Being the Batman

 

So obsessed with Batman Beyond right now, and I have a ton of things to say about it, but for now, I find myself struck with one thought in particular. I am experiencing quite the little-kid rush of envy for the main character Terry getting to be Batman's protege. I know, I know, there's violence and danger and sacrifice, but rightly now I'm really caught up in the coolness of it. I would want a suit just like Terry's, the very simple, sleek, streamlined design with the ever-so-slightly creepy profile. The suit increases your strength and reflexes to make you a more effective crimefighter, and to negate the need to be an Olympic-level everything the way Bruce was. But I wouldn't want it to look like me. I would want a suit that hid my real shape and made me bigger and taller and was built out around me so that my profile made me look like a man. I like how that would further obfuscate my secret identity, and I think it would make me scarier than if I looked like the little girl I actually am. And perhaps more than anything else, I don't really want to be Batgirl or Batwoman-- I would want to be Batman. I would want the power of that name and that persona. I would love the notion of going around my daily life, pretty little girl, looks so harmless, but actually being the Batman.

I know, I'm a little kid with hero fantasies right now. But damn it, they're fun!

FINISHED: full gathered skirt in red dupioni

I have finished my very first handmade garment!

After finishing the hem yesterday, my red silk dupioni skirt is done. I confess I'm not a hundred percent confident in my work there. Though it was possible to do the blind stitch on the silk, it was very tough to just pick up one thread of the material at a time, and there are many needlemarks from my false starts. They pressed out to a certain degree, and they're not screamingly obvious, so I guess it's all right. I'm nervous that it won't hold; the single threads of dupioni are very thin. And I think I made a mistake in only folding the hem up once rather than twice. It occurred to me that I could use double-sided hemming tape to hold it in place, at least until I sewed it properly, but since the tape isn't permament anyway I decided I'd just stick with keeping it pinned until the stitches were in. We'll see if it holds. One thing I learned is to use a very fine needle when blind stitching something like this, as it makes it easier to just pick up the single thread of the fabric. In general I prefer a larger needle because it's easier to handle, but I switched my favored size out to do this job right.

I wore it to work today. This is what it looks like on me, more or less; the photograph doesn't really convey the fullness or the slightly flared silhouette. I don't think I've ever worn a full skirt before, so the shape is new and interesting to me. I think I am satisfied. The fit is good when worn around my hips, and though it may be a wee longer than what I was hoping for but I can always shorten it later if I want. (Though when would a silk skirt ever be appropriate in a situation where it would be all right for it to come much above my knees? Heehee.) I am kind of hoping somebody compliments me on it or something, so I can say, "Thanks, I made it!' :-)

Sewing project progress: Steph's purple toile apron

Yesterday I made some progress on the sewing assignments I gave myself yesterday. I made a little bit of progress hemming my skirt, though it's not finished yet. And I also began planning the apron I am going to make for katiescarlett29*.

I am a big fan of aprons made out of toile, I think they're pretty and classic; I have one in a blue print myself. So, forcing my aesthetic on others the way I often do, I began scouring the Internet to find a nice toile in purple. which for those of you who don't know is Steph's favorite, favorite color. I settled on this one I found on eBay:

Very pretty, no? I think it's perfect; Steph, I really hope you like it. (Probably should have consulted you first! My bad.) The only problem is that there was only one yard of it, which isn't quite enough fabric for the whole project. So what I am thinking is that I will make the body of the apron from this and make the straps and maybe the pockets too in a complementary fabric-- perhaps something in violet or lavender that matches the color grading in the print.

Yesterday I also drew up the pattern for the apron. Normally pattern-making is a pretty tough job requiring lots of special knowledge, but I used a tutorial that basically involved making a big rectangle and cutting off the top two corners, so it was easy enough. I taped together several sheets of printer paper and then marked off the pattern according to the specified dimensions. I then elected to fold under the excess paper rather than cutting it; one side needed a half-inch taken off, and then for the places that are supposed to allow for the arms, I drew marks along either side of the corner, and then folded under on the line that connected them. Not the most polished pattern ever made, but when I folded the whole thing in half it came out very symmetrical, which pleased me, and when I held it up to my body it seemed to be the right dimensions for an apron. Here it is on the floor of my office, where I drafted it:

The next step will be when I receive the fabric. I will cut out the pieces using my pattern, and I will go to a fabric store and see what I can find in the an appropriate material that will go with the toile to make the straps and pockets. It's already shipped, so I'm hoping I'll get a hold of it soon.

Sewing plans

Now that the house is more or less in order (except for the room painting, soon to come) I can turn my thoughts back to the projects I have been wanting to work on. I want to go back to sewing now that those pressing matters are taken care of, and here are some things currently on my mind.

1. Finish my red silk skirt.

My skirt is very close to completion at this point, lacking only a finished hem to make it accomplished. That shouldn't be too hard, as I enjoyed trying out the blind stitch, but I am concerned that the material is too thin to genuinely hide the sitches even if the blind hem is done properly. I look forward to wearing it somewhere, as it fits nicely and is actually kind of pretty.

2. Make a gift for katiescarlett29*

I want to take on another easy sewing project to practice my skills, and I also want to give a gift to Steph when she comes back. Since we like cooking together so much, I thought I would make her an apron out of some interesting fabric (in purple, of course), as that is both simple to construct and something she might like and use. Though I might buy the fabric sooner rather than later, I am planning on waiting till I have my sewing machine before I start on it.

3. Study up to make the two dress patterns I bought

Due to a large sale, I purchased two dress patterns, Butterick 5559 and Vogue 1117 by Michael Kors. I got them in the mail last week, and upon looking at them I think they are massively too hard for me right now. I don't even understand what all the words they use mean. I am going to have to study up on the terms so I understand the directions. That may require the obtaining of a good beginner's sewing text. I am open to recommendations if anyone knows a good one.

Propeller troupe's Richard III at the Huntington Theater

I went and saw Richard III last night at the Huntingdon Theater in a lovely trip organized by captainecchi*-- so glad she suggested it! In fact, you can read her impressions of the show here, which match up very much with mine, so much so I was tempted to just let her speak for me and agree with everything she wrote! But for posterity I am recording my own thoughts, given this show impressed me as much as any show I've ever seen.

The show was given the aesthetic of a Victorian insane asylum, and I don't need to tell you how creepy that can be, with the men in white masks, the primitive steel medial instruments, and the constant presence of sterile plastic and black body bags. It even seemed that at the imprisonment of Clarence he was given a partial lobotomy! There are many gorey murders in this play, with tons of stage blood and every onstage death committed in the most gruesome way possible-- drilling into a man's eyes, guts torn out with a hook, and a chainsaw dismemberment behind a plastic curtain that was sprayed with blood. Despite the potential over-the-topness of it, I actually liked it and thought it worked with the stark brutality and sociopathy of their Richard III.

The cut of the script was excellent, keeping the length and frequent dryness of a Shakespearean history down to a minimum and maintaining an engaging pace. The storyline was easy enough to follow, though I had read it before, and despite a handful of confusion regarding people's relationships, it kept remarkable clarity. If I ever were to put on Richard III, I would try to emulate this cut.

Interestingly, this was an all-male Shakespeare troupe. The acting was phenomenal across the board-- Richard Clothier as Richard III in particular with his powerful voice. But as one fequently cross-cast myself, I am always interested in how it's done. I thought it was notable that while the men playing women were dressed in period female costume and affected feminine carriage, they did not much attempt feminine voice, and they all had their normal masculine hair. That disconnect was a little jarring, but their acting was excellent, if representative rather than emulative. It also pleases me to see men effectively to play women, when I am so much more used to the other way around.

The tech was excellent, particularly the sound design; the effects were organic and expertly timed, plus the singing! The entire troupe sang to punctuate the drama and over the transitions, usually psalms or Victorian-sounding caroles and folk tunes. Their voices were exquisite, and it was incredibly atmospheric. I particularly enjoyed when they sang something in contrast to what was happening, like a merry folk song over somebody's brutal murder. There was even a minute when they rendered "Bloody, bloody England" as a kind of rap set to an electric guitar! Out of left field, certainly, but I kind of liked it anyway. :-)

This may have been the best Shakespearean production I've ever seen. I enjoyed it immensely, and now I want to see the Comedy of Errors this troupe is also putting on. Alas, it may be out of my price range, but I will look into it anyway.

Why I want to watch Batman Beyond

I really want to watch Batman Beyond right now. I wonder if there's a way to get it off the Internet. It has been lurking in my brain for several months now, but since watching other comic book shows that don't quite satisfy what I'd like to get out of them, the desire for Batman Beyond has sharpened. Sadly I was not super-into this show when it was actually airing, but after it ended I realized its genius.

The idea of a "next generation of a popular property" is not a new one, and they often play like attempts to squeeze more money out of a concept based around the theory that kids only are interested in watching kids, so let's make a version of this thing they already like but because it's about a kid they will like even more! Bah. I was always more interested in the adults on the shows I watched as a child as opposed to the kids (wanted stories about Baloo as opposed to Kit on TaleSpin, for example). So Batman Beyond could have been nothing more than one more of those. But in fact, it addressed and explored something that is, at least to me, an incredibly fascinating aspect of the Batman arc.

As time goes on, Bruce Wayne identifies himself more and more deeply with Batman and less and less with the public persona he's built up around his real name. One of my favorite things about him is that while for most superheroes, the temptation is to lay down the burden of having to be the hero, but for Batman, the temptation is to shed having to pretend that Bruce Wayne is who he is, and to instead lose himself in being Batman. He was so wounded by being helpless to protect his parents when they were murdered, that more and more all he can see is the ways people hurt each other and render each other helpless, and his compulsion to be Batman is so that he will never have to feel that helpless again. That is so much more important, that Batman is so much more real to him, that being Bruce Wayne increasingly means nothing to him.

But Batman is so broken that he is not good at forming relationships. He has so firmly placed himself in the protector, the burden-bearer, role that he can't trust anyone enough to let them help him. If he's not protecting them, then they're in danger, and he can't allow anyone to be in danger on his behalf. Anyone who wants too much to be there for him (Dick Grayson, for example) he eventually pushes away. So the natural consequence is that he is going to end up an embittered old man who is utterly alone because he has driven everyone else off-- exactly as he is depicted in Batman Beyond. The only thing he really has at that point is Batman.

But everyone gets older. Everyone's body eventually weakens and fails. In time, even Bruce's meticulously trained and honed perfect crime fighting body is going to fail him, and he can't be Batman without it. The first episode of Batman Beyond shows this-- he has aged and his health has deteriorated to the point where he can't physically do it anymore.

But Bruce needs Batman. He can't BE without Batman, because Batman is who he is. So he can't just let Batman go. But if he can't physically do the things that Batman must do... what is he going to do?

He's going to have to find someone else to be the body of Batman. Somebody young and strong who can perform the feats required who will still need guidance in how to be the Dark Knight. Someone who can do what he can't, but still NEEDS him to continue being the only thing that's real to him. It is so fascinating to me, and in my opinion makes for a powerful continuation of the Batman arc.

So that's why I love it. That it extends the Batman arc to its next logical consequence and explores it so well. And that's why I want so, so badly to watch through it again.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Jared and I have been watching the new Avengers animated series, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I enjoy it more than I expected I would, not being a huge fan of the Marvel characters. The representations of all the characters feel reasonably authentic, and they are doing a good job of balancing how things worked and went in the comics with the restrictions inherent in translating it all to a half-hour kids' television show. The art is in general very good, especially on the men. They have managed to accurately represent the characters and keep their physical dimensions imposing and powerful without verging into Liefeld territory. Tony's design is excellent, and I really like how they've depicted Steve, Hank, and Nick Fury as well. (I think the rarely-seen Bruce Banner looks like a cancer patient with a mullet, but I'm okay with that.) The women look good too, I guess, but I'm slightly irked by how they all look alike to me, lots of tall thin modelesque creatures with different hair and color palettes. At least Wasp, the most prominent female character in the series, is a little distinctive. The animation quality is high, and even the most complicated fight scenes are well-choreographed and visually well-expressed. The voice acting is solid if not necessarily fantastic; I don't like the guy they have playing Iron Man though not for really any good reason, and I'm not sure if they mean Thor's guy to be as hilarious as I find him, but Cap's guy sounds exactly like I always imagined Cap sounding in my head. So all in all, a well-put-together piece of television that I am enjoying watching.

The only real problem I have with the show is that while they've got all this high-quality production stuff going on, the show is about ninety percent fight scene and only ten percent character anything. I guess that's to be expected in a modern kids' action show about superheroes (read: aimed at little boys), and don't me wrong, I enjoy battle scenes too, particularly ones as well done as they have... but frankly I find that stuff less interesting than character development and there's precious little of it happening there. I wanted to see Tony's cavalier, self-centered confidence get him into trouble with the people who care about him, and watch Steve struggle to adapt to a society with completely different social mores than the 40's had. I know, I know, I'm such a woman. ;-) But I feel other superhero shows, like our favorites from the nineties, were better at striking the balance between cool action and real character. I guess modern sensibilities don't expect kids to want that stuff, which makes me sad. My favorite shows from when I was a kid (like Gargoyles, TaleSpin, and Batman: The Animated Series) still hold up for me to enjoy as a twenty-four-year-old, with genuine investment and not just nostalgia, because they nail that stuff. So it makes me a little sad that a show that seems capable of delivering good storytelling can't quite hit the most important part for me.

Illyria progress



Here follows a somewhat disorganized brain dump regarding the current state of the move-in.

Things seem to be evening out at my new house. There is still plenty of unpacking to do, but there is now new carpet in my room, and my bed, with its cut-up-then-rebuilt box spring, is set on its frame and made. I'm a wee bit afraid of putting too much stress on the box spring by taking it off the floor and onto the frame, but it seems stable, at least for now, and I desire to have the under-bed storage space.

The order of today will be to go home after work and lunch and continue unpacking. I have brought all of my personal boxes up to my room by this point, and the kitchen table is rebuilt. Now things must be put in their proper places; I won't be really comfortable until that's done. My landlord said I can store unused things in the basement (a typical unfinished, slightly musty New England basement) which is nice at least for the stuff I'm not concerned will mold or get damaged by damp, so I won't have to be crowded by my old microwave or my baker's rack until I figure out what to do with them. The living room will have to be thinned out, as it's currently holding more furniture than it comfortably fits, but that means I have to decide whether I'm tossing out my old white leather arm chair, or I have space for it in my bedroom, or if I just want to wrap it in a tarp and put in down in the basement.

Appointments also happen today. Cable and internet set up was scheduled to happen this morning, though due to work I couldn't be around for it. Hope everything goes smoothly for the roommates in my absence. I also have to get to Elsinore to let in the rescheduled cleaning crew at 6PM. Not looking forward to that, as someone will have to stay with them while they clean, which could take a long time. I'll have to bring my iPad or something to work on while I wait.

My room will be very nice when I am finished setting it up. After remeasuring, I realized my stuff would fit better in the divided upstairs bedroom after all, and blendedchaitea* was wonderful enough to switch back with me. Which I am happy about, as that was the room I really wanted all along. I have decided to use the larger part as my bedroom and the smaller compartment as my little office, where I will have my computer desk and I think a little table to do other project work, like sewing and larp packing and stuff like that. I've always wanted to be able to say "If you need me, I'll be in my office." I have two closets for clothes, and two other low ones in the wall, one I plan to use as a cubby for my books, and the other for shoes and whatever else.

The room has only two problems. One, it has no light fixtures. I will have to invest in some serious lighting, as I strongly dislike rooms that are too dark. Not sure what the best kind would be, so I'll be doing some research, and taking recommendations if anyone has them. And two, the main room is painted an intense, Home Depot orange. Not an ugly color, I guess, but not one I want all over my walls. So I have secured permission from the landlord to paint. I am thinking I'll go with a nice light blue, which would work with my wood and my bedding. In the next week or so I plan to look at paint chips and choose something, then lay down tarps, break out the painter's tape, and maybe have a little painting party. As always, anyone who would be interested in helping is welcome, and will be compensated with home-cooked food.

That's all for now. I am eager to get home so I can continue getting the place into a liveable state.

Sewing project progress: full gathered skirt in red dupioni part V

So, because I can't bear to think about moving stuff right this second, I will post the next installment of my skirt project-- inserting the zipper!

I thought this part would be tough, and it sort of was, but the parts that were hard weren't the ones I expected to be hard. I was putting in an "invisible zipper," as they call it, designed so that when the zipper is closed the edges of the fabric will meet over it and block it from view. I had to look up how this is done, and it was tough finding a tutorial for hand stitching one in rather than one meant for using a zipper foot on a sewing machine. Still, I managed to cobble it together.

First I pinned in the zipper on one side, trying to get as much of the teeth covered by the edge of the fabric as I could without risking it getting caught every time the zipper opened and closed. To make a smooth edge, I folded over the fabric once before I pinned it to the zipper.

Then I sewed that in, taking care that the stitches only went through the zipper and the folded-under edge of the skirt and did not show through on the outer side. My stitches were huge and messy, as it was tough piercing through all those layers. I found myself wishing I had a thimble with which to push the needle through. I repeated this same process on the other side, keeping the zipper zipped so it would stay matched up. When I was finished it looked all right, but it didn't seem very securely anchored in there, so I made a few more rows of huge ugly stitches to make sure it would not pull apart from the fabric with use. Again I made sure that none of these stitches pierced through to the outer side. This is what it finally looked like.

Hmm. Not exactly invisible. Probably means I should have pinned the skirt edges farther over the teeth of the zipper, but I was worried about it catching. At least it looks neat, and when I tried it on, not only did the zipper work smoothly, it seemed securely attached, which is what concerned me most. The skirt even fit pretty darn well, and looked like a skirt! Heh, I won't show you the inside, given what a mess of ugly stitches it is. But all that remains now is the hem. It may be a while before I get to that, given how much of my house I need to get in order.

Move accomplished

Well, the move is concluded. It took hours and hours, and had many more wrenches in the works than my careful planning aimed for, but thanks to the efforts of many lovely, hardworking people, my stuff is in my new place. I have a ton more to do to get things in order (thrown off by having to wait for things out of my control, like new carpets getting laid AFTER I had to move in, and the cleaning service for the old place losing my reservation, grumble, grumble) but I am determined to get through them. I don't want to get into any more detail of the struggle, as just thinking about it all stresses me out, but I am determined to move forward productively from here. I would just love to call attention to my wonderful, generous friends-- Bernie, bronzite*, laurion*, lightgamer* , acousticshadow2*, ninja_report*, marigumi*, john_in_boston*, niobien*, Prentice, Emily, Michael, and jh1230* --who gave their time and effort, and I will be making them all an excellent dinner in thanks.


Now I have to go collapse.