.: StrangeBlog :.

Since the first Emma Twitter party was such a success, PBS.org is presenting another for Part Two!  There will be an “east coast” party beginning this Sunday, January 31, at 9pm ET and a “west coast” party to follow at 9pm PT at Twitter hashtag #emma_pbs.

You can use the official PBS Emma TwitGrid (it’s a new one!) to help you navigate all posts to the #emma_pbs hashtag.  Check the PBS.org Emma Twitter page for details and updates.   In the works:  another quiz with Laurel Ann and me, more prizes, and special discounts for party participants at ShopPBS!

In other news, Vic explains how to make Mrs. Weston’s wedding cake (as seen in the most recent Emma adaptation).  The key tool?  A Nordic Ware Cathedral Bundt Pan!  Also, don’t miss her thoughts on Emma 2009/2010 as reviewed by print media.

Catch author and #emma_pbs Twitter Party co-host Laurie Viera Rigler’s Emma review, posted at the PBS Remotely Connected blog.

And, in Persuasions Online, Laurie Kaplan discusses negative critical responses to the latest Emma in Adapting Emma for the Twenty-first Century: An Emma No One Will Like.

Also, Style Court discusses decor in the various Emma adaptations and Austen Only covers Mr. Knightley’s Strawberries.

Now that Emma‘s part one premiere is over, a few notes:

• Thank you to Jeannine at PBS.org, Laurel Ann, Vic, and everyone who attended the #emma_pbs Twitter party for including me in the good times.
• My thoughts on the adaptation have not, as yet, changed since my initial viewing in October.  Part One | Part Two | Parts 3 & 4
• Laurel Ann has posted an excellent summary of her feelings on watching Emma.
• Vic’s thoughts on viewing Emma on PBS.  Great read, as always.
• If you missed the first installment of the miniseries, it’s available to view online until March 9.
• Blogcritics review of the Emma DVD, to be released on February 9 (pre-order from my Astore).
• I scored Mr. Knightley on the “Bachelors of Highbury” Quiz at the Emma website.  I’m not surprised, for he will always be my number-one fictional crush. Ha!   “You might not see one in a hundred with gentleman so plainly written as in Mr. Knightley.”

Katherine of November’s Autumn recently sent me the following information regarding Jane Fairfax’s “Italian Melody” (by Rossini) in Emma 3 (1996 Meridian/ITV/A&E television adaptation starring Kate Beckinsale):

I was browsing through the music page of your Emma adaptations site and noticed that the song Jane Fairfax sings in Emma 3 is marked as an Italian melody. I recently learned it’s called “Mi lagnerò tacendo” The lyrics are:

Mi lagnerò tacendo della mia sorte amara, ah! Ma ch’io non t’ami, o cara, non lo sperar da me. Crudel, farmi penar così, crudel! Ah! Mi lagnerò tacendo della mia sorte amara, Ma ch’io non t’ami, o cara, non lo sperar da me, crudel!

Cecilia Bartoli sings it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hen9Gyc6ovs The part Jane sings is at 3:15. It sounds different since Jane’s version is far less operatic.

THANK YOU, Katherine, for providing this info!

…by Vic of Jane Austen’s World.  Consider appropriate men’s and women’s hairstyles for the period, including headgear.  Check it out!

I’ll be watching Episode 3 very soon.  After 4 airs, I’m going to attempt an addendum to my Emma costume piece to cover this latest BBC adaptation…

I first published this review in October of 2009 when Emma aired on the BBC, so some of the links and broadcast references will be out of date.

The Book-It Reperatory Theatre in Seattle is presenting a version of Emma from 10/22-11/22. More information here and here.

For those watching the Emma collectibles market, here is an interesting piece on buying and selling various older editions of the novel.

Now on to Emma 4, episode 2.  But first…

• Laurel Ann’s Episode 2 slideshow
• The Times Online:  BBC too reliant on “moribund” period drama, says Howard Jacobson (Emma‘s ratings lower than expected and dropping)

Another caveat – these are random, temporal, stream-of-consciousness thoughts.

I still like this adaptation, though there are certain elements that are starting to get on my nerves.

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