Of Mad Lords and Archaeologists' Wives

Mrs. Marie Beazley, Harry Bloomfield, 1923

Collection of the Classical Arts Research Centre, 

Faculty of Classics, Oxford University.

I seem to be on something of a portrait jag this summer; I do hope you'll forgive me.

Things Epistolary

For no good reason except that we both have more than our wont of leisure these days, My Dear Sister and I have taken to writing long letters to each other.  Granted, they're e-mails, but still somehow it feels terribly Edwardian to be communicating in something other than statuses or Tweets...

Summertime...

...And the livin' is easy.  My goal for the final week of my leave is to be as carefree as an illustration by our dear M. Gruau.

Portrait of a Lady

No, this one I didn't see at the National Portrait Gallery.  But, if the price is right, it could be yours - it's up for auction on e-Bay.

Hey, Old Friends.. (and One New, Too)

I had a nice long stroll around Our Nation's Capital yesterday, and I grabbed the opportunity to drop into the National Portrait Gallery and pay my respects to some old familiar faces.

Three Girls Three

As part of my ongoing efforts to share with you lucky Gentle Readers the treasures of Egyptian pop culture, herewith we find the ensemble once billed as the Supremes of the Nile. I don't know that I'd go that far, but they certainly had their moment.  And their hairdos.

You Want to Kick Them Blues

While perhaps I could do without the twee tots and their proto-Lincoln Logs, I have to say that the product they're shilling certainly would have come in handy around our house last night.

Heaven Much Better

If you're looking for a little diversion for a Sunday (or any other, for that matter) evening, may I recommend the above?  Here, in its glorious entirety, is the video record of the Divine Miss M.'s Depression Tour, which is best known as the basis for her epic double album (remember those?), Live at Last, but which was apparently (and unknown to me) also turned into a cable special called The Better Midler Show.  I just love finding essential pop ephemera that I should have known about during the Carter administration...

He Was Man

Goodnight, sweet prince...

Broken Goddess

I rarely wax dictatorial, but today if you're able, I'd like to recommend you do a good turn for a great lady.

'Neath the Red, White, and Blue

I don't normally approve of ostentatious displays of patriotism - but in this case, I'll make an exception.

She May Have 99 Problems...

...but at least this year Joan Fontaine isn't one of them.  Many happy returns on her 99th to the one and only Miss Olivia de Havilland.  I hope that she's up for a little celebration; Paris, after all, is lovely this time of year.  As, I'm sure, is she.

Possessed, or Cherry Ames Goes to Hell

From the first moments of 1947's Possessed, Joan Crawford sketches a character different from, deeper than, and profoundly stranger than any I've seen her play in what was even then her two decades on screen.

O Happy Day

Rings on a nightstand, Cairo, 2008

"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were."

- Obergefell v. Hodges

Bad Girls, or a Tale of Two Cousins

Even though, alas, I have returned to the grindstone (mostly - I still sneak home for the occasional nap; I'm finding that a wan expression and a faraway look can get me almost anything I want, now that I'm an Established Invalid), I don't want you to think I've given up all the habits of leisure that I enjoyed this spring.  For example, I've just finished doing something I rarely do, reading a recently published book.

Whatever Happened to Finnan Haddie?

Here to celebrate this festive day we have an old familiar number in what I imagine is a rather unfamiliar setting.  As Mr. Cole Porter rolls in his grave, the one and only Miss Violetta Villas and her Double-Knit Dancers give us their interpretation of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

Flores, Flores...

This has been the kind of week that has made me, today, want to do nothing much more than look over pictures of flowers that I've taken.

"The Nuanced Language of Lack of Effort"

Nothing more to say today.  Watch this.  Transcript here.

A Strange and Bitter Crop

It's just this side of unbearable to watch and hear this; today, it would be unbearable not to.

Rachel, Rachel: Black Like She

Well, I've certainly been wasting more than enough time on the strange saga of Rachel Doležal,* that Jenny Stewart for the Post-Modern century.