A little something for everyone

Just to let everyone know, Blogger seems to be having a bit of trouble with polls right now, so if you are unable to submit your vote in our poll (on the right sidebar), please use the Chatter box to give us your opinion.

Well, there is nothing news-worthy to speak of, but here are a couple of tidbits:

• In his "Memo to Colin Farrell," Richard Horgan is optimistic about the upcoming film, Pride and Glory. Here is the relevant bit:
  

  [...] Your New Line crime drama Pride and Glory is technically a studio film, but it’s written and directed by an American director with the same name as Irish actor Gavin O’Connor (can’t hurt), and would appear to return said filmmaker to his pre-Miracle, Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker Trophy days. It’s also the first time you’ve been paired with Ed Norton, a combo that somehow feels to me like it can only be dynamite. [...]

  There hasn't been a lot of buzz about Pride and Glory thus far, but the folks at the IMDB message board are speculating that a trailer for the movie will make an appearance in January '08.
  
• Most of Jennifer Ehle's films seem to be available for reduced prices at amazon.co.uk right now, including Alpha Male, Backbeat, Melissa, Possession, Pride and Prejudice, Sunshine, and The River King. There are some great bargains so now might be the time to beef up your collection.

For today's Jane Austen fix:

• In addition to offering some words of praise for the BBC Pride and Prejudice, Shuttsie recommends a literary quiz-book called "So You Think You Know Jane Austen?" Here is how it is described at amazon.com:
  

  [...] Designed to amuse and divert, the questions and answers take the reader on an imaginative journey into the world of Jane Austen, where hypothesis and speculation produce fascinating and unexpected insights. Whether you are an expert or enthusiast, So You Think You Know Jane Austen? guarantees you will know her much better after reading it.

• And, Carole Goldberg of the Hartford Courant provides a list of movies, websites, and books, all relating to our dear Miss Austen.

Our Coast of Utopia devotees might be interested to know that Martha Plimpton was recently interviewed by Leonard Lopate about her role in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare in the Park. Visit WNYC.org to listen to the interview. Very good stuff! (Note that you can also see a picture at WNYC's photo page.)

Lastly, you might find ShrineMathGuys's latest blog entry excessively diverting! (Of course this is not the Jennifer Ehle, but wouldn't it be hilarious if she taught a class on blogging?)

Win Melissa DVD

Just a reminder, the Melissa DVD is being released today (June 12th). The Coventry Evening Telegraph is running a draw to win the whole set of three Alan Bleasdale films: Melissa, Jake's Progress and GBH. You need to answer this question:

Q: In which decade were the shows first broadcast?

Send your entry, together with your name, address and a daytime telephone number, to: Alan Bleasdale competition, c/o Simon Kukuruzovic, Evening Telegraph, Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1FP.

Entries must be received by Thursday, June 15th.

Melissa DVD cover

Play.com has the cover of the Melissa DVD due on June 12th. They also say that there will be an interview with Alan Bleasdale.



ZetaMinor has a whole list of other vendors.

Billed 4th? Bah.

Melissa DVD in doubt?

A few weeks ago, I wrote to Channel 4 asking for confirmation that the Melissa DVD would be released. The reply from viewer enquiries today was "Not due for release as far as we know."

Which may not be far. At least five sources have it available for pre-orders: Play.com, Sendit, MovieMail and Benson's World. Amazon is selling it as part of the Alan Bleasdale collection. They all have the release date as June 12th, so we'll see.

More on Melissa and River King DVDs

Here's the latest from Graham of Play.com. Nice chap.

Hi again Tina,

I'd just like to apologise for not getting you a reply regarding River King. However, it looks as though the July release date could be fairly realistic from the information at my disposal...

As for Melissa: that would be Channel 4, distributed by Lace. The DVD release was only announced on the 16/03/06, so that would explain the apparent contradiction on Channel 4's part.

Cheers,

Graham.

p.s. I didn't actually know who she was until I checked out your link, last time you contacted me (putting faces to names and all that). She's a very talented and beautiful actress. Keep up the good work!

Ask and ye shall receive

Great news! It appears that Melissa is going to be released on DVD this year at Play.com. I asked Channel 4 last year and was told none was planned, so am writing for confirmation. If true, this must be the result of viewer demand, which is fantastic. Power to the people.

There isn't much info on the site but it says it's a 2 disk set for Region 2. The release date is said to be June 12th. I'd take it with a grain of salt, since the date for The River King was originally reported as October 2005 by Play.com, and it still hasn't come out yet in the UK.