Re-Live-Blogging PBS' "Jane Austen Season" Sense and Sensibility Installment TWO

Just as the PBS showing of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility on Masterpiece Classic tonight is a re-broadcast, so is this a re-liveblog. So warning, SPOILERS AHEAD. Read ahead at your own risk ;)
See you next week for Chazz Dickens-mania!


SO I've been thinking about the idea of the two film versions as "companion" pieces, each picking up on a different aspect of the novel. Ang/Emma's version (S&S95) riffs on Austen's satire of Marianne's out-of-whack romanticism and her infatuation with Willoughby, and also plays up on the differences between the sisters ("I compare my behavior to what it ought have been. I compare it to yours!"). Davies version picks up on the precarious situation of women in the time down to the house perched vulnerably on the edge of cliffs/crashing waves, which is obviously one of Austen's favorite themes, and it's treated particularly strongly in this novel. Even the darker hues and music fit into it...here goes.


9:01 pm-- Why is Gillian "Lily Bart" Anderson talking about Tom LeFroy? What does this fave to do with anything? Enough of this crap, bring on Elinor and Marianne!

9:04--Elinor says there must be "some explanation" for Edward's not visiting. Turns out, she's right, cause she's Elinor and she has so much sense.

9:05--Marianne recites some poem and talks like Cathy in Wuthering Heights. 'He is in me! He is with me all the time...I am Heathcliff!"

9:07--They talk about whether money can buy happiness. Elinor prosaic, Marianne poetic. Edward utterly tortured, dying to speak words unspoken, to utter sentiments un-uttered.

9:09--The famed, oft-discussed Edward WOOD-CHOPPING in the rain scene. Less sexy than sticky. No Darcy in the lake, that's for sure.

9:12--Still, it has affected Elinor; she lies sleepless and troubled.

9:13--BREAK from live-blogging while I devour my Vietnamese noodles and watch the screen uninterrupted.

_________________________

9:30--And I'm back. Just in time for the misty-morning DUEL?? Huh? Is this a fantasy scene or what? Oh, I get it. They're dueling over Eliza. That's what they did back then. [In fact, as Raquel mentioned in the last week's liveblog, Austen mentions it in an elliptical conversation as related by Brandon]

9:31--In the interim, there have been some wonderful scenes... but a lot of them are just like S&S 95. Stopcomparingstopcomparing.

9:35--Marianne: "Happy Elinor, you have no idea of what I suffer?"
Um, yes she does you selfish, overly "sensible" girl! She just has the "sense" to hide it.

9:37--Brandon tells Eliza's tale of woe to Elinor. Like I said, the theme of the social situation of women is everywhere--but doesn't the duel undercut it a bit? Precarious women, yeah, but who cares when they could be defended by manly men with their swords?

9:40--Margaret delivers an abridged version of Anne's speech at the end of "Persuasion." "Girls must sit around and wait for things to happen. Men ride about the country!"

9:41--Oh sheeet, Brandon visits Eliza's daughter and her infant. Isn't it kind of f'ed up that he's Eliza's "father" figure and she's the same age as Marianne, whom he wants to bone?

Ouch, he tells her about Willoughby's engagement.

9:43--Fanny Ferrars calls Marianne "damaged goods." John Dashwood says Marianne has "lost her bloom" and urges Elinor to "try for Colonel Brandon." Mrs. Ferrars the elder is reincarnated as Lady Catherine de Bourgh from P&P '95 and gets into a staring contest with Marianne.
In short, they suck.
But this dinner party scene is awesome. Virginia Woolf should write a stream-of-consciousness narration detailing everyone's feelings.

9:46-- Oof, oof, oof, the scenes between Elinor and Miss Steele, and Edward and Elior and Miss Steele, are so painful. And so perfect. The longing in his face, and in Elinor's, is beautifully rendered.

9:51--Anne spills the beans. The defendants stand trial at the course of the elder Mrs. Ferrars. So much glaring!

9:53--I just love this portrayal of Edward.. even more than that of H-h-hugh Grant... his pain is so apparent, and he's seen as so much more an upright man than just a doddering fool.

9:55--Elinor's big scene: "Let me assure you, I have been very unhappy."

9:56--This scene is both derivative of S&S '95 AND P&P '95, what with the silhouettes against the windows. But yes, it's really sad. Poor Elinor. Losing your man to Lucy Steele... it doesn't get worse than this.

9:59--Elinor and Marianne talk about the menz. "Perhaps they see us not as people but as playthings, Elinor," says Marianne.

10:01--Marianne fantasizes in the rain about kissing Willoughby. Brandon comes riding up to her rescue, unlike in the book--it does feel like Ang Lee's version has become dogma, like as Mags said, this film is as much a remake of that one as it is of the book.

10:03--Colonel Brandon holds Marianne's hand. Pedophile alert! Naw, jk, it's mad sexy. He's a sweet, stern not-really-old man.

10:07--Willoughby's "confession." He's just a whiny emo-schoolboy here. No Greg Wise, I repeat. And Elinor gives it to him good--no sign of the pity she feels in the novel.

10:11--Marianne talks about how Colonel Brandon is a true Romantic for keeping faith with Eliza throughout the years. "It is not what we say... but what we do." This explaines the connection between Brandon and Marianne, and why Brandon loves her instead of Elinor, who seems to be a better match.

10:12--OK Davies, why follow up that great speech with comparing women to horses who need to be tamed? Or is Elinor just being deeply ironic?


Another break while I watch the end and savor it.

_______________________________


10:31--So the ending was wonderful, I even choked up a bit, but I have to wonder why again Elinor started sobbing convulsively just like Emma Thompson did. The book describes it as Elinor " burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease. " Does it follow that they must be hiccoughing tears? Ah, well. Maybe it does! It does feel wonderful to see Elinor release her feelings. It's so cathartic.

But showing the evolution of the Marianne-Brandon relationship and the talk between the sisters on the beach were all well-done.

Companion pieces. I have to see the two films as companion pieces. Must stop comparing!

Well, it's been a wonderful Jane Austen season. See you next time there are six Jane Austen movies in the same year. Probably in 2012 or even sooner, sigh ;)

Odds n' Ends + Don't forget Sense and Sensibilty if you're bored with the grammys

Hope you all had a nice weekend and those in the Nor'east like me enjoyed the rare treat of sunshine and relative warmth.

1- I'll be re-liveblogging "Sense and Sensibility" later this evening for those who are sick of Miley Cyrus et all gyrating to their chart-topping songs in between long commercial breaks (personally, I'm watching the Grammys due to a professional obligation of someone in my household but it's cool cause I'm down with the pop culture yo).

2-Remember how last week I said that WGBH superheroine Rebecca Eaton was going to be answering your/our questions on PBS' "Engage" blog? Following my own advice, I went right over there and typed in a question. And guess what? The PBS Engage moderators put it right at the front of the queue!

In keeping with the Egalitarian Bookworm spirit, I asked was who was Eaton's favorite Masterpiece Theater hero, and she said Captain Wentworth, among others. (She mentioned both captain Wentworths, but I think we can all agree that she secretly loves Ciaran best.) Go check out her answers to the other four questions, and see more of her beloved heros, here.

3-On a related PBS bloggage note, I'm the PBS "remotely connected" guest-blogger for next week's "Oliver Twist!" So I've been watching it all weekend (it has the same director as "Wuthering Heights" and features Tom Hardy as the vile Bill Sikes). Despite the lack of rousing musical numbers, there's lots of interesting stuff to talk about.

4--And finally, on the list of must-read books front, Mags of Austenblogs generously pointed out some truly great book-lists for those of us who like such things to help inspire us to greater literary heights. Go check them out here!

More Literary Birthdays--Dickens and Wilder

A lot of literary geniuses happen to share my week of birth. Today we honor Chlarles Dickens--how appropriate, just as Dickensfest '09 prepares to be aired on PBS, and we honor Laura Ingalls Wilder, whom we all doubtless read and loved as a child.

I've talked about Dickens a lot here and will be talking about him a lot more in the next month.

But Laura Ingalls Wilder was an early favorite of mine. I read the "Little House" books over and over again for years after my parents first read them to me. But one of my saddest moments was when I was in fourth grade or something and I wanted to re-read something fun, and picked up "Little House on the Prairie" and realized it was too easy for me, even as a diversion, and it would be hard to immerse myself in it. I felt like I had lost this incredible world of scenes and characters. I look forward to someday reading the books with my kids.

Anyway, happy birthday to both of them where ever their spirits may be! They made our world more beautiful and just with their words.

Book Lists

As a rule, I've never met a "top # of anything" list that I agreed with. But just like those old VH1 countdowns, lists are great for stimulating discussion and reminding us what holes  we may have in our movie/book/music consumption. So for kicks, I've posted two lists that I use to help occasionally guide my reading. One is a list of 20th century novels in English--its compiled by the Radcliffe publishing course, whatever that is, in response to the white-man-heavy Modern Library list. 

The other is modified by me from a Columbia concentration on the 19th century british novel. It shows me which major novels in that category I have yet to read ("Barchester Towers, for one, and the non-"Vanity Fair" Thackeray stuff). I put them on the web with the novels I've read highlighted, so you can see the embarrassing gaps  and impressive things I've read.

Now I need to find a list of 50 or so pre-1900 American and European classics to round it out. Are there any?

Here's the 20th century one.

And the 19th century british ones.

Emma Thompson+ Kate Winslet's Additions to the Austen Quip-i-verse

So the previous post got me thinking...
What are your favorite non-Austen lines from the 1995 Sense and Sensibility? Is it me or do the most quotable ones come from Winslet's Marianne? Also, again, correct me if any are more Jane than Emma. And let me know if I've missed any!

"There is some blue sky! Let us chase it!"

"Is love a fancy or a feeling? Or a Ferrars?"

"Willoughby! Will you not shake hands?" (Ok this is in the original text)

"What care I for colds when there is such a man?"

"Esteem him? Like him? Use those insipid words again and I shall leave the room this instant. "

"How did you find the silver? Was it all genuine? " [to Fanny. Oh shyte!]

"Is there any felicity in the world superior to this?"

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. Or bends with the remover to remove. Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. Willoughby. Willoughby. Willoughby." [modifying the Bard to suit the occasion]

"HE DID! (sob) HE DID." [yes, he did]... "but not enough. but not enough."

"I compare [my behavior] to what it ought to have been. I compare it to yours."

"Is love a fancy or a feeling? Or a Ferrars?" (or Brandon or Willoughby)

Yes I know that is an Emma Thompson quote (I don't think it's in the original text, but let me know if I'm lying, as I've only read the book twice and seen the 1995 film 10+ times). But ANYWAY, Kim and Amy are having a poll on your favorite Sense and Sensibility hero/cad over at Romancing the Tome. Go vote! I'm not going to say who I voted for, but let's just say I see eye to eye with Kim on the Greg Wise angle.

Oh Lord, A Literary Feud! Stephen King vs. Stephenie Meyer

Stephen King lays the smack down on Stephenie Meyer by saying the truth that dare not speak its name: specifically, that his compatriot at the top of the bestseller lists "can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."

Ha. As a rule I think it's usually unnecessary to say such things. Her purple prose speaks for itself. BUT on the other hand, he's Stephen freakin' King, man, and there's no question that his style is better. Plus he has way more to say about the human condition than sparkly vampire lady, even though I loved her books [except for the fourth one which needs to burn in book hell]. So I say, why not have a pop-lit feud? Maybe it will help stimulate the industry.

Nothing Doing, eh?

It's been a slow day in the literary world...while I procrastinate from the writing I need to do because it's my birthday*, here is an unconscionably awesome shlocky fanvid culled from the single greatest movie ever made** Persuasion 1995.



You know, once one starts watching fangirl montages of UK period dramas on youtube, one could quite easily end up allowing one's entire life to get sucked away. I just watched Thornton and Margaret Hale make out by the train tracks like 50 times. I have to give these enterprising amateur music video directors a lot of credit. The only complaint I register is there's a little too much snivelling Keira Knightley floating around out there, but I'm happy to watch MacFayden pout as Darcy*** ad infinitum.

Hey, here's a fun fact I learned from watching all this pre-1900 smooching and staring on the interwebs. Did you know that JAMES FRANCO played Tristan in the recent Tristan and Isolde movie? And it features my beloved period hunk RUFUS SEWELL as well? (I want more Will Ladislaw fanvids, ladies! Make me some!****) Who'd a thunk such a totally panned movie would have such a bang-up cast? Now I kind of want to netflix that sh*t.*****

Consider this random non-sequitur a chance to jump into comments and yack about whatever you've been blogging, tumbling, twittering or writing about recently. Or just go over to youtube and immerse yourself in breeches, fops and tails.

Oh and speaking of Rufus Sewell, once the oscars are over, is Sam MEndes gonna get to work on this middlemarch shiznit or what? Am I the only George Eliot obsessive out there just waiting for someone to correct the "sunny" romantic ending from the end of the 1994 miniseries? Andrew Davies, once again my fragile hopes are pinned on your wildly egotistical shoulders.

_____FOOTNOTES_____

*Yes, it is my birthday.

**Yeah that's right F@!@#$ you Citizen Kane!

***He will OWN the Arthur Clenham role in Little Dorrit, mothaF!#$%ers.

****Here's one!



*****but let's face it I probably won't.

Happy Posthumous Birthday James Joyce

Let's celebrate with feminist heroine for the ages, MOLLY BLOOM's monologue. I contemplated putting up the end of Stephen's experience in "Portrait" or its moocow opening or a bit of "The Dead" (or even a youtube clip of the awesome John Huston "Dead" movie) or another short story, but there's no one like Molly, so here she is:

theres nothing like nature the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with the fields of oats and wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see rivers and lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the ditches primroses and violets nature it is as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why dont they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like now yes 16 years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said I was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharons and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas 2 glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

On Beauty

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I loved White Teeth immensely, until I hit the rather overly-coincidental and melodramatic ending, and I think I feel the same way about On Beauty, which tackles the same themes (race, gender, identity, family and love) across the pond here in the US of A. Smith wrote this novel while she (and I at the same time, but I was prolly too stoned to even attempt to take her class or go to her readings) were studying at a certain elite Northeastern fancypants U. I found her satire of life at that place scarily accurate in some ways, but also shallow in others, sometimes in the same spot. For example:

---

"Any questions?" asked Howard. The answer to this never changed. Silence. But it was an interesting breed of silence particular to upscale liberal arts colleges. It was not silent because nobody had anything to say--quite the opposite. You could feel it, Howard could feel it, millions of things to say brewing in this room, sometimes sometimes that they seemed to shoot from the students telepathically and bounce off the furniture. Kids looked down at the table top, or out of the window, or at Howard with great longing; some of the weaker ones blushed and pretended to take notes. But not one of them would speak. They had an intense fear of their peers. And, more than that, of Howard himself. "

---

Her understanding of the ubiquitous torture of those Ivy-League silences is good. But what do they mean? Is it pure fear? Well, for those of us who've sat in those silences, yes and no. I wish, to use a silly academic term, she would unpack the silences.

 Anyway back to the novel's more human, less satirical aspects...

The characters Smith was able to probe into the most were Howard and Kiki Belsey, the struggling interracial couple, the anchors of one of the two families Smith explores. Both Belseys had irritating and sympathetic qualities (though Kiki was obviously more sympathetic) but I wish that Smith used her talents to delve deeper, rather than wider. The Dickensian pastiche is all very well, but as I said in my review of Little Dorrit, it works better when you truly care about a main character or two--and Kiki and Howard could have been those characters but there was a certain coldness to their rendering. Smith is masterful in a lot of respects and on Beauty definitely worth reading if you care about modern takes on any of the Big Themes I mentioned above. On Beauty zips by more than it stagnates. Smith's prose is funny and absorbing and not too much of a downer, although you do want to smack her characters on the head at times.

(Lastly, I think on a surface level Smith did a brilliant job capturing the everyday tragedy of late adolescent life--all five or six of her late-teen early twenties characters were well drawn and perhaps their idiocy and stubbornness and foolish idealism and delusions hit too close to home for this 26 year old reader:))


View all my reviews.

Monday Morning Poem: Conversation Among the Ruins

Conversation Among the Ruins by: Sylvia Plath

Through portico of my elegant house you stalk With your wild furies, disturbing garlands of fruit And the fabulous lutes and peacocks, rending the net Of all decorum which holds the whirlwind back. Now, rich order of walls is fallen; rooks croak Above the appalling ruin; in bleak light Of your stormy eye, magic takes flight Like a daunted witch, quitting castle when real days break. Fractured pillars frame prospects of rock; While you stand heroic in coat and tie, I sit Composed in Grecian tunic and psyche-knot, Rooted to your black look, the play turned tragic: Which such blight wrought on our bankrupt estate, What ceremony of words can patch the havoc?

The Tales of Charles Dickens,

as interpreted by PBS, with Coldplay in the background. This aired tonight after Sense and Sensibility... look for little Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) at about 0:26. So cute!

Re-Live-Blogging PBS' "Jane Austen Season" Sense and Sensibility Installment ONE

Just as the PBS showing of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility on Masterpiece Classic tonight is a re-broadcast, so is this a re-liveblog. So warning, SPOILERS AHEAD. Read ahead at your own risk ;)


9pm.

Here goes. I'm counting the laughs throughout the evening to see if Davies accurately nails Austen's big satire.

If you read my JA coverage you know I adore the Ang Lee film version, but more as a product of Ang Lee's and Emma Thompson's genius than Jane's/ So let's see if Davies can keep his ego in check and not be influenced too much by the '95 version.


9:04--The highly-anticipated "sex scene" isn't very controversial so far--but I wonder if this "do you truly love me," Willoughby stuff isn't seeing things through a modern lens.

9:05--John promises Mr. Dashwood that he will "do something by the girls." So far, it's all very Serious.

9:06--The first laugh of the evening, when Margaret says "will they have to live with Gypsys?"

9:09--Fanny Dashwood, such a bitch!

9:11--The first mention of a COTTAGE! I am EXC-essively fond of a cottage.

9:13--Laugh count, according to my boyfriend and our good friend Mike: 3 to 4.

9:14--A side note--the production value of this is SO MUCH better than the ITV productions earlier this year. Another example of the longstanding British oppression of the Irish.

9:16--Side note number two: Andrew Davies is still good at distilling the essence of a novel, but he's using more of his own language relative to Jane's--"carpet-beating" etc. etc. Still, so far so good.

9:17--Edward is HOT. And he's a total Hugh Grant type.

9:18--Edward and Elinor discuss his career; the scene is shot just like S&S95.

9:20--Remind me those who have read the book. Is this whole Edward-bonds-with-Margaret thing actually in the book or is it just a trope that filmmakers continually use to show how great Edward is?

9:25--Fanny, such a BITCH, redux.

9:25--Mrs. Dashwood on John Middleton: "Such kindness, from a man we have never met." Flash to John Dashwood's uncomfortable face. This is what we love about Andrew Davies. This is the kind of subtlety Jane demands.

9:28--Edward values Elinor's friendship but can't stay anymore. His eyes are all teary. He's a bit awkward but I actually may like him better than Hugh Grant, not in terms of loveability but in terms of being true to the character from the novel. Shy, yes, proper yes, but not a stammering ninny.

9:32--WOW. What beautiful shots of the English countryside. Let's go there! Fetch my trap and pony! Or perhaps I am the type who would prefer a barouche?

9:37--Sir John Middleton is MR WEASLEY FROM HARRY POTTER! But Ang Lee still has Snape, Sybil Trelawney, Madame Pomfrey, Dolores Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge in his picture. Not too fair.

9:38--Colonel Brandon is so ...dashing. Quoth my boyfriend's sister over gmail chat: LOOK AT THAT HUNK!

9:41--We get that this cottage is seriously uncomfortable. Cold. Damp. British. Almost Irish. The surrounding cliffs are absolutely gorgeous, in a stark way.

Hey, you ever notice how Marianne and Elinor are living on a cliff, both literally cause there's a cliff onscreen, and figuratively because they're women with no money and they're one step away from ruin? Nice symbolism, Davies.

9:45--I like the way they are developing the Marianne and Brandon thing. Very slowly. But I feel that Marianne's over-the-top romanticism is not quite being played for laughs the way Austen wants it to. She's supposed to be a walking, talking embodiment of the Romantic fangirl, and she just comes off as a bit spoiled here. But I think it's almost impossible to live up to Kate Wiinslet's performance, no?

9:52--Willoughby is no Greg Wise. He doesn't have the smoldering looks that make his creepy behavior seem pass-able. The whole point of Willoughby is that he looks the part of the hero so much so everyone is fooled by him.

9:57--"How do you do sir?" "How do you do Brandon?"
AWKWARD.
"Poor Brandon. You shall none of you think of him now."--Sir John Middleton from S&S 95.

No laughs for a while now, incidentally. It's gotten pretty serious. Unfortunately I can't take Willoughby seriously.

10:00--OH SHYTE, A CONFRONTATION BETWEEN WILLOUGHBY AND BRANDON. This is sooooooo not in the book!

Willoughby has some sass on his mouth. He needs a good whack from Brandon's rifle-butt.

10:04--This buying them a horse business has totally lost me. I know it's right out of the book, but...

10:09--Andrew Davies sure knows how to sex up a lock-cutting scene, eh? The snipping of the scissors, the movement of hands... very hot stuff.

10:14--In which Willoughby and Marianne go to Allenham. Is he taking her up to the bedroom? Is he talking to her about fairytales? This all feels a bit too modern Joe-Wrighty for me.

Oh shit, they're making out!!!

I dunno...

I was so into this at the beginning, but I'm souring. Marianne is supposed to be comically carried away.

However, I LOVE this Elinor. She's giving Emma Thompson a run for her money. She is so proper and sympathetic without being fussy or fastidious. She is just a tough, strong, centered woman.

10:23--Quoth Marianne: "I am sure he will find a way to come back and see us very soon." WHY Marianne being so rational? She's supposed to be FREAKING OUT!!

**
Okay, concluding thoughts. Not as good as '95 in the respect that the caricature and wit totally falls away about 40 minutes in, and Jane Austen never never never stops being a satirist even when she's describing pathos.

However, the scenery and the acting on the part of Elinor, Edward, and Brandon are all excellent, and obviously it's fun to watch it develop at a novel-like pace. Can't wait for next week!

For Superbowl Counter-Programming

I will be re-posting my liveblogging of sense and sensiblity tonight when it starts! Otherwise, enjoy the game. I'll be commenting on the commercials (and game) on my twitter account.

And all I can say in anticipation of the half is BRUCE BRUCE BRUCE