The Dead

I'm sure everyone has a favorite movie.
Mine is The Dead which was John Huston's last film.
It is just a lovely, beautiful movie based on James Joyce's novella of the same name.
I read Dubliners years ago and The Dead has always stayed with me.
Joyce is normally hard to read, but that collection is very accessible and well, here, just read this lovely last paragraph:

"A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

How can you not fall in love with that?

So we went to see the movie when it came out and I try to catch it whenever on TV.
Last night I downloaded it from Amazon and I am so happy I did.
Just as lovely as I remember.





As a bonus here is Ewen McGregor (no Frank Patterson, God rest his soul, but still lovely) and Susan Lynch singing The Lass of Aughrim over the closing credits of Nora...another movie I quite like.

Vintage Rhythm Step Shoes

I just listed a great pair of vintage Rhythm Step shoes.
While I was doing a bit of research on the shoes I found this and this and this ad in Life magazine.
Enjoy.

You Belong To Me

One of my favorite songs (no not the damn Taylor Swift song)......














I had no idea* who Jason Wade was, but I loved his version on the Shrek soundtrack.

*I do now.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veteran's Day y'all.....

Why dogs are better then cats.



(I love my cats, but really if you come home from being away for months and months all they would do is hide under a bed and the pee on your shoes.)

Got the vid via Balloon Juice who posted it from a Mentalfloss
post that has more dog/soldier homecomings.

Vintage Street

The picture above was taken by a woman named Vivian Maier who's street photography was purchased by John Maloof at a Chicago auction. He is slowly posting her photographs at Vivian Maier-Her Discovered Work.

I love vintage photographs that are candids of real people just going about their daily business. There is something honest and striking about her photgraphs.
Via No Pattern Required.

Caledonia

Dougie MacLean

Happy Satan Day!!

Yes we celebrate Satan's birthday around here.
sigh...
Screw you evangelicals, leave Halloween alone and let the rest of us have our fun.

Vintage Halloween pictures maybe some of the creepiest things ever.




Have a fun Halloween!

Vintage Links

Detail of Vera Scarf

*Vintage Fashion Guild's "Fresh Vintage" where "VFG trade members will be posting a few of their newest listings."

* Atomic Tuesday over at The Girl Can't Help It.

* Fashion Bulletin Board over at Kickshaw Productions

* Fuzzy Lizzie has a couple of interesting posts one on Vera Neumann and the other on intarsia knit sweaters.

* Smart interview with Holly of Past Perfect Vintage is up at blog catalog, nice and concise tips on buying vintage clothing.

* Another post on the Vintage Fashion Guild is this week's Fashion Parade; Back-To-Black.

New Arrivals at Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns

Just a few of the new vintage patterns available at Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns.

1960's Pauline Trigère

Pretty 1930's Frock


1930's Dress with Unique Zip Neckline


60's Vogue Empire Waist Dress


1950's Halter Dress with Cape




1951 Swing Coat

Hey, yes that is an advertiser!!!

Jesus, I think I forgot to welcome Tina, What-I-Found Sewing Patterns, as my first real advertiser.
Seriously, she's the bomb and I am not just saying that because she paid me.
"I travel all over the country finding great sewing patterns, both old and new for all ages, sizes and eras. I think vintage sewing patterns are art, I think they are history, I think vintage and new sewing patterns are practical."

Great patterns, great prices and she is pretty darn nice too.
Now go by and take a few patterns off her hands.

Nikki Heat

I love Firefly.
I love Nathen Fillion which means I find Castle* a nice little show.
I love mysteries, which means every time the show is on I tell my husband "I wish Castle was a real series of mystery novels."

But look.
Not books about Castle and Beckett, she of the

oh

so

many

awesome

coats*,
but Heat Wave the Nikki Heat novel Castle has written with Beckett as his muse.
AARRRGGGGHHH
Can NOT believe I missed this.
And now I am broke and the new Dresden Files is coming out and I.Must.Own.Both.

Wonder just who is the author writing under the nom de plume of Richard Castle.

*If you watch the show, you will know what I mean. My theory on the coats is that she buy very basic clothes, shoes and has a no nonsense purse, but what she splurges on is awesome jackets and coats.
**You also know this means that if I had a Kindle already I could have downloaded a copy and would be reading it right now.

Cheif

Here he is under my desk.

Kitty Paws!

Off to watch Dollhouse and drink a very tall Kahlua and Cream.

Christmas is Coming

My list for Christmas was going to be quite easy.
A flat screen monitor and a Dell Mini.
I had decided the Mini would be perfect for me to surf the internet on the sofa and download e-books to read.
I've flirted with the idea of a Kindle, but I'm just.not.sure.

Now all I want is the Nook from Barnes and Noble.

Think Pink

Pink and Red Floral Vintage Day Dress

Think Pink in October.
10% of the proceeds from each pink (or with a touch of pink)
will be donated to the Susan G. Koman Foundation for The Cure
in honor of Mary Catherine Lamb.


Pink 50's Nightgown Bust 44

Pink and Silver Vintage 50's Prom Dress

Updates at Damn Good Vintage

Here's a roundup of the items I've listed in the past week.

1940's Black and Silver Lurex Dress Bust 42

1950's Dyed Full Slip B44

Early 60's Cocktail Dress from Mr. Mort

Vintage 50's Golden Copper Silk Shirtwaist Dress

Vintage 50's Pink, Black and Gray Rockabilly Dress

Pretty Multi-Colored Shoes, DelLiso Debs

Vote for Bitsy

Awwwww, Cutest Dog Contest.
How freaking cute is she?
Go vote for Bitsy.

What I'm Reading

Every night before I go to bed I take my Ambien and read for about 45 minutes.
While the pills help me stay asleep it still takes a some time for me to get sleepy so I'd rather read until I pass out then stare at a dark room.

I don't do "chick lit" or political books, it is mostly mysteries and a bit of supernatural stuff.

I am working my way though the Kurt Wallender books by Henning Mankill a Swedish author. Wallender is tenacious, brooding and a bit of a mess.
The novels are really quite good though at times the dialogue can seem stilted, but I wonder if that is more of a problem with translating them into English then Mankill's writing.
Still they keep my attention and in my head Wallender looks like Kenneth Branagh, so that's a plus.
One Step Behind and Firewall are in my pile now.

Let's see, I also got a copy of Hands of Flame which is book 3 of The Negotiator series from Paperspine today. I'm kinda "meh" about the heroine, Margrit Knight and her on again off again Gargoyle boyfriend, but the mythos of the "Old Races" along with a hot dragon dude and interesting vampire (even if the author fucks with vampire lore and that always annoys me) have kept me reading.

And just because:

Look At That Cadillac

Swanky.
Another picture from the estate sale last week.
The notation reads;

THE LE MANS — Cadillac's most exclusive experimental creation highlights the General Motors Motorama of 1953. Named for famous Le Mans — scene of the world-famed road race — this plastic fiberglass car powered by a 250 h.p, engine. Racy sports styling is combined with rare elegance — featuring specially embossed seat leather and jeweler engraved hood emblem, wheel discs and instrument panel surfaces. This single seat car is 5 1/2 lower than the standard Cadillac convertible, The Le Mans, according to Don E. Ahrens, Vice President of General Motors and General Manager of Cadillac Car Division, is regarded as the most advanced interpretation of American luxury-sports car styling.

The models outfit looks very Clare Mcardle-ish. A lot of designers would lend their designs and names to advertisements for luxury cars.

Bonus!
Look at That Cadillac from the Stray Cats, Live at the Savoy in 1983.
God we were all so young....

Nom Nom Nom

Dior Noir and Vintage Couture

Wenda Parkinson in Christian Dior’s 1949 hussar-style velvet-and-wool tailleur and black-fox muff, in Paris

John Galliano showed his newest collection for Dior this week.
Very Dior, Very Noir, Very Lauren Bacall:

"Galliano said he found the cinematic cue while thinking about Lauren Bacall. "She was a great Dior client; there are amazing photos of her in the salon with Bogart. It was that and Arletty in Hôtel du Nord," he said. That central character—a provocative, smoldering femme fatale with a side-parted, over-one-eye hairdo and red lips—gave him free reign to script a wardrobe narrative. It started with abbreviated wartime trenchcoats, flipped through silver lamé dresses, arrived at a sequence in which the heroine is seen in her scanties, and then followed her out to make a drop-dead entrance in some nightclub or other."

I like very much.
Well, except for the tacky socks and I hope he has gotten the whole underwear as outerwear thing out of his system.

September's Vanity Fair had an interesting article that both fashionistas and vintage lovers will find interesting.

"With the house of Lacroix filing for bankruptcy, and Yves Saint Laurent gone, some fear that haute couture is finished. But Paris's fashion phoenix has survived world war, cultural revolution and economic meltdown, reshaped to fit the times. (that is a really poorly worded sentence, no?) Tracing its lineage- Worth, Poiret, Chanel, Dior and onward- Amy Fine Collins describes the current incarnation: spectacular shows accessible to millions on the Internet and a new global client base in the Middle East, India and China."

Which is true.
I just went to Style.com and saw a collection that I would have never seen before the advent of the Internet without traveling to Paris or London.
The article is an interesting read on the history of haute couture with a nice collection of vintage fashion photographs.

If you have time click though Vivienne Westwood's RTW, it is of course crazy awesome, but she really has some great tailored pieces too.