HEAD PLANT

Yeah, it's been that kind of day.

SIGN LANGUAGE

I came across this updated street marker a few months ago during an afternoon walk along the Panhandle, and I'm just getting around to posting it here.

NEW MUSIC MONDAY

Wild (live from Chapel Hill, NC)

Lazuli (like the title card says)

Here are two songs that I couldn't be more in love with right now, from the new Beach House release, Bloom.

Okay, sort of new album. I mean, it only dropped a few weeks ago, but you know how the kids are these days about what is considered new and not so new.

Anyway, check it out, 'cause the entire album is damn good.

ALLIED FORCES

"It's gonna happen, whether you like it or not."

MY OZ

This view works for me, I'll take it.

IT SUITS ME WELL

I miss wearing a suit and tie for work.

SPELLCHECK

It's spelled ZIEGFELD, not ZEIGFELD.

Hopefully, those in charge will run a second spellcheck before the release of Baz Lurhmann's interpretation of The Great Gatsby on December 26.

PICTURE THIS

I found myself on yet another urban hike (9.3 miles), yesterday.

At second glance, however, I'm not so sure I can use the phrase "urban hike," as the pictures posted above clearly show that I ended up at the beach.

BIRTHDAY GIRL

With a nod to the recently (and infamously) filmed nude swimming pool scene, here is the birthday card that was signed by the cast and crew of the never-completed Something's Got To Give, and presented to Monroe at the end of the shooting day, 50 years ago today.

CHAMPAGNE

The infamous nude swimming pool scene from the
uncompleted "Something's Got To Give"

"Let's get some Dom."

Who is Dom?, I wondered. All I could think was that I was going to have to deal with someone new now, which was a wrinkle I hadn't anticipated. Instead of asking me inside, however, she grabbed a cardigan and headed for her car. I think it was a T-bird, but I don't recall for sure. Marilyn motioned me in and drove us to Sunset, then headed east to the Strip. Near Schwab's drugstore, where Lana Turner, according to legend, was discovered sipping an ice-cream soda at the counter, Marilyn parked the car under a streetlamp and told me to wait - she'd be right back. A few minutes later, she came out of Schwab's holding a brown paper bag. Back in the car, instead of starting the engine, she reached into the bag and pulled out "Dom" - a bottle of  Dom Pérignon champagne.

-- Lawrence Schiller, from the Vanity Fair article "A Splash of Marilyn"

I love this recollection so much, because only in Hollywood could you find a drugstore that carried Dom Pérignon champagne.