Homemade & Store-bought Halloween 1980

So typical of Halloween that we'd be forced to wear our costumes over our street clothes. I am of course, Batgirl, and my costume was hand made by my mother (my older brother had sadly grown out of his once matching Batman outfit). My brother had the great fortune of being the first family member to wear a store bought Halloween costume a few years prior. That was C-3PO. Now he had moved up to Darth Vader and was clearly the coolest guy on the block. Happy Halloween, y'all!! Be sure to brush real good tonight. xoxo
(it should be stated that i wore my batgirl costume at every possible moment. summer, winter, even on easter sunday i can be seen in many photos wearing my sunday best with batgirl ears and cape. my mum was a saint to tolerate me.)

(photo by mum)

A Dark Forest Halloween

Disney Must Haves

In the words of Bob Wiley, "I want, I want....I need, I need!!!!"



(all photos kidnapped from disneystore)

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

Lately, I've been accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for the bus...

Things have come to that

And now, each night I count the stars,
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night, I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees peeking into

Her own clasped hands.

~Amiri Baraka
March 1957

(If memory serves, I saw this taped on Cerpts' locker back in our days at The Hellmouth. I read it and immediatedly copied it down, cause it's so damn good.)

Ms. Monroe

I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes. I am out of control at times and hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. 
 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobile rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

(photo kidnapped from lavifaria)

Brassaï

I stumbled upon this photograph a few years back while leaning over the counter at the café and flipping through an issue of Vanity Fair. I bought the magazine, cut the picture out and immediately pasted it into my journal. It's gorgeous isn't it?

Come Early Morning

I first saw this film in July of 2007 and I'm pretty sure the reason I added it to my Netflix queue was because Stacy Keach is in it. I could watch that man read the phone book and still be riveted. Loyal readers of this blog are aware of my deep adoration of that handsome devil, but I digress. The entire cast, Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Scott Wilson and Diane Ladd (LOVE her!) are all wonderful and spot on. Joey Lauren Adams wrote and directed this gem and manages to create a film that is not predictable in the least and gives us a character who is so real that you can practically smell her grass stained shoes.
  (photo kidnapped from impawards)

El Crimen del Padre Amaro

I saw this film a couple years ago because I adore Gael Garcia Bernal. The one thing that really stayed with me long after the film had finished was one brilliant sentence: The only Hell is loneliness.
  (photo kidnapped from jaca)

Red Dragon

Our scars have the power to remind us that our past was real.

Change

About-Face is a site devoted to empowering young women and letting them take charge and be the beautiful person they are without conforming to anyone else's ideals. On their page is a list of ten things that you can do to make a change and empower yourself. They bear repeating.

• Stop talking about your weight
• Make a list of women you admire
• Question the motives of the fashion industry
• Stop weighing yourself
• Concentrate on things you do well
• Get physical for fun
• Value your dollars
• Voice your opinion
• Be a role model
• Break the barriers

Karen's Home, Take Three

I will be having dinner on Monday evening at Karen's place and am so looking forward to sitting on her back porch and even listening to DUI (her lovely Scarlet Macaw) screech like a howler monkey when we aren't paying enough attention to her.

Belle & Sebastian

Beautiful

She lay in bed all night watching the colours change
She lay in bed all night watching the morning change
She lay in bed all night watching the morning change
into green and gold

The doctor told her years ago that she was ill
The doctor told her years ago to take a pill
The doctor told her years ago that she'd go blind if she wasn't careful

They let Lisa go blind
The world was at her feet and she was looking down
They let Lisa go blind
And everyone she knew thought she was beautiful
Only slightly mental
Beautiful, only temperamental
Beautiful, only slightly mental
Beautiful

She thought it would be fun to try photography
She thought it would be fun to try pornography
She thought it would be fun to try most anything
She was tired of sleeping

They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind
They let Lisa go blind
She's looking like a queen
But if you knew what's going on in her life
There'd be a thousand barren mothers there to talk to her
If you knew what's going on in her life
There'd be two hundred troubled teenagers to sit with her
Talk to her
If you knew what's going on in her life
What's going on in her life
What's going on in her life
There would be a documentary on Radio 4

She made herself a pair of orthopædic shoes
She thought it was an answer to the fashion blues
She thought it was an answer to the fashion blues
But she walked with a limp

They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind
They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind
They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind
They let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind, let Lisa go blind

Blind...they let Lisa go blind
She's looking like a queen
You know she's beautiful, only slightly mental
Beautiful, only temperamental

~special shout out to Dave Gorgone who put this stupendous track on a mix cd for me back when we worked the café together in '05 entitled So Much Crap, So Little Time~

Stylin' and Profilin'

(photo kidnapped from kniazeu)

My BFF Amy and I saw this photo and she noticed that everyone in Led Zeppelin is dressed in winter coats and all bundled up; everyone that is, but the luscious Robert Plant. Even in the dead of winter, he rocked out and broke hearts with a completely open shirt. He is what the kids today are calling mega hawt.

Yay!!!

(photo kidnapped from G1-wallpapers)

The first of the Chilean miners may be above ground today or at least this week! After the crummy day I had at work, this was totally the silver lining that I needed to see. xoxo

84, Charing Cross Road

I get lost reading this book. I'm transported to Helene's shabby chic New York apartment and to the fabulous Marks & Co. book shop across the Atlantic. If I concentrate hard enough, I can smell the leather books and all that fabulous paper. Regardless of how many times I read and re-read 84, Charing Cross I always cry at that one particular letter at the end of the book. You know the one I mean. As soon as I finish the last page I find myself going back to the beginning and reading the letter that started it all.

The Other Duke

This is a sketch that my cousin Ryan did of Duke Ellington and I managed to talk him into selling it for a cool Benjamin and now get to see it every day. The eyes are what sold me on the piece; I absolutely am in love with it.

Big Wheels

I went to Hawkins last night to see my brothers and it broke my heart that only two of them were there. It's been two months since Wayne moved out and his absence is palpable. But, here he is with me and Dave in April of 1978 during simpler times...
  (dig that Gremlin in the background!!)

Friedrike Hoffman

Born in Rommelshausen, Wüerttemberg Germany in 1856, my great great grandmother, whom I lovingly refer to as Granny Freddie (she would not be amused at this, I'm sure), was the woman who began my family in America. She left Germany around the time of the Franco-Prussian War and headed across the Atlantic. Granny Freddie arrived in South Philly and went to work in a bakery on 2nd and Bainbridge. She later married, had four children and lived until October of 1958. My mother was actually able to meet the family matriarch who left her war torn home behind to start a new life across the ocean thus giving birth to prosperity, hope, and a better home for generations. Prost, to you Friedrike!

The Dark Forest Is Beat

"My name is Rickster Rick and you have now entered The Dark Forest. Crazy, Daddio. Crazy."

This was the 17th broadcast from The Dark Forest by my favourite pancake spinner. This particular broadcast included some of the show's most interesting tracks, the best of which was Jack Kerouac discussing the San Francisco scene of The Beat Generation. Other gems were bongo lessons from Jack Costanzo, Blues Montage by Langston Hughes with Leonard Feather, Lenny Bruce's Father Flotsky's Trimuph, Robert Briggs speaking of Dorothy Parker and Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Del Close with John Brent teaching us how to speak hip. The best songs of the evening were definitely Harry Nilsson's Remember (such a beautiful, haunting song), Julian Lennon's Space, Renzo Cesana's Roses and Champagne, and Marlene Dietrich singing Falling In Love Again. Rickster Rick gave us yet another fantastic evening that allowed the listener to drift back into those long gone beatnik days where the espresso was piping hot, the clothes were black, and the cigarettes were always burning.

(listening to this broadcast recently made me head right over to amazon to add del close and robert briggs cds to my shopping cart. the dark forest is beat makes me want more!!)

Vladimir Vysotsky

I love this man's voice. It's so rich and seductive, so powerful. I never tire of it. (Is it just me, or does a young Vladimir Vysotsky remind you of a young Paul Michael Glaser??)

(photo of Vladimir Vysotsky kidnapped from en.academic.ru - photo of Paul Michael Glaser from hutchandstarsky mmm...so handsome...)

Palden Gyatso

I have such an affinity and deep adoration for those who have endured immense suffering at the hands of others and yet are able to survive and come through it with great compassion and love. He is an incredible man to admire and a wonderful hero to have. I send him millions of warm embraces and wish for him all the happiness in the world. ♥♥♥
  (photo kidnapped from freetibet)

Fabulous Photo

Kristin Jackson is one of thee most talented people I know. There is nothing she can't do and her pictures are always original and breathtaking. In my home I have a partial nude of Lisa Elmaleh, the same model as shown below, hanging beside several other photographs by my dear friend. This photo from 2004 is just too erotic and sensual to not share with you all. Love, love, love it.