yes

calling Dorian Gray

So I guess when he's not making cheese at his (very big) house in the country and writing the most entertaining Britpop memoir of excess and champagne, Alex James moonlights with a bit of modeling. After all, it would be a shame to waste those glorious cheekbones now he's not strictly a rock star anymore.

(Alex James & Irina Lazareanu for the Auben & Wills Spring campaign, photos via missmoss)

d'amour

My favourite Louis Garrel collaborator Christophe Honore's latest, Beloved, is screening at the French Film festival. This time round Garrel's outrageous beauty costars with Catherine Deneuve and her real-life daughter Chiara Mastroianni, Ludivine Saginer and legendary director Milos Forman. Plus Paul Schneider! (holy shit Mark Brendanawicz, that's a long way from Pawnee)It's set in the '60s and '90s. It has songs. What else do you want?

the great stone face

heart-on for Buster Keaton

Beastie Boys x everyone I've ever loved

so this came out ages ago (April?) and I have no idea why I only just watched it now. The one after it with Santigold and zombie Ken dolls is a total winner as well. Beastie Boys, making music videos worthwhile since the mid '80s.

half-hour version here, aka the best 30 minutes you'll spend all day

you play that thing one more time, I'm gonna melt it down into hairspray

"1970s Jack Nicholson is THE man. He wins everyone over and gives the appearance of not trying. He walks into the room and pushes the needle off the record player. He looks incredible in clothes. He says something completely terrible and insulting and then is forgiven because he smiles to acknowledge that he knows he is being terrible. What he wants he just takes and if he can't get it he destroys property. He is charming but he is also evil. Are all charming people evil? Isn't that sort of what charm is about?"

One of the best opening titles ever. That SONG.

see also

(FYI correct answer is Jack/Dustin/Warren, obvs)

just a country boy that combed his hair

I won't lie -

I like my cowboys via Hollywood. Soundtrack courtesy of Mixtapes for Johanna, as ever

F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.

It's not news that Jarvis Cocker has been my #1 pin-up since high school, and I'm beyond excited to see Pulp in all their seedy cinematic glory at the end of the month. BEYOND. They hold the keys to my musical heart.

oh boy

JTE covers my favourite Buddy Holly song. Swooning all over the goddamn joint.

reasons to be cheerful:

imminent jetsetting

ladies who speak their mind

Southern noir, courtesy of Justified

(hmmm, cowboys)

he's with the band

I've had this photo on my wall for years, I'm in love with the Keith Richards/Mick Jagger dynamic (Keith: "For some reason Mick has a hard-on about me...") and all the Villa Nellcote stories. I almost like reading about the Stones even more than listening to them. (Almost). What I never realised until today was that my cowboy of choice, Gram Parsons, was all this time sitting there just out of frame. 

And the Keef/Gram relationship is even more interesting. I'm halfway through re-reading Twenty Thousand Roads, a really excellent Gram bio, and I've started in on Keith's reminisces and I'm almost at the point where their two stories start converging. For the time being I'll leave you with the ever-astute Miss Pamela's observings of them, directly after Altamont: "Gram was there, leaning against the wall wearing black leather and eye makeup, nodding out. Keith was wearing cowboy clothes. It looked like they were turning into each other".

(photos by Dominique Tarle)

the international language

Crushing out in a major way on the new Gruff Rhys record Hotel Shampoo (more fangirling on it for russh here)

And this song!

ashtray floors, dirty clothes and filthy jokes

the last few days, plus further reading 

cowboy mouth

Stole an hour in a hotel room with Justin Towne Earle this afternoon(hmmm not like that), he has a fresh tattoo and laconic charm to spare. And those girls on the record covers? It's kind of a James Bond thing.

tomorrow's makin' valentines

Ted Danson is my Valentine over at russh magazine

You'll never be young again

Just another Friday night at the Chauvel, watching Benjamin Braddock deal with his post-college ennui by drifting in his parent's pool and into the arms of two generations of serious foxes. If you had a young Dustin Hoffman wouldn't you do the same?

What Would John Waters Do?

"If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!"

Is it possible to love this man too much?

Yeah, didn't think so.

surrender to Jonathan

There are 99 reasons Jonathan Richman is for me, and here's just one of 'em:

cartoon action

So here's the secret of the Green Hornet: it's all about Kato.

(He's the one with the gun)

It's not a brilliant film, and there's not much to say that it's a Gondry affair but Kato basically gets to pull fine ninja moves all over L.A. and that's okay with me. Seth Rogan - who I adore, damn it - is himself, only slightly punchier and totally upstaged by his chauffeur x genius mechanic x barista x partner in crime. It does have its moments though, like a fight scene in the heart of Reid's inherited empire amongst huge bolts of paper and production lines of newsprint, and the faintly 1940s gangster style suits they sport aren't too shabby either. Not to mention the tricked out Black Beauty which is a truly envy-making car for a girl who grew up on James Bond.

Added bonus: Cameron Diaz playing the lone female character with a name. Not only that, she's kind of great - smart and feisty with a low tolerance for childish men. Even better, she's not reduced to a romantic foil (as in SPOILER doesn't have to make out with anyone). Plus there's the first sighting I've had of Edward Furlong in a very long time and a James Franco cameo which goes to prove the dude is in every piece of celluloid this year. 

john waters x lonely island x nicki minaj x my heart

watch it quick, before NBC makes youtube take it down