pretty looking rhodes

tonight's featured smoker is the one and only multi-talented mr. nick rhodes. this shot was obviously taken sometime around the 'rio' album. he was so lovely then. i mean, look at those lips... that bone structure! sigh. even after all this time, he makes me sigh. and he's smart, too. i love the way he takes his work seriously. sure, he only plays and writes pop songs, but they're some of the finest and most popular pop songs of our era. i love the 'medazzaland' album, and his spoken-word 'vocals' on the title track. he's really a synthesizer genius, and always manages to look great. plus, he looks happy. i get the feeling he's a man who's lucky enough to have made a handsome living doing what he always wanted to do. kisses, nick. you're the best.

alphonse mucha : friendship

i believe that's the official title to this piece. anyone who knows me knows alphonse mucha is and has always been one of my favorite artists. i love this one. in particular, i love the bold but graceful lines used to render the faces and arms and hands. i love the colors, and i love the facial expressions. this is one of the master's works that rarely gets featured in the countless calendars and postcards that are perpetual best-sellers in our modern book shops. this speaks to mucha's wide appeal and the enduring beauty of his work. i won't be posting too much tonight, but i love this one, and wanted to showcase it.

stamp

believe it or not, this is general zod. and he is also billy budd. but he is primarily terence stamp. i think this is one of the most lusty photographs of a male face i've ever seen. sadly, this is the best version of it i could find. i just think he's beautiful here. and i admit i'm mystified to see zod presented so prettily. i'm quite sure 'superman II' was my first look at terence stamp. since then i've learned how groovy he is. he transcends innocence and instinctive honor as billy budd. i have to buy a copy of that.

queer pass

i have no idea how old this shot is. it shows a young brian slade ambushing a more worldly jack fairy in his dressing room for a very steamy man-on-man celluliod kiss. the film is 'velvet goldmine.' r.e.m.'s michael stipe had a hand in producing this flick, and i've often wondered if 'younger slade's' sheepish curls, full lips, and heavy eyelids were a thinly-veiled tribute to stipe's look around the time of 'reckoning.' i realize the color is a little intense in this one, but i've 'un-shocked' the color as much as i could whilst keeping as much of the line detail as possible. so here's to man-on-man kisses... may i witness many, many more of them... on celluloid or otherwise.

shirley smokes

tonight's featured smoker is the lovely and wildly talented miss shirley maclaine. obviously, this shot was taken some time around the filming of 'irma la douce.' i think she's extremely foxy. and bright. i love her lips and eyelashes and the sound of her voice. apparently she had the savage hots for jack lemmon, and i have to admit, i don't blame her. i'll bet he was great in bed. and out of it. i love a man who can make me laugh, then kiss me like he 'valentino'-means it. and i have a feeling jack lemmon was (is) that kind of guy. and he's even cute in drag. i think i sense a jack lemmon post in the very near future.

liza minelli - maybe this time - cabaret motion picture soundtrack : video

i haven't posted a video in a while, and i just felt like showcasing the inarguably excellent miss liza minelli at the top of her game in her oscar winning role as fraulein sally bowles. i like the intercut scenes of her florid, almost accidental, but nonetheless fleetingly sincere love affair with the shy and mostly-gay brian. this number is well worth seeing through to the final note. it may be my favorite number of her's from the film. she kills it. the lackluster applause after the fade seems to only accentuate how damn good it was.

stardust memories : 1980

here's a still frame taken from

'stardust

memories,' which is one of woody allen's somewhat lesser-known films. i can't really say too much about the movie, because i've never seen the whole thing. well, if i have seen it, i don't remember too much about it. except this shot. if i remember correctly, its close to the end. woody's charcter is rapt in some kind of reverie, and he looks over and sees this breathtaking blonde girl on a train. she turns, looks right into the camera, then smiles a smile that shoots through you like an arrow. her eyes are dazzled with joy, optimism, light, and hearbreaking spontaneity. pulsing with life, she blows a single kiss. i don't think anyone who has ever seen these few seconds of film has forgotten it. in those few seconds, she symbolizes irretretrievable innocence, and the platinum 'something' in life that always seems an inch beyond our grasp. in those few seconds, this brilliant actress manages to personify nothing less than immortality. the girl is sharon stone.

gone fishing

after recognizing tom ewell's birthday (below) i'm going to take the rest of the night off. i'm going fishing. yeah, i've noticed my nets and traps have been a little slight lately, so i need to dive deep and replenish the stock if i can. so in honor of fishing, please dig this practically perfect reproduction of the movie poster for the classic film 'jaws.' i know it by heart. that proves i'm not a 'chick flick' kind of girl. hey, i also dig 'scarface' and 'the shining.' anyway, so wish me luck. i don't know if the waters have anything to offer, but there's no other way to tell except to put my knife between my teeth, jump off the cliff and dive. see you tommorrow, lovers.

happy birthday tom

you say the name 'tom ewell' to most people, and most of them will probably say they've never heard of him, they've never seen him, they don't know who he is. they don't realize they most likely have seen him, they just didn't know it. he was the man standing beside the woman who was the subject of one of the most famous photo shoots on the planet. ever. yes, tom ewell, who was born on april 29th, 1909 just happens to be the man in the tan summer suit standing beside marilyn monroe on that subway grate as her white pleated skirt blew up around her legs. admittedly, the vast majority of onlookers weren't too focused on tom at that moment, and with good reason. but the movie that shot was taken for, (billy wilder's 'the seven year itch' ) is at times more ewell's movie than marilyn's. his character richard sherman is possibly in every shot, and carries about 89 % of the script. he slays me in that role. he's as deft as fred astaire in portraying the boredom, lust, anxiety, wisdom, paranoia, and chivalrous grace of one married man over the course of one stifling summer weekend. and he manages to make it all funny. very, very funny. the tagline for 'seven year itch' could read something like, '...you came to see the girl, but you'll stay for tom ewell.' honestly, at several times in that movie, he seems to do the impossible : he upstages marilyn monroe.

sleep well, tom. and god bless you.

ash is taking me home

well, that's all for the night. i'm ready to leave the party, but it seems my gay date marc almond won't relinquish the microphone, so i've asked this handsome and quiet and (presumably) straight acquaintance to escort me home. i don't even know his whole name. like, all i know is 'ash,' so its probably not the smartest thing in the world for me to be getting into some vehicle with this guy. but somehow, he seems capable and mysterious, so tonight i'm going to take my chances on this older, quiet stranger. (mmm, my 'cyber-fantasy-life' sounds like a lesser-known duran duran song.) hey, hopefully, he's not a psociopathic robot. (...hey, god knows i've dated guys with more unattractive traits than that.)

kiss and make-up

here's a groovy shot i took from the todd hayne's film 'velvet goldmine' a long time ago. i just dug it up, did a little color adjusting, softened it, and even stretched a little, horizontally. its glassier, classier, and just plain seems to work better. i wanted to post the corresponding bit from the movie, but i couldn't find it anywhere. still, i love make-up, so here's to make-up.

bluetiful

i needed something blue for this slot, so i dug around in my files and found this very cool vintage album cover. there's no story behind it... like i can't tell you i once found one just like it in my step-grandfather's shed or anything like that. but it kinda-sorta reminds me of my step-grandfather's place on account of he had a lot of old square records and square sheet music hanging around. i can still remember that house in carolina. every frigging inch of it. since my grandparents are dead, the last time i drove past that house, some other family was obviously living there. like i saw big junky useless plastic tryke-wheels and preschool swingsets out in the yard i used to play in. how dare they. like, part of me still lives there. almost literally.

miss baker

yes, the lovely miss carroll baker was lucky enough to show up on planetcool on a night when i officially don't care! don't get me wrong, i do care about carroll baker. she's my all-time favorite hollywood blonde! i just don't care about being all stunning and-or groundbreaking with my literary tributes tonight. what can i say about carroll that i haven't said in the past or won't say in the future? she's the greatest. and her portrayal of the precocious child bride in elia kazan's 'babydoll' is black and white sizzling excellence captured on celluloid, and won her an oscar nomination. so lets all blow a kiss at sweet carroll, and go rent 'babydoll.' you'll love it. well, if you don't love it, then you obviously have different tastes in like, movies or whatever. (can you tell how much my heart's in this tonight?)

mmmmanchester

yes, morrissey. everybody knows i love morrissey. eveybody who knows anything about morrissey knows how cool guitarist alain whyte is. so here's a picture of the both of them. jean-lucien captured this from the 'who put the m in manchester?' dvd a long time ago. there was a time when i would've been able to tell you what song they were on just from looking at the frame, but sadly now i don't think i could do better than to tell you its after the first song, but before the last few. his shirt alone gives up that much information. its a very pretty shot. its a great dvd. you need to go out and buy it, watch it at that all-important 'maximum volume.'

ronan in profile

yeah, its 'can you tell i don't care?' night. sadly, this gorgeous shot of ronan vibert in roman costume deserves a somewhat higher honor. its from some movie i couldn't name if you let cousin kevin torture me for a couple of hours. but what a profile, am i right students? what a stern expression, what a gorgeous nose. he's one of those actors i saw after i'd already seen him. i mean i'd seen him in one role, but it took another to really strike me. he's been in things such as 'jeeves and wooster,' 'mrs. bradley mysteries,' the first 'tomb raider,' 'shadow of the vampire,' 'the cat's meow,' and the bbc version of 'the scarlet pimpernel.' he truly is gorgeous, and if you ask me, he shines in character parts.

yeah, here's how much i care tonight

yes kids, prehistoric monsters did do the strangest things. some of them were often spotted at the midnight movies, going to 'the rocky horror picture show.' studies have deduced several of them went in drag for amateur nightclub prizes... most often impersonating ann-margret and nancy sinatra. certain dinosaurs were known to drive run-down inexepensive vehicles commonly referred to as 'shitboxes.' and these prehistoric monsters were no strangers to popular music. devotees of the cassette tape almost exclusively, favorite bands of these creatures apparently included 'the tubes,' 'the sundays,' 'roxy music,' 'the clash,' and perhaps most surprisingly, 'eurythmics.' prehistoric monsters rarely abused credit, but had a serious problem with online porn. and last but not least, although they were often 'kind,' they almost always forgot to 'rewind.'

the wolf

this is simon le bon, sometime around 1982. he's absolutely drenched in the 'rio' album. his silver tiger baby necklace charm can clearly be seen. what a face. you can't talk me out of simon le bon. he's a hell of a performer who earnestly wants to give the people a good show. i was about 11 years old when i saw pictures of simon and the rest of duran duran looking like this. i suppose it was no wonder the local boys just failed to leave much of an impression on me.

alchemy: AD 1972

how's this for lush and gorgeous? here's a shimmering and lovely screen capture jean-lucien sent me at least two years ago. but wow... look at the colors, dig that light! i realize it came from a film, but trust me, images like these don't just happen. the cropping and tricking and dozens of miniscule adjustments make the science of screen capturing an art. like, anyone can press the pause button, but it takes an artist to make the final shot come alive like this. its like cooking. like, you can give a dozen people one egg, but how you handle and cook the egg makes all the difference when it comes time to eat it. so... eat it. (by the way, the film is the hilarious vampire film, 'dracula, 1972 AD.' it stars christoper lee, of course... and that chick who was in adam ant's 'goody two shoes' video. and yes, i know her name. she's caroline munroe.)

the science division

... should be able to help them, but science officer ash is less than fully cooperative at this stage in the game. ash seems mystified with the entire horrific ordeal playing out before his cold aquamarine eyes. he even dares some gallow's humor by wistfully referring to the newly-hatched bloody alien spawn as '...kane's son.' this diabolical remark goes almost unnoticed by the remaining members of the crew. i suppose that's because they've got more pressing matters on their minds; namely saving their human skins from a heart-puncturing bloody space grave. he's as hot as he is cold.

jones in france

here's a still frame i managed to snag of davy jones from the grainy and gorgeous 'monkees in paris' episode. anyone who's familiar with this episode will know that there's a lot of quick cuts and fast running around, so to get this shot in one try was pretty crafty. i love davy's costume in this one. i love the top hat and soldier jacket. and the green shirt is just like, 'normal.' (?) i love the rich film grain. he really was a pretty boy. i can't deny that. after i got the shot, i cropped it, and played around with the color and contrast, so it would look the way it 'really looks,' if that makes any sense. it makes a groovy shot.

rare tim curry

i don't remember where or when i found this shot of a younger tim curry, but i've been rolling 'clue' a lot lately, so i figured why not post it. i think its pretty close to the late 70's. it looks like he's in a recording studio, so i'm guessing he was laying down the vocals for the 'rocky horror picture show' soundtrack, or one of his cool solo albums. i had all three of them on vynil at one point. i realize i'm kind of biased when it comes to tim curry, but i also have a low tolerance for crappy music, and i remember playing 'read my lips,' and 'fearless' into the ground, so i think i can safely say those two lp's are surprisingly strong. his third, 'simplicity,' is almost as good, too. seek them out if you can. some of the best tracks never made it onto the hard-to-get 'greatest hits' CD.

georgina squared

when i type i always make a 'tile' which i use to mark each page by numbers. each note gets its own icon, a maximum of ten pages to a note. those ten-page batches mark chapters. some are less, but usually no less than seven pages, single-spaced. the next chapter will bear this cool cut of miss georgina hale in 'mahler.' there was a bit of hand-tinting involved in the colors. just beautiful.

super-licious

i've recently seen 'superman II' again... i mean, yeah i've seen it hundreds of times since i was a kid, but last night i screened it for the first time in like, i dunno... at least 5 years? its just a mess. but i had a great time watching it. it was directed by richard lester, if you can believe it. like, richard 'hard days' night' lester. i'm not going to get into all the film flubs and inconsistencies here. i don't plan on posting too much tonight, but i wanted to mark the day somehow, so here's margot kidder and the pink bearskin rug. superpink. (...pink...?)

blue eyes

i think i'll end the night with a shot of hugh laurie playing bertie wooster. look at the magnificent blue of his eyes. sigh... i'm totally in love with him. honestly, i didn't retouch the shade of blue in his eyes. that incredible color is all hugh laurie. needless to say, this picture is at least ten years old, but that indescribable shade of blue remains. its eyes like these that cause a girl to drop her defenses and make impulsive desicions. he's just got something, facially, that i find competely irresistible. so good-night, my darling mr. laurie, and good night, friends and lovers. below, the dazzling miss sylvie vartan is ready to take you to church.

sylvie vartan : jubilation - video

here's the smashing, english-singing miss sylvie vartan and her american boys, ready to rock our sunday morning with some heartfelt gospel. i love the song, and i love sylvie's act... i love the suit on her, the long hair, i love all of it. she's so adorable singing english. and i like her willingness to try different styles of music. so lets all raise our hearts in prayer, gratitude, and jubilation.

vampires on film

i needed a black and white shot, and i came accross this shot i took from the film 'the shadow of the vampire.' it was made several years ago, and its really worth a look. it's loosely-based on the filming of the classic horror movie 'nosferatu.' it stars john malkovich, cary elwes, udo kier, aden gillet, the great ronan vibert, willem dafoe, and mr. eddie izzard, shown here in his role as 'gustav.' hey, any movie where eddie can wear makeup is a big plus for him. i love this movie. its darkly hilarious, and very much worth a look. it was kind of my 'rocky horror' for a while; meaning i couldn't stop watching it, and eventually knew all the dialogue. go get it and watch it. its great.

get dirty

here's a wild little notebook illustration jean-lucien made about years ago... maybe longer ago, i can't remember. keep in mind, the original little collage was barely three inches square, if not smaller... so you can just imagine the intricacy of scissorwork that went into a piece like this. that's lesley-ann warren, (of course) in the hot pink outfit, and most of the background bled in from 'clockwork orange.' i love it. its hot and dirty and fun.

symphony in orange

i know i'm not alone in mourning the obsele- scence of 12" lp album covers. something about that size, that shape, that perfect square, that feels so ...dare i say... groovy? so jean-lucien and i like to 'pearldive' for interesting album covers. oddly, genre is rarely a factor. cool covers come on classic, jazz, rock, you name it. here's one jean-luc sent me a few days ago. i love it. it gets a little bigger if you click on it. i like the fact that you almost have to look at it twice to get the image: a serviceman kissing a chick in the back of a car. and i love the little peace sign. there must be literally thousands of groovy album covers out there. its like, 'if i was a rich man,' i'd collect as many as i could get my hands on.

ustinov, thirty-something

yes girls, that's a young and gorgeous peter ustinov in the suit. i think he's about 32 in this shot, and just gorgeous. when i think about how tremendously witty and clever he must have been, i know i would've been madly in love with him. i wonder what he smelled like the day this picture was taken. i know he smoked cigarettes, so its a pretty safe bet he smelled from an undercurrent of cigarette smoke. but the cologne and shaving preparations? i will never know. its no wonder i modern guys leave me cold. i never see anyone that looks like this. and i'm pretty sure he was straight, i mean, i've never heard any evidence to the contrary. maybe i'm deviant or psychologically odd, because i can't help but wonder what he was like in bed. his voice alone for me is adequate foreplay. oh well, before i sound too stalky, i guess i should move on.

who's little boy are you?

here's a small bit cropped from one of my larger works. i just had a blank, black marbled mead notebook, and just started cutting and gluing things down, and it sort of all grew out of itself like a glam tree. i think if you click to enlarge, you'll see morrissey, (at least once), the 'depp' wonka, and lots of patchwork. cropping from larger pieces often produces interesting results. thanks to the digital age, almost no detail is lost. this might be the only thing i post tonight, so dig it.