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. | …continue reading Post-Potter summer reading

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.) | …continue reading Movie Review: Becoming Jane

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. | …continue reading “A tantalising glimpse”

They’re still about a year away from their Masterpiece Theatre broadcast dates, but three new Jane Austen adaptations will debut on the UK’s ITV-1 some time this winter. ITV has not announced specific dates, but the managers for the estate at which Mansfield Park was filmed were told March. Masterpiece Theatre will show these films in the USA in November along with the BBC’s new Sense and Sensibility. AustenBlog has all kinds of news and links pertaining to the films and my web site is the home of the unofficial Northanger Abbey press room and cast gallery. And at long last, a winter preview trailer is up on YouTube. Follow the jump to see a few still images from the trailer accompanied by my commentary, most of which is devoted to dissecting the Northanger Abbey teaser. | …continue reading A closer look at the 2007 Austen adaptations

Oh! Mr. Tilney, how frightful! — This is just like a book!

Saturday morning we followed excellent directions given to us by a native New Yorker and fellow Pemberlian, and set out for the morning. On the way, we located the restaurant and the Park Avenue Christian Church, home of Theater Ten Ten. To our delight, the church was a Gothic edifice! Perhaps more Blaize Castle than Otranto, but still, very exciting.

We arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before the crowds and spent most of the day exploring its long passages and galleries, as our passion for ancient edifices and artifacts was next in degree to our passion for — well, you know. While we weren’t able to see all the exhibits, we chose favorites to linger over and briskly worked our way through several others. I was thrilled to find a collection of red figure vases by the Berlin and Achilles painters in the Greek and Roman galleries; Kelley’s must-see was George Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. We especially enjoyed the special exhibit titled Americans in Paris, 1860-1900.

By mid-afternoon the museum was getting crowded, so we left, walking several blocks south along Fifth Avenue, then turning around to walk back to 86^th Street through Central Park. We saw the viewing station for Pale Male, the Model Boat Pond, and took in the vast array of families, dog walkers, pedestrians, and cyclists. We took another loving look at the church — it was on the way, I promise — and hurried back to the hotel to meet the other Pemberlians and (hopefully) the Virtue Queen, who was making her way north from Times Square. | …continue reading NA fangirls geek out in GOTHam