Okay, you guys know the drill by now: Green dress, beautiful woman, etc. That's Eva Amurri, BTW.

Another day, another art blog

Sarah Maple, found via artspace>blog

Sweet sacred minx and more

Got an email this morning from an artist in the UK, asking if I might like to feature a few of his images here, and sending along a link to his website. It may have been a little spammy, but it's a kind of spammy I approve of.

The artist's name is Richard Young. I browsed the site and here's some of what I found. I'm reproducing small, but you can see bigger versions at his site, or just click on the titles or pictures.

The Passion of Dance - Drew Jacoby



Tranquil Preparation



Sacred



Ethereal Dreams



Minx



Turmoil



Purpose



Secrets



Cool, huh?

I may have to see this movie on cast alone

Roger Ebert reviews Romance and Cigarettes. He likes it a lot, which seems to be a minority opinion, as he notes. But if it opens here-which is unlikely but not impossible-I think I will have to walk down to a theater and see it.

Otherwise, I'll just eagerly await its release on DVD.

Look at this cast: Susan Sarandon. Kate Winslet. Mandy Moore. Mary Louise Parker. Eddie Izzard. Christopher Walken. Amy Sedaris. Elaine Stritch.

That's some of the best-looking women in the world, some of my favorite actors (often both), and a great Broadway star.

I don't even mind Mandy Moore...

Keeley Hazell making my favorite color very happy

I mean very, very, very, very, very, very...

the arrogant, oily, unctuous idiot of Inside the Actors Studio has written his life story

And I've reviewed it. It's the circle of life...

Mime? MIME? The shame...anyway, I wanted to be the "Let's Dance" version...

Which David Bowie are you?

Way to go, Waukegan

A lesbian pairing has been chosen "cutest couple" in their high school yearbook in Waukegan, IL. This warms my heart with pride for more than the obvious reason. You see, to me, Waukegan means one thing: Jack Benny.

It's where he was raised, he made frequent references to the suburb in his radio comedy, and a performing arts center, a junior high school, and a street all have his name there. I'd like to think he'd be proud of this, too.

I know absolutely nothing about this movie, but I'm digging the DVD cover art

Firefly Fans.

Champions of feminism.

For some reason I'm still finding a lot of pictures for the "something in this about all women" file

Quick observation

On Back To You tonight, Charisma Carpenter made a guest appearance as the mother of a boy in Patricia Heaton's daughter's class. The boy's name? Xander. Inside joke for the BtVS fans, I'm assuming.

Also perhaps worth idly noting, with her appearance in Greek, Carpenter has now worked with both Kelsey Grammar and his daughter Spencer.

Unfortunately, not much of the above is in aid of anything because you see, Back To You is still laugh-poor and getting poorer. I'm not sure why I decided to give it another looksee (I didn't know Carpenter would be appearing until she walked onscreen), but I probably won't be doing it again.

Penn!

As I may have mentioned, there's no heroes anymore.

Never mind that Penn was, evidently, opening his big fat mouth without enough information to know what the hell he was talking about. WTF was he doing on Glenn Beck's show in the first place?

the content of dreams

With the help of slide.com, I've put together a little show of the first 12 in my There's something in this about all women file. You long timers will know that's a caption I give to pictures I seem to find about once a month, although I never go specifically looking for them.

I mean it, though; I don't just assign the caption to any picture of a wonderful-looking woman...There has to really be something in the photo that is about all women, or at least as I think of them.

So what I'd like to know is: What do these photos tell you, if anything, about how I think of women? What else do they make you feel or otherwise think about?

Theres no reason To feel all the hard times, To lay down the hard lines

And yes: There's something in this about all women.

And now, this word from Winona Ryder

I actually kind of like that song, so I'm totally cool with this.

And I can't put down "Livin' La Vida Loca," either. I think "I Will Survive" is just the worst, but to be fair that's mostly because of overplay. "I'll Make Love to You" is a number-one hit single in hell.

Your Karaoke Theme Song is "Since U Been Gone"

You are a very expressive and genuine person. You're not so emotional that you wear your heart on your sleeve - but you're not afraid to show how you're truly feeling. Whether you're singing along in the car or singing on stage, your favorite songs make you get a little carried away. You're definitely the type most likely to dream of becoming a rock star! You might also sing: "Livin' La Vida Loca," "I Will Survive," or "Hollaback Girl" Stay away from people who sing: "I'll Make Love to You"

What's Your Karaoke Theme Song?


Belt it out, baby!

That sound you hear is my character Keitha laughing her ass off

You Should Be In the Indigo Girls

Your all about expressing yourself through music Lyrics are your poetry - think Sylvia Plath meets guitar

What Girl Group Should You Be In?

It's really and honestly true: It doesn't matter what I do, I just can't get away from the pussy pack.

I gave up on lovin' a long long time ago

You Are 45% Burned Out

You're fairly burned out, and it shows. You probably have been feeling a little rundown and irritable lately. If you can, drop a few of your minor responsibilities and focus on what's really important. You have too much on your plate, and it's catching up with you.

Are You Burned Out?

As BtVS fans smile ruefully

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

just part of the whole package

Guys Think You're Easy to Be With... But Not Easy

You're definitely a flirt - and a good one. But you also know that you shouldn't make a move on any cute guy who passes by. You save your seductive moves for someone who already knows the real you. That way, your sex appeal is just part of the whole package.

Are You An Easy Girl?

Back off man. I'm a...well no, I guess I'm not.

You Failed 8th Grade Science

Sorry, you only got 5/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes; Thus

Somebody was going to make this joke, let's see if I beat anybody to the punch

Katie Holmes is quite obviously practicing for her getaway.

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweethearts

There's something in this about all wo, wo...oh my sweet LORD...

Why do I have a feeling that this woman's hips are lying to me?

Because any blog can run pictures of Scarlett Johansson wearing little or no clothing

...indeed, this blog has been as guilty as any (and perhaps more than some) in the past. So I thought I'd take a moment to say that given the right co-stars, script and direction, she is capable of giving a much more than likable performance.

And apart from her body, which is obviously great, she's got a beautiful face and luminous eyes.

This has been, as always, a public service announcement.

Random Flickr Blogging: 0684

I like this picture, I'm just not entirely sure why. According to the credit it was taken in the Czech Republic, but I don't know when.

Remember those three pretty, white...in both senses of the word...high school girls moving to Young MC's beat?

I think I have found their equal if not their superior in attractive "whiteness." This didn't seem to fit anywhere in my I Think I Love My Wife review, but it is of a college-age (I think) young woman dancing to the record I mentioned.

As if she wasn't "white" enough, out comes the baton...

Love In New York

Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife is one of those really frustrating movies that come close...so close to being satisfying. Though I knew the film was uneven, one key moment near the end is set up so beautifully subtly, and paid off so well, that I was almost willing to forgive it everything.

But when it goes wrong, it goes so wrong that it undoes and overwhelms anything it did right. In one scene, a series of Viagra jokes comes to an end that's so wildly over the top I was sure it would turn out to be a nightmare sequence, but was wrong. In another...I mean, they just start singing...

While watching it, I found myself remembering something Norm MacDonald says in the book Live From New York, addressing the question of whether Rock was "underutilized" on Saturday Night Live.

He said:

Chris is a great stand-up comedian, a great voice. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean he's a great sketch-comedy comedian.

I think that's right. And I think it doesn't necessarily mean he knows how to sustain a movie's tone for an hour and a half, either.

I wanted to like this film, for at least a couple of reasons. First, I think Rock is a great, smart comic. And I was intrigued when I learned it was a remake of a movie by French filmmaker Eric Rohmer, to whom I've paid homage a few times in the past.

But to tell stories of the caliber that I think Rock aspires to, and he's made a dignified effort here, he probably needs a better director and he definitely needs better screenwriters.

In this case, I think a woman writer especially might have helped. As most of you know, I'm the last one to say a male writer cannot write witty, strong female characters-but Rock and his writing partner Louis C.K. haven't.



Kerry Washington at least gets a better chance. Perfectly cast as temptation, she has a breathtakingly beautiful body but is also a good actress. She gives the impression that there's more going on with this character than just a sexy way of walking.

Gina Torres, as Rock's wife, suggests in one or two of her scenes that she could bring life to a more fully developed character. But her character is not more fully developed. I wouldn't dare to speculate about why two married men wrote a film about marital boredom and gave the "other woman" their more ample attention.

Though sexy (see top), Torres is also, in my view, miscast. She has virtually no chemistry with Rock (especially compared to Washington, who makes you start hearing Nelly), and I almost never believed these people were really married.

Part of the problem is that Rock, 42, still looks as though he could pass for mid-20s. And Torres, though she's actually younger than he is, appears to be a fully-grown, feet-on-the-floor woman. At best, he comes off more like her younger brother than her husband.

In his director's commentary on the DVD Rock says that one of the reasons he wanted to play the lead was that it was a chance to play a different role. Most if not all of those he gets offered are comic variations on the paranoid, "crazy" black man.

Here he plays a successful; sensible (at the start) man with a good job and a nice house. Rock shows that he has it in him to play such a role-as indeed he should be able to, as it is closer to his own life.

His character is presented as certainly being aware of his color, but though race is present-it would be pure fantasy otherwise-it is secondary to this story.

One of the funniest scenes in the film is Rock's reaction to being the only other black person in an elevator when another begins singing loud, sexist, homophobic rap lyrics. Some of the more successful quiet moments show Rock and his wife worrying that their kids will pick up racial attitudes, or that they do not play enough with other black children.

And then there's the excellent use of the song asking the musical question, "can a nigga get a table dance??" which Rock rightly claims in the commentary is one of the funniest ever.

Also in the cast, Steve Buscemi and notably Edward Herrmann are wasted as Rock's business associates.

It's possible that if I were black or, probably more likely, if I were married and had kids, I would have liked this film more. But I think a better movie would have shown me what that's like, regardless of what my personal experience has been.

Did you ever have a feeling that you didn't know which you wanted to fuck more, the girl or the apartment?