the golden age of cover art

i just want to say, right up front, that i'm not one of those staunch lp purists that bitches and moans all the time about how micro-available music has all but done away with the traditional 12" square album cover art, and the sometimes-extensive liner notes that often went along with it. ( them. it?) no, i understand technology, and the 'way things work' in the business. so, all that said, there are some albums covers i consider iconic and beautiful. i don't insist, however, that the iconic beautifulness has to be 12" squared. for instance, i've always loved this groovy, glassy, inventive, and 'sorta mysterious' album cover from the tech-savvy thomas dolby. (and, to those who may be curious, that IS his real name... as far as i know... sorta. i think i remember hearing in an interview back in the 80's that his real full name was: thomas morgan dolby robertson.) so, we've established the cover is groovy enough... but i also want it noted that the songs on this record are some of THE coolest i ever heard... in the 80's, or otherwise. let's see, we've got the cool and soaring blue sounds of 'airwaves,' the funky-yet-romantic storyline of 'europa and the pirate twins,' the eclectic and jazzy goings-on in 'commercial breakup,' and the throughly original and sexy grindings of 'windpower.' and so many more. like the sometimes-lost-depending-on-which-pressing-you-have lovlieness of 'wreck of the fairchild.' seriously, this is electronic pop at its finest. it is an album i would be lonely for if i was ever without it. dig it.

playing secretary

yes, the sweet, sweet pages of 'playboy.' i happen to be quite well-read when it comes to vintage issues of the magazine. (from say, 1070 to 1984) this cover stands out to me because it was one of the first ones i remember reading. i think i was about nine when i snagged this issue from my father's collection. i loved garters and stockings as much then as i do now. not to mention the white laciness showcasing her hot rear... and those strappy high-heeled shoes...? sex-ee! i like the little 'feature blurbs' on the cover of this one. in particular, the one that says, "...how the bee gees got to be so big." ummm, let me guess, you turn to page 117 and it simply says, "...'cause they sound real good." end of story. and i also like that one about "...do men NEED to cheat on their women? a new science says YES!" mmm, somehow i think this article was 'accidentally' left out, open, for many a wife to happen upon and read. and finally, as many of you probably know, almost every 'playboy' cover had a little 'bunny' artfully concealed somewhere on the cover. and i realize its difficult to see after i shocked up the contrast, but the 'bunny' on this cover was actually represented by the 'two-eared' shape of the ivory ribbon on the lady's garter stud. dig it, the sexiness. (click to enlarge)

georgina hale

ahhhh, god. i am so in love with this chick. its hard for me to remember the first time i ever saw georgina hale. i'm sure it was in a ken russell movie, but its hard for me to say which one. this is a picture of her i found a long time ago, when she was obviously quite young... her hair a bit darker than the angelic platinum blonde she's usually known for. wow... she's beautiful. anyone who's followed 'planetcool' for any length of time knows how madly in love with her i am. she's quite well-known in England, even to this day, for her work on screen, stage, and television. her voice is a glinting mix of velvety lows and childlike, sometimes piercing highs. her face, when she acts, is expressive and brave... unafraid to scowl, knit her brow, and look 'ugly,' if the scene requires it. what a darling. ahhhh, georgina. i wonder her middle name is? if she has one. i think her largest role in a ken russell movie has to be her role in 'mahler,' as alma, mahler's wife. so, i guess what i'm trying to say, if you're curious as to why i'm so crazy about her, your best bet for a 'big taste' of her goods would be 'mahler.' that, or 'the devils,' where she steals every scene she appears in. only, her hair isn't blonde in 'the devils,' but that doesn't mean she's any less frickin' spellbinding. ohhh, my darling georgina... if only i had a way to tell you how much i adore you. hey, maybe one day she'll get bored wherever she is, and someone might just tip her off to a groovy blog... a blog called 'planetcool.'

sweeet skulls!

hey, you know i love the halloween season. partly, because skeleton-guys are so cool, and this time of year, they're everywhere! i found this pic a few nights ago. and i can only imagine its for some kind of candy, something called 'sweet skulls.' now, i'm not familiar with this particualr candy first-hand... like, i don't think i've ever eaten a 'sweet skull.' and i don't know what they look like. (although, i can guess they probably sorta look like skulls.) here, we have the main, menacing skull guy, in blood red robes, coming after me with his bony hands. but if you ask me, his magnificence is effectively upstaged by that white-style skeleton dude on the right. he seems to be eager for a taste, as he crawls up from a headstone, skeletal-smile intact. i think he should have a speech balloon that shows he's saying something like, "...hey, save some for me!" or "...its a taste to DIE FOR!!" or even cornier, "...make no bones about it, they're delicious!" so hey, 'dig' it, no pun intended.

'haxan' fever!

hey, i've got the fever! jean-lucien's got it, too! yeah, just about a week ago... (maybe a little less) jean-lucien got sucked into 'haxan.' its a silent film. directed by benjamin christensen, it's a fantastic exploration of witchcraft through the ages, and of how the paranoia of witches so easily sprouted and spread in an effort of absolve personal guilt and explain the unexplained. there are so many incredible shots. this is one of them. its a nude female figure... awakened and tempted from her bed, wandering into the night, beckoned by the calls of witches and devils. i can't seem to praise this movie enough. it was like, the Coolest Schoolfilm You've Ever Seen. hey, don't get me wrong, it was straight-up highly educational, and the titlecards read like a book... but the imagery, at times, was so wicked and lascivious that it startled and stunned even me. so, if you have the 90 minutes to devote to it, do yourself a favor and find yourself a copy of 'Haxan.' (at the time of this posting, the entire movie is available, in 10 min. chunks, on YouTube.) witch it!!

apple creaps

the first movie i ever saw in the theater was 'snow white and the seven dwarves.' we were five years old... so, i know i've seen this image like, 'up on the big screen.' and it probably creaped the eff out of me. that is, IF i could actually SEE it... (we didn't get glasses until much later, so it might've been an even-creapier 'blur-style' version i saw.) here, we see the wicked queen's master plan begin to gel with her creation of the almighty poison apple. i don't have a clear memory of the poison-dip coating making a 'skull-face,' but i guess it did. i guess i could really stand to 'really screen' that movie again. i remember not wanting Snow White to die, because; well... because i thought she was a real 'sexy piece,'... yes, even at the age of five i remember thinking that. what's more, i also remember thinking she could've used some 'more boobs.' but, all that aside, since its Halloween season and all, i thought i'd post this frame. true genius artists and animators at work here. not only is it a very believable accidental 'skull-dip,'... it also almost looks like its grinning. gorgeous.

there's one for the blog...

...is what i said to myself when jean-lucien sent me this today. its a screen shot from a video by the um... ahem, multi-talented 'marilyn.' he was 'not-famous' for only one reason: being sorta friends with boy george. now, i don't know which 'hit' video of his this shot is from... but hey, he's kinda lovely, no? if looking like a drunk girl in ft. lauderdale with weirdo hair extensions is 'lovely.' now, at first, i just dug this because its a pretty groovy-looking still shot from a music video, but upon closer inspection, i realized the most hilarious thing about it is this: you can see from the superimposed blurbs that its no. 80 (eighty!!) in a countdown of the 100 Worst Videos Ever. (crickets) ...what? are you waiting for me to contradict that?

songbird

my 'amadeus' dvd has been living in my dvd player over the last few days. it almost goes without saying that i've taken a few screenshots from it. here's a lovely shot i managed to snag and trick of miss christine ebersole as catarina; the catty diva. i love this shot... her gear is Turkish! and i think its a scream that she's the same chick from 'tootsie' that shoots down his "...i'll bet you like to run barefoot on the beach..." come-on. the same chick who rolls her eyes as she gives him that loose-fish obligatory hug. and he shoots back with the lame-ass line; "...thank you for liking me..." (click to enlarge)

its midnight on saturday...

...and you know what that means.... its time for 'rocky horror' somewhere. i guess its no secret that i was once a serious devotee of the Rocky Horror scene. i dressed up. i played Frank. i played Janet. I played Magenta. i played whoever they needed me to play at the Carolina Circle 6, way back in the late 1980's. having been 'into' rocky horror for so long, i stll get a thrill when i see a rocky-related picture that i know i've never seen before. like this one, given to me by jean-luc. it shows the director, jim sharman, directing peter hinwood (who played the title role) and mr. tim curry, who played the legendary dr. frank n furter. i love this shot because its clear and well-taken. and i've never seen it before. and tim looks great. so dig it, babies....!! (click to somewhat enlarge.)

for the boys

anyone who's followed 'the planet' for any length of time knows how much i love carroll baker. she's a resident goddess. and here, in this shot, provided by jean-lucien, she's cheeky and playful and radiant in her military jumpsuit gear. carroll actually went overseas at one point to entertain the troops with bob hope. she famously wore an almost-see thru gown scattered with rhinestones. but she's somehow sexier and more accessable in this outfit. she seems to have a great sense of humor here... knowing the phrase 'property of the USMC' is branded over her pert little ass. i just love her. so dig it, the patriotic cheesecake. (click to enlarge)

brady fun

yes, i admit it... i dig the Brady Bunch. and that's largely due to Mike Brady. (Robert Reed.) he may have gone to his grave thinking nobody truly appreciated his acting skills, but i'm here to say it out loud: i think he was marvelous. as i watched those re-run episodes through the years, i came to realize that Mike Brady was one of the main reasons why i was watching. he's thoroughly convincing as the straight dad. he's got those amazing blue eyes, too. he's the dad everyone wanted. firm, but loving. here he is, (thanks to some clever capturing from jean-lucien) in a couple of frames from the episode where Carol and Cindy both had laryngitis at the same time. if you've seen the episode, you know what the deal is... and, if you haven't, there's not a quick way i can explain it now. (click to enlarge.)

court composer

so, i've been watching my widescreen 'amadeus' all day and all evening with the french subtitles on. and now that i come to the 'midnight keys,' i see that its wayyyy time for me to start a new picture file. so, i'm going to get that going, but in the meantime, i'm going to let f. murray abraham-as-salieri hold my place. man, he rocks! (but i don't remember there being a 'rock me salieri' song topping those early 80's charts.) still, here is salieri, holding his cat mask in place, as he holds MY place here on the planet. i should have some more new groovy stuff posted soon. until then... i love you all.

mucha holds my place

okay, its late... i can't think of anything to post, but i wanted to mark my place and wish everyone a night of sweet dreams. and since this alphonse mucha work is currently on my desktop, i thought it was cool to use it as a bookmark. i love you all. more later.

happy birthday mark hamill

okay, this isn't going to be the longest entry. but i just happened to notice it was luke skywalker's 58th birthday. yeah, i know... he's done 'other things,' career-wise, but... c'mon, right? so then i had to go do a quick dive into the cold waters of the Cyberverse for a picture of 'him-as-luke' that i hadn't seen like, 6 million times already. and i think this one is the coolest and rarest one i was able to find in literally like, 14 seconds. i gotta tip my hat to luke, because he's leia's twin brother, you know? its like, he's the jean-luc to my almadora. and he really is great in that movie. in all seriousness, can you imagine anyone else as luke skywalker? i sure can't. and wow, he's 58! i mean, i realize its not that old, but when you've got 'A New Hope' rolling on your high def bluray deev, and you see his skin, that complexion... those flashing youthful turquoise eyes and white teeth... he looks so alive and real its a little odd to think he's almost 60. so happy birthday Luke. and hey, i almost forgot.... may the Force be with you. (click to enlarge)

cig pants!

hey, if you smoke those vile and deadly cigarettes (which i do, guilty) then you've GOTTA get yourself a pair of of these ultra-dated, groovy looking Cig Pants!.. from the good people at Winston. what better way to let the world know that you 'don't give a damn about' your health OR fashion?! and you've just gotta accent those Cig Pants with some mod shades and a clingy, white, longsleeved top. so, round up your $2.95, clip that coupon, and send away for those pants! nobody will know how diseased your lungs look on the inside, when you look THIS groovy on the outside! i don't smoke Winston's myself. (mmm, as if that matters at all.) hey, it just occurred to me... when Winston ran this promotion all those years ago, they MUST'VE had like, a shitload of these pants already made, and like, ready for the hundreds of redeeming Winston customers. and they must've had them in a variety of sizes and everything. and it would seem almost certain that at least some of those pants still exist today. i wonder who's got them? like, they can't ALL be in a landfill by now, can they? (cut to a shot of a yard sale going up this Sunday. we see a rack old clothes on some lawn cluttered with junk. as the camera pulls in, we see a pair of the Cig Pants hanging next to a faded 'Mork' T-shirt with rainbow sleeves that says, 'Nannoo-Nanoo' : Translation - Is It Friday Yet?' ) (click to enlarge... a lot of the copy should be readable.)

mary, mary

...you're IN the 'strip' vid! man, i love this wild machine! with very little digging i was able to ascertain the identity of the sleek, sultry blonde chick in the adam ant video for the song 'strip.' i'm not traditionally into blondes, (with the exception of georgina hale, sharon stone, and maybe a few others) but i've always thought the babe in this video was sexy-cute. and her name is mary stavin. apparently, she was a minor Bond Girl in two later bond films, 'octopussy,' and 'a view to a kill.' (mmm, who could've predicted she was a Bond Girl...??) yes, she's a doll. and thanks to jean-lucien's video-hungry tricking skills, i have this lush and luminous shot of her, IN the video... doing the whispery spoken-word part: "...at times like this, the great heaven knows... that we wish we had... not SO many clothes..." etc, etc. and hey, she's swedish! (yet another newsflash.) her credits also boast 'girl in bar' from Caddyshack II. so hey, please enjoy and appreciate jean-luc's talent for picture-spearing... because i guarantee you, he got this shot without the benefit of 'frame-dancing.' man, they don't make videos like that anymore.

jaws chicks!

yeah, i'm gonna try to get a whole boatload of 'jaws' screencaps over the next few weeks... but i've just been so 'into' the 'watching' of the film itself that i haven't wanted to pause it long enough to get a screen capture. but i DID manage to snag this little widescreen gem. its the 'bikini' most! i'm pretty sure this is when the shark is in the pond, and the viewer is made to think its gonna eat one of the Brody kids' boat, but it actually eats some nameless local guy. chomps his leg off. and these sunbathing chicks sit up take notice. mmmm, bikini chicks! i love their long legs, tanned skin, and flowing 1970's style hair. and i also dig the little transistor radio. so i hope you dig the Amity cheesecake. there's not enough cheesecake in that movie. (mmm, like that's what it was 'going for.' ...click to enlarge.)

sequin: my groovy new book

yeah, i really wanted to christen a new book tonight, but i didn't really know if i was gonna have the energy to actually conjure it in any kind of groovy way. but, the mood took me, and i have to admit, i'm pleased with the dreamy pinkish result. i don't know if i've ever had the sultry french temptress sylvie vartan on the cover yet. but if not, then she's wayyyy overdue. like, she's a confirmed High Priestess of the Eternal Bisexual Slumber Party. (mmm, i'm so tired and physically wiped out right now, i'm probably gonna read this in the morning and be all like, '...jeez, i hope nobody read that.' but anyway, where was i?) oh yeah, so i decided to depart somewhat from my 'dots across the bottom' formula. i'm pleased with the shapes and splashings of color i ended up with. it seems jussst 'femme' enough for my 'slinky-but-tough' beret-and-cigar miss vartan. i think the picture was taken from one of her several early 70's french tv specials... (which i would KILL to get my hands on a copy of... as long as it would be compatible with my machine... those specials were the 'costume change' most!! ) okay, so who else do we have down there? that pink 'sunset strip' is a scrap i've been holding onto for literally years. then, from left to right, we have a very cool rainbow-glitter steely dan logo, peter tork dressed like a hippy-dippy indian chief, my sweet george harrison, and finally, my darling ian holm, from 'alien,' as the evercool science officer ash.

overall, i'm pleased with it. i don't have any of the inside pages done yet... and nothing stuck on the back... but that'll probably come to me in the morning. until then, dig it! (click to enlarge)

jaws joke!

i may have posted this before, a long time ago... but i've been rolling 'jaws' so much lately, i thought i'd post it again. the artist is, of course, the great Mort Drucker.

...and now for something completely kinky

mmm, what would 'monty python' be without their sexy 'sister chick,' the statuesque and stunning miss carol cleveland? va-vooom! she's got the curves where it counts, and the talent to make us laugh out loud. with qualifications like that, she could be one of the sexiest women of the 70's. or indeed, of any decade. who could fill her shoes in the 'vocational guidance counselor' skit? nobody, that's who! she rocked some frosted white lipstick... she deliciously filled out a corset or bikini... and was so 'game,' no matter what the writing called for, i've never heard of her complaining. we should all be so lucky; to have a Band of Brothers like Idle, Jones, Cleese, Gilliam, Palin, and Chapman. (did i leave one out?) (click to enlarge)