I added Kate O'Hara's Hot Cuppa TV Blog over in the Vagina Enhanced Human's blog link list because she's interviewed Benedict Cumberbatch.
I'm shallow like that.
And hey, it's another reason to slap his sexy mug on the blog too.

I feel I should add that this newest group of photos that cropped up from this NYTs interview has me jonesing for The Batch in a 40's Noir remake. Seriously, add a fedora and a gun holster and he's a private dick or a gangster.
And he'd be able to use that American accent he seems to want to use.
Someone needs to make this happen.

I Love a Man in Uniform

So I saw War Horse at Christmas.
Mostly because I wanted to see Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Hiddleston (LOKI in Thor and Avengers) in uniforms.
It was what I expected, a good film that would have been a great film with a bit more editing.
All of the actors did a wonderful job, it is a beautifully rendered movie, but the truth is it was the best when we were watching the "war" part.
Whatever, because oh, there were some lovely men in manly uniforms
The boots and gloves the officers had were just too. die. for.

Look at those boots:

Rawr.
One more:

Which is all a way to say I thoroughly enjoyed this interview with costume designer Johanna Johnston from Clothes On Film.

Thanks to Cumberbatchweb for the heads up on the article.

New Favorite Website

The Vagenda.

A team effort with some excellent young feminist writers.

Vintage Online

First I need to just point you in the direction of  Photo Timeline. I used Dior beginning in 1947 to make this timeline.
Very cool.

Next take a gander at this:

 On Wednesday, the Museum of the City of New York announced the opening of an online-only show of its extensive holdings of the work of two couturiers, Charles Frederick Worth and Main Rousseau Bocher, the designer known as Mainbocher.

The detail of description of each garment is just wonderful. 
A vintage lover's dream. 
Here is the link to the online exhibition: MCNY Collection

Green

It is just so incredibly green and the light so sharp this time of the year.

Trust

Yesterday I was sitting at the computer and noticed a guy walking around my yard.
(I am normally home alone in this backwoods place with all the neighbors at work.)

So I got up and went to the door to ask him what he needed while my mad dogs barked their "please let us eat him" bark.
Sweaty, dirty and carrying a gas can this guy looked like Daryl from The Walking Dead with an unfortunate lack of hotness.

No dead squirrels over his shoulder though.

So he said he needed gas because he had broken down on the other side of the woods, that's like 4 miles.
I was all "dude, no gas, but would you like to use the phone?"
Not-hot-Daryl "no one to call."
Me. "Okayyy, maybe some water? I'll get you a glass"
NHD: "I'll just get some from the hose"

I boggle, but whatever.
He leaves but starts walking in the neighbor's backyards. So I'm a bit "yeah, right" and dial 911. I explain what is going on, but tell the gal I really don't want to get the guy in trouble, but maybe a car can come by and help him.
NHD disappears and at some point I see a country sheriff care cruise the neighborhood.
I figure it was over.

Oh no.

About 4pm when hubs gets home NHD is back. This time dirtier, with bleeding feet from blisters and no gas can.
NHD: I guess you were right...
Me: Phone?
(I need to stop here and let ya'll know that this guy was very sweet and incredibly polite with lots of "yes ma'ms.)
So I send hubs out with phone and some iced tea, NHD calls his brother WHO WILL NOT COME GET HIM so my sweet husband gave him a ride to his brother's place.
Come to find out NHD, who is not the smartest tack in the box, rode his brother's four wheeler out (that would be without permission) behind our place, broke down, found gas, got water in gas line so four wheeler was now not just out of gas but broken down which was why said brother would not come get him.

At 10 pm NHD and his brother (who I never saw) came by, borrowed a flash light and some alcohol to clean out the line and get the vehicle out of the woods. He gave me a $1 for the bottle of alcohol.
Sigh.

So I'm glad the cops did not find this poor dude wandering the neighborhood because it would probably have not ended well and I'm glad my crazy neighbor was not home during all of this because he would have shot the poor guy.
Some days you just have to trust your fellow man.

Pancakes

Pancakes.

I love pancakes.

(I did find a recipe for a pancake cake. I mean..my mind...IT WAS COVERED WITH ICING. Pancakes. Covered with icing.)

I love the pancakes you get at some restaurants, fluffy and sweet, they melt a bit in your mouth, perfect...like heaven.

Unfortunately my pancake making skills have been known to elicit howls laughter from my family so I just stopped making them.

Except I still craved them.

It was a cosmic joke.

Then I found the following recipe.

It is a bit of a pain in the ass, more trouble then opening a box and mixing in water, but worth it.

(Typing this out because I don't know where I got it and the piece of paper it is printed on is not long for this world. Messy cook.)

3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour

2 Tbl Sugar

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 tea Baking Powder

Pinch Salt

1 Tbl melted butter

*1 Cup Cottage Cheese or Ricotta (I prefer the CC, you'll want to drain it a bit)

3/4 Cup Whole Milk

3 Eggs Separated

1/2 tea Vanilla Extract

*Using an immersion blender (or whatever you have) immerse up and down in the cottage cheese until it is the consistency of Ricotta.

Whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in bowl. 

Combine whichever cheese you choose, melted butter, milk, egg YOLKS and vanilla in a sep. bowl and whisk until smooth.

Beat the egg whites in a mixer until stiff .

Add the dry mix to the wet mix stirring gently until just combined. 

Add small amount of whites to lighten batter then fold in the remaining whites.

I cook on a cast iron griddle and I always seem to fuck up the first few pancakes because, well, I suck making pancakes. 

I have found that if I make small pancakes they are easier for me to flip and do not become a ridiculous mess.

Of course the lesson here is that even though my pancakes might still look like (even with this recipe) they are now fluffy and taste yummy.

Holy Jebus. I went looking for a vintage image and those Aunt Jemima ads are just incredibly racist and SAMBO'S...Lord I had forgotten all about Sambo's. I can remember eating at one when I was a kid in the 60's.

*image from Dave's Cupboard

WTH Adsense?

Seriously, if you are seeing a fucking ad from some bull shit pro-life group on my blog right now I'm as confused as you.
So don't sign their damn petition, but instead donate money to NARL or Planned Parenthood or Emily's List because if there is one thing I do not support it is the anti-choice/ anti-women /pro-women as incubators movement.

Sexism 101

Difference bet. Limbaugh & Maher is *not* that one is sexist the other isn't. The difference is that only one would strip women's basic rights
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) March 10, 2012

Woman's Home Companion 1910

Woman's Home Companion, March 1910
The Fashion Department
Conducted by Grace Margaret Gould

These are scans of a magazine page I have framed and hanging on my wall. On the back is an advertisement for Himalaya Cloth "an exact reproduction of the fashionable rough silks" along with drawings of these two dresses.

While the S-curve corset looks incredibly uncomfortable and I thank the Gods that I live in the age of cotton knit I have always loved the fashions of the Gibson Girl/ Edwardian era. 1910 of course is towards the end of this time and with the beginning of WW1 more realistic, comfortable styles took hold.

Vintage Dior at the Oscars

Natalie Portman wore a vintage Dior (1954 H-Line) gown last night.
Love the polka dots.

The H line of 1954 with its exaggerated body contortions generated considerable negative publicity. The design shifted the bosom up and incorporated the hipline of the middy as the crossbar of H. Dior’s intention had been to create the illusion of a longer, leaner look. The controversy primarily centered on the treatment of the bust. The constricting bodices pushed up the breasts sometimes resembling the sixteenth-century Tudor style costumes of Anne Boleyn.

                                - As Seen In Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising*

I love the the ruching low on the back of the skirt.

Click here to go to Rare Vintage where you can see the gown details.

*I have a collection of 1954 Vogues, I might look though them tonight and see if this dress was in any editorial shoots.

Early Spring

Vintage Desserts: Chiffon Cake

Chiffon Cake was developed in the 1930's that is between Angel Food and Pound Cake in texture.
I don't really like Angel Food, but Pound Cake just uses too much butter and eggs so I decided to try making a Chiffon Cake using this recipe from America's Test Kitchen. (you have to register to view).

Got a new pan with little legs so it could sit inverted while the cake cooled.

The first time I made it the egg whites were too stiff so they did not fold well and the

cake did not raise as well as it did this time.

Totally delish with strawberries and whipped cream.

Vintage Pattern 1940

Vintage Simplicity dress pattern from 1940.
I was watching Mildred Pierce ( the Joan Crawford movie, not the dire HBO remake) when listing this and the style seem to fit for the title character. Attractive, but no nonsense.
Can be purchased HERE.

In Which Megan McArdle Annoys Me

*

Ugh.
I got into a short discussion on The Atlantic regarding abortion, Planned Parenthood and Virginia's new law that would force women seeking abortions to get invasive vaginal ultrasounds in the early weeks of their pregnancy. Because women are too stupid to know what being pregnant means I guess.


Ugh.
The whole thing makes me crazy.
(As a bit of background information I had an trans-vaginal ultrasound in the first month or so of my pregnancy because of pain and a bit of bleeding. The Doctor wanted to check to see if I might be having an etopic pregnancy.
The probe was huge, mutant dildo huge, with a ball on the end.  In any other situation I would have to be incredibly drunk and incredibly horny to allow something that big to be stuck up my vagina. It was painful and humiliating and totally wonderful because it allowed us to make sure everything was OK and completely voluntary.)

McArdle:" I think that abortion should be legal, but I also think that it should be a last resort, and I'm all for the government using any non-coercive methods it can to encourage women to carry their pregnancy to term, including things that will make them feel bad about aborting. I think, for example, that sonograms should be mandatory before termination, I'm in favor of waiting periods and parental notification laws, and I'm agnostic on spousal notification."


I wrote:
Seriously, you think that women are so stupid about what is in their wombs that they should be forced to have an invasive vaginal ultrasound before they can get their legal abortion?
Ever had one?
I have, 19 years ago, worst experience  in an OBs office I ever had. Think sex toy but of terrifying proportions.


Her Response:
Ever had an abortion?   Considerably more invasive than a trans-vaginal ultrasound.  In fact, there are lots of worse things that happen in women's health clinics; be glad you haven't experienced any of them.


My Response:
That's your response Megan?
It's not as bad as an abortion so lay back and "think of England"?
Like I asked, do you think women don't know what it means to be pregnant?  Do you think that roadblocks ultrasounds do anything but cost more money and cause some woman to have later and more dangerous procedures?
Here's the thing Megan having an abortion is voluntarily while having a probe (which take it from me was painful and a bit humiliating) stuck up your vagina at the behest of the state is NOT voluntary.


And being voluntary is the point and why her bullshit response to me is infuriating.

This response was from a "Libertarian". 

How much bull shit is that? 

In the name of fewer abortions she is OK with The State forcing a woman to submit to a bodily invasive procedure (or even just a regular ultrasound) that the woman has to pay for before she can get the totally legal and completely voluntary procedure she has already had plenty of time to think about. We don't need to be informed of what is in our wombs. 

We know.

Woman in the need of abortions do not need roadblocks  and ways to feel bad about what they plan on doing, they need to be supported. I wonder how many women who feel "bad" about having an abortion would have no issues if they were not made to feel they were doing something terribly wrong and shameful?


So ugh Megan, way to be supportive.


The other new argument in favor of invasive sonograms is more of the "well you've already had a cock in your va-jay-jay so why should a probe be a big deal?" Once again it is NOT about the probe, which I assume with technology is no longer mutant sex toy size, but with the fact that is is not voluntary. It is a foreign object that is being forcibly inserted into a woman's vagina.


A few other blogs noticed the conversations too:
Here at TBogg and The Hunting of the Snark.


*Yes, he was totally worth it even if he did find the whole idea of a "dildo sized probe" quite hilarious when his father and I were discussing The MaArdle-bargle.

MCM House Envy

Look at that door knob people!

I want to buy that house.

Go to No Pattern Required and take a look-see.

Life Covers The New Look, 1948

Life Covers The New Look. 1948

Dior Bar Suit Sketch from Design Museum. 

More

For some reason I can't get these embedded Tweets to look like a clickable screenshot.
Annoying.

What if I have a religious objection to ASSHOLES TRYING TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO
— the rejectionist (@therejectionist) February 16, 2012

Cave Men

Need birth control? Santorum funder Foster Friess says put an #aspirin 'tween your knees! 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/santor… #cavemen #misogyny #GOP #FAIL
— Interesting Times (@intrstngtimes) February 16, 2012

Test

Anti-contraception witness admits he wants ANY boss to be allowed to deny women #birthcontrol cvrg. #IssaCircus
— NARAL (@NARAL) February 16, 2012