A Shirtless Brontëite Playing the Ukulele

Very different news today:

Let's begin with The Promise, the Filipino film loosely based on Wuthering Heights that opens tomorrow in the Philippines. The Manila Times is very concerned with the quality of the film and expresses their wish that the film be respectful with the spirit of Emily Brontë's novel... Well, not really. Here the important thing is the kissing and being shirtless:

“Our turning point movie” is how Angel Locsin and Richard Gutierrez call their forthcoming Valentine film The Promise. Apparently, it’s all because they get to French kiss and appear in two lovemaking scenes for the first time in their show-biz careers. For the very first time, too, Richard appears shirtless on-camera—and for several minutes! (Women everywhere must be rejoicing).

MyKapusoZone's blog has seen the film and talks about it:

For one, the cinematography is simply breathtaking and the music is absorbing and powerful. It is like a magnificent painting coming to life before your very eyes.

Let's change now to another adaptation. The recent BBC's Jane Eyre.

As you know we are running a competition to give away three copies of the BBC Jane Eyre DVD. But if you want to increase your chances to win, you can participate also in this other competition in The History Channel (*). This adaptation is pretty much still alive in the blogosphere, with new reviews, even in Russian.

Now we enlist new writers to our ever growing list of Brontëites. The first one is Alison Bell, author of Zibby Payne & the Wonderful, Terrible Tomboy Experiment. In this interview by Little Willow, she includes Jane Eyre in her top-ten. The second one is Roz Unruh who says in The News Journal:

Although she loves Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" and Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," she is no fan of what she calls "old and dusty literature that tends to be overwritten."

Sometimes coincidences in the blogosphere are very curious. Today we have three posts devoted to different poems by the Brontës: My Lyric Life chooses Emily Brontë's Remembrance; Lyric Life another one from Emily: No Coward Soul is Mine. But the pièce de resistance is Anne Brontë's A Word to the Calvinists, posted on commonplaces.

Musical news. Do you remember this? The Shropshire Star informs us about the (not happy) ending:

Lisa Stevens, from Brookside, Telford, performed before Simon Cowell in try-outs for his new show, Britain’s Got Talent, in Birmingham yesterday.
But the 21-year-old’s rendition of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights was not well received by the judges

We know what happened. Lisa didn't play the ukulele. Do you remember the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's version of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights ? Not easy to forget. Well, now we have the (very) surrealist video thanks to this post. We are still laughing.

(*) The link is broken. But the announcement of the competition is still on the main page.

Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Poetry, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights