Style Icons: Female »Meryl Streep

meryl streepI love that Meryl Streep is a literal living legend of the big screen. I love that she peppers her nomination grabbing (15 Oscar nods already) roles with She Devil and The Devil Wears Prada. But most of all I love that her sense of humor makes her seem like the kind of woman I'd like to spend some time on a veranda with, hearing stories about Jack and sipping spiked lemonade.

I don't know how many grand dames, or even kind of/sort of actors you know, but hanging out with one is usually the last thing you want to do willfully. But, as everybody knows, Meryl's different.

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Posted on May 18, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Peggy Lipton

peggy liptonHello, Summer. I miss you and, with each raindrop, I'm counting the days until you arrive. In the meantime, I'll find solace in the sun-drenched, honey dipped, down to her waist, brushed a hundred strokes a night hair of Peggy Lipton.

Mother of Rashida, lover of Big Ed Hurley, hipster crime fighter, Lipton was even once a pop singer and a lover of Elvis Presley during her lifetime of fulfilling boyhood and girlhood dreams of intelligent California girls (even though she was born right here in NYC).

Gaze upon her beauty here.

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Posted on May 11, 2009

Hunks »Stacy Keach

stacy keachRecently I've watched a couple Stacy Keach films of old that ranged from the downright unwatchable (Butterfly, which features a train wreck Penthousey, Razzie winning performance by Pia Zadora) and the almost good (Roadgames featuring a charming young Jamie Lee Curtis as a hitchhiker – it really had some suspenseful scenes, but faded into muck by the end).

Both taught me one thing: Stacy Keach was a babe. A burly, bear-like babe with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and the kind of male superstar charisma of hunks from decades past that emanates masculinity with a gentle touch. This is a man that can take care of you.

I have to admit I've never seen the character portrayal that made him so famous as the title character in Mickey Spillanes's Mike Hammer. And I can't condone his whole smuggling cocaine into Britain thing, but the man just suffered a stroke (from which he is suspected to recover from completely) so I won't hold his sordid doings against him too much.

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Posted on May 4, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Mimi Weddell

mimi weddellEvery quote attributed to (“I take a teaspoon of brandy when I feel spacey. It makes me come alive.” and?”I'd sell myself for a hat,”) or about (“Facts are not my mother's strong point”) adds to the charm of the willowy actress and style icon, Mimi Weddell.

While her old lady stylish eccentricities might call to mind the antics of the Beales, she never seems to teeter into such decrepit derangement. Instead with a motto of “Rise above it!” she's an inspirational wonder with hundreds of hats (she and her millinery obsession are the subject of a 2008 documentary Hats Off that I am excited to see and wish would come to Netflix – check out the Algonquin release party photos here).

Here are some excellent photos of her and her adorably disorganized apartment taken by Brix Picks fave Tim Walker.

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Posted on May 4, 2009

Hunks »Robert Pattison

robert pattisonOkay, we all know how I felt about reading Twilight and, sadly, I thought the movie adaptation was just as boring – but even I have to praise the inspired casting of Robert Pattison as Edward. While I'm not entirely sure why the rest of the clan looks like they hail from a local JC Penney ad at best (and the ghost of a character actor stuck playing nerds in commercials at worst), nor why his father is the jock from Can't Hardly Wait, I guess all the plain and boring faces drifting across the screen just make Edward and his diamond skin stand out all the more.

In interviews he seems like a pretty likable person too, though who knows what the constant attention of millions of young girls can do to a person. He's been touted as the next Jude Law, but let's hope he doesn't sink into such sleazy behavior.

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Posted on April 27, 2009

Hunks »Idris Elba

idris elbaThere's one man who stalked the low rises of Baltimore that was sure to give all the women hot pants, just the mention of his name can prompt blushing, sometimes even shrieking. Stringer Bell. Or, as he is gradually becoming known, Idris Elba, the handsome intelligent type who only becomes more attractive once one discovers out that he's actually British, swoon.

His recent addition as a no nonsense office wrecker with an unintended effect on women in the Office has only broadened the actor's profile here in the states, probably much more than the subway posters for the Beyonce/ Ali Larter vehicle Obsessed that foolishly hide his beautiful mug up in the top corner. Oh, and my sister just told me he's great in The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

With IMDB there to jog my memory, I now remember that Idris and I are old friends: he starred in the abbreviated 1998 UK vampire show (with British Bob Odenkirk looky-likey Jack Davenport) Ultraviolet, a show that I enjoyed immensely before I began this blog, which is the only reason why I've failed to recommend yet – but it's worth seeking out.

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Posted on April 13, 2009

Hunks »Alec Baldwin

alec baldwinMr Alec Baldwin has several strikes against him and his involvement in movies like Along Came Polly and the abomination that was Cat in the Hat are the least of them. He once joked about killing wives and children on national TV and then there's that phone call?But the worst flaw is that he is a Baldwin at all.

Having a crush on him is like mooning over a member of the bad news clan of crystal meth making, dirty town weirdos that had lice (see the likes of The Little Friend, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and The Bumpeses from the work of Jean Shepard). Even if you have a crush on the one that did finish grade school, you're still tainted by the longings you can't deny for a member of the disgraceful family.

Stephen's latest ventures, if I may call them that, even overshadow an outburst of “little pigs” but I, shamed to say, could ignore all Alec's shortcomings solely based on his phenomenal turn as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. Let's just say that in my opinion, the mentoring upper class executive never left the bubble.

For those of you who have inexplicably still decided to ignore the funniest show currently airing on television, for further proof that my crush is justified I'll point you to his powerful man in a suit performance in Glengarry Glen Ross, and a gentler, more glasses and checkered shirts type of guy role in Beetlejuice. You can also become converted to my way of the hairy chest in (what was strangely an absolute favorite movie of mine as a pre teen) Married to the Mob.

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Posted on March 30, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Sally Kirkland

sally kirklandNo one really knows why the ostentatious strangeness that is Sally Kirkland and her ever changing whirlwind of bizarre red carpet fashion is famous. Well, I do (it's a single movie called Anna and wealthy parents and the dubious distinction of being the first nude performer on the legitimate theater). Still, that doesn't seem enough does it to warrant an almost never ending extended invitation to any red carpet event?

Except, maybe the lords of invitation giving feel the same way I do about big breezy blonds that are clearly kind of crazy – I love them! Just look at her life as the rich and famous where she explains the half of her that isn't a fame seeking monster, the half that enjoys basking in the glory of unearned money with a fire roaring and creating?Nagel inspired marker art (she calls it “paint”). Continue watching and she leaps into a “pizazz”-y sequin, leather, and batik fashion show before explaining her nervous break down in the sixties and teaching kids to act.

She's appeared on Go Fug Yourself, but not as often as one would think. I believe even they have an appreciation for her lunacy. And besides she spends lots of her time as a health activist and was the god daughter of one of my all time loudmouth dames and talents, Shelley Winters, which gives her points in my book.

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Posted on March 30, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Charlotte Rampling

Gorgeous

Being the most gorgeous woman in the world doesn’t hurt any, but Miss Rampling‘s mode is most elegant, sublime and rare.

I cannot recall a single ensemble she has ever worn, yet she is my sole figure of inspiration by grace of carriage and character.

Proof that true style is hardly in the what, but the how.

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Posted on January 19, 2009

Style Icons: Female »Tamara Dobson

Cleopatra Jones

I’ve been intending to watch Cleopatra Jones forever, just to see actress Tamara Dobson, (who passed away 2006) in action. The film is largely unwatchable but my God, this woman is powerfully gorgeous and stylish.

From fur hooded coats to rainbow brimmed hats, from turban and kaftans to silver tunics and Afros, she commands the screen from the tip of the feather in her hat to her toes.

At 6′ 2″, Dobson wasn’t just a Baltimore-raised queen of Blaxploitation, but a model who graced the pages of Vogue Magazine, a rare feat, sadly even today for an African American woman.

Despite a huge fan base, Dobson never resurrected her career after decades away from the limelight. Still, her work has inspired generations and her beauty and grace will never be forgotten.

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Posted on January 5, 2009