good-bye karl

man, considering the gravity of the occasion, i wish i was a bit more 'up' for posting tonight. but i wouldn't allow myself not to at least try to do my best to kiss karl malden good-bye. he died today. he was 97. and i was thinking, since i was born in 1972, and he was all over tv as the American Express guy, or the detective in 'Streets of San Francisco,' there probably was never a time when i didn't know who he was. but it wasn't until the early-to-mid 90's that i discovered him 'for real' and fell in love with him. and when i say i was in love with him, i want to be very clear.... it wasn't just that i admired his gritty 'real-man,' method-acting chops... i mean i was truly, romantically, swooningly in love with him. i thought he had one of the most incredible faces in the business. and i can't listen to his voice without my temperature rising. just thinking about him now, my cheeks and chest are blushed and hot. i don't think i need to go into a long, dry listing of his best-known roles, or his 'real-life' personal achievements... all that information is easily found these days. i just want to take this opportunity to let karl know something i've told him many, many times before, in many, many different ways; i loved you, karl... madly and deeply and romantically. i have imagined kissing you... having you, countless times. i have never seen a better actor. i read your book, your autobiography... i have literally seen every bit of film of yours i could find. i will miss you. thank you so much for being so brave, so handsome, so resilient, and so damn good at what you do. tonight, there'll be an angel that will kiss you with deep reverence, solemn gratitude, and uncharacteristic depravity. that angel, karl... will be me. (this shot was captured by me from the 'streetcar named desire' dvd. his performance of 'mitch' won him an academy award. i chose this shot because it spotlights his gorgeous eyes. click to enlarge.)

karen, barin' and sharin'

its been a while since i paid tribute to my beloved, sudsy and sexy playboy girls. and i thought i'd already posted this girl's ...spread, but apparently not. now, i remember this centerfold distinctly from my childhood. such a pretty face... and hey, let's be honest... such fascinating pair of huge, pretty boobies. even with my extensive knowledge of paper-bound playmates back then, i realized miss price was a bunny with... 'a little something extra.' well, a LOT something extra, obviously. i have memories of laying her pictorial out on my florid summertime hardwood floor. i remember sitting close, my chin in my hands, just gazing at her. it might go without saying that i wanted a body like that. now, being older, of course i realize a girl with miss price's measurments probably endured more hardship than a little girl like me could've known at the time... like finding clothes that fit, or even finding a comfortable sleeping posistion. but back then, to me, she was like a great curvaceous silvery fairy... and i wanted her as much as i wanted to be her. thanks, miss price. (click to... oh yeahhh! ... enlarge)

not-so-cool rider

okay, i realize this is kind of mean, but after i found this comparison shot during a pearldive, i simply couldn't resist. now, i've never made a secret out of that i dig the movie 'grease 2.' and i also won't lie if you ask me if i thought maxwell-as-michael-carrington is cute; because i'll freely admit that i think he IS. all that being said, this side-by-side shot is pretty hilarious. i mean, he used to me every croozin' 80's gay guy's wet british blow-wave dream... and now, i don't think he's gonna be modeling any leather-pouch underwear. and, i'm not gonna say too much more, because god knows i hope MY looks hold up. but yeah, lookin' like that, out on the prowl for some twink meat, i can't imagine that hairline makes him 'mr. hard-to-resist.' i wonder if he has to like, remember to mention he was in Grease II in the first ten minutes of any sex-prospect? oh well, god bless him. (oh, and just in case 'Grease II' wasn't enough of a notch in his cinematic belt, you may remember he ALSO played the rich twit love rival in the dramatic 80's classic that is... 'Electric Dreams.')

groovy old books!

yeah, i love groovy old books. i remember the public library in my hometown before they moved into the hulking, weird, antiseptic new building. one of my favorite places to scope on groovy older paperback books was in the several vertical rotating 'Young Adults' section, which was downstairs. you walked down this hall from the main desk, and you were at the top of a groovy unwalled staircase, at the top of like, a thirty-five foot drop, looking down onto a glorious enormous pit of people and seating and books. that was probably my favorite view in that place; looking down from that staircase on a rainy day, with the skies gray and drizzly through the windows to the left of the checkout desk. you could always see plants there, growing in some kind of alleyway-slash-terrarium. there, in those young adult racks, you could find the goriest ghost stories, the most compelling 'afterschool-special'-fied books about teenagers with problems, all the music 'fan books,' and other cool novels. that was also where all the holy and hilarious MAD digests were kept. man, it sucks-serious that that building doesn't exist anymore. i only hope the majority of those books eventually landed in the hands of those that appreciated them. man, i miss those days... and i really, really, really miss that building.

(click to enlarge)

barry gibb and olivia!

um, at first, this looks like a duet... but you don't have to look too closely to see this is actually a quartet. yes, quite clearly, barry's denim-faded ball-sacs are intent on making this a foursome. and yeah, i guess it would be too easy to say something about; '...hey, no wonder his voice was so high!' i mean, damn... how can there be any blood making it up to his brain? like, trust me, i didn't retouch this one at all. and you know, when i look at a pitcture like this, i can't help but realize... like, this singing gig wasn't the only thing barry did that evening. like he had to get dressed, fix his hair, grab his keys, and leave the house. didn't he pass a full-length mirror before he set out that night? how could he have checked himself out and NOT thought, '...wow, you can really see my balls through these jeans... hey, maybe i should wear something... i dunno, less testicle-revealing?' did he wanna look practically nude-in-the-clothes? hey, maybe it was just the 'style' back then. like girls being super-braless and not caring. anyway, i thought it kind of had to be seen to be believed. (click to enlarge)

parisian barbie!

yes, its parisian barbie! i had her when i was a kid. she was great, she had a great face, and a great pink can-can outfit. i apologize for letting the planet slip in the last week. i got a case of 'facebook-fever.' but i don't want the planet to fizzle out. so let this great barbie be a peace offering. dig her, and know that there'll be more of the planet very soon. i love you all.

beautiful eleanor bron

yes, everyone who's followed 'the planet' for any length of time has probably noticed my wild admiration of actress eleanor bron. it's very difficult to find pictures of the dark and gorgeous miss bron on the crazy internet, so when i find a nice one, i just have to snag it. this is a shot from some movie she made in the late 60's. forgive me for not looking up all the details right now, as its late, and i have to get up early in the morning. but wow, she's spectacular. her talent and beauty is matched by her glassy, deep, expressive voice. she is also one who can enjoy the sometimes-title of 'the fifth beatle.' she was the exotic ahme in 'help!,' and was apparently quite close to the lads in the band. so here's to you, once again, miss bron... we love you, yeah, yeah, yeah! (click to enlarge)

long live the free world

nothing new tonight lovers.

sweet dreams.

more soon,

me.

happy birthday hugh laurie

yeah, this is gonna be fast... i have to get up in the morning around 7. i didn't really have time to screen all my 'hugh laurie-footage-on-hand,' so i had to go with a shot i already had on file. yes, according to my computerized sources, the creamy dreamy mr. hugh laurie turned 50 years old today. (yeah, i hope he doesn't read this, because i would've guessed he was almost 5 years older.) but yeah, i'm not in the right frame of mind to get all poetic with my praise and all that... i mean, everyone who knows me knows hot much i dig hugh laurie. and, i want this stated for the record: i had a mad crush on him like, 19 years before 'house' hit the airwaves. this shot is from the third season of the 'blackadder' series. hugh plays the flimsy and flashy prince regent. and he's practically in drag in those episodes. yeah, i would've really 'dug deep' and come up with a far more interesting shot if i had time, but i was just caught off guard tonight. maybe i'll do one a tomorrow night to like, make it real. (?) so happy birthday hugh... i do love you. (and i was writing this a few minutes before 12, but by the time it hit the blog, it was already the 12th... hugh's birthday is the 11th. click to enlarge.)

happy late birthday johnny depp

yeah, i missed darling johnny's birthday. there's a line john malkovich has in 'liaisons,' when he's talking about madame de torvelle... he mentions her beauty, then immediately states that beauty was '...the least of her qualities.' i feel the same way about johnny depp. yes, all through the 'jumpstreet-crybaby-elm-street' 80's, i admit, i was aware of his beauty. but, as his roles got better, as his incredible range as an actor was revealed, i realized much the same thing: beauty was, and is, the least of this man's qualities. he is as talented as any actor that has ever flickered on the proverbial 'silver screen.' he seems to have shades of everyone from valentino to... well, everyone who realized the communicative power of the human face. the merest muscle movement can make the most eloquent statement. he is deliciously unafraid. freakish and handsome. he is the david bowie of modern film. okay, okay, before i start gushing too shamelessly, i should mention that johnny turned 46 years old on the 9th. the chosen shot is from the 1998 terry gilliam film 'fear and loathing in las vegas.' i've been told i'm straight-up 'crazy' because i believe the 'raoul duke' look is one of the sexiest costumes he's ever been filmed in. i love it. those glasses, that hat, the cig holder, the wilted shirts, the sneakers... the half-shaved head... he drives me crazy like that, and i don't really understand why. so umm, anyway, happy birthday johnny. do i even have to say i love you? (click to enlarge)

happy late birthday nick rhodes

yes, the great and lovely nicholas james bates was born 47 years ago yesterday. part of me can hardly believe i didn't remember it last night. i think it might have been the first celebrity birthday i committed to memory. i think about him in those glam funky 80's duran duran days, and its hard for me to get my mind around the fact that he's not still 25 years old. i've praised nick on 'the planet' before. it goes without saying that if it hadn't been for nick rhodes, there wouldn't have been duran duran. and if it hadn't been for duran duran, who knows? perhaps simon le bon would be acting in films as james bond villains. and the other three might've formed some ho-hum 80's act called, 'taylor taylor taylor,' with some one-hit-wonder single entitled 'the beat of the night,' only to be found on 80's compilation cds. so um, i wanted to find a shot of nick that was relatively rare. so i came up with this picture i know i've never seen before. we see nick, the man, looking conspicuously short standing next to his wife julianne. it looks like he's at an afterparty to me. i think that was the suit he wore to the mtv video awards, so maybe that's the 'function' he's attending. he looks cute, though... despite being caught eating something. so happy birthday, nick... you pop music genius. thanks for all the sexy glam fun and great sounds. i still love you. (click to enlarge)

titlecard

yes, it never gets old. i mean, hey... i just watched it less than 48 hours ago, and i'm ready to watch it again. don't tell me you're not in the mood to watch it! hell, you don't even have to actually 'watch' it. like, you could just pop the tape or the disc in, anchor a black t-shirt over the screen to block out the light, leave the volume on, close your eyes, and just lay down and drift away, digging on the dialogue! hey, you're almost 100% guaranteed not to have bad dreams. so um, here's the title frame from the opening sequence, when sandy's doing her '....mee-me-meeee...!' vocal exercises. hey, just know i love you the most.

p.s. ( '...mom! dad! uncle pete! come quick!! ...something's wrong with biscuit, i think he's dead...!!')

helen, honey

umm, does anyone else think this shot is as sexy as i think it is? because... woof! i mean, wow. cream puff action! this is none other that the sweet helen mirren, mid-to-late 1970's... in some ivory disco gown, her ash blonde hair done up in some kind of studio 54-esque gibson girl thing. man, i wish this shot was in color. and maybe i'm crazy, but i love the way you can see the silky female hair on her arm. these days, i am almost certain they would airbrush something like that out. (i guess there are 23 year old girls out there that are 'not leaving the house' unless they've shaved off their barely-visible forearm hair.) i love the jewelry, i love the white fur stole that looks like it would come with a '81 barbie. i love that sexy-dreamy look on her face. i love that she's wearing a 'hell of a lot' of make-up. and i love the fact that this Wild Machine is able to help me find such rare photo-pearls as this. (click to enlarge)

spand-mag!

mmm, yes... glorious full-color teen mags from the 80's! first of all, i think its pretty funny that the title of this publication is '2001.' yeah, that date doesn't seen so wild and futuristic now, does it? (mmm, hey, hey eight years old.) i can't read the date on this, but since it mentions duran duran's 'singolo per 007,' then i'm assuming it was sometime in late 1985... coninciding with that garbage bond flick 'a view to a kill' that D2 did the title song for. (and yeah, i've seen that movie recently. christopher 'bleached hair' walken and grace jones? yeah, okay. actually, grace's acting chops impressed me more than roger moore's. seriously.) okay, so what else does this mag have to offer? hey, it boasts a 'tony hadley exclusive.' i guess you read that when you've got a serious case of 80's insomnia. (hey, who am i kidding? i'd love to read a tony hadley interview from late '85. there's no way it couldn't be hilarious. like, what if he's all ego-boasting that spandau ballet were the 'true future' of pop music in the modern world? like, that would be comedy 'gold.' ) okay, what else? it confusingly promises to feature the weirdly-alike-but-not-alike 'two nicks;' namely nik kershaw and nick heyward. like, which one was which again? oh wait, i just remembered... i don't care! so dig it. and if you have some spare time, see if you can dig up spandau's 'lifeline' or 'instinction' videos. both great. ( and 'musclebound,' and 'paint me down,' and the hilarious outfits in 'to cut a long story short.' glam kilts? i don't get it.) click to enlarge.

pete smokes

wow. pete townshend, ladies and gentlemen. it's been a while since i posted a new shot in my 'men smoking' series. and tonight, the insanely talented and 'pseudo-bisexual' mr. pete townshend is the subject.

i love pete townshend.

he's got a face straight out of a byzantine tapestry, eyes bluer than chlorinated swimming water, and a vocabulary as brilliant as the milky way. we all know he was great with The Who, but his solo stuff is almost more beautiful. alone, he has afforded us such waltzing classics as 'equisitely bored,' 'keep on working,' and 'the sea refuses no river.' (all to be found on 1982's 'all the best cowboys have chinese eyes.') he is an artist's artist. it probably goes without saying that; if it wasn't for pete, we wouldn't have the who... if we didn't have the who, then we wouldn't have 'tommy.' if we didn't have 'tommy,' then god knows how long it would've taken jean-lucien and myself to discover ken russell. and if we hadn't found ken russell at the age of 5 and a half, then i wouldn't be the same girl i am now...and the words you're reading now would very likely not exist. so thank you, pete. you're always welcome here. (click to enlarge)

partytime, english style!

umm, okay... if you were asked to name two blokes who really knew how to party, english-style, it seems almost impossible that you'd come up with two names other than mr. keith moon, and mr. oliver reed. i ran accross this little gem whilst pearldiving the other night. and umm, do i really even have to comment on this? like, i think it speaks for itself. let's see... we've got a grassy english field, some silly hats and costumes, a bottle of british booze hangin' on, and of course, messers reed and moon, doing what they do best; namely, raising 'silly' hell in the name of the jolly ol' union jack! i have no idea when exactly this picture was taken, but it looks like mid-70's, judging by the way they look and stuff. probably sometime around the filming of 'tommy.' looking at a picture like this... it makes me wonder. how did this day begin, anyhow? like, at what point did one of the blokes call the other and say, KEITH: "...oy, ollie...i've got a smashing idea... let's dress up like jesters and cheap vaudevillians, grab some full-strength intoxicants, and go run around in broad daylight, dressed like freaks, and get someone to grab a camera and make sure there's photographic proof of our drunken antics!" and oliver would be like, OLLIE: (in his deep raspy voice) "...count me in." god bless them. i love those two. shooting stars, man. (click to enlarge)

lady daydream

as i've mentioned in the post below this one, i've been having fun with my dvd copy of 'barry lyndon' lately. i was getting easily frustrated with the lack of sweet picksh of marisa berenson out there, so i decided to make my own. this one is a shot of marisa, as lady lyndon, in the last 3rd of the very long movie, taking a rich soak in a tub, attended by her maids. kubrick makes a point of closing in on her vacant and almost insane expression as the narrator relates the stagnant affairs of her ill-advised marriage to ryan o'neal's character, redmond barry. the film stock used on this project is exceptional. the grain is fine enough to tickle my brain. legened reports it was only filmed with natural light... in other words, 'available light,' ...therefore certain lenses had to be invented to accomodate kubrick's dedication to the conjuring of a world before electricity. (click to enlarge)

leon ala lyndon

i threw in my dvd copy of 'barry lyndon' a couple of nights ago and got some really marvelous shots. including this one of the vengeful young lord bullingdon. here we see him, cane in hand, ire rising in his pale throat, as he strolls through the salon, in search of his much despised stepfather, played by ryan o'neal. you won't recognize the actor's name. he is leon vitali. a very talented chap in my opinion, that apparently almost never stepped in front of the camera after 1977. he did, however, become quite close to The Man Himself, mr. stanley kubrick. after some minimal research, i discovered this curious fact: on certain projects such as 'full metal jacket,' 'the shining,' and 'eyes wide shut,' mr. vitali enjoyed the somewhat-eyebrow-raising credit of 'personal assitant to the director.' hey, that sounds like a heck of a sweet gig to me. so i hope you dig the screen capture. this duel scene between bullingdon and redmond barry is one of the film's most wrenching scenes. visceral, yet astonishingly lovely. (click to enlarge)

geisha doll

actually, this should probably also be a late happy birthday wish. the incredible miss carroll baker turned 88 years old on may 31st. yeah, i can't believe it either. (she was born in 1931, so check my math and get back to me if it's wrong, because my math skills legendarily suck chrome.) anyone who's followed 'the planet' for more than a few weeks has probably learned of my undying love and devotion to my favorite hollywood blonde, miss carroll baker. she's an all-american girl, born in johnstown, pennsylvania. she attended the famous actor's studio, and worked with such greats as james dean, elizabeth taylor, karl malden, james stewart, and even roger moore. here she is, very literally 'dolled up' in traditional japanese costume. i'm not sure which movie this is from, but after doing a little research, i'm pretty sure it was from the 1961 film 'a bridge to the sun.' (like, that's the only movie of her's on imdb that has a lot of japanese names associated with it.) wow, she's gorgeous, isn't she? man... what an angel...! like i said, i've never seen the movie. it could be a real gobbling turkey for all i know. but if she spends more than three minutes dressed up like this, i'd love to get my hands on a copy of it, for capturing purposes. here's to you carroll... once again. you are one of the few rare princesses on the magic 'planetcool.' and i suppose its worth mentioning that i've never seen this picture before. (click to enlarge)

herrin is barin' it

yes, its officially friday now. and you know what that means... it means it's officially okay to celebrate some delicious all-amercian boobies! yeah, i remember this hot chick... i remember her centerfold from when i was a much younger girl. her name is kimberly herrin, and she knows how to 'rock' those slick aviator-style sunglasses and make them super-sexy for our viewing eyes! it probably goes without saying, but i was hoping to get a shot of her entire lucious sunkissed bod, but this shot was the best i could get. man, she looks great, doesn't she? with her long straight flowing blondish hair, her bite-worthy honey-colored pert-and-perfect 'all-real' breasts, and her guilt-free (because its in an old picture) fox fur coat. i did the best i could with the tricking. man, what a great-looking lady. i think its kind of funny, the way her hair's blowing back like that, because you know there was some bagel-munching young intern in control of the big blowing electric photo-shoot fan. and he was probably so used to seeing naked chicks all day that he was far more interested in his lunch. hey, miss kimberly... i'll bet i could find something for you to munch on. (...did i say that...??) (click to enlarge)