Definitely, Brontës

Definitely, Maybe is a new romantic comedy, directed by Adam Brooks, premiered last Friday in the UK (and next February 14 in the US) that contains a curious Jane Eyre reference according to The Times:

Is the young Will destined to be with his blonde college sweetheart (Elizabeth Banks)? The kooky redhead with a Jane Eyre fixation (Isla Fisher)? Or the dark-haired writer (Rachel Weisz) to whom he gets engaged? (Edward Porter)

What's that fixation? The Latino Review gives further details:

The third love of Reynolds' life is none other than Isla Fisher, that wacky nymph from "Wedding Crashers" and the bearer of Borat's child in real life. As a member of Clinton's campaign, she and Reynolds begin a relationship that develops out of sarcastic observations of each other and blossoms into friendship. In a sub-plot that's bound to resurface several times throughout the picture, she has a large collection of copies of Jane Eyre, searching for that lost book her father gave her as a child that featured a memorable dedication. Naturally, when it looks like she and Reynolds may hook up, the other is single while one is unavailable. (Ron Henriques)

Larry Wilson in The Pasadena Star-News analyzes the list of Books that make you dumb:

Caltech student Virgil Griffith has put together a silly, intricate, fun and wildly misleading list called Books that make you dumb that's causing a stir on the Web. By correlating the "10 favorite books" section college kids list on their Facebook pages with their schools' average SAT scores, Griffith comes up with the crazy correlative that reading tomes that turn up more often on lists from, well, less selective schools than his own will make a gal or fella stupid. (...)

The list is curious to look at, as a kind of academic exercise on pointless but funny statistic calculation, and a couple of Brontës are included:

Jane Eyre ranks 13 out of 100.
Average SAT 1133 + 16.82
Popularity Rank 23 out of 100
#Schools with book 63

Wuthering Heights ranks 70 out of 100.
Average SAT 1012 + 41.396
Popularity Rank 51 out of 100
#Schools with book 13

The Age interviews PJ Harvey and the reasons behind her latest album White Chalk (which was featured on BrontëBlog quite often some months ago). More Hardy country than Brontë country it seems:

Anywhere from the bleak farmland of Anna Karenina to the "unquiet slumber" of Wuthering Heights to any number of macabre folk ballads. But there's little doubt that the songwriter's heart was anchored in the Thomas Hardy country beneath her feet, at least for some of the key songs. (Michael Dwyer)

The Philippine Sunday Enquirer has another list with the 12 most romantic places in the Philippines and surprisingly one of them is related to Wuthering Heights:

4. Cape Engaño off the Babuyan Channel
“One of the most romantic spots in the country due to its isolation. It straddles both the Pacific Ocean and the Babuyan Channel and is a very ‘Wuthering Heights’ setting. The lighthouse at the tip of Palaui Island has a spectacular view of both bodies of water. Best time to visit is after a storm when the waves crash on the rocks below. Camping on this windswept island, with the ruins of a century-old lighthouse and with just the bare essentials, makes for a truly romantic escape.”—Manuel Maximo L.C. Noche, author, “Lonely Sentinels”; asst. professor, UST College of Architecture and Fine Arts. (Ross Harper-Alonso)

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Wuthering Heights