Mr. Darcy

  Pride and Prejudice is seriously one of my all-time favorite books.  What better "Prince Charming" is there than Mr. Darcy?  He seems to be the man that most women compare other men to, which isn't all that fair, but I'll admit that I do it too.  The first time I read Pride and Prejudice (Junior year in High School), I didn't really understand what all the fuss was about.  But then I watched the movie, and re-read the book.  It's amazing how your perspective changes when you actually see how Mr. Darcy acts.
   Anyways, I love Pride and Prejudice.  I'm not really a huge fan of any other Jane Austen book though.  Sense and Sensibility (what I did read of it) was o.k., but I just couldn't get into it... I'm sure I'll try again some day.  I watched the movie of Emma, and I can say that I probably won't be reading that one.  Emma just annoyed me.  But who knows?  Maybe someday I'll try to challenge myself and read all of Jane Austen's books.
   For now though, I found this amazing series, written by Sharon Lathan.  It's about what happens to Elizabeth and Darcy after the marriage.  Naturally, it is not written with the same Jane Austen flair, and the writing is a bit more contemporary, but I love them!  I'm on the third book in the series, and I'm captivated!  These books aren't exactly for the faint of heart however....it tends to get a bit...graphic.  : )  In my defense, I was not aware of that aspect of the books...but they are very good, nonetheless! 

Colin Firth - I think he makes a much better Mr. Darcy!

  As for the multiple movies of Pride and Prejudice, my favorite thus far has to be the 1995 BBC mini-series.  It's quite long (5+ hours I believe), but it does not stray from the book at all.  The movie with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen was good as well, but it's just not my favorite.  I broke down and bought both of them last week...They were both on sale and I had 10$ off of anything on Amazon, so that's my defense.  We might be having a marathon on Sunday, but if we don't I think I may bring it up to the cottage with me.  I'll probably have a lot of homework though, so we'll see if I even have time to watch it!  Oh well, there's always Christmas break!

StephanieAnn

Alba gu bràth!

     I've traveled to Scotland twice in my life.  While Germany will always be first in my heart, there is something about Scotland that keeps me wanting to go back.  It's the most gorgeous place in the world to me.  In a perfect world, I would have enough money to travel for the rest of my life, but the reality is that won't happen.  I keep myself sane by looking at pictures of past trips, planning future trips (that may or may not happen), and watching movies such as Under the Tuscan Sun (takes place in Italy - another place I want to visit someday) and Braveheart.
     For those of you who don't know, the title of this post (Alba gu bràth) is a line from Braveheart.  It means "Scotland forever!"  Even though the movie isn't the most historically sound movie in the world, it is amazing. Seriously. Mel Gibson is great, and the scenery is (to quote Tigger) B-e-a-utiful. : )  And the music is wonderful!
   Usually, I can't listen to music while I'm writing a paper because I end up singing alone and getting side-tracked.  I was writing a paper for Freshman Studies a couple of days ago, and I was listening to the soundtrack to Braveheart while writing. (Freshman Studies is basically an English class that is required for all Freshmen)  For whatever reason, it actually helped me write my paper.  Maybe that's something I never considered before - listening to instrumental music.  I'm not talking about classical music necessarily, because that would get quite boring for me, but more soundtracks from movies!  I talked to my mom yesterday and she said she'll bring some up to the cottage when we go next weekend! 
  That's all for now I think - college is going pretty well.  It was kicking my butt for a little bit, but now I'm getting into the swing of things.  Less than a month until winter break! (My winter break goes from Thanksgiving until January 1st.  We're on a trimester schedule)
  I'll write soon - I want to do twice a week, but we'll see how much time I end up having! : )

StephanieAnn