Monday 31 July 2017

People's opinions don't interfere with me











"Beyond the beauty, the sex, the titillation, the surface, there is a human being. And that has to emerge."

"People's opinions don't interfere with me. Ageing gracefully is supposed to mean trying not to hide time passing and just looking a wreck. That's what they call ageing gracefully. You know?"

"To give a character life in a short space of time, it helps if you arrive on screen with a past."

"If you get trapped in the idea that what is most important is what image of yourself you're giving to the world, you're on a dangerous path."

"I don't feel guilt. Whatever I wish to do, I do."



Adieu, Mademoiselle Jeanne Moreau (23rd January 1928 – 31st July 2017)

Saturday 22 July 2017

The Magazine for Modern Young Men









As the BBC continues its month-long celebration Gay Britannia, with plays, films, documentaries and discussions all to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in Britain, so the ever-marvellous John Coulthart's Feuilleton takes a look at a long-forgotten remnant of those days, the esoteric Jeremy magazine...
...a short-lived publication launched in the UK in 1969. The magazine is notable not for the quality of its contents - which seem slight considering the high cover price of six shillings - but for being the first British magazine aimed at an audience of gay men that wasn’t porn, a dating mag or a political tract. I had planned to write something about Jeremy at least two years ago... but detailed information about the magazine’s history is hard to find.

The anniversary of the change in the law has prompted a number of exhibitions and events devoted to Britain’s gay history but little of that history ever seems to travel beyond academic circles unless a notable life story - Quentin Crisp or Alan Turing, say - is involved. As with so many aspects of British culture, the conversation is dominated by America: the main campaigning organisation in the UK, Stonewall, is named after an American riot; the LGBT initialism is an American invention, as is the rainbow flag (the latter, as I’ve said before, being fine as a flag but - with its multiple colours - hopeless as a symbol). More Britons will know the name Harvey Milk than they do Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) or Allan Horsfall (1927–2012) even though Carpenter and Horsfall devoted years of their lives campaigning for gay men to be treated equally under the law in the Britain. Horsfall’s Campaign for Homosexual Equality pioneered the push for gay rights in Britain, the first official meeting taking place in Manchester in 1964. The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 seemed in later years like a poor compromise but when the alternative being offered was celibacy or the risk of a prison sentence it was a start...
..and, it would seem, an important part in this momentous history was played by Jeremy!



Read more of this fascinating article

Sunday 16 July 2017

Having a Ginger day







Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath, 16th July 1911)

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Undead, undead, undead


One of the sexiest photos ever









"Yes. I guess it's the foolish romantic in me, but you see, I don’t think that sex is my muse."

"We are artists. We must not be so dependent on others' reactions. It must always remain as a very intense, passionate and artistic experience, when one makes anything, whether it's a painting, a book or a record."

"I consider my music to be non-fashion-orientated... not restricted by the time and the fashion and the musical environment of that particular year that it was released. It has a much longer, lasting effect."

"When you’re the ‘grandfather of goth’, you have to keep at least partway in the shadows."


The beauteous and talented Mr Pete Murphy of Bauhaus is - gulp - 60 years old today!

And by way of a fitting tribute, here's possibly one of my all-time favourite video "mash-ups"...


...and, of course, that opening sequence from The Hunger:


Peter John Joseph Murphy (born 11th July 1957)

Sunday 9 July 2017

Living in colour



"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent."

"The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you're an artist."



"I prefer living in colour."

"Smoking calms me down. It's enjoyable. I don't want politicians deciding what is exciting in my life."

"Laugh a lot. It clears the lungs."

"I do do a lot of talking, because it saves me listening."


Happy 80th birthday, David Hockney, OM, CH, RA (born 9th July 1937)

Saturday 1 July 2017

Yeah, you know her, check out those shoes


"Patsy, whoooo?"







72 years old?



NEVER!

Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Tremble, 1st July 1945)