I was listening to the Antonia Frasier Marie Antoinette book today and heard something that got me thinking.  She mentioned that Queen Marie Leczinska, the wife of  Louis XV, was derisively known as "La Polonaise" in much the same way that MA was known as "l'Autrichienne."  I'd always heard that the robe a la polonaise had come into being in the 1770s or 1780s, and had also heard of a variety of reasons for the name including the old "Poland was divided into three parts" one.  But I began to wonder, could it really have been another gown named for a queen like the Chemise a la Reine?  I did some poking around online and found that she was indeed credited as having invented the "robe a la polonaise" in a few sources.  Given the questionable nature of website veracity I poked around a bit more and found this enigmatic tidbit from L'Histoire a la Mode en France

"Sep 5, 1725 - Marie Leczinska,mariée à Louis XV, le 5 septembre 1725, mit en vogue les hongrelinesles robes à la polonaise, à la hongroise, garnies de brandebourgs." 

Anyone fluent in French willing to translate?  Were they really around in 1725?  Or was this some other robe a la polonaise?  Is it really named by or for Queen Marie Leczinska or were they just saying it was a Polish style dress?  Or are the Victorian era authors of L'Histoire full of crap?

Discuss.

...I had to write a paper summing up my day off, it would go something like this.

I slept until 10:30 then napped.

I did nothing last night too :)

And this post brought to you by nothing other than my commitment to myself to post daily. Maybe something more worthy of posting will pop into my head later. If not, well, this is it :)

On Saturday the 14th at 4AM UTC/GMT we will be upgrading the operating system of our network load balancers to a newer version, one that will allow us to use both CPUs! Nifty, because multiprocessing is nice.

Since we have 2 load balancers, the plan is to upgrade 1 at a time, and there really should be very little impact to our website. Hopefully you won't notice a thing and I'll get to go back to the hotel and watch some wonderful late night infomercials.

We've got a lot of exciting projects coming up for 2010 and we're hoping that we'll be able to deliver them all to you, that you will find it useful/cool/lovely and then you will use the site even more. Behind-the-scenes work like this will give us the capacity to handle the anticipated traffic, so expect a few more maintenance windows especially in the beginning of next year as we've got some neat ideas to improve performance around here! We had the recent 30-45 minute outage yesterday due to one of our logging databases filling up disk space -- not so great design coupled with my human error in handling the initial problem -- and it looks like we're going to finally have some resources to eliminate stuff like that. I can't wait!

As usual, I will be updating status.livejournal.org before and after, just in case you are not able to reach our main website during the work.

I'm cleaning the front bedroom today (aka hubby's study) finally getting the sheets on the bed. Javi had piled up so much crap on the bed it too longer to sort it out than to make the bed.

I love my boy, but I really wish I could get him to be a little more mindful. Most of the crap was old magazines, to-do lists and receipts. Drives me nuts. Why should I have to clean up after him when he's the one who trashes the guest room?

I've overcome my habit of leaving that stuff around (thanks to Flylady) but I just can't get him interested in the techniques. Gaaa.

Am I just being the ferverent convert or is it a legitimat critisim?

Also, why doesn't lj moble have a spell checker?


Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

TODAY'S TEA: Harney & Sons - Passion Fruit Black


( Super_no_1, SEKIRIA & LA WEEKLY PMX PHOTOS )


( Fanime Black Butler Circus Photos )

Can anyone recommend a place to get a nice quality, small (or mini) basic top hat? I'd like to decorate it myself, I might even cover it...so it's okay if it's kinda ugly to start with ^.^

Kaiserin Augusta Viktoria
 
( More! )

They were concerned about Simon getting worse. Apparently, the anti-inflammatory they have him on usually kicks butt for most causes of symptoms like his. The fact that he wasn't responding to it and seemed to be deteriorating fairly rapidly made them worried. (me too!) They also made note that one back leg seems to be far weaker than the other (something we had already observed). That is why he falls over so much.

So we are going to be taking him to a specialist. There are some fairly local to us, but they want us to take him to a really good one in Birmingham. The vet was frank about not wanting to mess around and wanted to get him the best care possible as soon as possible. I love our vet! They are calling the place today to make the referral and will call us with the details.

I'm really worried about our cute little guy. I started crying as we were waiting to pay. So stupid. It isn't like we have bad news. It is the unknown that bothers me so much. I worry about the unknown because my mind automatically fills it with bad stuff. Reality I can deal with. Facts I can deal with. Even bad ones... because I can formulate a plan. I can adapt. But not knowing... there is no way to prepare or accept.

But what I do know is this... Simon is still a happy dog. He chews on his bone and squeaks his toy and wags his tail. The other day we caught him rolling on his back on the dog bed (cockroaching). He snuggles and cuddles and kisses. When he whines, it isn't from pain but because he has to stay in his crate when he doesn't want to be. Sometimes he DOES want to be in in crate... because then Allie can't take his bone.

Hopefully we will soon find out what is wrong and deal with it.

UPDATE: The vet called and we have our referrel. We are going to be seeing a neurologist/neurosurgeon at 9am on Friday. Here is the place we are going: http://www.willows.uk.net/en-GB/home According to their website, they seem like a pretty good place. They have 6 spinal surgeons on staff. Plus, a couple of years ago they did the first canine knee replacement in Europe. I'm hopeful that they will be able to get to the bottom of Simon's problems.

Finished two of the five trim strips for the back of the loose gown. And one was the longest of the five. Getting there. I had JUST enough of the black and gold beads--50 more motifs total to do.

Oliver is getting bigger every day. He's almost big enough to defend himself totally with Sonja. She's starting to back down as much as she attacks. And he's made friends with Vlad and Chip, so Vlad gives Sonja lectures on behavior, and Chip, bless him, wades right in to defend him.

Tonight is play night, so he gets to play with the ferrets.

Note to self: don't put the good china with the gold rim in the microwave. *spark*... *spark*...

Also, take care when roasting chestnuts in the oven. *BANG* You may be cleaning up for some time.

I'll be out of town but thought some of you might be interested in this:

THE LAST POE PICTURE SHOW

The POE HOUSE AND MUSEUM with the WESTMINSTER PRESERVATION TRUST, INC. and the UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF LAW present

THE LAST POE PICTURE SHOW—a frightening evening of Poe on film FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. But reserve your ticket NOW as space is limited. Reserve your tickets at: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=193069 WHEN: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST, 2009. 7PM (Doors open to the public at 6PM) WHERE: Bring your body to the Westminster Hall. 519 E. Fayette Street. Baltimore, Maryland 21201 Regretfully the ghastly catacombs will not be available due to the fear factor. We cannot be responsible for sudden heart attacks due to fright.

Join us for our final event celebrating Poe’s Bicentennial in Baltimore and for a frightfully fun evening of films inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe!

THE PROGRAM:

• Vincent Price in HOUSE OF USHER (1960). Roger Corman’s first Poe adaptation!
• POE ON FILM TRIVIA CONTEST! Smart and lucky winners who “know Poe” and the movies can win DVD’s and Poe t shirts!
• Mario Cavalli’s THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO (1998). A thrilling adaptation of the Poe classic!
• Panel Discussion: POE ON FILM with Chris Kaltenbach (film critic, The Baltimore Sun), Gregory William Mank (“Golden Age Horror” historian and author), Tony Tsendeas (actor, “The Poe Show”). Moderated by Mark Redfield (actor and filmmaker, “The Death of Poe”). Stay after HOUSE OF USHER for a lively discussion about Poe and the cinema. With 100 years of Poe inspired movies, we’ll have plenty to talk about! Bring your questions!

FREE POPCORN! Refreshments also available for purchase.

ALSO: Do your Poe holiday shopping early! Vendors will be present featuring Poe-related gift items, perfect for the holidays, from t-shirts to DVD’s to Gregory William Manks’s new book “Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff”, signed by the author himself!

PROGRAM DETAILS:

• PREVIEWS OF POE: We’ve assembled trailers (or “previews of coming attractions”) of some of the many films inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. From the Universal Studios adaptations that starred Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, to the Roger Corman “Poe-Cycle” produced by American International Pictures and from films from all over the world, including works from filmmakers Frederico Fellini, Dario Argento and many more. How many have you seen?
• THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO (1998). Starring Anton Blake (Montressor) and Patrick Monckton (Fortunato). Directed by Mario Cavalli. Screenplay by Richard Deakin. Great Britain. Color. 16 minutes. Superbly acted and photographed adaptation of Poe’s classic tale of revenge, Cavalli’s film has played in festivals world-wide. Filmed in 35mm with a hand-cranked camera and using available light, this CASK is one of the finer vintages of short film adaptations we’ve seen!
• POE ON FILM TRIVIA CONTEST: Seven lucky winners receive Poe movies on DVD and Poe t shirts!
• INTERMISSION
• HOUSE OF USHER (1960). Starring Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey. Screenplay by Richard Matheson. Directed by Roger Corman. USA. Color. 79 minutes. USHER is the first of the adaptations in Corman’s so-called “Poe-cycle” for American International Pictures and remains a strong entry in the series. When AIP producer Sam Arkoff, known for producing quickie creature feature films for teenagers on the drive-in movie circuit, asked Corman what was “the monster” in this new horror film, Corman thought quickly on his feet and replied, “The house! The house is the monster!” Arkoff bought it, and green lit the film for production! Roger Corman will receive an honorary Oscar in 2010 for his prolific body of work.
• PANEL DISCUSSION: “POE ON FILM”. Stay and join us in a lively discussion moderated by actor and filmmaker Mark Redfield (“The Death of Poe”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”). Our panelists include Chris Kaltenbach (film critic for the Baltimore Sun), Gregory William Mank (film historian and author of the recently published “Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration”) and Tony Tsendeas (actor, director and Poe interpreter, currently touring his one-man show “The Poe Show”). Please note that all panelists are confirmed, but appearance at the event remains subject to last minute professional commitments beyond our control.

( See further )

I've been wanting to redesign my website for a long time.  Change the look, change the name, change the host...  Nothing really wrong with any of it but it just doesn't quite work for me anymore and I think it shows in how often I update the thing.  So, I've been working on new code.  Pretty much all of my html knowledge comes from a four hour class that I took just after high school.  The rest of it is just stuff that I've figured out with javascript and php help from online searches.  So, I'm not exactly good at this.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I suck.  But it's fun and no one looks at the website anyway so who cares.  However, my own webpage is broken on my puters because it does use javascript but I run Firefox with NoScript.  *snicker*  The sad part is that I didn't even realize it until two days ago because it's been that long since I've looked at my page.

With the new look, I wanted random pics and I just love the whole mouseover thing so I wanted to keep that too but javascript has to go.  It took a bit of looking but I found a php solution to the random pics and I have found something for the mouseover but I haven't worked on that code yet so not sure if I can get that working.  But I did get the random pics code to work!!  And then I realize that I'm not sure I really want the random pics after all...  But on my test page, there are three random pics and no duplicates!!  Even it just remains on the test page, I'm happy.

In other happy news, I'm getting css to work for me.  =)  I've avoided learning anything about it for awhile now because I know html and why change something that's working for you?  But I think I am coming around to seeing the good of css and it is quite fun.  Change one little file and I can change countless pages!  Yeah, I'm a noob.  But it's fun.

I know, I know -- I'm a foodie, what am I doing talking about microwaves?

They're for TV dinners and reheating leftovers, right?

( The fate of 4 apples, tonight )

Thanks to essentialsaltes for pointing this out:

18th Century satire cartoons of hairstyles.

Enjoy!

I was away from LJ long enough that my cookie expired. :(

We've fallen over sideways and stumbled into Dickens. I'm not sleeping enough, and I'm starting to feel old because I don't have the energy to go out and party. I'm also realizing that I'm feeling my age in a subtler, more destructive way - I don't feel pretty, so I don't feel like dressing up and going out. (Some part of me blames that whole fell-off-the-world thing that happened after xek. The rest blames the delicious free food at work that I *know* I've been eating too much of.)

Life continues apace. I keep thinking about the delayed next-chapter of Kala's story. I have a new dress to make.

...

No time to write, no time!

Apparently insomnia is good for SOMETHING.  Nearly all my good ideas or sudden insights seem to arrive between 2 and 3am as I lie in bed unable to sleep.  Last night I had one of those ideas that come all in a sudden flash, instantly filling my mind with a clear vision of what I could/should do.

The question at hand was concerning the art show that myself and a couple friends are planning on having at the beginning of the new year.  Lately I've not had any motivation for anything remotely art related, but I thought it would be good to push myself into having to make something.  I miss the high productivity that school forced out of me, and having a goal and purpose outside of myself can only lead to good things.  Anyhow, I had NO idea what I would do for this show, until last night it suddenly hit me.

I don't want to go into too much detail right now, but it'll be more sculptural (as opposed to paintings), and sort of plays with the idea of a "scientific" study of historical clothing.

All these totally awesome pictures are sort of serving as my visual references for this project.

I can't wait to start working on it!

                     

The 1820 corset is officially started. The twill layer is mostly sewn an the design is drawn on it. I actually even confirmed that the method I'm using is period--who knew? Although it is the only way I could figure out to get the gussets to work the way they seem to work. It's described in the corset making reprint of The Lady's Stratagem. It also describes the front of this sort of corset as a jubilee front. Or, at least I think it means this sort.

Anyway, tomorrow off. So happy about that. I'll sew or work on the thesis or something...

And knocked over at work for the third time this year today. Or fourth, if you count yesterday when a kid stepped on my shoe and the only reason I didn't hit the ground was I was holding the door handle, so I don't count that. Go me :)