(no subject)

[ceilidhqueen.livejournal.com]

What ho! I know this is a bit random, but my mother just bought a pair of purple heliotrope pyjamas, and I wanted to share my fangirl squee. I actually did ask her whether she bought them because of Bertie. Sadly, the answer was no.

Does anyone else have Jeeves and Wooster related items? Cow creamers, Alpine hats, spats in the old Etonian colours? :p Or is it just me? xx

Comments

[dessieoctavia.livejournal.com]

I bought a white straw boater (if that's the right word) because it looked to me like something Bertie would wear.

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

I don't have anything like that, but I'd love some heliotrope pyjamas.

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

I recall having bought a jacket with tails, a bowler, and a reserved black tie in order to parade around downtown in Jeevesian fashion. Sadly, this did not provoke nearly as much comment as the days when I used to go about dressed as Boy George.

[nanika-kawatta.livejournal.com]

Hmm, what could it be. Ah, it's hardly anything at all, but my tea kettle is a plain steel one, not electric, a chum to the one Bertie was struggling to tame in the series. :P I'd gladly fill my home with early 20th century (-like?) objects, whatever loveliness it might be. Though instead of pinching stuff from the charming world of J&W, somehow making my way there and not going back would have been so much better. :D Mmmm.

[chikkiboo.livejournal.com]

Well, I sort of live in a house full of antiques, and although most of them are from the 1950s I also have quite a selection growing of Great War-era thingamajiggers... My mother has a cow creamer, and every time I go back home to visit I sort of want to steal it.

...Even though it is hideously ugly

[phoe-v-z.livejournal.com]

I do own several cocktailglasses and a service trolley from the 20s (Now that I think about it the trolley might be a bit 30/40ish...). There is also a nice set of quill, letter opener and graphitmine holder my mother in law gave me for giving her a grand daughter and a necklace with galvanised bugs. Seems that was quite a thing to do back then... a bit gross when you think about it, but I love'em!

[toodlepipsigner.livejournal.com]

Partner and I have matching Jeevesian hats. They're both black pinstripe, I've got a fedora and she an Irish tweed cap.
I'm still deciding if it's cute or obnoxious to have matching hats that go with your favourite fandom, but she's too sweet in that cap. ^_^

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

I have a walking stick. It's not actually sturdy enough to lean on, but it sure looks nice in the umbrella stand. I'm afraid the umbrella stand is pseudo-Victorian, however.

[chaoticchaos13.livejournal.com]

Wife has been threatening to get rid of my rather spiffing ties. I'm really wanting a whangee.

[chikkiboo.livejournal.com]

Oh! I'd forgotten all about my whangee; we were out antiquing somewhere in upstate New York, and there just happened to be the loveliest little bamboo cane sitting inside an elephant's-foot umbrella-stand just inside the door. I was so utterly taken with it, and so disappointed not to find a price tag upon it, that the proprietor told me to just walk off with it.

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

I once chose a new set of cutlery (flatware to Americans, right?) based upon what I thought Bertie would have. Actually, every buying decision is based upon what is closest to what I think Bertie would have. Notepaper, pens, shoes, trousers, haircut (yes, HAIRCUT) umbrella (which I never need, since I'm in Idaho).

I don't actually parade around looking like someone who's trying to look like Bertie Wooster, I don't think. I suspect I just look a bit tomboyish (or perhaps dykey) in a smartly dressed sort of way. But I do spend most of my time fantasising that I am Bertie Wooster (pretty insane, I suppose), and while I don't mind much whether I look the part or not, I always want to feel as though I look the part.

Just a thought in thie vein...

[toodlepipsigner.livejournal.com]

*pfft* At least you don't try to be like Jeeves. I've spread myself rather thin skipping down that highway. Trying to accomodate for everyone...

It's not insane, though. People who act like other real people are probably worse. You see these women dressing up and acting like Marilyn Monroe or Vanna White and it seems rather feeble. Aspiring to be like someone such as Bertie Wooster or Sherlock Holmes (though that can be dangerous if you weave in the use of opium) is pretty healthy, from a psychologist's point of view.

(And, I've never heard of 'flatware', myself. Brings the odd picture to my mind of a flatened spoon, which I suppose would be rather pointless.)

Re: Just a thought in thie vein...

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

I switch between Bertie and Jeeves a bit, but I'm mainly I'm drawn to Bertie because he's like a more noble heroic version of me. I do pretend to be Jeeves when I'm doing a mind-numbingly boring task, though, like hanging clothes or doing dishes. Makes it a lot more fun.

What I feel is weird is that I'll create little conversations between the two characters in my head. I think I walk around muttering to myself a lot. My shrink assures me that I'm not all that different from other people... I'm not sure if she fully comprehends how far I take it, though. I am a bit odd.

I do have an image that is vaguely like Hugh Laurie in my head as I step into the Bertie character - but I've never been able to get too worked up about the life events of actual real celebrities. Having said that, a lot of 'real' people, Hugh Laurie included, really fascinate me. I heard Hugh Laurie say once in an interview that he has a very involved fantasy life that was almost debilitating, which I really related to for obvious reasons.

(I thought flatware was what Americans call cutlery. No? 10 years here and I'm still figuring things out.)

Sorry, didn't mean to get all analysis-y on anyone, but that's my passion. This is my idea of fun...

[toodlepipsigner.livejournal.com]

I have my masters in Psychology, working on getting my doctorate and I'm going to have to agree with your shrink. "Roleplaying", if I may call it that, is much more normal than people like to admit. A lot of people get embarrassed by admitting to wanting to be like, or sometimes just wanting to be, someone else. Not to get into a psychological analysis on you, but it's an incredibly common way to deal with problems or stress, however trivial, in one's own life. We do it constantly. Look at all those "What would Jesus do?" stickers. What is that, exactly, but a form of idolizing or admiring someone to the degree of wanting to mimick their actions or ideals. I don't know you personally, of course, but it sounds like you're not taking it too out of the box with this.
It's considered pretty much normal, even if you're muttering to yourself, to roleplay internally. Or externally. So long as an individual can differentiate between their real lives and personalities, and their roleplaying identity or fantasy, there's nothing wrong with them.
Go around saying "I AM Marie Antoinette", however, and there's something a bit wacky.
(I've lived in various parts of New York all my life, particularly near and in the city, and we tend to have a blended culture of American, with every other culture out there. So I've always heard 'cutlery' or sometimes 'silverware' even though it's not silver. It may not be like that in Idaho or somewhere else in the USA.)

Re: Sorry, didn't mean to get all analysis-y on anyone, but that's my passion. This is my idea of fu

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

How about playing air piano when everyone else has gone to bed? :) It doesn't get much worse than that, though.

I appreciate your comment. I have trouble with depression and anxiety (hence the shrink) and when things were at their worst in the past I buried myself in my fantasy so much that I really did lose sense of who I was. I mean, I knew my name and everything, but... you know. It was unhealthy, and it prevented me from actually getting out of the depression.

My real life happened to get more dramatic, fortunately (I started uni, etc) and that was the beginning of getting my perspective back and getting sort of better. But I think that's why I now associate fantasy with mental illness, and have a sense of shame about it.

Except here in this forum, of course, where I dump all the boring details of my psyche on everyone! Sorry... I actually don't find myself nearly as interesting as I'm making out. Self-indulgent blathering over.

Re: Sorry, didn't mean to get all analysis-y on anyone but that's my passion. This is my idea of fun

[toodlepipsigner.livejournal.com]

If you're delving into fantasy due to depression it's still a common enough occurrence. It's natural to want to keep one's mind idle with things other than their problems in life. Some people do it through denial, some people do it through drinking or drugs, and some people create an internal alternative (Say that three times fast. I thought not.) to their problems by creating a fantasy life. Wihtin that there's roleplaying, in closest association to what you do, where you envision a character, celebrity etc. in your head and carry out routines he/she/they would carry out, make decisions as they would, et al. Others within that catagory might just make it up, creating characters, settings, scenarios etc. (Obviously, why you hear of so many artists, writers, actors etc in particular struggling with depression. They often have a more vivid imagination because it is their recluse, their safe spot. So some good can come out of it.) Then again, it can also destroy you if you can't find your way out.
I would encourage you, if you have not already, to see "They Might Be Giants". Interesting film about this sort of thing. Because it really does happen all the time.

I wouldn't call it self-indulgent blathering. It's wonderful that you have an outlet for some of this, to an extent. If anything, I'm the self-indulgent one here.
On another note, no, this isn't boring. At least not to me. I'm a bartender, and one would be surprised at some of the things I've heard and-I hope-helped with.
(I really really hope my carrying out this conversation isn't annoying you or making you uncomfortable. But sometimes you don't know who you're helping. Feel free to say STFU at any time.)

Re: Sorry, didn't mean to get all analysis-y on anyone but that's my passion. This is my idea of fun

[ellex42.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to find someone else who has seen the film "They Might Be Giants". It really is a fascinating little picture, and shows how one person's fantasy can be so all-encompassing that other people are drawn into it - even when they know it isn't real.

On the subject of role-playing: it can be very helpful. When going into a situation that makes me nervous, I find it useful to pretend I'm someone else - although not to the point where it's obvious to other people that I'm not being me! It's more like I pretend to be an actor playing myself, and that puts my apprehension at a distance. Kind of like the old saw about visualizing other people naked or in their underwear...

[ceilidhqueen.livejournal.com]

I feel much less strange now (:
I did try on a bowler hat in a shop in Edinburgh, but I was too skint at the time to buy it ): I got a lovely photo of me wearing it though.
I'm now plotting to steal the pyjamas...

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

I wish I looked good in hats ;). I'd love a fedora.

[feanix.livejournal.com]

I have been hunting high and low for a decent cow creamer. There are plenty of white ceramic ones out there, but I'm on the lookout for a silver one.

I'd kill for a pair of Etonian spats, lol, but I'll make do with the bowler hat I have for now :)

[captainpellew.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I have a grey fedora that is exactly the same as Bertie wears in the show. The best bit is that it was passed down to me from my grandfather and made in the 1920s. How cool is that?
Apropos of nothing, Jeeves's head is massive! I thought I had a big head, but I'm nowhere near a size 10. Ha.