Fun under $5.00. Download a Beatles song that you somehow do not have & two Françoise Hardy songs. I like her 2010 album La pluie sans parapluie. I was reminded of this when visiting the newish tumblr, le temps perdu, created by blogger friend agelessbeautyalways& secret fragile skies. She connected to a YouTube video of Il est des choses, here. (Noir sur blanc is one of Julie The Cat's favorite songs.)
On FH's beautifully designed website there are some videos & a slide-show of lovely FH photographs by Jean-Marie Périer. These include two with Bob Dylan, who wrote the poem referencing FH for the liner of Another Side of Bob Dylan. Bob--she wasn't interested in you. Men. They are so cheeky & clueless sometimes. (No this doesn't mean you, you.). Abonnez-vous à la newsletter de Françoise Hardy, ici.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, it really doesn't have to be, eh? Playing the Beatles & Françoise has calmed Julie. She's had one long asthma attack since Thursday evening. It's really upsetting. Busy trying to track down the dust or whatever the offender may be, making bread, visiting fabric, knitting, & other textile blogs & sites. I really like Kitty Couture by a bilingual Frenchwoman, Isabelle. Her tagline: No garment is complete without kitty fluff. (If it's going to happen anyway, do as a cat & act like that was the plan all along.)
Giveaways I have seen lately: Cabbages & Roses fabric via Lobster & Swan. She has links to 3 other blogs holding C&R giveaways - all themed to different colors. Leave a comment by 29 November to enter.
Photographs via the website & Annie's Poetic & Chic's Bang Envy series. I still laugh at this (not at her!)...someone stopped me once a day last week: I love your bangs/hair. Why don't they have some cut then? Ooh. I don't think I can. It's what I hear about hats & why people can't wear them. Yes they can.
Once at a fairly large wedding, I was the only person, seriously, to wear a hat. If nothing else, it protected me from the blazing summer sun. Oooh. IloveyourhatIcannotwearthem. Later that summer, I took approx. 15 wedding guests - one at a time - hat shopping. They all looked great.
So I'm not a genius (I knew it. Double rats.). But I have seen flashes of "Hopper" in Mad Men shots, themes, motifs. Never more so than a quick frame from last week's episode, Hands and Knees. Just took a quick look at Basket of Kisses before I head out this morning. Here is Art Imitating Art. (image via Tate (UK) org) Update - later that day...another post from last year--they don't miss a thing, those clever Basket Cases.
Maureen Dowd (a redhead) wrote a terrific column last week about the death of the grown-up romantic comedy. She has an email give & take with Sam Wasson, the 28-year-old author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M., the best seller about the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I agree that the stupid movies probably confuse younger people a lot. Too close an inspection of many cupcake & pink unicorn blogs is worrying. Infantilization--especially when you do it to yourself for cryin' out loud--ain't (grown-up) sexy. Here's a bit of what Sam has to say:
"I am not joking when I say that because there is nothing to see (especially, and tragically, in romantic comedy) my girlfriend and I have had to stay home and in some cases fight. If there were better movies out there, I am sure so many relationship disasters may have been averted. Also, romantic comedies, the good ones, taught me how to love, or at least instructed me on how to try. If I were falling in love now for the first time and going to see this garbage thinking this was real, I would be in deep [expletive]. It was only after I saw ‘Annie Hall’ as a wee Jew that I realized what it was to be a person in love. It has been a touchstone ever since." Really, you need to read the column, here.*
Today I thought good thoughts about all the (many) redheads in my family, friends, former colleagues, actresses, a great singer-song writer (who inspired the song), & a columnist for the NYTimes. If you choose to be a redhead, I salute you & welcome to the club. My hair hasn't been red-red in quite awhile, but most people still think of me as one. Here are a few for some Sunday fun. (Sadly none are of friends or family -- or me -- because I Have Yet To Scan, But I Promise To. Really.) ciao-for-now
*PS: And now, I'll add a redheaded man to the list; as much as he has peeved so many of us, Woody Allen did write & make Annie Hall.
Update - a few people have emailed, what the hell? So here's part of the song:
A red headed woman It takes a red headed woman To get a dirty job done -Mr. Springsteen
[photographs via verdoux, myvintagevogue, AMC. There were others I liked but wow, tumblrs that I won't name because they are not sexy, they are gross.Ooof. See? These people don't know the difference.]
Mille grazie to Maria Caterina di Perugia for a wonderful day at her house. She even picked me up & brought me back; I'm rather tottery lately, so this was a huge help. Lovely lunch. Discussed possibility of trip to Bath, Wales, & Cornwall within a reasonable time-frame (well, you have to plan these things). MCat received a gorgeous red-fabric bound set of collected Jane Austen from the Jane Austen Centre for her first anniversary (yesterday). My haul: three kinds of tomatoes, little peppers, heaps of basil, rosemary, sage, black-eyed Susans, & marigolds. Yay. I look forward to house-sitting whilst they are away at the beach later this month. Birds, two cats (one being My Julie), breezy house, & garden. No weirdo neighbor with secret meth lab. (I'm only half-kidding.)
All clean & tidy & happy-ish, claws sheathed, I logged on to see (as I did this a.m.) where/why iTunes had not downloaded the second episode of Mad Men (yes, it is a priority...you should read & look at the stuff I have to, then you'd know why). Thought it was me; no it was not. That was no small sum I paid for a season pass. Bad Apple!
Hope you had a great Monday. If you're a Bachelorette fan, Joanna at Cup of Jo is holding a series finale confab, here. (Me? No, but have a good time.) See ya in the funny papers.
Beautiful photo shoot of Christina Hendricks (aka Joan Holloway Harris), here, via LA Times Magazine blog. The amusing-to-me Mad Men Blog: Basket of Kisses. Normally, I do not care about being nearly a year behind in programs, but I'll watch this season via iTunes. Leaving out details about how familiar this is from childhood. It was a mess but we had some great clothes, some great parties (well, my mother did--we watched from the top of staircase, except for ritual pass-through-in-adorable-pajamas-time. Not complaining.).
Update--the Madness just doesn't end. Here's The Definitive Mad Men Summer Reading List from Flavorwire (first seen on the Poetry Foundation's blog, Harriet). I've been waiting for this, actually. As in, "why doesn't someone make a list about what these people were reading?"
Saturday update--iTunes download/Season pass ready. For people new to watching online (I am), here's the link to AMC Mad Men site. To get ready for Season 4, you can watch Season 3 finale, Shut the Door.Have a Seat for free. Here are all the ways to watch...
Bad Hair Day for the Pulsatilla; Shy Ferns; Hosta: Greens by generous Olga.
The first shot reminds me of the little Danish trolls many of us had as children. Yes, I made clothes for them & there were dances, weddings (yikes), & so forth. I didn't like any shots in a 5-minute search for the little guys (& girls), but here's a site that includes the original Danish manufacturer of the real trolls, DAM at Trollhouse DK (in English & Danish).I wish I had a set of trolls right now.
Hey, it's only the fifth day of Christmas. Some people want to rush things. Anyway, I'm still not feeling very well but this is an excuse to: 1) put in a sweet year-end photograph from the folks at the NSW Australian State Library (by my fave Sam Hood), & 2) say hooray for Bruce's Kennedy Center honor. (Plus a shout-out to the local boy who still can't believe he's in the band:)
Fun under $5.00. Download a Beatles song that you somehow do not have & two Françoise Hardy songs. I like her 2010 album La pluie sans parapluie. I was reminded of this when visiting the newish tumblr, le temps perdu, created by blogger friend agelessbeautyalways & secret fragile skies. She connected to a YouTube video of Il est des choses, here. (Noir sur blanc is one of Julie The Cat's favorite songs.)
