joe is tired

and i know how he feels. i mean, i only did a tiny fraction of what most people did over the holidays, and i feel pretty wiped out. like, i did zero driving, maybe wrapped two things, had one dinner, and still... i'm glad to have a normal week coming up. i'm sleepy, so this might be the only thing i post tonight. i'm leaving the planet in the capable hands of joe strummer. which is really only a flimsy excuse to post this real hot picture of joe on a tour bus or something. my cat's been great... she's starting to exhibit her own groovy personality. like she digs being spun around in my swiveling desk chair, and she thinks its cool to walk over my journal-while-i'm-writing to get my human attention. she's meowing more, so i guess that means she's getting comfortable with me. (mmm, somewhere joe strummer's ghost is like, '...hey, i thought this post was supposed to be about me...!') so, i'm gonna mess around in the videos for a while, then i'm gonna try to get some quality sleep for my mind. love you all.

rich little's 'a christmas carol' - nixon as jacob marley

'...i'm saying, that when a ghost does it... it is NOT illegal...!'

your present, jean-luc

hey, i'm sorry i couldn't find a bigger picture of it. but hey, look what i got you! its the barbie van for all your barbies and all their barbie fun! i know you know exactly what it feels like to unwrap one; because you've done it before, i saw you do it. this really was an extremely cool toy. i know there were a couple of hours, many christmases ago, when you and i sat on the hardwood floor of our bedroom, and applied all the decals and put this thing together, with no 'adult supervision' whatsoever. hey baby, i'm still here. and i still love you as much as i did that morning... indeed, even more. like, i love you the 'mattel'-most!

christmas in july

hey, the weather outside is frightful, but woah....! the sights on planetcool are delightful. here's a shot i found of a north carolina beach from the mid-70's. now, this is what girls should look like. no silicone, no 'booth' tans, no brazilian waxes, no thong suits, nothing but sweet healthy american girls with their natural selves, enjoying nature, with their long silky hair and hip-hugging slightly sagging suits. their smiles candid and real... as rob fetters once said, 'robust cornfed american beauties lick the salty rims of margaritas...' yeah, i know, i'm 90% straight, but still, i could look at this picture for hours. it totally blows my mind to know there are people out there who would honestly believe these chicks are so fat they like, shouldn't be allowed to leave the house. like, what kind of world do we live in? (click to enlarge)

your present, lucynell

i had to go to three different stores to get your favorite flavor... chocolate-chocolate chip! merry christmas, lucynell... i love you.

my newest book

here's a photograph i took of my latest book. i just christened it a couple of days ago. forgive the lopsided-ness. it didn't scan it, i just took a picture of it. not bad... but that accounts for the skewered slant. the model is, of course, the legendary and self-proclaimed 'punk rock warlord,' mr. joe strummer, from his 'clash' days. he's lovely. i was lucky enough to find i already had the name 'john' printed out, which was joe's real first name. the ribbon of color underneath him is made up of shots of military helicopters, a purple galaxy, soldiers in battle, helen mirren, and a tiny rock poster for 'jefferson airplane.' i chose that array of shots for several reasons; the most valid of which was the color of each one. content-and-or-context was secondary. i added some prismatic stickers, glued on the title, and there you are. it probably enlarges real big... my camera works better than i thought, considering i just propped the book up on my phone, which i keep on the floor, and just took one snap. soon it will be full, full of black inkstrokes and truly great, great literature.

pretty pink princess pumpkin bed

umm, i don't know where to begin. i have mixed feelings on this one. i was just googling around for bedroom interiors and ran across this. i went in for a closer look, and i sort of had two sets of eyes... my 8 year-old 'girlchild' eyes, who would have shamelessly absolutely loved to share a bed just like this with my twin. no question about it; i would have loved it. i can just imagine the giddy princess dreams and fantasies i would've kept in my head, every single sappy sugary night. then, there was my cynical 36 year old set of worldly eyes... the eyes whose first thought was; '...wow, just how rich are these people...??' so i did a little more digging. this pumpkin bed is made by a company called 'poshtots,' and it sells for... (are you ready? are you ready for this...?) ahem... it sells for $47,000 dollars. yes, that's forty-seven thousand dollars. perhaps i shouldn't be so stunned by that. but i know i took my glasses off and looked real close at the screen... blinked real good twice, and looked again. yes, 47,000 dollars for your precious princess to freak out over for a relatively short time; 47,000 dollars to make all her little friends jealous, for a short time... afterwhich time, inevitably, there will come a time when it's just... her bed. the bed she doesn't wanna get into because 'wizard of oz' is on at 10:00 pm. (ahh, who am i kidding? i could almost personally guarantee any girl who has this 47,000 dollar bed probably has a dvd copy of 'the wizard of oz' in the house.) its pretty, though. (click to enlarge)

joanna

yes, i was lucky enough to get a christmas present early. this morning my family came in with a four-legged furry surprise. i'm calling her joanna... somewhat after the sondheim song, (from sweeney todd) and also as a female-fied tribute to my latest crush, joe strummer. my friend linda suggested i could call her 'strumbelina,' and i kind of liked that too, so i guess her official full name is joanna strumbelina. she's been shy, which is to be expected. for all she knows, she got kidnapped today. she goes wild for catnip, like those weird drugged cats in that video. she's lovely. in this picture, she's snoozing on my bed. she did her fair share of shyly hiding under the bed, but so far, that's the most annoying thing she's done. i wanted a cat, but i didn't expect to get one. this is the only shot i've gotten of her so far. hopefully, we'll get along like, long-term. but i'm tired, from setting her up and settling her in all day. so this might be the only thing i post. i love you all.

le bon not included

hey, it appears to be 'horserace nite' here on the planet. here's a tricky one. it IS duran duran, minus one very important and often sexy component; yes, we're missing mr. simon le bon. so its a four-way race. so, umm, quickly, lets take stock of the 'man-meat' in front of us. (duran duran as 'man-meat?' wow... without simon, i can hardly say that phrase with a straight face.) so, real fast lets take a look at the remaining four. hmmm... well, three out of the four of them are 'actively' holding alcoholic beverages. they all look reasonably happy. even boring old roger is managing to have a smile on his face. man, looks-wise, he does absolutely nothing for me. and i think we can count andy out too. i mean, he looks like he's having a good time, but other than that, bag it, the face. so, as it often is, its down to nick and john. its not a tough choice. john wins, hands down. he actually looks very cute. very tall... very cool. so here's to you, mr. nigel john taylor. you win this one... for now...

duran...depressed?

okay, i've got another horserace for you guys. first of all, let me say that i once owned a glossy, well-produced 'fan book' back in 'the day' with this exact picture on it. on the cover, i mean. i'm pretty sure it was japanese. all the best duran fan books were japanese. anyway, if i remember correctly, this book more or less focused on stills and shots taken while the band were on location 'in-and-around' the tropics, fliming videos like 'save a prayer' and 'hungry like the wolf.' but man, do they look depressed here or what? yeah, i know they were probably hot and tired, but you'd think maybe they could work up at least one sincere 'pose' for the cameras. then again, this shot was probably only one in a hundred that were taken that day. okay, before i even make my 'horserace' desicion, i need to point out something i've always noticed, like since 1984. namely, dig roger's crotch area. yeah, is it just me, or does it look like he's very purposefully positioned his 'junk' on the end of that bannister, like he's full-out 'displaying' it? i mean, its resting right on there like its taking a break, you know? oddly, for some reason i don't think roger taylor is 'randy' and-or 'scandalous' enough to be thinking, '....hey, i'm gonna give the little girls at home a thrill, by drawing some serious attention to my Birmingham swag.' i don't think roger is mentally capable of being that calculated. that being said... the official winner of the horse race... hmmm, i'm gonna have to give it to simon le bon. sure, he looks like, super-bored, but other than that, very nice. only, i don't know how somebody can wear a blazer over bare skin, but hey... it was 'miami vice' era, and we are talking about simon le bon. (as if that makes any sense.) dig it.

esteban stamps

i've spent most of the night pearldiving, so i don't have much for you tonight. but i wanted to take a minute to post a placeholder. so here it is... they are. dig on some shots of a 'maladjusted' era morrissey, with his hair closely shorn. personally, i think it was a really good look on him. if you have the time, dig up anything you can from that album. its extremely underrated; even for a morrissey album. notable tracks are 'roy's keen' and 'satan has rejected my soul.' (its farrrr more 'upbeat' than it sounds, trust me.) so please dig on steven's keen look, and seek out some morrissey to feed-your-ears. i love you all. (click to enlarge)