Robots and Scarves

Downtown this weekend, we found a doll museum: one little room chockablock with dolls, standing on shelves, atop bookcases, lining the aisles, two whole bookcases of Shirley Temples. A soft incandescent glow lit their faces, and in the light the dolls were lovely, but so many of them - so many of them - they would be terrifying in the darkness.

No photos allowed, so I didn't take any. There was a Lucrezia Borgia doll, dressed all in red velvet, who looked so like an evil queen of Narnia - oh, I so wanted a photo of that one.

Other photos, though! We found a fantasy-SF-mystery bookstore (!!!!!) called Robots and Rogues (or Rogues and Robots?); it was a robot-ful weekend.

( Robots and Rogues )

And then Rachel left on Sunday morning, and I met Chelsea for crepes and croissants at the adorable college cafe. Mmmm, chocolate croissants.

( Baby It's Cold...Inside? )

Castle: The Blue Butterfly

I got to Castle episode 4.14 today, "The Blue Butterfly," and OMG you guys Castle has its own film noir forties AU episode! Castle is a PI, Becket is a gangster's moll, Ryan and Esposito are low-life gangsters (Ryan has an Irish accent!), Lanie is a singer, and it all takes place in a swanky 1940s bar.

This is the BEST THING EVER. All television shows should have film noir episodes. Castle wears a trenchcoat! Becket has beautiful forties hair!

Actually, I think Castle should do, like, a seasonal AU episode. THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES. There could be an episode set in Edith Wharton's high society New York! Becket could wear a bustle and a giant ridiculous hat! (And possibility hit Wharton with a parasol? I can dream, right?) An episode about Dutch New York! Okay, that might be going back a bit farther than anyone else but me would want...

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES.

Other awesome Castle episodes in season 4: the superhero episode! An episode about a haunted house! An episode which I am pretty sure is six kinds of fanservice, featuring Castle and Becket waking up handcuffed together with no memory of how they got there! I am totally okay with this. (There was a tiger involved.)

I think it's kind of a shame that the Castle writers keeping drifting back to their overarching conspiracy plot, because really the show is at its most hilarious and interesting when it's doing ridiculous concept episodes.