Britt's Scribbles

They were us.

Like literally genetically they were US, just like. A while ago.

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Would you trust a TV caveman with a baby? Probably not

As long as homo sapiens have existed, we have had the same emotional and mental capacity as you and I do today. You nailed it. They were US. Even Neaderthals existed alongside and had offspring with Homo Sapiens for many thousands of years.

There's much evidence that cavemen would have had complex spoken language, culture (learned information passed down), symbolic interpretation, and I think they most certainly would have been able to handle holding a baby. In fact I have my suspicisions that an ancient homo sapiens mother may be a more present, attentive, and knowledgable mom than I could be today.

Do not let media trick you into believing we are the pinnacle of humanity. Unilinial evolution theory (google it quick I beg) is BUNK, GARBAGE, and the root of so much evil.

At the beginning of the next class, my teacher showed us a cave painting of a horse. And then he showed all of our horses, which he had scanned and put into the presentation.

He then pointed out all the ways that our horses looked similar to the prehistoric horse. Same features, drawn from the same angle, etc.

And then he asked us, "Isn't it cool that you draw horses the same way as someone who lived 20,000 years ago?"

Yeah. That stuck with me for a while.

Scientists are now pretty sure the scribbles were made by kids ages 3-6, more or less on their own. The adult cave artists were probably doing what any modern parent might do when they want to keep small children out of their hair for awhile: they gave the kids some drawing tools of their own and a small section of wall to work on, out of the way but still close enough to keep an eye on them, and let them have at it.

The team compared the ancient art with the developmental stages exhibited by modern children: the furiously scribbled circles and push-pull lines typical of 3-year-olds just learning to control their bodies, for example, or the wobbly, right-angled figures of slightly older kids beginning to master fine motor skills.

Both are apparent in the cave, superimposed on each other as though two or more kids were drawing at once. That’s a clue the Las Monedas marks were likely made by “siblings or a mixed-age play group within the sphere of safety around adults, but also within their own space,” says co-author Felix Riede, an Aarhus archaeologist.

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How to see whether a Chinese handmade teapot is well done or not - quality of the spout is an important standard. 

"This is the sound of Worlds Beyond Number."

Drew this poster to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of WBN!

Want it on your walls? You can get it from my Etsy shop here:

Costume appreciation series: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) dir Brian Henson

And Nichole Rudolph recreated Gonzo as Charles Dickens’ outfit from the movie using historical research and techniques. Here’s a playlist of 9 videos documenting the process:

You could look at pretty much any aspect of filming - special effects! Music! Set design! - and literally every person on every team went absolute ham for this movie, because it was a labor of love. Brian Henson made the movie after the death of his father Jim Henson and co-father Richard Hunt. The whole team was devastated after losing the two men who had brought the heart and soul and creativity to The Muppets from the very beginning, and for a while there was debate over whether they should keep making movies at all.

(That scene where Kermit, voiced by Brian Henson, says the brief epitaph for Tiny Tim? The cracks and wavers in Brian’s voice are very real as he says “Life is full of meetings and partings children, that is the way of it. I’m sure we will never forget… this first… parting there was among us…” MY HEART.)

Eventually they decided that they would make this movie, and they would make it as a tribute to all the things Jim and Richard valued; kindness and empathy, in-jokes about life in showbiz, and an attention to detail that even the most autistic among us might not notice at first glance.

Please enjoy some screenshots of Abby Cox’s video, because she did her fucking homework hunting down the specific fashion plates Smith and Hollowood referenced:

(See they were printing plates with the latest fashions on them, that’s where the expression comes from!)

I do want to point out that the costume designers, Ann Hollowood and Polly Smith, were prepared to bring their absolute A game for this project even when it only had the budget of a made-for-tv Christmas special. But when the producers scored Michael Caine and locked in that good good Disney money, these two maniacs looked at each other and immediately said, probably in unison, “We are going to exhaustively research smocking techniques for men’s work shirts specifically from 1840 to 1842 - and keep in mind we’re doing this at a time before the internet is really a thing - then we are going to hand sew a tiny, perfectly accurate recreation, and then we are going to put it on a rat puppet for exactly one scene.”

And it shows. Every frame of this movie, literally every frame of this movie, contains costumes that are not only immaculately period accurate (bearing in mind that the story is not set in Generic Victorian Timey Times, it’s set in 1843 specifically, a time in European fashion that was completely fucking bonkers on several levels), but are also a pitch perfect insight to each individual character, with telling details that contribute to the vibe of each scene even if we don’t consciously pick up on them. We can tell that Miss Piggy is a fashionable lady who doesn’t have much money but is dressed up in her very best, even if we don’t actually know the elaborate tatting technique used to make that lace bonnet that was fashionable maybe 12 years before the events of the story, or that she clearly added a simpler tatted border to that older heirloom shawl to make it match the bonnet better.

And those plates weren’t the only inspiration, I actually recognize a few famous historical pieces, like this 1840s day dress currently in storage at the Met:

Look at it. Look at that fucking feat of engineering. Look at the way the upper sleeves are cut on the bias and the lower sleeves are cut straight, look at the way the pleated collar is gathered at the drop shoulders, and look at how many different ways and in how many places the intricate plaid pattern matches up at the seams, carefully folded and pleated so that the blue underthread matches up in the front panels of the skirt.

This character is in the corner of the screen for less than a minute in total. Smith and Holloway did not have to do this.

Even at a glance you can tell that this plaid pattern was probably less expensive at the time, but it too was cut on the bias, and her bonnet also has very very teeny tiny tatting. This character is also on screen for less than one minute, and she’s also about 4 inches tall.

THEY DID NOT HAVE TO DO THIS.

There’s a reason that one of the most frequently done Muppet cosplays ever is Gonzo as Charles Dickens, because that fit still absolutely fucking slaughters to this day:

Just look at this motherfucker! Look at his fur top hat and matching foxtoe shoes! Look at his stockings! Those stockings look accurately hand-knit to me, and they were on screen for a matter of seconds.

Next, let’s all channel our inner Miss Piggy and stare at Kermit’s crotch!

I couldn’t get clear screenshots of it to save my life, so you’ll just have to trust me, but when these characters are moving, you can tell that Kermit’s pants have a fold front fly. Which was popular up until about the early 1830s - which indicates that his clothes are about 15 years old, presumably the last suit he could afford to buy before he started having a bunch of kids.

Nephew Fred, on the other hand, is wearing the newfangled hot look of the season, a button fly front:

Again, you’ll just have to trust me, but it’s there if you know what to look for. Also, a keen eye will notice that Fred’s coat doesn’t fit him quite perfectly, but he and Clara seem to be stable enough that he could afford to get it tailored - which indicates that either he hasn’t had time or hasn’t bothered, or maybe it’s a new coat that Clara has just given him or something.

Let’s look again at Fred’s daytime monstrosity, period accurate down to the embroidered floral waistcoat with the plaid pants, which at the time would have been the absolute height of fashion for any young man to irritate his penny-pinching uncle in:

These methods of making clothes aren’t just old skills that have no modern application anymore, they’re advanced old skills. This is like someone writing a poem in iambic pentameter in a dead language, and only on the sixth reread do you realize it’s also a palindrome. This is insane.

Y'all. It took me until my 937th viewing of this movie, but I took a closer look at Peter’s little jacket:

It’s also a little outdated, like Kermit’s - and this isn’t a great photo of it, but if you look really really really carefully, there’s a line of darker fabric along the shoulders. And only if you really know your shit about sewing, you can spot the clues that this garment has been let out at the seams. Given that he can’t quite close it and the arms are still a little too short, that indicates that the Cratchets bought him a fairly nice coat a couple years ago and have kept letting it out as he grew. And I can’t find any stills to prove it, but I’d be willing to bet there’s evidence that Tiny Tim’s clothes are hand-me-downs from Peter.

THEY DID 👏NOT👏 HAVE👏 TO👏 DO THIS!

And in any other movie I’d assume that they didn’t, that it must be a coincidence or something, but given the level of detail in this movie I absolutely believe that the costume designers took the time to add a tiny clue like this that maybe fifty people on the planet would notice at the time.

And finally, here are the two women responsible for this visual feast I enjoy every year, and every year as my sewing skill grows I can appreciate more and more of their virtuosity and dedication to their craft:

Ann Hollowood!

look at my mfucking LOAF OF BREAD

You will need a pullman's loaf pan, which is a bread pan with a lid. the reason just tinfoiling a regular cake loaf pan doesn't work is because a pullman's is also considerably deeper and longer that a regular loaf pan, it can fit about a store-sized loaf of bread. which. which it's where the sizing actually comes from, historically.

This is a sourdough recipe so you have to remember to keep your starter well fed AND that the proofing takes considerably longer than anything with instant yeast.

I've modified a bunch of timings throughout the recipe. While your average sourdough boule takes an overnight final proof (making it a 2-day loaf) and your average pullman's loaf recipe takes about an afternoon, this will take about a day's (little under 12 hours give or take) worth of time.

Also note that it is currently around 19C/66F so I've been using my lightly heated oven to keep the dough at decent proofing temps (idk like 70 to 85ish degrees fahrenheit? whatever the equivalent of a sunny window day is). You'll need to figure out your equivalent

Ingredients

Levain -50ish g active, full hydration starter -35g whole wheat flour -35g AP or bread flour -70g/mL water, lukewarm

Remaining Ingredients (Not doing an autolyse for this one) -500g/mL water, lukewarm -35g sugar -550g AP or bread flour -200g whole wheat flour -15-20g salt -65g butter or margarine, plus some reserved

Method

Prepare the levain by mixing all ingredients together in a glass jar (i reuse an old jam jar), covering top with cling wrap, and leaving somewhere warm-ish for about 4 hours. You'll know it's ready when it's doubled in size and has just begun to fall

If you're using a stand mixer, pour your active levain into it. (any other large bowl will do if you're doing hand mixing). Add the sugar and the water to the levain, mixing together.

Let sit for 15-20 min. (I do this to encourage a bit of rapid growth in the yeast, it ups the culture's concentration and takes a bit of the acrid sour out of the flavour profile)

mix in remainder of the ingredients, flours, salt, butter/margarine. If you're using a stand mixer, have it go for about 5 min on the lowest setting. I run mine longer, but I'm using my roommate's old model so the lowest setting is slower. If kneading by hand I would say about 10 minutes or so, and since this is a wet dough, the slap and fold method is probably the way to go.

transfer back to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap, place in a proofer/warm area.

Now it's time for initial proofing and series of stretch and folds. Wait a half hour, then do a stretch and fold. Repeat this cycle three times so you're stretching and folding a total of 3 times. (30min>S&F>30min>S&F>30min>S&F>30min)

Take your pullman's loaf pan and butter/margarine the bottom and sides

heavily flour a surface of choice. Scrape the dough out and let the dough rest on the counter for about 20 minutes

using a floured bench scraper,burrito fold the dough into a loaf shape (roll in sides first, then roll the long way) and transfer to the buttered loaf pan.

Let that rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then preheat the oven on bake at about 375F. The loaf should be out in the open with no lid for at least 20 minutes, otherwise it'll be too wet for the bread lame to score. (You also have the option of fridging the entire pan with a rice flour coated dish towel to get the same drying effect, but idk what the timeline'd look like for that)

lightly sprinkle some more flour onto the top of the loaf and score bread to your liking.

bake with the lid on for 40 minutes, then slide the lid off, raise temp to 425F and swap to broil setting (we want the heat coming from up top now) for about 15 minutes

That dumpling can groove.