Bridget Jones's Diary

Yesterday it was Valentine's Day, and with Valentine come the sappy romantic comedies on tv. Now in my opinion there are only very few good romantic comedies (Notting Hill, Love Actually, When Harry met Sally, You've got Mail), and yesterday one of the good ones was shown on television: Bridget Jones's Diary.
Now the novels is of course better than the film. Helen Fielding's wit and genius are so detailed and intricate that it could never translate well to the screen. There are so many asides and extra characters and extra small things in the novels that could never be crammed into a film, and I'm happy that the film makers did not even try, but just took a different approach.
You may not be aware of this (having never read Bridget Jones, or Austen, or just never had the inclination to think about it), but Bridget Jones is modelled on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. Fielding did this on purpose, and it is quite easy to see once you know it. The big giveaway is of course Mark Darcy, named after Mr. Darcy, and I won't tell you anymore because I know the enjoyment of going through the novel yourself and discovering these little hints and links.
Anyway, in the film, another sort of link was made. First of course, Mark Darcy is played by Colin Firth, the big Mr. Darcy actor from the 1995 BBC Pride & Prejudice series. But few may remember Hugh Grant, who is Daniel Cleaver in the movie, as Edward Ferrars in the Sense & Sensibility adaptation of the same year. This basically puts the two big love interests of the two big Jane Austen movies up against each other, and makes the whole movie a big nod to the Austen film culture springing up around the time. Moreover, Bridget's mum is of course played by the same actress that played Mrs. Dashwood in that same film.
In the sequel to the novel (The Edge of Reason, reportedly Fielding is working on the third novel right now, due to come out this autumn), Bridget actually interviews Colin Firth, as she loves watching him in his role of Mr. Darcy in that same BBC Pride & Prejudice adaptation. Now I thought that they'd have to keep this out of the film, as you can't have Bridget interviewing Colin when Colin was actually Mark Darcy. But sure enough, they kept the interview, albeit in the Deleted Scenes. This form of self-mockery, which started with the novels, translated to the film, came back through the sequel and it's film, is precisely what Austen might have enjoyed, given the ironic comments found in her novels.

Life, and things

I've read quite some blogs over the past few years, and every once in a while there's a looooong pause followed by a "Not dead!" kind of post, in which the author exuces him/herself for the long silence and vents on all the things they have been doing in the meantime, and tells the reader that everything will be better from now on. This is exactly that kind of post, except that I can't tell you that everything will be better, because I'm expecting everything to get even worse for a couple of weeks.
So what have I been doing? In short: working. That's right, I've got my first fully grown-up job as a project manager for several science school books. It's 3 days a week, which means I'm expected to sit in an office 3 days a week (or attend meetings elsewhere). In practice, it's 7 days a week, since I've got people emailing me about important things almost every day (sad fact: the first thing I log into when I start my computer is my work email, not my private email). This week was my first week, and as all first weeks go it was pretty confusing and energy-consuming, but at least I now have a basic idea of what I am expected to do, how I am expected to do it, and who I am working with. Sadly, the person whose work I'm taking over has not been able to come in due to a back problem, so I've been trying to figure these things out mostly on my own. But now I know, so that's good.
In other news, on Wednesday evening I sent out my dissertation yet again, hopefully it's now good enough to go to the second reader, which means it is nearing completion.
On the house front, things are moving slowly but steadily to the desired end. We (that is to say: mostly my parents and boyfriend's father, as 'we' have been busy working) have painted and drilled and hammered and sanded (sooooo much sanding) until the top floor is entirely done, and most of the first floor (that's second floor to Americans) too. On Monday the carpet guys will come to install (is this the right word?) the carpet, so then these floors will be reeeeaaally almost done. Most of the hallway downstairs is also done, plus half of the living room walls, and with the carpet in there we still hope to move the last weekend of February (or the first week of March). This weekend we will clean the whole thing, as it is veeery dusty (did I mention the sanding?), so that the carpet can go in nice and clean.
And once it's in there we can start packing things and moving things, as the place we live now is steadily filling up with piles and piles of books and other stuff which does not fit into the closets anymore.
Oh yeah, did I mention the two classes and short internship I'm taking this semester start next week? Lots of reading to do!

Anyway, I think that pretty much sums it up. Lots to do, all fun things, all things that make me happy, but also all things that leave me very little time for other stuff, let alone for thinking about other stuff. So it might be quiet for a while longer here, until we settle into the new home and my dissertation is finally approved. Then hopefully, we will have some more breathing space!