K-Lee UNCUT

Important Rants and Reflections about Making Playful Contemporary Jewellery and Pretending to be an Adult

[konoko]

[bookshelfporn]

Bookshelf Theater at Tokyo’s Kadokawa Culture Museum. Designed by Kengo Kum.

Photo by RK.

[steampunktendencies]

[bakwaaas]

hard pill to swallow: the idea that your ‘soulmate’ or ‘the one’ will know exactly how to make you happy without you ever having to communicate is fake. the fantasy that you will have all your needs met in a relationship without ever having to be vulnerable is fundamentally not true. sometimes you have to express your needs and desires, you have to ask for things, you have to communicate how you want to be loved, it’s uncomfortable and clumsy but relationships are about learning to love each other not being a mind reader

[stultiloquentia]

I am reading scholarly works about Jane Austen and having hearteyes about obscure details in the Pemberley chapters of P&P that indicate Mr. Darcy’s sustainable land management praxis.

[stultiloquentia]

Okay, let’s talk about Pemberley!

Austen, as a rule, doesn’t spend many paragraphs describing locations. There’s often information to be gleaned from their names (Sense and Sensibility is full of lurking references to sexual scandals and Mansfield Park to slavery), but Longbourn just means “long stream” or “long boundary,” Netherfield means “lower field,” and Rosings’ original owner was a redhead. Meryton, a pun on “merry town,” is kind of fascinating, given the installment of the militia and the threat to stability and serenity they represent. Partying and shenanigans. Possibly a Shakespeare ref.

Longbourn barely gets any description at all. From the get-go, everyone who lives there is obsessed with other places, with getting out (except Mr. Bennet, who never wants to leave his library, never mind the house). Lady Catherine deems it small and mildly uncomfortable, which is in keeping with the theme of confinement, but also it’s Lady Catherine talking. Netherfield can’t tell us much about Bingley, who is only a tenant. Rosings is expensively, ostentatiously modern and gaudily furnished, though it has a handsome park that Lady Catherine and her stifled daughter never set foot in but Elizabeth and Darcy both frequently escape to during their stays.

So it’s notable and wonderful that Austen goes out of her way to describe Pemberley as an old-fashioned, highly successful, working estate. Its practical old Anglo-Saxon name means “Pember’s clearing.” A pember is a man who grows barley. Darcy most likely still does. As Elizabeth and the Gardiners approach and tour the house, they notice and admire its beautiful surrounding woods, and then when they wander outside, the specific word Austen uses is coppice woods. A coppice is a woodland filled with tree species that grow new shoots from their stumps when you chop them down. Darcy probably has oaks on a fifty-year cycle as well as faster-growing species such as hawthorn and hornbeam for firewood, timber and cattle fodder. Coppice forestry is functional and sustainable, and provides habitat for beasts and birds.

Darcy is the anti-John Dashwood (Dashwood, srsly), the brother in Sense and Sensibility who inherits Elinor and Marianne’s childhood estate of Norland, whose wife immediately starts making plans to hack down trees (not even coppice trees, but big, gorgeous, venerable hardwoods) to make way for a folly. Jane Austen hated follies. Also, it ought to be noted that timber was so valuable in Britain at the time that estates often had inheritance clauses that detailed who was and wasn’t allowed to chop down what.

Darcy’s a food producer and land conservator, prefers nature over fussy, ornamental landscape design, his servants and tenants like him, he gives money to the poor… and… he’s a trout fisherman! He shoots, too, as do Bingley and Hurst and Mr. Bennet, but it’s a particular mark in his favour that Austen singles him and Mr. Gardiner out as anglers. It’s a pastime that signifies a taste for contemplation and quietness and appreciation of nature, as blissfully described in The Compleat Angler; or, The Contemplative Man’s Recreation, a hugely popular travel book first published in the 1600s and reprinted often for 18th C libraries. The plot of The Compleat Angler is about the conversion of a hunter (pastime of the ultra-rich) to a fisherman who learns to love the peaceful sport. We receive ample evidence elsewhere that Darcy is a man capable of swift, decisive action and formidable effectiveness. But at Pemberley, Austen takes care to show us how he’s balanced.

Most of the information in this post comes from Margaret Doody’s Jane Austen’s Names. 

[downthepub]

I didn’t know any of this!  I always thought it was a bit odd how her viewing the estate changed her views of the man himself, as if it was about how big the place was.  Instead it was how he cared for the land / people.  Fascinating!  Completely missed that.

[stultiloquentia]

It’s literally his character reference! Most women at the time had to marry for financial security, yet marriage was horribly risky, because divorce was almost impossible. If you married someone you didn’t know well, and he turned out to be lazy, irresponsible, or abusive, you were stuck. 

This is why so many Austen heroes are mature, almost frumpy men the heroines have known for years. Local fellows with family ties. They don’t offer breathless romances; the happy endings they offer are happy because they are safe.

Darcy is not a local boy. Darcy is not a fully formed, baggable Austen hero when he proposes at Hunsford, not just because he’s rude af, but because Lizzy doesn’t know him well enough yet. She has no real way of knowing how he would treat her. Austen sends Lizzy to Pemberley not to dazzle her with Darcy’s wealth, but to provide her with good, hard evidence of his treatment of the people under his protection, including his tenants, his sister, and the intelligent, dignified housekeeper who has known him since he was a toddler.

Character references established, we may proceed with the romance.

(n.b. He doesn’t know her either, until she’s rejected him. He proposes, despite his giant pile of reservations, because he’s so horny for her he can’t stand it (at least, to his credit, he’s turned on by her brains as much as her hot little bod), but only after her refusal does he realize how completely he has failed to understand this woman or make himself worthy of her. He falls in love for real only after she has demanded that he live up to his own high standards. Refreshing, ain’t it?)

[kayvsworld]

Thinking abt immortality and how meticulously you’d have to keep track of all of your shit so some nosy historian didnt spot your old journal or coat or copy of a book and call an infuriating time-based finders keepers

“It’s two hundred years old” they say. “It’s essentially public property” they say. It’s a letter you sent to your friend and it’s in a museum now and you’re screaming

[galwednesday]

Why are vampire stories always I Want To Drink The Sexy Neck Milkshake and never two vampires texting about the passionate letter one wrote to the other in 1863 but never sent that the other just saw in the Smithsonian’s fall exhibition on Love Through the Ages and what the fuck, Claude, why didn’t you say anything

[kayvsworld]

THANK YOU!!! asking the REAL questions

[aqueerkettleofish]

“And in this exhibit, we see the drawings that a child in 1512 made in his lesson book.” “I spent 350 years becoming a master artist, and THIS is the only work that I can get in a museum? Why don’t you just torture me with my high school poetry, too?”

[marzipanandminutiae]

museum heist by a vampire desperate to get back the Really Good Umbrella she accidentally left at a coaching inn in 1788

[thedevorak-deactivated20201227]

source

[ginazmemeoir]

wHY DOES THIS HAVE JUST 308 NOTES???? THE ENTIRE WORLD SHOULD BE SHARING THIS. CHINA IS LITERALLY COMMITTING THE HOLOCAUST, ONLY THIS TIME ON MUSLIMS AND Y’ALL ARE SILENT?

i have 495 people following me right now, including several mutuals. i better see y’all reblogging.

[metrotitans]

People might not be reblogging this because the first tweet makes unnecessary (and untrue) Holocaust comparisons. Taken from @nat_slay on Twitter (I don’t know the original source):

The “ways to help” info seems good afaik but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong there too.

[rainbowlack]

As a Jewish person, I appreciate those saying that this is not okay and that it is misinformation. No, 6 million Uyghur Muslims have not been murdered.

And, as a Jewish person, I know that 6 million very well could be murdered. This is not another Shoah, but it very well could become another. As a Jewish person, I feel we must say “never again.”

Never again.

“Never again” does not mean “this event was so uniquely horrible, it could never happen again.” It means “this event was horrible, but not unique. We have to make sure it never happens again.”

Never again.

The Uyghur death count isn’t 6 million, that is misinformation. But “never again” means we have to make sure it doesn’t become 6 million.

If you are not Jewish or Romani, do not draw comparisons to the Holocaust. All that provides is shock value and misinformation. What you can do is support Uyghur Muslims.

The link to the original post doesn’t work—here are other sources:

Source from The Silhouette

Source from Business Insider

Source from Middle East Forum

Source from India Blooms

Source #1 from Jewish News

Source #2 from Jewish News

Groups to donate to:

Charity Right’s Food for Uyghurs

Uyghur Human Rights Project

Petitions to sign:

Petition 1

Petition 2

If you have more relevant resources, please share them. Petitions are likely meaningless in contrast to the Chinese government.

For those who are able to, take action. For those who are unable to take action, please share.

[lacangri21]

It is important to reblog this version, with the commentary from metro and rainbow

[americasgreatoutdoors]

If the conditions are just right, you can see a spectacular sight at Congaree National Park in South Carolina. These “rainbow pools” are not a sign of pollution, but a natural occurrence that can be caused by one of two things. Many times they are the result of decaying vegetation, especially cypress cones and needles, that release their natural oils. The other cause can be bacteria breaking down iron in the soil. Combined with very still waters, a few days without rain, and the correct angle of the light, and you can see shimmering colors floating on the water. Photo by National Park Service.

[septembercfawkes]

[aescapisms]

[biscuitsarenice]

[sartorialadventure]

Graham Norton and fashion icon Iris Apfel

[sixpenceee]

Important.

[larcenygrand-deactivated2025042]

I cant fault Mr. Darcy for going to parties and not talking to anyone, because that’s exactly what I do at parties. Following around the one person I know, and insulting everyone else while I’m at it, either unintentionally or not? Sounds like a blast

[myboyfriendpetebuttigieg]

You can’t pour into areas from a place of emptiness. To be a good leader, partner, friend, parents, whatever, you need to constantly be refilling yourself with things that are life-giving.

Skipping work or class and watching Netflix for six hours is not a “mental health day.” There is nothing mentally beneficial to doing that. You won’t have anything beneficial to pour back into your real life the next day.

Read a book. Get some exercise. Pray, meditate, do some yoga. Garden. Landscape. Re-organize your bookshelf. Write a blog. Fold your clothes.

You feel exhausted all the time because you’re pouring and pouring  and pouring, but you never spend your free time filling yourself back up with significant things.

[writing-in-the-grave]

ATTENTION WRITERS

Google BetaBooks. Do it now. It’s the best damn thing EVER.

You just upload your manuscript, write out some questions for your beta readers to answer in each chapter, and invite readers to check out your book!

It’s SO easy!

You can even track your readers! It tells you when they last read, and what chapter they read!

Your beta readers can even highlight and react to the text!!!

There’s also this thing where you can search the website for available readers best suited for YOUR book!

Seriously guys, BetaBooks is the most useful website in the whole world when it comes to beta reading, and… IT’S FREE.

[shinningstarz]

HEY! BECAUSE OF OP, THEY CREATED A SPECIAL WELCOME IF YOUR FOUND THEM THRU A TUMBLR WELCOME, ITS A YOUTUBE VIDEO.

[writing-in-the-grave]

They also sent me this; which was super cool

[writingonjupiter]

*slams reblog button*

[cianmars]

@findingtallahassee holy shit! This is cool!

[lalalandlala123-deactivated2021]

“Authors retain all rights to works posted on BetaBooks, and can add or remove content at their discretion. BetaBooks makes no claim to any of the work posted on the site.”

Incase anyone was wondering

[tane-p]

@judiops

[writersarea]

So which Pride and Prejudice should you watch?

(Disclaimer: They’re all wonderful in their own way.)

BBC Mini Series from 1995:

Pros:

The most realistic of the options at hand

Gives you nearly six hours to give the story the time it deserves

Has the time to give you all of the characters without feeling rushed

The characters are adorable (or annoying depending on needs Mr. Collins), but they aren’t godlike. It’s great to see real people on screen

You actually get to see Lydia and Mr. Wickham hiding from their family which I don’t see in any other adaptation?

More time is dedicated to Mr. Darcy’s point of view

Mrs. Bennet is perfect

Collin Firth (according to fandom)

Cons:

I personally have an issue with some the music even though its still admittedly good

It does take about six hours to get through, though you can take a break between each episode

If you’re looking for fluff, this is the least fluffy version of the lot

Probably has the most muted colors of the three, but it’s also from 1995 so…

Pride and Prejudice 2005 (with Keira Knightley)

Pros:

Talk about a bi dream world

This is definitely the fluffy one

Probably the easiest one to sit down and watch all at once as it is a movie

Elizabeth walking across a field to meet Darcy where he proposes is such a dream sequence

It flows rather nicely as a story and certainly does the story justice for the time its given

Keira Knightley is a wonderful actress in my opinion

Cons

The music is rather repetitive, you could replace the soundtrack with one song and be close to the current one

Probably goes the least in depth of the three

Kitty and Mary don’t get as much focus as they deserve

You don’t get quite the sense that a bunch of time is passing

Feels much less real than the other two

Lizzie Bennet Diaries (Youtube)

Pros:

Definitely the easiest to watch if you only have a  few minutes here and there

This is a thoroughly modern version, so keep that in mine

Stays loyal to the story while making it modern. There’s no question that this is Pride and Prejudice

Charlotte is fucking adorable

Lydia has an amazing character arc that fits in a more modern sense and is PERFECT

Georgiana is the cutest thing I have ever seen

Lizzie encompasses the young adult in this day and age

I think they all have Twitters which is really neat?

Fitzwilliam is a joy

Cons:

There are several characters you never get to meet like her mother and father, only second hand

It is very Lizzie centric (which I like), and that’s obvious, but it means that you get more of her than you will than in any other adaptation and less of everyone else

Kitty does not exist

Mary does exist, but as a cousin rather than a sister (because most people don’t have 5 kids in this day and age)

I honestly can’t speak highly enough of any of these, especially the Lizzie Bennet Diaries which is just such a unique take on the series.

[k-leeuncut]

You missed out Bride and Prejudice

Pros: it’s a musical

[shezze-blog1]

I’m upset because I want to change the world but the world is too big and people are too mean

[wufflesvetinari]

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” - Rabbi Tarfon