Happy ‘P&P’ Birthday!

As I sit here and contemplate and read everything about the 200th anniversary of  Jane Austen’s writing of ‘Pride and Prejudice’  I wonder how many of us have read it or for that matter, any other of her wonderful works. Just in case you’ve never read it, now you can read it here.

Here’s what ‘Jane Austen’s Regency World’ is saying today…

“The media is awash with stories how today – Monday, January 28, 2013 – is the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Chawton Cottage appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning.

The P&P readathon is being streamed from the Jane Austen Centre here in Bath.

And the Pride & Prejudice special edition of Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine is still available – as is Celebrating Pride and Prejudice, by Maggie Lane and Hazel Jones, marking 200 years of Jane Austen’s ‘darling child’”.

To all of you that haven’t read Jane, I so hope you at least watched some of the mini series and movies that tried to capture her written word. Instead of writing my thoughts on everything Austen, I ‘raided’ the You Tube and here’s what I came up with….

Laurence Olivier

Colin Firth

David Rintoul

Matthew Macfadyen

Elliot Cowan

Martin Henderson

And here are some of my favorite scenes from my favorite movies/series….

Out of all her works, what did you like the best? Who is your favorite Darcy and why? To one of you, b2b will send ‘LOST IN AUSTEN’ mini series that I fell in love with the first time I saw it! *US ONLY ;(

If you’re impatient to see if you’re the winner of this series, here it is in its entirety.

Happy International Kissing Day!

What?! You didn’t know this? Well, now that you do, grab your ‘significant other, or in my case my ‘better half’ and give them a kiss they’ll remember!

To get you in a mood, here’s my choice of three best kissing scenes I’ve seen on the screen.

Here at b2b we’ll celebrate today by giving away some  books that need a new home ;D Tell us about the best kiss you had or seen it on the screen!

(*open only for US) 

Declarations of love…then & now…

From William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and poet himself Lord Byron, declarations of love have always made me feel so giddy!

 

 

How many of us have just sighed at Tom Cruise when he said “I love you. You complete me…” (Jerry MaGuire) or when Colin Firth said “No, I mean I like you very much. Just as you are.” (Bridget Jones’s Diary)?

 

 

Can you imagine someone looking deeply into your eyes and saying “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.”?

No?! How about “You must know, surely you must know, it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I’d scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I would have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love… I love… I love you. And I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.”

When this brave hero spoke his vow “I will love you my whole life. You and no other.”  I had tears in my eyes.

I know I’m more likely to believe these lines “…I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn’t know this either — but love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves, and to break our hearts, and love the wrong people, and die. The storybooks are bullshit! Now I want you to come upstairs with me and get in my bed!”

I’m sure most of you romantics out there just went nuts over the scene that needed no words spoken aloud, but a simple poster board was quiet sufficient in helping this man’s declaration of love.

And then, just a simple “Ditto!” can accomplish and convey this man’s love that went beyond life…

We’ll be happy to giveaway THREE books to three winners who can ID the recipients of these declarations of love.

Tell us about your favorite declarations of love and you’re welcome (ENCOURAGED) to include yours as well!

“John Carter” in Theaters 03/08/12

This looks like it’s going to be a very good movie

From Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”—a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

John Carter
Only at the Movies March 8, 2012
http://disneymovies.com.au
Classification: CTC

 

“Ironclad” in Theaters 07/26/11

This movie is a MUST see for all Medieval and Knights fans! Here is the plot summary from anonymous (IMDB):

“It is the year 1215 and the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal to the Magna Carta, a noble, seminal document that upheld the rights of free-men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel’s momentous struggle for justice and freedom.”

 

Paul Giamatti stars as King John, James Purefoy plays Marshall, Brian Cox plays Albany and Kate Mara is Lady Isabel.

I’ll watch James Pure-Joy ANYTIME in ANYTHING!

Here are the actors talking about the movie at MOVIE CON….

…and just for the heck of it here’s the reason I can watch this Dude ANYTIME!

The Princess of Montpensier Trailer

It’s 1562, France, Charles IX is the King; time of the wars of religion.
Marie de Mézières (Mélanie Thierry), is the heiress to one of the kingdom’s greatest fortunes and loves Duc de Guise (Gaspard Ulliel) and he returns her love…Her father (Philippe Magnan) aims to add to his family’s lands so he forces Marie to marry the Prince de Montpensier(Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet).

With the Protestant war raging on, the King summons the Prince to join the battle. As the country turns into a bloody battlefield, he chooses to send Marie to Champigny, a secluded castle. She is accompanied by his tutor, Comte de Chabannes, so that he would educate and prepare Marie to take her place at court one day.

Marie tries to forget her love and passion for Guise. Right after Montpensier leaves for war, fate intervenes and leads Guise to Champigny and Marie.
Even Comte de Chabannes falls for Marie’s charms, so all three are vying for her attention!

Here’s a trailer for a movie that opened in New York and Los Angeles, so far, on April 15th this year. I’m looking forward to either see it here in Chicago, or get it on a DVD. It has a look of one of the books I love to read!

You can read a NY Times review of it here.