The Mill on the Floss aka I love my brother SO much

Honestly, I have no clue why I ever think George Eliot stories are going to end well. Maybe Middle March got my hopes up too high, but obvs with Daniel Deronda, and now The Mill on the Floss, Eliot just loves to squash anything and everything good in a really self destructive way. (Why do I always think Ethan Froam is Eliot? Probs bc it's awful).
**SPOILERS**
Ok, The Mill on the Floss. Maggie is SUPER close to her brother Tom. Their father is in a death feud with Philip's father. When they grow up their father's mill is sold to Philip's and the dad eventually dies. Philip's in love with Maggie, but Maggie promises Tom she won't see Philip. Eventually she gets permission to see Philip and they get the mill back, but oh darn, Maggie has fallen in love with her cousin Lucy's fiance Stephen (what?!). She eventually goes on an extended boating trip with Stephen (a whole afternoon!) and ruins herself, but not really. They just sat on a big boat together, which is so much worse than a small one. Philip forgives her, Stephen still wants her, she denies herself Stephen because...it will hurt Lucy? But Lucy's also forgiven Maggie so....? Eventually there's a flood and Maggie paddles over to Tom and he tries to jump into her boat but they both drown. Ta da!
Wikipedia tells me there is more to all of this in the book, big surprise, but obviously a 2 hour film has made cuts.

Da heck?!
1) The thesis is that Maggie and Tom's bond is so strong they sacrificed everything for each other: Maggie's love for other men and Tom's...personal life? Maybe if I read the book I'd get what Tom was saying near the end, but it all sounded rather incestuous  and I'm one of the last people to misread Victorian sensibilities (since I basically share them...)
2)Dear Maggie. I know how much it absolutely rots to want to be with someone you shouldn't, but guess what! You blew this way out of proportion! Everyone forgave you! What else was in your way? Granted Stephen was kind of a skeezy dude on the boat a little bit, and you were a good girl during that whole deal, but guess what, later you could have been with him! Dumbo. Although he did kind of have that thing with Lucy at the same time and no girl likes to think a man can switch that easily...
3)Poor Philip. Did I mention he's a hunchback?
4)Yet another ridiculously beautiful woman with too many men that love her. Wah wah.
6)Did I also mention George Eliot is crazy? I mean the woman has an agenda, a BIG one, in all of her stories (what writer doesn't?). I didn't expect a happy ending, I just wasn't seeing most of anything involving Stephen and the dying coming. She loves women to destroy themselves because of ridiculous promises to awful men.

I should probably read some of her books someday...

Case Histories Series 2

I think just Martha and I ever watched this show. It's awesome. I've blogged about it before (here and here). Well, Martha, this one's for you.

I finally got around to checking on the filming of series two. Seems like it filmed last October and is going to air on BBC1 this year. I'd guess we're looking at a fall PBS premiere.

Since Sherlock hasn't started filming series three yet, and we're most likely looking at a 2014 release, I'd say ya'll that didn't watch Case Histories the first time around might want to get on board to keep some amazingly written and acted British mystery solving in your life.



The trailer's got Johnny Cash. You know this is good. 

Downton Abbey 3:4

I feel bad writing anything this week, but you'll see that when the comments kind of just stop.

:::Ivy is the new Daisy. Daisy is the new Mrs. Patmoore. Mrs. Patmoore is nicetimes?
:::Breakfasting in bed is awkward.
:::Sybil's hair is a disaster (sorry! I wrote it before she went into labor!)
:::Isobel. Martha doesn't know why I dislike Isobel and I was trying to examine my aversion to her this episode. While she has sometimes, and a lot of the times been right in the causes of her selfrighteousness she rarely thinks through what she's trying to do, and almost never thinks about the feelings of others involved. Yes, she loves charity and helping, but when she wanted to keep Downton as a hospital did she think about how the family felt? They of course didn't feel the way she did, but if she would just stop to think about someone else's side she might not come off so horrible to me. The same thing happened last episode when she refused to at least humor Ethel about giving Charlie up. Mrs. Hughs was very right in consoling Ethel. Isobel was very little help because she didn't feel that Ethel had done the right thing, and refused to concede any type of support in the matter, even though that's her schpiel. Now she's hired Ethel, bc Ethel needs a job, without thinking it through. Mr. Carson's opinion about the feelings of society towards Ethel might not be just, but they are true. Mrs. Hugh's recognizing that Ethel is not suited for the job is also something that Isobel ignored considering when she hired her. So I guess my beef with Isobel is her holierthanthou attitude that disregards the feelings and attitudes of those she's being holierthan.
:::Matthew's eyes are very very blue in the breakfast room.
:::Oh hey, Timothy Piggot-Smith.
:::"Let me just change out of my tux and deliver a baby. Oh wait, no, I'll just take off my coat and roll up my sleeves."
:::Jimmy's got a nice stink face, I'll give him that.
:::Don't let Sybil sleep!!!!

And that's when I started to weep softly and for a long time. We all know that this family is super dysfunctional and now the only rational character (ok, rational is debatable) is gone. It's all going to fall apart as a moral that "reality" is not all cupcakes and roses. Matthew and Mary are going to divorce. Bates is never going to get out. Mrs. Hughs is going to die of undiagnosed cancer. Everything will be terrible.

:::Also, don't feed the baby honey. That's a super bad idea.

and Maggie Smith is a goddess. 

Sexy Sunday: curtain skirt.

I got so many compliments at church today I thought I'd make a Sexy Sunday entry. The picture's pretty gross, and you can tell I really need to get my hairs trimmed, and not a flattering angle, but...

-shirt is from Seoul
-skirt is upholstry fabric Martha's mom gave me. It's busy times and I love it. the back hem is giant box pleats
-shoes are Nine West

Retro, Vintage, Antique, and Extant AND Ancient!

Alright, let's get this straight. People with Pinterest boards of  "Vintage Fashions" with gowns from 1775 are driving me NUTS. So, here we go.

Retro: of or designating the style of an earlier time. Typically older than 15-20 years and younger than 30. So right now 1984-1999 is considered retro, let that sink in. Anything less than 15 years old is just out of style.

Vintage is the gap between retro and antique. So right now vintage is 1915-1983. I found a definition that said vintage tends to be of higher quality or value, but I'm just going to say it's not mid-century garbage.

Antique is one hundred years old or older, some argue that it starts at 1920. So antique is either older than 1920 or 1914.

Extant means still existing. A dress from 1885 is both antique and extant. It is not however vintage.

Also, a costume is something someone wears when they're not being themselves, even if it means they're dressing how they would have dressed in 1910. Clothes are what people actually wore/wear. In my opinion you don't have extant costumes unless they were worn at a fancy dress party or on stage. Don't make a Pinterest board of "costumes" that is all extant clothing that real people wore as themselves. If it was some duchess' fancy dress costume from 1895 then you can put it in a costume board.

However (and this is where it gets admittedly obnoxious), I will say that costume designers design COSTUMES for actors, and clothes for characters. Get it?

Edited--I'm really going for quantifiable time with these definitions and so thought of the last broad label I could, so...
Ancient: of or relating to the historical period beginning with the earliest known civilizations and extending to the fall of the western Roman Empire in a.d. 476 (link)

So...(yes, I have changed all dates to reflect 2014)
Now--NOW
2000-2013--I don't know, outdated? limbo?
1984-1999--Retro
1915-1983--Vintage
477 AD-1914--Antique
476 AD and before--Ancient

Merlot/Lace mock up

I've been working all week on getting the pattern right for my merlot and lace dress. I don't have all the appropriate facilities or personnel and it's a beast. I draped it on a new form so that is an adventure, it has a Peter Pan collar to change whenever I change the neckline or shoulders, the absence of half the shoulder because of the open back is fun, and I discovered I have a forward right arm joint. I did a full mock up minus sleeves, then a bodice #2, then a bodice #3 with sleeves. I'd post pictures of the mock ups on me, but my garments are all over the place so ya'll get to see bodice #3 on the form.

I promise it looks much better on my crooked body. Real drapers probably wouldn't need three mock ups, but with my craziness and the open back and the collar etc. I want to get this right. Also, my life would be so much easier if I didn't have to worry about sleeves, which I will be changing to gusseted sleeves bc even though, as Jack has reminded me, I'm not an actor and won't be doing cart-wheels on stage, I hate not being able to move my arms.

Mock ups are so nice because you just draw all over them and chop them out. Now I have to be all careful about my marking blah blah blah, and the fabric is kind of squirrely.  I still have 5.5 weeks (eeeeee!!!) to get this done, but it's going to take some brain power. I better get started. Best case scenario I finish it early and it sits waiting for its debut. I won't wear it before New York. It needs a proper city introduction. 

Cities To Live In

I've been compiling a wishlist of things the city I choose for my career will have:

Good fish tacos: Because they are delicious
Theatre: so I can work and play
Opera: employment opportunity
Dance: employment opportunity
Fine arts museum with clothing collection: employment and research opportunity
Other museums: research and fun
Universities: employment opportunity
Public transport: for sanity's sake
Good shopping: fabric and clothing for work and play
Close to a Temple: so many these days!
East coast and/or international: the midwest is nice, and the west is nice, and the westcoast is ok for a visit, but I want to go EAST! lots of people, lots of history, lots of culture and people doing what I want to do.

Cities that fit this description (in order)?

NYC
tacos: it's NYC, they have to have good fish tacos
theatre: NYC is theatre, four LORT theatres
opera: The Met
dance: NYCB, ABT
clothing collection: The Met, Brooklyn Museum
museums: MOMA, Guggenheim, The Cloisters, Whitney Museum
universities: Columbia, NYU et al.
pub trans: The Subway, as good or better than the Tube? we'll have to see
shopping: NYC is shopping
temple: Manhattan Temple is across the street from Lincoln Center
location: East coast

London
tacos: are fish tacos a thing in London?
theatre: The National (government funded theatre), The Old Vic, The Young Vic, Shakespeare's Globe, The Westend. Need I go on?
opera: The Royal Opera
dance: The Royal Ballet
clothing collection: The Victoria and Albert, The London Museum
museums: Tate Britain, Tate Modern, John Soanes Museum, The Clink, The Globe, National Gallery, etc etc.
universities: lots
pub trans: The Tube, how I miss thee, and buses
shopping: SOHO, Harrods, High streets galore
temple: The London Temple's on Effington Road, I kid you not.
location: it's London. Not America, but who's counting?

Boston
tacos: no reports of tacos, but they must be there somewhere
theatre: need first hand info, but seems like they've got a pretty solid theatre scene, LORT: Huntington Theatre Company, American Rep (in Cambridge)
opera: Boston Lyric Opera, New England's largest opera company
dance: Boston Ballet
clothing collection: Museum of Fine Arts Boston (which has this beauty)
museums: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art, all the American history
universities: Harvard, BU, all of them
pub trans: rail, bus, subway, boat
shopping: the internet tells me there's good shopping
temple: Boston Temple
location: ab 4 hours from NYC

Philadelphia
tacos: Sarah says there are fish tacos
theatre: seems pretty legit? no first hand accounts from peers http://www.theatrealliance.org/member-list, LORT: Arden Theatre, People's Light and Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Wilma Theatre
opera: Philadelphia Opera
dance: Pennsylvania Ballet
clothing collection: Philadelphia Museum of Art
museums: Rodin Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, all of the American history
universities: U Penn
pub trans: Sarah says it's doable
shopping: Seems alright? fabrics? http://www.philadelphia.com/shopping/
temple: Philadelphia Temple completion in 2015-16,  Manhattan Temple is closest.
location: 2 hours from NYC, 5 hours from Boston

Washington D.C.
tacos: The food I had there was delicious, they must have good fish tacos somewhere
theatre: Kennedy Center, LORT: Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company
opera: Washington National Opera
dance: Washington Ballet
clothing collection: Museum of American History
museums: all of them
universities: Georgetown, American University, have heard nothing great ab their theatre programs.
pub trans: The Metro's alright
shopping: seemed nice
temple: D.C. Temple
location: about 4 hours from NYC

I can look at more inland locations in another entry, but I think these are my top.