welcome to camp telophase

Still working on that RSS parser. My current problem is although the feed contains HTML tags like links and code for italics, the parser I've got only barfs up the text, minus formatting and links. And I can't find anything online talking about this, or how to combat it. It ought to be possible to do it! Aaaarggh!

(I think it's the

strDesc = objItem.selectSingleNode("description").Text

line that's stripping the formatting tags, but so far I've failed to find anything online about that. It doesn't help that I'm currently sleep-deprived.)

So I set the TiVo to catch this travel show called Grannies on Safari, which was visiting Kyoto, a hot-springs resort, and Tokyo, to see if there was anyplace that looked interesting. One of the places they visit in Kyoto is a workshop or something where they paint kimono, and they got to paint (well, stencil, really) squares of fabric with traditional kimono patterns, and then went and watched women hand-painting kimono fabric which will eventually be made into very expensive kimono. That looked interesting, so I went to their website to see if they mention what the name of this place is ... nothing like that on the website. They really want you to buy the DVD set. I figure no problem, I'll see if it's listed in the credits. Well unfortunately, the screen freezes halfway through the show and stays like that until the end, when the TiVo switched to start taping Bleach. Aarg!


ETA: Witness the Powah of the Librarian! I found it! And it's eminently reasonable to paint small items like furoshiki, placemats, handkerchiefs, etc. rachelmanija! Let's do it! :D

ETA2: There are designs like the ancient traditional penguin

ETA3: Oooh, a shibori museum and craft center, where you can take a 2-hour class and dye something! (Shibori is an awesome method of dyeing that is not well served by translating it as "tie-dyeing." It's way more complex and doesn't look a thing like crappy tie-dye T-shirts.

ETA4: Nishijin Textile Center, where you can see weaving, or weave yourself (my mom weaves, so I don't have the urge to go weave, because I can do that whenever I want. :D) But I do want to go to it.

Adachi Kumihimo Gallery, for Japanese braiding, of which I've done a little, so it'd be cool to see.


all found through here.