And now, the ladies...
A series of images

The convoluted message behind this image of the 1931 film in which the incomparable Louise Brooks, then on the downside of her career, appeared in a small but memorable role. Michael Curtiz among other pictures, would go on to direct "Casablanca" and "Viva Las Vegas." Is Louise God's gift to women? Some have certainly thought so.

A recent Wonderbra publicity stunt in London with this pulchritudinous squadron (what would the collective noun be for a gathering of high-heeled, lingerie wearing exhibitionists-for-hire?) gallivanting in front of a massive billboard comprised of hundreds of smaller pictures of all kinds of women wearing the product. You can read more about this here.

A portion of the billboard at Tottenham and Court roads...The tag line, "We're more than a handful," is supposed to address the varieties of women's shapes and sizes.



Allison Carroll, a former gymnast, to portray Lara Croft. I don't much like guns, and certainly not pointed at me, but the Ms. Carroll's ferocity and her, um, display of power is rather stunning. Indeed, compare her visage to that of Ms. Brooks above...their expressions are quite similar. But Louise didn't tote weapons. Except when she did.


...As opposed to this, "I'm Louise Brooks; I rob merchant vessels," flippant flirtatiousness. I find Louise's smirking assurance less contrived than that of Ms. Carroll's double-barreled faux ferocity. Louise's impact exceeded her physical size -- five foot two inches. Imagine the kick on those things. Wish we could've seen Louise in a pirate costume....that'd hoist up the mainsail, for sure. Image via Louise Brooks Society at Myspace.

And just because I like the music -- the piece is "Rez" by Underworld, here is one of the several YouTube appreciations of Herself. Go to about 1:48, and despite the muddy reproduciton of Pandora's Box, you can get the "Ecstasy" of this creation's title, and see the girl dance. She was in Denishawn and Ziegfield, too; and again at about 3: 44 and at 5:37. Yes, a gun went off. Was it yours or mine?



And just because I can, and there's not a good reason not to, here's some unabashed mawkishness related to Lara Croft. For the record, my faves are at 12, 16, 57, and there's a few more, but this goes on too long: 3:11, 3:17, 3:32, 3:41, 3:56, 4:32.