Hi!  Just a little late-night update on my final papers...

So yesterday I submitted my 2nd grad paper on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries - I still can't believe they let me do that.  I was writing about it for a film class, applying theories of form, gender, and reception.  It seemed a bit messy even when I turned it in, but it did give me some ideas I want to expand into my thesis project :)

I'm now working on a really interesting paper going in all sorts of crazy directions: Victorian standardization of time, Hesiod's socieconomic perspective in Works and Days, postcolonial theory, Hamlet, a bit of Foucault, and Odysseus's sirens... I told my brother: "Right now they're like a bunch of sheep running in different directions and I need to become Babe! #BahRamEwe" I'm about 1/3 of the way there and it is pretty fun.  The text I'm working with is also a favorite--"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

But now I should get some rest so I can scribble out some more good ideas tomorrow. Bonne nuit!

:)

This does my dead-week soul good.

This is happening :D

It is based on the paper I wrote last term.  Here is the abstract:

Adaptation Theo(re-) and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

My paper examines the current environment of adaptation studies as applied to new media forms of storytelling.  Evolving from a word vs. image debate, the adaptation theories produced by Robert Stam and Linda Hutcheon are opening a space for dialogic exploration, with Hutcheon suggesting adaptation is about “repetition, but repetition without replication.”  Both suggest that the aim of re-telling a story is not direct translation, but re-interpretation and re-creation, and are interested in viewing these re-creations as palimpsest, investigating how adaptation allows people to see the original work in a new way.

After a review of the shift in adaptation perspectives, this paper turns to look at The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a transmedia retelling of Pride and Prejudice set as a vlog in modern day California.  Across platforms including YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest, this Emmy-award winning web series spent a year re-working the 200-year-old novel in “real-time.”  While completely re-interpreting certain concerns—the Bennet’s entailed estate is now a faulty mortgage; Collins “proposal” is for a job, not a marriage—the creators of this series simply update others.  In this paper and PowerPoint presentation, I argue that far from detracting from the core narrative, these changes were made in order to better explore the question at the core of both Jane Austen’s novel and the web series.

In the final turn of my paper, I examine how centering the climax of the story on their interpretation of the Lydia-Wickham scandal, the creators of this series take Lizzie’s empathetic lesson a step further, extending her repentance to include both her misunderstanding of Darcy and of a fully realized Lydia Bennet.  In doing so, they not only work against stereotype, but also encourage viewers to re-examine their assumption of Pride and Prejudice, creating the type of palimpsestuous learning moment adaptation studies strive for. 

loving love

Today I was studying in Starbucks and within an hour, they played:

• "Wandering Back" by Sucre
• "Emphasis" by Sleeping at Last
• "Tongues of Fire" by John Mark McMillan

The rest of the day has been pretty decent, too... but those favorites were in close succession and made me feel like I had won some sort of award :) 

"Someday, I want to own a U-Park lot... just so I can spell it correctly."

- things 11 tells me

on Valentine's Day

in Portland

Haiku for a rainy day...

I may have grown up 

but I still play hopscotch, all

alone with puddles. 

"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 :)

Finally watched To Kill a Mockingbird this weekend... some 10 years after reading the novel for the first time (my review here).  It was astonishingly beautiful!  But I most wanted to share this exquisite opening:

The music, the creative shots, the panning, the san-serif block titles... the whole thing strikes me as incredible for 1962!  I feel like Wes Anderson must have been very inspired by this opening--kinda makes me wish he'd do a black and white film.  Anyway, I thought I would just share that one with you.  

Seattle Day

I'm on break, but my boyfriend has to work...an hour and a half away.  So today, when I wanted to visit downtown Seattle, I decided to "take him along" by sending him pics of all the different steps of my adventure - including some of my favorite places.

Step one: Mercury's chai. Always

[Hello, my old frenemy]

Ok, so this is where I got off, but it is also pretty significant for our relationship.  The day I met my boyfriend, he offered to walk me to the bus. It was raining slightly, we got to this covered gate area and stood talking for quite a while about arts and faith.  I watched my bus come, I watched my bus go, I kept talking to this cute boy I had just met.  At one point in the conversation, he leaned against the gate, not realizing it isn't secured, and totally got off balance.  And I took it as a bit of a sign that, as I hoped, this fella may like me.  Turns out...he did :)

The room where we met!

Then I visited the Sheraton's famous Gingerbread Village.  Here was an incredible Seattle replica, complete with a motorized Great Wheel.

Here's another, I loved the Seahawk Crane with a 12th Man Flag, Mrs. Seahawk, and Hawk's nest.

Another had this ode to Up :')

"Typical Tourist" moment

The back side of the Market

And the wheel we took on our first date...

I can't visit the market without a stop to Le Panier

Cafe time calls for a journal moment

And then, after a secret little stop, it was time for a visit to the impressive Seattle Public Library.

Just a few different angles of the library.

I brought my current read...

One more angle from outside...

And then it was back home.
I've missed Seattle, and it was lovely to reconnect with some familiar spots.
Next time, I hope to get some more exploring in to discover new ones.

Grad School: Term 1 of 6

Orientation Week, before the term:

Last week of the term:

I survived my first term of grad work and you guys... I love school!

Teaching is a lot of work, but has been very rewarding thus far. 

I've produced two essays on adaptation that I am proud of,

and that my professors have encouraged me in pursuing further.

I've said this before, but... grad school is hard.

But if I'm going to do something hard, I want it to be what I love.

And I really love school.

Guys! Guys!  Today I got to present my paper on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and it went reeeally well!  My professor said the paper it was based on was "compelling" and I got to have discussion about the form of new media adaptations--"So...the characters can tweet at you?"--and it was amazing!  Also, I had been planning to expand this project into my MA Thesis (a 60 page, 3-chapter document due April 2016) and today my professor told me, "Yah, I think you really should."  I just had to note this small victory.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Samara from one year ago,

Keep. going!  Your crazy idea is just crazy enough to be "compelling"!  I know it seems--especially in the coming weeks--that grad school is unattainable and that you'll never be allowed back in that world.  I know that you're going to go to bed exhausted, bleary-eyed and emotional far too many times.  I know that the future seems very dark--that you'll be waiting eternally and that what you've hoped for will never happen.  But have faith and take courage, because your hard work will open doors and your faith will be answered.

I know that even now you are considering giving up on OSU--it's the most expensive choice and has the earliest application date.  But thank you for not giving up on it, because God knew this interdisciplinary school was exactly where you needed to be.  I know that you are going to hear voices--both in your head and from other people--that this idea isn't "academic enough" and that you just don't have it together.  But by immense grace and running hard after a dream, somehow it does come together.  So don't give up.

As for me, I have to get back to this other crazy paper on Heart of Darkness, Impressionism, and the Lost World (I'm on page 13 of 20 - woohoo!).  But keep your chin up, "When the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer." :)

Cheers,
Samara Surface
Graduate Teaching Associate
MA Candidate - Literature and Culture
School of Writing, Literature, and Film
Oregon State University

First Lines: 2014

Here's my 2nd-annual "first lines" round up from the past year.

January:
2014 - Page 1 of 365. 

February:
It's been almost two weeks since my last post. 

March:
It is late, dark, wet and I'm trying to get home as fast as possible. 

April:
A week ago Sunday I got to go to Seattle's biggest Con and it was loads of fun!
[Oh!  Little did I know...]  

May:
Anyone who chats to me long enough is bound to discover I love adaptations.  

June:
And here we have Emma Stone displaying how adulthood feels quite succinctly. 

July:
My favorite of all Shakespeare comedies is Much Ado about Nothing. 

August:
I'm excited to share a little project I've been working on for the past week. 

September:
This place doesn’t smell like home.  

October:
Last October, I participated in an October blog challenge called "31 Days." 

November:
You are one of my heroes
This day and every day
but especially today. 

December:
If you're looking for me this week, I'll be paper writing next to this crackling fire...

It's so fun looking back at just snippets of the past year and yet still being able to piece that year's identity together.  And this year... this year has been a good year.

"I'm having an emotional response to art!  
Is that normal?"

- Tom Haverford 

So, I guess you could say paper writing is going... well?

#SO #MANY #IDEAS!!!

Ethical Gift-Giving - How to shop smart!

"Every day, the dollars we spend are a vote for the kind of world that we want."

Last year I did a sort of shopping guide for bibliophiles.  This year, I wanted to do one on ethical gift-giving, but did not get to it before Black Friday.  And then I came across Relevant's version and thought I would share it here.  

Shopping ethically can seem so complicated--like, does this mean I have to make soap from scratch and only wear hippie-styled, fair trade ponchos?  But I've decided to educate myself and incrementally adjust my shopping habits.  But the best thing anyone can do is simply start educating themselves.  Contrary to my initial assumption, it doesn't even necessarily cost more.  

So if you care about what your money is voting for, I'd encourage you to explore some of the resources Relevant suggests.  Get gifts for the people you love with the knowledge you're not hurting anyone else or this planet.

And Happy Advent!

* * * * * * * * * * 

Just an update that if a quality, new bag is on the list of someone you might know (or yourself), I just happened upon this pretty cool company called better life bags.  You can check out their awesome mission here.

* * * * * * * * * *

Second update that I just made a new pinterest board for this because I keep finding fun new companies that give back.  If you'd be interested in contributing to that board, let me know!  Cheers!

If you're looking for me this week, I'll be paper writing next to this crackling fire...

This is our common room.  They've decorated it up for the holidays and someone stokes the fire every hour or so.  It's marvelous!

As for the papers themselves, I'm working on a 10-page piece that is half-review of theories of adaptation and half-application to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  Then I have a 20-page piece for next week looking at the use of impressionism in Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now--also using adaptation theories.   Those are the biggies between now and break.  Wish me luck!

And, finally, Happy Advent!

*******

Update: Just submitted the first paper of my grad school career!

Also, who ever decided the term for "approaching something as a whole" should be "holistic" rather than "wholistic"?  Lame.