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)

original nick

i straight-up love this shot of nick rhodes. it was one of the very first photos of nick i had on my wall as a young teenage girl. i think its fair to say that when i fell in love with nick rhodes, it was love at first sight. although, he did look so much like a girl in shots like this, then i've often questioned myself since then; ...was i really harboring repressed lesbian feelings? or did i just subconciously want the best of both worlds? like, i adored and admired the beauty of glamorous girls, but i wanted the sexual physicality of men. was it because i was subconciously afraid of most men, and felt safer with men of a gentler nature and a slighter frame? or maybe it was just because nick rhodes was so fucking cool...! he was cool then, and he's still cool now. but yeah, i remember carrying this exact photograph with me around griffin middle school... defending him to all the girls who were so quick to call him a 'fag' or a 'gaylord,' on account of his make-up and hair. (i think it should be noted that a lot of these same girls voiced their 'redneck homophobe' vote for vince neil of motley crue. mmm, who's wearing a lot of make-up...?? mmm, not too much, whoa-ho-ho!! ) anyway, silliness aside, dig this elegant and glamorous shot of nick rhodes. he IS duran duran. (click to enlarge)

baby night

i know this is gonna sound a little odd coming from someone as literate as myself. but i don't read actual books as often as i should. its not because i don't like books... i love them, but as an artist and writer, i just can't seem to find the time. i mean, anytime i have 'free time,' i seem to write my own stuff. but recently, i had to go to a big bad boring doctor's appointment, and i knew i had over an hour of time in the waiting room. so luckily for me, i had a paperback copy of ira levin's horror masterpiece 'rosemary's baby.' it's been one of my favorite movies for a long, long time. but i had never read the book. man, it was great. it really reminded me how transporting reading can be. like, there i was, damp and wilted from the northern spring rain, in the bright and clinical doctor's office waiting room, and once i cracked that book and fell into it, the time just flew by. i really had a ball. i had almost forgotten how much fun reading can be. (mmm, sounds like a corny psa to get kids to like, get off the video games and read.... mmm, like kids would listen to crazy ol' me.) so yeah, as a tribute to one of my favorite movies, and now one of my favorite books, i found this groovy shot of mia farrow and john cassavetes as rosemary and guy woodhouse. they're raising their glasses in celebration, because this night is 'baby night,' ... in other words, the night they've set aside for the conception of their first child. but, little does rosemary know, it won't be guy she'll be bompin' with tonight. it'll be the devil! hey, so dig the shot. i tricked it to look right-for-your-eyes! (click to enlarge)

happy late birthday robert powell

man, i'm tired. i had a full week. i was unable to post last night on account of a disruption in our internet service. and now, i'm typing with my right index finger bandaged due to a freak umbrella accident earlier in the day. so bear with me as far as like, typos and other carelessness due to fatigue and an injured finger. that being said, i checked my celebrity birthday source, and realized i should probably say happy 65th birthday to the english actor robert powell. apparently most people would probably recognize him from his starring role in the 'jesus of nazareth' miniseries. but i know him best from his great work in ken russell films. he played the doomed captain walker in 'tommy,' which was probably the first time i ever saw him. and then he also starred as gustav mahler in russell's 1974 fantastic biography picture 'mahler.' (one of ken's best... it manages to seamlessly stitch classic realism with moments of high camp outrageousness.) in this shot, we see powell-as-mahler, in one such fantasy sequence, sword in hand, silver swastika on his chest, atop an english hill, about to chow down hungrily on the head of a pig. in fact, it looks like he might already have his mouth full of snout. mmm, tasty isn't it, gustav? it might go down well with a big swig of milk. so umm, happy late birthday, robert. you are a very cool member of the planet.

oui, it is my new book, no?

oui, it is my new book YES! so yeah, thanks to my beloved jean-lucien sending me a sweet tasty bundle of new picksh, i was able to get my new dazzling volume of fantasy and laughs off the ground tonight. well, i just got the cover on. and i like it. let's see, as the Stars we have the gorgeous and ethereal miss georgina hale, as the sinning-and-seeking-absolution phillipe on the right, and mr. oliver reed as the trying-to-be-holy-yet-tormented-by-temptations father grandier on the left. the image is of course, from the ken russell masterpiece 'the devils.' (and wow, wow, wow.... if you can get your hands on an uncut copy of the film, then man, strap yourself in and get ready for the searing carnal ride. truly, not only is it one of the finest films ken russell has ever made, i daresay it is amongst the finest films of all the 1970's. it is as gorgeous as it is hellish and shocking.) and um, the title word, 'oui,' seems to speak for itself. it is an exotic and positive word. although i must admit i chose it for the look of the word as much as i did for the meaning. i have great hopes for this book, which was hatched on the first day of june. so okay, now for the medallions below the main picture... let's see, what do we have? from left to right, we have the late, great, tough and sexy mr. joe strummer, smoking a tough 'don't care' cig; then we have some random retro aqua lighting; then hey! let's hear it for the disco scene, because we've got a shot of the curvy and tough annette from 'saturday night fever,' lighting tony's disco cig. ('...but you'd ask me to lay down...') then we've got the lovely and legendary orchid-colored couple of lucy and dougie from 'sgt. pepper's lonely heart's club band,' doing 'you never give me your money,' ; and after them? well it's the marvelous karl malden as mitch from kazan's 'a streetcar named desire,' peeking through the drapes. then next up, in the blue circle, there's the loving sparring couple of 'empire's' princess leia and han solo, bickering in the south passage of Hoth. and last, but certainly never, ever least... we have the silver-haired and handsome, painfully sexy mr. ian holm, as tom frost in cronenberg's buggy epic 'naked lunch,' of course based (somewhat) on william s. burroughs great book. so here it is lovers, dig it... the clutch of blank pages that will soon be filled with literally thousands of separate inkstrokes. its always an odd feeling when i start a new book. like, i always find it hard to believe i'll ever get the whole thing filled up... but hey, i've got about nine year's worth of books like this, all full... so i guess it's all a matter of uncapping that pen, and starting with the first date, the first quote, and that first bit of wit that makes my darling laugh. thank you God. Seriously. (click to enlarge) (oh, and i've since realized that annette's not in fact lighting tony's cig. just wanted to correct that.)

sunday morning

... i did catch it.