Monika’s Pensieve

My apologies for being so bad with updating this blog of late :-/
First, the BA project got in the way. We were very tight for time and we didn’t get it done yet again would you believe! But at least this time we’ve certainly gone forwards and the quality of work is pretty good… or at least was until we started rushing it.
Programming is an odd thing… the more you try to rush it the slower it goes. Ironically, if you allow yourself to ponder a problem and read a lot of documentation and blog posts about the technology you’re using (including a lot of texts that are completely irrelevant to your problem) it actually goes faster than when you just try to attack the problem. Not only faster, but the quality of work is higher too. Or at least this seems to apply to me and my partner as we discovered. Trying to rush it was not a good idea at all. We’d probably have had better chances of making the deadline if we’d gone slow (although I don’t think we’d have made it either). Still, we’ll try again *grin* This time at least we won’t be starting at the beginning (last year’s attempt was so poor that we couldn’t bare to work with that disgusting code again - seriously it was better to start over :]). We’re quite happy with the work we’ve done, we just need to do more of it ;)
After that I was in a slightly strange mood, plus I’ve got a mega Twilight phase at the moment. I’ve finally started reading the books and am really hooked (so hooked in fact that I’m spending most of my spare time reading the books rather than surfing the internet - very weird! lol). I’ve read the first three books rather fast and have now started on the fourth. I love both Edward and Jacob as characters and heartthrobs - they make for great reading. But honestly, if you look at it sanely then they’re two of the worst guys you could ever wish to end up in a relationship with ;)
Edward is a creepy stalker who likes girls 80 years younger than himself and is extremely possessive (though he does mature enough to start controlling his possessiveness in book three - I’ll give him that ;)). Furthermore, he keeps hiding things. Often he will not tell Bella the whole truth or even lie. And that’s not even taking into account the supernatural bits - I mean obviously everyone would love to have a boyfriend who enjoys drinking human blood and has skin cold as ice ;)
Jacob seemed to be a much more sensible choice in book two - very good material for a boyfriend in fact. But by book three I’d say that’s pretty questionable :] I’m not sure I can say why without spoiling… but I guess I’m still more on his side as far as boyfriend suitability goes ;) At least he’s always straight with her - no lies or half-truths, no pretending there isn’t more. And on the supernatural front - I think a boyfriend whose skin is ridiculously hot is way more practical than a boyfriend whose skin is ridiculously cold - at least certainly in the kind of climate the story happens in ;)
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll find many ridiculous ways to debate the Edward/Jacob thing in future posts. I suppose my Twilight phase will culminate when the film comes in on the 20th of November. For now, I’m going to try to get up to date with film diary - I don’t think I’ve ever been quite this behind before :-/ (though at least I haven’t had all that much time for film watching - so though I’m almost 4 weeks behind, it’s just 6 films ;) ).

{FILM DIARY}

"Pride and Prejudice" (UK, 1995)

Seen: Tuesday, 6th October 2009 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 300′ (6 episodes, around 50′ each)
Director: Simon Langton
Cast: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha, Alison Steadman, Benjamin Whitrow, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Polly Maberly, Lucy Briers, Anna Chancellor, Adrian Lukis, David Bamber, Lucy Scott, Emilia Fox
Production House: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Chestermead
Plot: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, what else is there to say? *grin*

Scene from the series

Impressions In Short
This is one of my favourite film romances ever :) It bares rewatching very, very well. I’m surprised at how hooked I get every time (it’s never enough to watch just one episode ;)). The only problem is I hardly ever get access to it - my mum is holding on to my DVD almost permanently ;)

More About the Film
The casting and acting in this is exceptional. Even the very minor parts are just spot on. It’s so true to the book too. But, of course, the reason why everybody loves it so much (and the major reason why I like rewatching it quite so much *grin*) is Colin Firth. He is the perfect Mr Darcy really. I don’t think there’s another actor who gets the British gentleman stiffness out so naturally. He has a very particular way of doing it. Those kinds of performances tend to get too stiff - like that’s all there is to the character. In fact that’s exactly what happened to Mr Darcy in the version with Keira Knightley. What’s so lovely about Colin Firth’s interpretation is that there’s so much behind the stiffness. I guess it helps that he really embraces all the awkward bits. Mr Darcy is proud and arrogant and all that, but he also sucks at socializing which leads to some pretty awkward situations and Colin Firth is absolutely hilarious in them *grin* The scene in which Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth for the first time is a masterpiece - must be one of the most awkward “Will you marry me?” scenes in movie history ;) Both Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle are great in that.

Recommended?
Any Colin Firth fan absolutely should (and probably already has) seen this. For any fans of British costume dramas - again this is fab :) If you like a good romance this is also definitely a film for you.
And unless any of these recommendations put you off, I’d say it might be worth having a look even if you are none of the above :) It’s a very well made mini-series.