He looked on the lake, a swan glided by

[sovay]

I have been dedicating myself to recuperative and totally non-productive activities: I sat out in the sun, I read Rebecca Roanhorse's Race to the Sun (2020) and W. Bolingbroke Johnson's The Widening Stain (1941) and a selection of The Big Book of Reel Murders: Stories That Inspired Great Crime Films (2019), I saw my parents, I did impromptu astronomy, I baked a peach crumble with cherries. I slept ten hours last night, which means I have no idea if I'll sleep at all tonight, but it was a nice change of pace. I am feeling bitter about streaming services and missing the range and accessibility of libraries. Have some links.

1. Courtesy of handful_ofdust: British Pathé's "Waistcoat Club aka Waistcoats for Women" (1955). The narrator is a bit of a twerp, but the waistcoats of all genders are pretty sweet. "Jon Pertwee has a collection dating back three hundred years." I would expect nothing less of a Time Lord who owned an opera cape. Peter Cushing, by contrast, is obviously some kind of Element. thisbluespirit, is Palladium taken? I thought of Titanium first, but then I liked the scholar-association with Athene better. It is silvery, rare, and untarnishing.

2. I had never heard of The Duke (2020) before this review by the Guardian, but: "In an earlier era, the role of Kempton would have been played by Denholm Elliott or Alastair Sim." JUST STREAM IT SOMEWHERE I CAN SEE IT AND TAKE MY MONEY OKAY.

3. I am much less likely to see Hope Gap (2019), even though I enjoyed this interview with the writer-director and all three principals. I was especially struck by Josh O'Connor's comments about vulnerability and Bill Nighy's about gender.

4. Courtesy of silveradept: Amanda E. Herbert, "Treble Hearted': Queer Intimacies in Early Modern Britain." tl;dr seventeenth-century triad with a pair of siblings and a marriage as the hinge: "Constance and Katherine's own descriptions of the bonds that all three people shared make it clear that the marriage between Herbert and Katherine was not a coverup or a sham; rather, the three wrote of their bond as tripartite."

5. This is just a very nice post about pockets: "I made some trousers with unusual pockets, and I think they're good."

Comments

[anna_wing]

Thank you for that post about pockets, it's a really good idea! Something that a pickpocket wouldn't be expecting either. I have an ankle skirt that has its pockets at the hem, entry from the top, which is surprisingly convenient when one is sitting down.

One of the few things I miss about living in New York was being able to buy summer fruit by the kilo at the Union Square greenmarket. In most places that I've lived since, buying enough peaches for a peach crumble (or cherries!) would cost more than the week's groceries.

[cyphomandra]

Your links are (as always!) a delight and while I do feel a vague inclination towards watching things, mostly now I just really want a pair of those trousers.

[thistleingrey]

I think Reason may soon try Race to the Sun, unless she bounces immediately (I rarely know whether she'll bounce; she's enjoyed a different writer's RRP title, so I'm slowly sourcing some of the others). Yay for recuperative sitting in the sun.

[thisbluespirit]

"Jon Pertwee has a collection dating back three hundred years." I would expect nothing less of a Time Lord who owned an opera cape.

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure his costume was his own doing, really, too.

Peter Cushing, by contrast, is obviously some kind of Element. [personal profile] thisbluespirit, is Palladium taken? I thought of Titanium first, but then I liked the scholar-association with Athene better. It is silvery, rare, and untarnishing.

I haven't done either of them! And I hadn't thought of Peter Cushing, but I'm sure he would. (I tend to rank film stars as entirely out of my fantasy casting budget, I am now realising. Which is kind of appropriate for proper S&S casting, but still a bit ridiculous. Noo, I can't, the budget of tuppence wouldn't stand for it!!")

[selkie]

Ye olde poly V is really charming, down to the orthography. I appreciated it both academically and, you know, as a Life Tidbit.

[asakiyume]

Hurray for the 10 hours sleep! If only, as they're always talking about in science, it can be a repeatable--preferably night over night and not once every three months.

*Loved* the article on pockets; thank you! I thought the final design was great. I was a little amused that his sketched human, for showing the area where pockets can be within reach of the hands, was male, but I guess despite his noting that lack of pockets is especially a female problem, what he really was stressing--the whole reason for his developing the new prototype--was that current pockets (when they exist) are bad for everyone.

[ashlyme]

Aaargh, I need waistcoats again! There are so many in the video I wouldn't mind sporting. Particularly that red velvet one. Chuck in the long gloves too. Peter Cushing would make an excellent Element; another Technician, perhaps?

*pops some money on top of yours* I'll have my DVD of The Duke in the post now, please.

[sartorias]

Thanks for the link on the queer intimacies.

[moon_custafer]

The Waistcoat Club film made me realize that on women, waistcoats *can* pretty much double as those semi-formal evening halter-tops that were popular in the 1950s, and now I want to try that, though I can’t see any cocktail parties in my immediate future, alas.

[gwynnega]

RE: the Waistcoat Club, I'd never seen such a young Jean Marsh before! If I'd been asked to design the Platonic ideal of a waistcoat club, I would have included Peter Cushing and Jon Pertwee, so this clip was amazingly gratifying.

[rosefox]

Via brithistorian and rydra_wong, I just wanted to make sure you saw these photo galleries of Congolese dandies and queer Africans.

[brigdh]

Oh, that 'Treble Hearted' post was fascinating; thank you for sharing!

I really wish I could buy some jeans with that new pocket location right now.