witches of whatever

okay, i'm gonna go all the way back to 1987 for this one. man, i remember the late summer, 1987... high point, north carolina. my brother and i somehow became mesmirised by the ads for this movie. we wanted to see it so bad... i remember we even went as far as clipping the ad from the newspaper and sticking it to the front of the fridge for our mom to see, along with a little personal note that said something to the effect of: 'a great way to spend an evening, don't you think?' just to get her to drive us the less-than-ten-miles to the closest theater showing the thing. (and i'm trying like mad to remember the theater it was playing in... i think it was the capri triple... the one closest to the zayre's, if i'm remembering it correctly. lucynell... do you happen to remember? i don't think it was the Martin Twin... i think it was the other one.) anyway, our mother caved, and DID in fact take us to see it... i think the rainy weekend it premiered. i remember having a really good time, but even so... the sophisticated critic that lived deep within me realized it was at least two parts 'gobbling turkey.' (i mean, that ending... yeesh!) so, taking all of that into consideration, i made up this slide, which expresses my feelings now, everytime i catch 'eastwick' on re-runs.

carnal couple

i'm pretty sure i've posted a shot from mike nichols' 'carnal knowledge' before, but i don't think i've posted this exact shot before. but i figured nobody would suffer if they got a look at the young and foxy and devious and gorgeous mr. jack nicholson and the busty, lusty, gingery miss ann-margret. its been a long time since i've seen this movie. i really should dig it up and give it a fresh look with my modern brain. man, i'm not more than like, 41% gay... but look at that cleavage. woof...! and jack, wow... he was almost at the peak of his looks at the time this was filmed. god, i can only imagine what kind of wire-framed 'pushy-up' bra they put her in to make her chest look like that. i mean, you and i both know, she doesn't need a whole lot of help. and from a cinematic standpoint, i think its notable to mention that this wasn't the only time these two starred opposite one another. yes, i'm sure you'll remember in 'tommy,' ann played tommy's mother, nora walker; and jack played the mysterious 'specialist,' charged with diagnosing tommy's 'problem.' i wonder if she really dug him, or if he got on her nerves? perhaps they were mutually voracious? too bad that sex video hasn't surfaced, am i right, kids? (click to really enlarge)

easy jack

being a jack nicholson fan is a tightrope walk. for instance, i can't praise his performance of jack torrance in 'the shining' hard enough; and his role in 'terms of endearment' was an oasis of complex life in an otherwise schmaltzy escapade. and who can discount his work in 'easy rider,' or in 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest,' or even in the dry, enigmatic 'chinatown?'

and then ...on the other hand, there's 'the joker' from the keaton batman. (yikes...!) then there's the overdone, pointless 'devil' daryl van horne in 'witches of eastwick.' (okay, i know... we can't really fault jack for all the failures of that picture. in most cases, he lifted that limp script up to a glory it most assuredly did not deserve.) so you see what i mean... digging jack means forgiving lackluster efforts like 'hoffa' and 'wolf.' (actually, i admit, i haven't seen all of 'hoffa.') but i have seen 'psych-out.' its great. and he did have an active hand in writing the 'script' for the monkees' cinematic patchwork feature film 'head.' so it seems one must entertain a particularly bissected psyche to be a fan of mr. jack nicholson. but i'll gladly split myself in half... because the half of him that's worth it, IS... indeed, very worth it. (just for the record, i think this picture was taken in 1980... or just before. his absolute peak, looks-wise, if you ask me.)

jack and 'jelica

okay, i know i've posted a lot of 'celebrity' picksh lately; not to mention a goodly share of anjelica huston picksh, but i figured one more couldn't hurt. i think this one might also be a 'studio 54' shot. but i think its quite good. i mean, jack looks good, and anjelica looks gorgeous. i like the angle, i like the contrast, i like the flower in her hair. i don't really know too much about their relationship like, factually... but in this shot, it sure looks like they're into eachother. i don't know if they ever had a child. but wow, they sure look good together. man, i don't know if i'll ever go 'clubbing' again. even if i had the opportunity, i don't know if i could manage the energy. plus, you have to shout all the time, and worry about 'where the hell is my purse?' and i don't like that feeling that can best be described as, '...i danced too hard to that last song, and now i honestly can't tell if i'm three seconds away from dropping the vom-bomb.' and i don't really like not having zero control over the music. and it gets hot in there, man. and i can truthfully claim that i've never had sex in a club. but considering my behavior through much of the '90's, that's purely accidental. (click to enlarge)

jack and dustin

yeah, i don't have a lot of background information on this shot, but i couldn't resist posting it. i can guess it's 'backstage' at some kind of high-end hollywood function. i think i remember reading that the girl in the shot was on dustin's arm that night. man, i wish i had a time machine and some kind of recording device so i could find out what the hell jack was saying to him. yeah, i'm sure it was most likely something pretty average. but in my mind, i imagine he was giving dustin complicated directions to a wild, psychedelic shindig at (maybe) dean stockwell's place. maybe he's telling him peter tork and grace slick will be there... as well as, of course, mr. dennis hopper. yeah, dennis hopper...that crazy pill-popper... telling a whopper to the copper, that's our good ol' dennis hopper. no matter what's going on, i still dig this shot. and i hope you'll dig it with me. cool.

carnal

okay, i have a bit of a headache tonight, but i didn't want to leave the night blank, so i thought i'd just leave everyone a little love note. i think most of you will recognize the lovely and busty miss ann-margret and the saucy, somewhat scary jack nicholson on their first date from the 1971 movie 'carnal knowledge.' it was directed by mike nichols, and also starred candice bergen and art garfunkel. i haven't seen it in a long time, but i remember digging it very much. i actually think i might've bought it on laserdisc sometime around 1995, if you can believe that. but man...look at that cleave-action, man. some people might say that's 'all push-up bra,' or that its 'all padding,' but umm, we're talking about ann-margret, so i totally think she's doing a lot of the 'work' herself, if you know what i mean. i should try and watch it again sometime. or maybe not. (mmm, apathy is mine.) i love you all very much, and hope to be back in 'full force' soon. kisses.

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.

overlook hotel - july 4th ball 1921

this is (i believe) the final shot from stanley kubrick's 'the shining.' this photograph on the overlook wall, dated july 4th, seems to indicate that saucy jack torrance has indeed, '...always been the caretaker.' its actually not a bad shot of mr. nicholson. and i don't believe i'm wrong when i say i suspect he was superimposed into an actual photograph of partygoers from the 1920's. the other merrymakers in the shot seem to be legitimately antique. perhaps we're to infer that a swinging, jazz-age flapper's ball is close to jack's idea of heaven. not a bad place to spend eternity, if one were to have his choice. (click to enlarge... because size matters.)

overlooked

here's a lovely piece my partner jean-lucien made featuring the legendary jack nicholson very close to the year he filmed the shining. you're a naughty one... saucy jack, you're a haughty one, saucy jack. man, i love this piece. it has a luminous stained-glass glow... the snake near the top was actually snatched from alex the droog's bedroom, ...tying together the kubrick connection. ahhh, jack... he's got too much to do. on an artistic note, jean-lucien's talent for matching random colors is evident in this slide. it works. i love it.