were up on the highest tier of the concert hall--the view was great, but they don't call them the "nosebleed seats" for nothing.

A little while after we got home, dinner was ready, so we ate. Kayla got home a little later, while we were finishing Driving Lessons. So, we decided to watch a few cartoons (an episode of Danny Phantom, and all the rest of the episodes of Family Guy that were on Anna's TiVo) before it was Jason's bed time.

Next, we watched a couple episodes each of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series. Between the second episode of Buffy and the second episode of Angel, Anna was kind of freaking out because her headache had been getting worse all evening, and she couldn't find her headache medicine. She can't use regular over-the-counter stuff, so she has a special prescription.

After about 10 minutes, she found it, and all was well, so we watched the second episode of Angel. It was the one with the zombie police men.

By that time, it was about 1am, so Anna, Kayla and I talked for about an hour and then went to sleep.

Book and School-Related Stuff

So, I decided at the beginning of the semester that I was going to write at least one article for the school newspaper per issue (or something like that--I was at least going to write for the paper). I contacted the person who used to be the advisor when I had my Journalism class a few years ago, who forwarded my message to the current advisor, who forwarded it to the paper's editor.

She was glad to get my message, since apparently she had been the entire newspaper staff last semester, all by herself.

Granted, with my schedule, I can't really do much in the way of hard news, and I'm terrible at that kind of reporting anyway. So, I offered to do some reviews--mostly book reviews, but I also thought about possibly attending concerts and such if they were free and I had the time.

Shannon (the editor) was enthusiastic at that idea, and told me that the deadline was this past Monday. So I wrote two reviews for the March Commuter (that's the name of the paper, The Commuter): one about The Chimes of Resdorn, and one about Temeraire. I thought of doing one about The Briar King, but it was the first book in the series, and I had just started the second, so I decided not to.

For the April Commuter, I will be writing a bit of a feature review about the works of Jane Austen (I've been meaning to read them for years, but never got around to it), which I will tentatively title, "A New Perspective on Classic Austen." I am not quite sure yet what subject I wish to pursue for the May Commuter, but I'm thinking of reviewing a few thrillers, or maybe branching off into horrror. I may even read some non-fiction, if I'm in the mood, instead.

I finished The Charnel Prince (sequel to The Briar King), and it left me wanting badly to read the next book, if there is one now. But alas, I don't have it, and if I'm to finish all six Austen novels before the Commuter's deadline near the end of March, I had to get cracking on those.

I've decided to read them from shortest to longest (as I do when I'm reading fanfiction at the Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive--because it's easiest unless there is a series). I'm just weird like that, I guess. So, this morning, I began reading Northanger Abbey, and I will persevere through until the end of Mansfield Park.

So far, I am on chapter thirteen, and it's quite interesting. I will not say more than that at this point, because I want to save most of my detailed observations for the article.

Once the semester is over, I will post each of the articles I have written for the Commuter here on the blog, in a new category, and those can serve as my literary recommendations to you.