o is for 'original sin' - inxs : video

i am genuinely surprised how fresh and neat and sound this song is. i love it.

o is for the overlook

the overlook hotel, ladies and gentlemen. jean-lucien really should be the one writing this; i've said as much before. i just hooked this shot tonight. i had several screen captures to choose from, but for some reason, this one seemed to indicate the surrounding surreal hotel better than most of them. the sophisticated 'sit down' with a sage, fellow clairvoyant, the almost-royal silver dish of chocolate ice cream, complete with a silver spoon... all of it tastes like an official 'changing of the guard.' and perhaps that is not unintentional. i've read the book, and although purists might disgaree, it seems to me as if halloran (scatman crothers) was interviewing young, angelic danny for the position of 'caretaker' in much the same way that ullmann was interviewing his father, jack. he seems to be asking danny, as best he can, if he can 'handle the workload,' ... an unconventional workload that incorporates the psychological stress of isolation, the burdens of personal responsibility, and the lonely bewilderment that results from the supernatural perception of past grizzly acts.

o is for overlooked

yes, one of the elements that inspired me to

explore

'planetcool,' was the desire to present, promote, and praise talents that don't get their share of the spotlight. one such talent is the actor ronan vibert. i've mentioned him before, but i think he's really good, so here comes the spotlight again. from 'jeeves and wooster' to 'the shadow of the vampire,' to 'lara croft,' i've seen enough of his work to realize he's an unsung gem. he's versatile enough to play a 'champagne villian' in any action movie... he's handsome enough to be a romantic lead, and judging by this shot from the 1999 bbc production of 'the scarlet pimpernel,' he can handle serious 'history' and costume parts, too. he played the wicked and unscrupulous robespierre. i wasn't able to find a shot from the exact chapter i wanted; (i wanted him in a slightly different wig...) but what the hell, he has timeless handsome features, a light, interesting english voice, and the zeal to make faces and take risks when the part calls for it. you can see him in the 'jeeves and wooster' episode 'bertie sets sail,' and also as the cameraman wolfgang muller in the brilliant, dark, and often hilarious 'the shadow of the vampire.'

o is for '...okay, whatever.'

yeah, i admit, the o's are proving pretty difficult for me, so you're going to see a lot of 'reaching' entries. like, just tonight, i found this extremely groovy and unintentionally hilarious shot of davy 'the wave' jones wearing some kind of large and supposedly accurate native american headdress. he's from manchester, england. but i gotta admit, it looks good on him. i mean, i'm not gonna lie... at his peak, davy jones was a pretty good-looking guy. and he's still 'working it,' on stage, i mean, as part of the remaining monkees. but it appears this shot was taken at some late 60's rock festival. i know micky dolenz was at monterey pop, so maybe that's where this shot was taken. i've always loved that style of indian headdress. i know it sounds odd, but there aren't many people it looks goofy on. like, its surprisingly easy to 'pull off,' as a 'look.' where ever davy is in this shot, he looks happy. i suppose the 'treats' were 'prime,' if you know what i mean. one thing that sucks about being a modern monkees fan; now days, ever since 'pirates of the carribbean,' when you google 'davy jones,' you get about 13 pages of that squid-faced guy before you reach even one shot of 'the Wave.'

o is for oldman

...gary oldman. okay, i know i already got him once when i was in the 'g's,' but the o's are proving to be harder than i thought, so give me a break. and hey, one more sweet picture of gary is only going to add high-class sexiness to your day. this shot is from the... cult classic..? 1990 tom stoppard film 'rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead.' have you ever seen the coverbox? it makes it look like richard dreyfuss is like, its main star and main reason to 'check it out.' i can't say this is the first movie i noticed gary oldman in, its hard for me to remember back that far... but i know it was sometime around there. i loved the snappy, quip-laden, cerebral script... and i really loved the costumes... all those sexy layers of heavy leather and all those laces and straps and boots and ties and blousy shirts...! i remember at the time i had a hard time deciding who was hotter; gary oldman or tim roth. but, after roth did 'planet of the apes,' i became all like, '...tim roth? who's tim roth?' i think he absolutely peaked, career-wise, with his foppy swordfight sequence in 'rob roy.' ( "...my factor will call upon your grace's factor...") so yeah, now there's no contest, its gary all the way. i know there was some haziness in the stoppard script as to which one was rosencrantz and which one was guildenstern, but according to the faceless cyber-oracle that is IMDB, gary oldman was, in fact, rosencrantz. mmm, so pretty... you know i want to 'go into detail!' and '...devle!!' into all those complicated layers of clothing to find the warm pale flesh underneath. (did i just say that? and i really gonna post this without deleting it? sigh, i guess so.)

n is for 'nozin' aroun' : the young ones, ben elton - video

happy birthday darling. i love you the most.

n is for norell

yes, norell. its a lesser-known, pricey, and altogether captivating perfume. i had a big bottle of it a long time ago that had previously belonged to my mom. but i used it down to its last half-inch. i love it. in my opinion, it outshines any chanel. i've got so many memories attached to that scent. its complex, intelligent, woodsy, and both cool and warm at the same time. i wish i had some. sigh. but i can't find any place up here that sells it. so, when i saw miss dunaway here hawking my signature perfume, i only had one thing to say... 'hey, bitch! that's my scent...!'

n is for nurse

okay, i admit i'm totally cheating on this one. but you'd be surprised how few n's there are out there. and i've been waiting to post this shot of the lush and lovely miss bernadette peters for a long time. she is definitely invited to the slumber party. and is she a space alien or something? i mean, have you seen her recently? apart from some slightly-deepening 'smile lines,' she still looks effing incredible. i can't remember a time in my life when bernadette wasn't out there, sounding great and looking fabulous. and she's living proof that a chick doesn't have to give in to the social pressures to 'tan it.' she's pale as milk, and she looks fantastic. hey, wake up ladies, maybe that's precisely why she looks so great; she's stayed the eff out of the sun! and i love her singing voice, too. and she's funny! so here's to you, bernadette. cheers.

n is for 'new waves!' the 'scatter perm' ad - video

yes, its the one and only 'scatter perm' commercial. a new wave in home permanents! i really don't think i need to say too much about this one, only that if you're real sharp, you can spot ali mcgraw, erin gray, and i think maybe cheryl tiegs. i love the line about, '...its the perm that doesn't show.' uh, it doesn't show? then why did i spend my 1971 four bucks?

n is for new wave

again, i think this one speaks for itself. i wish people out there would make quality scans of all their old duran-era 'star hits,' 'smash hits,' 'tiger beat,' and like, i think there was one called 'no.1' in the UK. not only is the big headshot of john taylor really cute, but even more interesting if you 'click to enlarge,' are all the other features mentioned. for instance, i think i can read something about an 'a-ha contest,' AND a 'depeche mode contest.' what kind of contests could these have been? i mean, i guess you'd get records, posters, pins, and other junk. i'm quite sure i never entered one. i think, even at 14 years old i was like, '...hey, unless i get to meet-and-hang-out-with the band,' then i'm not going to bother.' oh, and by the way, the caption about: 'notice, no spandau' was added by me. ahhh, i wish i had been rich enough at the time to always buy two copies of 'star hits,' one to cut the pin-ups out of, and one to keep intact for posterity. actually, in retrospect, it was a high quality fan magazine, i mean, they really put a lot of work into each issue. (sorry the color is a little garish, i did the best i could.)

n is for nick rhodes, seriously

so, after you read the entry below, you'll realize why i had to dig-up-and-post a cool, flattering, pretty shot of the genius that IS mr. nick rhodes. this shot was taken in 1987, in the very cool 'notorious' era. hey, how cool was that song 'meet el presidente?' hey, i might have to post that one if i can find a good version. i think he looks great here. i mean, the fringed sleeves are quite 'dated,' but i can't bag on it too hard; i owned-and-wore a red suede fringed jacket around that time. but even with the over-posing and the jacket and the white-bleached bangs, he still comes off looking very cool. and facially in this shot, i can see why i was in love with him then, and now. and he's got a great sense of humor. have you ever looked up a video called 'nick's stolen moments' on youtube? its basically a home video nick took of himself over like, a week of being nick rhodes. he comes off very playful and bright. i hope its still 'up,' you know, if you wanna take a look at it. ahhh, my sweet nick rhodes... sigh.

n is for nick rhodes, with apologies

okay, i realize i'm going to have to find a dazzling shot of mr. nick rhodes to make up for the fact that i posted this one. if i had to guess, i'd say it was taken sometime around 1986. i totally mean no disrespect. not only do i firmly believe nick rhodes is a beautiful human being, physically, i also think he is a blazingly talented individual, a visionary musician and artist, and he takes his craft of quality inventive pop very seriously. and make no mistake, i take him very seriously. in many ways, he IS duran duran. but i just couldn't resist posting this. i think it speaks for itself. yikes.

joke break

okay, so this doesn't fit into the alphabet, but hey... a little joke break never hurt anybody. i can only imagine what kind of sniffity-goings-on happened when these two gents got together. bowie looks like, '...hey, where'd that camera come from?' and johnny's all like, asking him if he's got '...the stuff.' i'm sure this was backstage at some function. imagine the scintillating conversation. for what its worth, dig it.

m is for miss michaels

that's dorothy michaels, of course. i really should post more than one thing tonight, but i've been yawning and sleepy like, since 2pm. so i decided to mark my place by leaving it in the very capable hands of the new hospital administrator, miss emily kimberly. EMILY: "...do you know what? i'm think i'm going to give every nurse on this floor...and electric cattle prod, and instruct them to just zap him...in his badoobies..." RON: (outraged) "...cattle prod...?!" EMILY: (into the phone) "...ruby...? hi... you wanna open up the yellow pages in... under the uh, section of 'farm equipment retail...?'" man, its the best. if this ends up being the only post tonight, just remember lovers, i love you all. dearly. meet me back here tommorrow, for more wild trivial celebration. (click to enlarge to read the tiny caption)

m is for morrissey... smiths-era : shoplifters of the world unite : video

may the five-fingered discount live on.

m is for morrissey - smiths era

i took this shot from my smiths video compilation dvd. i think he's doing the magnificent and haunting song from their 'louder than bombs' cd, 'shoplifters of the world unite.' its such fun to play with that smiths dvd, because like, 90% of the time, the camera's on his face. (mmm, no effing kidding, he's the lead singer.) well, on the disc its clear that he's on some kind of 'solid gold' type show, because the entire band is obviously lip-synching. but he looks great. i like the fact that he dares to wear a smiths t-shirt when he's actively IN the smiths. lets face it, he WAS the smiths. (yeah, johnny marr, whatever.) anyway, i thought this shot came out quite nicely.

m is for mia

i love mia farrow. i don't know much about what she's doing with 'the children of the world' these days. i admit, i'm far more enthusiastic about her film career. i loved her in all her woody allen stuff, but the film i have rolling most often is the roman polanski masterpiece 'rosemary's baby.' i learned recently that this picture was in fact the very first cover of People magazine. as you can probably tell from her costume, it is celebrating her role as the vapid Daisy in the disappointing film version of f. scott fitzgerald's overrated story 'the great gatsby.' well, perhaps 'overrated' is too strong a word. 'outdated,' maybe? all i know is that i remember feeling less that moved after reading the book. and i remember being even less impressed by the movie version. (we watched it in class.) personally, apart from 'rosemary's baby,' i think she was best in woody allen's 'husbands and wives' and 'hannah and her sisters.' and i even liked her in 'alice.' and she was good in 'radio days,' too. (that's a highly underrated woody allen film, if you want my opinion.)

m is for mike

mike nesmith. i know some people love to bag on the monkees, and i can appreciate where they're coming from, but i will defend michael nesmith. along with peter tork, michael was an actual, true, struggling musician when he auditioned for the television show back in 1966. he was newly married, hungry, with a baby on the way, and his laundry apparently in his car when he came in to try out. all of the songs that mike wrote for the monkees were exceptional. ('sweet young thing,' 'papa jean's blues,' and 'mary mary' were among some of his best-known early monkee efforts. ) in their later records, after they'd won the right to play their own stuff, he bloomed into an eclectic, creative, and daring songwriter. post-monkees, he burst into a prolific songstress. his 'first national band' and solo recordings are rare and wonderful examples of slightly-country-flavored pop genius. i suggest anyone who's curious to dig up a compilation of the 'first national band' recordings. its some of the catchiest, coolest, and most cohesive stuff i've ever heard. songs like 'the grand ennui' and 'nevada fighter' and 'silver moon' are absolute jewels. if you can stand a little twang, i implore you to seek it out.

m is for marisa

marisa berenson, ladies and gentlemen. i can't remember the first time i saw the lovely marisa. i'm thinking it might have been in blake edwards underrated black comedy 's.o.b.' but i know her best from her role as natalia in bob fosse's 'cabaret.' this shot, however, is from stanley kubrick's gorgeous 1975 epic 'barry lyndon,' where she played opposite ryan o'neal as the lilting, melancholy, ethereal lady lyndon. she looked perfectly appropriate in the grandeur of her costume. i read the william makepeace thackeray book when i was in residential rehab. i'm not trying to be melodramatic, that's the truth. the movie is surprisingly faithful to the original work. some of the dialogue was, i think, directly lifted. marisa was perfectly cast; in the book lady lyndon was little more than a wealthy, glamorous phantom. i don't remember where i found this shot. i mean, i didn't capture it from the disc, but i tricked it after i found it to bring out the contrast. i wish she had been in more stuff, i think she's wonderful.

m is for malkovich

do i even need to say 'john' malkovich? i mean, there aren't a lot of other malkoviches out there in the public eye. i'll make this one short, because the shot is small. i had my 'dangerous liaisons' disc in, and was trying to get some usable stuff. but i have to admit, the flim stock on the dvd was less than luscious. they should like, 'criterion' remaster it or something. but i like this one, because it looks like he's blowing a kiss or something, but actually i think i caught him on the end of the word 'no.' he looks so young and silky and gorgeous in that outfit. seriously, everything valmont walks around in is divine. he never looked better. i mean, he's pratically in drag. i think it was this movie that really kick-started my hots for him in the first place. mmm, 'come back for it.'