Yet Another Period Drama Blog: August 2013

Monday, August 26, 2013

Do Not Forget

(bonus points to you if you read the title in a creepy Blandois voice)

Just wanted to remind everyone that this is the last week to submit your nominations for the September I'd Like to Share event! I'll be posting a list of the Best Posts in August (well, the ones that got nominated, anyway) on September first, and then if all goes well the floor will be open again to nominate a new post for the October link list. Feel free to second other people's nominations if you wish, but don't let that stop you from nominating a post of your own choosing. (And don't forget to let me know which category you think the post falls into-- Inspirational, Informative, Humorous, Just Plain Interesting or Miscellaneous. Posts that are not categorized by the nominator will ~~spend the night IN THE BOX~~ be put into Miscellaneous.) Go here for more details on the event, and here to nominate your favorite August post!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Let's Have Those Quote Quiz Answers

Time for the answers to our quote quiz! (And some quotes have pictures and some do not. Simply because I didn't feel like finding pictures for each one).

"You're like an ocean breeze. Not that you smell like fish or anything."

~Felix King, Road to Avonlea ("Woman of Importance," season 7)

Algernon Moncrieff: "Oh! I am not really wicked at all, cousin Cecily. You mustn't think that I am wicked."
Cecily Cardew: "If you are not, then you have certainly have been deceiving us all in a very inexcusable manner. I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy."

~The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)

Isabella Knightley: "You are behaving strangely, not yourself. You did not wish to go to dinner with the Cavendishes. You did not want to take the boys to find frogs in the park."
John Knightley: "Some might say that hesitation was a perfectly normal response to both those invitations."

~Emma (2009)

"I was looking for a draft of noble Norman wine, when down in the cellar I found this infidel. I was going to beat his brains out but I took pity upon his gray hair and converted him then and there."

~Friar Tuck, Ivanhoe (1982)

"Remember your manners. And don't forget to cross your ankles decently when you sit down. And don't sit in a draft, either. And don't slide down the banisters."

~Mrs. Harris, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987)

"Well, the King is well pleased with you. All charges have been dropped. We're still going to hang you of course, but I'll spare the drawing and quartering." [stunned silence] "That was a joke."

~Judge Jeffreys, Lorna Doone (2000)

"But, uh, Pearl... if the little bird cannot see... AND cannot fly... how is he in the sky?"

~Ruby Pratt, Lark Rise to Candleford (episode 2, season 4)

Prince Albert: "As a matter of interest, will a time come when I read them first?"
Baron Stockmar: "You'll enjoy this. She has a real flair for description."

~The Young Victoria (2009)

William Pitt: "Why is it you only feel the thorns in your feet when you stop running?"
William Wilberforce: "Is that some sort of heavy-handed metaphorical advice for me, Mr. Pitt?"

~Amazing Grace (2006)

10.

"And if that doesn't leave me without a stain on my conscience, I don't know what it doesn't leave me without a stain on."

~Bertie Wooster, Jeeves and Wooster (don't remember the episode, though... sorry!)

11.

"I strongly object to the Navy. It brings people of obscure birth into undue distinction and it cuts up a man's youth and vigor most horribly!"

~Sir Walter Elliot, Persuasion (1995)

12.

Jo March: "You plastered yourself on him!"
Meg March: "It's proper to take a gentleman's arm if it's offered."

~Little Women (1994)

And our winner is... Melody, with 22 points out of the possible 32! And I didn't rig this. Honest. She's just seen a lot of the movies I've seen. :P

Sunday, August 11, 2013

I'd Like to Share

(random pretty picture of strawberries and tea because we're going to
talk about happiness. and pretty things, strawberries and tea all make me happy)

Charlotte Brontë once said, "Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste." I would agree wholeheartedly. Over the past almost-two-years that I've been blogging, I've derived a great deal of happiness from reading the blog posts of some of the many excellent writers out there. That, of course, is only the beginning of it-- I've also made many dear friends through reading people's blogs, and even met one. :D

I know many of you enjoy blog-hopping (and meeting lovely people) as well, and so I've come up with a little plan to help us all share our happiness. I'm calling it "I'd Like to Share," (original title, no?) and it consists of a monthly link-up in which we all submit our favorite posts written by other people so that all the participants can enjoy the spread-around happiness.

This is how it works. I've created a page on this blog which is currently empty (well, except for a copy of the picture you'll see below.) Your task, for the remainder of August, is to keep a sharp lookout for the Best Post of the Month. This will be, quite simply, the best post you read on any blog all month. When you come across this post, whatever and wherever it may be, you'll copy and paste the link (the link to the actual post, not just to the blog's homepage) into a comment on that page I just linked to. You'll also mention what category you think this Best Post fits into-- Inspirational, Informative, Humorous, Just Plain Interesting or Miscellaneous. (And if anyone has a category they'd like to suggest, please drop a comment here!) You're only allowed to nominate one post per month, so choose wisely. :D

On September first I'll compile all the links into one master list and put them in a regular post on my blog. (They'll also appear on the I'd Like to Share page.) If lots of people participate and everything goes according to plan, we'll have several posts in each category (hopefully from many different authors) and y'all will have a delicious afternoon of blog-post-reading ahead of you. Ideally, this project will introduce people to blogs they haven't read before and will maybe even give some extra attention to blogs that don't get visited frequently enough. I mean, everyone wants more blog readers, right? (Okay, okay, except maybe the big super-mega blogs with several thousand readers and paid advertising on the sidebars. And even they would probably enjoy some more readers, because if they've got paid advertising on the sidebars they'll definitely want more traffic. :P)

So if you're interested, please put this elegant little button on your sidebar (look, I've even included a grab box to make things easy for you!) and start advertising the I'd Like to Share event! If all goes well in September, I'll make this a monthly feature-- which means that as soon as the Master Link Post goes up on September first, it'll be time to start nominating new posts for October. Is it all crystal clear, my dear?

Oh, and a few ground rules (because I'm a by-the-book kind of girl, and in my opinion rules and schools are NOT tools for fools)...

~I will read (or at least skim) each and every post that is nominated for this feature. I don't want to provide links on my blog to any content that makes me uncomfortable, so if I come across bad language, suggestive material, endorsement of ungodly media or anything that I think might be detrimental to my blog readers, I will not include that post in the Master Link Post. Not trying to be harsh or offend anyone here, but hey--my blog, my rules.

~Please put careful thought into deciding which post to nominate for ILTS (that's I'd Like To Share, for the information of the acronym-challenged). If you don't come across a post this month that strikes you as particularly outstanding, then don't worry about nominating anything. Better to have a small selection of really good posts than a huge list of mediocre ones. And don't just nominate a post because your best friend wrote it. That, my dear children, is called nepotism, and is FROWNED upon in most societies.

~In the same vein, don't nominate someone's post in the hopes that they'll nominate you in future. That, my dear children, is called back-scratching, and is also FROWNED upon in most societies.

~However, when and if you do nominate someone's post for this feature, drop that person a comment (on the post in question!) and let them know they've been nominated (but not as a hint to them to do the same for you). It might make their day!

~Oh, and the post you nominate does not have to be something that was written during the month of August. That goes for future installments of this feature as well-- it can be something that was written in February 2008 for all I care. Good content is good content, and if you're like me and enjoy archive-browsing (when you have the time...), you won't want a great post to go to waste just because it's tucked away in a corner somewhere.

Whew. Didn't think it was possible to mention the word "post" so many times in a single blog post. (There I go again.)

Have questions? Leave a comment here!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Let's Have Another Quote Quiz

It has been one year, eight months and nine days since we last had a Movie Quote Quiz around these parts, and so if I bring up another one today, no one can accuse me of redundancy. The rules are simple--your job is to guess who said each of these quotes, and in what movie they appear. If you can guess the person (or people) correctly, you get one point for each name; if you guess the movie, you get another point for the title. Four questions also have blanks inserted where names ought to be-- if you can fill in the names for each you'll get an extra three points. (The blank for question #9 corresponds to the name of Character 1, so you won't get extra credit for that one.) That's ten questions with a possibility of two points each for seven and and three points each for five, plus the name blanks; I'm no math whiz, but that would mean that the highest score you can get is 32 points. Make sense?

Please leave your answers in a comment. The game will last until next Saturday (the 17th), at which time I'll reveal the winners. To spare me the trouble of replying to every comment and calculating scores multiple times (in case we get a lot of responses), I'm going to limit guessing to one try per person. So think long and hard before you submit your answers, as you won't get to try again!

Without further ado...

"You're like an ocean breeze. Not that you smell like fish or anything."

Character 1: "Oh! I am not really wicked at all, cousin ______. You mustn't think that I am wicked."
Character 2: "If you are not, then you have certainly have been deceiving us all in a very inexcusable manner. I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy."

Character 1: "You are behaving strangely, not yourself. You did not wish to go to dinner with the _______s. You did not want to take the boys to find frogs in the park."
Character 2: "Some might say that hesitation was a perfectly normal response to both those invitations."

"I was looking for a draft of noble Norman wine, when down in the cellar I found this infidel. I was going to beat his brains out but I took pity upon his gray hair and converted him then and there."

"Remember your manners. And don't forget to cross your ankles decently when you sit down. And don't sit in a draft, either. And don't slide down the banisters."

"Well, the King is well pleased with you. All charges have been dropped. We're still going to hang you of course, but I'll spare the drawing and quartering." [stunned silence] "That was a joke."

"But, uh, ______... if the little bird cannot see... AND cannot fly... how is he in the sky?"

Character 1: "As a matter of interest, will a time come when I read them first?"
Character 2: "You'll enjoy this. She has a real flair for description."

Character 1: "Why is it you only feel the thorns in your feet when you stop running?"
Character 2: "Is that some sort of heavy-handed metaphorical advice for me, _____?"

10.