Watch the looong five minute trailer!!
And then check out the Golden Age website and explore the interactive timeline. Be prepared for long load times! Sexy new desktop wallpapers like the one found below can be yours if you search through "Warrior (media)" and then "artifacts"
Mmmm....artifacts.
I mean, nice doublet.
Yeah.
Umm, so what was I saying?
Right - go see the movie!!
OK, to reiterate a point from my previous post, GodeCook really has some fabulous videos. More evidence of that is this one, captured at Gulf Wars: Wolgemut performs a great song, during which there is a brief Tequila interlude.
What caught my attention most about this video wasn't the great music, it was the monstrously large late period dress in the background. You might not notice it until the very end of the clip. How in the Known World could you possibly use a port-a-potty in that?
Within the first few years of joining the SCA, I found myself in the company of friends who had both interest in, and talent for, singing 'period' music. They convinced me that I should sing again ( after experiencing crippling stage fright a few years earlier ) and the rest is history. I would not be singing today if not for them.
Most of the music we chose to perform had some...uh....bawdy connotations. Which of course made them fun to sing and appreciated around a campfire. One of those songs was 'Come again' by John Dowland.
I haven't heard that song in around 10 years. In this video, Sting is performing it on the Today Show.
I think he may have changed it a bit, but the thought that he has just released an album of 16th century lute music makes me pretty happy indeed.
Check out the very informative reviews and listen to song samples at Amazon:
It has been over TWO WEEKS since my last confession. No, I'm not a recovering Catholic, I just thought that sounded like a nice opening line.
Boy, time sure flies when you are moving an hour away. I feel really bad I haven't kept up with the headlines, but honestly, not much has happened in the SCA lately. Well, other than Sir Bela Kos winning Outlands Crown Tournament and a run down to Dragonsspine for "Shake the Midwinter Blues."
So, my SCA life is on hold until I can get all my garb unpacked. Looks like I won't be making it to Feast of Fools this weekend, either. The truck for the last big furniture trip to Denver comes on Saturday morning. After that I'll be waaaaay too pooped to even consider driving over 2 hours for an event.
Well, here's the list of amazing things I found online in the last couple of weeks.
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Kitemitsu.org has some FABULOUS Estrella War photos
Run by a fellow MySpacer "Kitemitsu Daikatsu" , this site has a wealth of down and dirty battle shots. Even a few Outlanders! Check out Kitemitsu.org and select "Pictures" from the menu...
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Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog
Boy, is Middle English a tongue twister. Chaucer's Blog is a bit tedious on the eyes, but whoever is writing this blog is funny. And has way too much free time.
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College Of St. Golias in the Outlands makes the news
From El Defensor Chieftain.com:
A battle from the Middle Ages rages in Socorro almost every Saturday.
New Mexico Tech serves as home to the College of St. Golias, a group that studies and practices the customs of medieval times as part of the international Society for Creative Anachronism Inc.
Recently, members of the group traveled to Phoenix for a competition and won with their kingdom, the largest geographical division in the society. (read more)
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I remember racing home from school so I wouldn't miss a single minute of Star Blazers. This was my very first exposure to an animation style that would later be dubbed "Anime" and end up reaching cult status.
So I tried to wear The Dress to a Halloween party on Saturday, but there were just waaaay too many people in the house and yard to allow me even a small amount of movement.
The train was two feet long in the back, after the three feet of clearance I needed for the hoop. I have come to the conclusion that lots of drunk people in a small space combined with late period clothing does nothing but stress you out.
I really didn't want to have to kill the first drunk person who spilled a beer on me, so I wore it for about a half an hour and then changed into my fencing garb, which I just happened to have in my van.
I have come to another conclusion. When mundane women hit their 35th birthday, if a midlife crisis ensues, they are likely to buy a red sports car. If a woman in the SCA has a mid life crisis, she buys a red dress. Not that I'm having a crisis, really. It's been a great few weeks, and I'm celebrating my recent good fortune. Did that sound contrived? Hmmm. I must work on my delivery.
Anyway, The Dress will be making an appearance at Coronation. At least people in the SCA have a healthy respect for a lady's personal space whilst wearing such attire. Huzzah!
So if you don't appreciate costumes you should just skip this post.
Last night was Danse Macabre, an SCA event in the Outlands. Along with the great food competition, court dancing and costume contest, there was a silent auction of donated items to benefit the Red Cross disaster relief fund.
I've run a silent auction before and I know that there's usually some pretty cool stuff at SCA ones. So I investigate the 'back room,' looking for some trinket to buy myself for my birthday present.
There it was. The dress I've always wanted to make. The dress of my dreams. THE dress. Red, gold and black Elizabethan with full over and underskirt. Sleeves that reach the floor. Brocaded, beaded, embroidered and slashed, collectively. My GOD.
Every time I've seen women in the SCA wear this type of dress, I get a raging case of the covets. I have wanted one of these for about 10 years. And it is in my colors.
I put on the doublet. Fits like a glove. I can't look in the mirror. I knew it would be love at first sight. $25 opening bid? Sure. Here's $50, no hesitation. I know that I shouldn't be getting emotionally attached, but it's so hard...and all my friends are saying 'it looks like it was made just for you.' Sigh. I must...not...get...attached...
A young girl of about 17 was also very much interested in said dress. I decide to take a stand. My super-secret-ninja-information-gathering-cohort had determined that she had a much lower top price that she could afford to pay than I. And lucky me, I just got paid. If I'm going to wage war, I must know the defences and power of my opponent. Plus, she has a real bad poker face. I felt pretty confident.
I returned to the room a few times throughout the night to make sure no one else was going to jump into the war. I made it known to a few of my good friends that they should casually discourage people from bidding on the dress, with such comments as 'you know it's her birthday next week, and boy, she really loves that dress...'
Yes, I admit it. I played the birthday angle.
30 seconds before the auction ends, the girl looks at me and says "please." All I can say is, "I'm sorry. I will be mercenary about this." I gave her the look that meant business. I actually saw her heart break.
She did manage to sneak a bid in on another very beautiful blue dress, but had quite the display of disappointment anyway about losing THE dress to me. It's tough when two women are THAT much in love with the same dress. I imagined a catfight breaking out and I nearly got the giggles. Yeah, this post would have been all kinds of different if that had happened. I might have been writing it from jail.
Poor girl. I feel kind of bad for breaking her heart.
Ah, well. I'm sure she will remember this day, and hate me for it for quite some time. I understand because I have wanted things bad enough to taste them and have them ripped away right out from under me. I have even begged for such things myself, and lost. So I know the feeling intimately.
Poignant, actually.
I will be adding some buttons to this regal masterpiece, and lo and behold, not only will I have the most gorgeous Halloween outfit EVER, but an SCA outfit that would have taken me well over 200 hours of sewing time. Had I tried to make this myself, the beading, embroidering, slashing and fitting would have driven me straight into an insane asylum.
Now what did I have to cough up for such a dress? $105. This is approximately one quarter to one fifth of the actual value.
That's worth one broken heart to me.
Go ahead and call me a mercenary bitch. I'm certain I deserve at least that much. Probably more.
But when I die, I will wear this dress to hell.
An addendum to the previous post about using travel photos for research...
Another fabulous website is The Stock Exchange, the leading free stock photo site on the internet. (which I will be utilizing soon once I get the photo sharing up and running for this blog...)
I just had to post again to include this folder full of Historic Italian Costumes that were apparently part of an exhibit in Hong Kong. Sweeeeet!
Here's another old review from last year...
Elizabethan costuming has been the bane of many costumers' existence for years, mostly for a lack of quality research. The major adjustments that most patterns require means you are pretty much re-doing it from scratch anyway. But wait - there's another way!
Margo's Patterns offers some amazing pattern packages for those of us crazy enough to wear late period. The Elizabethan Gentlemens' Wardrobe has doublets, shirts, sleeves, slops, breeches and enough pattern variations to keep you busy for weeks (or months if you sew like me). The Elizabethan Lady's Ensemble has even more to choose from.
Underpinnings, bodices, skirts and accessories, oh, my!
Want to know the BEST part? Of course you do.
This lady has seriously done her research. A quote from her site:
"Each pattern package comes with extensive instructions and documentation -- including detailed discussion of extant specimens, how they were made and worn, materials and techniques of the period, and the modern equivalents you can use to achieve the closest possible results."
Expensive? Yes. Totally worth it? Absolutely. Prices range from $22 - $70, but trust me, you'll never buy another late period pattern ever again.
Bring on the brocades, I'm chaining myself to my sewing machine for a year.
Also, check out this great book from Amazon.com...
