Northanger Abbey is Adorable!

Originally when I read Northanger Abbey, I found it to be a fun read... but I never really enjoyed it nearly as much as I do now, having seen iTV's period drama adaptation!

I'm going to go through a couple of pictures to show you a few glimpses of the loveliness in the film... simply: the story is beautiful, the characters are deep and yet funny as well as personable, and the costumes and music are absolutely wonderful! I strongly recommend this film! These are just a very few and only cover about 1/3 of the movie length... my hope is they will encourage you to see the whole thing... I will probably post more on specific style/fashion posts later, because some of the outfits are just so noteworthy that they deserve more than a cursory overview! Catherine, the heroine, discovers love in spite of her ridiculous notions, fueled by the popular gothic novels of the Regency. Mr. Tilney actually sees through her and enjoys teasing her quite a bit... making the larger part of the film rather sarcastic and very funny!  I love how innocent and naive Catherine is, she remains her honesty and propriety regarding the world and relationships even to the very end after getting mixed up with some influences who do not have her best interest at heart. In short, Catherine is a very cute sort of heroine... it's quite difficult to think ill of her, unless you insist on having jaded characters... that you will not find her to be! (I don't think she's weak, I think she's just naive... she never let's up on what she believes is right, which is a clear sign of strength) The film also has a number of serious moments and they really add depth. This isn't just a comedy, it has a good deal of moral opinion and advice built into it, just like Jane Austen's other novels. Thankfully though, it of course ends well... although I won't tell you how the story gets there. You will have to read the book and then watch this film! PBS Trailer: Please go here to find the iTV Jane Austen series trailer:

Click here to purchase on Amazon.com

 (note: there are some scenes which may require a little discretion from my good readers, depending on your opinions on modesty)

New Piano Improvisation: Reflections in August

The melody for this piece is inspired off of the music in the 2008 Sense and Sensibility from the BBC by Martin Phipps. I clearly did not fully imitate him and varied greatly, so I think I'm good on the whole fair use thing.

Here's a download link, I wish I had a little player for the blog, but I'm still working on figuring out the best way to do that... :) Again, I play by ear and don't understand music theory, so not all of you are necessarily going to like it... enjoy!

Click here to download Reflections in August, Tonight on the Piano: Various Experiments, Justin Gist Preuninger

Brigadier General Mordecai Gist + Maryland Governor's Office

As it turns out, I am Brigadier General Mordecai Gist's 1st cousin, 8th removed! I had the special privilege of meeting the Governor at a fundraiser a year ago, and when he saw my middle name, he instantly remembered the existence of the portrait you see now. Governor Martin O'Malley has been known for participating in 1812 reenactment activities at Fort McHenry, so similar era. I believe he is something of a history buff, as he knows all the details about Gist and other figures of the era. His walls are full of various historical figures, as the panorama I was so kindly permitted to take will show you... :D As my work was recently having a retreat in Annapolis, I was finally in the area to see it, and his staff was so gracious as to help arrange my visit and allow me to take the pictures here!

Please visit the wikipedia article hereto linked, because the history of who Mordecai Gist was and the service he rendered Maryland would take too much space to fully and justly relate here. Suffice to say, Gist fought a number of battles bravely, particularly in South Carolina and was present at the Surrender of Cornwallis. He later settled in South Carolina.

Click on the picture to enlarge... there is a lot of detail!!!

(click here to download high-res version)

And some closeup pictures:

This is a cutout of the panorama above. :)

Photographs taken and posted by Justin Gist Preuninger, with permission from the Office of the Governor of the State of Maryland

More social features!

I've just created a special facebook page for my blog, which will automatically receive new articles from the blog, as well as random postings I might make on the fly. Please feel free to join my page at on facebook by clicking here!

All of these combined will be mentioned via twitter alerts at http://twitter.com/elegancehq

Silhouettes...

Back during the Regency, making silhouettes was rather popular... so, I thought I'd try my hand at doing one on the computer. This one is of me and Victoria and is based of a photo which I used The GIMP to cut out and trace, and iPhoto to slightly blur the edges. Maybe next time I will do more of the picture, and not just a cut-out. I was going for the little vase effect between the faces, but as it turns out I'm not sure the faces line up quite well enough.

As for the origin of Silhouettes, wikipedia says the following:

The term silhouette derives from the name of Etienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister who, in 1759, was forced by France's credit crisis during the Seven Years War to impose severe economic demands upon the French people, particularly the wealthy.Because de Silhouette was said to enjoy making cut paper portraits, his name became eponymous with these portraits and with anything done or made cheaply. Prior to the advent of photography, silhouette profiles cut from black card were the cheapest way of recording a person's appearance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silhouette

Facebook like button added!!!

I just added the facebook 'like' button to the blog.... :D

Enjoy liking my stuff... :)

I will be posting a number of new posts shortly, I just have too many ideas to concentrate on one...

La fête nationale: gloire française ou massacre?

Today in France is the day when we celebrate the storming of the Bastille. We are told that this is the beginning of liberty in France and of enlightened thinking throughout the world that has brought all manner of social progress.

However, what is overlooked, is the fact that the French revolution--far from being a noble pursuit of liberty, was actually a massacre of blood and gore. And what for? The revolution was nothing less than a complete social upheaval, throwing all sense, honor, and justice into the blender of murder and mayhem.

The dawn of a new modern world dominated by the secular and the profane began in France with the murder of innocents by the raging mob. Christian Europe was brought to its knees when dealt the fatal blow before the altar of reason. Human reason which was to determine both the natural and the supernatural... and eventually rationalize all and preserve only a society bent on its own destruction. The arrogance of this new religion reaches the high heavens, undoubtedly.

It is for all this and more that we should think twice about how and why we are celebrating our national holiday. We must ask ourselves whether or not Republican France is a just or honorable cause and not just whether or not there were excesses under the Ancien Regime.

Yes, the monarchy was flawed. The kings forgot they were humans like the rest of us... but... it will never justify the tragedy that followed it and launched France into civil war and instability for the next century.

A hybrid of monarchy in its truest form with a proper amount of accountability would have clearly been a much better and life preserving alternative. And it could have been accomplished much more peacefully, had not the impassioned mob of absolute democracy forced its unreasonable self upon all that was dear in its direct march to anarchy and tyranny.

Credit: Arms of France and Navarre from Wikipedia by 'sodacan' (used via Creative Commons License)