So we have all heard of stranger danger right? Well some strangers; such as the tall, dark, and handsome ones we read in books and watch in movies, could enter our lives. I mean there is a small percentage.
That’s why one must always be on the lookout and prepared:
Because you never know when the possible stranger could become more…
Really?
For more of my musings, go to It’s the Most Woeful Time of the Year
9) Something That Has Inspired You
Something that has really inspired me is the book Consider Lily, by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt.
The story is of an Californian, Christian girl, Lily Traywick, who is the daughter of true fashionistas and owners of the humongous department store Traywicks. Lily didn’t inherit this fashion gene, as she hardly knows what goes together, and also is bemoaning her lack of ever being on a real date. She starts writing a blog and becomes famous as her pseudonym “Fashion Victim”; starts a bet with one of her best friends Lily promising to get a makeover and follow everything to the letter, while her friend promises to come to three Sunday services; and sets out to try and win the man of her dreams. Of course nothing is perfect as the guy she originally likes is not her, the fame from her blog gets her a real job writing but her editor turns out to be horrible, the cute Christian boyfriend she lands ends up dumping her, and everything she has ever ranted gets spilled in the San Francisco Chronicle. What’s girl to do?
AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trust in the Lord.
And everything turns out alright.
Now I have loved this book because the main character is a lot like me. We have had trouble in not having a date either because the guy sees us as too much of a friend:
Doesn’t want to date us once they find out we are a Christian and plan on waiting for sex along with our other beliefs:
Or wants the whole marriage and tons of kids thing instantly
We both had a love of sports, writing, and are fashion-challenged. Although she is worse than me.
We also had a similarity in dating, although her guy turned out alright in the end, while mine was a rotter. But ah that is fiction versus reality.
I loved the idea of her blogging, and this book really inspired me to start my own blog and share me thoughts on the internet with others who would be receptive.
I mean it’s not that my friends or family don’t like listening to me, but if you have been following you know that when I like something, I really like it and love to talk about it. Sometimes making it annoying for those who don’t care about it as much as me, or who really don’t care about it at all.
So having a blog is a great way of releasing all that, without making those close to me bored.
This book also taught me that it is probably best to keep the topics away from friends and family, just in case they ever read it or you were exposed. I try to not talk about them, or if I do I have given them all fake names so I can deny it was them I was talking about.
And it made me kind of want to be a writer too. Too bad I don’t have a friend who can fix me up with a great job like she does in the book. But once again, that’s fiction versus reality.
But I loved this book, and it inspired me to create this blog, of which I have had a lot of fun these last few years. Thank you Anne & May, as without you’re lovely character Lily, janeaustenrunsmylife.wordpress.com would not exist.
To start the 30 Day Challenge from the beginning, go to Musical Madness
For the previous post, go to GISHWHES Girl
For more on May Vanderbilt, go to Fashionably Postworthy
For more bookish posts, go to Going on a Treasure Hunt
Time is the greatest gift you can give another person.
After all everything else fades away, breaks, wears out; but those memories and times you spent together will live on forever. Passed from memory to memory, person to person.
Not only is this the most important thing in any relationship, but romantic ones espechially.
After all, that is really what we girls want.
Of course, this additional perk would be nice.
A girl can dream!
For more bookish posts, go to Speed Racer
Yep, the fictional world can be so much better than the real one. Especially in a certain department:
After reading certain books, watching some shows, viewing my favorite movies; no real man can compare.
I mean its like:
And you know what:
This is probably why I’m going to end up alone.
Oh, well. At least I’ll have my books to keep me company.
For more on the fictional men I’m in love with, go to Old Fandoms and New Fancies
For more bookish posts, go to Sleep is Not Important
For more quotes, go to All That Glitters Is Not Gold
One of the best things about books is that they not only take you to far off places, on exciting adventures, and introduce you to amazing characters; but they help you live many lives.
In reading we can live in any time we want, have any profession we want, etc.
And I will continue reading and living!
For more on my love of books, go to An Assembly Such As This
For more posts on George R. R. Martin, go to What a Fanatic!
For more of my favorite quotes, go to 25 More Films of Christmas
So I’ve developed a little crush on the Sandman
He’s awesome, but no not him.
Ew, no. Defintely NOT him.
No I’m talking about Neil Gaiman’s series The Sandman Chronicles.
Yeah? Pretty good looking. So the series is really interesting. Gaiman actually melds together different things to create his stories. Christianity, Greek mythology, Shakespeare, fairy tales, Egyptian mythology, fantasy, science fiction, retelling of classic literature, etc. And what comes out of this is AMAZING.
As my friend described it, you fall in love with Neil Gaiman’s brain, and his creation, Dream.
So Dream is one of the Endless, those who were in the beginning and will last until the last human dies. First there was his older sister Death, then his brother Destruction, Dream, the twins Despair and Desire, and lastly Delight who became Delirium.
At the beginning of the series, Dream has been captured by a man. The man was afraid of dying and had attempted to capture Death, but accidentally captures Dream. He traps him for years and causes his son to as well. Eventually, Dream escapes and find his kingdom and all the the dreaming places in ruin. He has to repair it along with dealing with the issues that were caused by his imprisonment.
It is really interesting as Dream’s story and his siblings are told in present day, along with flashbacks. You see how he was, but then how he has changed due to his imprisonment. And that’s not the only thing that is attractive about him.
He’s so eloquent. How he speaks, sigh. It is beautiful.
He himself is just so, sorry couldn’t help it, dreamy! He’s one of those tall, dark, handsome, broody types you all know I love and adore.
Now let me warn you. I wouldn’t go farther than book 8. It just, well I don’t want to give anything away but his reigns ends.
Why! Why, Neil WHY!
For more on Neil Gaiman, go to Love Stinks
For more on tall, dark, & brooding men; go to Simply Fantastic
For more of my favorite books, go to A Whole Lot of Fanfare
For more of my favorite quotes, go to A Sad and Lonely Place
For more of my favorite songs, go to O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree
Yep, I have some big issues. I’ve got a:
I hate/love it when that happens. You have an amazing book that you just absolutely love and are involved with. You want to get to the end, the conclusion of the story, but at the same time you don’t want it to be over.
When you’re done, it’s like what do I do now?
You kind of stumble around until you find another great book and then the cycle starts all over again. Such is the life of a book lover.
And you know what, I don’t want help for my addiction.
For more book lover posts, go to When in Doubt
For more on Shawn Hunter, go to Simply Fantastic
For more on being a fangirl, go to Fantastic Fantasies
So those of you who have been following me for a while are aware of a challenge I made a year ago. You see 2013 was the 200th anniversary of Pride & Prejudice being published.
I was going to do this whole series of posts on the book, books based off of it, films, etc. You know, the whole nine yards. (Go here to read more about it). Unfortunately…
Life happened and got me off course. (Click here to read more about it). But I promised to continue to reread the book, watch the films, read the inspired fiction, etc until I had completed it all. It is a very long process and I have yet to finish it. However, as I was making these posts, I started thinking about how all the other books were being ignored. That made me sad, so I decided that I would read all her books, inspired fiction, film, etc.; at the same time and review them!
Yay that’s a lot, but it’ll mean that all her books will get a voice. Especially the widely ignored ones like Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park.
So the next book I’m going to start doing a lot of posts on is Sense and Sensibility.
Sense & Sensibility was the first Jane Austen book to be published. Before Sense & Sensibility Jane Austen had written Pride & Prejudice and sold it to a publisher. Unfortunately, that company didn’t publish it at all, but just sat on her work.
Jane Austen bought the book back and instead went to work on another one Sense & Sensibility. She sent this one to a different publisher and the work actually went through in 1811. So this book was the one that really set her up as a writer, and developed fans, making the publishing of Pride & Prejudice in 1813 feasible and accepted.
So all you Pride & Prejudice fangirl and fanboys better say a hearty thank you to Sense & Sensibility because without it, Austen might have become so discouraged that she never wrote anything else. And who could picture a world without her in it?
Here’s to another 200 years!
What also makes this book special is that it is the only one to have two main characters, Marianne and Elinor. Persuasion is all about Anne, Northanger Abbey focused on Catherine, Emma is Emma’s story, Mansfield Park‘s attention is on Fanny, and Pride & Prejudice is all about Elizabeth. Yep, this is the only story that two characters are equally represented. You know what else that means? Double the Austen Heroes.
So get ready for the sense:
And the Sensibility
Here are a list of other adaptions that I will also be reviewing.
Books:
Sense & Sensibility: A BabyLit Opposites Primer by Jennifer Adams
Suspense and Sensibility (Or First Impressions Revisited) by Carrie Bebris
Dangerous to Know, Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues: MODERATE edited by Christina Boyd
Rational Creatures: Elinor & Marianne edited by Christina Boyd
The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik
The Dashwood Sisters Tell All: A Modern Day Novel of Jane Austen by Beth Pattillo
The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen’s Novel to Film by Emma Thompson & Others
Reason and Romance (Austen Series #2) by Debra White Smith
Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland
So Into You (The Jane Austen Academy) by Cecilia Gray
Colonel Brandon’s Diary (Jane Austen Heros) by Amanda Grange
Willoughby’s Return: A Tale of Almost Irresistible Temptation by Jane Odiwe
The Second Chance: A ‘Pride & Prejudice’ – ‘Sense & Sensibility’ Variation by Joana Starnes
Sense and Sensibility (The Austen Project) by Joanne Trollope
Film:
Material Girls (2006)
Cow Belles (2006)
The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
Sense and Sensibility (2008)
From Prada to Nada (2011)
Scents and Sensibility (2011)
We Are Family: Austentatious, Episode 1 (2015)
Big Girls Don’t Cry: Austentatious, Episode 2 (2015)
I’ll Be Watching You: Austentatious, Episode 3 (2015)
Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Austentatious, Episode 4 (2015)
Call Me, Maybe: Austentatious, Episode 5 (2015)
Drive Me Crazy: Austentatious, Episode 6 (2015)
Make Me a Match: Austentatious, Episode 7 (2015)
Take a Chance on Me: Austentatious, Episode 8 (2015)
Other:
I Watched Sense and Sensibility (1995) With My 12 Year Old Niece
For more on Sense & Sensibility, go to Opening With…
For more on Elinor Dashwood, go to A Bit Pottery About Jane Austen
For more on Marianne Dashwood, go to On the 10th Day ‘Til Christmas: Merry Christmas from the Austen Novels
For more on my love of Jane Austen’s work, go to Fanning All Over the Place
For more of my favorite quotes, go to Simply Fantastic
Yes, its true.
I am such a fangirl and have so many, many, many fandoms that I belong to. They take over my life! I mean if you think of all the hours that are put into being a massive fan, it’s astounding!
Here is a list of things (alphabetically) that constantly take over my life. I’m actually breaking this up into a series of posts, as just one was tooooo much.
I love Anne of Green Gables. It is one of my most favorite book series and books turned into films. The book takes place in Canada in the early 20th century. Marilla and Matthew Cuthburt, two elderly people, have decided to take in an orphan boy to help take care of their farm, Green Gables. When Matthew goes to pick the orphan up, he finds a girl instead of a boy! A redhead named Anne. Anne proves to be widely entertaining, spirited, imaginative and a whole lot of fun.
Anne is just so awesome how she is always trying to find a kindred spirit and using her optimism and sweetness in everyday life. She also has an overactive imagination and gets herself into the best scrapes.
All my friends say that I am just like her, which I have to say is definitely true. While I’m missing the red hair; I most definitely have the same temper, imagination, and tendency to get into accidents/scrapes.
Yep I totally would have whacked him too!
So the first book Anne of Green Gables, is about her life as she lives on Prince Edward Island. You get introduced to her character along with meeting the rest of the people who live on the island. She studies hard and ends up getting a scholarship to college, but things happen that makes her decide to wait and become a teacher for the present.
In its sequel Anne of Avonlea, it chronicles her time as a teacher on the island, and her desire to become a writer. She continues to get into scrapes, even though she that being older should make her wiser. Her family also takes in twins, Daisy and Davy, to raise.
In Anne of the Island, Anne goes to college and it chronicles her years there. She also gets six proposals.Yes, not one, not two, not even three, but six!
In the end, she agrees to marry one of her suitors. I won’t tell you who, as you have to read!
Anne of Windy Poplars she can’t get married right away as her fiancé is still in school. She goes to Windy Poplars to teach and has to contend with the politics of the areas, as certain “old families” run the roost.
Anne’s House of Dreams Anne is married and has to deal with the issues of early marriage, running a home, and eventually kids. But that doesn’t stop her from her earlier imaginative games and friendmaking.
Anne of Ingleside details her married life, spotlights her children, and visits old friends and flames.
Besides the wonderful, imaginative, and fun Anne; you also have one of the best romantic heros ever. Gilbert Blythe.
Yep, I’m Anne. I know I say stuff like that all the time, but if I had to pick a fictional character I’m really like, it is her. We are the same although I live about a hundred years later than her. (Yeah an exact 100 years, spooky).
Which means that Gilbert is absolutely perfect for me. Still looking for him. Someday I’ll find him.
Definitely check out the books and the films. Just an FYI the films move away from the stories, and the first two are the only good ones.
Do I really need to explain this? I mean look at the title of my blog and half the things I write about. I am a huge Austenite and love everything Jane Austen.
Jane Austen was an amazing woman who faced all kinds of adversary. She grew up with money, but ended up living in poverty. She fell in love with a high class man, but his family intervened and sent him away. She was given another opportunity to marry a wealthy man that would have saved her and her family from destitution, but she couldn’t marry him as she didn’t love him.
She continued to wait for her true love; although he never walked back into her life. Her first book she ever wrote, Northanger Abbey (then called Lady Susan) was published post-mortem. Her second novel and the most famous, Pride and Prejudice, was turned down several times before being published. In fact, it was published after she wrote her third novel, Sense and Sensibility.
Austen wrote not only great stories that have stood the test of time, but wrote about real issues and her more radical thoughts/philosophies, that wouldn’t be as easily accepted if spoken in person.
There is so much more I could say, but that would take several posts to fill it up. I recommend reading On the 10th Day ‘Til Christmas: Merry Christnas from the Austen Novels to read more of my love for Jane Austen’s work and her characters.
Now I may be one of the few that are far more interested in The Avengers than Magic Mike but I see that as a good thing. The Avengers are another part of the Marvel (now Disney) family. The comic originated in the ’60s, with the team consisting of Iron Man, Ant Man, Wasp, Thor, Hulk, & Captain America. Superheros from all the Marvel comics have joined up as team members through the years, such as Kitty Pryde and Wolverine from the X-Men. Even solo acts like Spider-man, have joined up for a while.
Now the film was amazing. The Avengers is one of the best superhero films to come out.They did an outstanding job as the film gave each superhero its chance to shine and made it about them as a whole, instead of one individual (that’s how it’s done X-Men. Yeah I’m looking at your 2000 series that was really only about Wolverine). Plus you have some extremely hunky guys. There is Chris Evans as Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk.
LOVE IT!! Check it out!
I LOVE Back to the Future. Words cannot describe what this film means to me.
After the first time I saw this film, I immediately became obsessed with it. I memorized every single line in the films. I would comb through the TV listings, and watch it every, single time it came on. One time I even got up at 4:00 am! That’s commitment right there. And why not be obsessed with it? Duh, it’s AWESOME!
The film is a combo of Science-fiction, historical fiction, the ’50s, and the ’80s. All things I love and hold dear. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), is the youngest of the McFly household and growing up in 1985. He wants to be a musician but is afraid of failing. He’s close friends with amateur scientist and millionare, Dr. Emmet Brown, Doc for short. Doc has finally created the time machine he’s been working on for 30 years. And put it in a Delorean.
Before he can set out on his trip through time, Doc is killed by the terrorists he bamboozled for uranium. Marty jumps in the car and takes off, accidentally going back to 1955 and messing up his parent’s meetup. If he doesn’t get them back together, he’s history.
What’s not to love? Comedy, romance, science-fiction, great music, clothes, Michael J. Fox? Plus amazing gags!
This film was a hit and followed by two more films. In Part II Marty goes to 2015 to fix something, but indadvertedly causes his present to be destroyed. When he goes back to 1985, he finds out his father is dead, mom is married to Biff, and the whole town is run by Biff and is a hell hole. He then has to go back to 1955 in order to refix the time stream. But, it won’t be as easy as before, he can’t run into himself or else the whole time-space continuum will be destroyed!
Part III, Marty discovers that the Doc from 1985 has gone back to 1885. He then has to get the 1955 Doc to help him out and send him to 1885. When he gets there, he discovers that Biff’s however many grand pappy, “Mad Dog” Tanner, is planning on killing Doc.
They not only have to figure a way to get back without any modern convinces, but to make the issue even harder…Doc falls in love with a 1885 woman. Will they survive the Old West? Will Marty ever get back to 1985? Watch to find out!
Great mix of the ’80s & Western film
I visited Universal Studios in 2012 and was devastated to see that they had hardly anything from Back to the Future. The clock tower was destroyed in that big fire, the ride had been taken out for “newer” things, and you couldn’t find any cool souvenirs. When I went in 2013, things were different. Universal Studios has a studio museum that they constantly move props in and out and they had a whole Back to the Future collection. I was having a ball, in fact I wanted to climb over the plexiglass and sit in the Deloran.
Here are the clock tower building plans
And the beautiful car
So I love Batman. He will always be my favorite of the DC comics. And I like all the Batmans!
So here we have a man who’s parent’s die and cause him to become a vigilante; always hoping to finally destroy crime as that was the thing that killed his parents. He is a billionaire, but other than that a normal person. I mean, unlike Superman who has a gazillion powers, Batman relies on his mind, martial arts, and inventions.
He also has his strain of the double life. Just like Sir Percy Blakeney aka The Scarlet Pimpernel, Don Diego de la Vega aka Zorro, and Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastián d’Anconia from Atlas Shrugged. Batman knows that this charade of a playboy not only hides his intelligence, but the fact that he is be a main piece in destroying the crime. It has to be hard to be thought of and treated “as the richest man and the most spectacularly worthless playboy on Earth” (pg. 56, Atlas Shrugged). But Batman knows that it is a must to continue his work.
So there are many versions of Batman and I pretty much love them all.
So besides the comic books you have Batman (1966 – 1968), starring Adam West. This is a hilarious show as it just makes you giggle. It’s fantastically corny.
Then you have Batman (1989) starring the handsome and wonderful Michael Keaton. In this we have Batman taken to the big screen in a darker way, with none other than the Creeper McCreepy Creep Jack Nicholson as the Joker. He is one of the best as his uber creepiness in real life was magnified on the screen. A great film, you should check out.
In Batman Returns, Michael Keaton is back and facing up against Christopher Walken, the Penguin, and Catwoman. I never really liked the penguin’s part in this film, but Michelle Pfeiffer is the best Catwoman ever. Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway wish they could be as awesome as her. Definitely worth seeing for her and Michael Keaton.
Batman Forever totally sucked. Val Klimer is too stiff and monotone as Batman, Nicole Kidman the therapist is a sex-crazed woman who needs to help solve her own issues before getting into others, and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face is just…no wrong. Wrong. The only bright spot is Jim Carrey as the Riddler. He was absolutely perfect, and the only reason I watch this film.
That’s probably how most of us fans would act when we meet out idol.
Batman and Robin is…its a mess. I know it. It is full of puns, lots of stuff makes zero sense, but I LOVE IT! I can’t explain it. I find it absolutely hilarious. I love Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. Its more of a parody, and I love it.
Besides that you have a some great cartoon series that came out. Such as Batman: The Animated Series. This has to be one of the best versions of Batman ever made. It really develops into the psyche and relationships of Bruce, Dick, Barbara, Comissioner Gordon, etc. Plus you have great villans like the Joker, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, etc. It is definitely worth a watch, and it is free on Amazon Instant Watch. I have my own favorite episodes, but Nostalgia Critic really hits on the best ones in the series (although I would add Harley & Ivy episode to that list).
Then we have Batman Beyond. In this they took the story to a different level. It was very dark and used the colors black and red only. It takes place in 2039, and Bruce is all alone. All his old friends have died or left him alone. Terry McGinnis gets involved with Bruce accidentally, and eventually Bruce trains him to become the new Batman and avenger of Gotham City.
Intense!
And then we have the new Batman films. Now I really liked Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I didn’t like The Dark Knight Rises however, but I’m like the only one. I just couldn’t get into it and hate how they chose to end with Bane after the Joker. Come on now, seriously. But I thought the first film was great. The only issue I had with the second film was that they didn’t give Two-Face enough screentime, and that he didn’t argue with himself as much as he should have. He didn’t have the same rooted issues. But all in all they were really good.
And I’m super pumped for Batman vs. Superman. Bring on the bat!
I love Bones because of one reason really, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth played by David Boreanaz.
He is AMAZING!
Bones is about forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel) who gets hired by the FBI as a consultant to help them solve cases. There is also an amazing secondary cast: wild, artistic, Angela Montenegro who does facial reconstruction; Dr. Jack Hodgins, an entomologist who spurned his family’s wealth and “buisness” to study science; Dr. Zack Addy, genius graduate student who is unfamilar with “social norms”; and Dr. Lance Sweets, the young, handsome, FBI psychologist who helps them out. It is a great show, that I highly recommend.
Ah, the life of a fangirl
For more on my fangirlness, go to How I Differ from Others
For more of my favorite quotes, go to Peeta Please!
I just don’t understand people like this at all. How can you find reading boring?
Clearly you are not using a vital part of the human brain:
Obviously, you’re doing it wrong.
Guess you’re just not cool enough. After all:
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For more book lover posts, go to The America I Love
For more on Beauty and the Beast, go to There’s No One Like Gaston
For more on using your imagination, go to Second Star to the Right
For more on Disney, go to Part IX: Adventures in Movie Lines
