Cheerier

5 Comments

Am in a somewhat more cheerful mood this morning, partly due to reading the following.

Those of you who haven't been reading Hal Duncan's blog ought to take a look at his recent entry "The Homosexual Agenda," about an attempt to pass an anti-gay bill in Alabama, and the UK's "Section 28" (yow! check out the 1988 photo of Sir Ian in that Wikipedia article!). Hal's entry includes an in-your-face anti-bigotry pro-gay proclamation that I don't completely endorse but that I nonetheless think is totally fabulous. "We will unleash the full force of our fury in a hissy fit the like of which you've never seen."

The writers among you may also be entertained by another recent entry titled "Am I Famous Yet?" (about checking eBay for prices of bound proofs of his upcoming novel).

On a completely unrelated note, if any of you have ever wanted definitions for historical (European) clothing terms, check out the Glossary of Historical Clothing Terms. Good stuff. See also the thesaurus ("a controlled vocabulary arranged in a meaningful manner") of corset terms associated with the movie Dressed to Kill: The Merry Widow Project. Also, though more for clothing than for definitions: vintageskivvies.com.

5 Responses to “Cheerier”

  1. Vardibidian

    Sir Ian’s hair set me off on a tangent … I was lucky enough to see a show at the National in London last summer, and they had a lovely display of huge photos of some of the actors associated with them over the years. There were tons of shots of Sir Ian, Edward Petherbridge, Jonathan Hyde, Albert Finney, Jeremy Irons, Michael Gambon, Simon Callow, Anthony Hopkins, and even Lord Larry himself, all with the most glorious eighties hair. And even seventies hair!
    Now, if this country had a national theater, we would have photos of John Lithgow, Peter Gallagher, um, John Malkovich, Kevin Spacey, um, Edward Herrmann, er, Max Gail, oh, never mind.
    Thanks,
    -V.

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  2. Jay Hartman

    The Ian McKellan comments set me off on another tangent. I usually have no ability to name drop, so please forgive this one. I met Sir Ian once in the mid-1990’s:

    I was attending a Shakespeare play put on by an elementary school smack-dab in the middle of Koreatown in LA. There were only about 30 of us in the audience; I was invited due to my involvement in LAUSD’s adopt-a-school program.

    Due to money shortages, these kids put on Shakespeare with no costumes or sets, just pure passion; they had literally practiced for it almost every day after school for the previous nine months. The kids were incredible; they were so good that I almost wept.

    At intermission, Sir Ian stands up, visibly moved, and says to the kids, more or less: You have showed me Shakespeare in its purest form and you have impressed me beyond words; I salute you. I have to act in Shakespeare plays encumbered (he didn’t use that word) with costumes, sets, etc., but you have shown me joy tonight by reducing Shakespeare to its beautiful core.

    There was barely a dry eye in the house. I shook Sir Ian’s hand afterwards and just thanked him; he gave those kids something that will hopefully last the rest of their lives, and I shall never forget it.

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  3. Jed

    Wow—that’s a great story, Jay. Thank you for posting it!

    V: How about Lawrence Fishburne? Oh, wait, no, how about Keanu Reeves?

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  4. Vardibidian

    Gosh, I didn’t think I could adore Sir Ian more than I already did. I’ve only been in the room with him while watching him on stage; I’ve been vaguely afraid that I would meet him someday and become a world-famous example of terrible fanboy embarrasment. “I thought you were great in Last Action Hero”, I’d say. Now I can imagine telling him that story, and how it stuck with you.

    Well, and to see Keanu with 80s hair, you can just rent Bill and Ted, right?

    Thanks,
    -V.

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  5. SarahP

    Thanks for the clothing terms link! V. useful!

    How about Gary Sinise for the national theater! Don’t know about his hair potential, though.

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