New game plan

After fiddling around with different needles and patterns, I've decided to not do a fair isle pattern for my sockpal sock. I don't like how it looks with the larger needle size and I'm convinced I won't be able to get a complicated pattern done in time. Better to have a simpler pair of socks than a late pair of socks. So, I'm using just the Lorna's Laces yarn and doing the baby cable rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. I'm still working on the guage. Basically, I want to use this one set of circs and I am trying to get the right number of stitches to make the proper sized sock. I worked on it yesterday and last night while watching Pride and Prejudice, the miniseries version (all 5 hours at once--whew!).

So, I know you are all dying to know what I thought of this version of P&P, so I'll tell you. I liked the newer version better. Not just because it's shorter, but because I felt the characters were more real and it was more romantic. Oh and the mother in the miniseries version got on my last nerve. Her voice was too piercing! I know she is supposed to be constantly complaining but the screeching was just too much to handle. In the newer version, the mother has a lower pitched voice which helps, I think. Anyway, I felt that in some ways, the characters were caricatures of themselves. Caroline Bingley, for instance, looked unreal. I blame part of this on the makeup and costuming. This is not to say that I didn't like it at all, I did. By nature of it being longer, it had more of the book in it and I do think that added something to the movie. In the newer version, there's not so much of Wickham, so I don't think you get the best sense of how vile he is and how disturbing the situation is. I thought this version also did a better job of pointing out the real travesty behind Lydia's running off. The newer version made it seem as though the only problem was the ruin of Lydia. But, really, it meant the ruin of the entire family and that the other sisters would have very little chance of marrying well. Also, I liked the miniseries Mr. Bingley better, the newer version made him far too silly.

However, the newer one was less, oh what's the word I'm looking for? The houses were quite dark at night, as it would have been. The Bennett girls are not going around in immaculate dresses all the time. The farm is a real farm. It gives you a better sense of the difference between the Bennetts and the Bingleys or the Darcys.

Of course, Colin Firth was to die for, though I do like him better with shorter hair ala Bridget Jones (also, I can't figure out what was so amazing about him swimming in the lake that Bridget and her pals were playing it over and over again in the 2nd book--which of course doesn't show up in the movie for obvious reasons; I always thought it was amusing that they got him to play Mark Darcy). And he doesn't look nearly as good in sideburns as Matthew Macfadyen. But his features are more handsome. Right, enough of that.

So there you have it. If you want to rent only one version and get the basic gist of the book, I say go for the newer (and shorter) one. If you want to watch something that portrays almost the entirety of the book, then go for the miniseries one. Handsome men abound in both so you're pretty safe with either one if that's what you're looking for. ;)