More Sunday stuff

[gurdymonkey]

After pounding around the old airstrip earlier this morning, I came home, ate some lunch, put my feet up long enough to catch the House Of Blue Leaves fight scene from Kill Bill 1 on Spike TV, then came upstairs and worked on my website for awhile.

For the first time I bothered to notice that whatever Lucy Liu's wearing in those scenes is darn pretty and I STILL wince when I see blood on that white silk. I mean, the bitch deserves hamstringing, but that SILK! Where can I GET a few yards of that pretty please! But anyway, there's something distinctly odd about how she's wearing it. There's some sort of asymmetrical thing going on with the front of her obi, for one thing, she's not wearing an obiage, for another, and I don't see any ohashori at all. http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0266697/lucy2.jpg On the other hand, if one is the badass Yakuza queen, one may wear whatever one wants. It's Kill Bill. It rocks. Nuff said.

Anyway, Samurai Eye has been updated - have I mentioned that I love my boys and girls? I have had the good fortune to meet in person most of my contributors at this point. They make us Known World Nihonjin look good, baby!

A draft version of something I'm giving an internet home to has been formatted and the author notified so she can have a look at it and we can discuss what additional edits to make.

Looky what I found: Old stereopticon photos of Japan c. 1905 or so. http://www.worldofstereoviews.com/japanpage1.htm
http://www.worldofstereoviews.com/japanpage2.htm
http://www.worldofstereoviews.com/japanpage3.htm

And now, today's installment of WTF Theatre.

Someone had the audacity to point out on the kingdom e-list that March Crown falls on Easter weekend and it's not fair because he wanted to spend time with his family and take his kid to the big town Easter Egg hunt. Dude, seriously, if you want to spend time with your kid while she's still at an age to appreciate (a) time with Daddy and (b) Easter Egg hunting, the choice is clear. Blow off the tourney and spend time with your kid already. Take pictures. Make lots of memories to comfort you when she's a pain in the ass teenager 'cause you only go around once and she's only going to be this age now. It's not like there's not going to be another tourney in a few weeks, is it?  Oh, and you over there  Not Getting It, what don't you understand about people wanting to spend time with their families during holidays - or (gasp) actually being devout enough to worship on said holiday? The good news is that a number of people on the list actually have a grasp on reality and posted accordingly. Someone even offered to host an egg hunt at the event, given the precedent of trick or treating at Cynagua Coronet. I'm good with it as long as some six year old doesn't clothesline himself on a pavilion rope.

Comments

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Waah! The fundoshi would be so much more inspiring! Oh, and Takeda-dono's suikan sure looks like it's ruri-iro to me.

O-ren Ishii is half-Chinese and half-Japanese, so I expect the asymmetry is an intentional nod to asymmetrical Chinese styles. I don't think there is anything in the visual design of that movie that's not intentional.

As for Lord WTF? You makes your choices, you accepts the consequences.

[reynardine.livejournal.com]

Email has been duly answered. Loved those stereopticon photos you linked to. I'm finding that I have a passion for Meiji/Taisho era Japan as well. There are some fascinating diaries and memoirs of that time that have been translated into English.

[carbonphoenix.livejournal.com]

I eagerly await my next west digest. Oh people.

[bebemochi.livejournal.com]

Well, one could explain away the criss-crossed obi on Lucy as a variant of the ways geisha wrap their obi, but it's funny to me that her dresser would do something so sophisticated and esoteric, then pair it with clear mistakes like a lack of ohashori and the overall "age" of the kitsuke--obi slung so low, obiage tucked into the obi so deeply it's not visible (or possibly missing entirely.) It doesn't help that Lucy is totally man-walking in it, either, causing it to flap open unattractively.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Shhh, she'll take your head if she hears you.

It occurs to me, at the kimono show at the Asian Art Museum last year, one of the things Tomita-san did was bring out a model in a costume he'd designed for a film or TV series with her dressed as an honest innkeeper's wife - then while we watched they adjusted everything and turned her into a Yakuza moll, by pulling her collar back, changing the knot on her obi, that sort of thing (as well as some changes in hair and makeup). I honestly don't remember exactly what they did and they were moving so fast I didn't get any decent photos. It's possible I'm not reading "the code," kitsuke-wise, I just noticed that there differences. It's equally possible Tarrantino and his costume designer were cheerfully messing with our minds "because it looks cool."

[bebemochi.livejournal.com]

one of the things Tomita-san did was bring out a model in a costume he'd designed for a film or TV series with her dressed as an honest innkeeper's wife - then while we watched they adjusted everything and turned her into a Yakuza moll

ooh, that sounds so fascinating! I would have loved to have seen such a demonstration.

I think it's possible that Lucy's dresser was just playing with different aspects to achieve a different look. Aside from the ohashori, her kitsuke looks very neat, as if she's been padded beneath it, which definitely isn't an amateur's trick. Also, it's somewhat acceptable to dress older than your age in kimono. Because it creates a smoother bustline, I tend to skew my own obi lower than necessary for my age. I would just think that it would be terribly awkward to perform all those martial arts moves in obi that sit so low on the waist. But I say that without knowing much about martial arts--I took some Tae Kwon Do in college, but that's about it. ;)

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Could be. She looks put together in that scene and the boardroom scene - it's just tweaked. Interesting either way.

[danabren.livejournal.com]

Or maybe the costume designer didn't give a shit about what's proper. Like they did in, y'know, The Other Boleyn Girl

"Ms. Powell says she was concerned with historical detail, but only up to a point. “You always have to use artistic license,” she says. “You can never be strictly authentic, and besides, no one knows what authentic is, anyway.”"