We wish you a merry Chri...BIRTHDAY!!!

First and foremost...

Good wishes, happy returns and plenteous felicitations to Jennifer Ehle, who according to various netly sources celebrates her birthday today!

In keeping with the traditional forward/backward thinking that goes on at this time of year, a small stocking's worth of pieces new and old follows.

For useful information

• Potential Oscar and the Pink Lady attendees might find it helpful to visit the French Institute Alliance Francaise site for the latest details of the play's New York run. It appears that all performances will take place Fridays to Sundays, with two shows on Saturdays. The original text by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, 'Oscar and the Lady in Pink', is available from Amazon (UK) among other places.

For quality

• See the Telegraph's interview with Tom Stoppard from 2002, in the days when The Coast of Utopia was on in London and Sir Tom was only 65.

For film reviews and thoughts

• The Minneapolis Star Tribune bestows 3.5 stars on Pride and Glory, calling it 'savage yet moving'.
• For something more substantial see Filmmaker Magazine's extended piece with Glory director Gavin O'Connor.
• Alternatively, new public Pride and Glory views are being aired over at Amazon:

[...] I thought this was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time that wasn't an action or special effects driven movie. Ed Norton does a great job and Jon Voight is back with a great performance. The cast is top notch ... It is about 2 hours long but it is full of enough good dialogue and drama that it didn't really bother me. No holes here. Just a good drama done right. [...]

and:

[...] I did really like this movie. ... It's really just another good cop/bad cop New York movie, but the acting makes it a must watch. ... I recommend Pride and Glory. [...]

For fun

• The Mail's Tom Kelly revisits the subject of the Darcy/lake filming stunt with brief quotage from the man himself (who apparently nearly turned the role down - unbearable thought indeed!)

For a bit of miscellany

• A quick reminder that Radio Free Albemuth, in which Ms Harris plays Light Angel, will be released sometime in 2009. The whereabouts or indeed existence of The Yankee King (originally set for a March 09 release) remains a mystery until further notice. Last but not least, eBayers might be interested in a signed 1964 copy of John Ehle's The Land Breakers.

Happy New Year to all!

Happy birthday, Rosemary Harris!

525 600

Forget sunsets and cups of coffee, this is how you measure a year in a life: 365 days of daily posting, 800-odd posts, about 61 000 visits and 147 000 page views, far too many Google/eBay/Factiva/blog searches and reviews, countless emails and PM's and forum posts, thousands of pointy brackets, much shameless publicity, one spectacular interview, equal parts stress and squeeing, much goodwill received from many quarters, new skills learned, new friends made across the country and the world.

Yes, dear readers, it has been exactly one year since this blog was born. And what an amazing ride it's been! Permit me to get a bit Oscars-acceptance-speechy on you and thank some of those who have helped keep this thing afloat:

Chelsea, fabulous co-conspirator, without whom this blog and probably my sanity would've collapsed long ago.

Mary, Sands and Evelyn, for their friendship and support.

Everyone who has sent in tips and photos, or shared their reviews and stories. Notably Josie, who has sent a whopping number of photos. Thanks also to those who have answered our questions.

The folk of other fandoms who have put up with our pot-banging, such as Pemberley and various Kevin Spacey and Colin Firth sites.

People who have helped backstage, particularly the crew of Colin Firth 24-7.

All our readers, especially those who have written to encourage us. We really appreciate it!

Last but certainly not least, the blog's raison d'être. For her unprecedented generosity, for being the inspiration for all this, and for her work which continues to move and entertain after countless reviewings.

Now to the future. When the blog was first created, the goal was to keep up daily posts for a whole year. Not exactly an easy task. So with this anniversary past, we'll be reviewing our posting frequency. Nothing has been decided yet but most likely we'll still guarantee regular posting, just not every single day. Many hands make light work however, so we're renewing our appeal for anyone interested in being a co-editor. You only need to be enthusiastic and committed to a couple of days a week; the technical side is fairly easy. Drop a line to jenniferehle@gmail.com if you're up for it or have any questions. It's good fun, promise.

Here's to another year of sharing Jennifer Ehle news then!

Revelations

At long last it's safe to reveal what was in the package we sent to Ms Ehle on behalf of the blog and its readers to thank her for the interview and wish her a happy birthday. It's so late because she'd left the country before it arrived.

We've been keeping this under our hats to keep it a surprise...oh alright, we just love being mysterious. Anyhow, since this was on everyone's behalf, we thought we'd better let you know what we sent:

Card. Cover says "to our favourite actress in the world, you are [ace]!". The ace is a playing card. There's also a photo of a BAFTA with fake lashes glued on. Inside left: our mugs with a note from each of us. Inside right: "Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for everything! From Tina and Chelsea on behalf of our fellow loyal fans from the Blog" and a bunch of roses.

Inventory list. Cover says "CARE package inventory". CARE = "(hopefully) Cool (mostly) Aussie Random objEcts". Inside says "Unfortunately we couldn't procure these for you..." with a picture of Pemberley, a backyard with the Old Vic in it, a baby sling, a cellar full of wine, and a giant Starbucks cup. The other side says "...so we got you these instead" with a list of what's in the package and silly comments on them. There's an Aussie theme since we're both from down under.

"Gorgeous" moisturiser and "Eau Roma" from Lush. Les pièces de resistance.

Tim Tams, chocolate biscuits. Aimed at luring Ms Ehle down under for refills.

"Jane Austen - Antipodean Views". A collection of famous Australians and New Zealanders' opinions on Jane. There's a note to Ms Ehle from Susannah Fullerton, an editor of the book and the current president of JASA (I think?).

"Dogs of the world" playing cards.

Bookmarks with Aussie authors.

We also ended up getting stuff for the rest of the family since it was around Christmas. It started with something for George, a stuffed kangaroo and socks. Then we thought we'd better thank Rosemary Harris since we sent the parcel through her, so she and Mr Ehle received a box of tea and a card. It seemed too mean to exclude Mr Ryan, so he got "Prince" shaving cream from Lush and a card.

By the way, "we" here means Chelsea and I. Full interstate collaboration - from planning to making the cards to getting the presents, everything! We had a blast - seriously, we gleefully plotted for yonks. We hope that Ms Ehle and her family enjoy it at least as much as we did creating it.

The thingo

Here's the collage of fans' birthday wishes.

What you see is not exactly the same as what we sent her. Her version allows for mega mega zoom so all the text can be read, whereas this public version is small and low-quality so the text can't be read. Wasn't sure whether it was entirely clear to people who submitted things that the final product would be made public, so this is to avoid treading on privacy toes. Hopefully you can get the general idea.

Thanks to everyone who took part!

BUT BUT BUT...this just in!

Thank you all so much! That is so sweet and creative of you. They are all wonderful and generous but there [are] a few particularly apt references...

Evelyn- have been reading much Pooh (the classic edition, of course, of course). There is little finer.

Mary- Kerala?! That's wild cause [I'm] on my slow boat there now. Or do you know that already?!

Tina- the Elvis - I've always fancied Eddie Izzard playing me in the hypothetical blah de blah but now you've got me wondering how things might have been...

I can not thank you all enough for thinking of me- a sweet, generous gift.

Thank you again,
Love,
Jennifer

What a way to end the year. Freaking cool, no?

Birthday mentions

Ms Ehle's birthday is mentioned in several places today. Apparently she shares it with Jude Law, president Andrew Johnson and the YMCA, amongst others!

Happy Birthday, Ms Ehle!

We wish you the happiest of days!



That's one of the graphics Chelsea created for the package we sent her earlier this month. Brilliant, eh? If you don't get it, read question 1 of the interview.

The thingo isn't sent yet because it's only the 28th in the US. All will be revealed later...

Merry Chrismukkah!

Fröhliche Weihnachten, Boas Festas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Buon Natale, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, Shinnen omedeto, Seng Dan Fai Lok, Chestita Koleda, God Jul, Hyvää Joulua, Wesolych Swiat, Kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket, Gledileg Jól, Geseende Kerfees, I'D Miilad Said...and so forth!

We wish the Ehle/Harris/Ryan family and all our fellow fans a holiday full of joy, peace and pudding.



From Paradise Road, the only Christmas scene in Ms Ehle's films I could think of. Click to enlarge, and look closely.

Tickity tock

Last chance!

Happy birthday, John Ehle!

Deadline extension

We're moving the deadline for the thank-you project to December 22nd.

Pride and Prejudice script in full

Just noticed that the Pride and Prejudice script I linked to in an earlier post isn't complete. Well, Script-O-Rama has the whole thing, albeit without character names. They also have a transcript of the 1940 Garson/Olivier version.

By the way, 12/12 is approaching. It's soon, but there's time to throw something together. One nice submission we've had so far is a photo of scenery where the person lives and a little message, in a Word file. Nothing more complicated than that is needed.

Quick!

You've got 10 days left to participate in our project for Ms Ehle's birthday. Make haste, make haste!

Another (belated) reminder: The River King came out in Thailand on November 22nd.

There's an additional not-worth-its-own-post item as well, photos from Possession signed by Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Northam and Aaron Eckhart on eBay.

Happy birthday, Rosemary Harris!