i am a bullitt

yes, my mate jean-lucien didn't know that mr. mcqueen's birthday was coming up when he sent me his treatment of this poster for the classic film 'bullit.' i must admit, i don't think iv'e ever seen it, but as poster art goes, its pretty groovy. i love orange. this poster uses it wonderfully. i could say more about how butch and cool and real steve seemed, but i'm realistic enough to know that maybe his idea of a good time was a frozen pizza, a tabby cat, and a pretty girl on the other side of a chess board. i could way off the mark, but steve didn't seem like a big dummy to me. hey, i just realized i've never seen 'papillon,' and i probably should, because i love 70's-80's dustin hoffman.

heatwave

um, i don't think i've posted this one yet. its another lovely slice of notebook art made by my partner jean-lucien with some scraps i think i sent him. it features the sexy ronan vibert in the powdered wig, and the kissers in the middle are michael nesmith (with the sideburns) and some random rafelson actress we affectionately refer to as 'daisy saturday.' it doesn't really 'mean' anything, but its very, very pretty. it makes me cringe when i think of all those millions of plain notebook pages with absolutely nothing on them. its so cool. jean-lucien has an almost effortless affinity for color harmony. i don't know if that comes from all those countless hours with Barbie coloring books and a 64 pack of crayolas, or what... but he's the best at what he does. (click to enlarge)

happy birthday steve

yes, its the birthday of the late, great steve mcqueen. he's my james dean. he first really struck me about eleven years ago when i saw him alongside ali mcgraw in the fast-paced 1972 film 'the getaway,' directed by sam peckinpah. i was struck by how he could be tough, but human. even though the movie was 100% action, steve managed to portray joy, confusion, frustration, anger, fear, and even jubilation. he and ali mcgraw worked so well together. it was a complicated part for her (ali) at that crucial time for women's liberation in america. she sacraficed for him, obeyed him, but yet, was very much in control of her choices, and handled a gun and a muscle car every bit as adeptly as mcqueen. in fact, i think her character Carol McCoy was the one behind the wheel like, 90% of the time, hence steve's oft-uttered refrain, '...punch it, baby!' as he sat in the passenger seat with a shotgun. do yourself a great favor, if you're keen on seeing 'the getaway,' make damn sure you don't pick up the alec baldwin-kim basinger version by mistake. (ecchh) the original is a hell of a movie, i highly recommend it.

rare blow-up

yes, another appearance by the much-praised 'blow-up' poster from the film by michelangelo antonioni. i think this one is supposed to be pretty rare. but i like the red-white-and-blue color scheme. i mean, its just cool all around, you know? and i really don't have much more to say about it other than how cool it is.

sleeping car

here's a piece i made a long time ago... well, at least a year ago. this one really doesn't 'mean' anything. i was trying to come up with something groovy. i actually really like the color brown. i think its a lot more glamorous than most people think. um, let me see, who's featured in this one? the two girls are obviously from some painting, but i can't give you the artist or title. then we've got mr. steven patrick morrissey in the middle, looking sharp. then, there's deano butterworth, in the circle, near the center; a young, long haired michael stipe at the bottom, looking up; then simon le bon, and william s. burroughs. i guess i still like it. but as i said before, it really doesn't 'mean' anything. unless it means that smart girls daydream about interesting, intelligent boys. and we do.

elilhrairah

'...all the world will be your enemy...
prince with a thousand enemies. and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. but first they must catch you...' that is part of the hymn found in richard adams' book, 'watership down.' i continued moving today, and one of the dearest things i relocated was my hardcover edition of the book. i put up high, alone, in the center of one of the bookshelves. not surprisingly, i first learned about the story from the movie version shown on HBO in the 1980's. i don't remember how old we were when we first saw it, but we had to be younger than ten. it enchanted me on a fairytale level, yet was brave enough to show blood and deal with issues of life and death and even reproduction. after all the years since its release, i still think it holds up on every level. a marvelous work.

beagle

i think we can all agree; Snoopy needs no fanfare or formal introduction.

paralax view - the american montage - video

this is the unforgettable slideshow from the film 'the paralax view' by alan j. pakula. i admit, i've never seen the whole thing, but i'd be really surprised if the rest of the movie gets any better or more touching than this. i'll most likely never know who composed the very effective piece of music, or who was responsible for the pacing and cutting of this compilation, but... the brilliance for pacing and timing and emotional impact is faultless. its like kissing america. so dig it.

you think that's power?

here is a notebook illustration jean-lucien made a long time ago. i think the squinting frenchman is the multi-talented jean cocteau. the chick in the headdress with the bow and arrow has been in my 'picture bank' for so long i have absolutely no idea where she came from. if she's still alive now, maybe she'll stumble across this and dig it. its a great little piece, with hot colors and a cool style.

yum-yum

what a gorgeous culture clash. this is the marvelous bulgarian sylvie vartan, dressed in japanese costume, for a french magazine. sylvie vartan should really write her life story. from the little bits i know about it, it seems like such an improbably fortunate tale. i like reading biographies. i would imagine sylvie has some stories to tell. i mean, she opened up for the beatles in the mid-60's on some european leg of their tour. were there some private moments shared with john or george or someone? it still baffles me that i'd never even heard of this girl until the 'internet age.' i mean, she's been pretty big overseas for like, almost 40 years. like, couldn't they have snagged her a shot at the muppet show or something? anyway, she looks great in the costume.

cool wave

this is an older note embellishment made by jean-lucien. the color and the composition are, as usual, faultless. it features a watercolor lip gloss chart in the background... and, as if that weren't cool enough, there's also a short-haired first-season davy jones and an inset of the legendary 'it girl' clara bow. i should make time to sing her praises later. but for now, dig on this. imagine, all the hundreds of thousands of bland and boring notebook pages out there, and my darling jean-lucien takes pains to deocorate almost every single page with color and cutting such as this. soooo cool.

shakespeare, in love

yeah, i was wondering how much love and sex has been inspired like, historically, because of the works of william shakespeare? hey, i know if it wasn't for him, there are quite a few guys i wouldn't have ended up in bed with. man, actors. strange creatures. in the case of this picture from the mid-to-late 1960's, the handsome romeo with his head in some maiden's lap is none other than a young and lovely ian holm. is he sir ian holm yet? i should probably like, check up on that. wow...he was something. this photo kind of makes me like, 'girl-jealous' hate the girl he's posing with. i find myself having high-school-fight thoughts like, 'who does that bitch think she is??' but seriously, as 'fan-strange' as it sounds, i actually had a pretty long and detailed romatic dream about ian when i accidentally fell asleep after supper this evening whilst watching 'cops.' but my point is, i know there's a lot of sex out there that i would never have been had if it hadn't been for shakespeare, the guys who perform it, and the alliances forged amongst a company... not to mention allll those swinging, chemically-enhanced 'after-parties.' so, here's to william shakespeare, helping guys with limited conversational skills get laid since like, 1500-something.

faith

...in our boys, and faith in beautiful girls. well, there's only 6 minutes left of easter sunday. i spent the day at rest. (and sleep) tomorrow i continue moving all my stuff, but tonight, i wanted to close out the holiday with a vision of what i call 'absolute good.' this is, of course, a shot of marilyn monroe entertaining the troops. she was no doubt a pale, angelic, curvaceous, smiling symbol of hope to the soldiers there that day. and i think i've heard it said that she thought of that tour as some of the best times of her short life. i heard it was very cold that day, wherever she was. i also love this shot because i don't think i've ever seen it before. and, if you look closely, you'll see in the distance, near the top right, on the horizon, a single, plain cross.

easter sunday

i solemnly recognize Easter. this may come as a puzzling stance for some that have known me over my wilder years, but i mean it. my recognition of the day has nothing to do with marshmallow canaries or hollow candied chicks. there are no colored eggs, there are no chocolate rabbits. happily, however,
there is Christ. amen.

oliver! - the musical - food, glorious food

on this sacred day in the christian calendar, let us remember those who are suffering. and let us not be blind to the fact that rich men, and poor men alike, suffer. let us remember The Easing of Suffering is possibly the holiest lot in life. such is part of my religion. may God and his only Son bless us all. amen.

gentlemen : xtc

here's a publicity still of xtc... i don't remember what album it was for, but it features the great line up of colin moulding on bass, (top, left) david gregory on lead guitar, (top right) terry chambers on drums, (bottom, left) , and... last, but by no means least, that wild and mercurial genius. on guitar and lead vocals, mr. andy partridge. (bottom, right.) colin moulding wrote about 1/3 to 1/4 of their songs, and on those songs, he almost always sang lead. but andy wrote most of them, and therefore, on most of their songs, was the Primary Voice. there'll be plenty of time for me to sing his praises later... tonight, its the entire band, and my genius andy, who gets the lion's share of the spotlight. (click to enlarge)

xtc: towers of london - video

here is the video for one of xtc's most catchy and well-crafted songs, 'towers of london.' i really fretted over it, when i realized this was going to be the first xtc track i posted on 'planetcool.' but i chose 'towers,' because it's neat, hard, easy, exceptionally well-tuned, lyrically superior, and very representative of what i love about their sound. so, um... to my friend belinda... give it at least 70 seconds, and its more important that you listen instead of look... feel free to look, too... but primarily, dig on the sound. so clean, so tight, so well done. as i've often said, they are better than the beatles. but don't expect them to sound anything like the beatles. slower or more distant connections may have to start it, pause it, let it load for about 7 minutes, then play. so, ladies and gentlemen, (and my dear belinda), dig xtc, and dig the swell sound of 'towers of london.'

big in japan

hey, here's a groovy sea-green scheme 'blow up' poster! man, the posters for 'blow-up' have got to be like, the grooviest thing since individual puddings. and hey, since this very cool japanese poster for a very cool movie is oddly close to the color of instant pistachio pudding, it reminds me of something i've been wondering like, all my life: like, why is it that Jell-O brand pistachio pudding only comes in instant and never, no-matter-how-hard-you-look, never available for 'cook-on-the-stove?' i mean, i really wanna know. don't get me wrong, its like, ambrosia-delicious just the way it is, but it tends to be a little wetter and has, curiously, a plesant undertaste. i've always wondered if it would be any different made 'the good-old-fashioned' way. if anyone knows, like, please pass it on.

books are burning

as i've mentioned in previous posts, i'm in the process of moving. its tricky though... the previous tenant still has to come and get a few stray things out of there before i can finish moving in and 'make it real.' needless to say, i'm finding the uprooting and relocating very stressfull. today i was standing in the place that will soon be mine, and i was feeling so overwhelmed i thought i might cry. i sort of took a deep breath and asked god for a sign that i was making the right desicion. that's when i looked over and saw, left behind on one of the shelves, a dog-eared old paperback copy of Bradbury's classic tale of civil disobedience, daring love ... and books. it was just the kind of 'sign' i was looking for. the cover featured here isn't the one in the cottage, but still... it was a moment of faith i found so striking i wanted to like, commemorate it. god bless ray bradbury. (and if you look close at the top, you'll see this edition was published by 'panther science fiction' ...! like, i didn't even know panthers read books, let alone sci-fi. sigh.)

younger steven

yeah, who wants to look at a sexy guy? hey, we want to look at a sexy guy! yeah, i did a little digging and found this breezy, hazy, sexy picture of morrissey... and i think from the haircut and the weight (or lack thereof) i'm guessing its like, jussst post-Smiths. which i guess would make it around 'suedehead.' but wow, i love the cottony stretch of the shirt and that coy little look on his face. very nice, steven, very nice.