happy birthday kate bush

well, i admit i'm about ten minutes late for this one, if you wanna get technical about it. thursday, july 30th was kate bush's 51st birthday. i think its fair to say i first saw kate bush, or became aware of her, when simon le bon and nick rhodes came on MTV sometime in early '84...? and played her witchy, sexy, sultry, crazy 'sat in your lap' video. in subsequent years, i learned more about her. i think it was around '86...?? when her medium-sized hit 'running up that hill' was making its leisurely way up the US charts. eventually, i found video stores that stocked her tapes, and became familiar with her intensely artistic visual style, her eclectic and consistently exceptional music, and of course... her great beauty. here she is, in a rare photo, obviously years away from her first chart-topping hit... but even at this tender age, her lovely darkness... her introspection, her bravery, and yes, even her witchiness, shows. a beautiful child who grew into a popular and wildly influential artist. she paved the way for probably countless female artists... from annie lennox to tori amos to pink, ...she was tough, smart, witchy... but always gentle, delicate, sensual, and gorgeous. ...of course, i must say... i wonder if kate would've been able to come on the scene so easily if the great joni mitchell hadn't cleared the way. not to take anything away from kate, but... hey.... joni mitchell. (click to enlarge)

pet-tastic!

here's a sweet vintage magazine for you. its the cover for the october 1977 issue. i have no idea who the chick is, but she's a doll. i love the fact that she's smiling; making her seem playful and bright. and i love the whole 'outfit,' if you can call it that. great little bra; great lacy corslet, and hey... yeah, i'm gonna say it... great panties. i like the pose. i love the fact that she appears to be 100% silicone free. i'm totally wild about the opaque black stockings. and hey, you girls know what i'm gonna say next... i love, love, love those strappy late 70's disco shoes...! i love the way her ankles are coming up off the shoe a little. these days, it wouldn't surprise me if that wouldn't be considered a 'flaw,' and thus; airbrushed over with 'normal' feet. this world is entirely, fatally, fixated on a false sense of female beauty. all that said, i really dig this girl. i wish i knew her name so i could give her some well-deserved credit. she's a super pin-up. and i think its also safe to say that i never had this issue growing up. and if i did, it was missing the cover by the time it got to me. but thanks to the Cyber-Gods, i am able to admire her now. so lovely. (click to enlarge)

happy birthday clara bow

i hate to make clara's notice so quick, but its getting late. the legendary clara bow was born 104 years ago. she's the female valentino, in my opinion. if you ever get a chance to watch her legendary silent masterpiece, 'it,' then see it. she's purely delightful.

happy late birthday mick jagger

yeah, carnal mick's big bad birthday was like, on the 26th, and i missed it. but yeah, mick is a member of 'the club,' so i thought i'd throw him a birthday bone. it goes without saying that his contribution to the music world is almost impossible to calculate. but, with juicy roles in movies like 'ned kelly,' 'freejack;' and his smoldering role in the cult classic movie 'performance,' he's a legit film star as well. honestly, i think his acting 'chops' are pretty damn good. i'm sure anyone that knows me, knows how incredible i think 'performance' is. and the picture i've chosen here is actually a shot from that movie. he's playing a reclusive rock star named turner purple. he takes in a british gangster on the run from his bosses; a gangster played groovily by james fox. the two of them (and the groupie pherba, played by rocker chick anita pallenberg) do 'shrooms, freak out, and explore the puzzle of Identity. man, just talking about it is making me wanna roll it right now. so... according to my sources, mick just 'turned' a still-rockin' 66 years old. i have no doubt that mick will 'keep on rockin'.' happy birthday, mick. (click to enlarge)

my new book; take a lick!

yeah, i didn't expect to start a new book tonight... like, its hot and i didn't really feel like getting down on the floor like, 'low-down' with the scissors and glue stick and glitter stickers and all that. its far more strenuous than one might think to get a cover on one of these things. seriously. but, as you artists out there well know, the wave just swept over me, and the next thing i knew, i was doing it. and it was a good thing the muses decided to stop by, because my last book was dangerously close to the final useable pages. so yeah, i pushed and cut and glued and placed and made a thousand and one tiny desicions and calculations. because, yeah... i never use rulers or anything to get my stuff straight... its all done by sight. so, i'm happy to say i'm pleased with it... i just wish my photo-equipment was better, but oh well, you work with what you have. so let's see what we have here, models-wise. it seems like my angel joe strummer has the rare honor of being on more than one book. he's a two-time cover boy. this is a great shot of him on the tom snyder show... back when he was on tom snyder. i have no idea what year it was. man, he's effing gorgeous. so sweet, and candy-deelish; hence the title, 'lollipop.' plus, i just like the way the word looks. now for the medallions. from left to right we have: actor richard dixon as oofy prosser in the 'jeeves and wooster' series; sylvie vartan snipped from one of jean-lucien's marvelous collages; the post-'babydoll' glamorous miss carroll baker; the one and only terry jones; the ...multi-talented...?? nell campbell from 'the rocky horror picture show' ; david bowie from 'the man who fell to earth,' ; and finally, but never least, semi-trashy disco chick, debbie harry. so um, dig it... my groovy new book. (click to enlarge)

the films of stanley kubrick - video montage

i thought i might as well post this here, as part of a late birthday celebration for mr. kubrick. as film montages go, i think this one is exceptional. just get past the relatively slow start, and you'll be wowed.

happy birthday stanley kubrick

actually, its a late birthday. and i've gotta run through it really fast, and stanley really doesn't derseve that, but i've got a communication on the other line. so, yesterday... (maybe two days ago by now) was master stanley kubrick's birthday. the source i was looking at said he was 81. that can't be right... is that right? well, anyway, here he is in 1962, during the filming of the daring film 'lolita,' with the title character, played by sue lyon, in between takes. you hardly recognize him without his beard, right? i've seen this film recently. and although the 60's version is rather diluted, when it comes to the sexual content, its still an incredibly compelling piece of storytelling. required viewing. i wanted to post a shot from 'the shining,' or 'barry lyndon,' but since i didn't have the time or energy to do so, this shot will have to do. i know MY head wouldn't be what it is today without kubrick... so, yeah... he's a Master of the Art. happy birthday.

stars and hits

i've gotta give my brother jean-lucien big credit for this one; on account of he found it, tricked it, and sent it to me. again, its a super-cool magazine cover, and once again, its hard for me to remember if i had this one. i know i probably had at least one friend who had it. if jean-luc and i did have it, it was early enough that we were more concerned with getting the pin-ups on the wall, and less concerned with preserving the magazine intact-for-the-future. obviously, the duran duran lads are the big stars here. and real quick, while we've got the lads in front of us, let's see who wins the horserace! mmm, you know, i might meet some differences of opinion on this one, but i'm gonna have to say nick. yeah, in my opinion, sweet nick rhodes wins the prize. but it should be said that its a pretty good picture of all of them. okay, judgement out of the way, let's see what other features this issue boasts. hey, according to the upper-left corner, we get a groovy pull-out of the lads in spandau ballet. and for some reason, i think its funny that the words 'sony walkman' are on the cover at all. like as if a walkman was a dude. dig it. (click to enlarge)

helen, o helen

yes, here at 'the planet,' you get two, two, two sexy helen mirrens for the price of one! yes, i suppose this post is yet another bit of evidence as to me being something other-than-straight, but guess what? i don't care! if there's one thing i can't resist, its a sexy, creamy, milky-sweet, light-brown-sugar-fied photo of miss helen mirren, wearing something so sheer i don't even have to try to 'see what's goin' on,' if you know what i mean. and i think you do. but hey, i've done myself 'one better,' with back-to-back shots of the british goddess. and i almost can't decide which dress i like better on her. but i CAN say i love her 'slept in' - 'gently tousled' dark blonde haircut. my hair doesn't really 'do' bangs like that... i've tried to get them cut that way, but i'm repeatedly told my hair wouldn't do it. i actually found this 'double shot' as part of a website to show how stars have gotten 'boob jobs.' apparently, in the shot of helen on the right, she's supposed to have noticeably larger, pumped-up, silicone boobs. and i think the dude running the website doesn't know what he's talking about. i think they're just like, laying a different way. i mean, hey... you ladies know what i mean. every time you move your bod your boobs look a little bit different. i think they look almost exactly the same in both shots... the dress and a matter of four years can make all the difference. still... dig the cinnamon creamy goodness. (click to enlarge) ( no pun intended)

the secret world of advertising

okay, first of all, i'm instantly drawn to this ad because of the era, the pretty models, the 'love story' yarn caps, and the aesthetics of the picture in general. now, that being said, let's think about this a little harder. who are these two chicks? sisters? bitchy high school rivals? 'best friends?' well, whatever they are, they certainly have no problem getting 'kiss close' in the middle of a wheatfield, with their corresponding cans of spray deodorant. like, how did this come about? i mean, did Chick A. call up Chick B. and say something like, "...Brenda, meet me in the wheat field behind the new drugstore and shoe place at 4:45 PM ... wear your yarn cap; you know, the one that matches mine?" Chick B: "...sure thing, Suzanne... what for?" BRENDA: "...don't worry about that, just put on some lip gloss, and meet me out there... i know a guy who wants to take our picture..." SUZE: "...not 'nudies' again?" BRENDA: "...No, my uncle's on parole, he can't even come to the house... no, its another guy... from Drama class." SUZE: "...okay, i'll have to sneak out, though." BRENDA: "So sneak out!!! If you don't, then you're not my 'true friend...'" (longish pause) "...Oh, and Suzie... one more thing..." (2-3-4) "....bring your deodorant...!!" (saying the last word in an urgent, secretive whisper) CUT. yeah, i imagine it might've gone something like that. (click to enlarge)

take the spandau train...!

umm, i don't know if i'm gonna wish i hadn't posted this in the morning, but whatever. here we've got three of the early 80's spandau boys, on tour, presumably, lugging all their flash new wave junk onto their train. notice they don't seem to have a lot of roadies or assistants and people like, helping them with it. okay, i guess i should identify the blokes, 'left to right'-style. okay, from the left, we've got tony 'front man' hadley, steve 'blonde hair-bangs' norman in the middle, and last but never least, we've got gary's older brother martin kemp on the right. he looks mildly pissed about something. maybe its because the last train lost his 'little bag,' the one with all his black socks, therefore, or rather, hence, the blinding white booties he's got on here. somehow they still manage to look 'serious' about the fact that they're about to take public transportation. i wish i could like, put into words why i think this picture falls into that 'unintentionally hilarious' category, but it does. ...it just does.

god bless america

mmm, yes... the land of the free, the home of the brave, sexy girls who have, throughout history, taken it 'all off' for the cameras. i know i had this issue once, many years ago, because i distinctly remember cutting out the american flag part and using it in a collage. and i think the chick's face also made it into a collage at a later date. yes, she's got that cherry-lipped, pouting, lipsticked look, she's got the bod, she's got the 'awkward-in-real-life' posing abilities, but you know what I can't stop looking at...? yes, ladies, say it with me... '...those shoes...!' mmm, strappy, scarlet, daring, spiky, and all-around 'just right.' i have to admit, i have no idea what this lovely leggy lady's name is... but she's a hot one. i think this issue was from like, July 1974 or something. so dig it, the sleek, disco-era female sexuality. god bless higher-scale 'girlie magazines,' and God Bless America.

star-crossed lovers

somehow i feel weird about even posting this shot. i mean, we all know what happened to these two lovely people. still, they are both so beautiful... i kind of can't help it. i guess i feel like, if i can help celebrate the little bit of life these two kids shared together, it will armor me against... something. yeah, i know, it sounds crazy. and the whole 'thing' surrounding her death is one of the witchiest things i've ever borne witness to. still, these kids were what they were... talented, young, vital, brave, beautiful, ... and do i dare say lucky? that, perhaps, is going one step too far. even saying the name: sharon tate... even typing it... it seems almost like i'm asking for trouble. why is that? why should we give that sick clan that much power over the legacy of a lovely lamb like sharon? damn, the more i think about it, the angrier i get. i read the bugliosi book when i was like, 13. i saw those pictures. they never left my head. they haven't even faded. so i choose to remember them like this. free, alive, in love, and fearless. so there. (click to enlarge)

here comes the bride

hey, she's french, i guess we can cut her a break. yes, i recently found this adorable shot of miss catherine deneuve, in the mid-to-late 60's, marrying some guy i don't recognize. classic shot. i think this is one of the best 'upskirt' shots since marilyn monroe straddled the subway grate in 'the seven year itch.' the sexiness is puncutated by her otherwise 'innocent' attire. a very demure bride, but all it takes is one breeze to sweep us off our feet. and she's smiling... which is, of course, extremely sexy. and to all of you who are tempted to say she's wearing 'granny panties;' grow up. historically, there's almost nothing sexier than white underwear just like that. (well, at least, in MY humble non-lesbian opinion.) if she were wearing a trashy thong, then it just wouldn't have the same impact. i'd love to have had a camera in the room on THAT wedding night. woof! (click to deliciously enlarge)