Lost in Austen

I admit, when I read about this new spin on Austen I did realize it's a shameful exploitation of the huge Jane Austen following, encouraged surely by the last few years steady stream of re-makes of all of Austen's books (all of which I have on DVD) : but I don't care. I take every last crumb they throw our way, and ITV have done wonderful jobs with the last few adaptations, so I bought this from Amazon after just glancing at the description.

The premise is this: a modern day-girl from London, a Pride & Prejudice fanatic, finds herself replacing Elizabeth Bennett in said book.

I know. It sounds so. Obviously fake, and truly awful. And the first two episodes it does feel like a farse, but then. Something happens. It's like everything you as a P&P fan has ever obsessed about in the BBC version has been put to right. Some personalities have been vindicated, or rather everyone is less of a caricature of themselves, if that makes sense? I even have to say; this Darcy rivals Colin Firth. Some people said that about the Keira version, and puhleeze. He was well on his way but missed something fundamental and the result was cringe-worthy. Even in the classic version Darcy was always handsome, he started seeing Elizabeth in a new light rather early, but here... The Darcy/Amanda* (*new character and Liz-stand in extraordinaire, complete with bangs and her hair out the whole series through) thing doesn't seem probable and even though the suggestion is obvious, you have no idea where it's coming from. Suddenly it just hits you and it's fierce and they're so in love and you can't believe you didn't see this coming. And for everyone who's despaired about the 'thrown about in the carriage' final scene peck (no, it's not a kiss, it's a peck on the lips!!) between Elizabeth and Darcy - this, ladies and gentlemen, is a snog. Yes, the camera does one of those wide zooming arcs they like so much in period dramas at the end to signifiy that 'this is the end with dignified, 19th century people kissing who due to societal conventions kiss like you would your grand-aunt Bethel', or something.
Thank you Dan Zeff!! for a beautiful and very heart-clenching final scene.

However. There is a but. It is however on a personal level, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the show. I don't believe in horoscopes (no really, this argument will make sense soon) and I've always dismissed everything said about my sign, Pisces, as being completely unrelated to me. However. I have always, always disliked behind-the-scenes extras. Never cared for them. The exception being LOTR but that was so Fantasy even my brain couldn't deny that this is not for real. But generally, I avoid them. Because!! I like to keep to the illusion. I don't want the illusion broken. Thus, I am a dreamer (with which every description of the Pisces always start), I don't deny that anymore. In that sense, even though I really wanted to see this and I loved it, there was something very repugnant about it. Because it goes even further, I guess, it says 'of course this isn't real, of course you can't go into your favourite story oh no wait, yes you can! It's really true! Despite being a cynic and having a fine but crappy dull office job in London you can be transported to 19th century England and have the man of your dreams within your grasp. And then the movie ends, and immediately afterwards you feel great (happy ending, all that).

But then I found myself falling into a fairly deep depression. It got really dark. I won't even theorize here, and I won't even say I won't watch again, because I will (hello, the Darcy wet-shirt scene was better than Colin's, I'm very sorry, but there it is). But. Something happened, and it had to do with the line between illusion and reality. It was just too much of something.

So. I'm a sap, basically. But if you're not as sad as me and you've watched P&P more than once, you should really really see this. It's amazing!!

Third time's a charm?? (and Major Geek Alert)

If the flu shot doesn't help this year either I'm not bothering with it again. Last year my arm swelled up immensely for almost a week and was quite painful - still got the flu. The year before I got the flue *twice* (I know that somehow this isn't supposed to be possible, but it was in two countries quite far apart so I maintain (with my standard level IB Biology skills) that there were variations in the strain).

I've been very geeky/antisocial lately (not by choice, though one could argue I could have done more to avoid it), so this entry is really a review of items watched. I ordered a batch from Amazon and hunkered down with BSG season 4 last week. Fantastic!! The president is one of my favourite characters so I'm glad there was lots of focus on her (consider this a SPOILER WARNING though I doubt anyone reading this will care). I don't really approve of what they did to her character's personality, but that's a different matter. I'm not quite sure what the cliffhanger is supposed to be though with regards to season 5?

Because they finally find earth. And sure, it's a bit messy and I know they use a geiger measurer so maybe that was suppose to indicate it's still radioactive, but then why are they all wandering around without protective gear? Doesn't seem like that part should be such a big deal. And they go there with the Cylons so the war isn't really an issue. Maybe they are counting on all the other loose ends, mostly of philosophical and personal matter, to make sure the viewers come back for the final, fifth season. Worked on me!! Sci-Fi fans are notoriously loyal, of course, so no surprise. I'm glad we were rewarded, actually, both with finding earth and the General and the President finally proclaiming their undying love for each other in face of certain death (god, I could write a good essay on this! (flash-back to sci-fi classes at ECU) they did both defy death although in different ways; she slowly dying of cancer and he by remaining behind, waiting for her when she was surely lost. In space... lol).

There is, of course, one big question: how will cylon and human work together? Will they accept each other as of equal value, surely symbolized by Kara getting together with Anders? (personally I think she belongs with Lee and would not welcome that particular solution to the quandrum) I can't wait for the final season yet I shall have to, I think it's still in production, and then it has to be aired in the US/UK, and then released on DVD there... :(

blablablablabla TGIF

Yesterday I broke a new record, making it home in 1h and 45mins. Other than that it's been the commuter week from hell actually, I'm so glad it's Friday! As I don't really have a life yet, I'm actually hitting the gym tonight in the hope that there will be less people there on a Friday evening... I went Tuesday and it was crazy busy, including some really rude people who hogged the machines (dom paxade med vattenflaska åt sina buddies, liksom, hallåååå).

It went quite well, except for that I didn't actually do any chin-ups because that is the scary, elevated-in-the-air-everyone-sees-you machine on which they have slapped a huge warning that you kinda need to know what you're doing or else, pain. I have been instructed but I still felt hesitant. It was always busy, and when I finally got the courage to at least queu, the guys on it were really cute and when they offered me the machine when they had each had a turn I may have kind of. Fled.

Sooo. Only my legs have been killing me this week.

I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend, I'm so tired! Tomorrow I'm going to try and find some boots - I looked in every shoe store in Malmö last weekend so my hopes aren't high, but I think maybe I need to rethink my demands... 'kind of high heel/comfortable/work-appropriate/not too conservative/not too funky with trendy details/steady on icy surfaces and befitting of my personal style' might be more than one poor boot can incorporate. I'm still using my beloved Ecco-shoes, but they are made with a mesh net surface and it's getting just a bit too cold for the ventilation to be entirely comfortable...

no pain no gain

I am now a fully-fledged, wholly experienced Öresund commuter. Yesterday we got stuck on the bridge. Granted, the train broken was the one in front of us, but we were the one right behind it so we were stuck too (I only just managed to catch that train, imagine my excitement). All the trains on the way over then had to go backwards, all the way back to Sweden, to enter the other track so we could cross the straight on the wrong side of the tracks. I was almost 1,5h late for work, had a total door-to-door travel time of 2h and 50 minutes, of which I spent 2h standing up. Helluva day not to have a seat.

At least it made the Monday kinda short.

The weekend was groovy! Friday evening with A and J was lovely and I made a kick-ass banoffee pie. I wasn't sure about this whole 'boil a can of condensed milk for 3h to make the toffee sauce' thing, but it worked! I am definitely doing that again. On Saturday we had a brief pre-party with some salsa people, which was nice, but when you don't dance salsa yourself it kinda cut conversation short.

Salsa person: so, do you dance salsa?
Me: no, I just live here.
Salsa person: are you going to start? (ie well aren't you going to start now that you've seen how much awesome fun it/we are?)
Me: Maybe, it looks like fun! (maybe in a paralell reality where I can't think of 10 other classes I'd rather take/pumpkins grow on trees)
Salsa person: well, you should try it! (person goes off to shake his/her booty on our kitchen floor/in the hallway/in my bedroom)

Interesting.

Sunday I was exhausted but still managed to drag my sorry and nervous ass off to the gym for an introductory session. It went quite well, the on-duty instructor was a girl thank goodness, and she was really friendly. I only refused two exercises which quite frankly if I'd agreed to do them would have kept me far away from the gym forever; sit-ups balancing on one of those balls and this other exercise where you had to lean in this contraption that supported you up to your hips and then you had to do crunches forward into thin air (strong people did this holding free weights - this machine was in the free weight area which did not help my dwindling confidence; that's where the seriously strong people hang). I've always been nervous to do somersaults, and unable to do cartwheels because that whole free-fall thing freaks me out (or you could just call me a whimp). Anyway, I felt like I was going to fall flat on my face, but in the end there was another machine to replace that exercise which was decidedly more comfortable, so I went for that one.

Yesterday every movement was excrutiating pain but today only stretching is, so I'm going again tonight... Chin-ups, wohoo!!

more bizarro

I forgot the add the highlight of the day - on the bus on the way to the station this morning a guy walked past wearing a fancy suit, carrying some flowers and wearing a computer screen over his head. Fantastic stuff to start of the day, and I really need to get a mobile phone with a camera because words can't do this situation justice...

Thanks Dad!

Thanks to the best Dad in the world I now have lighting and straight curtains. He just popped by with my bike after work yesterday, fixed everything, and the only repayment he required was a cup of coffee and some small talk. Awesome! And today he was going to Malmö anyway so he offered to pick up an extra curtain rod from IKEA as we, *ahem*, might have miscalculated a few measurements... I have waited a long time to finally have my own, proper, curtains, but mounting them is well, not more trouble then it was worth (because I love my curtains!!) but a pain in the ass. And then I didn't even have to do any of the work, just the worrying.

Our conference last weekend kicked ass, it really made me appreciate working in the corporate sector and not at for example the community library, where I'm guessing spa weekends are even more sparse. I'm sure one day I will love to do so - right now I like being whisked away to a hotel in the countryside and smothered in good food and drink and more inspirational material than you could shake a stick at (OK, I had to take the train so early a taxi was required to get me to the train station, but I didn't even mind!). This is pretty much the once-a-year perk apart from the xmas party though, but still, it was good fun. Our training was also quite successful with some positive, tangible outcomes, despite the fact that it's a touchy subject which *everyone* has an opinion on (usually negative). Everyone wants their IS's to work for them, but sometimes you have to put in some effort to make it work too... (junk in, junk out yadda yadda).

Otherwise there's too much new to tell really, I could talk for yards about my new flat, new city and all it's quirks, but I think I'll let it settle for a while. Busy weekend ahead, A is dropping by for a visit from Gothenburg and J is joining us so a girly dinner is planned Friday. Now I just have to think if some food! All of us are veggies though so that part is quite fun.
Saturday my flatmate is having a housewarming party for her salsa course buddies (our joint official party is a few weeks away). It's only a pre-party before they head off to dance salsa somewhere else (and not on our wooden floors, I was quite relieved when I heard that...). Am looking forward to meeting some new people (and not even by any effort on my part -fabulous...), just another perk of independant living by yours truly.

Plain wrong

By moving 23km closer to work and relocating from the middle of a forest to an urban neighbourhood I have, in fact, added another 10mins to my 2h commute.
*grrr*

Granted, our apartment is at the outskirt of an urban settlement, but the city bus only takes about 14mins to the station. It's the compatability of the city bus with the trains that's completely crap. I'm still investigating alternatives, but it doesn't look good.

Still, so far I like my flat. It's a bit bizarro though, it's ground floor and next to a kindergarden with a view of the sand pit part from our living room. Right now there are no blinds or anything. so it's like living in a showroom/terrarium or something. Also, I do not bestow great enjoyment from watching children eat dirt, so thank god I won't be home during their working hours anyway. In addition, at night time there are these heavy-duty searchlights aimed at the sand pit - ie lighting up our living room. As we currently lack most lighting fixtures I guess this could be construed as practical. I say, practical but bizarro.

Mallorca was pleasant, but not very sunny. More details at some later opportunity, I guess. I'm quite busy now as tomorrow is our over-night support staff conference and I'm doing some training on Saturday (not alone though) for which I am busy preparing the material. I have a head-cold which set in properly yesterday (kind of good timing I guess as I only needed my raw strength and not my brain so much yesterday, when I moved) so brain is not operating at maximum capacity; I keep forgetting things and having to re-do them. Blah.

Laterz peeps.