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& dressed to kill....
Dear Reader: Pls, don't be aghast at the sheer vanity of this trivial fashion info!
TT& JL
Residence: Los Angeles
TT's Signatures:Mixing it up; no brights or prints--neutrals, blk, denim.
Fashion Icons: Garbo (personal clothing,) Millicent Rogers, Betty Catroux, Bugsy Siegel, Fred Hughes, Lapo Elkann.
Must Wear: Giant blk Victorian Medusa cameo mounted in coiled onyx.
Handbag: B.V. python.
Favorite Purchase 2008:faux snakeskin sandals w/ just the right heel--from "Hot In Hollywood" on HSN.
JL's Daytime Looks: Puma velour track suits, Sulka paisley robe.
Fashion Icons: DD Ryan, Cary Grant, Bugsy Siegel.
Shirts:Comme de Garcon, Helmut Lang.
Sunglasses: Vintage Gaultier--flat lense.
Best Accessory: Charley--the smart, scrappy white "Foo" dog.

China's opening ceremonies were spectacular!!! I thought it impossible to outdo the magnificent show put on in Athens--but w/ unlimited money & great ability the Chinese did it. Director Zhang Yimou: What a job!!! Might and the collective spirit were emphasized. There were no individual performances. The sheer manpower & creativity was breathtaking--& scary. Now, 1.3 billion strong w/ the world's 3rd largest economy---like the roots of this country, it's built on slave labor.

During trips made there (all work oriented) I observed unusual things:

1.) The govt. keeps things shut tight. I saw a dozen drug dealers shot by a firing squad on the news there. I'm shocked someone stabbed the American tourists. It doesn't surprise me that the perp took his own life afterward.

2.) I saw a brochure for a golf course in the wealthy Shenzhen industrial zone, directly across the harbor from Hong Kong. You often see HK businessmen taking their clubs on the ferry to the mainland for a round. The club's clientele must have been having trouble w/ the difficult game: the brochure told perspective members that in golf a high score was the best score!!!

The 1st events I saw were swimming. The girl swimmers were camera-ready:wearing waterproof makeup & stud earrings! It seemed so strange & artificial, like Esther Williams at MGM!!!

Saw Mongol, will see the Dark Knight. I luved Christian Bale in American Psycho!!! So funny.

Stayed in & watched TV. WOW! On TCM, old fave, Sweet Smell of Success (1957), then Rope (1948) from Hitchcock. Had never seen it. Pyrotechnic filmmaking, it's made w/out cuts. So pervy & disturbing, particularly for the time. HITCHCOCK WAS OUT THERE... He did the 1st American picture about a serial killer, Shadow of a Doubt, several years earlier. Rope is about a thrill-killing. The perps are a rich male couple who think they are superior. Leopold & Loeb-types. Saw Frenzy (1972) for the 1st time in years...it's very shocking too. (Hitch was wild. I heard on some show that he wanted to call North By Northwest, the picture w/ scenes at Mt. Rushmore, The Man In Lincoln's Nose.) Then I saw High Fidelity...liked it.

Looked at a documentary on the Ramones. I get the Sex Pistols--but not them!!! The music is so bad, & they're so stupid. JL walked in & said,"Spare me!" So I did.

War, global warming, missing bees, hyper-inflation, deflation, foreclosures, Fannie, Freddie, Indymac, just the beginning...Iran, bombs, terrorists, torture, reality shows....the election...will it all turn into Road Warrior????!!!!

Madonna & Alex Rodriguez. Backdoor man, Kaballah, soulmate, British accent, children's books...Whatever. Who cares? It's just tired.....she's so tedious. How did Guy Ritchie tolerate her for so long? & she has yet another upcoming tour, Sweet & Sticky. I wonder what advance sales are like? If you've missed her, menopausal Madge will be on stage until she's 60!!!! She's inked a decade-long pact with Live Nation concert promoters.
Speaking of traif, have you watched Bizarre Foods w/ Andrew Zimmern? I like him. Balls, cheeks, guts!!! It's all there. He eats it, 2! The show can be fascinating.

They're EVERYWHERE!

Surfers and the paparrazzi were duking-it-out over the weekend in Malibu. The paps were trying to get shots of Matthew McConaughey & his pregnant girlfriend when a brawl broke out.

saw some of the Bob Dylan's artwork now being shown in London.

Yes, Laker's 3-point wizard, Sasha Vujacic. 24, 6'-7', weighing in at 205, from Slovenia. He broke out in last nite's lackluster game.
Phil Jackson: this one's a keeper!

I'm often disappointed by "FINE ART." My idea is art can be anything. When someone slaps paint on a canvas, THAT'S always called ART, no matter how bad or mundane...Art to me can be the work of a brilliant surgeon, a financial genius, or a ground-breaking scientist. ART should be exceptional...not just an easily attained label, in certain narrow catagories.
OBSOLETE is a store on Main St. in Venice. A brilliantly curated gallery filled w/ choice, curious antiques of a specific order, it also shows a few contemporary artists. In the window right now is an installation of 4 extraordinary vignettes, featuring objects from the store. I WISH CURATORS FROM MUSEUMS WERE AS INNOVATIVE & ORIGINAL AS OBSOLETE'S RAY AZOULAY.

I'm fascinated w/ this study: monkeys w/ sensors implanted in their brains learned to control robots that fed them marshmallows. WOW.

INTERVIEW magazine looks great again. The inimitable Glenn O'Brien--he was the original editor--is back helming, along w/ brilliant visualist, Fabien Baron.

Yes, the collectable Jonas Bros. issue of People hits the stands. I didn't know one of the bros was the beau of Miley Cyrus... Think it was a made-up crush? Notice hairdos are again so important to pop music? Take the bros, pete wentz, & david cook, for example.
Also hard to take: 50-yr-olds, Madonna, & Sharon Stone, flashing at the Cannes Film Fest. Desperate for publicity or just exhibitionists ? Both of them know the French papparazzi can't get enuff them....Some dignity,pls?

These guys got it made. We've seen French President Sarkozy & his new bride, Carla Bruni. Now Vlad Putin, 55 & newly-divorced, is purportedly engaged to nubile 24-year-old Olympic gymnast & new member of Parliament, Alina Kabaeva.

Putin just bought a magnificent chateau near St. Tropez that has 2 pools. Maybe the new digs are for his honeymoon???

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is harming the campaign of Barack Obama--to me clearly the best person for the Presidency--in ways that now smack of set-up. After Wright's outrageous "performances" at the NAACP and Natl. Press Club, that's all I can think. It was so sad to see Obama and his wife face the rabid press corp. after Rev. Wright's appearances. I can only hope that Obama does well tomorrow in Ind. & NC.
Speaking of organized religion, Bill Maher has a movie coming out soon that takes on that subject. I guess it will be in the Michael Moore-style.

They tried to assassinate Hamid Karzai yesterday. The Taliban is strong & the poppy crop is bigger than ever. I remember in late 2001 they had Mullah Omar in the sights of a Predator drone--but didn't fire. What's the real deal?
It's the same old, same old there.

I once asked Andy Warhol-someone quite content with his own identity-"Who would you want to be other than yourself?" He told me: "The Pope." Andy was Roman Catholic & went to mass every Sun.--but--what he responded to was the pomp, the Popemobile, and the absolute power. The Pope's a monumental celebrity. I'm sure AW would say Benedict's smokin' red PRADA treads are "really great."

Huge carbon clouds, blk & dirty, are floating all over the world. They're from the industrial mess in China. During the mid-90s I spent time there, in my incarnation as fashion designer. They put their best faces on when doing business. Constantly In the company of young English-speaking translators & execs--smart, funny, curious-- during downtime I would be taken to non-stop 10-course meals at exotic restaurants. Working in an industrial zone, on a few occasions I saw the mess hidden behind the factories. The Chinese-PEOPLE & GOV. are ravenous--they can't get enuff of Western lifestyle!!! Economic growth has been the ticket out of poverty. The pollution caused by China is a FAR GREATER PROBLEM than imagined. It will come home to roost. A free Tibet & pollution safeguards will not happen!!! & THE CO-DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP W/ THE US WILL NOT STOP!!!

Moving on to LA. The million trees Mayor Villaraigosa proposes for LA are not the iconic palm (HIS PEOPLE said nix) but dirty, disease-prone sycamores. I've lived w/ both. Palms are it!!! Someone w/an "in" & a million sycamores probably got a sweet contract??? No???

A nod to giants: Clorox bought Bert's Bees & opened GreenWorks, a new mass-market environmentally friendly product line; Google is bankrolling renewable energy R&D.

choice chunks of hilarity...NO ANTI-BIOTICS INCLUDED.".. JOEL Mc HALE!!! E! finally gave him a full-hr. weekly, w/ THE SOUP PRESENTS: format.
He just signed to a Steven Soderbergh picture, starring Matt Damon. Happy he's getting the shot. But, JOEL, keep the day job, 2. PLS, I need my injection of SOUP!!!

on my book. Ohmygod, I have an Aug. deadline.
Went to Book Soup. Picked up Nureyev by Julie Kavanaugh, the Letters of Noel Coward, a book about Warren Zevon, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead--did you know his father was Stumpy Zevon, a gangland associate of Mickey Cohen's?--one about fashionistas in the 80s, The Beautiful Fall, Amis' House of Meetings, and the OUTSTANDING Jim Morrison Scrapbook by James Henke. IT 'S SO WELL DONE!!! A must have.

The "Pride of Madeira" are starting to bloom. So, so incredibly beautiful..

Mr. Chow in BH. There were about 25 paparazzi at the entrance. A giant Rolls was parked right in front & JL almost banged it getting out of the car. These über-expensive cars are so crazy. I nearly backed into a Maybach in a parking structure. When we were leaving I asked the paparazzi who they were waiting for. They said Mary Carey. She's the porn star who's on Celebrity Rehab. Remember when she ran for governor of Calif?

Homegrown or WHAT??? About the elections or what??? U can never tell. A woman said she felt the blast 44-stories up...They are investigating here in LA. KNBC reported a local man is a person-of interest. The FBI is all over his house, off the Sunset Strip--in the upscale Mount Olympus neighborhood. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The LA man-after thorough investigation-HAS BEEN CLEARED.

Project Runway

1. Fierce. Christian Seriano was the winner. HIs all-blk looks were repetitive, his over-the-top looks were beautiful-- but I didn't think this show was about fantasy one-offs. I guess they're for the teary-eyed Victoria Beckham.
2. Luved the collection from Jillian Lewis, very fresh & wearable. My choice to win.
3. Rami had color issues & other issues.

P.S. Was happy to see Sweet P do well!! Was also happy to see the inimitable Santino Rice in a car commercial. I LUV HIM!!! Let's see more of him!

I look at the money spent on the primaries--& now Obama/Clinton will be duking-it-out--until Aug! Then, I look at SO MANY homeless--in Santa Monica & Venice-- that I've seen since yesterday!!!
How can one not question the system? Then, I think about empty political promises & mindbending rhetoric.

...very sad. Distractions, pls: The Texas & Ohio primaries, the final installment of Project Runway, several films at the westside Cinematheque-the old Aero Theatre on Montana, & my book. Was that Bruce Wagner, my favorite novelist, walking a black Standard Poodle in Venice???

The Oscars are tomorrow--each year the films get less interesting, if that's possible.

1. Didn't love No Country For Old Men...one-dimensional & too violent, even for me--although I have always liked the Coen Bros. What happened here? Don't know. They weren't working from their own material.
2. Julian Schnabel for Best Director? No to: The Diving Bell & The Butterfly. Interesting premise that failed as a film, or maybe the film was successful & the premise is the problem? I think he is a masterful painter & I loved Schnabel's work at the Gramercy Park Hotel & the pink (more Etruscan red, no?) palazzo. He's daring & will make a great movie when he finds the right project!
3. Marion Cotillard deserves to win Best Actress, although I didn't like La Vie En Rose.... another lame French film.
4. Can't wait for Miley Cyrus and The Rock as presenters!!! WOW!

Turning to the debates. In Texas, Hillary would not shut-up & answer a question asked by the handsome guy from Univison...she just yammered on w/ her own agenda. Is that presidential or out-of-control? Would she do that with Putin? She's gone from saying she has 35-years experience to saying she has 15. I guess that means 7-yrs. in the Senate & that SHE'S CO-OPTING BILL CLINTON'S 2 TERMS AS PRESIDENT. I'M SUPPORTING BARACK OBAMA!

Soon a broken part--the size of a bus-- from a US spy satellite will fall to earth. The US gov't says it could emit toxic gases and kill people. OUR GOV'T. SAYS THEY MUST SHOOT IT DOWN....TO SAVE THE WORLD? The Russians, who are up in arms about the missile shield that Geo.W wants to plant next door to them in POLAND, believe this is a PLOY by the US to TEST the missile shield's capabilities.
SOUNDS LIKE A NEW COLD WAR IS IN OUR FUTURE. BRRR!

John Edwards, my candiate, dropped out. I flip-flopped & decided to vote for Barack Obama.

Saw 2 good movies. Both are old-fashioned epics. There Will Be Blood--a story of greed w/out redemption--is from Paul Thomas Anderson, the brilliant director of the classic Boogie Nights. Atonement is a poignant tale of lost love & dreams unrealized.

A lot of buzz already on The Duchess, a biopic that stars Keira Knightly. Gaby Tana produced it. It won't be out until Nov.

Was watching tv & fell in love w/ Snoop Dogg's dog--a darling mini schnauzer. SD is my favorite rapper, he's melodic.

Surprised there's a bust? What about the BIG $ banks & speculators MADE during the frenzied boom years? Nothing lasts forever, baby.

With distractions from the primaries & Britney updates, swept under the carpet are these reality sandwiches: Iran & more Iran.

1. Read an incredible op-ed in the NY Times on the Byzantine world of Benazir Bhutto. 4 me it shines new lite on her. Particularly note her brother's mysterious murder.After reading this, I think about her young son & husband--who are very much alive & in control--& a Luciano/Lansky-style double-bank.

2. Am closely watching the debates. I will cast my vote in the Cal. primary for JOHN EDWARDS. I could live w/ Hillary, I suppose. I feel Obama is not up to the job. Vice-president, only. Do you remember the REALLY putrid sex scandal involving hot TV star Jeri Ryan that was at the center of Barack Obama getting his Senate seat??? It stank to high heaven.

3. The new president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is divorcing & apparently will soon marry former model, Carla Bruni. She is now a huge singer-songwriter there. Once known for dating Mick Jagger, Mlle Bruni is very well-educated, the daughter of a Italian industrialist. I'm sure the French will love their new 1st lady!!! Why wait around? Vive L'Amour!!!

I saw The Golden Compass. It was magical & beautiful. Controversial? Pls.

I want the new book by Alan Weisman: Prince of Darkness--Richard Perle. I read an illuminating piece by the author in the LA TIMES. The neocon phenom--as well as the price our country will pay for it--interests me.

Putin is very tough--he was high-up in the KGB. Garry Kasparov, the internationally renowned chess champion, who is a national hero &vocal critic of Vladimir Putin's govt., has been jailed. Bill Maher had him on about 6 weeks ago. He was going back to Russia to run in the pres. election.Chess is as popular in Russia as NASCAR or wrestling is here. It's like--OHMYGOD-jailing Jeff Gordon or Hulk Hogan--DUH. Kasparov has brains, guts, & soul. 4 yrs back they took YUKOS, the Russian oil monopoly, away from young multi-multi billionaire, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, charged him w/ tax evasion, & threw him in a gulag--after he threated Putin politically.
Do you think Hillary Clinton or Mitt Romney, whom I think will grab their parties' nominations, would ever put themselves at risk?

Everytime I turn on PROJECT RUNWAY another design assistant from my past shows up. 1st was the inimitable Santino Rice, whom I met when he was working for designer Galina Sobolev, at her company, SINGLE. I luv Santino & know he is wildly creative in many areas. Did you know he worked for Tony Duquette, legendary Hollywood genius, before he died in his 80s? There is a new photo book about Tony. I want to get it!
This season there's Sweet P. She was an assistant at BEBE when I was designing there, a few years back. She's nice enuff but-- watch out--she doesn't take criticism well! I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANY OF HER DESIGNS. Maybe she'll surprise me! She started a co. that sounded like a good idea, making funky pajamas, I think. Apparently, it didn't work out--but these things happen. SWEET P, GOOD LUCK!
The look by smug, fey Christian Siriano was the worst atrocity I've ever seen (& this show has shown me plenty). He should be arrested by the FASHION POLICE, but he makes for good televsion. The judges really had to hold their noses when they reviewed his design--but he'll stay on a long while, I bet.

I just heard Linda Stein, "realtor to the stars", former Ramones (ugh) co-manager, & ex- wife of Seymour Stein (his big find: Madonna), was bludgeoned to death in her 5th Ave apt!!! She was hit--6 or 7times--w/ a workout stick!!!
Linda was always a lot of fun. What a horrible death! This is real Manhattan Babylon.
The personal assistant did it! Arrested today: Natavia Lowery, 26, who was previously employed at Rogers & Cowan PR firm. Afterwards, she withdrew $800 from Linda's ATM. Lowery, who has a history of identity theft, confessed--saying Linda was abusive & blew marijuana smoke in her face. Is that reason to kill someone???

On ANIMAL PLANET there was an amazing documentary: Romeo & Juliet: A Monkey's Tale—about warring packs of URBAN monkeys living in a Thai city. I can't get it out of my mind. 1 group lives in a temple-like a mini-Angkor Wat-the others at the market. They're so sophisticated in the cityscape:"car-jacking", grabbing food from people & going to war. TAKE THAT MIKE HUCKABEE! There was an incredible battle after R & J "hooked-up". Some of the males are huge, almost like orangutangs. Read a few years ago about some monkeys in Japan that ate from McDonald's trash. They were SUPER-SIZED by the junk food!
Saw INTO THE WILD, adapted & directed by Sean Penn. It was a difficult film to make. I liked it & think it will get Oscar Buzz! Emile Hirsch will be a big star.

of the Final 24. I want to see the complete show about "the last day of Jim Morrison." It reenacted what "supposedly" happened w/ Jim & Pam Courson. I was in Paris, seeing them, until a few days before he died. I took long walks, alone, w/ Jim around the city. They both told me many very personal things. Among the things Jim and I talked about was Oscar Wilde,who died in Paris,too!
Where should I begin w/ comments on this program?

1. Art Direction: they portrayed the beautiful haute bourgeois Marais apartment as a psychedelic hippy pad.
2. Sensationalism: footage of a bloated drunken Jim after an arrest was repeated as if that was how he looked at the time of his death. They allude to their states of mind & how it all happened. See: My Take.
3. Content: They made it seem like his career was over. Who are the people they interviewed? BOGUS!!! Research, pls!!!

Jim was a talented serious person, who was only 27!!! HE LOOKED BETTER & WAS IN GOOD SPIRITS, HIS DREAM OF WRITING A NOVEL WAS HAPPENING (I leafed thru the almost-finished manuscript),& HE HAD MANY SHOWBIZ OFFERS! They made a thing about the Doors recording in LA. JIM & PAM LAUGHED WHEN THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE MAKING A RECORD W/OUT HIM!!!
Moving on: I'm so glad they suspended Dog: The Bounty Hunter. I can't believe THAT TRASH was a hit. It represents all that's wrong w/ this country.
Less bread & circuses--no Britney, PLS!!

the fake press conference staged by FEMA in the heat of the Cali wildfires. I saw it. I luved Harvey E. Johnson, Jr. fielding questions. He should be an Oscar® contender. You know he's a retired Vice Admiral from the COAST GUARD. Bet he saw LOTS OF ACTION—NOT. It's astounding they would have the chutzpah to attempt this--after all the FEMA scandals. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? The head flack, John Philbin, resigned the tarnished agency—kicked-up to a cushy new job (an "amazing opportunity") at ODNI (Office of the Director of Natl. Intelligence). Maybe Philbin was just boning-up on spook-techniques???
ODNI is now reconsidering the Philbin appointment. Don't worry, he'll resurface—YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN!!!!!

or the sky begins in Venice--there's so much smoke downwind from Malibu. The horizon looks like a huge gray minimalist canvas. The Southland is ablaze again-- as expected after a winter of no rain. The devastation is on a catastrophic level. I can't understand the sick pleasure that motivates pyromaniacs. Like pervs & murderers, they are beyond my comprehension!!! 1 arsonist was already shot & killed & more remain at large!!! Some years ago, several major fires here were set by an arsonist who had been a firefighter!!!

Amazingly, Pavarotti died with massive debt-- around $25,000,000, they say. Assets,pls?

The Santa Ana devil winds were blowing in the nite. No rain last winter--never rain in the summer--the parched chaparral in the hills along PCH is tinder.

1. WOW--the bombing & riots in Pakistan! Benazir Bhutto has real guts-you know her father & brother were assassinated. A big majority supports this WOMAN & her pro-Western, anti-terrorist views!!!!

2. A RECENT TEST AT LAX: 75% of the screeners involved PASSED DECOYS thru security--carrying faux bomb-making materials. THIS DOESN'T SHOCK ME !!!!

3.Went to the great Paul Smith store on Melrose (down the street from TOMMY PERSE'S notable emporium!) where talented Bryan Rabin transformed the parking lot into a deluxe tree-lined screening room. We couldn't resist shopping. JL picked a beautiful velvet jacket & I got this giant green plastic cactus, an art piece created forGufram from 1971 (I had been dreaming of it for years & about a blue Yves Klein, too). I love the delicious Paul Smith Rose scent--my new fave.
The movie was the outrageous Brit cult fick, Withnail & I, (1987). I had never seen it, but heard about the legendary performance of Richard E. Grant. It was really something & so was Bruce Robinson's terrific work as writer & director. Many thanks, Paul Smith!

took my car for a spin on Sat. There was almost no traffic on the winding mountain road.The day was perfect for me: 66 degrees, dull blue sky w/ patches of storm clouds. Sealed in the tiny cockpit-like cabin w/ the incredible Mark Levinson sound system blaring the late, great Luciano Pavarotti was, ah, sublime.

...this country.
Our once great nation has sunk to unprecedented lows. Under the "guidance" of Geo. W : we have a tanking $; upcoming space missions will be ON A RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT (we can't afford our own: we are at war, remember); & a television character--Hannah Montana--played by Miley Cyrus, (cute young daughter of King of the Mullet, achy-breaky Billy Ray Cyrus) is the nation's top concert draw. GET REAL.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, is the woman who died at the Phoenix airport--after being detained by authorities. She was on her way to rehab for alcohol abuse. When they approached her, she screamed: "I am not a terrorist!" She was eventually left alone in a holding room, cuffed from behind and shackled to a table. Next thing you know she was dead....WHAT HAPPENED HERE??

At the Dem. debate Hillary, Obama, & Edwards (who qualified his answer well) said they could not have the troops out of Iraq by 2013!!! CAN'T THEY JUST BRING THEM HOME, LIKE THEY DID FROM VIETNAM IN 1975????

Underwhelmed by the Dem. front runners, I prefer underdogs Kucinich and Edwards. We saw Dennis K. on a plane in 2004. Jerry told him that he liked what he had to say-but-GET A BETTER TAILOR!!! I think vegan Kucinich took his advice. He looks better & managed to snag a hot young bride--a classy-looking Brit, 30 years his junior. Actor/candidate, Fred Thompson, also has a much younger wife--a one-time Rep. flack who goes for the bimbo look.
It seems they are ramping up in the Middle East, w/ a contract to buy 50 more of the hybrid (not gas/electric, silly...helicopter/aircraft) V-22 Osprey @ $89-100 million each. Controversial, it has been around for a long time & has a spotty safety record. The Pentagon wants a total of 458. Sweet contract for Boeing-Bell !!!

The mistrial today in the high drama Phil Spector trial does not surprise me!!! UNFORTUNATELY, there is similar history from the earliest days of the town. A million yrs before O.J., Robt. Blake & The King of Pop--all acquitted-- there was Fatty Arbuckle, comic super-star of silent films. He was acquitted in the murder of a party girl, after 2 trials. He died ruined & early. Busby Berkeley, genius of Golden Age film musicals, was tried 3 times before acquittal in a 2nd degree murder case involving a drunk driving accident on PCH. He continued to work. & how could we forget ostentatious BH sociopaths, Erik & Lyle Menendez-- convicted of murdering their parents in a 2nd trial?
Stay tuned for Spector's civil case--where he will have to take the stand-- & the criminal retrial.

This week on cable were 2 of the most outrageous films ever made in the studio system. Both raunch extravaganzas from 1970--set in Hollywood backgrounds; both from FOX; both originally rated X; & long before the terrific Transamerica, & The Crying Game--both featured transsexual protagonists.
Ladies & Gents... may we talk about Myra Breckinridge & Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?

Myra Breckinridge carried the imprimatur of prestige--adapted from a Gore Vidal novel. Starring Raquel Welch as the gorgeous after-product--Myra--w/ fey film critic, Rex Reed, as pre-cut Myron, it's all sly innuendo. 80-something screen legend, Mae West, takes double-entendre to new heights & gets really frisky; Iconic director, John Huston, camps it up; unknown Farrah Fawcett is bland & blander; & unknown Tom Selleck is one of Mae's studs. THAT tells you how old this is.

Helming the 2nd title was unknown soft-core sleazemeister, Russ Meyer, unbelievably working w/ a major & a budget. "Dolls" was written by film critic extraordinaire, Roger Ebert!!!!! This was insane material for a Hollywood studio...or anyone else. Schlocky nudie cuties ramped up w/ ultra-violence. This was no Clockwork Orange, baby, also from 1970 & rated X. FOX was that desperate to capture a new market!!!

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is now very timely for 1 reason. Our big celeb trial is finally in its last stage--deliberation. This flick echoes it. In the movie a boy genius record producer--who bears a striking similarity to PS--is really a male tranny looking to be Super-Woman. It goes out w/ a bang when he blows the head off a sleeping female guest!!!!!! WHEW.

If that wasn't enuff, TCM capped off my week of Grand Guignol w/ Whatever Happened To Baby Jane. Here reel-life cinema divas, Joan Crawford & Bette Davis, chew-it-up as aging sisters (Crawford plays a former film star; Davis a failed Hollywood dreamer)--duking it out in a Hancock Park mansion.
IF TOMMY PERSE MADE MOVIES.......!!!!!!!

The latest LA obsession seems to be for white, whiter, WHITEST TEETH.
I like the great new disposable OralB vibrating toothbrush that comes w/ a built in battery. It's
$5.95 & lasts a month.
After seeing bright, natural looking smiles popping up all over town I sampled bleaching products that are readily available at the drugstore. The results-- not much difference so far. I don't like the fake look of super-white (sometimes ultra blue-white) choppers they get with veneers.