Monthly Archives: August 2013

Downton Abbey Merchandise Monday – Dolls & Jewelry

26 Monday Aug 2013

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It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it were Sunday
‘Cause that’s my fun day
My I don’t have to run day
It’s just another manic Monday

(Did I just age myself by quoting a Bangles’ song???  Oh well.  The 80’s were a great decade for music so who cares!!!)

The Bangles did have it right though because Monday’s can be manic but it also means it is time for Merchandise Monday!!!!!  Woohooo!!!

The creators of Downton Abbey have been busy merchandising and licensing products for the show recently.  We’ve seen cosmetics and beauty aids, candles, fabrics, paints, Christmas ornaments, and wine.  And those are just the recently authorized merchandise!!!

The products don’t stop there though.  Figurines and collector dolls from Bradford Exchange as well as fine collectible jewelry from Danbury Mint are just around the corner.

•Bradford Exchange (www.bradfordexchange.com) has been granted the license to manufacture and market a line of figurines and collector dolls based on popular Downton Abbey characters. Since the early 1970s, The Bradford Exchange has been recognized as a premier source for a vast array of unique limited-edition collectibles and fine gifts that offer an exceptionally high level of artistry, innovation and enduring value.

•Danbury Mint (www.danburymint.com), a division of MBI Inc., has been granted the right to produce Downton Abbey fine collectible jewelry that are replicas of actual jewelry featured in the show. These products will be sold directly to consumers online and via direct mail. The Danbury Mint is a world leader in the design and development of a varied and ever-changing assortment of fine collectibles. For over four decades, Danbury Mint has served the needs of collectors to acquire keepsakes of lasting meaning, beauty and importance. Danbury Mint jewelry is produced to exacting standards of quality and workmanship with glorious gems, brilliant metals and exquisite designs to create timeless treasures.

There aren’t any pictures of the potential products from either company but I am thinking there will be at least a few things I might put on my Christmas List this year for Santa Claus.

If you just can’t wait to buy a Lady Mary doll, you could always go ahead and buy a Princess Kate Wedding Doll or the Kate Middleton Commemorative Porcelain Bride Doll.

Princess Kate Bride DollPrincess Catherine Royal Elegance Bride Doll

You can’t have a Kate without a Prince William Wedding Doll and a Prince William Royal Wedding Commemorative Porcelain Doll.

Happy Shopping!!!

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Downton Abbey Collection by Andover Fabrics

22 Thursday Aug 2013

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All of the articles stating that Downton Abbey was getting into the merchandise and licensing business weren’t kidding! We’ve seen cosmetics, wine, and Christmas ornaments so far.  And now there is a fabric collection.  Andover Fabrics has produced a line of exclusive Downton Abbey fabrics which will be available this November.

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Inspired by The Dowager Countess, featuring elegant paisleys and bold prints that embody her character.

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Inspired by Lady Edith, featuring avant-garde colors and patterns from the Edwardian era.

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Inspired by Lady Sybil, featuring geometric prints and large florals that speak to her dynamic character.

To see the entire collection and locate a store in your area that carries Andover Fabrics:  http://www.andoverfabrics.com/Grid.php?GroupName=Downton%20Abbey

My favorite is this pattern.  It will make a great throw pillow for my couch.

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Dan Stevens in The Fifth Estate

22 Thursday Aug 2013

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Dan Stevens has been a busy boy since his Downton Abbey character Matthew Crawley died in a tragic car crash leaving us to mourn without him last year.   He filmed The Fifth Estate this past year along with a star-studded cast, including PBS Masterpiece’s own Laura Linney.  What would the U.S. viewers do without Laura Linney introducing Downton Abbey to us on Sunday nights???

The Fifth Estate is a DreamWorks Pictures film directed by Bill Condon and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Peter Capaldi, Carice van Houten, Dan Stevens, Stanley Tucci and Laura Linney.

Dan Stevens and Peter Capaldi

Stevens (picture above with Peter Capaldi) will play Ian Katz who is a South-African born British journalist who was the deputy editor of The Guardian. In May 2013 it was announced that Katz was to become the new editor of the BBC Two current affairs program Newsnight.

(Dr. Who fans should be thrilled to get a sneak peek at Peter Capaldi since he was recently announced as the newest Doctor on the show.)

DreamWorks just released the official movie poster for the film which is opening on October 18, 2013.

The Fifth Estate poster.jpg

The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) team up to become underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful. On a shoestring, they create a platform that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously leak covert data, shining a light on the dark recesses of government secrets and corporate crimes. Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world’s most legendary media organizations combined. But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S. history, they battle each other and a defining question of our time: what are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society-and what are the costs of exposing them?   Written by DreamWorks Pictures

Check out the trailer – sadly, Dan Stevens doesn’t appear in it.

Michelle Dockery in thriller Non-Stop

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

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After each season of Downton Abbey wraps, the actors get busy spreading their acting wings on various projects.  This included Michelle Dockery who filmed the feature film Non-Stop after Season Three.  She shed her Downton Abbey‘s Lady Mary character for the role of Nancy in the film.

Non-Stop is a tense thriller also starring Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore about an air marshal who must spring into action aboard an international flight.  During the flight from New York to London, the US federal air marshal on-board (Neeson) receives a series of threatening text messages that a passenger will be killed every 20 minutes unless $150 million are transferred into a secret off-shore bank account.  Everyone on board is suddenly a suspect, including Neeson’s seat mate, played by Julianne Moore, and Michelle Dockery as a flight attendant.

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Non-Stop is due to be released in the U.S. on February 21, 2014.

Downton Abbey Merchandise Monday – Kurt Adler Christmas Ornaments

19 Monday Aug 2013

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Last week, all the buzz was about how Downton Abbey was branching out to sell merchandise.  There was lots of speculation about them “selling out” and worry about cheapening the show.  I say “HOG WASH”!!!  The more Downton Abbey merchandise the better!!!  And it is about time!!!  The fans have been clamoring for it.

And don’t worry your sweet Downtonian heads, your Christmas trees will not be neglected.  There will be an entire collection of Kurt Adler Christmas ornaments to show Santa Claus your love for Downton Abbey.

DOWNTON ABBEY® CAR ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® CAR ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® CASTLE ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® CASTLE ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® PULL BELL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® “WELCOME TO DOWNTON ABBEY” PULL BELL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS RED/GOLD TWO SIDED RECTANGLE ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS RED WTH GOLD GLITTER FAMILY PORTRAIT TWO SIDED RECTANGLE ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® 120MM GLASS BALL ORNAMENT
DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS BURGUNDY AND GOLD BALL WITH VELVET BOW ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® 90MM GLASS PURPLE SEASON 1 BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS PURPLE SEASON 1 BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® 90MM GLASS GOLD SEASON 2 BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS GOLD SEASON 2 BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® 90MM GLASS BURGUNDY SEASON 3 BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS BURGUNDY SEASON 3 BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS CAR ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS CAR ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS RED CASTLE BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® GLASS RED CASTLE BALL ORNAMENT

DOWNTON ABBEY® ANTIQUE BRASS PLATED STOCKING HOLDER

DOWNTON ABBEY®ANTIQUE BRASS PLATED STOCKING HOLDER

DOWNTON ABBEY® BURGUNDY/GOLD STOCKING

DOWNTON ABBEY® BURGUNDY AND GOLD STOCKING

DOWNTON ABBEY® CASTLE STOCKING

DOWNTON ABBEY® CASTLE STOCKING

The only problem is that Kurt S. Adler is a wholesale company and we will need to find a retailer to purchase the items from.  There is a “Find a Retailer” search on the Kurt S. Adler webpage.   So far, I can’t seem to find them in any stores but I will continue to search for these lovely ornaments out until I find them!!!

Happy Shopping!!!

http://www.kurtadler.com/products_en_13_651_0_0_0_1.php

Downton’s Allen Leech’s new role

18 Sunday Aug 2013

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Filming of Season Four of Downton Abbey is done and the show is about to premiere in the U.K.  Woohooo!!!    But, the cast must be bored with nothing to do.  Not so much for Allen Leech, who plays the former chauffeur, now estate manager/son-in-law, Tom Branson, on Downton Abbey.  He has just signed on for his first major Hollywood production in The Imitation Game which starts shooting next month.

downton 2Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly are staring in the film about the famous Enigma code breaker Alan Turing.  No word yet on what role Allen Leech will be playing.

Keira Knightly, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Turing

Cumberbatch will be playing Alan Turing and Knightly will be playing Joan Clarke, Turing’s co-worker in Hut 8 at Bletchley Park, a good friend to whom he proposed marriage in 1941 despite being his being gay.  Turing later decided he could not go through with the marriage and the pair remained good friends until his death.

Turing was a mathematician and is famed for writing the first blueprint for modern computing. He also invented an electromagnetic machine called the ‘bombe’ which formed the basis for deciphering Germany’s Enigma codes during the war.

The work Turing and his team did at Bletchley Park has been credited with shortening World War II by as many as two years, but it is only six decades after his death that Turing’s contribution is beginning to be fully acknowledged .

Because of the Official Secrets Act, his code-breaking did not become public knowledge until twenty years after his suicide. His parents and brother never knew of his secret war efforts during his lifetime

Turing was found dead on 7 June 1954, a few weeks before his 42nd birthday, having apparently bitten into an apple laced with cyanide.

His death came soon after he was found guilty of gross indecency for homosexual acts (which were then illegal) avoiding prison by agreeing to be chemically castrated.

Despite his premature death aged 41, Turing was so prolific in the fields of mathematics, computer science and mathematical biology, specifically morphogenesis, that the Science Museum dedicated a whole exhibition to him upon the centenary of his birth last year.

The Imitation Game is an indie film being produced by Teddy Schwarzman with Nora Grossman and Ido Ostrowsky of Amersand Pictures.  Rumor has it that the budget is around $15 million.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/keira-knightley-may-costar-as-complicated-love-interest-with-benedict-cumberbatch-in-alan-turing-biopic-the-imitation-game-8645806.html

Tesco makes deal with ITV to sponsor Downton Abbey

17 Saturday Aug 2013

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ITV’s Downton Abbey just scored a seven-figure deal with Tesco.  This is the first ever TV sponsorship for Tesco.  They will be promoting the Finest products throughout season four of Downton Abbey this Fall with broadcast, mobile, and online platforms.

(For those of your reading this that aren’t from the U.K, Tesco is one of the world’s largest retailers – probably best known for their grocery stores.)

In a blog post, Tesco head of food advertising Angela Porter says: “It’s a strong partnership with ITV. We both felt there was a perfect fit of values – high production credentials, quality, accessibility and enjoyed around the world. Around two thirds of Downton Abbey viewers, 8.3 million people, do the main food shop and it’s the kind of series that our customers like to settle down to enjoy with a treat and immerse themselves in the story.”

Mark Trinder, ITV commercial and online sales director, says: “The coming together of two of the UK’s most high profile brands this Autumn in Tesco Finest and Downton Abbey makes for a high-impact partnership. The package is a great example of how partnering with ITV can enhance a brand’s appeal to the benefit of our customers and viewers.”

Tesco is replacing P&O Cruises which was the lead sponsor for Downton Abbey’s third season.  So get ready for lots of Tesco commercials during the upcoming season of Downton Abbey, my U.K. friends.  I wonder if Mrs. Patmore and Daisy will be in any of the commercials since they will involve food?

Downton Abbey hits Epcot Store

17 Saturday Aug 2013

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The only thing I love more than Downton Abbey is Disney.*  And my most favorite fandoms have just collided!!!!  And I like it.

Look what the United Kingdom Pavilion at Epcot’s World Showcase is selling!!!!  Downton Abbey T-Shirts!!!!!!  Okay.  I know it is just a t-shirt but it is exciting nonetheless.

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Not sure of the prices but if anyone is interested, Shop the Magic can get items for you if you can’t make it to Orlando any time soon.

*I should preface my statement with the fact that I love my family, my sweet Brody Baby, and my friends more than anything.  But Disney and Downton Abbey are next on the list.