Northanger Abbey

I just finished watching the latest BBC adaptation of Northanger Abbey...(yes RJ, I went snooping around in your DVDs yesterday)...and I must say I was quite delighted with it. The ending went a bit too fast, but the beginning was perfect. Austen's beginnings are usually quite important, and Northanger Abbey has one of the funniest. The whole book, of course, is a parody/satire of a Gothic Novel and this adaptation totally embraced that. Catherine's imaginings work quite well on film- I only wish that the running time was longer!

Of course, I should also add that since some actual Gothic novels are narrarated onscreen, this adaptation is not as suitable for younger viewers as the book is. However for us older watchers it's quite fun! Henry Tilney is without a doubt the most humerous of the Austen heroes, and Catherine Moreland is in many ways the most *normal* young teenager of the Austen heroines (the youngest of all, I believe). Her naive assumptions and wild imagination give this whole story much more interest than a normal Austen book. Unlike the other five novels, it does not dwell wholely on the functionings of society, since the purpose, of course, is to poke fun at the Gothic novels that were popular in Austen's day. It's also the shortest book (and film adaptation) which makes it a good introduction to Austen for a newcomer- or someone who doesn't want to tackle the finer works of Emma or P&P yet.

The only drawback is that it's harder to find these new BBC adaptations, which is quite the pity. I wish we Americans had a similar production company to make sure that our population continued to get exposure to the great literary works of our country. (Not that we have quite the same level of humerous romance- Little Women is about as close as you can get here!)

Beauty and the Beast Costumes- Update 2

Well, work continues. I have the bodice for the gold gown nearly completed (apart from the shouder drape and rosettes)

The apron for the blue dress is done
And here, as promised, is a closer look at the white knite eyelet fabric. Isn't it lovely?

Yet another version of Robin Hood?

That takes even greater liberties with the legand...

Russell Crowe and Sienna Miller are playing the Sheriff of Nottingham and Maid Marian in the film "Nottingham" which will include a love triangle between those two and Robin Hood.

It's an interesting twist, although the idea of Marian taking a second look at anyone but Robin is hugely annoying to me.

Still, while I'd like to see a version that harks back to the good old adventure days of Errol Flynn and the like, it's not as though there's a "book" to be purist about. Robin Hood is a legand, with each generation adding something to the cannon. It just gets annoying when things sneak in that totally twist the original premise.

So, if it's not rated R, I may end up seeing this one. It's worth keeing my eye on, anyhow.

Far Traveler

As I think has become apparent by now, I love historical fiction. Probably better than anything else, including fantasy. However, as I have also mentioned before, it is extremely difficult to find decent and appropriete fiction- especially now as I move into adulthood and find much of it soaked with sex and language.

Far Traveler is meant for teens and young adults- unfortunately, because it's a story that could have been a gripping adult novel as well.

However, along with the Rosemary Sutcliff books, it is a great story of Anglo Saxon England- and unlike Sutcliff's work, it is geared towards a female audience.

Aelfwyn is a princess of Mercia, a grandaughter of Alfred the Great. When her mother dies she finds herself a mere pawn in the hands of her uncle.

Escaping from an unpleasant marriage, she disguises herself as a boy and runs away, posing as a traveling minstral. What she doesn't expect is that this guise will give her a perfect role in an insurrection against her uncle...

What I enjoyed about this book was that the author actually works against the cliches of this plotline. Aelfwyn is not a tomboy. Indeed, a major part of the plot is that she cannot master riding the great war horse that her mother gave her. She would much rather study her books...

Furthermore, she doesn't want to dress up and run away as a boy. She does it because she literally has no choice- it is that or marry a man 3 times her age (at least). And I'm sorry if that's cliche, but I can't think of any girl that would reasonably accept being sent away from your people to marry a man that much older than you. It's just not right.

What I also enjoyed were the referances to Anglo-Saxon literature and poetry. Caedmon's hymn, of course, gets passing mention, but even more than that, the poem "The Wanderer" is quoted (which readers of Tolkien may find surprisingly familiar to a certain song of Rohan). For this alone I would highly recommend this book to any parent as worthy of being included in their history course.

To the young people themselves I would say that it's an unusual story, with an unusual heroine, and a hero type that I think we should see more often. Go ahead- order it from your local library.

Beauty and the Beast Costumes- Update 1

Thanks to the help of my friend Hannah, I have already made very good progress on Belle's blue dress (as you can see below). The white fabric is actually a beautiful white knit eyelet- I'll try to get a better picture of it soon!

And here are the three fabrics (lining, underskirt, and bodice/overskirt) for Belle's gold ballgown.
Bodice assembly for the gold gown!

Introduction to "Beauty and the Beast"

This Broadway Musical has just soared to hover near the top of my list of "favorite" musicals. As I've said elsewhere, I am currently costuming a local production of this, an opportunity I am thankful for because it has given me a chance to fall in love with the "new" songs.


And of course, now I'm going to share them with you. (How is it that youtube can possibly escape lawsuits for all the copied songs you can find on there? I don't understand it, but it certainly makes my job easier here...)

No Matter What Belle wonders if she is unusual- her father reassures her

Me Gaston comes to propose to Belle...this man's self-opinion knows no bounds...

Home Belle, though a willing prisoner, mourns for the home she left behind.

How long must this go on? The Beast wonders how much longer he must be forced to suffer under the spell.

If I can't love Her After Belle runs away, the Beast looses hope (probably my favorite new song- if you only listen to one of these, this is the one!)

Human Again A hilarious song sung by Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Babette and the Wardrobe, talking of all the things they hope to do when they are human again, filled with hope as the Beast and Belle seem to be falling in love

Maison de Lunes Gaston, Lefou and the Asylum Keeper plot against Belle and her father (I thought it would be creepy, but it's actually hilarious)

If I can't love her (Reprise) The Beast, having given Belle up, looses his last hope- even more than before.

Transformation, end duet Belle does a reprise of Home- realizing that her home is with the Beast. The Beast transforms...sings to Belle...and then everyone greets each other and lives happily ever after.

Note- there are mutiple versions of all of these songs, but I chose to post the ones compiled by FusionAngelFuAn, since they are pictures rather than mediocre high-school performances.

In Memory of a True Knight

Yesterday I logged onto my account at the FT-Forum to find out that one of our members had died in a heroic attempt to save his father's life. Marc and his friends have participated on the forum and he was a regular writer at Paul Xavier's website (Paul is a very good online friend of mine).

This has been a difficult thing for many of us on the forum- but I can't even begin to imagine the suffering of his family and friends. All our prayers are with them at this time.

From Regina Doman's blog:

Marc Girard, 18, looked like your ordinary Catholic teenager. But he was
not.

He had a Facebook page. He was a part of the Fairy Tale Novel Forum
(even though, like most guys, he hadn't read the books :) ). He was careless
about spelling. He hated having his picture taken. His avatar was a man making
funny faces. To his four younger siblings and to most of his friends, I am sure
he sometimes seemed very ordinary. Even though he took his Catholic faith
seriously, and sometimes challenged his high school friends on different
issues.

His friend Paul Ethier was surprised when Marc told him that he was
planning to join the Franciscan
Friars of the Immaculate, who had a friary near the Girard home in Griswold,
CT. Marc was accepted as a postulant, and was going to join the Maine, NY friary
in August.
The Girard family had been through a lot. Last year they suffered
two hardships in a row: first, their home burned down. The only thing in Marc's
room that survived the fire was his picture of Padre Pio.

The family lived on a trailer through the winter, but then this spring,
the property was foreclosed.

Marc's
father Thomas was working hard to keep the family together. In his free time he
helped the Friars of the Immaculate on their outreachs: this past spring he was
"Grand Master" knight for their group, The Knights
of Lepanto, as Catholic fathers and the friars "initiated" their sons into
Catholic knighthood. The photo at the top shows Marc carrying a "penance pack"
of 15 pounds of rocks during the "intiation."

Thomas found a new house for the family, and they were going to move on
the first day of July, yesterday, in fact.

The day before the big move, Thomas took his two sons, Marc and Lucas
and daughter Hannah swimming at a pond down the street from their old house.
There was an island a short distance from the shore, and they decided to swim
out to the island.

Marc took his younger brother Lucas, 11, along and they swam safely to
the island. Mr. Girard took their daughter Hannah, age 7, in his arms and came
along behind them.
Hearing his sister Hannah screaming, Marc turned back and
the boys saw her bobbing in the water. Their father was gone. Marc stopped
several feet before reaching the island. He sent Lucas ahead and went back for
his father and Hannah.

Marc swam out to Hannah. He pushed her towards shore until she was
safe, told her to pray, and then dove back in to find their father.

He died trying to save him.

Read the rest here.