WARNING: regency lit geekery

reread Tam Lin (the novel modernizing the old tale) recently; at one point several of the characters are challenged to guess the outcome of Emma based on just reading the first chapter. being a bit of an Austen freak, and at loose ends this weekend from a self-imposed internet hiatus, i wondered if this exercise could be extended to the rest of her novels. so i hauled out my copies of everything to see.

SPOLIER ALERT ~ AUSTEN PLOTS MAY BE COMPROMISED AFTER THIS POINT

the answer is a definite 'no'. Emma is the only one of the novels where the guy the main character winds up with even appears in the first chapter. In general (3 out 6 times) The Hero doesn't stroll in (and isn't mentioned by name; I was counting that as well) until chapter 3.

interestingly, the 3 books where this happens are the first three she wrote, which leads me to the notion that she was trying to break her own formula in her writing after that; there's no regularity to The Hero's first appearance in the next 3 books, happening in the 1st, 2nd and 4th chapters, respectively.

or it could, of course, be simple coincidence. not sure how one would know.

i want what??!?

taking a time out for a couple days to reset after MANOS - THE HANDS OF FELT (awesomely successful. Yay!)

on the to-do list for the near future is replacing my 13 year old head shots so I can go back to auditioning for things.

as i was thinking about all that, timing and whatnot, a truly horrible commercial came on. badly written, badly acted, bad product; a triple threat. and it reminded me of something a college friend observed one afternoon after encountering a Hardee's commercial.

"you know, someone had to audition for that. actually, lots of people. and that asshole right there? he was really really happy to get that job."

what am I doing again?