(no subject)

Since I'm On Vacation, Dammit, and since the timing just didn't work out yesterday, today I went to the MFA to see the samurai armor exhibit. Interesting stuff. MAJOR craftsmanship, but also a lot of artistic freedom. Granted I haven't seen that much European armor all in one place, but most of the European armor I've seen has been more about function than this stuff was. The samurai armor exhibit included some helmets that probably would have made me fall down laughing if I'd seen them on actual human beings. One of them was about two and a half feet tall and supposed to look like a demigod's bald head with warts on the side of it, and one was made to look like a tengu, which would have come across as very fierce if the armorer hadn't gone and given it a silly little hat. Several helmets had built-in (metal) frowning eyebrows, and several masks had almost-handlebar mustaches made of actual hair (animal, not human). I don't think the samurai really grew handlebar mustaches.

They also had a few examples of weapons, and the one that impressed me was the naginata. It looks like a truly nasty thing to contend with, armor notwithstanding. Interestingly enough, it was the only unsheathed bladed weapon in the exhibit. (Which leads me to wonder if any of the others actually had blades, or if they were only hilts and scabbards.) It was worth the price of admission, though, and I'm glad I went.

After that I decided to do the mall trip that didn't work out yesterday either, and bought some work-appropriate pants one size too small for me right now. Hopefully by the time the current round of pants gives up the ghost, the smaller ones will fit. It would be nice if the current round got to be too big before they wear out, but I won't count on that.