k is for kurtzmann

yeah, ian holm as mr. kurtzmann in terry gilliam's semi-futuristic semi-moralistic semi-cautionary tale semi-orwellian rip-off semi-masterpeice 'brazil.' yeah, the amazing sets, the wild inventive costumes, the haunting thinly-veiled warnings of invasive public policies... (cranking gesture) hey, don't get me wrong, i really don't mean to 'bag on' 'brazil,' its clearly an excellently-staged and well-crafted piece of cinema, but i seem to always be struck by little things in the movie that tend to slip by most reviewers. for instance, i think ian holm's role is largely overlooked. its widely cited that sam lowry (jonathan pryce) is the 'everyman' in the movie, the character that's supposed to stand for 'us,' but i think most of us are far more like ian holm's 'kurtzmann.' he's a good company man, who does his tedious little cog-wheel job day in and day out, one eye on the Clock, without it even occurring to him to dream or complain, a man who takes home just enough of a paycheck to keep him cowed, and with not enough imagination to suspect conspiracies. if it weren't for dozens of kurtzmanns, the Ministry couldn't operate nearly as efficiently as it appears to. i think the film is, at times, genuinely terrifying. but the ending...yeesh! the ending feels like terry gilliam had been fucking me gloriously for almost two solid hours, and just before the climax, he lost his erection. such a let-down.

k is for klepto

hey, i had to kick off the k's somehow. so here's what my genius brain came up with; a semi-candid shot of a modern-era morrissey in a record store, so i could make a joke about how he's contemplating ripping them off! yes, he's a slinky cat in the local Peaches. he's playing it sooo causual, then, when all the customers are looking the other way, he's gonna pocket that bootleg sandie shaw compilation and rip the 'i'm stealing it' sensor tag right off the back. (ahhh, memories.) or maybe he's going for the release of 'a-ha's greatest hits.' which should be THE most padded-out recording ever. like, i can only think of three songs those jokers did. maybe he's getting 'men without hats: the deep cuts.' just for the record though, i wasn't busting on sandie shaw. she's actually pretty cool. ahhh, this is real lazy entry, i know. i think i need a good night's sleep.

j is for 'jeremy brett joke!'

yeah, why the hell not. you may recognize jeremy brett as the dude who played 'freddie' in the movie version of 'my fair lady.' (i'm pretty sure his singing voice was dubbed, by the way) but most people probably recognize him from the standard-setting british television series based on the Sherlock Holmes stories. i never saw it, i know we had the tapes at the library. i've never been big on sherlock holmes. i've always been a devoted agatha christie-hercule poirot kind of girl. (ustinov and suchet are the two best poirots in my opinion.) but hey, tonight there's no 'mystery' about it, tonight the joke is on mr. brett. just look at that intense eye contact, ladies. he's soooo...mmm, what's the word? mysterrrriouss! (you might have to click to enlarge to read the joke. not that its all that hilarious, but what the hell.)

j is for jeeves

i thought i had done enough j's last night, but what the hell? i thought a dreamy, creamy shot of stephen fry as reginald jeeves wouldn't hurt. man, he never looked better. yummm. that era suits him gorgeously. and he's so clever-clever in the series based on the p.g. wodehouse stories. did you know there's tons of 'jeeves and wooster' slashfic out there? hardly surprising, considering he and hugh laurie (bertie wooster) are practically married in the series. i mean, they bicker, and stephen dresses him and tucks him into bed and draws his bath and a bunch of other borderline queer behavior. they should just like, cross that invisible line and start making out. anyway, i took this screen capture of stephen as jeeves a long time ago, and i think it still looks pretty good, so here you are. yum.

j is for 'jeepster' : t-rex - video

'...girl, i'm just a vampire for your lo-ove...!' (a vampire?) wow. here's marc bolan to slide you his glitter.

j is for jack

...saucy jack torrance. my mate jean-lucien is the authority on 'the shining.' i remember the school year where he walked around with a hardcover copy of that book. he read it over and over until he knew it so well he could complete any quote he was cued with. it IS an incredible book. i think i read it once myself. i found myself oddly drawn to 'carrie.' i read 'carrie' over and over again. i'd never read anything like it, and i still marvel at its simple delivery and its complex construction. it makes sense, now that i think of it; that i should gravitate to a King book so steeped in the carnal cruelties of girlhood and the bullish will of telekenises, and jean-lucien should embrace a tale of such ethereal boyish innocence. a boy captured in a helpless waltz with the reluctant revalations of Extrasensory Perception and the unbending demands of Society. my darling brother had one hand in mine, and the other in the fast cold palm of Fear. i want him to know my hands were similarly tied. either way you go, its a path too rich with Knowledge to be entirely comfortable.

j is for john...

nigel john taylor, to be exact. hey lucy, i went shopping for this one specifically with you in mind. i tried to find one of him in 'the' fedora, but i was unable to locate a good one. but the one i DID find epitomizes his best Duran era, if you ask me. i'm still such a fool for it all... the craftily frosted bang-whisps, the bone structure, that dead-on, dreamy, 'ragged' sex-ssual eye-contact. man, i've seen studio photographs of ingrid bergman from the 40's that aren't as pretty and glamourous as this shot of the duran duran bass god. i wish i could post that clip from the 'blue silver' documentary, where he and the rest of the duran lads have to meet with the big-wig Coca-Cola executives to schmooze, on account of Coke was promoting their tour, and some American dimwit who looks like Danny Breen elects a 'morning after' john taylor to step up to the mike on behalf of 'the lads,' and john, (drink in hand) drops the 'PR' bomb, before dozens of popping press flashbulbs, when he says, '...i mean, i prefer Pepsi myself...' so they cut to Simon and Nick, to the sound of the 'ooooohs!' in the crowd. nicely played, john. good job. he is cute, though. look at those eyes. he wants you... he wants you to 'trust him,' so he can snag your teenage panties. i say we 'let him.'

j is for joe

joe strummer, ladies and gentlemen. i've been having a hot fling with joe for most of the summer. thanks to the miracle of video sharing, i've been able to see great footage of him on stage with the clash. he's so hot, so intense... completley invested in his art, yet detached and locked in some private introspective rebellion. (mmm, what the hell am i talking about?) before i get too analytical (or recklessly poetic) i'll just say that i love the sound of his voice, i love his energy, i love his face, and i love to watch him work. and its a queer thing to discover someone after they're dead. i felt similar things as a child, reading my mother's thick cream canvas-bound copy of norman mailer's 'marilyn,' and becoming bewitched by her image, only to be told she was dead long before i was born. wooing a ghost is a tricky thing... how carnal do you let your thoughts get? something tells me mr. strummer wouldn't mind if he knew i was still down here, imagining him and myself in a torrid groupie situation. or maybe he liked boys? i don't know... i don't know him very well. but i like what i see, and perhaps more importantly, i like what i hear. sweet dreams, joe. god bless you.

j is for joni

joni mitchell. once known as roberta joan anderson. i don't have a lot to say about joni that i haven't said in the past, but i just couldn't bear to let the 'j's' go by without at least blowing a kiss to miss joni. she's a canadian siren, a poet, a smoker, a survivor, and she still continues to put out great stuff. her's is one of the few voices i would find myself aching for on a desert island. my two favorite records of hers are, i think 'hissing of summer lawns,' and 'taming the tiger.' and 'hejira.' and 'don juan's reckless daughter.' and 'court and spark.' i think you get the idea.

i even wrote a term paper on her lyrics. not only did i get an 'a,' but i seduced the professor. thanks, joni.

j is for '...jervazen!'

okay, this is a little selfish of me. only a select few people out there will even understand why i put it up. it was sort of like a love letter. a long lost love letter that's probably better left unexplained. the whole 'concept' behind the 'valentine' was sort of like, a celebration of the 'unclear' anyway. after all these years, seeing it again was like seeing my home. it is where the heart is. so jean-lucien, and lucynell, please know your almadora loves you both very much. how do i feel like, in my heart, when i think of the three of us, united in the spirit of love and humor? well, i think i can sum it up in a single word, and that word is: '...jervazen...!'

j is for jaws!

yes, jaws! good old spectacular jawsity-jawsity jaws!! man, i love this movie. (mmm, can you tell?) and i also love any photo that can be described as 'never before seen.' i stumbled across this great shot a few hours ago, and i just love it. from left to right, we have the unscrewed and sorta-crazy robert shaw as quint, the bespectacled and independently wealthy matt hooper, (richard dreyfuss) and the dutiful and streetwise cheif martin brody. (roy scheider) wow, man... i love jaws! even in the boarding house where i live, everyone knows how i feel about 'jaws,' ...there's sort of an unspoken rule that if someone sees that 'jaws' is on, then someone needs to come tell me about it. because you know, 'jaws' always puts me in the mood... to do what, you may ask? well, it puts me 'in the mood' to watch 'jaws!' its one of those films that i don't even have a 'favorite part' of. what's my favorite part of 'jaws?' the part where its on, and i watch it. (?) and i don't even count the limp-dicked sequels as real true parts of any kind of real-or-imagined 'jaws' series. to me, there is only one 'jaws,' the first 'jaws,' the one true shark ride that IS the original ahhh-jawsity-'JAWS!' (click to enlarge)

j is for 'the joke'

yes, some may disagree, but in my opinion, this bit is full-fledged comedy gold. its a skit included in the 1969 production entitled, 'john cleese on how to irritate people.' anyone that knows me well at all knows that this skit is my favorite from all the clips on that particular compilation. it showcases the talents of michael palin, graham chapman, gillian lind, and last but certainly not least, miss connie booth as beryl, the wife. with her social gathering going down in crickets and tumbleweeds, she decides to shake things up a bit. the result is, in MY opinion, hilarious.

j is for johnny

ohhh, johnny depp ladies and gentlemen. why would anyone even think about lusting after drab brad pitt when johnny depp is out there walking around looking like a damn brunette male marilyn monroe? i was trying to decide which flavor of 'depp' i should post. captain jack sparrow? flamboyant willy wonka? no, i settled on ichabod crane. i've seen the whole thing recently, ('sleepy hollow,' that is.) and i loved his low-key yet still over-the-top performance. man, what can i say? he's prettier than most of the girls i've ever met. i mean, its almost impossible for the man to look bad. and i'm old enough to remember 'jump street,' so i have more perspective than some who just think he hatched some time around edward (overrated) scissorhands. i mean, hey... what can i say? he's just beautiful. and he's so genuinely talented that i don't even have to feel guilty about it. he's pretty enough to be in duran duran, and good enough to win an oscar. damn. i love him.

j is for jobeth

jobeth williams, that is. i've never understood why jobeth didn't blossom into a bigger, more mainstream star. this is a still frame from 1979's 'kramer vs. kramer.' she played a librarian (i think) that dustin hoffman picks up for a one-night stand. most people forget she was great in 1980's 'stir crazy' as gene wilder's public defender. fortunately, however, she was unquestionably immortalized in the wild-scary 1982 tobe hooper ghost story 'poltergeist.' she played the hip and brave diane freeling. upon re-watching 'poltergeist' recently, jobeth (diane) is really the hero of the film. she's the one who takes the biggest risk and deals the most directly with the heavy-duty goings-on. she's really the 'dragonslayer,' if you think about it. i also loved her 'free love' ways in 'the big chill,' but after that, she regretfully fell out of the greater spotlight. i think that's a great loss. not only was (is) she beautiful, but she's also tough, smart, and damn good.

j is for jeans

okay, i'm really stretching it here. i was having a tricky time coming up with my first 'j,' then i ran across this picture of the very hot simon john charles le bon, and so i just sat here and thought about it until i came up with a j-link. so 'jeans' it is. and seriously though, for a minute... i don't think i'd like to live in a world without jeans. i love jeans. i love wearing them, i even dig sleeping in them, and hey... have you had a hot makeout session recently? jeans are the ultimate thing to be wearing when you're getting all hot and heavy with someone you don't yet know all that well. i think the densely-woven cotton fabric somehow magnifies the friction and hotness of the contact. (if i can like, remember back that far.) hey! my weird cat just jumped in my lap for no reason. maybe she was trying to tell me this blog entry is a total dud, and i should 'abort' as soon as possible. either that, or she just selfishly wanted me to acknowledge her swinging feline existence. in any case, dig the gorgeous simon le bon, reclining sexily for your approval.

unintentionally hilarious

yeah, i'm gonna pause the alphabet for a little something i call 'unintentionally hilarious.' i found this picture i'd saved in a really old file, and i just couldn't resist posting it. like, do i even need to comment on it? like, ralph feinnes, shirtless, holding a dog. and his facial expression is like, 100% all about, 'i'm not kidding or anything posing with mr. milkbone, i'm thoroughly serious about it.' i don't know who he's trying to turn on. or maybe i missed something, maybe this was some photo shoot he did to promote adoptions of 'shelter dogs,' kind of like sarah whatsername does with those commercials that show lots of pitiful kittens and dogs who 'need a loving home.' but when i found the photo, there was no indication it was done for anything like that. so, i'm left unclear. '...hello, i'm oscar nominee ralph feinnes...there are two things that i'm 'all about,' namely, shirtlessness, and black dogs.' your guess is as good as mine. dig it.

i is for idle, eric idle

"...can i have fifty pounds to mend the shed?" i love that bit. eric was sooo lovely when he was in his python days. and something tells me like, he 'knew it.' i've heard he could be a stuck-up, conceited prima donna like, around the time they were doing 'flying circus.' like, i heard he could throw a hissy fit and like, hide in his dressing room, flaming with 'attitude.' i don't know if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me. i did actually 'used to think' he was the best-looking one, but i think i was just a pre-teenager responding to his 'pretty' factor. now that i've grown a bit older and wiser, i 'hands-down' think terry jones is the prettiest. handsomest. cutest, whatever. i think terry almost always looks wonderful. but hey, THIS post is about eric idle, and he'd probably throw a real 'bitch fit' if he knew i was using the space to talk about terry.

i is for imposter

yeah, when i first got this wild machine, i did a lot of things to teach myself all the little tricks and tools. one thing i used to do was mocking up album covers and .45 sleeves. i really should do some more now that i actually know what i'm doing. but just for the hell of it, here's one of the covers i came up with. yeah, its the latest release from that talented glam quintet 'the headmasters.' the song 'male desperation' was pure pop gold, and the b-side 'quaint,' even managed to chart in the top 50... highly unusual for a b-side. i made a few others, but i can't think of what files they're in like, in order to dig them up. but it was a fun way for me to teach myself about like, the fonts and colors and cropping tools and all that. (oh, and just for the 'record,' the originial image was a still frame from 'velvet goldmine,' during the 'ballad of maxwell demon' bit.) hey, not to stroke my own fur, but i've seen vinyl 45's that looked a hell of a lot worse.

i is for ian holm

...oh, that's a big f***ing surprise. hey, you know i had to do it. so, i think i've already posted every shot i have of him from 'alien,' so i chose a shot from the 1981 terry gilliam film 'time bandits.' it was only two years after 'alien,' but it looks like ian used a lot of that time getting a tan. as you can see, he plays napoleon. its been like, 25 years since i saw the whole movie, so i can't really weigh in on it with much authority. the last time i borrowed the dvd, i just watched ian's parts over and over about nineteen times and then took the disc out. he looks pretty great in that costume. and he does a lot of laughing and smiling which is nice to see after his relatively cool performance in 'alien.' you'll have to forgive me for not getting too poetic and flowery about him... i'm feeling a little off my game tonight. (oh, and the guy with the moustache over his shoulder is terrence bayler, who often showed up on neil innes' and eric idle's post-python tv series 'rutland weekend television.')

i is for innes, neil innes : protest song - video

"...let me turn you on, to the chromium swan, on the nose of a long limousine..." i've heard its a sin to kill a mockingbird... so please dig lovely neil 'doing' dylan. (his lips attack the cold metal of that harmonica like he's hungry or something.)

i is for ingrid boulting

yeah, i don't know all that much about her, except that she was a much-photographed model in the late 70's-early 80's. she was also in the 1976 elia kazan snooze-fest, 'the last tycoon.' but i remember her on the cover of 'Seventeen' magazine as well as countless perfume and make-up advertisements. those wide eyes, those slightly pouty lips... the exotic eastern european bone structure was obviously marketable. i think i've already posted her fabulous blue 'seventeen' magazine cover... with her mink-like slinky brown hair and smart navy blue lapels... i have to admit, part of me wishes i looked just like her.

(i'd even take the crimped hair for like, a weekend. she's so '1982,' i'll bet she's running out to see 'blade runner.')

i is for icons

mmm, could you tell i just wanted an excuse to post another picture of morrissey? actually, i love this picture, as it includes two of my fave male sex symbols; steven patrick morrissey and steve mcqueen. hey, the two steves! sigh... (man, i am tired tonight, and it shows.) this picture was taken sometime around the filming of the documentary 'the importance of being morrissey,' which i've never been able to watch all of, on account of i'm still so crazy in love with morrissey that it kind of makes me freak to like, see the 'common' charming stuff like his actual living room and visits to hetero strip joints. and hey, did you know he was real close friends with nancy sinatra? it was at least ten years ago, but the cross on the wall, the popstar on the sofa, and the movie star on the wall make for a trio of groovy icons that lands them all a spot on this self-indulgent alphabet. last i heard, he wasn't celibate anymore. (mmm, like i have a shot.) click to enlarge.

i is for izzard

...eddie izzard. i'm glad to say i dug eddie before he was ever on a short-lived american series. i saw his 'in-drag' stand-up show in boston a few years ago. and i'm also glad to be able to say, '...met him.' yeah, he was doing some sort of dvd signing thing in boston, and i took the bus out there so he could scrawl his name on one of my very own hand-decorated and hand-written notebooks. we waited like, four hours in line, but it was worth it when i was able to shake his hand and tell him how groovy and beautiful i thought he was. he was friendly, even after giving over a hundred autographs, and his handshake was warm and dry and smooth. the signing even went into 'overtime' because of how many people were there, and it was great of him to stick around until everyone got their shot. this shot is from the very-unknown western movie 'blueberry,' in which he starred as the curious and cunning 'prosit.' i can't tell you if the movie was any good, because i've only ever watched 'his bits.' i'll try to post more about eddie in the future, as he also starred in one of my favorite films of the last 15 years, 'shadow of the vampire,' with john malkovich, cary elwes, and the hilarious willem dafoe. if you've never seen it, its a low-key-but-well-worth-it 'must see.'

i is for 'it girl'

and cinematically speaking, there was only one... miss clara bow. i'm pretty tired, so i know i probably won't do the marvelous miss bow justice with the tribute tonight, and for that i apologize. i had read about clara in old books from the library long before i ever saw her on film. but once i saw the 1927 classic romantic romp 'it,' i realized her reputation was richly deserved. she was a glittering delight... like a female rudolph valentino, she could quicken the heart and flutter the breath with nothing more than a smirk or raised eyebrow. she's in almost every shot of 'it,' where she played the coquettish-but-broke shopgirl betty lou spence. if you've never seen it, its a lot of fun. gary cooper even shows up as a walk-on reporter. clara was at her prettiest peak in 'it.' every bit as bewitching as garbo, but in a more playful, girl-next-door sort of way. (incidentally, this photo wasn't taken from 'it,'... i just found it like, 20 minutes ago and posted it because i'd never seen it before.)

h is for holland... again

i know i touched on my sweet jools last night, but since i'm in love with him, i decided to give him a 'double dip' so to speak. as most of you may know, jools was in the band 'squeeze' like, really early on. then he was out of squeeze, then he was in squeeze again, and then he went onto tv. anyway, like a year ago, i ran across some really old and rare-seeming pics of sweet young julian in the early squeeze days. as you can see, he had his own style. i sort of can't decide if i think he looks ridiculous, or just super-cool. you can't really tell from this picture, but underneath that leather jacket he's got on a scarlet t-shirt with the 'bubble yum' gum logo. so cool. just look at that complexion... such fine skin. anyway, i thought this peek at his past 'stylings' was very dig-worthy. so dig it.

h is for holland ... julian miles holland

also known as 'jools.' no, i don't live in england, and if is wasn't for the wild and crazy youtube, i'd know almost nothing about his late-nite show. but i can say with all sincerity, that i have been in love with jools holland since the first time i laid eyes on him... and i'm almost positive that was when i saw him thinly disguised as the leader of the 'ken bishop's nice twelve,' a musical guest on the mid-80's MTV airing of the comedy hit 'the young ones.' (hey, i think by the time you see this, i may have already posted the video.) actually, why the hell don't i go ahead and post it now! here it is, ladies and gents... my likely first glimpse of the great jools holland, along with at least one member of squeeze, and with at least one 'police'-man on drums, doing a number written by bob dylan... it was cut from the dvd release, but thanks to the electric intersection, here it is for us to dig on. and jools, i love you.

h is for 'half breed'

honestly, i'm not sure why i'm posting this. i think its kind of like a bill-clintonism... in other words, i'm posting it, quote "...because i can." i generally put cher in the same box as barbra streisand... she's just as much fun to 'bag on,' as she is to dig on seriously. hell, i remember when cher had her 'second wave' of success as a movie star in the early-to-mid 80's, with the highly-overrated 'moonstruck' and all that... but i also remember watching her variety show when i was less than nine years old. and she'd even been around the block a few times then. i remember when 'the witches of eastwick' came to our small town. jean-lucien and i wanted to see it so we clipped an advertisement from the local paper and magneted-it to the fridge with a note suggesting we be taken to see it for our birthday present that year. (just for the record, i think it was susan sarandon that we were really 'into' at that time) but my mom took the bait, and there we were, in the theater closest to westchester mall... i can't remember the name... oh wait, was it the Capri Triple? yeah, i think so. so we all loaded up and went to the Capri Triple. it would be a lot more interesting if something disastrous had happened, but actually i think the night went smoothy. needless to say, jean-lucien and i sat side by side and whispered our thoughts back and forth through the whole thing. wow... i haven't thought about that theater in a long time. i know i also saw most of my 'childhood disney' there. and i remember going to see something harmless in 1980 and being afraid of the 'alien' poster. wow... how things change.

h is for hippies

...and 'hair.' not many people know that the 1979 movie musical 'hair' was directed by none other than milos forman, of 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' and 'amadeus' fame. i seem to remember 'hair' getting sort of bagged on when it came out, by i stand by it. i think it succeeds on every level. the score is faithful to the original show. the vocal performances by such talents as treat williams, beverly d'angelo, annie golden, and john savage are underrated in my opinion. i was born in 1972, so i admit it is difficult for me to tell if the 'social message' hits home with the accuracy and impact of the original broadway show, but even as a little girl watching the movie on HBO, i remember being moved by it. the twyla tharp coreography fascinated me. and the cinematography, (by miroslav ondricek) is rich and gorgeous. i just love it. hey, even ellen 'bat out of hell' foley shows up near the middle to lend her rock n' roll pipes to the classic 'black boys' number.

h is for 'a hard days night'

yes, oddly enough 'a hard day's night' is the last movie i saw in the theater. amazingly, it was almost ten years ago. there was a theater in boston that was running the film as some sort of vintage-revival thing. i'd never seen it on the big screen, and even though i was a completely full-grown adult woman and all that, when i saw those boys up there, bigger than life, lit up like quicksilver, it was unexpectedly hard for me not to squeal and pound my feet on the theater floor. if i never see another movie in the theater, i will always be proud to say 'a hard days' night' was my last one. apart from it being a delicious liverpudlian man-fest, its a very good movie. funny, clever, well-done, and the music is of course, excellent. here's a shot i just found like, ten minutes ago, but i think it symbolizes the film quite well. hey, its a sexy mid-60's showgirl backstage with an aghast-for-no-reason paul mccartney. man, that dude who's walking around england these days using paul's name? like, who is he, and what has he done with the real paul mccartney?

h is for huston

okay, after this one, people are really gonna think i'm a lesbian. (not that there's anything wrong with that.) but i thought this shot of a very young and nude miss anjelica huston was worth posting just because like, hey... where else have you ever seen anjelica huston in the complete and total huston-nude? actually, i think she looks quite beautiful. and hey, who saw 'the grifters?' was she crucial in that movie or what? ahhh, what the hell am i talking about? i'm tired and it shows... posting pictures of nude oscar winners? sigh. oh well, at least she's natural. that's what i love about older erotic photography... you can be sure there's 100% no silicone included. i think all the natural girls should be super-proud. and so should anjelica. rock on, naked miss anjelica huston!

h is for hot... hot moz

man, i've been sitting here for the last ten minutes racking my brains trying to come up with some decent H's for the grand psychedelic alphabet. and since i think i may have already posted all the pictures of georgina hale in existence, it looks like i'm gonna have to get a little creative. so 'hot moz' it is. and isn't he...? hot, i mean!! yeah, this picture was from just a few years ago, when he was cruising around italy putting the 'ringleader' album together. (oh, and i didn't mean 'cruising,' like as in 'cruising,' like as in the al pacino sense.) its crazy how much hotter he is now than he was in the Smiths days. like, i love that little bit of silver on the temples and the fine lines in his face. and he even manages to wear that soccer shirt without 'negating' it with 'wuss'-factor. he actually comes across as tough enough to like, have it on. and i love how he's just hanging out near a wall with his jacket across his lap and his chunky man's watch on. its all like, '...he's not waiting on a layee-day... he's just waiting on a friend." sexy, am i right girls?

g is for glamour gals

i had them, i dug them... but looking at this picture now, they strike me as being like, really out of proportion. i mean, look at all that hair! i don't remember their hair being that huge. and their facial expressions, or lack thereof. they look dead. and i guess i remember they made 'glamour guys,' and i know i probably had a few. like i think i had that joker in the blue and white. i remember i had the little plastic firebird-type car they sold for those little plastic chicks to 'drive' around in. i know i must've had at least a dozen of the little suckers. man, the hair is out of control. i wonder if all of my old 'gals' are still like, melting creepily in my mom's attic back home? i remember at the local K-mart (or maybe it was a 'Rose's?') i got this groovy purple-themed playset that was obviously made for Glamour Gals, but it wasn't made by the Glamour Gals brand. but it was so cool... it was like, four separate sections that you could fold together to make a cube... all with purple-and-pink-and-orange-themed plastic dolly furniture and cool illustrated 'room' backgrounds. i've never seen another one of those playsets since.

u2 - electric co. : video

why the hell not? these darlings sound so good.

g is for gary

...gary oldman. umm, i don't know where to begin. i can start by saying it was hard finding 'just the right picture' of him. until i started searching the Pearlbeds for Shots i never realized he had cloaked himself in so many 'looks.' i knew i didn't want a 'vampire' picture. i wanted something more human. but the man is almost always in character. gary oldman is something like a well-kept secret for me. i often think about him, but its been a long, long time since i actually talked about him. i don't know if its his voice, face, talent, mystery... ahh, wow... i don't know what it is about him. god, i can't seem to form a cohesive english sentence with gary oldman on my mind. perhaps its his ease at affecting any facial expression...any voice, any character. its almost as if he doesn't exist without a part to play. liking gary oldman is not unlike wooing a very clever ghost. why do i find such a phantom so appealing? i think it can be dissolved down to a single word: quality. Quality.

g is for gloss

lip glossss....! who doesn't love it? there are all types of lip gloss, and every girl (and some boys) have their faves. when i was younger, a girlfriend of mine who lived across the street used to get me and my brother jean-lucien to play the 'purse game.' she had about five different little purses laid out with their own little mirrors and glosses and other such magical trinkets. i always used to wish for the 'ball and oil' variety lip gloss; sooo much more luxurious than the waxy 'pot gloss,' applied crudely with one's own finger. then there was the 'wand' variety gloss. (wow... i just realized i could write a whole solid chapter on lip gloss.) i remember one time i was in the westchester mall in high point, nc, with my mother... and i had been fortunate enough to find myself in the posession of a brand-new glassy, glossy, thick and perfumed mysterious mint-scented roll-on gloss. it felt cold and heavy... like an amulet of luck in my pocket, i played with it out of sight, rubbing my little anxious thumb over its contours. then suddenly, somewhere in between D's Village Dollhose Shop and the gaping entrance to Thalheimer's... i dropped the coy vial on the stony floor and watched it fracture and ooze... a total shameful loss... right at my feet. i can't imagine i wasn't scolded for it...but i don't remember that part of it. at the time i remember thinking... no punishment could be as slicing and final as the death of my sweet mint roll-on lip gloss. sigh. i have a message to any girl out there with her own money. go lip gloss shopping. its an absolute good.

g is for georgina hale ...again

i thought i had posted every picture i had of the impossibly-beautiful miss georgina hale, but tonight i happened to come across one more. as i said with the eleanor bron posting, its hard for me to talk about the breathtaking miss hale without sounding completely 'lesbo.' i mean, i don't even 'prefer blondes.' but one has only to see her in action to realize that georgina's sooo much more than a pretty face. in my opinion, she is one of the finest english actresses in modern memory. every bit as good, certainly, as the oft-acclaimed miss glenda jackson. in ken russell's 'the devils' she robs the spotlight with a justified flourish and zeal. in fact, that same very heavy movie would fall apart without her crucial anchor in the role of the wayward and much-wronged phillipe. (i'd love to post some of her best scenes, but thanks to the USA's staunch resistance to releasing the controversial film, i cannot.) here she is at the earliest zenith of her popularity, looking super-cool. i implore anyone who can get their hands on a dvd copy of 'the devils' to do so. its an intelligent, unforgiving, grizzly experience. (click to enlarge.)

g is for gyo fujikawa

gyo fujikawa was a name i knew at such a young age i didn't (at the time) even realize it was japanese. all these years i imagined gyo as a man, but only tonight... after over thirty years, did i learn gyo fujikawa is a woman. the picture i chose was the picture i was hoping to find. gyo illustrated one of the best children's books of poetry and rhymes that i remember from when i was little. this particular drawing accompanied what i seem to remember was the 'queen mab' speech from 'romeo and juliet.' of course, i didn't know this when i was a little girl, doing my best to lull my busy mind to sleep in what was at best a restless household. out of all the dozens and dozens of fujikawa illustrations, this one always seemed to me to epitomize peaceful slumber. the earthly even tangible comfort of the patchwork quilt along with the ethereal fairy and curliqued plant life served as a safe and cool and mysterious place for my wired mind to go... night after night. gyo, thank you.

g is for 'girl on a motorcycle'

... starring marianne faithfull. i have to admit a bit of ignorance... it wasn't until i started 'making out with mr. youtube' on a regular basis that i realized marianne acted in several films. here is a very groovy poster for the 1968 french film 'the girl on the motorcycle,' directed by some non-french-sounding guy, jack cardiff. (?) thanks to youtube, i've seen some clips. i guess i'm not supposed to 'spoiler'-mention that she ends up like, gleefully crashing her motorcycle at the end, as she's rushes to 'meet her lover.' oooh la la! apparently there's a lot of 60's nudity and some psychedelic whatevers. i'd like to see the whole thing at some point. i love the poster, though. man, if i ever own a house of any size, there's probably only going to be a scant two feet total that aren't covered by some kind of picture. anyone who ever saw my old bedroom back home knows i am NOT even joking. (...do i lie, lucynell?)

click to enlarge.

f is for fox ...james fox (and fonda)

okay, this is a little unfair to james fox. you'll see below that i just paid a sincere and dignified tribute to james' older brother edward, and i was going to be equally sober in paying tribute to james, but then i found this photo. it was taken during the filming of the 1966 arthur penn film 'the chase.' that's james there on the right. the dude holding up janie's other buttcheek is robert redford who also starred in the production. i've never seen the whole movie, so i can't say much about it, but i thought this picture was such a 'backstage party' scream that i just couldn't let it go. swig on, with that brown bottle of beer, janie baby! man, i can only imagine what deep emotional scars might have been left if one of the male co-stars had commented upon setting her back down, '...wow, honey...you're a lot heavier than i thought you would be.' it does kind of look like james is having a hell of a time keeping her up there. i should be fair to james and mention he sparkled and rocked as chaz in one of my all-time favorite films, donald cammel and nicholas roeg's 1970 counter-culture masterpiece 'perfomance.' i guess little miss janie deserves her own 'F ' spot, doesn't she? (mmm, am i the only one who think that sounds eee-dirty?) click to enlarge.

f is for fox ...edward fox

mmm, i lovvve the fox brothers. i was going to describe edward as the 'lesser-known' fox brother, but i suppose that sort of depends on who you talk to. i think its safe to say i first noticed the lean and sexy edward fox in his role as 'mr. oxenby,' the abrasive shakesperean actor in peter yates' 1983 backstage drama 'the dresser.' he also stole scenes handily as the charismatic explosives expert sgt. dusty miller in the 1978 war...romp? 'force ten from navarone,' where he uttered the memorable line, '...we cahn't just sit here like ducks in thunder.' he's handsome, smooth, and has a very welcome spot on the 'planetcool' official alphabet. he was also in 'gandhi,' but its been so long since i've seen that, i really can't cite anything groovy he might've done in that. who was the sexier fox brother? well, i go back and forth on that one. hey, why can't i have both? both, in my imaginary harem of smooth and handsome british actors?

f is for fans... morrissey's fans : 'sister i'm a poet - live' - video

here's one of the better early morrissey videos. freshly free from 'the smiths' and getting felt-up by frantic boys and girls. the song is one of my favorites of his from that period. i love this version. and he looks positively hot!