"It is a truth universally acknowledged - "

Mmm. Pride and Prejudice. Big thank you to Chin for the early sounding! :D That last scene was worth it. Very much so. Mr Darcy! Who knew eh? Didn't like him the first time I watched the movie, but subsequent watchings made him seem so...how do you put it...ah, interesting. Extremely fascinating. Beyond description - hot? Oooooooooooooo!

Sorry. Raving fan girl :P There were some scenes which were really sweet; made me go all gooey and happy. Couldn't stop smiling after watching the movie. Such an unexpected romantic.

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourite books! (This should be about the millionth time I'm telling you this.) Especially the part where Elizabeth tells off that bitch snob of a Lady Catherine. Fuyoh. Girl power man. In modern terms, she was telling me Lady to get lost and shut the hell up. *very happily smiles*

Lady Catherine: "You are then resolved to have him [Mr Darcy]?"

Lizzie: "I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me."

Take that, woman! Bwarhahahahahhahahhahahahhaaaaaaaa!

Still. Women during those times couldn't inherit a single thing from their fathers, and if you're not married by a certain age and end up being a spinster, then you're done for. You can't work when you've been born into a gentleman's family, so the only way to secure a young lady's future is for her to get married to someone equally rich and titled (an added bonus). Or else you end up in poverty when your father or brother stops providing for you. Another alternative is to live with a relative, but that would mean that you'll become a burden to them. Not really fair prospects, is it?

So anyway. Here's an idea:

If you think you're the next Mr Darcy, contact me! :D If you're not sure how he's like, go watch the movie! Read the book! And if you think you are, then contact me!

Oh well. Just thought I'd try to advertise it a bit. Someone else agrees with me...

Hmm. Shakespeare's birthday yesterday. I started reading a bit of his Midsummer's Night Dream - me favourite plot - and there have been certain scenes which were - er - quite suggestive. And funny, though I wonder whether he intended them to be.

LYSANDER:
You have her father's love, Demetrius,
Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.

And near that, someone had written a note: He's a smart ass.

Anyway. Lysander and Hermia are in love, but Demetrius has proposed to her. Thing is, Hermia's father wants her to marry Demetrius. So he drags her to see the ruler of Athens, Theseus, to blackmail her into marrying Demetrius. Theseus tells Hermia that she has two choices: get married to Demetrius or go into nunhood. No Lysander. Which is so very unfair. You don't treat women like property!

To complicate things, Hermia's best friend Helena is hopelessly in love with Demetrius. When I say hopelessly, I really do mean it. Anyway, Hermia and Lysander arrange to meet in the woods outside Athens in the night, to run away and get married somewhere out there. Helena - being the innocent infatuated lass - tells Demetrius about the meeting, and off they both go to the woods too: Helena to beg him to love her, and he to stop Hermia from running away and possibly cause a lot of harm to Lysander at the same time.

Demetrius, by the way, is one egoistic character who thinks he's so macho. For example:

[To Helena]
Tempt not too much the hatred of my spirit,
For I am sick when I do look on thee.

HELENA
And I am sick when I look not on you. [Told you she lost her head to him.]

DEMETRIUS
You do impeach your modesty too much
To leave the city and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not,
To trust the opportunity of night
And the ill counsel of a desert place
With the rich worth of your virginity.

Plainly put, what he was telling Helena was: "Look, lovely, you're here alone with me in a deserted place, and you came here yourself to meet me. Being the very macho guy I am, I can rape you, and nobody would know anything about it."

Die, you evil man. Die, I tell you! *raverantyellcursehowdarethismansaythistoher*

So Helena begs and begs him to love her - despite the obvious threat from him, silly girl - and he loses his patience after a bit and goes on to warn her again:

I will not stay thy questions. Let me go!
Or if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

HELENA
I'll follow thee, and make a heaven of hell
To die upon the hand I love so well.

Harh. Why la, girl. We shall see what happens later! I'm not done reading yet!

Funny thing. On one end of the continuum (like my psych lecturer used to say almost every lesson), we have charming men like Mr Darcy. On the other end, we have fools like Demetrius, who by the way, is said to be courting another lady earlier in the play, although he has asked Hermia to marry him. Selfish.

Hmmm. Another thing. Theseus and Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons. Wonder why she's marrying him, seeing as he's a serial womaniser too. Amazons don't really get married, do they? She was captured, apparently. But wasn't Theseus with Ariadne earlier, since she saved him from the Minotaur? He was also involved with: Perigenia, Aegles and Antiopa (a sister of Hippolyta). There are several versions about the women he married; there was a Phaedra he married after leaving Hippolyta. Aiyo, this guy!

Okay now I'm confused. These Greek people in legends always cannot make up their minds who they want to marry or run away from. And people keep getting lost, butchered, captured and married against their will. I think Odysseus with his Penelope seems to be the clearest relationship to me.

Hippolyta should have beheaded Theseus or something during their marriage. Save me from my confusion.

I still have not made up my mind about HP7. On one hand, I'd be thinking: "It's the SEVENTH book!" On the other hand, "It's the SEVENTH book. Can I stand anymore of Harry?"

A few more weeks to make up my mind...

Elizabeth Bennet on the subject of men:

"Humorless poppycocks, in my limited experience."

I blast thee, left, right and - er - centre.