I asked my friend, "What are your three favorite pleasures in life?" and she replied,"A martini before and a cigarette after.
" Get your killer-diller coat with a drape shape, reet pleats and shoulders padded like a lunatic's cell and meet me out back."
Viva Las Vegas was great here are just a few of my favorite pics.
View from hotel room.
My favorite pic of all, for a minute I thought I had been transported back in time.
Just look at all the people at the car show. Amazing.
I loved the bathing suits so vintage. Wish I could go next year. Maybe stimulus package 2009?
My turtle Teddy!!!
I love this scene from Moulin Rouge. Who thought that this Police song would make such a great tango number. I have tried a couple of times to learn tango but my swing addiction keeps getting in the way. Anyways sorry its is small and dark. You might want to rent Moulin Rouge to get to full effect.
What a stylish suit!
Another great sign! From our pilgrimage to Austin.
I am working on a series of Neon signs and saw this two great signs. I think they look great blurry but if you want to see the rest look at my photos. I might post a blog once I have finished half of my series.
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I had a wonderful vacation and bought alot of great vintage postcards and took alot of pics. Now to find the time to post them all.
So I am revamping a little and wanted to create a section devoted to my favorite dance. If you know me you guessed it. Balboa. If you do not know me watch the clip and if you have seen me dance this would be the time to go "Oh that's what she is trying to do." So I dug up footage and a short history.
Balboa is a form of swing dance that started as early as 1915 and gained in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. It is danced primarily in close embrace, and is led with a full body connection. The art of Balboa is the subtle communication between the lead and follow, like weight shifts, that most viewers cannot see. As a result, Balboa is considered more of a "dancer's dance" than a "spectator's dance".
Balboa is danced to a wide variety of tempos. Because the basic is so small, Balboa can be danced to fast music (over 300 beats per minute). Balboa is also danced to slow music (under 100 beats per minute), which allows more time for intricate footwork and variations.
Two great contemporary Balboa dancers.
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Another Balboa dancer Ray Hirsch from the movies.
Greatest Bal-Swing clip (in my opinion)
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I love film noir and I found a cute little book called "It's a Bitter Little World" and here is my top 6 quotes from the book:
"Friendship's much more lasting than love."-Mildred Piece "Yeah, but it isn't as entertaining."-Wally Fay, Mildred Pierce 1945
"I didn't have enough strength to resist corruption, but I was strong enough to fight for a piece of it." -Joe Morse, Force of Evil 1948
"I don't pray. Kneeling bags my nylons." -Lorraine Minosa, Ace in the Hole 1951
"I still think it would be wonderful to have a man love you so much he'd kill for you."-Barbara Morton, Strangers on a Train 1951
"She was giving me the kind of look I could feel in my hip pocket."-Phillip Marlowe, Farewell My Lovely 1975
"You shoot me in a dream, you'd better wake up and apologize."-Mr. White, Reservoir Dogs 1992
I adore this photo so Film Noir!
This picture came from The Century of Sex. It works by turning it upside down and covering the woman's hand and face. A really cheeky image from the 1920s.
Attention! Taking donations for the car of my dreams. Just $5500 will put me in this car. Just email me and I will love you forever.
Swing Baby Swing, is the love of my life but I love the whole gamit of music from minstrels to ragtime, blues, hot jazz, swing, lounge, rockabilly, rock n roll, punk, you name it I have heard it. Still exploring and love suggestions in to more unique types of music.
This is a great album especially if you like old blues.
All kinds top ten LA Confidental, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Usual Suspects, Chicago, Moulin Rouge, Shaun of the Dead, Seven, Matrix, Schindler's List (Big Kevin Spacey and Quentin Tarantino fan)
I think Kevin Spacey is hot.
Haven't had much interest since X-files went off the air.
Love James Ellroy three top books of his LA Confidental, The Big Nowhere, and The Black Dahlia, lots of mystery novels by Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Right now involved in the Valentin St. Cyr Mysteries by David Fulmer
Great book, SO-SO movie.
Great view, wish it still looked like this.
Plus two more vintage views of Houston.
Advertisting Less-Than-Fresh in 1941
I got inspired by the Continental Club sign. I guess you only see the last view when you are drunk.
We were not really the focal point of this video but you can see us in the background for some of it. You have to wait 20 seconds for us to decide to dance. I will have to dig up old footage to also include.