Scott and Olly's great Silhouettes Showdown!

Oh, I love the Internet, just the fact that you can find, follow, support and interact with talented, creative people who do something you like!

My last Twin Peaks entry left me wondering what Scott Campbell was doing now and was ecstatic to find out he was doing a signing of Great Showdowns at Forbidden Planet the next week!
He wouldn't be alone either as Olly Moss would be signing his new book too, Silhouettes of Popular Culture.

Just look at that amazing cover on Olly's book

 and can you name all the movies on Scott's?

I followed Olly Moss's work ever since he did that amazing minimalist black and red movie graphic set on Flickr (how much do you love the Indiana Jones one, sigh), that infamous Spoilt shirt and he started doing posters in Empire magazine too.

I couldn't turn that opportunity down to see the two of them in one place and especially when Scott C emailed to say he was bringing Twin Peaks prints to sell alongside signing his books, I just had to go!
The signing was only for an hour from 6-7pm so I was anxious that I may not get there in time as I finish work at 6.

Luckily Forbidden Planet is just down the road from the office and the queue was starting to wrap around the horror and supernatural romance shelves by the time I stepped down into the basement. So many lurid covers to giggle at.
As I peered around the people nearing the front, I could see the artists themselves taking their time to talk to people, drawing portraits in books, doodling and signing away and how did I never know that Scott C looked like Jason Sudeikis?! Um, helloooo.

I saw a girl in a West Ham scarf manning Scott's portfolio as people flipped through. Alas I had no cash on me(self, stop doing that) but I was able to reserve the last print of Concentrating on the Js that Scott had in his portfolio, hooray! She kindly took it out and put it in an envelope for me to pick up after the book signing then I carried on waiting in the queue and flicking through the books.

As an 80s pop culture fan, these two books are a total delight, both very striking in their artwork and a real joy for anyone who is a fan of films and artwork. Olly's book of silhouettes riffs on the art of profile silhouettes by showing the profiles of famous characters from films, television and video games. They are strikingly beautiful and it's amazing how well Olly is able to get characters down to the bare details.

Great Scott! 

Where's your brain?

Scott's Great Showdowns has a more whimsical watercolour take on the showdowns that happen in our favourite films, all with smiley faces painted on.

I feel funky

The cheque's in the mail!

Lots of people were there for Scott and Olly, I was also hoping that Kate Beaton may make an appearance and had brought her brilliant books, Hark! A Vagrant and Never Learn Anything From History.

I later stood off to the side to purchase my Twin Peaks piece  and saw Kate Beaton talking to Olly!

 I waited to be sure it was her, she introduced herself to someone as Kate and then I managed to catch her eye and ask if she would sign my books? She walked over and said hi as I took my books out, I had one of the original books of History and she was excited to see it, noting that it was one of the original runs and thanking me for taking care of it. We talked a little about history, comics and being in London and she drew a pair of my favourite characters of hers, The Mystery Solvin' Teens!

Needless to say the signing completely overran and there were lots of happy people clutching their signed books. Thanks to Forbidden Planet for running it all smoothly and to Olly, Scott and Kate for their time and signing so many books and prints! I cannot wait to frame my Twin Peaks art, it is even more beautiful close up.

I popped into Forbidden Planet at lunchtime on Friday to get some more copies of the books as Christmas presents for friends, and was delighted to see a stack of signed Kate Beaton books for sale.
Here are a few of the characters she drew! I really do recommend her Hark A Vagrant book for fans of history and literature, they're such fun to read.

I love the 80s Power Dressing Woman!

Do you have any favourite webcomics that you recommend? 

Twin Peaks 20th Anniversary Art Exhibition

"Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee."

Twin Peaks is such a fantastic, off beat and creepy show. Who can forget David Lynch and Mark Frost's show populated by a cast of delightful characters ranging from Agent Dale Cooper, to the Log Lady and the delicious Audrey Horne?

Too young to see it when it first aired (if it even had a proper showing here?), I'd always heard about this seminal influential show especially as I was an obsessed X-Files fan and got a chance to see it when it was one of the first programmes they ran on Channel 5 when it started here. I still find it so unsettling and funny at the same time. 

I found out about a 20th Anniversary exhibition happening at the Menier Gallery through Twitter and was eager to go, especially since it was on for such a short time. It closed today and the curator (Suet May Ling) herself was in attendance talking to the exhibition attendees about certain pieces on the walls and selling some great looking (but expensive) merchandise. I would have loved to have an RR mug or a Log Lady tee, all officially approved by David Lynch, but not to be. 

Jo came along and we met outside the Southwark Cathedral to make our way to the exhibition. Jo had 'Poor Man's Rum' whilst I had a Chai Latte to fend off the freezing wind. 

 It's a small exhibition space but the artworks were pleasingly spaced out and ranged from different mediums from printed scarves, oil canvas hangings, photographs, intricate fine paper cuts, framed postcards with inked drawings on the back and large woodcuts. 

At first I wasn't sure if we could take pictures but we saw others do so with no rebuke, so I took a few snapshots of my favourites. There weren't any labels with titles of artworks or author so no information unfortunately. 

The creators of Twin Peaks themselves: David Lynch and Mark Frost. (I thinking of him as Mark Snow, heh, that XFiles fangirl side coming through) 

  I remember this one was called 'Black Lodge'. 

The exhibition was definitely worth seeing and made me remember why I liked the show so much, it really made me want to sit down and watch it all over again!  A few friends have been going through Twin Peaks phases too, check out Riikka's Lynch themed housewarming! 

Talking of Twin Peaks and art homages, you can see others here, my personal favourite Twin Peaks artwork is by the brilliant Scott Campbell. He painted this watercolour "Concentrating On The J's", which has been my laptop wallpaper ever since I saw it on his blog.

Afterwards, Jo and I explored Borough Market and had lunch next to a ship!

Have you been to any exhibitions lately or have you given yourself a present today? 

Happy Valentine's Day to all you Teen Dreamers!

I love reading the magazines where the writers come up with the wildest straplines ever.

Special is definitely the word I would use!

Happy Valentine's Day, there will be more posted tomorrow if I can get my scanner to behave!

A new year, a new start!

Apologies, life got in the way of updating this blog! But now I'm ready to show you all the wonders I can find!

Let's start with the lovely Diane Lane, it was her birthday last week and I'd always wanted to show people the wonders of Diane Lane's freaky eyes.

(the costume designer for Streets Of Fire, Marilyn Vance also did Pretty In Pink!)

Diane Lane looks stunning in so many of her films and this one is no exception- Streets Of Fire is a personal favourite, she plays rocker Ellen Aim, playing a benefit gig in her hometown, getting kidnapped by a motorcycle gang and rescued by the delicious Michael Pare! It's worth a watch!

In 1980, she was hit in the eye with a tennis ball that caused one pupil to dilate forever.

Clueless to that fact, upon flicking through '80s magazines and seeing a picture where it was really obvious, freaked me out!

My first thought was, "she's on drugs! Really weird drugs that only dilate one eye!"

Well, Diane had everything, looks, money (she was a multi millionaire by the time she was 18), troubled childhood, flings with co-stars (and later on, Jon Bon Jovi!), I thought she'd just been partaking of a few special treats other than her beloved cigarettes but nope, tennis ball!

I wonder if she used eye drops or contact lenses as it doesn't seem that obvious all the time?

Once you see it, you can never unsee it.... the same unfortunately goes for the unsightly concealer... and the teeth before they were capped.

The pictures are from Diane celebrating her birthday in Japan,

promoting The Cotton Club and her advertising for Max Factor's 'Fame' range!

As a sidenote, Japanese '80s magazines are famed for their elaborate photo shoots and determinedness to publish the most unflattering candids ever. This will become clear later on if it wasn't already by the above!

Diane's one of my favourites from the '80s, so this won't be the last time she features on this blog. I want to see Ladies & Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains sometime this year. I'm glad to see she's made a return to acting after her 2008 retirement, her new project, Secretariat looks really interesting!

wonders of ebay

(heheh, he's checking out his pole)

New Kids in their 16 shirts, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS AND HIS FACE.
Oooh I'm actually tempted by the Cry Baby preview now, and the TV Outsiders coverage, argh. I'll be strong, I can't afford to start collecting Cry Baby material and I can't really afford this magazine at the moment anyway! Maybe if I see it again in the future and have spare money I'll buy it then.

The great thing about flicking through these vintage magazines is when you see faces you know now. For instance, there was a John Stamos mini comeback a few years ago, I believe? He was in... jesus, I didn't realise he was in Friends as the potential unknowingly sperm donor for Chandler and Monica, I just watched that ep a few weeks ago, haha! Oh, he's been in E.R.
Jack Coleman from Heroes, and others that I can't think of right now as I think this most recent one beats them all!

A young Jackie Earl Haley who will forever make my skin crawl as the paedophile from Little Children, shudder. But Look! He was in Slab Boys on Broadway with Sean Penn, Val Kilmer (LOL MULLET) and Kevin Bacon!

I'm going to go and tweet this to him now! I think he'll be really good as Freddy Krueger in the new film they're doing, I love Robert Englund in the role but it'll be interesting to see someone else take on the mythology of Freddy and perhaps flesh out his backstory a bit.

OHH, I LOVE IT. Upon looking on twitter, I found this gem. This is what I love about Hollywood through the years, the way people are connected to each other! Casting anecdotes are always fun, makes you wonder what a film could have been like with someone else in it.

"Johnny Depp got the role in Elm Street by besting the guy he gave a ride to the audition, Jackie Earl Haley, who is the new Freddy."

EDIT: 30/08/09 - Jackie wrote back on Twitter about the picture! @pitythebackseat I was the only one with long hair and bell bottoms... still stuck in the 70s. Great pic, thanks. J

the boys of summer

London finally got some nice weather over the weekend so I read some of my latest acquisitions whilst sitting in the blazing sun.

It seems like Maxwell Caulfield had the same idea whilst on the set of Grease 2!

I really enjoy that film and all the teen magazines were full of pinups and fold out posters showing off those eyes, that mouth and the body! Plus articles glossing over Maxwell's Soho club go go dancer boy past.

Be sure to visit Amy's Grease 2 site!

This cover is pure beefcake, I was tempted to bid on it for novelty value but then the price zoomed up to over $30 so that was out of my price range!

I expect it probably had photos like these, poor Scott Baio looking all sad and lonely and half-naked, omg this reminds me of those Zac Efron pap photos when he was running in the Hollywood hills!

Here is Glenn Scarpelli in very short shorts lounging on his bed.

Wait, what could be worse than those shorts?
How about a crop top!

Your eyes do not deceive you!

Talking of eyes, it took a lot of eyescrubbing to try and rid them of this image.
Mmm John Travolta's gusset.

To end on a gusset note, here's a Coppertone advert that always disturbed me a little, why is she so deliriously happy that men are looking and laughing at her ladygarden?

"I learned the hard way about sex", says Willie.

Teen Spectacular October 1979 cover courtesy of ebay,
oh how I wish I'd actually bought it!

This is the first magazine cover I ever saw on ebay to make me laugh so much, I felt sick. I don't even know where to start. Willie? Leif? Discover your body next to a grinning Jimmy Baio? Shaun's tragic love mistakes?

It made me start thinking that I simply had to show these sort of images to a wider audience and that I couldn’t be alone in finding these interesting and hilarious.

Granted, this is from 1979 but you have to wonder what would come in the future years. Would they be able to top the use of colour, different fonts, innuendo, the strap lines, all on one magazine cover and inside?

Well, this blog is an attempt to find out. I hope you’ll come along for the journey into what my magazine collection and the mighty ebay has to offer!

I take requests if you have any themes you'd like to see from the 80s magazines.