Fonda on the beach

by Dennis Hopper

Lana Turner

“A gentleman is simply a patient wolf.”

-Lana Turner (via)

Happy Birthday, John Lennon

via

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Collapse Stephen Batura

Nocturne

Nocturne, by Stephen Batura

Alias

Stephen Batura has been working from the photos of Charles Lillybridge, who was active in the west and in Denver around 1900. With a rough alchemy, he transforms them into lyrical or brutal or spectral paintings, all emotionally powerful. His work loses in reproduction because of their spectacular textures and their subtleties of color and scale. But you get the idea.

His show at Robischon Gallery is up through the 31 October.

Edward Limonov, poet

The scent of autumn on the fields,
of royal British tea. It shields;
I place my hopes and dreams
on this liquid drawn from the streams.

I raise my cup and smile, thinking
I melt misfortune by drinking.
Because I know where bad luck goes.
And on my tracks, it slows.

Original version:

Осении запах и прерии
Чай из Британской империи
Я возлагаю надежды мои
На этого струя

Пью улыбаясь и думаю
Может убью я беду мою
Тем более знаю где и когда
Ко мне привязалась беда

Thanks to Tanya for help with the Russian and to Thierry Marignac for drawing my attention to the poem.

polaroid by Andrei Tarkovsky, via

No Cream, No Sugar

by James Lynch
via

I, Fatty

I, Fatty tells the story of Roscoe Arbuckle, the once fabulously popular comedian brought down by a scandal. Jerry Stahl uses a first-person point of view, crafting a voice for Arbuckle that’s part Huck Finn, part cracker-hip. Through his atrocious childhood and sudden success, Arbuckle’s doom hangs over his head. Stahl makes a convincing case for Fatty’s greatness and innocence, seeing him as a stooge for the studio heads who needed to clean up their image and establish their all-American bona fides. It was a good, quick read, and changed my mind. All I knew about Arbuckle was from the account in Hollywood Babylon. It’s odd that the story of a fat guy rupturing a tiny starlet had such staying power. But Stahl debunks the legend, and, helpfully, provides a bibliography.

Stahl's also perceptive in the love-hate relationship the country has with Hollywood, the lair of perverts and Jews, and in some cases, perverted Jews. Arbuckle becomes the first lamb whose sacrifice would purify the entertainment business -- and, in a side benefit for the movie moguls, keep the artists cowed.

Theirry Marignac's French translation is available here

Here's a clip of Fatty at work.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

Psalm 137

photo: sophie roessler

Friday Night Lights

The action isn't only on the field during football games. In the stands, students flirt, show off, peacock, sneak a kiss.

And there's always that guy who doesn't have a girlfriend. Who doesn't really care about his friend's girlfriend.

He just wants to go: away, around the corner, across town, up to the Hill. Any place, really.

Because he's tired of waiting.

photo (c) tim roessler

A bout de souffle

a bout de souffle
Uploaded by Doriangaudin. - Independent web videos.