Jane Austen’s Guide to “Social Media”

[This is a post I wrote for my company’s blog site. I thought I would share it here as well since some of you are also Austen fans and might find something in here to scoff at.]

The what? Yes, you read that correctly. Jane Austen was more than just a supremely divine author (I’m a diehard fan, can you tell?), she was also the source of some very accurate observations that can be applied to the new social media realm.

Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way. ~ Emma

Many people consider things like Twitter and Facebook to be “silly” wastes of time. However, put a knowledgeable person behind a keyboard on one of these forums and watch what happens. You’ll notice that a steady stream of comments about sandwiches and celebrities will quickly transform into an invaluable information feed.

Everybody likes to go their own way–to choose their own time and manner of devotion. ~ Mansfield Park

Check that out – the brilliant Austen, in all her glory, predicted the demise of “push marketing” before anyone else! No one wants to be told what to do and when to do it, and this is directly connected to our current obsession with social forums. People would much rather turn to review sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor than take their cues from more traditional marketing efforts (i.e. print advertisements). That’s not to say that those aren’t important. It’s just that now most people want to hear from other folks about their real-life experiences, and then make decisions based on the candid opinions and feelings that they share. Jane was on to something big.

Livin’ the Dream

Jane Austen in Boca

This book is not good. Did I enjoy reading it? You betcha!

The Bennett daughters are recast as elderly Jewish widows in this amusing, kvetchy take on Pride and Prejudice. …The humor may be of the Borscht Belt variety (“she would find May Newman a husband or plotz”), but it will be thoroughly appreciated by the snowbird set. – Publishers Weekly

A quick read that most gals my age probably won’t appreciate, Jane Austen in Boca highlights the lifestyle of my dreams. Lunch at 10:00 am in an elegantly manicured retirement community followed by a day filled with lounging, bridge games and flirting with old men.

A special thanks to @JSteaff for knowing me oh-so well.

Want. Need. Want.

Jane Austen mugs? Uhm, YES PLEASE!!!

I want this whole collection so bad. So, so, so bad.

So Austentatious

I can’t believe this thing is still going on, but here is yet another upcoming Austen revise.

Honestly, I don’t know what I am waiting for. The Jane Austen Space Chronicles need to be written – and fast.

It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World

By Ryan

HodgeBlodge Lady Hater

Get comfortable. Grab a snack and a seat. Today, Ryan has something to ponder.

In this extensive examination of our sexual society, Ryan takes an epically introspective look into the “man’s world” ideology.

“I have no idea what it’s like to be a woman, and, how do I put this mildly…I don’t really care to find out.”

Ain’t It Cool News calls it, “a tour-de-force rant that covers literature, television, music and the stuff that keeps the line between male and female etched in the sand forevermore.”

C.H.U.D. raves that, “it’s Kevin Smith meets Penny Marshall, only more explosive!”

Comfy? Find the right grove in your couch? Good. Enjoy!

Katie’s Good Opinion Once Lost, is Lost Forever.

Last week, Alyssa and Katie decided to start a reading of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. This morning they had a short chat about what they’ve read thus far.

Alyssa co-hosts a weekly pop culture podcast called Big Red Podcast with her husband, Deeps and college pal, Special Guest Derek. She likes puppies, kittens and rainbows. She hates Heroes and is lactose intolerant.

Katie is a jerk. She is also lactose intolerant.

Steve Martin – A Dream Observed

I saw Steve Martin last night (for free no less). He was promoting his new bluegrass album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo. It’s a wonderful album and I wholeheartedly recommend that you give it a listen.

Anyway, it was one of my goals in life to see him live. I honestly don’t know how it happened, but it did. It happened and now I have to think of some other goal – otherwise I am running on empty.

Here are some of my options:

– Have an intimate chat with Lorne Michaels about the future of SNL.
– Have Tom Hanks offer to give me a personal tour of his extensive typewriter collection.
– Own a million-dollar bathtub.
– Punch Scarlett Johansson in the nose, or the equivalent.
– Drink an Arnold Palmer on a sunny porch with Bill Murray.
– Get drunk on Crystal Skull vodka with Dan Aykroyd.
– Say, “Smile you son-of-a-bitch” just before I explode a giant great white shark.
– Own a movie theater.
– Recover from my lactose intolerance and eat a giant cheese wheel.
– Have a There-Can-Be-Only-One showdown with Tina Fey, and win.
– Understand 2001: A Space Odyssey to the extent that I can adequately explain it to other people.
– Have afternoon tea with Jane Austen (I understand that it might be too late for this one).
– Live to see the invention of time travel.
– Have afternoon tea with Jane Austen (What providence!).
– Successfully walk up a flight of stairs while simultaneously taking a sip of water without spilling it all over myself.
– Write the next “Great American Novel,” and refuse show it to anyone until five minutes before I die peacefully in my sleep.

“Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opinion.”

And that opinion is that zombies are still fun (despite the undead oversaturation in media as of late) and Jane Austen is incredible.

So, apparently I wrote a book in my sleep under the pen name Seth Grahame-Smith. It’s called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and that’s exactly what it is. It’s the original text with some new bits of brain-chomping action thrown in here and there. Yeah, so I’m pretty sure I wrote this.

I pre-ordered the book this morning and while it will probably make me angry to read, I felt I needed to do it. There is also another Jane book coming out soon entitled, Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford. That’s going to be another zombie-goodie wherein undead Austen comes back to seek revenge upon those who have made a quick buck off her work/life. So watch out Keira Knightley….you may finally get what’s comin’ to you.