yet another funky van, man!

man, this is one of those instances where i wonder if i really have to say anything. like, there's so much in this picture i feel like i wanna mention. first of all, the dude reminds me of david naughton, of 'american werewolf in london' fame. and his 'short-shorts' show unsightly creases of having been 'sitting-down-in-them-a-long-time.' he's awful smug about his outdated, shitty mode of transportation. and even more sickening than that, his 'chick' is literally 'looking up to him,' as if she knows he can single-handedly end 'world hunger' or something. are we supposed to assume she was finally able to achieve the magical, elusive, 1970's 'big O' due to his skills on some synthetic carpet fibers in the back of his jive-ass van? i mean, he's not even wearing socks at all. and upon a closer look, just what is that painting on the side supposed to be? some mystic ship on the 'seas' of 70's fm songs about 'sailing?' i kind of don't get it. but i miss riding in vans. suv's just aren't the same. (click to enlarge.)

europa

here's a shot of my most recent notebook cover... like, the one i'm currently writing in. jean-lucien was good enough to make a high-quality scan of it when i was at his place last weekend. (he's got some incredible equipment... and his scanner isn't bad either, hah hah.) in any case, i think it came out beautifully... like it looks just like it looks in my lap when i'm writing in it. the models are the lovely angelic carroll baker and the dark and seductive eli wallach in the controversial film 'babydoll.' a hell of a nice screen capture, and i give jean-luc credit for that. its soooo silky, i mean the 'grain' simply melts in the mouth-of-your-mind, if you know what i mean. i backed the main image on some black cardstock, glued it on with simple cheap drugstore glue stick, and did a little embellishing via some scraps of picksh and girly prismatic stickers. the title came as a vague tribute to the thomas dolby song, and that goddess who 'made it real' with a bull. dig it. (and click to enlarge.)

the clash : english civil war - video

let joe show you how hard he can be.

snap

ummm, where do i start? okay, this is a photo of a mid-to-late 60's elizabeth taylor, in a white eyelet sunfrock taking a picture of her beloved welsh husband richard burton. god, what gorgeous thighs she's got! and i cannot thank her enough for the white cotton panty-glimpse! man, just looking at this picture, i instantly feel 98% better about my weight. she looks so sweet and birthday-cake scrumptious i just wanna take a bite of of her. i can almost smell the coconut, the freshly rained-on, exotic cut tropical grass, and notes of sandalwood coming up from her flesh and florid creases. (mmm, i guess its too late to say, 'stop me before i sound too lesbo,' huh? ) man, she's so delectable i don't even see the corny minnie mouse bow she's got pinned to the top of her 60's 'do. all i can say is like, '...wow, um...wow.' and click to (yum!) enlarge.

the daisy blue collaborative effect

yes, i visited jean-lucien this past weekend. and he had this half-finished 'canvas' of some picturesque patchwork, and so he slid it over to me to see what i could do with it. so, feeling brave and listening to roman polanski speaking polish over my shoulder, i sifted through his clippings and applied the rest of the 'paint.' and here is the cool and pretty end result. its a true collaboration, considering it ended up being about half-and-half. i'd say its about 60-40, with jean-luc doing the '60.' and yeah, that title: 'the daisy blue collaborative effect...' doesn't that sound like a name of some late-60's swinging psychedelic 'cash-in' band? yes folks, its 'the daisy blue collaborative effect' with their new hit song, 'cotton candy, (sandy)' (mmm, you've gotta dig those parenthetical song titles. i.e. 'i want you, (she's so heavy.)' and this band is not to be confused with those six hippies out of 'frisco who call themselves 'the fork tines translation company,' who have their own hit song, 'chugga-chug, (the bus.)' (click to really enlarge-freak-your-brain.)

joe is dead

long live joe. i guess you could say i'm 'slumming' it a bit tonight. i've been playing lots of clash and entertaining dirty thoughts about the late, late dead mr. joe strummer. i don't know what it is about joe. he goes against every preconception of my 'type.' except for the fact that his face has an ivory classic loveliness to it that i'm not even sure joe himself was aware of. i see in his face and manner what i imagine a lot of people saw in james dean. (who leaves me cold, less than cold, if you want the truth.) but mr. strummer turns me on in a complicated way... watching him play is like, watching swan lake in steel-toed boots after two pints of booze and a shot of coke. i don't know much about him, personally... like, i don't know his 'life story,' but i don't think that's relevant. i think all i have to do is listen and watch, and appreciate the idea that excellence can be reckless and hard and sick; yet still remain exact, in tune, and meaningful. so here's to you, joe. you may have gotten me a little bit late, but you got me.

georgina by jean-lucien

i really don't think i've posted this one yet. its a screen capture jean-lucien took from the ken russell film 'mahler,' quite a long time ago. it is, of course, the silky blonde delectable georgina hale as mahler's faithful wife. good pictures of georgina are notoriously rare, so sometimes the best way to get them is to shoot them yourself, i've found. i love the 'stained-glassy' color treatment jean-luc lent this one. he's got such an incredible talent for 'vamping-up' and-or skewering the original color palette without making it too 'shocky' or distorted. all his color treating retains a fine spectral integrity that 'works' on a 'lizard level' with the rods and cones and lenses of the human eye. harmonious and fun-to-dig-on, its like normal film stock on a high sugar diet and lots of dreamy sleep. he really is the best at it. and luckily, he's got a fine system to work on. man, what a lovely shot. like candy. yum yum.

a pattern of coolness

hey, if there's something there's 'not enough of ' on the web, its scannings of cool patterns and sewing illustrations from the 70's. i mean, what a great vast pool of lost art! i remember my mom had a pair of massive hardcover books from companies such as 'butterick' and 'simplicity.' and the drawings within were mod, groovy, delicate, elegant, expressive, and out of this world. man, i would give a 'goodly sum' of 'earth cash' to have those books in my lap again. to this day, i have absolutley no idea what happened to those books. they're not in the basement, they're not in the attic. i'm tempted to think the 'house swallowed them,' ala poltergeist. so anyone out there that's 'holding' great sewing pattern picksh, you're sitting on a goldmine.

dueling beatles

hey, this one is just for fun! its a shot of paul and john! and its up to you to decide who wins the duel! the duel of sexiness, coolness, and all-around beatle beauty. well, since george isn't in the shot, its not an easy call for me. considering how each of them CAN look, i think i'm gonna give it to john. i mean, sure, paul looks pretty and all, but that's normal for him. in this shot, i think john is 'rockin' those 'i need these to see' perscription glasses. it gives him a touch of vulnerability, and its 'workin' for him,' as the kids say these days. so yeah, i think i'm gonna have to give it to john-john. he can 'drive my car,' as long as he wears his 'corrective lenses.' (?)

playtime

hey, its been a while since i posted a 'playboy' cover, so um... here you go! i actually remember the first time i saw this one. i was about 9 years old, and in my father's house in florida. i remember sitting in some hippy room with a bed on the floor, listening to the radio, and digging on the groovy naked girls and sassy cartoons. i love the ivory garters and stockings. they just don't 'make 'em like that' anymore. let's take a look at some of the features. it boasts shots of 'sexy girls you wish you worked with.' man, they should've seen some of the beasts i've worked with over the years. oh, and off to the left, i think this is hilarious... it says: 'how the bee gees got to be so big.' ummm, i'm just gonna take a wild guess here... but maybe because they 'sound real good?' and man, dig those shoes! they're the strappy, sexy best!

original 'schin'

yeah, i've been sitting on this one for a long time. its a screen capture i took myself, but i can only take credit for so much... like, the brilliance of the shot composition speaks for itself. i'm pretty sure that's 'all steven.' you can see the reactions on all the faces of the bystanders. you can totally tell ben 'sexy beast' kingsley is in character. as is ralph feinnes, who is obviously craning his nazi neck for a 'better look.' hey, ralph, take a picture, it'll last longer. sigh. man, i think i still have a case of slumber party jetlag. so bear with me. i remember seeing 'schindler's list' at the Terrace theater in the middle of greensboro, nc. i know i must've seen it in other theaters, but i remember seeing it there. man, that film is so damn good, you don't even notice that its like, twelve hours long.

stones soup

man, i can't think of anything tonight... like my inspiration lobe isn't exactly jumping. so i thought i'd start tonight by posting this grizzly, groovy rolling stones album cover. i don't ever remember seeing this one in the cd bins, like, ever. did they like, issue it with an alternate cover at any point, on account of this one is kind of, you know... gruesome? because yeah, i used to sift through the stones' records all the time, and i seriously don't remember this one. is it like, the beatles-and-butchered-babies thing? i don't even know what's on this record. and i guess i kind of don't care. the cover is great though. i'll bet mr. 'no meat' morrissey hates this. like, goats are our friends, you know? sigh... so dig on it. i hope i'll be able to dig up some more.

killer

the first time i saw 'kill bill,' i dug it so much i was tempted to believe it was some kind of fluke. i mean, in retrospect, i realize i had lost a great deal of confidence in tarantino to like, 'deliver,' you know? but all those notions were obliterated in the guttural aortic spray of brillance that is-was the 'kill bill' duo. i honestly tried to find some reason to bag on it, but i could not. i think it is an entirely successful bit of extended storytelling. and all the music, pacing, casting, and perhaps most importantly, the cutting... are first-rate. its funny, deadly, clever, complicated, and cool. all that said, i think this publicity photo is a scream. it shows the tanned and tough miss uma thurman on the right, the slinky and beautiful julie dreyfus in the middle, and the 'all-grown-up' miss daryl 'splash' hannah on the left. i love this shot... it just screams 'we don't really hate each other.'

paul who -son??

okay, yeah... this one is obvious. meaning its an obvious ploy to see if lucynell is watching. i know how much she digs the hot smooth lads of U2, and i know there's not many pictures of the dublin guys she hasn't seen. but i ran across this one whilst diving last night, and i figured i'd take a chance on it. man, he looks young, doesn't he? and what's with that half-assed almost-bleached section of his hair-bangs, color-wise? or, are those his real hair-bangs? who cares. i think this was a wedding photo. i wonder if he's married to the same woman he was married to then? or has he 'leggy coke model' -moved on? its no wonder bono really failed to capture my 'sexy' imagination until his much-more-flash and mysterious 'fly' persona, and those two practically faultless pop-rock records; 'achtung baby' and 'zooropa.' i still love those two records. and hey, lucynell... you probably don't remember this, but i remember you and i taking a drive one night... in some kind of dark suv... out towards the greensboro airport to... go up to someone's job? and you had 'zooropa' in the stereo? i remember you and both talking about how you could start the first track like, 1:30 into the song. did we leave a note on someone's windsheild? man, the details are hazy. i'm amazed i remember anything that happened to me back then.

sound wave

yes, its been quite a few nights since i was able to do a proper 'pearldive,' so you're just going to get what i have ready like, on hand. like, i was fishing around through my files and found this great shot of davy 'the wave' jones, from the monkees. this was obviously taken during one of their many recording sessions. i cropped out 'the wave' and decided to post it, what the hell? i wonder what great, plaintive, slowie, sugar-coated track he's about to lay down? from the rest of the shots in this group, i'd guess it was during the 'headquarters' sessions. and if memory serves, davy had a few good tracks on that. like 'i can't get her off my mind,' and... actually, that might be his only lead vocal track. like, that's micky on 'i'll spend my life with you' and on 'shades of gray.' or maybe they were both on 'shades of gray.' its been a real long time since i've listened to it. but still, its a real groovy picture, no?

wham it up!

hey, you know i still have that 'goodtime' slumber party jetlag, but i wanted to post something, just to mark my place. and i figured i couldn't go wrong with a well-preserved 'star hits' cover. this one is from june, 1984. and, as you can see, the cover boys are the blokes from wham! man, i know there was probably a time when i thought one-or-both of them was good-looking, but man, those days are over. i mean, a photo of a washer and dryer combo would give me a similar turn-on. now, don't get me wrong, i thought wham! made some pretty good music. i know i had the tape. and george michael, solo... that stuff was even better. but enough about the wham! lads, let's take a peek at the front-page features. hey, there's a free poster of a power station-era john taylor. hey, you know it was probably on it, my pink teenage wall. and there's also a julian lennon centerfold. i think i can bet a big wad of 'time travelin' cash money that that picture was NOT on my wall at any time. i never thought he was all that cute. and i still don't. then, near the bottom it says something about madonna in the movies. (little did we know then of the crap-ola to-come.) what else? mick jagger in bed? i don't think i knew any 80's-girls who cared at all about his 'dinosaur' photo opportunity. and i'm not even going to comment on david lee roth 'in the flesh.' looks like we also get some U2, and sade. not bad. but you can keep, keep, keep the alison moyet and simple (yeesh!) minds.

wild shia

yeah, i saw 'crystal skull' over the weekend, and, as this shot of 'shia-as-mutt' flew by, i knew i had to try and 'snag it' when i got home. lucky for me, i still had a copy of the dvd someone let me watch, so i was able to zoom right in and get it. yeah, its youngie shia le beouf (?) as indiana jones' kid. he likes to burn up that cycle and comb his blow-wave hair. hey, who can resist such a combination? i mean, he's very cute, and actually CAN act, and apparently has some kind of semi-scandalous 'off-screen' behavior issues going on. yeah, i was instantly won over by his cute young looks and acting chops. and here he is, on his 'chopper,' getting all 'brando' in a very cool way that looks good on him, in the 'hot' sense.

(this one enlarges quite nicely, by the way. i managed to catch a good frame, i think.)

home

yes, all my loves and darlings, i'm home now. and i want to thank jean-lucien for taking such princess-worthy care of me whilst i was at his place. man, he loves me the most, and it shows... shows in the way he makes me the best pineapple upside-down cake i've ever had, and just by loving me in a general way that includes us 'spooning-as-adults' with the cat on the bed. so this little 'twin stars' illustration might be the only thing i can manage... like, i need time for that 'slumber party' monster to sliiide off my back, shedding that 'good time' jetlag as if it was a big, heavy, sleepy, silky, droopity-eyed 'mascara' seal. (like, you know, the 'cute' animal... hey, sue me... they always look like they're wearing mascara.) in any case, its good to be home. and i love you all.