Mad Day Out!

They don't look good, any of them. Their clothes are atrocious. George Harrison might be wearing a leather shirt- perhaps it's a jacket. Ringo Starr is in full-on Austin Powers gear. John Lennon can be seen in a HORRIBLE brown fur coat/pet bear thingy only to be switched out for an, if possible, even uglier oversized camouflage coat. Paul McCartney's wearing a pink suit and a lace shirt. Then comes a point where neither Lennon or McCartney are wearing shirts at all- and they're arm wrestling. And it's ugly. And you know it's cold, Ringo and George are bundled up and shivering.

It was July 28, 1968. The most well-known Beatle Photoshoot.

A Mad Day Out.

1968 was a weird time in Beatledom. In some sort of order, probably not the one below, they did the India thing in February in which Ringo and Paul left the ashram to return back to London, leaving John and George behind. (I believe that to be the straw that broke the Beatles' back, quite honestly.)  They swore off drugs, John became infatuated with Yoko, John and Yoko move in with Paul, Paul leaves nasty, passive-aggressive notes around the house about Yoko,  John and Paul fight, John and Yoko move out.  The group starts Apple. Paul and John went to New York to promote Apple Corps. and while there, Paul gets all tangled up with Linda Eastman (later McCartney) much to the surprise and annoyance of John. They record the White Album through all of this, during which Ringo quits for 3 weeks, Paul becomes obsessed with perfection, John brings Yoko into the sacred, Beatle-only recording studios, all the while still mourning the death of their beloved manager Brian Epstein who passed away in August of the previous year. All kinds of soap opera! They weren't exactly BFFs at this time. So I think that's what makes the Mad Day Out photo shoot so neat. They look so... at peace. Ugly, but at peace.

Rumor tells that Francie Schwartz, Paul's transitional (or same time as, or whatevs) lady between Jane Asher and Linda Eastman had the ideas for the locations. Anyway, I heart the photos very very much. Even though or, perhaps because they include... this.

So here are some of them, even though there are many, many more. I can't get enough!

Some Links!!

A blog I follow called Child Of Nature has some more on this here.

Another blog that I follow, In The Life of... The Beatles has an interesting paragraph/quote from Mal Evans. He says, well this on it.

Ian Kenny Limited - Some info on photographer Tom Murray and the shoot.

Match Game, anyone?

You know what sounds good right now (at 10 am on a Monday)? A martini, a cigarette and some sexual innuendo. Since I'm not Brett Somers, I'll just sit here with my coffee and dream, maybe laughing and hitting Charles Nelson Reilly who happens to really be the couch cushion to my left with a card that doesn't even exist outside my crazy.

What was it about the 60s and 70s that made drunk funny? It was swanky, it was cool. It was also HILARIOUS!


Now we know that all those fun times led to not so fun alcoholism and lung cancer, but there was a time when life just wasn't so serious. And it was very yellow and orange and olive green!

And then there was Richard Dawson.... (sigh)

Match Game. The coolest show on television. Still. And they would drink and smoke during the show! They would inappropriately grope each other. They would make rude jokes. They had cocktail lunches! Man that's cool!

And DUDE I want the "Brett Somers Fan Club" sweater. Staff that I don't have, get on that!

 

So many funny peeps sat in on that show. But my faves are:

 Brett Somers

 Charles Nelson Reilly

 Fannie Flagg

Richard Dawson

and Betty White.

Once Richard Dawson left the show in 1978,  and also the changing the set from awesome!Orange to dull blue and grey, blech with some kind of Confederate flag looking pattern at the back of the panelists, it lost spunk for me.

I want to live my life forever on the set of Match Game '76. I like the days of Brett and Gene Rayburn joking (...?) about taking each other to a motel in Encino. I like Charles being pretty outwardly gay for the '70s. I like. I like it all.

Match Game Wallpaper Factory
Match Game Facebook Page

Oh, and you know what I want for Christmas?

A Brett Somers Fan Club Shirt....

Sam Taylor-Wood

Sam Taylor-Wood caught my eye recently. She's directed a film called Nowhere Boy which chronicles the beginnings of John Lennon. 

It premiered at Cannes in May 2009 and it will close the London Film Festival the 29th of October, I believe. No word on when it will show in the States, but when it does, I am SO there. Here's the trailer.



It really looks interesting. It was based on Julia Baird's (John Lennon's half-sister) memoirs or something and I've heard that Paul McCartney has seen it and said that it didn't really happen exactly like that. Although, he seems to say that about everything... And Julia Baird, she didn't really grow up with John and so she wouldn't have known some of this stuff. Regardless, it looks like something I must see. And it looks visually enticing. Truth be told, it also doesn't bother me that Lennon's eyes weren't blue or that McCartney was a bit chubbier than portrayed - things that seem to be bothering Beatle-buffs. It looks to be a more artistic film to the likes of Control anyway, ya know?

It stars:

Aaron Johnson as John Lennon

Thomas Sangster as Paul McCartney

Kristin Scott Thomas as Mimi Smith

and Anne-Marie Duff as Julia Lennon

So YAY!!! On that.

Who knows why I do what it is that I do, but I began obsessively trying to learn more about Sam Taylor-Wood, Director of this film. I found out that she's kind of awesome. I also found out, according to this article in the Telegraph.co.uk, she's also a cancer survivor. Dude, I hate cancer!

Sam is an artist, a conceptual one and she reminds me a lot of Yoko Ono. And she sings! ... That's really true. She's all BFFy with the Pet Shop Boys and sings on "Je t'aime... moi non plus" and "Love To Love You Baby". She also directed that Elton John video with Robert Downey Jr. lip syncing, you know the one.

Here's one of her photos. It's called Bram Stoker's Chair II. Check out more of her work at the White Cube website here and I've also linked to it below.

Sam Taylor-Wood also has some films happening on the YouTubes.

This one is called Breach.



And this is David Beckham Sleeping. (Read the BBC article on it here. Way interesting.)



Oh, you want to see some Pet Shop Boys and singing?.. Okay.



I think I totally want to be her.

Links for you. You're welcome. I accept tips.

Wiki article
White Cube

I love space. And Neil deGrasse Tyson, too.

"We all shine on. Like the moons and the stars and the sun" 

- John Lennon

My first love, before The Monkees or The Beatles or Johnny Depp or Kirk Cameron before he went all Jesus was space. I think space is totally the most.

Besides "Rockstar" my other wannabe profession is "Astrophysicist". No effin' jokes about it.

When my sister was busy playing with Jem dolls and burning her Barbie's hair with a light bulb, I was geeking out over a picture book of the planets. I brought it to Show And Tell with me and everything. And then there was the little red telescope I got for Christmas. I would look at the moon with my dad and ask him questions like how long it would take a flashlight to light up the moon. (I didn't understand the whole dispersion of light business then)

When I was 10 (Don't dare do the math on this) a little movie called Space Camp came out.

Best movie!!! See it if you haven't. It's about a bunch of kids that went to a space camp and got launched into space!!! I used to pretend I was Lea Thompson and hang upside down off the edge of the couch to make my hair "float up" so it was like I was in space too! Whatevs. I was 10. I also used to pretend I was Debbie Gibson and Madonna and Paula Abdul. That's just what you do when you're a 10 year old girl.  Besides, Lea Thompson was the coolest! Space Camp? Back To The Future? Howard The Duck?!

I was also that annoying kid in your 5th grade class that could name all 9 planets. And quickly! "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto!" I'd yell all proud of my geekness as the other kids would sigh. Then I would go around and tell all the kids what planet they came from. (I was from Venus, FYI).

Not only did I think I was "Venus", I also thought I was Albert Einstein reincarnated. I was a strange kid, okay? I thought he had curly, unruly hair and I have curly, unruly hair, so it must be true. The only hole in this theory... I ain't no genius.  But this fascination with Einstein led me to a movie which led me to a crush on Yahoo Serious. And I am.

So yeah, I like thinking about space and String Theory and Black Holes and gravity and the Curvature of Space and Space Time Continuum and I don't pretend to know anything about any of it, but I wish I did. If I did, I'd be an astrophysicist!

Well, now here we are, like 20 some years later and I am not any closer to being an astrophysicist than I was when I was hanging off the couch at 10 and to top it all off, we totally lost a planet. Which brings me to Neil deGrasse Tyson. The Yoko Ono of our galaxy. The guy that took away Pluto.

I LOVE HIM! Did you know he was named Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive by People Magazine in 2000? That's hilarious!

He makes science fun. He makes it cool. And he's funny!

On 2012:



And some more reasons why he's AWESOME!



Here's links!

Wikipedia
Official Website 

"(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To". And I want to watch it again!

UPDATE!!!!! (Nov 3, 2009) Making of (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To.

Click here.

Okay, so yesterday on the facebooks my good friend weezer posted a link to the new video. SQUEEEE. I have watched it about 32 hundred times. I am not braggin', it's just the truth. Okay. GO WATCH IT and come back to me so we can discuss.

HOT AWESOME NEW WEEZER VIDEO: Here --> (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To.

Have you collected yourself yet? OMG. Okay, starting off, that Brian Bell is looking pretty cute as a little gas station attendant boy. And Pat Wilson looks exactly like Pat Wilson often does. Scott Shriner looks pretty good... and then there's Rivers. *palms to face and smiles into hands like I'm in junior high*

AHHHHHH!!!! Okay, wait. I have to go watch it again!

(Pause)

SQUEEEEEEE!!!!! This video is the cutest thing since El Scorcho!!! Hot Craps!

He is so nerd cool! AH!! Just when I think I'm through with the Rivers thing, he shows up looking adorable. *sighs longingly off into the distance*

And just when you thought I couldn't speak of anything current, BAM BABY!  And no, I have absolutely nothing intelligent to say on this topic but I had to squee somewhere other than facebook where I think I'm being disowned. But more likely, the friend count is just broken.

For some web action on the subject:
Just Jared (where I stole the pictures from)
weezer.com
weezer's facebook page

Raditude is the album that (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To is on and that puppy comes out November 3, 2009. And now, some El Scorcho. 

Good Day Son-Shine!

Oh boy. Even I see the absurdity about to bust through my brain. I'm not going to question why I allow it to continue, though. I'll merely document the insanity to make it easier for the therapists later on.

So I see this today from The Sun.

The article goes on to say that Mr. James McCartney put on a secret, debut gig with his band 'Light'. He's apparently very good. *tee hees*. I don't know why and I've never really thought much about him before, but seeing James up there with his little guitar, I kinda feel a crush coming on.

Which brings me to this. It's POSSIBLE I heart Beatle boys.

Okay, I'll yell it! I'm in love with Beatle offspring! I've already made it quite clear my Sean Lennon Obsession. He is a total crush. Sean Lennon supersedes the "Beatle son" criteria. He's pretty.

Sean Lennon (Oct 9, 1975)

Then there's Dhani Harrison. He's adorbale!

Dhani Harrison (August 1, 1978)

And even Zak Starkey isn't looking too shabby.

Zak Starkey (Sept 13, 1965)

And now James McCartney <3 (who is DEF second fiddle to Sean in the Beatle Son race)

James McCartney (Sept 12, 1977)

And, because I'm giving into the crazy, here we go. Beatles from Oldest to youngest.

Ringo Starr

John Lennon

Paul McCartney

George Harrison

Beatle sons from oldest to youngest (yeah)

Zak Starkey

Sean Lennon

James McCartney

Dhani Harrison

Weird.  Next up on the crazy train, pictures of them together. (Sean and James... I'm very disappointed in you boys. Meet up, and bring a photographer.)

Dhani- good work on picture hogging. Okay here's what they're up to, Zak, he was with Oasis, I don't know what he's doing now, whatevs.

Oh, and lols Zak!



Dhani is my hero. If it weren't for Dhani, Beatle friggin' Rockband wouldn't exist. AND he's in a band called thenewno2

Seany-poo is doing Ghost Of A Sabor Toothed Tiger. And just being hot, in general.

And James, he's doing the 'Light' thing finally.

All feels right in my world.