June 27, 2007

Briefly

Things that have made me laugh so far today:
Cherries Galore: Another M.E.M. - Best Friend's Pet Photography and on I-505 "Fresh, Local Cherries's." Methinks that once cherry season has ebbed, the fruit world will breathe a much sweetened sigh of relief. (Incidentally, lest you think I am unfairly mocking fruit-growers, the same sign advertised pistachios, which was spelled impeccably.)

Our (original) Jane: Another thing which has made me laugh is Salon's review of the All Things Austen summer which we seem to be having. Aside from the news that PBS is creating Sundays With Jane, a film series of Austen's books in a four month celebration beginning January 2008, the most recent news, of course, is 2006's Enthusiasm, and this year's gloriously as-of-yet-jealously-unread Austenland. The idea of a theme park for Austen-lovers in the Austenland novel is second in ...sublime ridiculousness only to the whole Potterland Theme Park thing... to quote the article: "No, it's not one in which if you don't marry a man of means by 25 you're branded a spinster and forced to live off the kindness of family for the rest of your life! (Coming soon: Woolf-Wharton Water Park, where visitors wade into a stream with pockets full of rocks and can be swept down a river of laudanum! Wheee!)"

Possibly there could also be a Jane Eyre theme park, where one could lock one's mad(dening) relatives in an attic and... Mmm, perhaps not.

The most salient point of the Salon piece is that despite all of the fun of the movies and spin-off books one must always go back to the original books. In them, one will find a Jane Austen who is unsentimental, anti-mushy, and sharply -- and I mean sharply, complete with catty comments -- amused by people who obsessed all day over men.

Viva la Jane.

More Than Meets the Eye: Ohh, if you didn't actually ever watch the highly silly dubbed-over Japanese television show, this summer's ridiculously high-action blockbuster, Transformers might just seem like, "Hm. Trucks. Robots." But the fact that the name Optimus Prime (!!) is one I actually know... worries me. The truth is,Everything I Need to Know About (Real) Robots I Learned From Transformers... yep.

3 comments:

Sarah Stevenson said...

Interesting premise about Austenland...there was a Red Dwarf episode about that. (I was given the first season of Red Dwarf on DVD as a gift, and since then, we've been working our way very slowly through subsequent seasons with Netflix...they go downhill a bit, sad to say.)

David T. Macknet said...

Regarding M.E.M. ... umm, I think that pistachios are a drupe or something, or maybe a nut, but I'm pretty sure they're not a fruit. So, I guess you are mocking the fruit people, no?

Bwahahahaha!

tanita✿davis said...

Haven't even seen ONE Red Dwarf. Lately, the Netflix, she is taking a back seat to the editing... sad, sad.

And as for that OTHER comment: Just watch it, you. I know where you live.