Nook

Here is a news article link about Barnes & Noble's new kindle-like device called Nook.

Borders Media Section

Borders has a great original programs section on their website. You go to the Borders Media link to get there. Then you will see their logo on the sidebar with all kinds of good stuff, (backlot, poetry read alouds, etc.)

American Writers Series

In 2001, C Span aired a series about American writers that I was obsessed with. They featured writers such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Abraham Lincoln and Edith Wharton. I got looking around tonight and realized you can still view their website, however, it appears the video links no longer work.

Here is a link to the website, still up after all these years. It's sort of a literary tour all about American authors from Founding of America to Vietnam era. There is also a second series for twentieth century American writers.

UPDATE: Found a place to buy & view the videos online
Also, it appears that Borders sold videos of the program at one time, as well. Not sure if they would be available on Amazon or eBay, but we did see the Emerson/Thoreau episode on vhs as, "currently unavailable," on Amazon.

Edgar Allan Poe Funeral

(photo by Steve Ruark)
Writer Edgar Allan Poe was celebrated in Baltimore, Maryland, October 7, 8, and 11th, for the 200 anniversary of his birth. We have linked several articles about the celebration and funeral reenactment, which included "famous people" attending the funeral, and mourners dressed in costume. Read on.

Poe Bicentennial
Third Times The Charm
Guardian Article
160 Years Later (video)
Death Becomes Him
Second Funeral For Writer Poe (video)
Poe Gets Fitting Funeral (video)
Funeral He Deserves
Legacy To Finally Be Honored (video)

Alive And Unwell In Haworth

The Brontës are alive and unwell in Haworth
Tourist trappings cannot stifle the vivid sense of their writing life to be found here

Article by Sam Jordison
"Last week, I visited Haworth and the town was bathed in sunshine. There were birds singing. Red, white and blue bunting strung across the steep cobbled main street fluttered in the warm breeze. People sat out on the street drinking Timothy Taylor's Landlord bitter and smiling. It was disconcerting. The town has always existed in my head under lowering skies and buffeted by howling winds and misery. All this summery comfort confounded my expectations.

But then again, that disjunction was probably fitting. This is a place where reality and fiction have had an uneasy relationship for almost 200 years. It's been subject to that curious form of literary tourism that seeks to find a concrete source for imaginary locations ever since it was discovered that the Bell brothers were really the Brontë sisters and that they'd churned out their lovelorn epics in the local parsonage.

I can't fully account for the urge that makes us want to find a real place that might have been – for instance – Wuthering Heights. That refusal to accept it was just make-believe has sent generations of schoolchildren (and me) sniggering over Penistone Hill and up on towards Dick Delf Hill to look at the ruins of Top Withens farm – on the off-chance that they might once have provided the inspiration. Maybe it's because we find it impossible to believe someone could actually invent such a haunting location. Maybe we want to drink from the same fountain of inspiration as Brontë. Maybe we're just a little weird.

Certainly, there's something odd about the fact that the main industry in Haworth depends upon a family whose last productive scion (Charlotte) died in 1855. Where every other street and building bears their stamp: Heathcliff Mews, The Brontë Bridge, Brontë Cottage B&B, the beautiful (but sadly now derelict) Brontë cinema, the Branwell tea rooms (also defunct). Seemingly the only places that aren't named after the family or their works are those that were built before 1855. But nearly all of these bear plaques noting their association. The apothecary where bad brother Branwell bought his laudanum. The Black Bull where he drank away his best years. The school where Charlotte taught. The church where their father preached. And, of course, The Parsonage where they all lived.

Inside this famous house, the Brontë pilgrimage starts to make more sense. Barthes might not like it, but here the writers come alive. The brooding atmosphere of their books is explained. The misery takes on palpable dimensions. The first thing that you notice about the house is that it's dominated by the graveyard of the next-door church. The east and south faces of the house both look out on grim ranks of slabs, monuments and grey crosses. This takes on yet more significance when you learn that in the first half of the 19th century the average life expectancy in Haworth was 25.8. Funerals were therefore monotonously regular occurrences and the graveyard was so overfilled with fresh bodies that their seepage poisoned the local water supply … in turn creating more bodies.

So it would be surprising if sickness and mortality weren't in the sisters' minds as they sat writing together in a small room looking out over the flowers in the small parsonage garden and the larger crop of death beyond. But this room is also redolent of the joy of creation. A small table they all three shared is still there and it's fun to think of them working at it, getting their papers all mixed up, annoying each other with interruptions, sharing pots of ink and getting up to pace in front of the hearth, discuss a scene, talk about dreams of publication … It's quietly inspiring and – dare I say it? – life-affirming. Or at least, it is until you read the notice over the small blue sofa at the back of the room, and you learn that this is where Emily Brontë died, maintaining until almost the very end that she wasn't actually ill.

Such highs and lows continue throughout the house. Branwell's precocious 13-year-old paintings. His eerie cartoons of the death coming to get him aged just 31. Charlotte's fat first editions. Her brief letters apologising for how the recent deaths of all her siblings have made her a poor correspondent. Miniature books, readable only with magnifying glasses stitched together by the girls in childhood. Funeral cards.

Even in the sunshine, and amongst coach-loads of tourists, it's a moving experience. Small wonder that so many people continue to visit."

Mr Rochester - Most Romantic?

(Image from Bronteana)

There is a new article, from The Telegraph, naming Charlotte Bronte's EDWARD ROCHESTER, from Jane Eyre, "most romantic literary character".

Here is the text of the short article:

Charlotte Brontë's brooding Byronic hero Mr Rochester has been named the most romantic literary character in a poll.

"Rochester, the lead male character in Jane Eyre, published in 1847, topped the Mills & Boon survey despite his moodiness and lack of good looks.
Brontë described Rochester, who in the novel marries Jane Eyre despite her lowly position as a former governess, as "very grim" to look at.
Richard Sharpe, Bernard Cornwell's soldier, who was brought to the screen by Sean Bean in an ITV drama series, was voted second in the Literary Hero survey and Fitzwilliam Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, was relegated to a surprisingly lowly third."

Mills & Boon who? No, actually we agree with their readers on this one, scary thought, indeed!

The actors who have played Mr Rochester have either gotten it really right or completely ruined their portrayals. Whether they religiously portrayed him by the book, or not, our favorite Rochester is Toby Stephens, with Timothy Dalton a close second. Next is Ciaran Hinds, the most angry Rochester on film, and our least favorite portrayal is by William Hurt.

Here are some well-known and maybe some not well known Mr Rochesters. The first picture is a lithograph by Paula Rego.

(1st Place)
(2nd Place)
(3rd Place)

Sinking of the Laconia

Filming has begun for BBC2's "The Sinking of the Laconia." (Can't help but think of Captain Wentworth)

(from BBC)
"The Sinking Of The Laconia

Andrew Buchan and rising German star Ken Duken are joined by Brian Cox and Lindsay Duncan in The Sinking Of The Laconia, a powerful new two-part drama for BBC Two from acclaimed writer Alan Bleasdale.

The drama tells the true story of the amazing heroism shown by ordinary people in the face of extraordinary adversity during the Second World War.

Brian Cox plays Captain Sharp, whose armed British vessel, the RMS Laconia, was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat 156 on 12 September 1942.

Also on board was 3rd officer Thomas Mortimer (Buchan), who heroically risked his life to help the passengers reach the lifeboats.

Six hundred miles from the coast of Africa, the mixture of English civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian Prisoners of War faced certain death until U-Boat Commander Werner Hartenstein (Duken) made a decision that went against the orders of Nazi High Command.

The U-boat surfaced and Hartenstein instructed his men to save as many of the shipwrecked survivors as they could.

Over the next few days the U-156 saved 400 people, with 200 people crammed on board the surface-level submarine and another 200 in lifeboats.

Hartenstein gave orders for messages to be sent out to the Allies to organise a rescue of the survivors but, in an unbelievable twist, they were spotted by an American B-24 bomber who moved in to attack.

The Sinking Of The Laconia takes a look at the human side of the remarkable events that took place: the friendships that developed, the small acts of heroism, and the triumph of the human spirit in the most incredible of situations.

The cast also includes some of Germany's biggest names, including Matthias Koeberlin, Frederick Lau and Thomas Kretschmann."

Photo Contest

BBC To Launch iplayer For US

Here is the article, originally posted on Anglotopia, or just read the article below. This is great news for Brit-lovers.

"BBC Worldwide is planning to launch a pay-for video-on-demand portal, a range of new paid mobile apps and a series of ecommerce partnerships overseas, after enduring a “nightmare” year in the depressed international advertising economy.

Similar to iPlayer in the UK, the VOD platform has been under development for six months and would offer…
1) catchup for the BBC’s international channels like BBC America,
2) “premium catalogue material” like Doctor Who, Torchwood and Top Gear and
3) material from the BBC’s deep archives, BBC.com MD and EVP Luke Bradley-Jones revealed to paidContent:UK.
The focus will be on America, where 20 million of BBC.com’s 50 million users are.

“It’s inevitable that we, the digital media business, need to move to a mix of paid services,” he said. “There just aren’t enough ad dollars to support traditional media models. Consumers will pay for services they truly value… we can exploit many more monetisable opportunities, including in the paid space.”

The proposal will require BBC Trust approval. BBCWW will be making its intentions clear to the trust in the next few weeks but a formal submission will not yet be compiled…

—Charging overseas video: Is this the fabled “global iPlayer”? “We would certainly like to use the brand,” Bradley-Jones said; though the service would be allied with overseas channels and wouldn’t carry domestic UK shows. But it would carry non-BBC shows from the likes of Channel 4, for which BBCWW already has rights to air on BBC America.

Sci-fi BBC shows, which already have a large international fan base, will be at the centre of the platform: “Millions of people love Torchwood and would probably pay 10 bucks an episode rather than two bucks,” Bradley-Jones said, alluding to iTunes, one of the channels through which BBCWW already sells pay-for VOD. BBCWW pulled £10 million in sales from such channels in 2008/09, but iTunes puts a ceiling on prices and BBCWW believes it could charge more.

“It’s possible to offer some videos on ad-funded basis, but it doesn’t make sense from economic or rights point of view. You need real scale to deliver ad-funded content – Hulu’s not there yet. BBC America can’t put its shows online for free (for rights reasons), but can on a paid basis.”

—Mobile: BBC Worldwide will launch “BBC News and Sport apps on several platforms in the next few months”, Bradley-Jones said. “It’s very unlikely we’ll move to a charge basis for our generalist news services”.—but audience-specific apps will come at a price, for example, “if you’re creating a specialist soccer app for Asia-Pacific”

Wives & Daughters

Anne Frank's Voice (article)

Bluehenge

They just keep discovering more Stonehenge-type sites in Britain. The newest one is "Bluehenge."
Article on Bluehenge.
Another Article.

Video of Anne Frank

I've seen this footage of Anne Frank in documentaries before, and now it is available on youtube on the Anne Frank channel. It is the only known live video images of her taken about a year before she went into hiding with her family.

A Poet's Guide To Britain

It's times like these I wish I lived in the UK. BBC4 recently re-aired "A Poet's Guide To Britain," with Owen Sheers. There is also a companion book to the series. This is from Owen Sheers website, describing the series and book, which comes out October 29th:

A Poet’s Guide to Britain
The accompanying anthology to ‘A Poet’s Guide to Britain’, selected and with an introduction by Owen, is published in October by Penguin. The series is currently being repeated on BBC 4 at 7.30pm on Thursdays. The poems featured in the series were:

‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth – May 4th
‘Wuthering Heights’ by Sylvia Plath – May 11th
‘Hamnavoe’ by George Mackay Brown – May 18th
‘Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold – May 25th
‘Poem from Llanybri’ by Lynette Roberts – June 1st
‘Woods’ by Louis MacNeice – June 8th

Spot On!

Was browsing The Bronte Blog who links this post about the "Wuthering Heights" and "Twilight" connection. Their review was spot on and my favorite part, that made me laugh out loud, was when they point out that many young people, (tweens, perhaps),are posting on their blogs about the "lack of depth" in Wuthering Heights vs. the depth of Twilight. That is funny. Even Stephenie Meyer knows Wuthering Heights is a masterpiece, since she is a fan of the book, and has actually read it .