Day 57 -- Oh Captain, My Gap-tain

I'm going to be honest here...I don't actually recall ever purchasing this sweater.  Which is not to say that it was a gift (or, for that matter, "pinched" from a store)--all it indicates is that this lovely pastel turtleneck fell victim to over-packed sweater shelf syndrome.  Had I not removed so many benign v-necks and ho-hum hoodies, this creme-de-menthe colored Gap turtleneck might never have seen the light of day again.  Come to think of it, I'm surprised that it didn't still have the tags on it...or, at the very least, that clear sticker that I often forget to remove from Gap clothing that proclaims to the entire world that, yes, I'm wearing an L, and I'm darn proud of it.  The tag indicates that it is from Holiday '05...which means that I probably purchased it in January in a feeble attempt to locate even more chenille turtlenecks from that collection (see: Days 24, 25, and 40). So I guess it has one thing going for it already...it's not chenille.

Anyone craving mint chocolate chip ice cream now?

This neck looks promising...but can it keep that promise?

After what feels like weeks of ill-fitting sweaters (funny how one bad sweater can spoil and entire shelf of knitwear), I was not expecting much. Surely I had some reason for not wearing this sweater...other than an apprehension about how to match this creme-de-menthe color with anything in my wardrobe.  So, much to my utter surprise, this little turtleneck restored my faith in the genre (at least temporarily...who knows what horrors await me over the next 43 days?).  Okay, sing along with me, "It was soft, was long enough, had a cheerful color, and the neck stayed in place,"...(those lyrics aren't exactly Bob Dylan, but at least you can all understand them).  The ice cream hue gave a hint of spring to an otherwise dreary February day, and at no point during the day did I fuss with the hem, neck, or sleeves.  I guess I owe this wallflower sweater a bit of an apology.

Blogger's admission: Yes, I did it again.  So as not to get even further behind on my entries, I re-wore this sweater--just to refresh myself on its reported merits.  And I have to say, I like it even more now.  Of course this could be because I wore it right before Easter...when the jelly bean hue actually looked appropriate.  Still, it was soft, had good give to it, and it definitely covered my own, ahem, jelly belly.

My rating: Robert Sean Leonard. As he comes from the early-90s tradition of the unnecessarily thrice-named actors (I get the whole hyphenated last name thing...but did we really need Penelope Ann Miller, Mary Kay Place, Tom Everett Scott, Mary Stuart Masterson, et al?), it is all too easy to overlook him, especially amongst the single monikered actors of today--Brad, Matt, Tom, Denzel, Yahoo (or am I the only one who still remembers his tour-de-force performance in Young Einstein?).  But any fan of House will tell you that the interaction between Robert Sean Leonard's Watson (even typing it is cumbersome.  Is he "Mr. Leonard?" Mr. Sean Leonard?  Robert Sean?) to Hugh Laurie's Holmes was really the heart and soul of the show (with apologies to all of the viruses and bacterium, of course).  

So why can't anybody name, with any confidence, any of the stars of Dead Poets Society--with the exception of Robin Williams (whose performance in Patch Adams, Bicentennial Man, and, honestly, most of his films from the past 10 years will earn him the not-so-highly coveted role as a really itchy, smug, and ill-fitting sweater rating if he's not careful) and the lovely autumnal colors?  Perhaps his career would have taken off like chenille had he lost one of this names (his costars Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles are still finding work)--of course that would also mean that, like chenille, his once thriving career would have also reached its peak somewhere around the early part of this century.  I'd like to think that Robert Sean Leonard prefers the slow and steady to the sprint...and is content to do quality television work or perk up a boring outfit when the opportunity arises. While he is often relegated to the back of the sweater shelf (or, even worse, the "I didn't know I owned this" pile), I'm sure he'd gladly accept that role over the high octane action films or insipid buddy comedies of his other three-named colleague, Seann William Scott (don't worry, Seann William, I am waiting for just the right sweater to name after you...and you'd better believe that it's got a cowl). This sweater might have taken a while to "Seize the day," but I certainly found it to be worth the wait.