Living History, Babe

My, this has been a productive Saturday.  After fending off a well earned hangover early this morning, I got myself in gear and headed down to the Brookhaven Town Fair to watch the dads in action.  Civil War reenacting is a serious (and sometimes messy - especially when it's been pouring for the past 24 hours) business, but somebody's got to do it.

The"Living History" portion included the Civil War's 57th Virginia (Dad), Revolutionary War soldiers, women, and kids, and even some WWII guys (and a couple kids in saddle shoes and navy dresses - a nice touch).  I got to try on a real Nazi helmet, which is pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I've been fascinated with the historical period of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany for as long as I can remember.  My head was too big; it didn't fit.  Little fact about helmets from this era: The US soldiers all had the same size, and adjusted them to fit their heads with a leather band on the interiors. Nazi's, on the other hand, had helmets made specifically for the size of their individual heads.  Those made toward the end of the war (like this one) were almost all teeny tiny, as they resorted to recruiting TONS of adolescents and young boys.  

P.S. I finally saw Inglorious Basterds.  Even though I was dubious (I'm not into gory films, which is what I anticipated from Quentin Tarantino), it was pretty enjoyable and oddly enough, a really beautiful film. The awesome 1930-40's costumes, the saturated colors (in everything even the blood), the orchestral music, the scenery - even taken without the plot/story line, it was like a piece of art.