54 Comments on “A Boy and His Hat”

1. The first thing that leapt to mind was the Victorian music hall song ‘Where Did You Get That Hat?’, the chorus of which runs:

   “Where did you get that hat? Where did you get that tile?
   Isn’t it a nobby one, and just the proper style?
   I should like to have one Just the same as that!”
   Where’er I go, they shout “Hello! Where did you get that hat?”

2. It is a good hat, it is a very good hat.

3. And on you, it works!

4. my partner needs a new hat b/c his current one looks like a turd fell on his head. this one has true panache and gives me some ideas!

5. You NEED one of your own like it!! You look great in it!

6. I once heard a thing on the radio about a church organist playing general-quiet-music while people were leaving, and he saw a funny hat, and he threw in a little melodic bit of _Where Did You Get That Hat_, and the woman wearing the hat recognized it and complained loudly about this.

7. I love it! Very dashing.

8. That’s a good hat!

9. My weekend would be better if I had a hat like that!

10. A very nice hat, sir, a very fine hat. With a hat like that, you would be seen as a leader of Jägermonsters.

11. So far so good! Just entered a contest to win an ARC of Thick as Thieves (the upcoming Megan Whalen Turner!!!), and have a kid’s birthday party to go to which should wear out MY kids. Plus am rereading the The Big Boost by Daniel Keys Moran after whipping through The Long Run and The Last Dancer. I haven’t decided whether to reread Emerald Eyes as well. Probably will.

    Have fun at Confusion! I went a few times when I was still living in Columbus. It’s a very fun convention.

12. Love it 😀 enjoy

13. My weekend is going well, but not as well as it’s going for everyone at SpaceX. Just watched them land with centimeter precision on drone ship Just Read the Instructions. Not even a very fine hat like (not) yours can beat that.

14. A very becoming hat!

15. It looks like a Gord Downie hat:

    https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/10/27/gord-downie-where-did-you-get-that-hat-hip-frontmans-milliner-talks.html

16. A fine hat, indeed. My weekend? Snowed in, in Portland, OR.

17. Purple is your color.

    My weekend has so far mainly consisted of being trapped under 13 pounds of purring fluff, so I’d say it’s going well.

18. Rather flamboyant. Something I would expect to see on Cam Newton.

    As an aside, just watched the live video of the SpaceX launch. Fantastic video of the first stage landing…

19. I managed to write a blog post, am making my way through a novel rewrite, and am in the thick of an excellent book I’m reading just for fun. Plus no papers to grade and a long weekend. I’d say the weekend is almost as good as it can be.

    Nice hat!

20. Excellent hat! Kind of gives you a Dr. John vibe. Or maybe Dr. Teeth, depending on your preferences.

21. That there looks like a new book jacket picture. When you and Steve Brust do something together maybe.

22. More Steampunkish than SF perhaps, but what the heck!

23. That’s a really nice picture, both feel-good and debonair.

    Great weekend so far! I’m relaxing after a solid morning of rock climbing and lunch with friends.

    Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

24. *Dagger and muzzle-loading pistols not included.

25. Just had a 3 hour nap on the couch with the dogs. They actually gave me a little room to shift around as needed for comfort.

    Pretty freaking awesome start to the weekend if you ask me.

26. A nice hat indeed. John, may I ask what photo editor / filter you used on that picture? It’s an excellent effect.

27. That, sir, is a Hat Of Awesomeness, and you should unquestionably patronize the same hat shop that Jess does.

    As to my weekend, it is fair to partly cranky, thanks. I am fairly certain that we’ll all survive it, though.

28. Uneasy lies the head that wears the 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.

29. If you are still in Boston buy Polar soda. Where is it? Stop and shop.
    Orange dry is what built polar up to a regional bottler.

30. Panache, to the max. I shall call you Cyrano.
    As my Italian aunties would say, bee-yoo-tee-ful!

    My weekend started wonderfully because I attended my SF club last night and saw “Hidden Figures” today. I love movies showing smart people being smart. I also enjoy seeing social progress being made. This movie has both. Now I want to read the book.

31. Your application for Jagermonster Lieutenant has been recieved. We will inform you when we make a decision.

32. Sweet hat! As mentioned, very much Dr John style.

    I saw the good Dr John in Mobile AL a very long time ago, and it was the first Rock n Roll riot I ever saw in the deep south. . .

    We heard sirens in the distance, and walked away quickly into dark residential streets.

    But the photo AND the hat are both marvelous. I approve the suggestion about using this photo for “author’s photograph” on future publications. And find out where he got that hat!!

33. Could there be a “Leprechaun at Mardi Gras” short story in the works? Miniatures definitely needs a sequel.
    Excellent hat!

34. I particularly like the purple hat and the yellow skin. You might be a relative of the Simpsons. :-)

35. A most excellent hat!

    I drove to Fort Loudoun Historic Park, in search of Omanytes. I caught so many I can evolve two Omastars, and have candy left over. A very productive Pokemon day. Now I need to go be productive in other ways.

36. Spiffing hat! Suits you, sir! Was it the Prisma app used for the photo?

    As to my weekend, I’ve located Gutenberg files of the Pauline Ashwell stories “Unwillingly to School” and “The Lost Kafoozalum.” Ah Lizzie Lee, you little hellion, I’ve missed you so!

37. Very snazzy! I like it! (I also like the image; nice stylin’)

38. The Image looks more like a painting. Guess that iPhone upgrade provided some value after all …

39. Aw, you didn’t buy one? But it looks so spiffy on you! I saw a different (or maybe just un-processed) photo of you in that hat on Twitter, and when I saw the photo here I thought you had bought one for your very own.

    (Very cool photo processing, BTW. Very illustration-looking.)

40. There’s a “Go, Dog. Go!” joke in here somewhere…

41. Wasn’t there a Jimi Hendrix song about having purple hats on your brain?

42. I’m having a quiet weekend. Quiet enough to consider my hatless state – and my catless state, concluding, on the whole, that this is, as states go, a satisfactory one, since it wouldn’t bear thinking about the things a potential cat would do to that potential hat.

43. That is a most excellent hat, and you wear it well!

    I’d like a hat like that. I wear hats too seldom, and must do better about it. It’s too bad they’re not worn more often. — Except when watching movies. (See Also: special hell. ;) )

    I wonder now if my college-age self would have been brave enough to try such a hat. It would’ve been good for him if he had.

    There was a certain jacket, then popular, my mom wanted to get me for Christmas, and showed me while we were shopping at the mall. I refused it and said something or other, I don’t remember what exactly, about it being too flamboyant or too…something. I couldn’t say I was afraid it would make me look too gay, because that was too close to the truth and might give it away. My mom was disappointed. She’d really wanted to get it for me. I don’t know if she ever got why I reacted badly, why I’d think it wouldn’t look good on me, or that the truth was, I was afraid it’d make it very plain that I was gay. — I wish I had said yes and rocked that jacket. There were other high school and college age guys, and oder, wearing that style in lots of colors and patterns. But not me. — It would have been good for me if I could have really *owned* that look and worked it. Thing was, I liked it and did later regret it, but it was too late then.

    Note, please, that has no real bearing on a very fine hat with a feather, which was, by the style of the day in which that style echoes, quite the gentlemanly statement, not even flamboyant. (Seriously, they wore some really wild things back then, even the most conservative fellows.)

    My point was more about personal journeys and learning a life lesson eventually. Note there wasn’t a friend around to say I’d look stylin’ in that, and no guy friend had, ah, helped improve that self-opinion by, ah, well, you know, expressing a personal interest. ;) And I was, as I said, way too conflicted at the time. — And yes, I was a geeky college boy, skinny, pale, wavy blond hair, sorta high voice…. Some people already thought I was gay. Why I didn’t realize I could get the jacket, wear it and be happy, accept myself and go on…. Shows just how conflicted someone can be. (And just how unpopular and risky it was then to be gay and out; which I was also too aware of, thanks to school and college.)

    So — I should’ve gotten the jacket. My mom would’ve been really happy. I would’ve liked it and might’ve gotten further along, accepting myself. My mom might have clued in what was bothering me so much. She and my dad (especially) might not have been happy to learn their son was gay, but, well, they were not seeing because they didn’t want to, I think. And I think it would have been a big surprise if they had accepted m. That was what worried me most. I was scared they would say they still loved me, but that they would never understand or accept me. — I will never know if they would have.

    Please note: I’m posting this as a very personal reaction. I in no way want to mar the great hat or imply it’s anything but great and stylish and manly enough for any guy. It just struck a chord with the jacket. (Miami Vice jacket, 1980’s, very stylin’ back then. One of the Coreys in Lost Boys wears a similar jacket, different color/pattern. It was really popular.) I was really conflicted and should have known better.

    That is a rockin’ hat. Would also work for Doctor Who.

    Auto-incorrect keeps trying to hyper-correct me for dropping g’s in rockin’ and stylin’. It needs to unwind some.

44. I think that is one fabulous hat!

45. Nize hat! Now you need to be at the head of a legion of clockwork sharks to establish your dominion over the Seven Seas.

46. I’ll admit I wouldn’t have thought purple was your color, but it does seem to suit you. I’m home this weekend, knitting hats. Will probably have one or two of them with me when I visit the Boston Common next weekend.

47. There’s a “benevolent wizard” vibe. I like it.

48. Purple’s a good color for you. Nice touch.

49. That hat! That hat sits at the perfect nexus of flamboyance, insouciant wit, and all-around fabulousness. It makes me wish I still wore hats on a regular basis (my style as a teenager was much more, shall we say, freewheeling). I must have that hat. (wipes drool off computer screen)

    @bluecatship–Buy hat, rock on, shake and stir. As someone who for years has been tempted to swan-dive into Marlene Dietrich/David Bowie territory, I would buy that hat In a heartbeat if I had ready access to it. And yes, it would be great for Doctor Who.

50. John, that picture makes you look like Willy Wonka.

51. @JaenicePalmer — I will keep that hat in mind. it’s going to be months before my budget can do a purchase like that, but dang, that is one awesome hat. :D Likely, it’ll be a similar hat, rather than identical, but that’s part of the coolness factor.

    John’s friend Jess, whose excellent hat that is, has fantastic taste. John, for showing off such a terrific hat, clearly has great taste too.

    As others have said, it’d make a fine author photo.

    Personal style — I grew up with a pretty conservative personal style, but always have liked to look good and dress up a little. As an adult, I have become more liberal over time and really enjoy that more. (Still probably fairly conservative, but there’s way more wiggle room now.) So personal style is something I see now as a big plus for personal expression. What can I say? I like science fiction a lot, fr example, always have.

    And if I had a time machine, I’d go back in time to two or three key points and see if I could convince myself to change some from what I thought and felt then. The jacket was maybe not a key point, but it was connected with how I was (not) dealing with myself at the time. A talking-to or some adjustment would’ve helped. — We don’t get that in real life, so far as I know, the chance to go back and redo things. We all have to go forward in time from whatever consequences happen. And maybe that’s best, I don’t know. — At any rate, it is good to grow out of some things and know why that old stuff was a mistake, and how to do better in future.

    —–

    “It’s the hat.” (Farscape quote.) — You know, there’s a whole thing in recent SF&F about great hats. Ahkhna’s hat in Farscape. Guinan’s hats in TNG. Jayne’s hat in Firefly, and Badger’s hat, come to think of it. Miller’s hat in The Expanse. Star Wars goes more for helmets than hats, but they’re pretty good too. Hmm. other hats….

    I’d say this-here very fine hat is a major winner.

    Now if John could get Zeus and Sugar and Spice to wear hats…. The Cat In the Hat and Thing1 and Thing2 for Halloween? Hahahah. Hah, they would likely be not amused, cats being cats. But the Red Dwarf Cat, now, he might go for a good hat….

    LOL, great picture and post, oh Scalzi one.

52. Very snazzy, and the color does indeed suit you.

    Also: nice aloha shirt.

    The weekend has been better than the other-than-optimal week that preceded it, and included getting to see you in that hat, so overall, not bad.

53. My weekend was going brilliantly until I was struck by a debilitating case of hat envy.

54. A new and improved version of Willy Wonka over Johnny Depp’s hideous version.