long live the free world

nothing new tonight lovers.

sweet dreams.

more soon,

me.

happy birthday hugh laurie

yeah, this is gonna be fast... i have to get up in the morning around 7. i didn't really have time to screen all my 'hugh laurie-footage-on-hand,' so i had to go with a shot i already had on file. yes, according to my computerized sources, the creamy dreamy mr. hugh laurie turned 50 years old today. (yeah, i hope he doesn't read this, because i would've guessed he was almost 5 years older.) but yeah, i'm not in the right frame of mind to get all poetic with my praise and all that... i mean, everyone who knows me knows hot much i dig hugh laurie. and, i want this stated for the record: i had a mad crush on him like, 19 years before 'house' hit the airwaves. this shot is from the third season of the 'blackadder' series. hugh plays the flimsy and flashy prince regent. and he's practically in drag in those episodes. yeah, i would've really 'dug deep' and come up with a far more interesting shot if i had time, but i was just caught off guard tonight. maybe i'll do one a tomorrow night to like, make it real. (?) so happy birthday hugh... i do love you. (and i was writing this a few minutes before 12, but by the time it hit the blog, it was already the 12th... hugh's birthday is the 11th. click to enlarge.)

happy late birthday johnny depp

yeah, i missed darling johnny's birthday. there's a line john malkovich has in 'liaisons,' when he's talking about madame de torvelle... he mentions her beauty, then immediately states that beauty was '...the least of her qualities.' i feel the same way about johnny depp. yes, all through the 'jumpstreet-crybaby-elm-street' 80's, i admit, i was aware of his beauty. but, as his roles got better, as his incredible range as an actor was revealed, i realized much the same thing: beauty was, and is, the least of this man's qualities. he is as talented as any actor that has ever flickered on the proverbial 'silver screen.' he seems to have shades of everyone from valentino to... well, everyone who realized the communicative power of the human face. the merest muscle movement can make the most eloquent statement. he is deliciously unafraid. freakish and handsome. he is the david bowie of modern film. okay, okay, before i start gushing too shamelessly, i should mention that johnny turned 46 years old on the 9th. the chosen shot is from the 1998 terry gilliam film 'fear and loathing in las vegas.' i've been told i'm straight-up 'crazy' because i believe the 'raoul duke' look is one of the sexiest costumes he's ever been filmed in. i love it. those glasses, that hat, the cig holder, the wilted shirts, the sneakers... the half-shaved head... he drives me crazy like that, and i don't really understand why. so umm, anyway, happy birthday johnny. do i even have to say i love you? (click to enlarge)

happy late birthday nick rhodes

yes, the great and lovely nicholas james bates was born 47 years ago yesterday. part of me can hardly believe i didn't remember it last night. i think it might have been the first celebrity birthday i committed to memory. i think about him in those glam funky 80's duran duran days, and its hard for me to get my mind around the fact that he's not still 25 years old. i've praised nick on 'the planet' before. it goes without saying that if it hadn't been for nick rhodes, there wouldn't have been duran duran. and if it hadn't been for duran duran, who knows? perhaps simon le bon would be acting in films as james bond villains. and the other three might've formed some ho-hum 80's act called, 'taylor taylor taylor,' with some one-hit-wonder single entitled 'the beat of the night,' only to be found on 80's compilation cds. so um, i wanted to find a shot of nick that was relatively rare. so i came up with this picture i know i've never seen before. we see nick, the man, looking conspicuously short standing next to his wife julianne. it looks like he's at an afterparty to me. i think that was the suit he wore to the mtv video awards, so maybe that's the 'function' he's attending. he looks cute, though... despite being caught eating something. so happy birthday, nick... you pop music genius. thanks for all the sexy glam fun and great sounds. i still love you. (click to enlarge)

titlecard

yes, it never gets old. i mean, hey... i just watched it less than 48 hours ago, and i'm ready to watch it again. don't tell me you're not in the mood to watch it! hell, you don't even have to actually 'watch' it. like, you could just pop the tape or the disc in, anchor a black t-shirt over the screen to block out the light, leave the volume on, close your eyes, and just lay down and drift away, digging on the dialogue! hey, you're almost 100% guaranteed not to have bad dreams. so um, here's the title frame from the opening sequence, when sandy's doing her '....mee-me-meeee...!' vocal exercises. hey, just know i love you the most.

p.s. ( '...mom! dad! uncle pete! come quick!! ...something's wrong with biscuit, i think he's dead...!!')

helen, honey

umm, does anyone else think this shot is as sexy as i think it is? because... woof! i mean, wow. cream puff action! this is none other that the sweet helen mirren, mid-to-late 1970's... in some ivory disco gown, her ash blonde hair done up in some kind of studio 54-esque gibson girl thing. man, i wish this shot was in color. and maybe i'm crazy, but i love the way you can see the silky female hair on her arm. these days, i am almost certain they would airbrush something like that out. (i guess there are 23 year old girls out there that are 'not leaving the house' unless they've shaved off their barely-visible forearm hair.) i love the jewelry, i love the white fur stole that looks like it would come with a '81 barbie. i love that sexy-dreamy look on her face. i love that she's wearing a 'hell of a lot' of make-up. and i love the fact that this Wild Machine is able to help me find such rare photo-pearls as this. (click to enlarge)

spand-mag!

mmm, yes... glorious full-color teen mags from the 80's! first of all, i think its pretty funny that the title of this publication is '2001.' yeah, that date doesn't seen so wild and futuristic now, does it? (mmm, hey, hey eight years old.) i can't read the date on this, but since it mentions duran duran's 'singolo per 007,' then i'm assuming it was sometime in late 1985... coninciding with that garbage bond flick 'a view to a kill' that D2 did the title song for. (and yeah, i've seen that movie recently. christopher 'bleached hair' walken and grace jones? yeah, okay. actually, grace's acting chops impressed me more than roger moore's. seriously.) okay, so what else does this mag have to offer? hey, it boasts a 'tony hadley exclusive.' i guess you read that when you've got a serious case of 80's insomnia. (hey, who am i kidding? i'd love to read a tony hadley interview from late '85. there's no way it couldn't be hilarious. like, what if he's all ego-boasting that spandau ballet were the 'true future' of pop music in the modern world? like, that would be comedy 'gold.' ) okay, what else? it confusingly promises to feature the weirdly-alike-but-not-alike 'two nicks;' namely nik kershaw and nick heyward. like, which one was which again? oh wait, i just remembered... i don't care! so dig it. and if you have some spare time, see if you can dig up spandau's 'lifeline' or 'instinction' videos. both great. ( and 'musclebound,' and 'paint me down,' and the hilarious outfits in 'to cut a long story short.' glam kilts? i don't get it.) click to enlarge.

pete smokes

wow. pete townshend, ladies and gentlemen. it's been a while since i posted a new shot in my 'men smoking' series. and tonight, the insanely talented and 'pseudo-bisexual' mr. pete townshend is the subject.

i love pete townshend.

he's got a face straight out of a byzantine tapestry, eyes bluer than chlorinated swimming water, and a vocabulary as brilliant as the milky way. we all know he was great with The Who, but his solo stuff is almost more beautiful. alone, he has afforded us such waltzing classics as 'equisitely bored,' 'keep on working,' and 'the sea refuses no river.' (all to be found on 1982's 'all the best cowboys have chinese eyes.') he is an artist's artist. it probably goes without saying that; if it wasn't for pete, we wouldn't have the who... if we didn't have the who, then we wouldn't have 'tommy.' if we didn't have 'tommy,' then god knows how long it would've taken jean-lucien and myself to discover ken russell. and if we hadn't found ken russell at the age of 5 and a half, then i wouldn't be the same girl i am now...and the words you're reading now would very likely not exist. so thank you, pete. you're always welcome here. (click to enlarge)

partytime, english style!

umm, okay... if you were asked to name two blokes who really knew how to party, english-style, it seems almost impossible that you'd come up with two names other than mr. keith moon, and mr. oliver reed. i ran accross this little gem whilst pearldiving the other night. and umm, do i really even have to comment on this? like, i think it speaks for itself. let's see... we've got a grassy english field, some silly hats and costumes, a bottle of british booze hangin' on, and of course, messers reed and moon, doing what they do best; namely, raising 'silly' hell in the name of the jolly ol' union jack! i have no idea when exactly this picture was taken, but it looks like mid-70's, judging by the way they look and stuff. probably sometime around the filming of 'tommy.' looking at a picture like this... it makes me wonder. how did this day begin, anyhow? like, at what point did one of the blokes call the other and say, KEITH: "...oy, ollie...i've got a smashing idea... let's dress up like jesters and cheap vaudevillians, grab some full-strength intoxicants, and go run around in broad daylight, dressed like freaks, and get someone to grab a camera and make sure there's photographic proof of our drunken antics!" and oliver would be like, OLLIE: (in his deep raspy voice) "...count me in." god bless them. i love those two. shooting stars, man. (click to enlarge)