This Sunday I was lucky enough to get to see a fantastic performance of the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Eroica Trio (for free, no less). They preformed Beethoven's 3rd symphony, which marked Beethoven's shift from away the classical school and towards the romantic. While not my absolute favorite, it is definitely up there, and it was beautifully preformed. Besides their skill, the other great thing about the Pittsburgh symphony is that they preform in Heinz Hall, a fantastically opulent 20's era movie theater turned concert hall that has been recently restored, with all the gilt and thick red velvet you could want.
I was going to a matinee, but still wanted to dress up a bit. In general Pittsburgh is a casual town, but it is also pretty old fashioned. If you are going to the opera or symphony in the evening you will probably see at least a few men in tuxes and ladies in evening gowns, but for a matinee it's more on the order of "Sunday best".
I find I am getting a huge amount of wear out of this camisole. The lace insert adds a touch of elegance, without being over the top. Of course it requires some cardigan or similar to go over it and I went with the lacy teal one for a bit of color, and also because it matches my new sugar skull earring which I am kind of over-fond of. It was a bit cold for lacy tights on Sunday, but sometimes one must suffer for style, and it made a good excuse to stop in for a post-concert chai before going to wait for the bus.
Earrings: Loungefly
Necklace: underground (literally, not as in illicit) pearl market in Shanghai
Eyes: Pan-Galactically Banned Ale shadow by Geek Chic Cosmetics, and L'Oreal HIP cream eyeliner in black
Lips: Bordeaux lipstick by Rimmel
Lace of course!
One fateful night at my local knitting group we were discussing how terrible and rom-com-saccharine most novels about knitting groups (yes, this is a genre) are, even more terrible than the post Twilight wave of crappy vampire novels. An idea was born, and now we are collaboratively writing a knitting vampire (and witch, werewolf, and were-spider) novel. I have sort of taken over writing for the vampire character, partially because as she is from the Shetland Islands in the18th Century and so requires some research and occasionally, just for fun, I like to use the History degree I am more than $20,000 dollars in debt for. Mostly though I just seem to be finding it very easy to write for the extremely fussy (even possibly to the point of mild-OCD), precise, opinionated, and slightly bossy former farm-girl. No idea why.
Anyhoodle, as this is a knitting novel I have been basing a lot of the character work on what sort of things she would knit. Happily this character work perfectly coincided with Sophistique Noire's one-day theme event of lace because of course, she would be a lace knitter, having cut her teeth in mortal life on the sort of jaw-dropping wedding ring shawls (so called because they can pass entirely through a wedding band) which the Shetland Islands are famous for:
In her long life she has only loved once, and it was certainly not with the dull sheep farmer to whom she was once betrothed, but with Herbert Niebling from whose beautiful mind flowed the sort of design dreams are made of:
Of course one doesn't knit precious masterpieces all the time, even if one is immortal and usually knits with pointed bicycle spokes. Our vampire lady engages in the sort of profession where one would need a few easy pieces which looked suitably darkly romantic yet still kept off the chill of a Pittsburgh evening. Something like this Dragon Wings shawl:
A well-liked long standing patron might be favored with something neck-covering like this or this come Christmas.
You know what I like even better than historical fiction? Historical fiction IN SPACE!!!!!!!! The series "Firefly" and companion movie Serenity are basically about a band of former Confederate soldiers (imagining that the Civil War really had just been about States' rights to secession and not slavery) in the Wild West, only in the future and in space, doing whatever is necessary to get by and stay away from Federal authority. This works well and they survive mostly on mild piracy, smuggling, and occasionally legal transport jobs until they take on a passenger who happens to be the number one wanted man in the galaxy, after smuggling his brilliant but deranged sister out of an evil government lab (one of the slightly less historical parts).
Based on that description it could have been a really dumb show, however it is extremely well written with fantastic and densely textured world-building and a tightly constructed plot. However, the real strength of Firefly is the characters, who are nuanced, interesting, realistic, and pretty entertaining. I was trying to find a short clip that sort of captured what was really great about this show, but I found I couldn't find just one, so instead here is one for every major character. Mal (somewhat NSFW) Kaylee Wash Jayne Zoe Simon River Shepard Book
Of course, the other great thing about Firefly is the whole aesthetic. It's this very bizarre, yet somehow coherent mash-up of Western, modern, chinoiserie, and Fifth-Element style futuristic that ends up with a Western Steampunk feel. This outfit is a version of that wearable for class and a day of running around. Of course Steampunk means brown and other earth-tones and I added some cowboy boots and a wide belt to give it a more Western feel. Eventually I will figure out how to mod this sure so it fits better.
Shirt: Tee Fury
Belt and tights: Torrid
Skirt: In the Starlight
Earrings: Target
Boots: ebay, by L.e.i.
I wore theme-appropriate makeup, specifically the eyeshadows from Geek Chic' Big Damn Heroes (Firefly themed) line, specifically: Inevitable Betrayal on the lower lid, Very Fine Hat as an eyeliner, and Captain Tightpants in the crease.
It is now the official second day of Autumn, or as like to think of it, the absolute unarguable best season: the air is crisp and a bit chilly, the sky is often grey and rainy (I like that), I can wear all the cool sweaters, wool socks, and shawls I knit all year, and all the best seasonal produce comes in (apples, squash, hearty greens). The best part of fall and early winter is the food because until at least Thanksgiving* it is time to pumpkin spice! all the things! In the moderately quaint** town I went to college in they had a Pumpkin festival every year with 12 kinds of pumpkin pie, pumpkin walnut fudge (the best kind of fudge, no question), and everything else pumpkin flavored. Since graduating I just have to make my own fun, pumpkin-wise.
Some Favorites: Pumpkin Spice tea Pumpkin Spice caffeinated hot chocolate (proof the god loves grad students) Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls (still tweaking a gluten-free version, but just be sure to use cream cheese icing) Chocolate Pumpkin cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting Pumpkin Gnocchi with balsamic glaze and shavings of aged Parmesan.
And Pumpkin Beef stew (see below)
Accessing your Pumpkin:
While mostly canned pumpkin is fine, if you have something that needs chunks of pumpkin you are going to need to break open a pumpkin. It is really laborious to cut into a whole pumpkin, but once cracked, easy to cut through. The solution to this vexing problem is really, the main reason to cook pumpkin from scratch because it is fun. Take your pumpkin, rinse off the outside, place and firmly tie in two sturdy plastic bags, go find some cement or rock slab and try to find a spot some height above it, then hurl your pumpkin onto the cement slab, repeat as necessary until you have a few large cracks, and pull the pumpkin open.
Peel the pumpkin by cutting off the peel with a melon or bread knife, do not attempt to use a vegetable peeler.
Pumpkin Beef Stew (everything good about fall in a pot)
Note: a pretty good vegan stew can be made replacing the beef with chickpeas, and beef stock with veg
1 small-ish pie pumpkin (around 2 1/2- 3 pounds), scooped, peeled and cubed
2-3 lbs beef stew meat
1 large sweet onion, sliced into thin quarter moons
1/2 Tbs quatre epices (can be found at World Market or made by mixing equal parts: black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger)
3 Tbs Tomato paste
1 bottle hard cider, any variety but granny smith/green apple
About 2 cups good beef stock
1/2 bunch kale (optional), spine removed and cut into large-ish pieces
Sprinkle beef generously with salt and pepper than coat in flour (I use sweet rice for this). Heat some oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat, then brown beef on all sides and remove from pan. Lower heat to medium low and add onions, cook until beginning to caramelize, then add tomato paste and cook a few minutes more until caramelized and sticking to the pot, add spices and cook one minute more. De-glaze with half a cup of cider, scraping pot bottom clean. Add in the rest of the cider, beef, and pumpkin, then enough beef stock to cover and salt to taste. Bring to a boil then lower to simmer. Let simmer for about an hour or more, or until the beef and pumpkin are both tender. 15 minutes before it is finished (about) add kale. Eat. It's really perfect with a nice smoky black tea like Russian Caravan or the more intense Lapsang Souchang.
*At which point peppermint flavored everything comes in, and, you know...
** On the one hand, it was the birthplace of Jimmy Stewart and had a Jimmy Stewart museum, located in the postcard-perfect main street, that played "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Kruger's Christmas" double features every weekend in December; but on the other hand was the particularly disgusting frat row, and all that entails.
Favorite male character: Nobody Owens from The Graveyard Book, who can speak politely across more than five centuries of changing customs, among other things.
Favorite female character: This one was incredibly difficult and honorable mentions go to Sunny Baudelaire, Alianne from the Trickster books, and of course Luna Lovegood, but if there can be only one: Death of The Endless, because she is so convincingly the person you would want to have a cup of tea and a sit down with at the worst time of your life.
A book that disappointed you: Just the first one that popped into my head, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. It was okay, but it was so hyped that my reaction was “meh”.
Favorite book turned into a movie: I am interpreting this as “best movie adaptation”. I don’t think a movie adaptation necessarily has to completely follow the movie to be good, but rather that it should be judged on its own merits. For instance, the relationship between the movie “Adaptation” and The Orchid Thief is so tenuous many people I have discussed to movie with did not realize it was an actual book, but it is a really good movie all the same. I will say that if you turn out a mediocre movie when you had great source material it should count against, but otherwise I don’t think movie adaptations should necessarily be judged through the prism of their books. Which is why my favorite movie adaptation of a book is ….
Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Certainly it changed a number of things from the book, but I think it shared the spirit of the original and can anyone forget the Red Heart SuperSaver Rainbow Ombre vomit when they were all knitted, or Alan Rickman as Marvin…
Favorite book from your childhood: Matilda -- Of course Matilda is a favorite of all girl book nerds, but it was my absolute favorite as a kid. I was gifted, but dyslexic so I had to take normal or even remedial classes where I was not just bored but boooooorrrred. Reading Matilda always made me think that maybe if I was just bored enough I would develop telekinesis. I used to try to levitate chalk when my teachers were being particularly repetitive. I’ll leave it a mystery whether or not it ever worked.
Favorite book you own: *If I can have a moment of disturbing library-nerdery* It only makes sense to me to answer this on the item level. Of course basically anyone who owns books at all probably has a copy of their very favorite work, so if it is ownership that is important then it must by the item level that is being referenced. In that case it can only be my copy of The Globe Illustrated Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It has gilded edges, a puffy-leather cover, and, for that extra touch of pathos, an inner inscription from the original purchaser to the person they bought it for (I got it from a used store) saying they hope the giftee will treasure it all their life.
A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t: The Name of the Rose
It sounds good but I tend to forget about it and read something shinier instead.
A book that you wish more people would’ve read: The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Not only is this book fantastic: magical, dark, transporting, with wonderful crosshatched illustrations, making it a book I have urged many people to read, but I recently discovered they are making it into a movie which, based on the preview, will strip it of all its original virtue, so I want everyone to read it so as not to unfairly judge it by the movie.
A character who you can relate to the most: Chester from Bunnicula - I have always been sarcastic, bookish, and vaguely misanthropic, even as a small child. I don’t have school photos from elementary because I refused to smile for the cameraman as I found him patronizing and cutesy. My mom, upon hearing this explanation, was torn between irritation and being impressed that I knew the word “patronizing” in first grade. Children’s literature doesn’t have many characters to relate to for little misanthropes. Most characters (especially little girls) are adventursome, hearty, sassy, and cheerful, but then there was Chester; a bookish, skeptical, reclusive, slightly paranoid cat, who always had a bon mot and a dark look for any occasion.
A book that changed your opinion about something: Inventing the Victorians: basically this book is all about how our conception of the Victorians as incredibly stuffy and sexually repressed is a complete BS narrative manufactured in the early 20th century as a way of discussing how far society has progressed.
The most surprising plot twist or ending [Therefore at least some degree of spoiler]: I’ll keep it to a minimum, but the very fact of something having a surprise ending is somewhat spoiler-y. Affinity by Sarah Waters -- A few people I have gotten to read this book found it boring and couldn’t hold out for the crazy surprise ending, but really, I don’t understand. It is an atmospheric ghost story that delves into the worlds of Spiritualism/Theosophy and women’s prisons in the Victorian era, all under-girded with simmering sexual tension. I am literally incapable of understanding how that adds up to boring.
Favorite title: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Knowing nothing else about this book but the title, don’t you want to read it?
A book everyone hated but you liked: The Scarlet Letter - I realize that required High School English texts generate a disproportionate amount of hatred, but I was still always surprised by how much everyone hated this one. I liked it.
Your favorite book of all time: I am going to quote Neil Gaiman: “Picking five favorite books is like picking five body parts you’d most like not to lose”. I can’t do it. I genuinely do not have a favorite book, and certainly not a favorite books of all time. I could maybe identify a favorite book for certain periods of my life, but that’s it.
This is an ordinary workday outfit that I really like. I finished this dress over a year ago (the fabric was an amazing score during a $1.99 yard sale at Fashion Fabrics Club) and ever since have been trying to figure out how to belt it in a way that neither looks nor feels awkward. Without a belt it is shapeless and feels somewhat nightgown-ish. Eventually I realized my problem was the arbitrary decision I had made to have the belt form an empire waist. The belt I am wearing here is the only one I have that does not have silver fastenings, which looked incredibly weird with this dress, but this belt is so stiff and shaped to slightly dip at the buckle, and it was really awkward right under my bust. Don't ask me why it took a year to come up with the radical solution of just putting the belt at my waist. I think it just goes to show you can get these limiting ideas about how something is "supposed" to be worn that can limit creativity or just leave you with a really awkward outfit.
Since I had a reasonably conservative outfit I wore slightly funky makeup, Cleopatra eyes in gold and olive.
PS: I accidentally scared a neighbor child who passed by my briefly open door right when a creepy spoken German part of a Sopor Aeternus song came on; meaning I am one step closer to my goal of being the old lady whose yard neighborhood kids are too afraid to retrieve balls from. I still need to work on my cackle though, that's about standards.
I'm not hugely into vampire novels generally. I think there is a lot of potential in a character, generally a villain, who is inhumanly strong and powerful but also maintains a wide swath of vulnerability. That combination of power teetering on deep insecurity is compelling whether it is found in Dracula or Regina George. The need to feed off the lives of others to survive also has potentially interesting implications. Does this make vampires automatically evil, or tend them to become so due to cognitive dissonance (often dependent on whether or not the author allows them to survive on other animals, or how much blood they actually need)? Are the changes from human to vampire strictly physical or is the a spiritual aspect (a la Buffy where becoming a vampires involves losing their souls and becoming part-demon)? Also immortality, as a character trait, has a lot of potential. What do they do with their infinite years? Does it ever get boring, and why do we so often assume it would?* In the right hands, and with solid world-building these characteristics make vampires pretty potentially interesting characters, but for whatever reason, it doesn't seem like you run across that very often. I don't think I need to go into Twilight and all the wrongness, but suffice it to say, you can have a basically invulnerable villain and have a good story (although it kind of defeats the purpose of vampires if you ask me), but having a basically invulnerable protagonist is thunderingly boring (and of all the things you could do with immortality, going to high school over and over again? really?).
That meandering intro is just to say, despite not being a big vampire fan, I really enjoyed Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. The basic premise is that instead of being killed at the end of Dracula, Dracula escapes and meets and woos an older widowed Queen Victoria, becoming the Prince Consort and re-making London as a vampire paradise. I have a pretty major soft spot for well done alternate history so I went in inclined to like this book. Caveat aside, it is really well done. The characters are all intriguing, and in fact there are many I would have liked to know more about, and the world building is really solid. One of the greatest challenges for a writer seeking to lay out a whole mythology (what are vampires? how does one become such? how do they survive? what is their moral/spiritual orientation? what are their weaknesses) is how to avoid being really pedantic about it, such as by having the narrator or any character just explain it all. Authors often use novices or ignorant characters, such as in Harry Potter, where Harry was raised in the muggle world and had to have everything about magic explained, but that can get pretty pedantic too if you aren't careful. The world of Anno Dracula is filled with vampires, so some of the main characters are vampires, become vampires over the course of the story (in a pretty nice bit of showing not telling, actually), or are friends/rivals/acquittance with such and there is plenty of opportunity for natural observations, with little straight out explanation necessary and easily worked into small chunks throughout the novel. Anno Dracula is also deeply morally complex and interesting. While vampires don't need to kill to survive, only to take what seems to be pretty trivial amounts of blood, there are beginning to be some, shall we say, supply and demand issues as the vampire population begins to rival that of the living. That fact really complexifies the morality of vampire hunters, you know. No worries though, Dracula himself is still a monster. I am completely against reforming Dracula as a Byronic hero. Dude was called "The Impaler" in life, so I don't see how a transformation to a creature that feeds on the life of others would be an improvement. You can do it, but it's going to take a lot of justification before I am willing to go along with it.
Now, some of you may be thinking "okay, so it has technically good writing, but is it interesting and fun to read?" Technically good writing is its own justification! *ahem* Yes, yes it is. [possible spoilers ahead] The main thrust of the novel is in the re-framing of Jack the Ripper as a vampire hunter, with an agent of the Diogenes Club and a pretty awesome lady Elder vampire (who is always careful to emphasize her utter lack of blood relation to Dracula) acting as detectives. There is plenty of Victorian name-dropping, side references, and such to amuse the history buff, and the ending is just fantastic and surprising in ways I refuse to even allude to.
*On a sidenote, my favorite fictional immortal is Hob Galdling from Sandman who finds the world just so constantly intriguing that he continues to love living in it (even if Renn Faires make him cranky)
Earrings: Loungefly
