The Jane Austen Ball

Saturday held several events, including another writing talk, a game of he said/she said, a trip to the thrift stores in town, and a weapons demonstration.

But without a doubt, the best part of the day was the Regency Ball we held that evening. Everyone dressed up in period appropriate clothing, and we had live music and lovely food. Everyone picked an Austen Character to represent, and we had a bit of in character dialog as well... though the best bit came after the dancing was over and we played a game of Mafia in character!

So I present another batch of pictures...

Miss Fanny Price's hair (done by me)

The Dashwood Sisters, Elinor, Margaret and Marianne.

Mr. Charles Bingley and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Miss Fanny Price and Miss Jane Bennet waltzing

Miss Charlotte Lucas and Miss Georgiana Darcy waltzing

The Lovely Miss Emma Woodhouse!

Miss Catherine Moreland

Miss Caroline Bingley, Miss Harriet Smith, Miss Emma Woodhouse and Miss Kitty Bennet

Bingley and Jane waltz

Mr. Charles and Miss Caroline Bingley

Mr. Fitzwilliam and Miss Georgiana Darcy

Jane Austen Mafia, hosted by Miss Elizabeth Bennet

Miss Lydia Bennet, mischievous as always.

The Pride and Prejudice Cast. L-R: Miss Georgiana Darcy, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, Miss Lydia Bennet, Miss Charlotte Lucas, Miss Jane Bennet, Miss Kitty Bennet, Miss Caroline Bingley, Mr. Charles Bingley

The other heroines. L-R: Miss Catherine Moreland, Miss Emma Woodhouse, Miss Harriet Smith, Miss Margaret Dashwood, Miss Elinor Dashwood, Miss Fanny Price, Miss Marianne Dashwood

The Photos of Being Earnest. ;)

Finally, I can post some pictures from our production of "The Importance of Being Earnest!

I'm afraid they're in reverse order... blogger has a really odd way of laying out photos. Anyhow, first off we have Lady Bracknell interrogating Miss Prism.

Gwendolyn and Cecily determine to preserve a dignified silence.

Jack does not have a brother of any kind!!!

Calmly eating muffins.

Jack and Algernon in trouble with the girls.

Ernest!!! :)

I cannot help wishing you were just a little older... and not quite so alluring in appearance.

Cecily shows Algernon where she wrote his proposal in her journal.

Miss Fairfax and Miss Cardew.

Jack announces the death of his brother Ernest.

Cecily dislikes her lessons.

ReginaCon Photos

Some snapshots of the fun we've been having! :)

Mystery, Murder and Magic

Today started off with a talk given by Regina's husband Andrew about... Godly marriage and romantic relationships, I believe. I'm not entirely sure because I spent the time working on the events for the rest of the day.

After lunch we pulled things together for the Narnia scavenger hunt. Despite being blistering hot, it was a blast. We had appearances from The White Witch, King Caspian, Uncle Andrew, Puddleglum, The Lady of the Green Kirtle, The White Stage, Queen Susan and Ramandu's daughter. All of them held clues (or needed to be defeated!) in order for our questers to reach the treasure. Magic rings, enchanted fires, and people turning to stone were just part of the fun.

Then I got to stand for over an hour and give a lecture on filmmaking, which was fairly well received. This was followed by a special viewing of two rough clips from "The Shadow of the Bear."

After supper the Black Cat Inn was transformed into the Ever After Hotel, a place of secrets, danger and attempted murder as we all participated in a murder mystery game. It was awesome to see so many wonderful characters... although my favorite part was when I was "poisoned" and got to nearly die. I love doing dying scenes. Thankfully there was a doctor on hand who managed to administer an antidote before I quite expired.

Finally a couple of the girls and I took a rest from the hullabaloo and slipped away to watch an episode of LOST.

Exhausting day, and one I'm glad is over, but it was definitely a blast.

A Night of Many Talents

I have an absolutely marvelous roommate. She and I have the exact same sleep schedules. We both adore staying up late, and sleeping in every morning. We also prudently avoided picking blueberries in the hot sun when everyone else went. I normally don't like sharing a room, but Laura is awesome. :)

But then, ReginaCon is full of awesome people! Hugs and smiles everywhere. I am so thankful to be able to meet so many people like Lanta, Lady Rose, Yaviel and others who have been my friends, fellow mods, and mischief makers on the FTN forum for years.

Regina gave her first writing workshop today, which was on "Evangelizing the Imagination: or How Christians should write Villains." It was quite excellent.

After the workshop, Shirefeld was hit by a violent thunderstorm that knocked down several tree branches and soaked one groups things all through (They're still drying out their sleeping bags as I write). That drove everyone inside for awhile. One group sat down to watch "The Scarlet Pimpernel" while another group, led by myself, headed off to the grocery store to stock up on provisions for the weekend.

Following a hearty supper, we convened in the living room for the first ever ReginaCon talent show. We had marvelous performances of dancing, poetry and even a skit based on an adventure from the FTN forums!

Then we set the stage for the Shirefeld Player's inaugural performance of "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde (slightly abbreviated by yours truly). It was a staged reading since we couldn't possibly memorize all those tricky lines in one week, but went off marvelously. I had a fantastic time playing Gwendolyn and had a wonderful cast to act opposite. This performance was taped, so some of you may get a chance to see part of it at some point.

Lastly some of us went for another midnight swim. The moon was bright and clear, and the water a bit cooler. A lovely way to end the day.

Now... will I manage to get through tomorrow? So much to plan... so much to do... Narnia to explore, Filmmaking to teach, and a murder (or two!) to solve! Stay tuned...

And here are the hordes...

Finished the Narnia game, blocked out part of the play, and got ready to welcome the sudden rush of people that started around 7:30. The house is now filled to the brim with boisterous young people, ready for adventure.

The Importance of...

Lady Bracknell: My nephew, you seem to be displaying signs of triviality.

Jack: On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I've not realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest

.


Today started off with planning... lots of planning, and evil scheming. I'm organizing a mystery game for later this week, and Paul, Laura and I are pulling together a Narnia scavenger hunt. We had a marvelous time playing around with characters and maps and clues.

Then, this afternoon, Paul and I trekked down to Anna and Ben's house so that I could borrow Anna's sewing machine and finish altering a regency gown for one of the girls. We're having a Regency Ball on Saturday night which should be an absolute blast. (Yours truly is playing Elizabeth Bennet. What could be better?)

After the lovely but extremely warm walk, I took the babies for a swim in the pond, which was great until I caught a fish nibbling on my pinkie. Not exactly a pleasant experience, though I suppose I can now write about it much more accurately. I'm going to have to think twice before going in the pond again, though I suspect when there are more of us splashing about the fishies will stay further away.

This evening our friends Jason and Alicia came over and we held a practice for the staged reading of "The Importance of Being Earnest" which we will be performing on Thursday night. We had an absolute blast reading through it and I think our audience will be in for a treat.

Gwendolyn: It has always been my ideal to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you.

ReginaCon 2010

It's our somewhat tongue-in-cheek name for the annual gathering of the fans of Regina Doman. After a long day of travelling I arrived back at Shirefeld to be greeted by the joyful hugs of my dear former students. There's nothing quite so awesome as being group hugged by six kids who love you. :)

Other highlight so far? The family, plus myself, Paul and Laura (the others who have arrived thus far) went swimming out in the pond by moonlight. After an exhausting and sticky hot day, cooling off in the warm pond was wooooonderful. And felt so very much like "The Midnight Dancers."

Looking forwards to more arrivals on Wednesday! In the meantime it's prep prep preeeeparation!!!

Books, Authors and Plays

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie II

"Nemesis" by Agatha Christie

"Angel in the Waters" by Regina Doman

"The Midnight Dancers" by Regina Doman

"Austenland" by Shannon Hale

"Awakening"

Cheaper by the Dozen

The Friendly Jane Austen

Far Traveler

Girl Genius

Going Rogue (Sarah Palin's Autobiography)

Harry, a History

The Historian

Ice

In the Beginning

Into the Wild

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Orson Scott Card

Redwall

Spindle's End

Spotlight: A Close up look at the Artistry and Meaning of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Thorn in my Heart

The Tripods Attack

Queen's Own Fool

The Woman in White and The Moonstone

Breaking Dawn

Twilight: Part One (Non spoiler)

Twilight: Part Two

Twilight: the Romance

Wildwood Dancing

The Secret of Darth Vader

http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/pluggedin/2010/06/17/luuuke-i-need-a-doctor

I thought this was a pretty interesting article. It looks at how Darth Vader exhibits six of the nine criteria bits for borderline personality disorder, as well as why French Doctors are bothering to analyse this.

Alex and ReginaCon

Whew! Life gets crazy when there's a graduation in the family, and madam blogger is going crazy preparing for the grad party AND ReginaCon2010. Hence the low level of posting. However I'll be writing updates on ReginaCon, so watch for that next week.

Meanwhile, I want to draw your attention to the fact that the first chapter of Alex O'Donnell and the Forty Cyberthieves has been posted on Regina's website. Enjoy!

Are you an Ink and Fairydust Reader?

If you are, and like the magazine, would you consider helping us promote it? All you have to do is post one of these banners below anywhere online... your blog, facebook, in a forum signature... wherever you can think of! It would be incredibly helpful and we would be extremely grateful for your support!

Praise God for Sisters

One of the greatest blessings of living with my parents is that I get to have a very close relationship with my younger sister. I am so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful young woman as a friend and sister.

Tonight we settled in for a movie night, starting out with Vampires and Romance in "New Moon" and ending up with Royalty and Romance in "The Young Victoria." It's so wonderful to share a film with someone who laughs at all the same spots you do (even if we disagree about the proper hair-length for men).

Do you have a sister? Cherish the fact. Tell her that you love her. Spend time with her. Respect her as a person. Thank God for her.

A Short Intro to Lost

Okay Vicki, here's the answer to your question.

A man wakes up in the jungle. A dog is staring at him. Where is he? He stumbles to the beach, where he finds the wreakage of a plane, and panicking people running all over the place. Quickly he dives in, saving lives and attempting to bring order to the chaos.

He is Jack Shepherd, a doctor, and they are the surviviors of Oceanic Flight 816, which crashed nearly 1000 miles off the course of their route from Sydney to LA. Though they expect to be rescued immediatly, the hours stretch into days, and then into weeks. A monster appears in the jungle, a paralysed man walks, and a pregnant woman is kidnapped by a mysterious stranger. And then they intercept a desperate plea for help that has been on a continuous loop for sixteen years.

What is this place? Why isn't help coming? Who are the mysterious "Others"? What happened to the other half of the plane? And what is in that metal hatch buried in the jungle?

Are these questions that can be answered by matters of science... or of faith?

Jack and the other survivors struggle with all these questions and more. But there is one thing they know. If they don't live together, they're all going to die alone.

I&F July Cover

What do you know? I got the whole cover finished today. Enjoy! :)

July cover work

Did some work on the I&F cover for July. Here is what I've come up with so far...

BBC Ivanhoe

Before there was BBC Robin Hood, there was BBC Ivanhoe. And it rocked.

Or rather, rocks, because it's still awesome even if the production values are not exactly hollywoodstyle.

I've been a fan of the book since I was a preteen. Great characters, cool plot, and, of course, cameo by Robin Hood. What could be better?

Well, maybe the BBC adaptation, because it is really quite good. They flesh out a lot of the characters nicely and the five hour mini-series format is excellent for giving the rich depth of the story (it would take at least 3 hours of film to do it justice).

Why am I raving about it now? Well because I found the VHS version for $3 at Half Price Books today! I had tried buying the DVD awhile back, but the DVD version strangely enough isnt' close-captioned. However I knew the VHS version was because that was how I had first seen the series, and thought $3 was more than a bargain. So long as we own a VHS player, I'll be able to enjoy this. Which might not be forever, but they've got to close caption that DVD version eventually, right?

Anyhow, Ivanhoe is the story of a disinheirited knight who returns from the crusades to find his true love betrothed to another and his father as adamently ignoring his existance as ever. So with the help of a friendly Jew and his daughter, Ivanhoe heads off to a tournament, determined to win honor and respect and his lady's hand once again. However along the way they run afoul of the Knights Templer, a band of real outlaws, Robin Hood, a myserious knight, Prince John of England, and a band of... fake outlaws? It's a recipe of perfect adventure, including its fair share of mystery, romance and battles.

Falling into LOST...

Only two days left on the poll. Have you all voted? I'm quite intrigued to see that so few of you have been affected by 24 and JACK BAUER. Hmm...

Since starting the poll, I finally sat down and did what I've been waiting to do for six years.

I started watching LOST.

Let me explain. When the show first premiered, I was very interested in the premise and really wanted to see it. However I lived in a house where we rarely watched TV and I never watched any by myself. If my parents weren't interested... well, I wasn't going to see it.

Years went by and I started delving into the joys of finished shows in complete boxed sets. I made friends with characters such as Lorelai Gilmore, Veronica Mars, Malcolm Reynolds and THE DOCTOR. TV shows are awesome! The charectarization, the plots that span months or years, the in jokes, the acting... wow! There are a lot of treasures to be found.

However when I researched LOST, I found a lot of supernatural/mythological/fantastical elements that worried me a bit. So I made the decision to wait until the show finished and the last episode "revealed" the cause. I wasn't going to get hooked on a show that would end in a way that would upset or disturb me.

Then, two weeks ago, LOST ended. I read some reviews of the final episode and realized... "hey! I can watch it now!"

So I did. And I was blown away.

LOST is beautiful, tragic, hilarious, full of philosophical questions and absolutely amazing characters. It's waring with Firefly for the top spot on my list of favorite shows, and I have a feeling it's going to win.

Getting a real rest... and Alex O'Donnell arrives

God is good. After having two of the worst weeks I've had in a very long time, I was able to get out of town and visit some really good friends of mine for a couple of nights. It was the first real break and rest I've had since before I left for Virginia at the beginning of the year. We filled up the time with awesome things like walks in the rain, TV shows, chess, Darth and Droids, talking, biking (I biked down a ditch for the first time in my life. Felt pretty epic) and then talking some more. It was wonderful.

In other news, LAST weekend I worked my first conferance! I sold tons of books for Regina Doman, including over 40 copies of "Alex O Donnell and the 40 Cyberthieves" which is a hilariously cool book! Right now it's only available at some conferances in preview form, but it should be open for orders by the end of this month, so if you're a Fairy Tale Novel fan, keep tabs on Regina's website!

Ink and Fairydust - June 2010

Open publication - Free publishing - More russell crowe

It is my pleasure to give to you the latest issue of Ink and Fairydust! This month you'll find some awesome articles on Robin Hood, Castles, Renaissance Fairs, and more!

Check it out here: http://issuu.com/inkandfairydust/docs/june2010

I would also love to invite you to visit our NEW WEBSITE!!! It is stiill under construction, but we've got new content coming online all the time! You can find it at www.inkandfairydust.com

Also, we would be honored if you'd take the time to invite your friends to our facebook group and send them a link to this awesome publication! Find it here: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=110108122364248


Wishing you all of God's Blessings,



Elizabeth/Elenatintil

Editor in Chief