The Brontës: now with built-in brooding moors®

The Brontës are big on pop culture today. To begin with, Emory Wheel reviews the performancces of The Blue Man Group at the Fox Theatre (Atlanta). Here's the description of one of their skits:

I found their skit featuring the “GiPad” to be my favorite of the show. Each Blue Man had their own “GiPad” — a gigantic, non-Apple-related version of the iPad – on which each opened an app and began browsing. One flipped through an app called “Twit that Lit!” that described Wuthering Heights as Twilight minus the vampires and werewolves. (Steffi Delcourt)

The Miami Herald Blog Between the Covers comments - with shock - on the release of Pride and Prejudice. The Wild and Wanton Edition by Annabella Bloom and Jane Austen, but is not so shocked about the recently-released Wuthering Heights. The Wild and Wanton Edition by Annabella Bloom and Emily Brontë:

By the way: There's also a Wuthering Heights: Wild & Wanton Edition. Somehow, that freaks me out less. (Connie Ogle)

PopMatters reviews the fifth Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron - Jane and the Stillroom Maid - and remarks,

From there it’s a short step to convincing us of just how much fun the real Jane, trapped as she generally was in her middle-class family circle, would be having as an amateur detective. Revelling in the chance to use her formidable powers to the full… as a lot of historical females might, come to realise. Hey, the Brontës come with built-in brooding moors, people! Get on it. (Kerrie Mills)

Actually, Laura Joh Rowland already did it and we have already had two installments: The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë and Bedlam. The Further Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë. And yes - there were moors in them.

The New York Times discusses the South Korean film Hanyo (The Housemaid) and points to its influences:

The innocent maid at the mercy of corrupt masters is an old theme in literature and movies, pornographic and otherwise, and Mr. Im [director Im Sang-soo] nods both at the sentimental “Jane Eyre” side of the tradition and at its more Gothic, even Sadean, manifestations. (A.O. Scott)

With all that, it's good to return to the actual sources from time to time. Time Magazine's Techland sings the praises of Project Gutenberg.

The tomes I read back then had been digitized by Project Gutenberg, an extremely admirable non-profit enterprise that creates files from public-domain books, then distributes them as widely as possible. They've got everything from some of the greatest works of literature ever (here's Huckleberry Finn and Wuthering Heights) to interesting curiosities (First Lessons in Geography). Everything's available in plain-text versions so you don't need to sweat file-format issues. (Versions with illustrations are also available.) (Harry McCracken)

The Times reminds us that both Charlotte and Emily Brontë are currently in the U.K. school curriculum. And The Kentucky New Era (subscription required, though) decides to discuss Jane Eyre in the face of the forthcoming adaptation hitting the screens.

The Temple Daily Telegram reports that the Temple High School's production of "Jane Eyre" has now received several awards:

Central Texas audiences weren't the only ones impressed by Temple High School's production of "Jane Eyre" in the beginning of the school year. Judges in this year's Texas State Thespian Competition bestowed several awards to the group of aspiring actors, designers and producers.
The competition in Corpus Christi is held bi-annually in November and this go-round the THS department advanced in nine of the 12 events. The students put together presentations using the work from "Jane Eyre" as their model. Others worked up routines from classic plays and musicals.
"We did better than anyone in the state. We had more kids place in international than any other troupe there," THS theater department head Natasha Tolleson said. (Jordan Overturf)

Variety comments on the state of the UK film industry.

[In 2010] There were 72 locally produced films, including "Horrid Henry," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "Johnny English Reborn" and "Wuthering Heights," down 11% on 2009. (Leo Barraclough)

YourTango has posted '10 Dating Commandments For Dudes', one of which is:

Commandment #5: Thou shalt not talk incessantly about your ex-girlfriend.
Doesn't matter whether you're calling her a complete bunny boiler or singing her praises—it's weird. It's one thing, if it comes up, to talk about when you last were in a serious relationship or how many years/months the longest one lasted. It is another thing, however, to share the entire Wuthering Heights-esque saga of your love story, starting with when you first laid eyes on her and ending with the day she went completely mental and poured sugar in your gas tank because she found out you cheated. Relive the memories with your man journal or therapist. Or, on second thought, move on already. (The Frisky)

The Republic looks back on a recent history tour of England:

Our tour worked its way to Yorkshire via the Cotswolds, Wales and Cheshire. Each destination offered a history lesson ranging from the birthplace of the Brontë sisters in Haworth to the fortifications crossing Britain as Hadrian's Wall in Cheshire. (Judi Longmeyer)

Normblog interviews writer Alan Gibbons:

Who are your cultural heroes? > Shelley, Blake, William Morris, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Ken Loach, Sergio Leone, Francis Ford Coppola, Rodrigo, Diego Rivera, Bob Marley, Dusty Springfield, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Joe Strummer and many more.

If By Yes compares Jane Eyre to Bella Swan. And A Paper Closet has uploaded a new Jane Eyre dress.

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Fiction, Haworth, Humour, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights