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There's talk of a new version of My Fair Lady being produced with Keira Knightley as Eliza. I can't say I'm very thrilled or interested in this, but this YouTube video did catch my eye. I don't think I've ever seen footage of Julie Andrews as Eliza in the Broadway production. Well, here's a clip. How charming…
The first link above also includes a clip of Knightley singing for her next movie. Let's hope that isn't her regular singing voice, but her voice for that character.
- From the U.K.: £3,995.00 / $6,629.00 for Elizabeth Bennett!
Well, not really Elizabeth herself you understand. Not even a piece of her fictional pride or prejudice. Instead, for a mere £3,995.00 / $6,629.00 you can purchase one of the dresses Keira Knightley wore in her movie mis-adaptation of Ms. Bennett. If the dress fit Keira, I’m pretty sure it won’t fit the rest of us and I’m absolutely positive the fictional Elizabeth would never have appeared in public in this dress…but, still, what a bargain! Hat tip: AustenBlog.
- From Australia: Get a Lick on Harry Potter!
Postage stamps, people, postage stamps…what were you thinking! A bit ago the U.K. Royal Postal service announced they’d be selling HP stamps, but I haven’t seen pictures of those. Now the Australian service has announced their own stamps. See here for image. One question…why would anyone want to receive a letter with an Umbridge stamp on it? Surely it could only bring eviction notices, death threats, or poison! A Harry stamp or two, or perhaps a full sheet might be fun. I haven’t seen any news whether the U.K. or the Australian offerings can be purchased and shipped overseas.
- From Sweden: A HP Title 7 Clue!
Not bankruptcy, but a clue about the meaning of HP and the Deathly Hallows. Apparently, this title is just a little too mysterious for the editors translating the book into languages other than English. So J.K. Rowling provide this alternative title: HP and the Relics of Death. For more information, click here. Care for a little speculation?
- From U.S. Midwest: The Case of the Missing 17-Year Cicadas!
This is it! This is the year! We, the Midwesterners, are supposed to be ankle deep in 17-year cicadas…I’ve yet to see or hear one! They were supposed to emerge last week and have in some areas, but are mostly absent in Chicagoland. I heard they are out in Oak Park, Elmhurst, and Downers Grove…but that’s all I’ve heard about locally. They’re in Wisconsin, but they are no wheres nears me! I may have to go cicada hunting this weekend if I can find time. Not that I want hordes of them, but not seeing or hearing any is a huge let down! Are they just late?
Tonight was dinner and a movie with some friends I haven’t seen in a while. We had good conversation and food, and then settled in to watch the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice since not everyone had seen it.
I got a good laugh from the closed captioning goof in the snip below. In the movie Elizabeth says: "exposing your friend to the censure of the world for caprice…." Not exactly what the onscreen text says!
It would be interesting if the center of world existed for exposing friends to caprice. Seems a bit of a waste, but interesting none-the-less. (And would somebody get her artistically arranged wet hair off her face! Please.)
And I would really love for someone to explain to me WHY there is a boat in the Bennet’s courtyard! Isn’t it bad enough that there are chickens, roosters, cows, and goats there, but a boat!?!?! Three feet from the house door, mind you! In an enclosed mud pit of a courtyard! With the sail up! WHY?
And if the Bennet’s are as poor as this movie would have us believe…how could they afford even a small boat? And where did the boat disappear to? It’s just suddenly gone! Did Lydia take it to Brighton with her? Swab the deck and shiver me timbers…I need to know!
Pride and Prejudice has been back in the news lately, here’s why:
- The region 2 (Europe, etc.) version of the DVD, with all it’s lovely extras, was released today. Those of you with a region 2 or multi-region DVD player will have to check it out for us.
- Keira Knightley, who played Elizabeth in this 2005 movie version, was nominated for an Oscar for best female actor in a lead role. Oddly, she was ignored on her side of the pond…she wasn’t nominated for a BAFTA (a.k.a., the British Oscars). But don’t fret, P&P did get some BAFTA nominations, for example, best screen play!! Eeeww!!! I don’t think Knightley will win the Oscar, but she certainly deserves nominations more than the screenplay does! (Sidebar: Don’t lose your heads over this, but according to IMDB.com Knightley will be in yet another costume piece; she’s signed up to play Anne Boleyn.)
- It’s tradition with the British royals to have big party bashes on 21st birthdays. An exception is being made for the Queen’s granddaughter, Princess Beatrice, who will have her celebration on her 18th birthday. Why? Because she was apparently born at 8:18 P.M. on the 8th day of the 8th month of the 88th year of the 1900s. Whew, there’s a mouthful. Beatrice, the eldest daughter of Andrew and Fergie, has chosen Pride and Prejudice as the theme of her birthday bash. Now for some lighthearted, fun snarking: Queen Elizabeth rarely wears costumes for these bashes, but I think Camilla would make a great Lady Catherine or perhaps she and Charles want to be paired as the Lucases. And the Earl and Countess of Wessex might come as the Gardiners; the Princess Royal, a.k.a., Princess Anne, as Miss Bingley; and … well, you get the idea. For more fun suggestions, check out the original post at AustenBlog.
I was going to post several short movie reviews tonight. They’re partially written, but are dull and insipid because I’m tired and lethargic. Ever since my flu bout last week, I’ve been struggling to catch up with sleep. Every time I think I’m close WHAM something knocks me back into Weary World. Last night I had trouble falling asleep and then Reggie woke me up three times to go out. This is definitely a one night record. The first two times we went out he played instead of doing his business, so I refused to take him out the third time. You can imagine how awful I felt when he obviously wasn’t feeling well this morning and then he was sick out in the backyard about 11:30 this morning!
How do I explain to a dog that waking me up in the middle of the night to play is bad, but waking me up at any hour because he’s sick is good? Sigh.
Back to movies. I hope I’ll get the energy to finish those reviews, but in the mean time…tonight the Golden Globe winners were announced. To my count Pride and Prejudice got zilch; no big surprise here. While it was a good movie (bad adaptation) the only shot it had to win tonight was Keira Knightley as Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. I didn’t see all the performances in this category, but in my opinion Reese Witherspoon‘s nuanced performance in Walk the Line beat Knightley’s Elizabeth. The Hollywood Foreign Press agreed with me because Witherspoon won. In fact, Walk the Line won at least three awards–it’s a surprisingly excellent movie if you haven’t seen it.
Now, if Reggie and I can both sleep through the night and well into the morning 😉 maybe we’ll both feel better tomorrow.
More details about the Pride and Prejudice DVDs have been released. Unless something changes, it looks like the Region 2 release (Europe, Japan, Middle East, etc.) will have more extras than the Region 1 release (U.S. and Canada).
Some of the Region 2 extras are things that are already available on the Internet; for example, the "On Set Diaries" and possibly the materials they’ve labeled "The Bennets." And considering how wrong this movie was on social etiquette (think: Darcy walking into private homes and rooms without knocking, Elizabeth practically asking Darcy to dance, Lady Catherine arriving in the night to meet with Elizabeth who doesn’t bother to change out of her nightgown, Bingley saying "ass" to Jane, and don’t get me started about pigs in the hallway, etc.), I’m not sure the material named "The Politics of Dating" will be very accurate. So I don’t care if these things are left off the Region 1 release.
BUT WHY ON EARTH would they leave off things like "The Stately Homes of P&P," "The Life and Times of Jane Austen," or the "Galleries of the 19th Century?" These could, I stress could, be interesting and delightful additions! Keep in mind, the producers added the cheese-ball ending to the U.S. release of the movie because they believed "Americans like sugar in their champagne." Did they leave off the extras mentioned here because we poured their tea into the harbor? Because they think we’re stupid? That we have no interest in history, the architecture, the art, etc.? Somehow I bet the tourist industry of the United Kingdom is not going to be happy these extras were left off the Region 1 DVDs! They don’t care if we’re stupid or hold our forks wrong…they want us to visit and spend money! To bad "The Stately Homes of P&P" won’t be on the DVD to entice me!
And what about deleted scenes? There were clips and snips in various
trailers and promotional clips that weren’t in the movie…so that
means they cut some scenes. Why can’t those be put on the DVDs? (Gasp! Maybe they actually used dialog from the novel in those scenes making them too dangerous to reveal!)
Who do we write to? Who do we complain to? If they are going to charge almost $30 for the DVD, I want something worth seeing! Not "HBO First Look" which, in the past, hasn’t been very interesting, and is also already on the Internet!
What a disappointment! Let’s start complaining: if you have a blog, blog about this–it worked to get the cheesy ending shown in the U.K.! If anyone knows where to write, post it and let’s write! If they want me to pay this much–I want it to be worth it, even if it is discounted the first week! (Why do I get the bad feeling there will be a second DVD released in the future with more extras? Oh yeah, the producers want my money, that’s why.) First they make a decent movie, but bad adaptation; then they create a weak DVD.
I wish I was a better ranter! *sigh* Bloggers unite! Complain–we’ve got to have fun with this some how!
Is the dance over? As previously "reported," (here, here, here, and here) the U.S. DVD release date of Pride and Prejudice has been dancing around, just like the movie’s release date did a few months ago.
But today, both VideoETA and DVD Town announced a set release date of February 28, 2006. As I noted before, this puts P&P one week ahead of HP and the GoF, so it will get some attention. It also puts the P&P release a few days before the Oscars and that means they’ll get sales prior to the Oscars, but also free advertising and a possible boost in sales after the Oscars–if P&P gets nominations.
VideoETA lists three editions of the release: a video tape, a full-screen DVD, and a widescreen DVD. Retail price for all three is listed as $29.98. As of now, no mention of what specials will be on the DVD (is it too much to hope for a new, formerly unreleased, final scene?).
One caution, there is no notice on Universal’s own web site, so the release-date dance might still be going. However, considering what a cluttered site they have, I’m sure updating it takes time. Sorry, I don’t have information on DVD releases in other parts of the world. Keep in mind DVDs are sold by specific regions and what works/plays in one region, usually won’t work/run on DVD players in other regions.
Apparently the people in charge of the Pride and Prejudice DVD release were listening. The release date has changed again; now to February. This puts the P&P DVD release ahead of HP and the Goblet of Fire. This is a wise choice. You want some attention when releasing a DVD and HP movies tend to be attention hogs. This also should give the DVD some sales before the Oscars with a possible re-surge after the Oscars, if they get nominated for anything (and it has been a dry year!).
Of course, as previously stated: the date will probably change again and again and again and again and again and ag
As I predicted the DVD release date for Pride and Prejudice is dancing around the calendar, just like the movie did. It’s jumped from March to April and now back to March 7, according to VideoETA. This puts them two days after the Oscars. Since the P&P producers have been heavily pushing Keira Knightley for best actress, they’re probably hoping for an Oscar sales boost.
This March 7 DVD release date also puts P&P smack against the DVD release for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Gee, I wonder which one will blink and change dates to avoid the conflict. (Of course they may stay there hoping for the mommy-crowd dragged in to the stores by their childeren.)
Stay tuned.
A friend of mine emailed and told me to look at the Pride and Prejudice screensaver. She didn’t tell me why I needed to look at the screensaver, but I did get a giggle.
Click on the image below for a larger (but not best quality) view. (My additional snarky remarks are below the image.)
Is it just me? Or does this not look like Mr. Darcy is watching Elizabeth look down the front of her dress?!?! And this is a still shot used in the screensaver! I’m sure it’s a snip from the video–not a staged picture–but they captured the wrong snip!
Oh…so many other snarky remarks that could be made, like how this fits their unique interpretation of the book…but I’ll bite my lip and refrain!
Missyisms 