And every time we get burned, if we don't die, we grow wise

[sovay]

For those who have not yet seen the news, Readercon is going virtual this year. I miss book-browsing in person so badly. It is the right choice.

I am still sick and not enjoying it at all, but last night I dreamed about hanging out with Ralph Richardson. He liked my poetry. I'm glad my subconscious is getting the memo.

I am delighted by the fact of Ernest Thesiger vs. slumlords.

Comments

[moon_custafer]

Somehow, I’m not entirely surprised. Thesiger, who’d been wounded in WWI (the story goes that if asked about his combat experiences he’d only say “Oh my dear, the dreadful noise and the dreadful people,” as though describing a sub-par stay at a seaside resort), started an organization called the Disabled Soldiers’ Embroidery Industry, who among other work seem to have done historical-replica embroidery for antique-furniture restorers. Thesiger was a well-known textile artist himself and worked on some of the miniatures for Queen Mary’s Dollhouse.

http://www.ernestthesiger.org/Ernest_Thesiger/Disabled_Soldiers_Embroidery_Industry.html

[sovay]

Somehow, I’m not entirely surprised.

It didn't strike me as out of character! I was just made very happy by it.

(the story goes that if asked about his combat experiences he’d only say “Oh my dear, the dreadful noise and the dreadful people,” as though describing a sub-par stay at a seaside resort)

Camp is such a magnificent mode of communication.

[moon_custafer]

It can also be a form of stiff upper lip.

[sovay]

It can also be a form of stiff upper lip.

Yes; that's one of the things I meant.

[ashlyme]

That's the kind of stiff upper lip I like.

[sovay]

That's the kind of stiff upper lip I like.

There are ways in which Way Out West (1930) is not at all a good movie, but William Haines is so good in it and it's such a showcase for the multivalent uses of camp that if by some quirk of chance it crosses your TV horizon, I'd recommend it. Also, as noted in comments, this is William Haines:

[ashlyme]

Don't mind me if I go mildly weak-kneed here? Not many could carry off the cravat-and-jumper combo.

[sovay]

Don't mind me if I go mildly weak-kneed here? Not many could carry off the cravat-and-jumper combo.

Take all the time you need. That come-hither eyebrow hasn't stopped working in ninety years.

[negothick]

This is the year when the Memorial Guest of Honor could virtually attend. Someone more tech-savvy than I could create an avatar for Vonda McIntyre and be "On" for her all weekend.

[sovay]

Someone more tech-savvy than I could create an avatar for Vonda McIntyre and be "On" for her all weekend.

Is that the sort of thing she would have gone for?

[rosefox]

I could see a Discord bot that produces quotes from her work on demand. But a faux Vonda? No.

[negothick]

You're right. She was more of a private person than that. Isaac, on the other hand, would have loved the idea of a posthumous attendance.

[rosefox]

Too bad for him that holograms can't grope women.

[selkie]

I too am glad your subconscious is getting the memo. I have given T. Witt a celebratory chocolate chip with which to get chipfaced.

I really, really need an AU with Thesiger in it, I think. At least with a cameo.

*waves brightly from blanket fort*

[sovay]

I too am glad your subconscious is getting the memo. I have given T. Witt a celebratory chocolate chip with which to get chipfaced.

Thank you. Just because I can't have chocolate doesn't mean he has to abstain!

I really, really need an AU with Thesiger in it, I think. At least with a cameo.

He was around for ages. Just send someone to the theater any time between the late 1910's and the early '60's. He was acting literally up until he died.

*waves brightly from blanket fort*

*passes the next citrus, unless it's bad for the electrolytes*

[selkie]

Thanks! All the vitamin C for me. I have a particularly excellent blood orange in reserve.

[gwynnega]

I look forward to Readercon, even without the book room.

I hope Dream Ralph Richardson had on his furry coat from Things To Come.

Yay Ernest Thesiger vs. slumlords!

[sovay]

I look forward to Readercon, even without the book room.

I mean, same. I don't think I've ever seen you at more than one convention in a year!

I hope Dream Ralph Richardson had on his furry coat from Things To Come.

Alas, he was just dressed normally for, like, 1948. But it looked good on him. (I could use that coat this winter.)

Yay Ernest Thesiger vs. slumlords!

I like how the universe just keeps furnishing a person with reasons to like Ernest Thesiger.

[minoanmiss]

*hands you a warming healing star*

[sovay]

*hands you a warming healing star*

*cradles*

[nineweaving]

I so miss live Readercon, all of it.

Ralph Richardson has good taste in poetry. I would cheerfully hang out with him, even as Joseph Finsbury, the interminable bore from The Wrong Box.

"I'm afraid I must leave you here."

"Oh, would you, sir?"

Nine

[sovay]

I so miss live Readercon, all of it.

How did you like virtual Arisia?

Ralph Richardson has good taste in poetry. I would cheerfully hang out with him, even as Joseph Finsbury, the interminable bore from The Wrong Box.

Everything I have ever read suggests that he was great fun to hang out with, although inclined toward motorcycle crashes and death to flying things.

I remember finding a wonderful interview with Denholm Elliott circa Bleak House (1985) where he referred to Richardson as his "god." I think of Elliott as such a small god of character acting himself that I hadn't realized he had his own pantheon. Good taste.

[ashlyme]

Thesiger vs. slulmlords is wonderful, isn't it? He's great as Mr. Maydig in The Man Who Worked Miracles - I wish they'd kept him in Things To Come, too. Speaking of which, Ralph Richardson has good taste and I think you should bring him out whenever TW comes calling. Shoulder-Ralph.

[sovay]

Thesiger vs. slulmlords is wonderful, isn't it?

It made me feel better about the world.

He's great as Mr. Maydig in The Man Who Worked Miracles

I've never seen that!

Speaking of which, Ralph Richardson has good taste and I think you should bring him out whenever TW comes calling. Shoulder-Ralph.

moon_custafer once drew me a cartoon to that effect! "The National Theatre!"

[ashlyme]

*I've never seen it!*

Oh, it's great! The usual Wellsian Little Man who gets a taste of power and gets drunk... but at least the world doesn't share the hangover for too long. Thesiger plays one of his would-be advisors. And Richardson's great as an aged blowhard Colonel. The effects are pretty good for the time, too.

I love that cartoon!!

[nodrog]

Ralph the Boss of Things to Come (1936), or the Supreme Being of Time Bandits?

- Definitive casting, there; you could hope to meet your Maker if that's what to expect.

[sovay]

Ralph the Boss of Things to Come (1936), or the Supreme Being of Time Bandits?

Ralph of the 1940's, so more like The Silver Fleet (1943) or The Fallen Idol (1948). But I do love him in Things to Come. I love him generally; writing about his performance in The Four Feathers (1939) was one of the significant steps toward the creation of my Patreon.

[dramaticirony]

Thanks for sharing the news about Virtual Readercon! I'll look forward to that, and to an in-person con in the future!

[sovay]

Thanks for sharing the news about Virtual Readercon! I'll look forward to that, and to an in-person con in the future!

You're welcome! It will be good to see you there.

[handful_ofdust]

Yeah, I signed on for that, so hopefully we can sort-of see each other.;)

[sovay]

Yeah, I signed on for that, so hopefully we can sort-of see each other.

Sweet!

[asakiyume]

Having it virtual will mean all sorts of interesting folks who couldn't normally attend will be able to; I'm psyched for that.

[sovay]

Having it virtual will mean all sorts of interesting folks who couldn't normally attend will be able to; I'm psyched for that.

Yeah: I hate the plague, but the accessibility is really cool.