J is for…
I’m participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I post every day in the month of April (except Sundays) and each day is a letter.
My theme for the month is a series of posts about the things that shaped me.
Jane Austen
In this day and age, it almost feels like a cliche to be a Jane Austen fan, but… well, here I am. Sense and Sensibility was my first, and still has a special place in my heart. But of course, it’s Pride and Prejudice that wins “favorite Jane Austen novel of all time.”
I’m a book nerd and a movie nerd and an Austen fan, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the best classes I ever took in college was “Jane Austen on Film.” Can you imagine? An ENTIRE class where we read Austen novels and watched the film adaptations.
It was BEAUTIFUL.
The year 1995 was a high point for Jane Austen fans, as the best versions of three of her novels came out that year (well, four, if you count Clueless — which I do):
- Pride and Prejudice — There is none better. (You can try to tell me that the Kiera Knightley one is amazing, Matthew Macfadyen is perfect — blahblahblah. You’re wrong.) Colin Firth is, and always will be, Mr. Darcy, delightfully awkward and romantic. This version leaves nothing out, follows the story exactly, and adds in that lake scene. It’s perfection.
- Persuasion — A quieter story than some of her other novels, this version has Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth and Amanda Root as Anne Elliot, and it’s just lovely. Lost love reunited… or is it?
- Sense and Sensibility — Written by and starring Emma Thompson, directed by Ang Lee, and includes Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and the absolutely incomparable Alan Rickman. What else could you possibly want?
Billy Joel
My favorite musician in the entire world.
I’ve mentioned it before — I love to play the piano. And I love to play Billy Joel’s songs.
Joel writes songs made for belting out loud, whether your by yourself in your car, or in a bar surrounded by friends. Everyone knows them , and they’re just fun.
I remember the first time I heard him. My mother had a CD of his Stormfront album (“We Didn’t Start the Fire,” “Downeaster Alexa,” “Leningrad,” etc.), and I would sit next to the stereo wearing headphones too big for my little head, reading the lyrics from the liner notes. I didn’t understand anything in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” but I could (and still can) recite every word.
I’ve been a fan of everything he’s done ever since. I’ve been lucky enough to see Billy in concert twice — once with Elton John, and once solo, and both times were amazing. He’s hilarious, plays to the crowd, and always looks like he’s having the time of his life.
One of my favorite stories about him — he always holds back tickets in the front rows, and gives them to people who bought the worst seats in the house. If you’re a big enough fan that you’re willing to spend money just to sit in the nosebleeds, you deserve the front row more than someone who has all the money in the world to spend.
Jagged Little Pill
When you’re growing up, you listen to what your parents listen to — in my house, it was soft rock from my mother, and oldies from my dad. But eventually, you start to find your own music taste, a sound that belongs to you.
Alanis Morrissette’s album was the first one that really belonged to me.
To be honest, the angry girl anthem “You Oughta Know” is probably my least favorite. I tend to lean toward more upbeat music in general, so songs like “Hand in My Pocket” and “You Learn” got a lot more play time on my Discman.
However — for those of you who remember CDs, it was not unusual for an album to have a “hidden track,” something that isn’t listed in the liner notes. And on Jagged Little Pill, there was an bonus version of “You Oughta Know” but after it ended, if you wait just a few moments, you’ll hear the beautiful, haunting “Your House.” Sung completely a cappella, Alanis tells the story of walking through her lover’s house when he’s not home and finding something she wasn’t supposed to. It’s stunning and heartbreaking.
Jeopardy!
I’m an absolute trivia nerd and proud of it. Especially in art, literature, movies — everything pop culture related. So of course I watch Jeopardy! religiously. I don’t even know how old I was when I first started watching; it’s one of those things that’s just always been there, you know?
What I do remember is being obsessed over the Jeopardy! video game — the one way back on the Commodore 64, where you had to type — and correctly spell — the right answer. I played it constantly (even though I was maybe eight?), and I cannot tell you how unbelievably excited I was the first time I got the Final Jeopardy question right.
All I know is that ever since, I’ve been a diehard Jeopardy! fan. At 7:30 pm every day, I’m in front of my television. It’s not the same since Alex Trebek died (yes I cried), but it’s still Jeopardy! and I still shout out answers when I know them.
Some things never change, and I hope Jeopardy! is one of them.
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