GimletBlog

Just an ego-boosting note that my Emma stage play review is up on AustenBlog and linked on the Book-It Repertory Theatre web site.  After seeing last season’s outstanding production of Persuasion, expectations were high for Emma.  Check out my main review for all the details, but in short: the characters were spot-on and delightful, the pacing was brisk, with plenty of humor (important points to consider if one of you is less enthusiastic about spending an evening watching a Jane Austen play) and an ending with dancing, streamers, and just enough romance to be sweet without saccharine.

We loved the ardent and slimy Mr. Elton, Frank Churchill’s rock star entrance into Highbury, a delightfully dreadful Mrs. Elton inspecting Emma’s china and silver … and that’s not even mentioning the fabulous Emma and Mr. Knightley.  If you’re in the Seattle area, go and enjoy.  Emma runs through November 22 at the Center House, Seattle Center.

We always look forward to our visits to Utah:  a year is not complete without eating far too many raspberry-butter dinner rolls and sweet corn at Maddox, and it’s comforting to know that the sun still shines somewhere, even if its existence is in question around the Pacific Northwest.  But better still, the Things get to see the grandGimlets and play with their cousins.

The week started off with a drive south to Provo to see a new Pride and Prejudice musical.  This year we’ve been lucky enough to see three different Jane Austen stage plays:  Sense and Sensibility at the Meydenbauer Center (so-so), Persuasion at Book-It (excellent!), and now Pride and Prejudice at BYU.  Unfortunately we saw each play near the end of its run, so there wasn’t time to publish a useful review.  As for Pride and Prejudice, the cast gave it their all and had great singing voices.  Fans of the book (and especially fans of the 1995 miniseries) would enjoy the characterizations.  It’s understood that many scenes must be cut in the interest of time, but this adaptation managed to portray or mention quite a few favorites — plenty to please fans and enough of the story was left for newcomers to follow.  If the musical visits any other community theaters around Utah, it’s worth considering for a nice evening out.

We also made a day trip to a neighboring valley to visit the home in which my grandfather grew up.  We called ahead to make sure we would be able to see inside the house, and learned that it’s open for tours most Saturdays during the summer months from 11-3.  The town is small (population about 650) and a sign on the street corner ensures that out-of-towners can easily find the house.  It was built by my great-grandparents around 1872, and modeled after the but-and-ben cottage in Thurso, Scotland in which my great-grandfather had lived before emigrating to the USA.  As the family expanded in size to eventually include ten children, the house grew as well.  Thick stone walls still keep the rooms nearly as cool as air conditioning in the summer, and massive cottonwoods provide shade in the garden.

The house and its furnishings are an excellent example of what life would have been like in Utah in the late 1800s.  Quilts and other handiwork, all made by my great-grandmother and her daughters, are displayed in every room.  The family photos and other treasured mementos were delightful to see.

A baby cradle is in the front bedroom:  my great-grandmother would rock the cradle with her foot while reading or doing handiwork.  After ten children, a small groove has been worn in the cradle’s edge.  The Things liked the upstairs sleeping porches; one year as the house was being prepared for summer tours, a baby raccoon was discovered sleeping in a crib on the sleeping porch!  The Things also enjoyed their special “cousins only” tour of the cellar.

This photo of my grandfather was taken around 1914 while he was an LDS missionary in Scotland.  (He’s the rather large gentleman in the center; click on the picture for a closer look.)  We had a wonderful visit with John, my second cousin who conducted the house tour, and soon realized that we both needed to bring members of the previous generation with us next time.

Editor’s Note: The Gimlet has recently been heard to complain that all the recent cross stitching posts have made the blog rather too piano for his taste. Your Humble Narrator suggested that if he started remodeling the kitchen (or the bathroom, or building his tool shed), subsequent posts might be more to his liking. Since he didn’t jump on any of these great ideas, a book about tools (and monkeys) will have to suffice.

Monkey with a Tool Belt by Chris Monroe already has everything Thing Two could hope for in a story: (1) a monkey; and (2) tools. Lots of tools. But there’s more! Chico Bon Bon (and what a great name for our monkey hero) builds and fixes all sorts of interesting things for his family and friends (clocks, swings, roller coasters), until the day he’s kidnapped by an organ grinder. But the organ grinder doesn’t realize he’s dealing with a primate packing hardware. Resourcefulness and Chico’s can-do attitude triumph in the end!

The illustrations (also by Chris Monroe) are a treat: funny, colorful, and full of details to delight both children and parents. The countless gadgets and gizmos Chico pulls out of his tool belt are especially fun. Until Chico Bon Bon gets his own show on the DIY Network, enjoy reading Monkey with a Tool Belt with your favorite little tool-loving monkeys.

Aloha! Masterpiece Theatre’s Complete Jane Austen is well underway, and you can read my review of Northanger Abbey on PBS’ blog Remotely Connected. Remotely Connected is a small, diverse group of bloggers who have been chosen to present their perspectives on major PBS programs. I’m thrilled to be invited to participate! Read reviews for all the new Jane Austen films at Remotely Connected.

(And look for more posts on that aloha soon … we’re still taking and labeling photos.)

The Things have always been happy to listen to whatever music happens to be playing around the house or in the car, but when Thing Two received You Are My Little Bird as a gift, we were thrilled to be introduced to this CD of children’s music that the entire family can enjoy.

You Are My Little Bird is not Elizabeth Mitchell’s first album, but it is her first to be released on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Selections range from classic American favorites to international children’s songs to covers parents will appreciate (my favorite is the Velvet Underground track). The accompaniment is minimal (guitar, banjo, rhythm sticks) and the arrangements are pure and simple: a mother, father, and children having fun making music together.

Thing Two’s favorite is the Woody Guthrie track for which this blog post is named, but he also tries to sing along with the gentle Japanese “Zousan” (little elephant). This brings up my one nitpicky complaint: I was disappointed that the CD booklet didn’t include the lyrics to the non-English language songs, but since then have found the lyrics on Elizabeth Mitchell’s web site.

You Are My Little Bird is a lovely and lively collection which has become one of our family’s favorites.

• Visit Elizabeth Mitchell’s web site to learn more about her music, download lyrics and sample tracks
• Explore the Smithsonian Folkways label
• Read other reviews of this CD and listen to samples on Amazon.

Here’s Thing Two, engaging in a little You-Are-There-Reading: we took Corduroy Goes to the Doctor with us for Thing Two’s annual checkup. He lived the story, from being weighed and measured, to examining the doctor’s instruments, and even had a shot. (He likes fancy bandages but is wary of them, knowing full well that they are purchased with pain.) Afterwards he had to read about Corduroy’s adventure all over again, but this time with the wisdom of experience.

Three short books just out this summer are Austenland, Curios, and The Jane Austen Handbook. They’re very different from each other, and all worth a look. Follow the jump for the reviews. (more…)

When Austenblog reported that there was an advance screening of Becoming Jane in town, I had to go. Sure, the logline brings on a twitching fit (“Their love story was her greatest inspiration”) but it was a great opportunity for a girls’ night out — and free!

JASNA’s web site features an excellent article: “Becoming Jane: Sorting Fact from Fiction.” So much has been said about this film already; without repeating others too much, here are some of my observations. (Spoilers follow after the jump.) (more…)

Editor’s note: This year’s Very Cool Patent Lawyer Client Appreciation Event was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Thing Two did not attend but enjoyed playing with the goodie bag contents afterwards. Goodie bags included glasses, leftover Triwizard Tournament decals (We scored Hogwarts and Beauxbatons but couldn’t find a Durmstrang one), and light-up wands. Accio Milk Duds!

Last Saturday I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We got free goodies, including a triwizard card, Harry Potter glasses, a wand, and 2 books, 2 about the history of broomsticks, and Harry and Ron’s book on magical creatures, which Ron and Harry wrote in. where it showed the classifications of animals. Ron or Harry wrote next to the most dangerous types of the animal “or anything Hagrid likes”.

In the movie, Harry saw Sirius Black’s house. When Harry, Fred, George, Hermione and Ron were listening to an Order of the Phoenix conversation, Hermione’s cat grabbed the extendable ear and played with it. I also liked when Professor Umbridge (Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher) interviewed Snape and asked “So you were unsuccessful getting the job of defense against the dark arts?” and Snape said “Obviously!” and she said stuff cutely and her room had cute kitten pictures. I also liked when the Weasely twins barged in the great hall and set off fireworks shaped liked dragons and shattered all the rule posters.

I think the movie would be scary in some parts for younger children, in the end, especially.

New this weekend, the latest ITV1 trailer is available for download from The Guardian’s media blog (.wmv format). The trailer does a nice job of stirring up excitement for the new Jane Austen films, with quick flashes of some very lovely images and choice little bits of dialogue. Very much amuse-bouches, but since I’m not really that cultured, my first comparison was to those “fun size” mini candy bars haunting the stores during Halloween.

Judging from the media focus (and my own bias), Persuasion looks to be the showpiece of these three new adaptations. We may not get to see Catherine Morland running to Milsom-Street, but there appears to be more than enough Anne Elliot sprinting through the streets of Bath to compensate. Our new Captain Wentworth certainly possesses the “glowing, manly, open look” mentioned in the novel. That’s not Gowland’s Lotion. I want his aesthetician’s number.

Mansfield Park could be a surprise hit. The little we’ve seen in the previews looks good. The Northern Echo reports that much of the film was shot using a handheld, which should be a fresh, interesting approach. I liked most of the handheld work in the 2005 P&P, but it could also go horribly wrong and leave us with COPS: in Mansfield.

Last but not least, Northanger Abbey looks lovely. This is our first peek at several cast members, and they’re a very attractive group. In particular, this trailer features some gorgeous shots of Felicity Jones. She looks quite a bit like C.E. Brock’s Catherine. Carey Mulligan has a nice resemblance to Brock’s Isabella as well. I also like this adaptation’s decision to cast a younger, prettier Mrs. Allen — more of a mother/aunt figure than the grandmotherly type seen in the Brock illustrations and in some of the other stage or film adaptations. Finally, a quick note on the acting: Henry’s glare in the theater scene is fantastic. (P.S.: Nice use of dim theater lighting plus top hat to disguise the helmet hair.)

I bought an inexpensive little region-free DVD player so I can watch these films almost as soon as they’re available from the UK. Enjoying the tastes, but growing more impatient to learn when dinner will be served.

ETA 6 March: First course begins 18 March. See my site for more details.

A few weeks ago I looked over the ITV-1 teaser trailer for their Jane Austen season, complained that a teaser trailer ought to tantalize, and the Northanger Abbey scenes were rather lacking in that respect. So I was poking around today and found a new teaser trailer on ITV’s web site called Winter on ITV1 (ETA 22 February – updated link).

Described as “a tantalising glimpse of the highlights of the winter season”, its Jane Austen scenes belong almost entirely to Northanger Abbey. As these scenes do not occur in the book, follow the jump for spoilers. (more…)