Hec, I tried, but my computer didn't have the right software, and the new stupid administrator settings won't let me download any software or make any changes whatever to any of the applications on my hard drive (this includes not being able to download a particularly pretty Art Nouveau freeware font for Word, or delete the stupid skateboarding game that some crack-addled tech upstairs thought I would just love). So, no interview for me.

Was it brilliant? (How could it not be? If you can manage coherent and thoughtful for a 5 a.m. radio interview, 8:40 should be a breeze.)

What -t Said. Bear in mind that until recently most churches wouldn't *allow* strapless wedding dresses, so there are several decades' (centuries'!) worth of evidence to prove that sleeves work just fine. My mother's wedding gown, which I wore, had cap sleeves. Princess Grace's wedding gown had long tight sleeves.

As a friend of mine pointed out years ago, "Oh, you can't get that any more" often means either "I can't be bothered to check the inventory" or "Our store doesn't carry that and I don't want you to shop someplace else."

What JZ was talking about vis-a-vis Jon's theory provided the basis for Michael Crichton's THE TERMINAL MAN. While Crichton science is pretty questionable in the long haul, he usually takes his premises from something pretty rooted in fact. In this case, doctors tried to treat a man subject to those violent epileptic fits by implanting stimulators in his brain to trigger his pleasure centers and calm him down. It backfired because his brain enjoyed the stimulation so much it started triggering non-stop seizures, turning him into psychotic murderer.

In other words, I like the theory.

Was it brilliant? (How could it not be? If you can manage coherent and thoughtful for a 5 a.m. radio interview, 8:40 should be a breeze.)

I think I was more enthusiastic than witty, but it went okay. I think joe boucher heard me. So it wasn't a tree falling in the forest.

I tuned in too late.

I tuned in too late.

Eh. I have to say, the novelty has worn off a little. Still, we contributed books to the fund drive and I got to pimp James Booker and Bo Diddley so that's nice.

I had long sleeves, and they weren't made of tulle or illusion. They were reembroidered alencon lace on shantung silk, and they were fine, well fitted, and not restrictive.

My dress was sleeveless but not strapless. I also had an early September wedding.

I haven't looked at a bridal magazine since 1999, so I've been a little mystified by the universality of strapless dresses at all the weddings I've coordinated over the last year or so, even at winter weddings. I felt sorry for the bride at the last one, when she just had this tiny inadequate wrap over it as she exited the church into the freezing rain. But it sounds like that's just what's in the stores these days.

Yeah, in '99, it was pretty easy to find sleeves. Both my BF and I had sleeves, and while my dress was made for me, her dress was purchased at a swank dress place.

The lack of sleeves these days makes me sad. Women built like me shouldn't have to go without, damn it.

My dress has wide straps, but not sleeves. I avoided the whole bridal-shopping gig, but from what I keep hearing, it's nothing but strapless in the conspiracy industry anymore. Basically, it's a sign of lazy designers. (Also, a whole lot of purely-speculative-just-looking going on, no?)