Umbrella Video Goes Viral and Brolly Blog Had to Read It in the Newspaper

Finally, umbrellas make it into the gossip columns! After sneaking into movies, songs, literature, and luring the consumer dollar, umbrellas are in the big time--a viral video! According to a story "Fox host's umbrella factor" from The Reliable Source in the Washington Post on December 9, 2011, "On Wednesday night, Bill O’Reilly shoved a camera-wielding man with his umbrella while on his way to a White House holiday party." More importantly, this was caught on film and "Within hours, it was all on YouTube, fodder for his critics across the Web."



So, we have had stories about using umbrellas as weapons, but now we have it captured and reported:

“Leave me alone right now,” warned O’Reilly. [Brendan] Lane [a paid organizer for Wisconsin Jobs Now] asked, “Mr. O’Reilly, were you at Gingrich’s fundraiser?” He wasn’t, it turns out — but that’s when O’Reilly knocked Lane into the street with his umbrella and taunted, “Hey, sorry about that.”

Amusingly, while I don't believe 60,000 some hits is really "going viral" it is better than Brolly Blog ever does! Also, we read that O'Reilly did have to reach into the fictional character umbrella-holding bag afterwards on his show:

But on Thursday night's “The O'Reilly Factor,” he said that he felt threatened by Lane and wanted to call the police because “I thought the guy was out of control.” O’Reilly said he “felt like the Penguin in the ‘Batman’ show . . . shielding myself with an umbrella. And I'm lucky I had it — otherwise I would have punched the guy, and I would have been arrested.”

WOW BATMAN! POW!

[Aside: For those who followed the Washington Post link above, they might have noticed that the headline is the much more boring "Bill O’Reilly: Latest target of video activism." This is the result of search optimization dumbing down our language, so where amusing (or not) puns can still live in print, they die on the Internet!]

Travel Destinations: Umbrella Shops: Paris

Today the New York Times ran a slide show online about Paris, which included "Alexandra Sojfer at her umbrella shop". Given that there were only 20 slides, this certainly raises the stature of umbrellas in the travel industry! Of course, that allowed me to explore a bit and find that this is not just a woman and an umbrella shop, but a renowned umbrella shop with a long history.

As recounted in WishYouWereHere.com: Alexandra Sojfer's "grandfather Georges Gaspard fled Hungary for Paris in 1937 and began handcrafting umbrellas in his atelier.

"He quickly became the go-to parasol outfitter among fashionable parisiennes, and today, Sojfer creates exquisitely detailed brolleys and shaders in the styles he popularized. She hand-crafts every piece in the atelier behind this 1834 storefront on the boulevard Saint-Germain, where she's joined forces with umbrella purveyor Madeleine Gely next door."

I would tell you that, if you cannot travel to Paris, to visit Alexander Sojfer online instead--but, her craftmanship does not extend to the web, at least as of yet, as her site is "under construction"!

Note: While her shop makes it to one of 20 slides in the Times travel section, The Lonely Planet ranks her shop as #1011 of 1469 things to do in Paris and #166 of 616 shopping in France. But should we make it #1 for umbrella folks?

Umbrellas and Crime: Hide the Bank Robber and Collect the Money

It has been over two years since we last reported the use of an umbrella in a bank robbery, but it has happened again! According to the San Francisco Examiner:

On a clear and sunny Saturday, a careful crook walked into a bank in North Beach toting an open umbrella and walked out with handfuls of cash, police said.

The crook used the open umbrella to conceal himself from surveillance cameras during the heist at the Bank of the West on Columbus Avenue just after 9 a.m.

And if using the umbrella for concealment was not enough, this robber had the audacity to involve the innocent umbrella in the crime itself: "The tellers handed over cash, which the suspect collected in the open umbrella before fleeing, police said."

Umbrellas and Crime:

Book Cover: Started Early, Took My Dog: A Novel

Returning to my theme of umbrellas on book covers, I have hit a snag on this one. "Started Early, Took My Dog: A Novel" by Kate Atkinson. In this instance, the book cover showed up in a Barnes & Noble book review. However, there is nothing in the review to tell me about the place of the umbrella or even rain at all. Of course, it is always a dark and stormy night in detective fiction right? So, is that all there is? Thanks to Google Books and other sites, I can peek inside the novel and learn that one of the main characters in this story (NOT the private eye) does have an umbrella:

She bought a tweed Maxi code from Etam and a new umbrella. Ready for anything. Or as ready as she would ever be. Two years later she was in the police. Nothing could have prepared her for that. Bye Bye, Baby.

Not much, but something. I had hopes reading one reader who picked up the book because, among other things, she has "a thing for umbrellas," and a commentator on another review loves "the umbrella on the cover. Could use one like that with all the rain we’re having." but no other hints appear.

The umbrella must be a powerful one, however, since unlike other books, the umbrella surfaces on the paperback edition also. However, a very different umbrella, not the loud black and yellow that yells out at us, but a much more subdued, more detective-novelly one, but not the black that would accompany an male detective, but a rainy green. [Side note: The British editions have no umbrella, so maybe this is an American thing?] So, please tell me: Do I have to read the book to find out about the umbrella's strength of image?!

The Parasol is the Umbrella's Daughter

I did not know of this poem by Emily Dickinson. While it obviously deserves to be highlighted on The Brolly Blog, what really fascinates me is how just a quick Internet search shows it to be an inspiration for all sorts of things. But first, this short poem, in its entirety:

The parasol is the umbrella's daughter

The parasol is the umbrella's daughter,
And associates with a fan
While her father abuts the tempest
And abridges the rain.

The former assists a siren
In her serene display;
But her father is borne and honored,
And borrowed to this daFy.

According to James Guthrie: "Emily Dickinson's poem "The parasol is the umbrellas's daughter" is light and almost trivial at the first reading. However, it presents her sharp wit and writing signature. It gives the reader a glimpse of the relationship between the poet's father, Edward Dickinson, and his daughters, Emily and Lavinia, said to be an accomplished flirt. Descriptions of Edward Dickinson present a portrait that resembles an umbrella, austere and dignified, civic minded thus utilitarian and a subtle tyrant." Well, here is a portrait... does he look like an umbrella? Does anyone look like an umbrella?

In random order, first a quilt of this title done by Michele M. Bilyeu for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Her take on the poem: ""As I made this art quilt, I thought of my father, who faced and bore the burden of my mother's Alzheimer's with great honor, strength, and courage. I can only hope to borrow and carry those traits now as I continue to care for my mother, and honor my father, by caring for him, as well." and on umbrellas: "For all those whose strength and courage are tested with this challenging disease, and in honor of all of those who both carry, and lend their umbrellas."

Second, a fashion statement by Emily Schmemily on Polyvore. Her umbrella: Blue Paper Parasol with Bamboo Handle -- MNInternational