I like to watch things on TV

[cyrano]

So yesterday was spending hours in the library researching and then doing the thing stupid people do where you start to read, then you read more, then you search for more, the whole time inside you is the rising thought "Holy God how can I ever know enough to write authoritatively on this subject? I need to check out all 2454524345234 of these books and read them all and then memorize them and then *maybe* I could write this without looking stupid screw it that's way too much work I'm just going to go home and watch television."

So today is a no research day. So far I've spent about two hours fiddling with my music collection--editing mp3 tags so they say 'Lemvo, Ricardo' rather than 'Ricardo Lemvo' and moving files from the 'Various Artists' folder into their actual artists' folders.

Comments

[sararainmaker.livejournal.com]

Forgive me... I have been... away... >.>

What are you researching?

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

You *have* been away! ):
I've been vaguely nattering about this the past few posts, but I'm working on something about the Great War and the Jazz Age, and I'd like it to be historically accurate, so I'm trying to find out things like 'was electric lighting wide spread in San Francisco in 1921' and 'was there a US military presence in the Middle East during the War'.
(Still not certain on the former, but the latter seems to be 'no'.)

[sararainmaker.livejournal.com]

San Francisco, eh? hmm. That was about the time of the great earthquake wasn't it? or was that 1906? I can never remember anymore. History has always been an interest of mine, but I generally go back more into the middle ages. :)

An idea for you: For the electricity thing, the government kept very good records on things like that, it may be an idea to head down to (or better yet, call) the hall of records or something like that and see if perhaps that is a question that could be answered better there than in the library. :)

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

The great SF quake was in 1906. And yes, the city would have had electricity by the 1920s, especially in the more posh areas.

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

One book I highly recommend is The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition Through World War II. Unfortunately it doesn't cover the 1900-1920 years, but the book is just great, and covers much of what you want to know in a concise fashion.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

This looked great!
...until I saw the price tag. q:
Used copies from $50. I'll check if any of the local libraries have a copy.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Woo Hoo!
Looks like there's a copy on the shelf. All I have to do now is return to the forbidden space.

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

Unrelated tangent: Is your post title a lyric from Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love"? That's the tune I heard when I saw it...

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Technically it's from U2's Satellite of Love, with guest appearance by Lou Reed, but yeah. (:

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

I know it from seeing Velvet Goldmine a zillion times. :-)

[tersa.livejournal.com]

whole time inside you is the rising thought "Holy God how can I ever know enough to write authoritatively on this subject? I need to check out all 2454524345234 of these books and read them all and then memorize them and then *maybe* I could write this without looking stupid screw it that's way too much work I'm just going to go home and watch television."

You've heard my opinion on this already. :)

Ironically, I had another moment like that last night, when I was trying to find out what the weather was like in San Jose on a specific day last fall. I spent 30-45 minutes trying to find a website that would tell me because, dude, I know the information is OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. But I couldn't find it.

So I said 'fuck it'. And made something up.

:)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Dude! I totally remember that day, and the weather was *nothing* like that! You're a big poseur!

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Dammit! Found out!

(But, seriously. I know the Weather Service records this stuff. I figured that this was something that would be *easy* to look up, and if I could be accurate, great. Where the hell is it hiding???)

[silkiemom.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this helps.

http://www.wdc.ndin.net/sjc/archive.htm

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KSJC/1994/1/1/DailyHistory.html

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

I can help you with anything WWI aviation related, plus I know a fair bit about military uniforms and civilian clothing of the period.

"Holy God how can I ever know enough to write authoritatively on this subject? I need to check out all 2454524345234 of these books and read them all and then memorize them and then *maybe* I could write this without looking stupid screw it that's way too much work I'm just going to go home and watch television."

Yes, yes, and also? YES. I know this feeling all too well.

Believe it or not, the film Titanic is most excellent when it comes to historical detail re clothing and such. Also, several Merchant & Ivory films are set in the Edwardian era. And Dover is a good source for costuming books.

And you could always, y'know, come down here and raid my WWI & Edwardian era library. 8)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to do so. (:
The ironic thing is that this project is a present for you, and so I'm even more twigged about detail and often consider abandoning it because the inevitable inaccuracies would bug the hell out of you. And I adore you far too much to intentionally bug the hell out of you.