Walk On The Wild Side

Saul Bass is a god. The best thing to do on a Hangover Sunday? Watch the opening title sequence for Walk On The Wild Side. Then watch the whole movie.



Bring it.

Dolls Parts

Wow. If you know anything about me, you know I have a fear of dolls.

Part of it definitely stems from that episode of Webster where there was the creepy doll on the little rocker upstairs in their new house...after their old house burned down because of his memento box, another terrifying ep.

Anyway, this inventive person has created some pretty amazing replicas, which I can't tear my eyes away from, like those car crash pervs in a J.G. Ballard story, or a Grace Jones / Roxy Music song.

I'm glad I finally get to see Bette Davis in her red dress for the Olympus Ball...in color!

Speaking of Little Miss BD, these are the most horrifying things I have ever seen.

Oh wait, here's something just as scary - and what a treat to see old chum Agnes Moorehead in doll form! Watch where you stand, buddies!

I love Rosemary's Baby, and not just because the movie theatre in my home town was named after Ruth Gordon.

This one cheers me up. Kinda.

Barbara, God Bless you.

Amber's favorite, Miss Carmen Miranda. I don't understand the technology involved in the "real" Carmen Miranda, I definitely don't understand it here.

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Be sure to visit the website to order your copies today!

The Game of LIFE

Here's something really cool I just discovered.

Google is digitizing all of LIFE Magazine's photo archives - as of now they're apparently 20% of the way there. Most of the pictures have never been published. It's an amazing archive.

You can search the archives here, or when googling you can just type "source:life" after your keyword.

Here's my fun finds:

Doris Day in a pretty yellow top. With a poodle!

Ooh, my fave. Miss Shelley Winters with a book. So publishing! I printed this one out and tacked it to my bulletin board.

Hee hee. Here's Miss Charlotte Greenwood caught in the act of showing off her pisketti-legs.

And Miss Barbara Stanwyck, staring at a painting of herself which makes me think she was in a re-make of Picture Of Dorian Gray.

Happy searching! And please share anything cool that you find.

Ten Miles Of Bad, Bad, Road

This week has been Buffoonville around here. Now, I don't read the news or anything so I'm not sure what this "economy" problem is people are referring to, but apparently they're not buying books and somehow this affects me. What-ev, I say.



When things get bad, I look to my toughie role models. Sometimes I think WWJCD?, as in What Would James Cagney Do? What would he do, you ask? He'd smoosh a grapefruit in the face of everyone who crossed him.

And sometimes I think, WWCJD? What Would Cleopatra Jones Do?

Cleopatra Jones is one of the best movies ever, starring Tamara (Who?) Dobson and Miss Shelley Winters. It came out at the tail-end of the blaxploitation era, and while Ms. Dobson is no Pam Grier, she's pretty fantastic, and as her tagline says, she's ten miles of bad road.

Miss Shelley Winters plays a lesbian crime lord, kind of like a more-mannish version of Barbara Stanwyck in Forty Guns. Instead of racy double-entendres of pistols going off in faces, she shouts bizarre epithets and wears a big red wig.

All I know is, I want people to think of me as 6'2", and all of it dynamite.

The Right To Bear Lions

Woman, 80, Shoots Lion to Protect Dog
The Associated Press / January 8, 2008

Acting to protect her dog, 80-year-old Martha Smith killed a mountain lion at her home along French Creek near Fairburn. She missed with her first shot, went into the house to call 911, then went back outside with a .22-caliber rifle.

"And he was a spittin' and a growlin'," said Smith. "All I saw was flashing eyes and teeth. And I knew I was gonna have to kill him if I could."

Smith, who lives alone, said she'd like to have the lion mounted, but doubts the state Department of Game, Fish & Parks will return the carcass to her.
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This, in fact, is I think what our Founding Fathers meant with the 2nd Amendment.

I'm sorry for the Lion but I would do the same for Zach.

Little Miss Barbara Stanwyck

Who doesn't love Barbara Stanwyck? Jerks, that's who.

On Monday night Tyler and I watched Christmas in Connecticut. It's definitely not a great movie, but just like in Big Valley, she brings the A Game to every scene. Poor Dyan Cannon didn't have a chance to match her in the TV remake, directed by the Governator. Here's wishing Jenny Garner all the best in her 2009 try.

I think my favorite Stanwyck movie might be Ball Of Fire, where she plays Sugarpuss O'Shea and teaches stuffy Gary Cooper about slang, like "shove in your clutch" and "get me on the Ameche." She also does a mighty fine version of "Drum Boogie" with Mr. Gene Krupa.

She's also pretty great in Double Indemnity, Clash By Night, Baby Face, and of course The Lady Eve.

"Let us by crooked, but never common." Words to live by.