You won't shoot your own brother, Carla

[sovay]

Tonight was an inadvertent Fritz Lang two-fer: I went to see Ministry of Fear (1944) at the Brattle and then I came home and Fury (1936) was playing on TCM. I'd always thought of a sharp break between his earlier Expressionist work and his American films, but I had no idea what I was talking about. Blackout in London (as Powell and Pressburger proved four years earlier) is a beautiful playground for all sorts of strange light and shadow. Lang was a year out of Nazi Germany when he filmed small-town togetherness as a lynch mob, mothers lifting their children on their shoulders to watch a man burning to death behind bars. I knew I wanted to see You and Me (1938), but I might as well stick the whole catalogue on the list now.

I am ignoring Tiny Richardson (except for when he revs his bike threateningly at T. Witt.) and posting some of the photos from yesterday's parade. All by nineweaving unless otherwise credited.



I'd forgotten I was wearing earplugs until I saw this picture. I said there was a lot of brass!



I also said Dr. Alberts' sign kept getting him stopped for photo ops. That's a cathode ray tube from the RCA Victor 6T87 we didn't quite salvage in June he's holding. I believe he is demonstrating the "radio wave."



It was a really good sign.



I had a sign with much smaller print, but I also had a vest pocket full of cards, which I handed out to anyone who looked sufficiently intrigued or confused. I went through three pocketfuls. I consider that pretty decent advertising.



Speaking of which! (Photo by David Kessler. Hand by Lily Grodzins.)



audioboy already posted this one on Facebook, so I don't feel too bad about reproducing it.



Ditto David Kessler and this one.



And this one was taken by my mother, who insisted on an after-the-ball-was-over shot. I've uploaded the one where my eyes are actually focused. It was only about five o'clock.



Bonus! The Mari-bison-thing. On wheels. You can't really see them, but the eyes were made out of bottle glass. It certainly looked from certain freakish, decaying angles as though there was real bone inside. I approved so much and I hope it never comes by my house on New Year's and clacks its jaws.

Eagle-eyed readers may remember the flat cap from the last round of picspam. It's been in regular rotation ever since. The suit was the first one my father ever bought; the shirt is the one decent white shirt I still own, but I abstracted it from one of my parents years ago. I'd still like to have been wearing suspenders, but as it was I didn't have to buy a single article of clothing in order to dress like I worked in radio in 1938—or at least a lot closer to 1938 than now—and I'm actually rather proud of this.

Still want a pocket watch, though.

Comments

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Nice shots! And thanks so much for sharing the Mari-bison thing. It's rather awesome.

I hope you can soon see more Fritz Lang films.

[sovay]

And thanks so much for sharing the Mari-bison thing. It's rather awesome.

I knew I wouldn't do it justice in words.

I hope you can soon see more Fritz Lang films.

Thank you. I suspect it will happen.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

Good pictures. I know it's probably not around, but I would have liked a shot of you in the suit but with your hair down, just for the dissonance.

I wish I could have come to Honk!, but as usual fate and redheads intervened. Or redheads and fate as the case may be, depending on just who gets top billing.
EDIT: And since I forgot to mention it, excellent advertising! I still have to get posters to local shoppes.

[sovay]

I know it's probably not around, but I would have liked a shot of you in the suit but with your hair down, just for the dissonance.

I'm afraid not; I didn't take it down until I'd changed back into casual. derspatchel is the only person who even saw it braided and pinned up, rather than just under my hat.

I wish I could have come to Honk!, but as usual fate and redheads intervened.

It was a lot of fun!

And since I forgot to mention it, excellent advertising!

Thank you! It's shameless other-promotion, which means I don't think twice about i!

[aliseadae]

I like being able to picture the parade. That is a cool outfit. I also like the bison.

[sovay]

I like being able to picture the parade.

It was a great parade. There's a huge photoset here.

That is a cool outfit. I also like the bison.

I can only take credit for one of these, but thank you!

[grimmwire.livejournal.com]

LOVE the suit. And the hair (what can I say? I like necks :D ).

Nice to see Environmental Encroachment on the HONK! bill -- they played at my camp at Burning Man in 2005!

[sovay]

LOVE the suit. And the hair (what can I say? I like necks :D ).

Hah. Thank you! I was trying to remember the last time I wore my hair up: I think it must have been for the Yale School of Music's Suor Angelica in 2004, when I played a nun.

(That was also the first time in my life I'd worn high heels, which will never stop being funny.)

Nice to see Environmental Encroachment on the HONK! bill -- they played at my camp at Burning Man in 2005!

Awesome!

That was the one drawback to marching: I didn't hear anywhere near as many bands as I'd have liked. I suppose that's what the rest of the weekend was for . . .

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

I went through three pocketfuls. I consider that pretty decent advertising.

Yes!
Also, forgot to mention I approve of the waistcoat.

Bonus! The Mari-bison-thing.
Thank you! I'd been wanting to know what the hell that would look like.

Still want a pocket watch, though.
This is what thrift stores are for. ;)

[sovay]

Also, forgot to mention I approve of the waistcoat.

I am really, really fond of that thing.

Thank you! I'd been wanting to know what the hell that would look like.

In all its inexplicable glory! The rope and the roller skis meant it could be swung around in a circle, which its handlers sometimes did. It just kept giving.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Oh! And Happy Birthday!

[sovay]

Oh! And Happy Birthday!

Thank you! It was.

[zdenka]

The outfit has an excellent effect.

Also, that bison is terrifying.

[sovay]

The outfit has an excellent effect.

Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

Also, that bison is terrifying.

We saw it parked(?) next to us at the staging area; derspatchel declared it was a message he could get behind, and then we did.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

You did well. Now come back and play nicely in the twenty-first century until next time. Put down that WPA application, they've been closed for decades.

[sovay]

Now come back and play nicely in the twenty-first century until next time.

. . . only on a rare occasion . . .

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

Part on me wants to see a fight between that bison and the taxidermied lion from the other day. Part of me fears it would end like 'The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat.'

[sovay]

Part of me fears it would end like 'The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat.'

That would be hideous and so entertaining.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

I don't know who I'd bet on! The bison's a tatterdemalion beast. The lion - God, the taxidermist must have been squiffy.

I must admit I covet your waistcoat.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

the taxidermist must have been squiffy.

No, I think it was just part of the long tradition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ImperialMotherLionGuard.jpg) of lion images by people living in non-lion parts of the world.

[sovay]

No, I think it was just part of the long tradition of lion images by people living in non-lion parts of the world.

That at least has aesthetics behind it!

[sovay]

I must admit I covet your waistcoat.

Thank you. I have become very attached to it.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Adding my voice to the others to say you look smashing in a suit.

Also, much obliged for the shot of the mari buffalo. I only saw it from a distance, through a crowd, like a poorly glimpsed creature in a horror movie, so this is by way of reassuring me that it's a single definable entity with no ability to, say, get off its skis and menace people.

[sovay]

Adding my voice to the others to say you look smashing in a suit.

Thank you.

I only saw it from a distance, through a crowd, like a poorly glimpsed creature in a horror movie, so this is by way of reassuring me that it's a single definable entity with no ability to, say, get off its skis and menace people.

You are very welcome. That was an entirely understandable concern on your part.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Echoing Sovay on the understandable concern. One photo is enough to make me look anxiously at all piles of laundry, going forward.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

I have a drawer full of leather scraps and now I'm becoming cautious about my plan of turning them out on the floor to sew.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

Those are some amazing pictures. I just wish I could wear a man's suit like that (too short and round to even think of it!) -- you looked really cool and very spiffy, Tiny Richardson be damned. And I'm also slightly jealous that you could borrow your father's clothes -- that must be so neat.

[sovay]

you looked really cool and very spiffy, Tiny Richardson be damned.

Thank you!

And I'm also slightly jealous that you could borrow your father's clothes -- that must be so neat.

I've been stealing T-shirts from him since I was small (and overshirts, because I wear them and he doesn't), but the fact that a forty-year-old suit fit me was something of a surprise to everyone.

Still need more waistcoats.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Now that is an outift! :)

[sovay]

Now that is an outift!

Thank you!

[gwynnega]

You look great in that outfit! That parade looks like fun.

[sovay]

You look great in that outfit! That parade looks like fun.

It was fantastic. There's an extensive photoset linked further up in comments, if you want to see some of the carnival madness we weren't purveying.

[sofia samatar (from livejournal.com)]

Wonderful shots! And thanks for your comment on WFReview. M. Peake's hair--wow. Just wow. I hadn't come across that photo before, and--wow. I mean, how much time? And which hair products? And why? So many questions...

He ought to have worn a hat like yours in these pix!

[sovay]

Wonderful shots!

Thank you! I really had a wonderful time. Maybe I need more street theater in my life.

and--wow. I mean, how much time? And which hair products? And why? So many questions...

Plus the ever-terrifying possibility it just did that on its own . . .

He ought to have worn a hat like yours in these pix!

Hee. I am fond of the hat. I wore it tonight against rain.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You look gorgeous! I bet many a lass were smitten, and a fair smattering of lads. You've got a great saunter! (Your excellent smile is something I was already aware of :-)

The buffalo is actually oddly terrifying--like a nightmarish coming-alive of a bundle of rags.

[sovay]

You've got a great saunter! (Your excellent smile is something I was already aware of

Hah. Thank you. I am working on being better with myself. Photographs are one way of doing that.

(Also, I really did have a great time.)

The buffalo is actually oddly terrifying--like a nightmarish coming-alive of a bundle of rags.

You see what I mean about New Year's! There are things like that in stories I've read, and most of them gave me trouble sleeping.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

You do look smashing, and oddly authentic. Thank you for sharing the photos!

the shirt is the one decent white shirt I still own
What men's neck/shirt size are you? I have more white men's shirts than I will probably ever be able to do anything with, and I'm happy to share.

I discovered, disconcertingly, this weekend that I can wear my father's clothes too. I knew about the shirts, but I have no explanation whatsoever for the pants. My father is 6'2". I am 5'6".

[sovay]

You do look smashing, and oddly authentic. Thank you for sharing the photos!

Thank you for feedback!

What men's neck/shirt size are you?

Thirteen by measurement, although it seems that depending on the brand (or the age of the shirt) I can wear up to a fourteen or even a fourteen and half, which is completely useless unless you have the time to try every one on separately. I'd had this idea that men's sizes were more standardized than women's, but I guess not anymore?

I knew about the shirts, but I have no explanation whatsoever for the pants. My father is 6'2". I am 5'6".

I'm three inches shorter than my father. You win.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I know a guy who's almost six-four who wears a 30-inch inseam. I don't know how he does it -- his legs don't look that short.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I like! By the way, I suspect you would like a real pocket watch, but there are various cheap ones readily available these days. My 14yo son has one that cost, I think, $8.

[sovay]

I like!

Thank you!

My 14yo son has one that cost, I think, $8.

Eh, in case I need one in a hurry, it's still good to know!