Bogart's Room

Oh my God, the plaid walls, the starlet photos of Ms. Bacall, the wide, comfy armchair and ottoman, and the piles and piles of books. I would love a library that looks like this room. It is completely fabulous.

Kiss

by Elizabeth Peyton

The Perfect Gift

To score the ideal gift this holiday season, I recommend going to SixDegrees.org and grab a Good Card for anyone in your life. It's so easy and the lucky guy or gal on the receiving end will have so much fun choosing the perfect organization, or organizations, to donate their gift to. Rarely is there an opporunity where the giver feels just as good giving the gift as the receiver does in getting it. Seriously, check out the website and get to spending!

Chautauqua, New York

Dream of a Child

When I was a boy I dreamed of Phillip Marlowe
He took me as his partner, took me as his friend
Gave me his fedora, gave me shotgun fever
Took me as his partner to the end

When I was a boy I dreamed I was a jeweler
With a family business that was free and clear
Selling golden earrings to Mrs. Mickey Mantle
Trying to be gentle while I stuck it in her ear

The dream of a child, the song of a man
The key and the time are at his command
The dream of a child the song of a man
The key and the time are at his command

When I was a boy, I dreamed I saved my sister
From the Rosicrucian's for the love of God
I threw myself among them, slaughtering their numbers
Striking at their laughter, crying so hard

The dream of a child the song of a man
The key and the time are at this command
The dream of a child the song of a man
The key and the time are at his command

When I was a boy, I dreamed that Elvis Presley
Was standing on the corner kissing Brenda Lee
Mama always told me love was made in heaven
Tell me how my best friend could steal my love from me
I love Brenda Lee, Brenda Lee loves me

~by David Forman

(lyrics kidnapped from elyrics)

Marilyn at her Dining Table

The Old Shed

Carts

My BFF Amy took this photo the other day and it's simplicity struck me. It reminded me of Andreas Gursky's The 99 Cent II Diptychon for some reason.

Miedo

The Coral "Dreaming of You"
Queen "Who Wants to Love Forever"
Wham! "Everything She Wants"
The Mamas & The Papas "California Dreamin'"
Jimmy Eat World "For Me this is Heaven"
Urge Overkill "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"
The Motels "Only the Lonely"
New Order "Regret"
ABC "Poison Arrow"
Pulp "Disco 2000"
Ruth Etting "Love Me or Leave Me"
Elton John "Tiny Dancer"
Franz Ferdinand "Darts of Pleasure"
Donovan "Sunshine Superman"
Dead Can Dance "The Carnival is Over"
Big Brother & Holding Co. "Combination of the Two"
Shelley Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Joan Armatrading "The Weakness in Me"
Mildred Bailey "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart"
Joss Stone "I've Fallen in Love With You"

~March 26, 2005

By Julian Schnabel

There was a little prince with a magic crown,
An evil warlock kidnapped him, locked him in a cell in a huge tower and took away his voice,
There was a window with bars,
The prince kept smashing his head against the bars hoping that someone would hear the sound and find him,
The crown made the most beautiful sound that anyone ever heard,
You could hear the ringing for miles,
It was so beautiful, that people wanted to grab the air,
They never found the prince,
He never got out of the room,
But the sound he made filled everything up with beauty.

Sedlec-Ossuary Chandelier

(photo kidnapped from wikipedia)

Years ago on Ewan & Charley's Long Way Round I became utterly fascinated with this gorgeously eerie church in the Czech Republic. This chandelier of bones is stunning and totally creepy.

Rocky

Tomorrow, my BFF Amy and I are skipping work and driving to Collegeville, PA to see our favourite film of all time on the big screen. Rocky. The excitement is beyond words. I fully expect to be reduced to tears at several points - when Buddy rolls the window down and says to Rock, "So long, meatbag" and Rocky walks away in the cold, angry and hurt. When Paulie throws Adrian's turkey in the alley after she spent all day preparing it. When Mickey walks down the stairs and out into the night and Rocky, raging and furious just a moment before, chases after him and through the silence we see them reconcile. Then when Rocky lies in bed next to Adrian and tells her that he knows he can't beat Apollo; he just wants to be on his feet at the end of the bout, to go the distance. And finally, at the last scene, when Adrian runs to the ring and Rocky, so obsessed with her, notices that her hat is missing and asks, "Where's yer hat?" to which she responds that she loves him. Oh my God!! It's so good!!!

I think what I love most about this film is that it was made in my hometown. The streets Rocky walks are ones I know intimately. The people whose path he crosses are so similar to people I've known. The way they speak and act is just like those I grew up along side. It was released the year I was born and I've never known life without the music and the story. The simple story of a man who is overlooked and very much alone. I identify so closely with him and understand his persistence and sadness and desire to, at the very least, be liked. It's a brilliant character study and so well written. A movie that rises above so many other big pictures. Through all the sequels, Rocky still holds strong as the best in the series (although Rocky Balboa is a very close second) and Amy and I are busting at the seams to see it. I can't wait! 

Baby Bud

Just this weekend I was visiting my fabulous grandmother and noticed a photograph on her dresser of the world's most precious baby. I commented on what a cutie he was and Nana told me, "Oh that's Buddy." Buddy, as in dear old Uncle Bud. She then took the frame and handed it to me, "Here, you keep it." Oh how she spoils me so - and I love it!

Ames Drug Store

Ames is this fantastic old pharmacy in Oaklyn that absolutely needs to be in a movie set in the 1950s. Every time I pass it, I feel like I'm in the town from The Sandlot and keep expecting to see a gang of kids dash out and jump onto their bikes ready to play ball against the neighbouring team.

Autumn Ridge

When I was in grade school my friend Rachel and I would love to go with her mom on weekends to look at houses for sale. We loved to tour through new giant sample homes and pretend that we lived there. As we grew older in our high school years, Rachel, Winnie, and I would pile into Ray's '85 Accord and then later into my '92 Accord and drive around late at night in the rich neighbourhoods. We would split a pack of Marlboro Reds and spend hours pointing out the houses we liked best and fantasize about how our own homes would look when we grew up.

Last week on Yahoo! there was an article about gi-wombus homes for sale. There was one in particular in Telluride that has had me daydreaming ever since. It is absolutely gorgeous with an unspeakably phenomenal view. So please send all holiday greetings to my new mailing address: 112 Autumn Ln Telluride, CO 81435 (i wish!).

(all photos kidnapped from sothebysrealty)

Diane Arbus X

Junior Interstate Ballroom Dance Champs Yonkers, NY 1962

This photo is all about the girl. She is so serious and graceful and poised. Her partner appears decades younger than her. Yet another brilliantly simple Diane Arbus picture.

Bogart and Steve

Such a sweet photo of father and son, but Steve in overalls and a little cardigan with his lips pursed into a half smirk is more precious than words.

Liberty Bell, PA

Joe Frazier

The world lost a great man, a kind, humble man who I came to love after watching Facing Ali. Rest in peace, Joe. You will be missed.

(photo: Chris Smith/Getty Images kidnapped from klpw)

Jamie's Back

by Scott Caan

In Volume 1 of Scott Caan's collection of photographs I was drawn to and inspired by so many of the people and places that he captured. The female portraits, however, I found to be common, dull, and lackluster. The photographs seemed to all have been shot in the same lighting, as if the photo shoots all occurred in one self-indulgent night of debauchery where the women are all the same; interchangeable and known only by their first name which for some reason made me think of Curly's Wife from Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The women all possessed the same hair, same body type, same perfect face, same glassy look in their eyes. I was disappointed. I expected more. Out of all the photos in that section only two stood out, Jamie's Back was one of those. It's simplicity is what makes it and it is one of the best photographs in the entire book.

Say what, now?

Few things are as frightening as a friend saying the following, "I think I found human remains in a parking lot in Point Pleasant, NJ yesterday." Luckily, after much deliberation, we have decided that the bone found is most likely not human. Melissa keeps it on her bookshelf because, well, you have to admit, it is pretty cool looking.

mushrooms

wreckless eric - whole wide world
rocket summer - save
animal collective - it's you
depeche mode - one caress
ewan mcgregor - gimme danger
keane - this is the last time
head automatica - beating heart baby
matisyahu - king without a crown
o'jay's - use ta be my girl
run dmc - it's tricky
marving gaye - inner city blues
bread - everything i own
the cure - close to me
david bowie - ziggy stardust
benny goodman - sing, sing, sing
stevie wonder - i was made to love her
sweet - little willy
brian setzer - malagueña
simon & garfunkel - i am a rock

~11.25.08

Pretty as a Picture...

by George Barris

Echo Park, CA

Diane Arbus IX

Young Brooklyn Family Going for Sunday Outing, NYC 1966

This photograph is so interesting because not one of the four individuals pictured looks like they would ever travel in the same circles. She, with her bouffant hairdo and dramatic makeup, He with his everyday-Joe-ness, Baby, so sweet and new, and the Boy, looks like an adorable little Richie Cunningham. They are each so unique and do not appear as a family, but they are. The parents are young and they look like they are tired and struggling to hold their life together. You can catch a glimpse of it in their eyes. Seeing them out on a Sunday as a family is what instills hope in me. Hope that they are still together, retired, maybe living out on the Island with lots of grandkids that always come to visit. That's what I love about Diane's photos. I am drawn into the subject's world and daydream about who they are and what they've become.