SRPS Memorial - Jane Austen

On this day, in 1817, Jane Austen succumbed to the mystery illness that had plagued her for several years. There have been several speculations as to the nature of the illness, with Hodgkin's lymphoma, Addison's disease, and bovine tuberculous all suggested by posthumous analysis of her documented ailments.

It's amazingly wonderful to me that 195 years after her death, we are still reading her works and celebrating her. Aside from movies like Bridget Jones's Diary and Bride & Prejudice, books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Jane Austen Book Club, people (women, mostly) are creating all kinds of things to honor their favorite author.

Like cakes. This beauty was created by SprinkleBakes.

And dolls. Excuse me... figurines. Like this one found on Retronaut.

For something you can carry with you always to remind yourself of Jane, there's Jane Austen jewelry.

I'll be sure to brew up a pot of tea and make a toast to Jane.

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SRPS TV Night - British women make great detectives!

I have been watching lots of TV series on Netflix on the PS3. It's pretty cool how as soon as I finish a series, the Netflix app gives me three suggestions based on what I just watched. I can chain shows pretty easily, without having to do any searching.

One show I watched recently was Vera. Just seeing the cover, I know it's got Brenda Blethyn, one of my favorites. You may recognize her as Mrs. Bennett from the Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightly, or as the mother from Secrets and Lies, or as the widow in Saving Grace. All three are great SRPS movies.  So, already I knew this was going to be a great SRPS television series. Also, interestingly, she was in a movie entitled The Witches with Anjelica Huston.

I was not disappointed one bit. Well, I was disappointed with the fact that there are so few episodes, but as any BBC series fan knows, that's the price we pay for excellent stories.

Based on the heroine of Ann Cleeves series, Vera is like a kind-but-tough country grandma-turned-police detective. Not exactly a Columbo-type, though. She's not exactly self-deprecating. She's tough. She'll yell and put the fear of God into her staff when she needs to. But she's also kind and clearly a caring member of her local community. Or, as Brenda Blethyn says of her character:

"She's kind of like an ordinary person really. If you sat next to her on the bus and struck up a conversation you'd probably be talking about the two-for-one pries down at the Co-op."

Only season 1 is available on Netflix at this time. One of my favorite episodes is about a murder associated with a controversial quarry project. It's not just the story, but the great roles and performances for everyone involved. The characters are well-developed, complex people with mixed desires. I cannot wait to get my hands on season 2. It has immediately been added to my wish list.

Once I was finished with Vera, Netflix suggested Blue Murder. I have to admit I was a teeny bit skeptical after watching the first 10 minutes. The production values are very different, and not only because the show is a few years older. But I was also intrigued by the premise of a single mother trying to handle raising her children, who is also pregnant, serving as a detective.

In season 1, one of my most favorite storyline was between Janine and her neighbor and friend, Leslie. It's just the real-kind of friendship you'd expect between friendly neighbors helping each other out.

While Vera never really delved into Vera's private life, Blue Murder spends a good amount of time showing us Janine's personal struggles and accomplishments as well as her detective work. And I think that's what I like the most about this show. The investigations are exciting, and usually involve some kind of clever twist, but it's nice to see how Janine juggles her personal responsibilities as a single mother, handling issues with her children and her estranged husband, exploring romantic possibilities, and just trying to keep everything together.

While the series ran for five seasons, from 2003 to 2009, Netflix only has seasons 1 and 2. You can be certain I'll be searching out the last three seasons.

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SRPS Blog-Around

Happy Friday the 13th! So many great links this week, so let's get started!

If you haven't seen Tavi Gevinson of Rookie in her TEDxTeen presentation, you really need to take 8 minutes to check it out. I expect to see more great stuff from her and her generation!

And speaking of Stevie Nicks, did you see her on Up All Night last week?

Also last week there was this Big Deal Gaming Conference in Boston. I didn't get to go, sadly. But I got to see some great photos from my friends on G+ and Facebook and Tumblr.

Pokket, over at MMORPG has a good wrap-up video:

It looks like it was a great time for everyone involved, which is to be expected. PAX Prime is our major vacation destination, and maybe some day we'll be able to swing a trip to PAX East. In the meantime, I'll console myself by watching videos and reading blogs, like this great write-up by Geeks Playing Games -- including a photo of a woman in a Dr. Who Tardis skirt:

Awesome Tardis skirt; photo: geeksplayinggames.com

Actually, so much great cosplay at PAX East.

Mass Effect 3 Cosplayers; photo: Kotaku

Assassin's Creed cosplayers; photo: dynamiclunch

Little Sisters; photo: amandarenz

Uh... so many things; photo: urdnoteve

Link, Link, and Link... laughing with a salad; photo: summerhop

I really *should* know, but I don't; photo: visiblespectre

Speaking of awesome gaming stuff, there's a great Kickstarter project for a new tabletop RPG, Witch Girls Book of Shadows.

Witch Girls: BOS isn't just about us printing a book, it's about bringing table top RPGs to a new and overlooked demographic. Part of your future funding will go towards printing Quick-Character Creation guides to give away for free organizations for girls and schools to help introduce kids to Role playing games and the world of witch girls adventures as well as a larger print run.

Seems like a worthy cause. I'm all about bringing empowering games to girls!

And, lest you think I ran out of cool videos, have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries?

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