Friday, July 06, 2007

Marie, Chloe and ChouChou

"Kittens looking out the door"
How on earth did they get these little creatures to do this? Beautiful!

Faces of Women in Art

at YouTube has been viewed over 4 million times.
It's a video of beautifully painted faces of women morphing into each other with a classical music soundtrack. 500 years of art history. Very nice.

Penny Arcade Cards


Ebay's got some penny arcade cards from the 1940's up for bidding. Who are these women? Is there such a thing as an ideal love mate? Young boys and girls who partied in the arcades could dream about their future. To get one of the pretty girl cards in the machine instead of a homely one was a boy's lucky day.
I used to love to roam the penny arcades at Asbury Park and Wildwood, N.J.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

B & W Movie Stills

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" 1958 Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor
"A Place in the Sun" 1951 Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor
" The Blue Angel" 1930 Marlene Dietrich

"Sadie Thompson"1928, Gloria Swanson
"The Lady From Shanghai" 1948 Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth

There is a great site called "The Palace" put together by Michael Mills with articles and images, links and audio clips about the history of Hollywood films. I picked out a few beautiful stills from a few great films that I like. Who doesn't like Tennessee Williams stories or Orson Welles films? Who isn't inspired by great old films with wonderful narratives? Somehow black and white is way better than color - it's a lot more dramatic. Check out the eyes on Elizabeth Taylor and Gloria Swanson. I know how they feel.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Strange Sisters


A collection of silly 50's and 60's pulp fiction covers
from the who-needs-men side of the tracks.

Monday, July 02, 2007

A Uke is all I Want

Uke gal
This cool vintage photo came from from Wikipedia (it's a Ziegfeld Follies Girl) via Steve of Finkbuilt Blog . Steve thought that it might spruce up my blog, which it does. Thanks, Steve! Finkbuilt Blog has a review of Mark Frauenfelder's great new book (which I am reading right now) called "Rule the Web" . There is also a section on ukes at Finkbuilt that you might find intriguing. I am finishing up my paint job on a hand-built uke right now. It should be ready for viewing by next week.

Henri Rousseau 1844-1910

The Sleeping Gypsy 1897
The Dream 1910
The Snake Charmer 1907
One can't underestimate the power of Rousseau. It is easy to take him for granted. The large tropical masterworks that he dreamed up in his studio were like no one else's art at the time. Truly modern, yet traditional. Naive and wise all at the same time. A singular style. Surreal. Funny. Dreamlike. Unforgettable. "The Sleeping Gypsy" is my fav.