Jackie Kennedy and the Taj Mahal:
And closer:
Found via Life again, from her trip to India in 1962. Lots of great pinks in that set.
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Monday was Holi, a holiday I knew nothing about. According to Wikipedia, “Holi, or Holli, also called the Festival of Colors, is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others.” I like spring and colors. Read more here.
2. The slideshow name says it all (and the captions are funny): A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things
Let’s Talk About Accessories
Specifically, big sunglasses: I found the archives of Life magazine last Saturday and got sucked into looking at pictures of Jackie Kennedy, whose trademark (after Camelot) was big sunglasses.
Then I saw this stylish lady on The Sartorialist yesterday, who is also making me want to talk about leopard print, as well:
I haven’t worn big sunglasses in a few years because I think there’s a risk, with short hair, of them looking like this. But now I am reconsidering.
Maybe The Universe Is Telling Me I’d Really Hate This Movie And, Therefore, Doing Me A Favor
I tried to go to the Sherlock Holmes movie at Brewvies again last night (a week after my work friend and I got to see five minutes of it before the film broke) and, as you might guess from the title of this, no deal. When I had checked the schedule online Monday night there was an 8:00 showing, but when we got to the theater it had been pushed back to 9:30 to accommodate a special event for Engineers Without Borders.
Dammit, Brewvies, as much as I want to continue liking you, you’re making it really difficult. You should probably consider hiring projectionists who aren’t so stoned they put the film in wrong. Perhaps updating your website a little sooner than the day of an event would be a good idea, too. (And universe, I know the film is in no way faithful to the Conan Doyle stories, but I really like Robert Downey, Jr. And now this has become a challenge.)
Tuesday Project Roundup: One More For The Beach
I probably should have spent my time finishing a sweater to wear instead of sewing a spring tunic (the latest reports are predicting rain in California), but I used the trip as an excuse for some more Liberty of London fabric.
I made my favorite Simplicity pattern (for about the sixth time) and it was delightful to work with the Liberty print–so much color and detail.
I bought my fabric before I saw that Target was launching a similar print, so I hope no one asks me if I got it at Target. And I hope I can layer a sweater over the sleeves easily.
Like Christmas Morning
Last week started looking up when I discovered nearly 30 full-length Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes on Google Video*. Thirty of them! That I don’t have to wait to arrive via Netflix!
Over the weekend I was finally able to see Space Mutiny, featuring the many nicknames of the hero (seriously, watch it):
And I watched Final Sacrifice, featuring the sidekick…ROWSDOWER:
I love this show so much. Toby is affronted by my laughter in the evenings.
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Have you all heard about the killer whale killing a trainer at Sea World? Let’s see, we make a creature with highly evolved social networks and communication skills and the ability to swim vast distances live in something the size of a bathtub, alone, and we’re surprised when this happens? I’d be plotting to kill my captors, too.
2. The latest science news tells us that the world we know may be a giant hologram, so maybe I shouldn’t let things like #1 upset me so much. It’s also kind of reminiscent of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
3. I saw this image on a t-shirt but now I can’t find a link to the shirt, just the image. “So long and thanks for all the fish,” indeed.
Nice Things
It has been a week of crazy clients, anxiety, and stupid things happening (Toby’s space heater broke, I tried to go to Brewvies Tuesday after work and the film projector broke, etc. etc.), so I had to read some Franny and Zooey last night. Here is a scene of Zooey watching a little girl playing with her dog–and yes, in the book it’s all one paragraph:
A fair-sized maple tree stood in front of the girls’ private school…and at that moment a child of seven or eight, female, was hiding behind it. She was wearing a navy-blue reefer and a tam that was very nearly the same shade of red as the blanket on the bed in van Gogh’s room at Arles. Her tam did, in fact, from Zooey’s vantage point, appear not unlike a daub of paint. Some fifteen feet away from the child, her dog–a young dachshund, wearing a green leather collar and leash–was sniffing to find her, scurrying in frantic circles, his leash dragging behind him. The anguish of separation was scarcely bearable for him, and when at last he picked up his mistress’s scent, it wasn’t a second too soon. The joy of reunion, for both, was immense. The dachshund gave a little yelp, then cringed forward, shimmying with ecstasy, till his mistress, shouting something at him, stepped hurriedly over the wire guard surrounding the tree and picked him up. She said a number of words of praise to him…then put him down and picked up his leash, and the two walked gaily west, toward Fifth Avenue and the Park and out of Zooey’s sight…”God damn it,” he said, “there are nice things in the world–and I mean nice things. We’re all such morons to get so sidetracked.”
Does This Apply To Writing Websites, Too?
What is demanding and fulfilling is writing a single word, trying to write le mot juste, as Flaubert said; writing several of them, which become a sentence. When a writer does that, day after day, working alone with little encouragement, often with discouragement flowing in the writer’s own blood, and with an occasional rush of excitement … the treasure is on the desk.
[…]The writer who endures and keeps working will finally know that writing the book was something hard and glorious, for at the desk a writer must try to be free of prejudice, meanness of spirit, pettiness, and hatred; strive to be a better human being than the writer normally is, and to do this through concentration on a single word, and then another, and another. This is splendid work, as worthy and demanding as any, and the will and resilience to do it are good for the writer’s soul.
I don’t think Andre Dubus wrote for the web a lot, but it’s still something to consider.
Tuesday Project Roundup: This Looks Like Another Vacation
Why yes, I am going on another quick trip in a couple of weeks–this time to the beach in California. (I haven’t traveled this much in two years. Poor Toby!) My oldest friend is also turning 30 and has arranged a beach house weekend for eight other people, with menus and itineraries and everything else planned. So the least I could do was make a new dress for the event:
This was one of the new Cynthia Rowley for Simplicity patterns and I have to say I like it a lot. Here’s a better idea of the fabric color (and my own lack thereof):
(While we’re on the subject…spray tans: Pro or con? I’m thinking con, but I don’t want to blind everyone in the group with my special shade of pale, either.)