biweekly links 9-26-2018 – the party edition

Glamping goes Tudor: historians to remake Henry VIII’s opulent tent: as an Elizabethan history nerd I’ve read all the stories of the Field of the Cloth of Gold; now UK’s Historic Royal Palaces are going to re-create one of these enormous structures. No photos as yet but I’ll keep looking.

animated painting of 17th century woman dancing with a skeleton.
The only remotely early modern thing that showed up under “party” on Giphy. Bluff King Hal and Co’s parties were not this morbid. Via.

Renaissance Festival Books: not modern renn faire but actual festivals that took place during the Renaissance. Festival books served as both records of the festival and promotion of the image the festival-throwers wanted to cultivate. In this sense they’re not unlike the many books about Burning Man or Woodstock.

Examples of Masque Costume in the late 16th & Early 17th Centuries: what, you didn’t think they partied in their everyday duds, did you? Mind, these aren’t exactly Halloween costumes; you see a lot more mythological heroes and pagan deities than superheroes and monsters. More on what goes into a masque costume plus a beautiful re-creation from ElizabethanCostume.Net (one of the earliest and best resources for 16th century costumers).

biweekly links 4-5-2017

Gore blimey! New exhibition looks at Tudor medicine: in case you find yourself in Stratford-Upon-Avon between now and December. More about “Method in the Madness: Understanding Ourselves Then and Now”;  the exhibit will include replica surgical instruments and other interactive elements.

Parchment drawing of a wheel with flasks around the edges, each flask filled with a different color.
Fifteenth century drawing of a urine diagnosis wheel from Johannes de Ketham’s Fasciculus medicinae. This and other fabulous public domain medical illustrations are available in the National Library of Medicine’s digital collections.

Henry VIII clauses and how 1539 compares to 2017: Brexit, sport, and public humiliation – the more things change, the more they stay the same, or do they? What do you think?

Does Bela Lugosi’s Ghost Still Haunt This $3M ‘Hollywoodland’ Tudor? Former residents Jon Cryer and Kathy Bates aren’t saying. Frankly, it doesn’t look all that Tudor-y to me, but the beamed ceiling is nice.

biweekly links 3-22-2017

Hazy Cosmic Jive: Bowie and the Starmen, Part One, Part Two, Part Three: Intriguing series about the influences of UFOs and Captain Marvel on the creation of Ziggy Stardust and other Bowie personas. I knew Bowie was into UFOs, but didn’t know about the comic book angle. Huh. Well timed as I found this just after finishing Simon Reynolds’ Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and its Legacy.

David Bowie made up like an alien with bald head and yellow cat eyes
David Bowie in “The Man Who Fell To Earth”, courtesy Zimbio. I maintain: Bowie didn’t die, he just went back to his home planet of svelte androgynous people.

Henry VIII’s ‘small country’ Tudor palace for sale: so if you’ve got £3 million lying around you’ll want to jump right on that. Seriously though, some nice interior/exterior photos at the link if Tudor architecture is your thing.

The Tudor guide to colonising the world: in case “Bluff King Hal”‘s old digs aren’t big enough for you, read about Richard Hakluyt’s sixteenth century travel guides of the New World. Mind, he never actually left Europe, so take with a grain of salt.

The Game Developers Who Are Also Witches: not a gamer myself but games are a powerful storytelling medium and it sounds like these games to celebrate and empower traditionally maligned populations.