Mortifying mistake on "Australia's Next Top Model"

From my other blog - an embarrassing mistake on the live finale of Australia's Next Top Model. 

"Eat, Sleep and Pray": An Author remembers the road to publication

American novelist, Elena Maria Vidal, author of Trianon, Madame Royale and The Night's Dark Shade, writes about the long and difficult road between starting a novel, finishing it and getting it published. It is a long and drawn-out process, which I myself am familiar with - as I am with the rejections!

"It was a turbulent time in my life, as I was undergoing a major career change. I had no computer, no internet, and little money. Nevertheless, I was imbued with the desire to tell the story of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette as it had never before been told, shedding a new light upon the gravely misunderstood King and Queen. I wrote ten hours a day, stopping only to eat, sleep and pray. Before I even completed the final manuscript, I began sending out query letters and sample chapters to every publisher I could think of. Rejection after rejection came. I knew in my heart that somehow Trianon would be published although at the time it seemed futile."

Every novel has a different road to publication and it's true to say that for every one which reaches the reading public, there are a hundred which do not. Thankfully, Trianon was one of the ones which made it! And deservedly so.

For this blog's review of Elena Maria's first novel, Trianon, click here. A review of its excellent sequel will be posted in the next couple of weeks.

For an interview with Elena Maria, click here.

"In a true democracy, everyone can be upper class and live in Connecticut": Has the Preppy Era gone too far?

Thirty years after the publication of Lisa Birnbach's The Official Preppy Handbook, Eric Felten wonders if the culture of preppiness has actually been harmful to America's middle- and upper-classes? I think he may be overstating the case slightly, but it's well-written and it does point out that what was perhaps intended as satire suddenly became a bible for those who wish their lives were like something out of a Cecily von Ziegesar novel.

Via Tea at Trianon, to quote: -

The clothes may have been the most visible part of the preppy phenomenon, but they represented only a small part of the upper-class way of life Ms. Birnbach was championing (however cheerfully sly and subversive her advocacy may have been). Much of the book was devoted to a world-view that was casually aristocratic. Ms. Birnbach promised to make that outlook available to one and all. "In a true democracy," she wrote, "everyone can be upper class and live in Connecticut."

How could the suburban teenager from Peoria or Pomona all of sudden be "upper class"? It was less a matter of pink oxford cloth and Kelly-green poplin than of adopting an aristocratic lassitude, an attitude that exuded privilege by treating effort with contempt. One simply mustn't try too hard. A key principle of what Ms. Birnbach called the Preppy Value System was Effortlessness: "If life is a country club, then all functions should be free from strain."

There's no denying the seductive appeal of the old aristocratic disdain for those who strive. How much nicer (and, of course, easier) it is to adopt a blasé and boozy contempt for the grinds and geeks who put in effort than it is to compete with them. The original Handbook warned acolytes not to waste their college days studying "Professional majors" such as engineering, chemistry or mathematics, because they "all reek of practicality." Nor, we were told, did the preppy go for intellectually demanding subjects such as philosophy or linguistics because, "they smack of an equally undesirable effort."

And there's the rub. Unless you actually have a fat trust fund to underwrite your nonchalance, an aversion to effort is hardly a strategy for success. Which may explain some of our national woes.

New blog

As many of this blog's regular readers will know, my first novel Popular will be released by Penguin in the UK in 2011. To keep people informed about Popular's progress and with information about the novel's setting in Belfast and its characters, I've decided to start up a brand new blog, which also means that I can maintain this one with the more historical, literary and theological posts without compromising their content. It'll be a lot of fun to be writing two such totally different blogs, but if anyone is interested in checking out the new one, it can be accessed here.

September 24th: The Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham

 Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, with its cult centre in Norfolk, England. There are currently two churches in Walsingham - one a High Anglican chapel, the other (one mile away) is its Roman Catholic sister. In the Anglican church, a small Russian Orthodox shrine to the Virgin is also kept, so Christians of all denominations are represented. In a further sign of Marianist ecumenicalism, pilgrims regularly walk barefoot along the Holy Mile between the two churches. For High Anglican and Catholic members of the Armed Forces, there is a long tradition stretching back to the First World War, which placed the Virgin of Walsingham as one of the British army, navy and air force's patrons.

Although it is certainly a lovely place, Walsingham is by no means as well-known as other Marianist shrines at, say, Lourdes or Fatima, or even Knock and Loretto. Its visitor numbers are ant-like in comparison to those who visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, the most visited Catholic shrine in the world. But, prior to the English Reformation, Walsingham was perhaps one of the most visited Christian centres in Europe, certainly in England, and it boasted an enormous, lavish complex and church.

Trailer for "The King's Speech" released

And it certainly doesn't disappoint!

"I intend to be a very good queen - to a very great king."


The new movie The King's Speech has had its trailer released online - and you can watch it, here.

The movie follows the political career of the Queen's father, the late King George VI (Colin Firth), as he struggles to overcome his crippling speech impediment with the help of his wife, the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Helena Bonham Carter) and an Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush), in the wake of his unexpected succession to the throne and the British Empire's coming struggle with Nazi Germany. Timothy Spall co-stars as Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Michael Gambon appears as King George V.

George VI was one of this country's most underrated sovereigns and the courage, honesty and fundamental decency with which he lived his life is, I think, admirable and heroic in a way which so many people overlook. It's the dignity of the quiet struggle to better himself and live up to his duty, which I think is truly inspiring. Sympathetic and moving, The King's Speech is already generating an Oscar buzz for all three of its leads and I can't wait to see it.

September 22nd, 1515: The Birth of Anne of Cleves

"On this day in history, the 22nd September 1515, Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, or Anne of Cleves, was born near Düsseldorf. She was the second daughter of John III, Duke of Jülich, Cleves and Berg, an important German ruler, and Maria of Jülich-Berg. Elizabeth Norton writes of Anne’s grand lineage – not only was she descended from Edward I, she was also, on her father’s side, closely related to Louis XII of France and the Duke of Burgundy."

Claire at The Anne Boleyn Files commemorates the anniversary of the birth of Anne of Cleves, Queen of England, the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. To date, Anne holds the record of having held that title for the shortest period of time amongst the confederacy of consorts, having been Queen from January until July of 1540. In second place is another unlucky German princess, Caroline of Brunswick, the consort of George IV, who held the title from January 1820 until her death in August 1821. Anne's predecessor, Jane Seymour, her successor Catherine Howard, Richard II's child-bride Isabelle de Valois and Richard III's wife, Anne Neville, were other women who did not long enjoy their throne.