Toe, meet puppy!

Heaven save me from teenagers with screwed up priorities.

This one wants to convince a "thick-waisted" friend that she should wear kimono and wants pictures to prove it. I suggest she start looking at the gallery forum on Immortal Geisha because there are buttloads of kimono photos in there encompassing all sorts of body types.

"But I need it NAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW" and evidently is not supposed to even be on the 'net at work right now.

No, sweetie. You do not need it now. Unless someone is about to die, nobody needs ANYTHING now except CPR and a 911 call to EMS. Do your own research on your own time.

Am I mean for having pointed this out? Yeah, probably. And incredibly heartless for having sent her the link to me looking fat and happy in modern yukata. Take THAT!

On a note related to my post of yesterday, should I go back and point out that maybe she should respect her friend's self image issues and not try to push her into wearing something that, for first timers, is alien, somewhat awkward and uncomfortable, and will guarantee she will get stared at out in public?

On the Estrella front, I finished letting out the sakura kimono. Somehow, after making so many kosode from scratch, letting out a modern kimono and altering the sleeves so I can wear it as an under layer just feels like cheating. However, it will coordinate well with my dan gawari kosode. Yesterday's fabric purchase is rolling around in the dryer as we speak and I shall begin cutting out and making tabi shortly.

In semi-related news, I have secured permission from both Honda-dono and Posadnitza Sfandra to include photos of the stunning daimon no hitatare she made for him on the Samurai Eye website. I'm waiting to receive an additional photo of the ensemble from the back before I start messing around with FrontPage.

In other news, the BBC is doing a series called Heroes and Villains on pivotal leaders throughout history. Our own Baron Edward of Effingham (Anthony J. Bryant), Go To Guy And Sengoku Jidai Demi-God served as a research consultant on the "Shogun" episode about Tokugawa Ieyasu. Don't know about US airdates yet, but it looks promising, even with ninja attacks, character composites and other compromises in service of a 59 minute air-time and a crap mention in the credits for Sensei.

Subtitles and handsewing do not mix well

The flannel pair of white tabi are finished except for sewing on ties.
The dragonfly print pair (lined with flannel!) have 3/4 sole attachment and need to be fitted/sewn around the toes, which is the part that is always a pain in the ass, no matter how many of these I've made.

I am taking a break from stabbing myself in the finger. "Why were you stabbing yourself, O Curmudgeonly One?" you ask. Well, because there was bugger all on the babble box this afternoon. No, I am not a football fan. So I broke the shrinkwrap on Sansho the Bailiff and popped it in the DVD player and prepared to have my heart broken in artfully filmed black and white. With subtitles, hence the stabbities. While I am finally starting to get enough of an ear for Japanese that I may recognize one word in an entire rapidfire sentence, I still need those subtitles and the Criterion release does not come dubbed.

It's set in the Heian period. A compassionate governor is sent into exile. Without mercy, he tells his small son, man is a beast, and presents him with an image of Kannon the merciful. When his wife and two children try to follow him, they are captured and sold as slaves. The mother is sent off to a brothel on Sado island, the children fall into the harsh care on the estate of Sansho. And that's all I'm going to say except RENT IT!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Criterion, who released Ugetsu in 2006 and Sansho a few months ago, will let us have more Mizoguchi treasures on DVD soon. Life of Oharu, please?