Return to Downton Abbey- Dec 1 on PBS

PBS is giving us a nice little teaser for Downton Abbey in the form of Return to Downton Abbey on December 1, 2013 at 9 pm.

Susan Sarandon hosts this recap of all things Downton including a peek at Season 4 which starts on January 5, which is not that far off! Apparently O'Brien is gone so we will need a new evil female character below stairs. I can't wait!

We get to see some behind the scenes clips, along with interviews with creator Julian Fellowes and some of the actors we now know and love. So tune in to PBS this Sunday (I think even my local WNED out of Buffalo is airing this one at the same time) and enjoy the teaser!

About Time- A Sentimental Journey

I got to see the latest Richard Curtis film About Time last weekend and can absolutely recommend it. If you haven't already heard it is about a time travelling father and son team (Domhnall Gleeson and Bill Nighy) and the son's search for love (Rachel McAdams in her third time travel film). And yes it is a bit sappy, par for the course with Mr. Curtis. But it is also wonderful!

In a nutshell, it seems like Richard Curtis was feeling very sentimental about family (the father son relationship especially) and he has also apparently been mulling over the fact that we could all be happier by smelling the roses more instead of getting stressed out over life, as most of us do.

So suspend your disbelief (only adult men in this particular family can time travel, and to do it they have to go into a dark place while they close their eyes and clench their fists) and just go with it.

Tim (Domhnall Gleeson pronounced Dough-nal) is the new Hugh Grant/ awkward Brit character who falls in love instantly with Mary (Rachel McAdams) without seeing her at first (too complicated to explain) and uses his time travel ability to go back and "re-do" the cringe-inducing moments we are used to in a Curtis film.

Let me just add that the cast is superb among them Tom Hollander as...well...again, hard to explain his relationship with the main characters but his role is hilarious perfection! And Lindsay Duncan is understated and simply lovely as the mother/wife of the time travelers.

The supporting cast of young unknowns is also wonderful and the scenery of Cornwall is out of this world. So yes, if you enjoyed Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral you will adore this one too. If those films didn't turn your crank then you probably have drastically different taste in film than I do!

Enjoy this one friends!!!

Longbourn by Jo Baker

I have recently been swallowed up by a book, Longbourn by Jo Baker. This is going to be a short post because I am nearing the end of this totally absorbing story and I want to get back to it.

If you haven't heard of Longbourn yet, it is the story of what happened below stairs in the Pride and Prejudice story. Not only a brilliant concept, but brilliantly executed. We tend to forget who actually made those big country houses tick, and the story of the maids, cooks and footmen make for just as riveting a novel as the original. At times I forgot it was the P&P story, until, for instance, Elizabeth reappears and tells the main character (maid Sarah) that she is coming to stay at Hunsford parsonage with her when she visits Charlotte Lucas. To which I said to myself, "Oh, goody! Let's get Sarah's spin on the whole Darcy issue!"

Random House Australia provided this adorable character map if you would like to see who the downstairs folk are. Or you could just be surprised. Suffice it to say, this one is a great read and will make a wonderful film. I would be surprised if the film rights aren't already spoken for. I look forward to this future film much more than the one already being made Death Comes to Pemberley, a miniseries adaptation of P.D.James's murder mystery sequel to Pride and Prejudice, even though that one stars a fave of mine, Anna Maxwell Martin.

So that is all I am going to tell you about this wonderful book. You are just going to have to check it out for yourself. And picture the film as you read it!

Cheers!

P.S. Now that I have finished the book, I can give it an unqualified recommendation. There is a happy ending (unlike so many modern novels). As well, it will make you feel pretty awesome about yourself and all you do. We are the cooks, maids, gardeners, housekeepers, nannies and income earners these days. Not to mention that we manage to be as captivating and handsome as the Bennet sisters all the while. Well, some of the time anyway!!