bull terrier

there's some line in

'perfomance' that asks the question:

'what do you do with a sick dog that's likey to bite you?' i may not have the line exactly right, but the answer is, of course, you put it down. this screen capture was shot and tricked beautifully by jean-lucien. chaz (james fox) is seen in the center, holding a bullseye dog. i love the juxtaposition of the glinting cufflink finery and the wispy down from the beaten feather pillow. almost every shot in the movie is a work of art. just gorgeous.

pilgrim

here is the marvelous miss marsha hunt posing in a puritan costume for the cover of Life. (obviously) as a photograph, i feel like this shot is legendary. marsha hunt was something less than a superstar by hollywood standards, but i know her. unsung, i suppose is the best way to describe her. what a face! she actually wrote a book whose title i can't remember, all about her and her life in the studio system. if you can dig it up, its well worth a look. i've used this image in at least one collage... to me, its no less iconic than the shot of marilyn's skirt blowing up. what a knowing look in her eye. the camera just loves her. marsha, if you're out there, i love you.

patchwork

i think this may have been a notebook cover, but i'm not sure. i love it. i love the lilac stained glass feeling of it. perhaps only jean-lucien and i know, but i think it was made using bits of other semi-finished pieces. i love the composition, the weight of it. it seems to have a touch of frank lloyd wright, or perhaps more accurately, charles rennie mackintosh. its just dreamy. a keen eye will notice alain whyte, sally bowles, and of course, steven patrick morrissey. just lovely. dig it. (click to enlarge)

stacked

anyone who knows me knows i love vintage playboy. i don't think i've ever owned this one... if i did, it didn't have a cover when i had it. but i love it. the shoes alone are every bit as sexy as the silky female flesh. i think the ever-present bunny icon is hidden in the buckle. like, i don't know where else they could've hidden it. but man, what a blazing pair of shoes. they even don't look all that uncomfortable to me. they look strappy and sturdy and well-made. if i had a pair of shoes like that, i'd just lie back, stick my lovely legs in the air, and just dig on them. so hot.

happy birthday lady dylan

i feel sort of slight and a little bit discon

-nected tonight. but i wanted to at least mark my place here. i noticed today was the 67th birthday of miss robert zimmerman; also known as bob dylan. i admit, i am not an expert on the dylan catalogue, but the stuff i like, i really like. my favorites include the early 'the lonesome death of hattie carol,' and the later 'isis.' i've always liked 'lay, lady lay.' needless to say, his influence over popular music is almost impossible to measure. i wanted to post a picture i've never seen before, so i landed on this one after some quick pearldiving. i think that's donovan in the background, and i'm not sure who the chick is. nico? could it be nico? i really don't know. i have to admit, i'm not exactly a 'nico' expert. but all the same, here's to you, lady dylan. happy birthday.

martha

i look at a picture like this, and i can't help but wonder what the date was. did martha have undone homework hanging over her head? was she looking forward to some cold dessert she'd sneaked a peek at in abby's icebox? what sort of covers had she woken up underneath that day? at the time this picture was taken, did she have access to a radio...? and if so, what was her favorite song? she must have had supper later on, i wonder what it was. was there something yucky she sheepishly pushed to the side of her plate? did she have an honest, good, hard laugh that day...? and if so, who made her laugh? were her clothes comfortable? what can she tell me about her jeans and shirt and belt? and who helped her with her hair? my mother, ladies and gentlemen. when i look at this shot, i am proud of her. she must've been a brave little girl.

experiment

i love this one. it demonstrates jean-lucien's affinity for genius impulses. he reportedly scattered a few handfulls of picksh (plural of 'pictures') on the scanner with minimal conscious arrangement, and just took a shot of it. it blows up big and gorgeous. christ, the resolution of the modern machine is truly miraculous. within it, you can spot such stars as sylvie vartan and harry flowers from 'performance.' there is also a dazzling spattering of colors and the wildest thing about it is: it was all 99.9% accidental. wow. dig it. (and click to really enlarge.)

forgotten birthday

yes, i admit it. i was so engulfed in my own life yesterday that i totally and utterly forgot the birthday of the one and only legendary steven patrick morrissey. anyone that knows me knows i would never have willingly forgotten. i could lie and say i really remembered, but just didn't acknowledge it, but i admit it, i flatly forgot. morrissey turned a gorgeous 49 years old on may 22nd. i send him ardent kisses and tremendous thanks. his contribution to my life is probably impossible to measure. i remember one christmas when my brother and i were about 12 years old, the main thing we wanted was a copy of the smith's 'meat is murder.' we got it, on cassette, along with a stereo. we opened it on christmas eve and played 'how soon is now?' to our mother's slight dismay. it was the christmas where boys and poetic ideas had at last (almost) eclipsed barbie dolls and bath beads. (actually, i'd love a barbie and some bath beads even now.) still, i apologize to morrissey for having forgotten. i wish him health, happiness, prosperity, inspiration, and all the earthly delights he can stand. i love you steven, i always have. (below, please allow morrissey to thrill you with a live television performance of one his best recent songs.)

morrissey - i will see you in far off places : video

here is morrissey at his best performing one of my favorite songs from his most recent album 'ringleader of the tormentors.' i love it. and he looks great.

seals and crofts : dance by the light of the moon - song

i dig it already, even on that proverbial 'one hearing only.'

hot fox

...sounds like a radio station, doesn't it? '...107; hot fox!' yes, i missed another notable birthday here on the 'planet' recently. english actor james fox turned 69 hot years old on may 19th. here he is pictured as chaz from roeg's masterpiece of psychedelia 'performance.' james plays a cocky english gangster forced to go underground due to a ...queer set of circumstances. i can't praise the movie enough. james fox is so engaging and handsome that at times he even upstages mick jagger. jean-lucien sharpshot this frame, which features the slightly-scarred chaz freshly washed and 'un-dyed.' in other words, 'this is the normal.' of course, normal is relative, as the brilliant film keenly illustrates. if you haven't seen it, go do so... if you dare! some people out there have actually told me they don't 'get it,' if you can believe that.

sweet baby james

yes, i was so preoccupied with other stuff yesterday that i realize i missed a very big birthday. mr. james stewart would've been 100 years old yesterday. and yes, i could easily spend several lines marveling at what a great actor he was and like, what an exemplary American he was, but tonight, i think i'm just gonna sit back and say, 'whoa, what a fox!' yes, 'planetcool' is oftentimes a place where i sing for the largely 'unsung,' and although sweet jimmy gets plenty of accolades for his talent, his drop-dead, full-throttle, take-no-prisoners facial sexiness hardly gets the recognition it deserves. i mean, christ, have you really looked at him in 'destry rides again' or 'the philadelphia story?' he's silky, bright, and in all aspects, physically incredible. and this is one of my favorite shots of him. woof!

sylvie vartan : pour lui je reviens - video

i love this one. sylvie's at her best. the song is light and lovely and her costume is dazzling. i love the long hair, i just love the outfit on her. it accentuates her charming boyishness yet remains glitteringly feminine. she's wonderful. dig it.

the silver ball

here is a gorgeous example of the art of screen capturing. this is a single frame from ken russell's film 'tommy' that jean-lucien sharpshot a long time ago. it was taken from the 'pinball wizard' sequence; and anyone who's seen that film knows how damn fast it gets. a quick eye froze it, and the artist tricked and coaxed it to a perfect color and shimmer. the end result is dazzling, but altogether faithful to the original image.

cool mode

oddly, whilst i was living through the 1980's, it was difficult to tell who was legit and genuinely talented from those that were mostly musical lightweights. after twenty additional years of living, it has become very clear that mr. dave gahan and depeche mode were more than mindless synth-pop. they've managed to turn out a consistently cool and quality product year after year. even in the charming, very early days of depeche mode, dave gahan's cool, expressive vocals set 'mode' apart from other bands like them. their melodies were inventive and contagious. they handled serious heavy dirges as deftly as they handled bubbly love songs. highly listenable, depeche mode still have a solid place in my music rotation. i almost never skip 'meaning of love,' 'see you,' or 'its called a heart.' there are many others, of course. so let me blow a kiss to mr. dave gahan. he's cute, too.

libertie

i love this one. jean-lucien made it over two years ago, i think. i love it. i love the colors, the framing, the use of size and overall plain visual grooviness. the main illustrated image of the girl was lovingly borrowed from alphonse mucha, and the contemplative napoleonic figure beneath is my darling ian holm. (indeed dressed as napoleon for some tv thing he was in.) jean-lucien shows he's a master at that ever-effective marriage of sea green and shades of pink. really gorgeous. (click to enlarge.)

scarlet smokes

so... how are you? i'm a little stressed today with a doctor's appointment looming over my head. i hate appointments; like they always take a huge boring bite out of my otherwise mostly-groovy day. actually, its not until wednesday, but i don't really see me coming back to 'the planet' in full force until that's all overwith. and, since i'm pretty sure the physician is going to tell me i need to quit smoking, i decided to mark my place with a shot of lesley-ann warren as miss scarlet in 'clue,' accepting a well-timed light from professor plum, (christopher lloyd) who i can't help thinking looks sexy in the part. so, take a big drag for me, miss scarlet. i'll be back hopefully on wednesday night with some groovy new entries.

ian sleeps

just one post tonight. its a shot of ian holm, sleeping. sweet dreams, ian. kisses.