"Aw, you're wearing a different scarf! Babe, I'm so proud of you!"

- things 11 tells me

especially after I fixate

on a new scarf for too long

Birthday Blog Day!!

[via]

Today marks six on the blog. It's a special place and I'm happy to share it with you :)

"I have been tense lately. Just thinking about the new star wars sequel. I’m worried they’ll rely too heavily on CGI and I’m carrying it all in my shoulders."

Ben Wyatt gets me.

Currently watching...

Being that it's my passion, I feel a compulsion to every once in a while update you on the web series I'm following.  I'm really happy that there seems to be a pretty constant flurry of activity in this exploding format--new projects starting up, others finishing one season and pursuing funding for another, etc.  So in the midst of the many that I hear about, here are the series I've been watching over the last few months:

Title: Classic Alice
Creators: Kate Hackett
About: "It chronicles Alice Rackham's life -- lived according to classic literature."  See my review of Season 1 here.  Season 2 just wrapped and stories included: Pygmalion, "The Butterfly," Macbeth, "Rip Van Winkle," The Wind in the Willows, and A Christmas Carol.  Whew! Range.
Of all the adapted web series I've watched this one has been the most innovative and also--with funding--could be the most sustainable. They are currently campaigning for funding and would so appreciate your support!

Status: Finished Season 2, campaigning for Season 3

Title: In Earnest
Creators:  Taryn Cole, Carly Straight, and Rachel Pullen
About: "'In Earnest' is a modern, web series adaptation of Oscar Wilde's famous play, 'The Importance of Being Earnest.'"  This is a quite delightful rendition of this story set at an East Coast University.  I am amazed how seamlessly Wilde's 120 year old wit can be repeated word-for-word today.  Favorite performance is John Laurie as Algernon Moncrieff

Status: Current.  New videos air Wednesdays and Saturdays

Title: Elinor and Marianne take Barton
Creators: Emily Nabney and Olivia Cole
About: "'Elinor and Marianne Take Barton' is an updated online adaptation of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, produced, filmed and created by students at the University of Warwick (England)." I'm aware there are a couple S&S adaptations going on currently; this has felt the most life-like to me.  It's also delightful to finally watch a web-series based off a British book created and performed by British people :D

Status: Current.  New videos air Friday (usually)

Title: From Mansfield with Love
Creators: Foot in the Door Theatre
About: "'From Mansfield With Love' is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park." Another British series!  The pretense under which we get these videos is, I think, a perfect set up.  Though I found neither Frances O'Conner (1999) nor Billie Piper (2007) convincing as Fanny Price, Holly Truslove seems to have struck a balance.

Status: Current.  New videos air Wednesday and Sundays

Other series I'm aware of, but haven't checked out yet:
March Family Letters
East and West
Carmilla
Green Gables Fables
The Misselthwaite Archives

Are there others you've been watching? Any of these look particularly interesting to you?  Any I should review? :)

Addendum to yesterday's post...

So I was, in fact, sitting in a cafe reading a novel.  This guy sat down not far from me and asked what I was reading.  I told him; we exchanged banter...as you do.  After a bit, he told me, "You do realize, of course, that you're a quirky girl with short brown hair reading in a coffee shop? Like, you know you are that archetype, right?"

Haha, yes I do.  Thank you for noticing :)

Grad school for Literature... 

Expectation: 

Sitting in a cafe reading a novel

Reality (most of the time):

Reading tons of essays by people like Adorno & other critics. 

But sometimes, I get lucky. Right now... I'm sitting in a cafe reading a novel. 

In particular, I'm starting into James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, where his character Stephan Dedalus originated. It's known for being a bit challenging as Dedalus narrates in stream-of-consciousness. But, funny enough, I can kind of follow it for one reason: Andrew Scott. 

Now Scott did a BBC radio drama of Ulysses a few years back (which I've tried getting into twice, but someday I'll prevail!) and he played Dedalus. But it's not his role from Joyce's more famous novel that's helping me. It's actually his performance from the short Seawall. It's a one man film that Scott narrates on his own. But all of this adds up to one thing: reading Portrait, I can't help but hear Scott's voice. :)

Listening lately...

All y'all can keep 1-D.  I just can't stop listening to Collabro - a bit more my type of "boy band."

It's that time of year...

That time when fantastic, dark, and strange movies are coming out, when Tina & Amy brush off the jokes, when artists make us tear up in 90 second speeches, and when...

...there are pretty dresses all around!!!

I'm sorry, I'm just totally still a little girl who loves dress up :D  Here are just a few of my favorite looks from tonight's Globes:

[Emma Stone looking fierce]

[Long time favorite, Felicity Jones is just lovely]

[Julia Goldani Telles seemed like a work of art]

[11 year old Oscar and Golden Globe Nominee, Quevenzhane Wallis looked darling]

And cutest couple (and soon to be trio!!) goes to:

[Benedict & Sophie - seriously how? Cumberbaby is already a gene pool winner!]

Ok... just a few of my favorites - what say you?

New Year | New Term

Hello and Happy New Year!

Classes start back up tomorrow and I just thought I'd share with you the banner I curated for my class site's banner:

[Groot and Rocket, Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere, and Always]

My theme this term is again "The Rhetoric of Fans, Fandom, and Fanatics," and I just thought this fan art was a beautiful demonstration.  

Now I'm turning in to help reset my internal clock, which is still on "break time."  Bonsoir and happy new term :)