Haworth in a Wheelchair

The Telegraph & Argus talks about one of the most complicated problems of Haworth - accessibility for disabled visitors:

Fears about lack of accessibility for disabled visitors in Haworth are due to be raised at a meeting in the village.
The topic will be debated at a meeting of the Brontë Country Tourism Partnership on Wednesday, January 16. The organisation markets Haworth and the Worth Valley as a visitor destination.
Concern over the situation for tourists with mobility problems was expressed late last year by Johnnie Briggs, who runs the Brontë Walks tour company.
He said the seriousness of the situation was illustrated to him when a woman in a wheelchair took part in one of his tours round Haworth’s historic attractions.
“It took four of us to move her around and showed just how difficult it is for anyone in a wheelchair to move from one place to another in the village,” he said. “The wheelchair had to be picked up and carried for parts of the tour. It was an uncomfortable experience for this woman. (...)
Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury parish councillor Barry Thorne, who has spent years campaigning for a better deal for people with disabilities, acknowledged accessibility was a problem in the village.
“Partly it’s because of the nature of Haworth,” he said. “A lot of it is heritage buildings and then there’s the slopes, the cobbles and steps leading into shops. Putting ramps everywhere wouldn’t work. This would need a survey to see what can and can’t be done, but whatever you do isn’t going to be perfect. I’ve seen people having difficulties here before. There are obstacles just about everywhere.”

The Memphis Commercial Appeal reviews Wuthering Heights 2011:

Arnold presents the film in the once standard, now unconventional 4:3 aspect ratio: the more or less square picture image commonly referred to as "full frame," and also used recently for "The Artist." The moors might have benefited from widescreen lensing, but Arnold apparently wanted to ensure that the landscape didn't overwhelm her characters. Frequently, the close camera follows Heathcliff and Catherine on the run, like an intimate attendant spirit.
The final hour of the film, which presents a successful and sophisticated adult Heathcliff (James Howson) and a respectable, well-behaved Catherine (Kaya Scodelario), is less compelling than the first, in part because the elegant rooms of Catherine's new home lack the visual appeal of the druidic outdoors and in part because the model-beautiful adult actors seem less a product of this environment than their younger counterparts.
A closing credits song by Mumford & Sons is perfectly fine on its own terms, but it breaks the spell of "authenticity" — spell being an apt word, considering the film's witchcraft-like atmosphere. Better to have ended with one of Catherine's a cappella folk ballads, such as "Barbara Allen," which the girl sings early in the film — a tale of graves and briars that likely was almost as inspirational for Arnold as Brontë's prose. (John Beifuss) 

metroactive also highlights the film as one of the best of 2012:

Keenness about class-crossed romance made Wuthering Heights and Deep Blue Sea two of the year's best in different ways: history working its will on trapped lovers. (Richard von Busack)

The Arizona Republic talks about the local performances of Paul Gordon's musical Jane Austen's Emma:

The title of Arizona Theatre Company's latest musical, "Jane Austen's Emma," is a case either of careful branding or protesting too much.
First produced in 2007 at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., the stage adaption of Austen's 1815 novel is by composer-lyricist Paul Gordon, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2001 for "Jane Eyre." That musical did not include author Charlotte Brontë on the marquee, but the more generic-sounding "Emma" seemingly required more introduction. (Kerry Lengel)

BT Life publishes a new picture of next week's Emmerdale's "Brontë night" (January 10)

In other news, it’s Brontë night at the Woolpack and Dan’s impression of Heathcliff is set to turn heads – or should that be stomachs? (Claudia Pattison)

Digital Spy adds:

Elsewhere, Katie gives Steve a job looking after the stables, Edna feels awkward as everyone at the factory thinks she is not working fast enough, while Bob vows to host a Brontë literature night at the pub as he believes it will attract single women. (Daniel Kilkelly)

Broadway World presents another new adaptation of Jane Eyre (by Daniel Elihu Kramer) that will be performed by the Available Light Theatre (Columbus, OH) next May:

Known for presenting new and original productions, and its incredibly cool "Pay What You Can" ticket policy, AVL is quite possibly the most accessible professional theater company in Columbus, and a delightful find to those who value amazingly good live theater on a budget. With its 2012 season including the powerhouse musical, "Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson ", look forward to the upcoming "The History Boys" (January 10-19) and "Jane Eyre"(May 16- June 8). On ethics alone, this venue deserves your entertainment dollars, add in the talent and it's a steal.  (Lisa Norris)

The Atlantic has an article about Monty Python and mentions the Wuthering Heights Semaphore version sketch:

The 45 TV episodes [of Monty Python's Flying Circus] remain the spine of Monty Python’s achievement. Going back through the scripts, you can see why the troupe wasn’t destined to last for long. Its format was a ravenous guzzler-up of good material. In no other comedy series in TV history have so many brilliant ideas been packed into so small a space. Consider Python’s semaphore version of Wuthering Heights. It wasn’t just that the Pythons had the wit to dream up the idea. They also, crucially, had the comic sense not to attenuate it by stretching it over the rack of a four-minute sketch. They took two minutes to harvest its richest possibilities—Heathcliff and Catherine wave flags at each other across a moor, with explanatory subtitles; Catherine’s husband confronts her, flagging irately; a baby cries by sticking two tiny flags out of its cradle—and then they moved on. (David Free)

The Evansville Courier & Press (Henderson, KT) is fascinated with the World Almanac of Facts, but the article begins with a confession:

My early education would have been better-rounded if I had spent more time reading "Wuthering Heights," "Moby Dick" or even "Tom Sawyer."
I did my share of reading as a kid, but it typically wasn't literature or even just popular novels. (Chuck Stinnett)

The Seacost Online talks about City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte:

Magnus Flyte is the pseudonym of Meg Howrey and Christina Lynch. Meg Howrey is a former dancer with the Joffrey II and the winner of an Ovation Award. She is the author of the novels "The Cranes Dance" and "Blind Sight" and lives in Los Angeles. Christina Lynch is a television writer and former Milan correspondent for W Magazine.
The duo has been the talk of reporters in the last few weeks, gaining comparisons to the famous Brontë sisters and also J.K. Rowling. Said Lynch, "I'm also fascinated to hear about the creation of the pseudonym Magnus Flyte — how do two talented, busy California professional women get together to write such a heralded tale, already well known in the press."

Songs of Eretz reviews the poem The Visionary by Emily Brontë;  Brook Cottage Books posts about the only novel by Emily; The Diary of a tea-drinking Book Lover reviews Villette; Un libro al día (in Spanish) talks about Agnes Grey; Trazos de aprendizaje y experiencia (in Spanish), Candies and Others (in French) and Popularna Klasyka (in Polish) post about Jane Eyre; A Myriad of Books compares different Jane Eyre covers; Seven Apples reviews Death of a Schoolgirl by Joanna Campbell Slan; Pienso...luego escribo (in Spanish) compares Jane Eyre and its 1997 adaptation; La Nariz de Nefer (in Spanish) reviews Jane Eyre 1944; Literary Stars reviews Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow; KellyVision, Fresh Ink and Jen Ryland/YA Romantics post about April Lindner's Catherine; Words with Leti del Mar talks about what makes a story matter using Jane Eyre as an example.