Throwback: Sizzlean Ad

"Move over Jacob, there’s something leaner!" Jake!*

Dear Grown Folks,

It appears that there is a non-kiddie alternative for werewolf fans (not that Twilight's Jacob isn't peachy keen) on the horizon. The YouTube video featuring the author uploaded by Knopfdoubleday has me very intrigued (see below).

The The Last Werewolf, by Glen Duncan will be released on July 11, 2011 on Amazon.com. Duncan talks a good game, but can his book back him up? We'll see. Bring on Jake Marlowe! Added to my To-Be-Read List - The Last Werewolf.

Waiting with bated breath, 
Tallulah

P.S.

Have you read any of Glen Duncan's other books? Any recommendations?

* Throwback to the old Sizzlean ads. Betcha The Last Werewolf will be flying out of stores like Sizzlean. 

I ♥ Megan McGlover's Weather Reports

Just because Megan McGlover's weather reports crack me up ...

On Donald Trump - "He don't even have a comb over! He got a comb around! You ain't gotta pay no attention to a man that got a comb around!"

Mrs. Bennet vs. Jay-Z: Can't Knock the Hustle

con't from yesterday -

Mrs. Bennet was an old school hustler. I just didn't see it before. There are a few key parallels with Jay-Z's Can't Knock The Hustle. 

1. hustler: (n) an ambitious person who eagerly goes after what is desired. Mrs. Bennet was definitely eager.

Mrs. Bennet:
The business of her life was to get her daughters married.

Jay-Z:
"I'm making short term goals, when the weather folds,

Just put away the leathers and put ice on gold"

2. Hustlers know stakes are high.

Mrs. Bennet:
"I do think it is the hardest thing in the world, that your estate should be entailed away from your own children."

... [Mrs. Bennet] continued to rail bitterly against the cruelty of setting an estate away from a family of five daughters, in favour of man whom nobody cared anything about.

Jay-Z:
"High stakes, I got more at stake than Philly"

3. Mrs. Bennet shamelessly bragged about Jane’s good looks while at Netherfield. Spittin' mad game to eliminate the Lucas girls from favor, in particular Charlotte Lucas. Dirty move. Hustlers aren't scared to do dirt to strengthened their games.

Mrs. Bennet:
"Oh! dear, yes; but your must own [Charlotte] is very plain. Lady Lucas herself has often said so, and envied me Jane’s beauty. I do not like to boast of my own child, but to be sure, Jane—one does not often see anybody better looking. It is what everybody says."

Jay-Z: 

"Last seen out of state where I drop my slang
I'm deep in the South kickin' up top game"

 "We do dirt like worms"

4. When she was discontented, Mrs. Bennet fancied herself nervous which made her seem a little crazy. Hustlers often seem somewhat crazy to others.

Mrs. Bennet:

She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.

"People who suffer as I do from nervous complaints can have no great inclination for talking. Nobody can tell what I suffer! -- But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied."

Jay-Z: 

"But until the late thang, I'm the one whose crazy
'Cause that's the way you're makin' me feel
I'm just trying to get mine, I don't have the time
To knock the hustle for real"

"Pops knew exactly what he did when he made me

Tried to get a nut and he got a nut. And what?
Straight bananas. Can a playa see me?"

5. Mrs. Bennet didn’t appreciate anyone trying to step to her or her peeps – even Mr. Darcy.

Mrs. Bennet:
"But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given him one of your set-downs. I quite detest the man."  (Mrs. Bennet to Mr. Bennet about Mr. Darcy)

Jay-Z:
"Your worst fear confirmed
Me and my fam roll tight like The Firm
Getting down for life, that's right, you better learn
Why play with fire, burn?
We get together like a choir to acquire what we desire"

6. Same here. When Darcy said, "In a country neighbourhood, you move in a very confined and unvarying society," Mrs. Bennet mistook it for an insult. She bragged about her 'hood.

Mrs. Bennet:
"... as to not meeting with many people in this neighborhood, I believe there are few neighborhoods larger. I know we dine with four-and-twenty families."

Jay-Z:

"I am takin out this time to give you a piece of my mind
Cause you can't knock the hustle
Who do you think you are?"

"Got the U.S. Open. Advantage Jigga
Serve like Sampras, play fake a rappers like a campus
Le Tigre, son, you're too eager 
You ain't having it? Good, me either"

7. Mrs. Bennet wasn’t letting anyone mess up her game. Mr. Collins said was interested in marrying of her daughters. He focused on Jane, as she was the oldest. She cautioned Mr Collins that Jane was likely to be very soon engaged. Seeing an opportunity to secure the family estate and marry off another daughter, Mrs Bennet hinted to Elizabeth as an alternate match.

Mrs. Bennet:

Mr. Collins had only to change from Jane to Elizabeth—and it was soon done—done while Mrs. Bennet was stirring the fire. Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeed her of course. Mrs. Bennet treasured up the hint, and trusted that she soon might have two daugthers married.

Jay-Z:  
"I'm leaning on any playa intervenin' with the sound of my money machine-in'"

8. Mrs. Bennet told Bingley that Mr. Bennet would save all the best hunting for him. Why? Cause they had it like that.

Mrs. Bennet:

"When you have killed all your own birds, Mr. Bingley, said her [Mrs. Bennet], "I beg you will come here, and shoot as many as you please on Mr. Bennet's manor. I am sure he will be vastly happy to oblige, and will save all the best of the covies for you."

Jay-Z: 

"I got extensive hoes, with expensive clothes"

Stop hating on Mrs. Bennet!

The first time that I read Pride And Prejudice, I felt like Mrs. Bennet was a shameless nut like most people. Who would want that loon as a mother? Talk about embarrassing. After reading it again, I would add another adjective to my Mrs. Bennet Wordle box. Effective. That's right effective.

An advantageous marriage was crucial to a young woman's survival during that time. As foolish as she was, Mrs. Bennet knew the score and did what she thought was best to make sure her babies came out on top. It worked (in a roundabout way). Having three out of five daughters wed by the end of the book ain't bad.

I was listening to Jay-Z's Can't Knock The Hustle the other day and thought, "Stop hating on Mrs. Bennet. She was a hustler and you can't knock her hustle. Even if her methods were suspect." Take a listen to a jazzy version of the song below and check my next post to see my hoydenish train of thought.

Video uploaded to YouTube by sheeshmusic

Matches & Matrimony: A new game twist on Jane Austen

I am not really into video games. Although I have not tried it, I think that Matches & Matrimony is an interesting concept.  It is a game built from three of Jane Austen's most popular novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion). From the Matches & Matrimony website:

Become the heroine of Jane Austen's most popular novels! Create your own storyline from the intersecting stories of 3 of Miss Austen's books as you pick your daily routine and choose your own path to happiness and fortune. With 9 different endings to be discovered, Matches & Matrimony can be played again and again as you create your own classic tale of romance.

Check out Emily Short's (Gamasutra contributor) review of the game. "Analysis: Pride And Prejudice And Plot."


Have you tried Matches & Matrimony? What did you think?

Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen [Book Review]

My Amazon.com review of Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen (Weldon, Fay).
 

"More about love of literature than Austen"

I stumbled across Fay Weldon in researching the 1980 BBC miniseries adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.

Weldon wrote the screenplay for the adaptation so I had high expectations for her book, “Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen.” I was expecting something witty, eloquent, and thoughtful. And I got that. However, I felt that the book was an interesting exposition on the importance and relevance of literature and writing (in epistolary format) with some Jane Austen thrown in the subplot mix (not what I expected). I expected more on Austen.

The first chapter on the “City of Invention” was thought provoking and elegantly stated (read the book, if only for this chapter). In her effort to weave in the subplot of her niece’s book, I think that Weldon falls short of really selling her niece (and me) on Austen. I expected to read more of Weldon’s analysis of Austen’s works and less of the “guidance” on the niece’s book. On the other hand, Weldon’s passion for books really comes through in the letters. She sold me on the merits of reading and writing great literature. I will be picking up some of the other authors that she recommended.

* If you are a lover of literature or a writer (especially an aspiring writer), you will enjoy reading this book. If you are specifically looking to dip your toes into Austen’s work and related topics, I’d recommend looking elsewhere. Perhaps Natalie Tyler's book, The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a Lady of Sense and Sensibility. BTW - Weldon is interviewed and referenced in Tyler's work. If you are interested in another epistolary book by a passionate reader/writer, I’d recommend 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.