A Brontë-esque cheese, a house without a roof and other not so strange news

IndieWire's Thompson on Hollywood reports the following steps in Focus Features schedule for Jane Eyre 2011:

Cary Joji Fukunaga’s critical and audience spring hit Jane Eyre, starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender ($9 million) which [Focus Features chairman James] Schamus plans to release on DVD at summer’s end as it completes its international roll-out with a prestige UK release—for maximum impact on BAFTA. An Academy campaign will follow. (Anne Thompson)

Incidentally, as the Wentworth Courier reports, the Australian premiere of the movie will take place on June 17 (9:30 pm) as part of the Love Me series of the Sydney Film Festival.

In addition to last Sunday's hints, the Guardian seems to confirm that Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights will definitely miss Cannes but will also definitely go to Venice:

Andrea Arnold had already won an Oscar for a short film when her first feature, Red Road, premiered at Cannes in 2006: the international exposure, and the fact she came home clutching the jury prize, proved extremely significant in her elevation to European arthouse royalty. ([Maïwenn] Le Besco namechecks Arnold as a role model: "She's a genius," she says – though interestingly Arnold's new adaptation of Wuthering Heights is not coming to Cannes but will instead premiere at Venice in September.) (Charlotte Higgins)

The Fan Carpet includes Andrea Arnold among its 'best female directors'.

And now for some tragic news concerning Elizabeth Gaskell's home. That poor house seems to be on every thief's route. First it was a doorknob, now as BBC News reports it's something much more serious: the lead roof!

Thieves have stolen lead from the former home of Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, causing extensive damage to the property.
The Grade II listed villa in Plymouth Grove, Victoria Park, Manchester, was given a £750,000 restoration last year.
Volunteers discovered most of the roof had been ripped off over the weekend, allowing water into the house.
Josselin Hill, trustee of Manchester Historic Buildings Trust, said the volunteers were devastated.
She said: "It took us over six years to raise the money for the house to be refurbished and for this to happen so soon after we re-opened was very upsetting for us all."
Ms Hill said the £750,000 had focused on restoring the exterior of the building.
The trust was hoping to put in a bid for restoring the interior, expected to cost more than £2m, before the recent damage which could cost £250,000 to repair.
The remaining lead is being removed from the roof, for fear of further thefts, and a temporary roof is being constructed, she said.
Gaskell wrote most of her novels in the house from 1850 until her death in 1865.
Authors including Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte are known to have visited and stayed at the house.

We are truly shocked and saddened and sincerely hope that funds for the repairs are forthcoming. This house really deserves to be brought back to its Gaskell days state.

The Scribe thinks that

If you like "Sunshine" [by Robin McKinley] you'll also like "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen and "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. (Avalon Manly and Jessica Lynch)

Minnesota Reads interviews Linda White from the Minneapolis Examiner:

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Who?
I don’t usually get swayed by figures on celluloid or paper, but if I did, I would say that my crush was on Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. That anguished crying, that creepy scratching at the window – how could you not want to make him feel better? I know, he is really a creep throughout most of the book, but I think he truly loved Catherine. The first entries from Catherine’s diary were enough to make me take pity on poor Healthcliff. (Jodi Chromey)

Rock'n the Muses interviews writer Annette Blair, who seems to be quite a Brontë too:

• Do you have a favorite fictional hero? Favorite fictional heroine?
There are so many, but my first favorite couple, since I was a child of about eleven, have stood the test of time: Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. I’ve been to the Bronte Parsonage. I cried at Charlotte’s final resting place. (Christine)

And another writer, Rob Shelsky, interviewed by L.L. Reaper praises the Brontës too in spite of being a man (!):

What genre(s) do you like to read?
I like all the above. That does also include Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Adventure, but also romances of different sorts. You might think that’s odd for a man, but I love the classic romances, the Jane Austen type stuff, Bronte sisters, and all. I love the marvelous witty dialogue, the clever and polite way people insult each other. With Charlotte Bronte, I love the atmosphere in her books. But I love a happy ending, too.

The Edmonton Journal has one of the weirdest comparisons we have ever seen (and we thought we had seen plenty of weird comparisons!).

Also very popular was the Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar, partly because it looked so beautiful. If I was having a party, I would want this cheese to come.
It is, as the name suggests, wrapped in cloth for a year. The cloth on the outside was a bit ripe, reminiscent of a mummy. The crumbly texture of the Avonlea was unusual, and attractive on the plate, as was the colour of the cheese, soft gold, with a vein of something dark mouldering through the flesh. Very Bronte-esque. The Avonlea Clothbound was my personal favourite. (Liane Faulder)

Seriously? A very Brontë-esque CHEESE? Goodness, we might be inclined to agree if we did try the cheese but right now that seems utterly... well... unimaginable.

La grotte des livres posts in French about Jane Eyre while Through the Eyes of a Film Buff reviews the 2011 adaptation and Blog dos Maníacos por Filme writes in Portuguese about the 1970 adaptation. Rainymondaymorning is reading Wuthering Heights.

And to finish off on a humourous note, via the Wellington Scoop, we have come across this Da Vinci Code song by Wellington comedian Sarah Harpur which is also a parody of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights (video included). Priceless:

In a recent interview with Rip It Up magazine, Harpur was asked who she thought was the greatest comedian alive and replied, “Kate Bush. The best thing is she doesn’t even know that she is a comic genius. Any time I am having a bad day I watch ‘Wuthering Heights. Best comedy song ever!”. (Lindsay Shelton)

Categories: Books, Brontëites, Elizabeth Gaskell, Humour, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights