anotheranon: (busy)
I've not posted in almost a month, so here's the quick and dirty version of what's been up:


  • Health: The "bunion" turned out to be just bursitis, and now I have custom orthotics to keep it from getting worse.

    Fun tip: stick-on velcro in the sole works well for holding orthotics in place.

  • Media: have been sucked into Sleepy Hollow (makes free and loose with the history, but the characters have good chemistry) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (a couple of strong episodes but still finding it's feet).

    Saw Thor 2; thought the world/main characters were better than in the first one plus more Loki and Darcy = yay. Saw Ender's Game; I enjoyed it but never read the book so I didn't have nostalgia/expectations going in (yes, I know. I rationalize because D. loved the book as a kid before we all knew what a 'phobe Orson Scott Card is).

    Watched "Goonies" and "Beetlejuice" for the first times since…high school? [livejournal.com profile] jlsjlsjls: Beetlejuice may have showcased the first documented pair of swants (scroll down), and Delia's other costumes definitely pioneered Japanese designers.

  • Sewing: bwahaha! Writing has eaten my sewing time.

  • Writing: still consumes me though I did not do NaNoWriMo; had good writing days both alone and with [livejournal.com profile] dustdaughter.

    Teaching myself Scrivener because I'm rapidly losing track of multiple Word files.

  • Reading: mostly crunchy academic tomes for the book sprinkled with occasional fiction so my brain doesn't explode. See: Hollow City, Ooomph: A Little Super Goes a Long Way, Halo Effect.

  • Thanksgiving: we spent with [livejournal.com profile] kiya and [livejournal.com profile] lady_masque and friends with tons of food.

    Played Arkham Horror for the first time and am staggered at the complexity of the game play.

    Turned everyone on to Alton Brown's cocoa brownies (which I've linked to before but are so good it's worth doing again).

  • Cats: routine vaccination updates turned into clearing up an aggressive ear infection for Spice; she is deaf now, though we don't know whether this is because of infection or treatment :( Due to the stress of repeated vet visits she didn't eat for a week and we're now plying her with tuna and canned food to bulk her back up.

  • Fencing: competed a couple of weeks ago and am proud I was only defeated 10-6 by a scary B rated vet in my final direct elimination.

    Arrogantly(?) think I stand a chance of getting my D this season if I can keep my head on straight.

  • Holiday: only thing planned so far is D.'s office party which is 1) 1920s themed and 2) in CA. So costume and slightly warmer weather = win.

  • Whisky: hoo boy yeah!


I'm very slowly catching up with y'all. I probably won't comment much but know I AM reading.
anotheranon: (cool)
Last weekend I stuck to my initiative to get out more and went to see the Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes exhibit with Badger.

rambling, and linkage )

Picked up the catalog (I've learned my lesson re: Smithsonian publications: snag it when it's there, because they do very small runs) and it's very well illustrated (ObFencing: one of the costumes employs a fencing mask).

So, glad I went, would heartily recommend.
anotheranon: (cool)
Because I found a few gems that couldn't wait for a long link dump:

anotheranon: (cool)
From lo these many weeks past:


  • The Star Trek: Into Darkness Spoiler FAQ: Explains the plot holes you can drive a semi through in a very amusing way. Warning: sweary language (the FAQ answerer is clearly of strong opinions). Spoilerage abounds, so I'm declaring comments to this post to be a SPOILER FRIENDLY ZONE for ST:ID.


  • First clip from "Only Lovers Left Alive" features Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton hot un-kissing/making out [YouTube]. VampireLoki + VampireTildaSwinton = how do I get an invite to this party?? 'Cos I need one. For... research.


  • Why do men keep putting me in the girlfriend zone? (Hat tip [livejournal.com profile] glitter_femme). I've only been in this situation once and the guy got verbally abusive when I told him I wasn't interested. Full disclosure: when I was a stupid teenager I "boyfriend-zoned" a good bit. Then I grew up and learned that the 'verse doesn't owe me boy/girlfriends.


  • Club veteran Princess Julia's piece on the attractions of club life and the role of the DJ. This quote especially resonated with me:

    Mark Moore dj, music producer and frontman of seminal band S-Express began his career as a dj and continues to involve himself in the spirit of it, 'My experience of djing is similar to when friends come round your house and you play music to them. Every record that brings joy to them and blows their mind also brings joy to you so it's really a way of bonding and sharing - communion! The DJ experience is just a bigger version of this with more people and more energy.


    I was the kid ever making mixtapes for my friends to evangelize my taste in music, and that urge to share is part of what got me into radio in college. Even when I was trying to learn to mix, I don't think I ever really wanted to be a club dj - I always wanted to be John Peel, introducing people to sounds they've never heard before.

  • And 'cos the quote is from Mark Moore: Enjoy this trip. And it is a trip. Countdown is progressing... [YouTube]. Oldie but goodie.


  • Remittance Girl's blog post on feeling like an exile stuck in my head: "There have been times in my life, I’ve masqueraded inclusion. I’ve pretended to join, I’ve faked communion, I’ve partaken of the flesh, without swallowing. There is almost always a thin membrane, a wrap of impenetrable film that keeps me in exile." For good or ill, I kinda get that. Even when I've tried I've always felt a bit "off-center", and with age I'm (slowly, oh so very slowly) starting to accept that. (FYI this entry is worksafe but the rest of Remittance Girl's site emphatically is not; having said this if you're looking for quality erotica of all sorts go here).

anotheranon: (avengers)
Short short:

Thorin Dreamboatshield: An Unexpected Hotness Of Dwarves - possibly the funniest review of The Hobbit I've read. Courtesy [livejournal.com profile] wendyzski.

Make your own trophy werewolf head. Like you do. Plenty of time 'til Halloween. Hat tip [livejournal.com profile] danabren.

For some reason I find my icon endlessly amusing. Made by [livejournal.com profile] flyingsideways.

Rococopunk is not only sillier than Steampunk, it’s also more punk - and wasn't it also called New Romantic 30 years ago (the book in the latter link is excellent, BTW, another of my Christmas haul)?
anotheranon: (cool)
Gathered from here, there, and everywhere:

Learn to be a better writer by reading fanfiction - especially the bits about villians needing motivation and using crackfic to get unstuck.

John Cleese on creativity - “Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.” - so true. Hat tip @ITSLENNYHENRY (yes, the real one).

Femme Doctors and crossplayers: not that different - elegant description of the what cross play is and isn’t, and why it’s appealing. Wonderful fun, but also put on your gender studies hat.

Dates to remember for 2013 - first two weeks of May are looking awfully good. And there’s gonna be a 3rd Riddick movie? Hat tip D.

The Star Trek-Middleman crossover you’ve been cautiously excited for - seriously, if you never watched The Middleman, go forth and view now. It’s rather like Firefly, killed before it’s time, wonderfully witty and only 13 hours of footage. Related: Middleman-Doctor Who crossover.

Edit 7:45 pm Links fixed. Dunno what LJ was doing adding extra quotes.
anotheranon: (neat)
Starting off with the crunchiest and most worth reading: [livejournal.com profile] hrj's Sex Between Women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, a worthy followup to her Essay on Cross Dressing in the SCA, which I also highly recommend. It is thorough, somber research but given the subject matter it might be NSFW. Writers and RPGers might find these very useful.

A thoughtful article on privilege and losing it, via @Mactavish.

Will rap music change the face of enterprise IT? "RapGenius is a site that lets users upload lyrics. Then it lets other users annotate and explain the meaning of the words for each song.”

Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, and Billy Connolly sit down for a podcast - no really! Recommended with one caveat - I had never heard of Sophie Winkleman before, and lamentably didn’t learn much about her from this podcast, as it’s illustrative of the unfortunate fact that women speak drastically less when they’re surrounded by dudes.

An old article on the winning mindset via Fencing.net. “Being an effective competitor in martial arts (or doing any challenging task for that matter) requires that you develop faith in yourself and in your ability” - no kidding! I think this is one of my main stumbling blocks - no matter how much awesome I can pull out, I still don’t quite believe I can do it again.

"Held", Jane Fradgley, Guy’s Hospital, London, Through March 2013 - exhibit of “strong clothing” (19th century strait jackets). Sobering but fascinating, I’ve never even heard of such things being exhibited before.

How to start a hackerspace - parts 1 and 2 of a total of 7 are already up. [livejournal.com profile] dustdaughter, might hackerspaces be the “salons” of the 21st century?

Edited 11/15/2012: Fixed links - I won't be using that editor again!
anotheranon: (neat)
Saturday. D. and I went to see Epic Win Burlesque, a show of, by, and for sci fi/comic book/pop culture geeks.

I'd heard of these guys, or something like them, but didn't know they were going to be in town until [livejournal.com profile] nminusone mentioned it on his Facebook feed. I'd enjoyed the burlesque I saw with C. in Las Vegas and thought D. would at least enjoy the nerdy angle, so I got tix and we met up with [livejournal.com profile] nminusone and [livejournal.com profile] geekchick at the venue.

Oh, it was AWESOME! Just the right blend of silly and sexy. They did only a sampling of their repertoire but they've covered almost every major fandom I can think of and encourage the audience to post their videos and photos, so there's a lot more on YouTube, etc. Both men and women perform, though IMHO on this particular evening the women were hotter [YouTube]. ObCostume: evidently at least some of the performers make their own, and go to a great deal of effort on them as well.

Perhaps the funniest part of the evening was when it dawned on us that "KittenBot" was doing her act to the "Fruity Oaty Bar" song from Serenity [YouTube].

So if these guys come your way, go out and show some support, 'cos there's not enough of it in the world. We'd definitely go again!

P.S. Obviously none of the links are work safe. Wouldn't want y'all getting in trouble at work :P
anotheranon: (creativity)
Sick day wasn't entirely wasted:

Bicorn hat with black grosgrain ribbon cockade embellished by a silver button


For the Adam Ant show, inspired by Vivienne Westwood's 1980 Pirates collection. The button was purchased in Norway by my mother in the 1960s - according to her these used to be worn on school uniforms and became a symbol of resistance when they were banned by the Nazis during WWII.

Another fairly simple project, using a wool felt hat blank shaped with a steam iron and online ribbon cockade instructions.
anotheranon: (busy)
At long last! Reconnected to the internet with a real keyboard so I can type something of substance!

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

The move )

Post-move )

Post-post-move )

hell bent for linkage )

Upcoming )
anotheranon: (neat)
Because cruising the internet is more fun than packing/waiting for Olympic fencing to grace my tv screen:

  • Christian Bale's physical transformation - I've always been in awe of Bale's ability and willingness to turn himself physically inside out in order to vanish into his various roles, but hawtness aside: it can't possibly be healthy to go through cycles of such extreme weight loss/muscle re-buildup.* I echo the commenter who would like to see him live long enough to get more Oscars.


  • The Geek Zodiac - I'm a wizard, which is alright, but is it possible to be a wizard/ninja hybrid (wizard with ninja ascendant)? 'Cos ninjas are cool.


  • Henry 8.0, in which Bluff Prince Hal discovers the internet and Top Gear, featuring BRIAN BLESSED in the role he was born to play (and his name must always be in all caps, because he TALKS LIKE THIS).


  • More Henry VIII weirdness in Henry the Superstar [YouTube] put out by the UK's Royal Palaces. Right up there with CDC's Zombie Preparedness Guide for Best Educational Use of Pop Culture by a Government Entity.


*While repelled I'm simultaneously fascinated by the willpower it must take to control food/exercise to the extent that it gets these kinds of results. But then, Bale has the resources to get trainers/nutritionists etc. to keep his nose to the grindstone - he's like Bruce Wayne that way.
anotheranon: (neat)

  • The most insidious earworm EVER [YouTube]; I share in an effort to exorcise. Lyrics NSFW unless sweary sing-alongs are in your job description. The video is deceptively clean. Courtesy D., who I thank (?) for demonstrating that there's something sticker than old Bon Jovi tunes.

  • Joan of Arc on Stil P1, Swedish radio - probably only [livejournal.com profile] tommdroid and [livejournal.com profile] sealwhiskers can appreciate it, but I must include the link because the English site where I found it says the show is about juicy, seemingly disparate subjects like "'short hair and men’s clothes' on women throughout fashion history, the power and danger of dressing against the norm, historical re-creations of clothing from the Middle Ages in Sweden, jewelry as armor, and super hero costumes." Someone let me know if it's as good as advertised.

  • Anarchists of Style: Ann Nzinga, Queen of N’Dongo (1582-1663) - she kicked the Portuguese out of her country with women warriors, and looked GOOD doing it, in men's baroque clothing. Historical kickass woman, but I can't find much else about her on the web!

  • Eartha Kitt: A Catwoman....or THE Catwoman? FWIW I thought Anne Hathaway was a good choice for Nolan's more realistic, understated Bat-verse, but Kitt made the role her own in the campy 1960s version. This article is actually less about Kitt's acting and more about her anti-war, anti-apartheid sentiments. Another kickass woman, in another way.

  • Secrets of Geek Mating Rituals - sweet memories of how D. and I got together :)
anotheranon: (neat)
anotheranon: (busy)
Coming out of the winter lethargy:

A couple of weekends ago D. and I caught the Anglo Saxon hoard exhibit. It is small, but excellent, and not only is the detailed work breathtakingly beautiful (I'm still in awe that tiny filigree and inlay could be done in the 7th century, and in such volume!) but the story behind it is one of incredible good luck: a weekend metal detector treasure hunter found it after searching for half an hour on an acquaintance's farmland. No catalog because it's going to be years before all of the thousands of pieces are sorted, cleaned, cataloged and restored.

Given that we don't get downtown often it seemed a shame to pop back out, so we went out for truly dangerous pies afterwards: all fresh ingredients and real fruit instead of processed everything and corn syrup!

This coming weekend has a lot going on as well: a morning of Federal/regency-o-rama costume lectures followed by lunch with [livejournal.com profile] skill_grl, finishing with summer nationals qualifiers in the afternoon. Whether I qualify or not it's gonna be a good day :)

And I got permission today to view another museum's 6(!) Fortuny gowns behind the scenes! I'm excited but nervous, as I indicated in my application for viewing that I'd be open to publishing my findings if I discover anything worth sharing. While this is true, my research on the Peplos gown construction has been going on intermittently for about 2 years now and at this rate I'm skeptical that I'll be making any sort of breakthroughs - this is to satisfy my own curiosity.

Badger is inviting me onto Pinterest to share shoe pictures. A worthy endeavor to fill out gaps in my schedule (haha!)
anotheranon: (surprise)
As a tongue tied college radio DJ my hero was John Peel, the legendary BBC Dj who would play anything and everything as long as it was new and fresh, from major labels to nameless cassettes sent in the mail. I first heard him on BBC World Service on my dad's staticky shortwave and his dry humor between records only added to the thrill of discovery. Oh, to flip through his record bins....

And through the joys of the internet WE ALL CAN! Peel's entire 65,000(!) record collection will be going online! Not only preserved but accessible to everyone!

Meanwhile, Tate Modern's photographic archive was narrowly saved from the garbage, while the V&A's is long gone(!). The moron at the V&A should surely be haunted by the ghosts of librarians and curators past!
anotheranon: (busy)
I've kept up my resolution to stretch, if not daily, then certainly I'm up to 5 days a week over 3.

I think it's helping my fencing, especially the "rocking lunge" and keeping my back leg under me rather than out behind me (thanks Badger) - I'm doing the best lunges of my life and generally feel more mobile, at least after I'm well warmed up.

I fenced Scary Person(TM) M. last night and he said he was pleased to see me "consistently fencing at a competitive level" and while I was flattered, I as ever have problems accepting a compliment. Can I really keep this?

So, I've committed to stretching, but little else. I keep planning to go to the Anglo-Saxon hoard exhibit, register for ChocoTherapy, chocolate, and Dress U but keep putting it off because choosing something invariably means shutting some other possibility out. I need to just gorram do it already....

Also need to catch up on LJ etc. I know you all are doing cool and wonderful things that I neglect to comment on because y'all deserve more than "cool!" and my words won't congeal further than that :(

Off to find D.'s robe pattern, as he needs a new one (though Reconstructing History's latest and a holiday Downton Abbey marathon make me itching to make a 1910s dress. Which I'll want/need if I go to Dress U...)
anotheranon: (busy)
I took advantage of the energy conferred by Saturday's unseasonably, unreasonably warm weather (70F?! In January? And today it's snowing) to do some much needed clutter reduction: put away and organized the Christmas decorations, took out a ton of recycling and cleared some junk out of the basement. My house may never be ready for its' Better Homes and Gardens closeup, but I can walk all the way around the dining room table, and that's something.

D. spent much of the weekend Sith-stomping, so I had the teevee to myself and started last year's "Pillars of the Earth" miniseries. I've not read the book, but I'm impressed with the screen adaptation, if only the way the characters' stories rapidly twist together. It's about a time period I'm not overly familiar with (The Anarchy of the 12th century) so there's the element of discovery as well.

Progress on the vest crawls along. Despite all my careful fitting, I still got the back waist too short, so I'm going to attempt to attach the peplum with a 1/4" seam allowance. For maximum control of the seam (and the rounded edges of the peplum) I've again been using the Elizabethan seam. Eats time but satisfies my control freakiness.

Over the holidays my step-father-in-law tipped me off that many carcinogens/endocrine disruptors/other bad stuff in cosmetics aren't regulated by the FDA; not news but I didn't know quite how bad it could get until I poked around the Cosmetics Database. Happily only a couple of things I use were in the dangerous red zone, but hey - any excuse to play with new lotions and creams :P I'm giving this a whirl to see if it keeps me moisturized without making me break out.

Fencing lesson this week included V.'s grand experiment to take video for all of us. I took some before the holidays, but haven't analyzed the results as carefully as I could. It's fair to say I now have plenty of footage to make me flinch review.

Badger and I are doing a week of quickie "fashion blogging" over on Facebook. Of course my alarm failed to go off this morning so my first entry is rather lackluster, but I'm plotting blockbusters for the rest of the week!

Last bits: I've not caught up on the latest season of PBS' Sherlock, but [livejournal.com profile] faunblade posted this compelling shot; I don't think Cumberbatch is all that, but it got my attention. Found this [YouTube] via [livejournal.com profile] yuki_onna which she (accurately?) describes as "what I think that mask scene in Eyes Wide Shut might have been if that movie weren’t mainly about white people not feeling things".

It's too cold down here. I'm going to put on my alpaca socks.
anotheranon: (busy)
I've been remiss in updating the ol' LJ, mostly because I'm still in lazy holiday mode/on west coast time:

Christmas week was great but hectic. We went out to Seattle to see D.'s family. Rarely and wonderfully, mom and stepdad and all of the siblings and their families were able to get together, and Seattle was chosen because that's where the new niece is - and she's an ideal baby, all smiles and never cries unless something is really wrong. Four-year-old niece is on a princess kick and got the most fabulous dress-up dresses with twirlable skirts. The older nieces are going through preteen rockiness but mostly well; the nephews are for all purposes adults and fun to talk to.

The siblings all seem to be happy, and togetherness was balanced by time apart - each family had their own place to stay (including a two-level delightfully minimalist loft in the arts district that set my aesthetic lust all a-quiver!) I'm very fortunate that I get along with my in-laws and enjoy spending time with them!

We did spend a good amount of time walking, mostly around the hotel and the Pike/Pine area, finding record stores with genuine vinyl records and almost as rare, an independent brick and mortar bookstore that reminded me of the late lamented Oxford Books of Atlanta. I made a deliberate trip to Red Light Vintage, and though I found nothing that fit I recommend it to vintage seekers if you're ever in town as the prices are criminally low.

Due to the whimsical inclinations of Google Maps we got to see even more of the city, driving past multiple (as in, every corner, sometimes twice) coffee houses, wig shops (?) tattoo parlors and restaurants in search of a drugstore (that ended up being a block from the hotel :P) I'm surprised that I like Seattle in winter as much as I do in spring, even without the blisteringly bright plants in bloom. It's more casual, funky, and relaxed than DC, which was much needed as being at home can be such a roller-coaster. Our hotel was nice (free coffee every morning!), so we spent much of our quiet time just sleeping and reading.

And oh, there was reading! D. got me a Kindle for Christmas and despite my misgivings (I can't share books, I'm limited to Amazon's format) it's addictive at first use - at last I can read all of those obscure novels that the library doesn't get, without eating shelf space! There's also internet access so it functions as a limited laptop.

As with all holidays there was an unholy amount of food and wine. We found gut-busting Italian, old fashioned pies, Belgian waffles and deep, dense coffee (of course).

Saw the new Sherlock Holmes (a total scream, especially Stephen Fry as Mycroft) and New Year's Eve (better and more poignant than expected).

Due to a 10-hour break between hotel checkout and redeye flight home, we visited the Museum of Glass and marveled at tiny glass flowers, and had a quiet evening at Indochine, with just about perfect food and wine.

It was good :)
anotheranon: (politics)
I have not been living under a rock. I am aware there are things going on in the wider world, I just don't often write about them because others do it better and I find it frankly depressing to follow the news too closely. But two things are so much on the radar that I find it impossible not to comment:

OWS )

Sandusky and the cult of football )

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