PopBetty

A Love Letter to Pop Culture

To See: Persuasion

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Persuasion - 1995 FilmI’m deep in Austenland again, after discovering the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion. Why did no one tell me it was so good? I mean, Emma Thompson’s Sense & Sensibility level of good.

If you’re a Jane Austen fan and haven’t seen it, watch it asap. It’s even on YouTube, so you’ve no excuses (I watched it there first, then promptly bought the DVD & the book).

That said, I wouldn’t recommend it for people who preferred the Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice to the BBC version with Colin Firth (I like to pretend these people do not exist, but I know they must). It’s exquisite, but in a subtle, quiet (that is, very Jane Austen) way.

Music Finds: The Jazz Age

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French Flappers, Parisian Cafe 1920's-001

Image via Vintage Lulu, found in Flappers & the Jazz Era photo pool.

Jazz Era music is fun. A little goes a long way (some songs were only meant for dog’s ears), but when it’s good, it’s really good–and the lyrics can be v. amusing (e.g. “You Gonna Look Like a Monkey When You Get Old“). Four online sources for Jazz Age swing:

  1. One good bet is the WFUV’s The Big Broadcast, a weekly radio show featuring music from the ’20s & ’30s. Hosted by Rich Conaty, the show plays every Sunday from 8 pm to midnight; the last two broadcasts are available online as streaming audio. Conaty also has a nice set of web recommendations (via getTRIO).
  2. One commenter recommended the similar WAMU 88.5’s Hot Jazz Saturday Night, which features jazz from the 1920s through ’40s.
  3. Fans of Bertie Wooster’s singing will appreciate this set of links. Unfortunately, the official Jeeves & Wooster soundtrack has been removed, but you can still catch some of the songs on YouTube (e.g. “47 Ginger Headed Sailors“).
  4. Metafilter also has a good set of pre-1950s music links.

Reading List: 12/07/07

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Reading List

Some recent reads. All the title links take you to excerpts or detailed reviews, so be sure to click through:

  • The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry: A foodie Eat, Pray, Love, written by a journalist turned Cordon Bleu student. I loved the recipes, cooking advice, and classroom anecdotes (the school sounds terrifying), but could’ve done without the romantic stuff.
  • Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster: A must-read for consumers, this book details how luxury businesses emphasize marketing over product quality to maximize profits. Dana Thomas also throws in juicy anecdotes about people like Miuccia Prada and Bernard Arnault.
  • Freaks and Geeks: We’ve only seen the first six twelve episodes, but wow. Absolutely brilliant, painful, funny, and true.
  • Misquoting Jesus: Solidly written, occasionally dense book on the way early scribes changed the Bible. I gave this to Mom for her birthday, so haven’t read it through (she did, though, and loved it). Sample bit: John 8:3-11 (“Let the one who is without sin among you cast the first stone”) was not in the original gospel.
  • The Bugle: Funny Guardian podcast featuring John Oliver (The Daily Show) and Andy Zaltzman.
  • Mario Unclogged: Short videos of Mario Batali talking about things like restaurant playlists, how to sauce pasta, and his tiff with Marco Pierre White.

Reading List: 11/08/07

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Reading List

One of the joys and pitfalls of working at a bookstore is the proximity of tempting books and films. Four recent finds:

  • Fashion Babylon, by Imogene Edwards-Jones: An “up the skirts” view of the fashion industry, it seems like every fashion blogger has read this. Dishy, fun, and shocking in a totally unsurprising way.
  • The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick: An innovative and well-done mix of illustrations and text, focusing on film pioneer Georges Méliès (remember the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” video? It was based on Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon). I like how the book’s construction evokes intertitles.
  • The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov: Just started this, so not much to say other than the first fifty pages are brilliant.
  • The Beauty Academy of Kabul: A solid documentary about an American beauty school in Afghanistan (now defunct). Watching the interaction between the Afghani students and the American teachers is fascinating, occasionally cringe-inducing, and for me (the daughter of a Salvadoran) somewhat familiar. See a short documentary here about the film.