Saturday, September 30, 2017

Pamela Anderson, 49, displays her incredible physique in cut-out bra as she poses in steamy new photoshoot for erotic lingerie brand


She added: 'This is our second shoot since Pamela became International Brand Ambassador to Coco de Mer and it is making for a really special partnership which is receiving some very positive feedback from our customers'

Still got it! 

Pamela Anderson, 49, displays her incredible physique in cut-out bra as she poses in steamy new photoshoot for erotic lingerie brand



By Jason Chester for MailOnline

PUBLISHED: 21:05 BST, 25 April 2017 | UPDATED: 01:56 BST, 26 April 2017



Time may well be a cruel mistress, but Pamela Anderson goes some way towards proving the years have been kind in a stunning new photoshoot.
The former Baywatch star, 49, shows off her undeniably toned physique in a series of tastefully shot images taken by Rankin for the new Icons range from erotic lingerie brand Coco De Mer.
In one, Pamela gazes seductively off camera while sporting a longline cut-out bra and matching underwear, teamed with raunchy stockings and suspenders.

Sante D'Orazio / Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson Smiling #1, Hollywood, 2000
Sante D'Orazi

PAMELA ANDERSON

Работы известного фотографа Sante D’Orazio (98 фото - 7.65Mb)
Pamela Anderson

Sante D'Orazi
PAMELA ANDERSON






Работы известного фотографа Sante D’Orazio (98 фото - 7.65Mb)
Pamela Anderson

My writing day / Fiona Mozley / I’m on the Man Booker shortlist and top of my fantasy football league


Fiona Mozley
‘I now have a career that suits my weaknesses as well as my strengths.’
Illustration: Alan Vest

MY WRITING DAY

Fiona Mozley: I’m on the Man Booker shortlist and top of my fantasy football league


The debut novelist, Booker-shortlisted for Elmet, on the joys of daydreaming, stationery and electric guitars

Fiona Mozley
Saturday 30 September 2017


I
have never been one for routine. At my school, I was renowned for having the second to worst punctuality record in its forty-something-year history, eclipsed in that department only by my older sister. It’s true that I wasn’t always thrilled by the prospect of school, but it wasn’t this that kept me away. I would just lose track of time. I would get ready in the morning – have a shower, brush my teeth, get dressed, whatever – then would suddenly stop. I would fall into a daydream, a deep stupor, and would be entirely unable to pull myself out of it. I would race to catch up, but no matter. I received detentions, lines, letters home. I was even once threatened with expulsion, though my smug 16-year-old self knew this to be something of an empty threat – in all other respects I was a good student. But none of it did any good. When I fell into one of these dazes, I was lost to the world.

I am still like this. My ability to zone out infuriates my family and friends. It not only causes me to be late for things, or forget to complete everyday tasks; they can be speaking directly at me and I won’t hear them. I’m sure there’s something wrong with me. Something pathological.
Only now that I am, I suppose, officially a “writer”, I can get away with this sort of thing more. Daydreaming is now work. It is the time when ideas happen. Indeed, all sorts of aspects of my personality and daily routine seem justified now that they can be allotted a position in the “creative process”. I now have a career that suits my weaknesses as well as my strengths. Ideal.
When I started my first novel, Elmet, I wasn’t a writer. I had a full-time job and a lengthy commute. I would jot down bits and pieces here and there – on my mobile phone – and I would write for more prolonged periods in the evenings and weekends. After I had moved back to York to begin my MA and PhD, writing fiction took a back-seat but I would still return to it now and then, particularly when I had a pressing thesis deadline.





These days, I start the morning with a cup or five of coffee. It still takes me a while to get going, and my partner, who has generally walked the dog and commenced work on her PhD by the time I have finished my shower, will often come back into the bedroom from our shared study to find me sitting, staring into space, with a sock halfway up my foot. She will gently bring me back to the world and remind me to finish getting dressed, and slowly but surely I will clothe myself and begin to work. Oh, the invisible labour of writers’ wives.


I sometimes write on my computer and I sometimes write by hand. I have a serious stationery fetish and if I see a nice new notepad or pen I will have to buy it, regardless of whether I have finished the one I am currently using. There was a time when I felt guilty about this, but then I realised that if the very particular pleasure of writing on virgin paper meant that I managed even a few sentences, it was probably worth it, regardless of how wasteful it was.
When I write on my computer, there is, of course, the temptation of the internet. Email, Facebook and Twitter are prime culprits, but I must also admit to some other, more niche, distractions. I am a person who develops obsessions quite easily. Two of my serious interests are electric guitars and vintage cameras. So far, so hipster.
However, when I am really lost in procrastination, it is not just the playing of music or the taking of photographs that catches my attention, but the objects themselves. I can spend hours watching YouTube videos about the circuitry of different distortion pedals or the properties of different photo-negative developing agents. I tell myself this knowledge may one day find its way into a novel, and will therefore be useful, but I’m pretty sure it’s the kind of detail that any good editor would instantly cut.
My present obsession is fantasy football and, lately, writing has been punctuated by checking scores, transfer rumours and injury updates (yes, on the Guardian online). I am in a league comprised of the owners and members of staff of the bookshop I work at, along with their partners and extended families, and I am sitting at the top of that little league. My recent good news regarding the Man Booker prize shortlist has been met with unanimous joy. My success in our league, however, has not been.
Fiona Mozley's Elmet is on the Man Booker shortlist.

In brief

Hours: occasionally  Words: hopefully  Time spent emailing: divided by time spent ignoring emails  Work satisfaction: direct correlation to fantasy football points

THE GUARDIAN



My writing day 

2016

2017



Friday, September 29, 2017

Pamela Anderson / "Good Bye Hugh "



Pamela Anderson
"Good Bye Hugh "

Playboy Playmate Pamela Anderson pays emotional tribute to Hugh Hefner

Former Playboy Playmate, actress, and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson paid emotional tribute to Hugh Hefner, the Playboy founder who died Wednesday at age 91 and helped launch Anderson to international stardom.
In a video posted to her Instagram page, Anderson is seen crying and wiping away tears as she lies in bed. “Goodbye Hef,” she says at the end of the short video.

To caption the clip, Anderson wrote a poem in memory of Hefner, whom she called “the most important person in my life” outside of her family.

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, dies at 91


Hugh Hefner
Poster by T.A.

Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine, dies at 91


‘American icon’ died at his Playboy Mansion home from natural causes, the publication announces


Stephanie Convery and agencies
Thursday 28 September 2017 07.08 BST


Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine, has died aged 91.
Hefner, who founded the sexually explicit men’s lifestyle magazine in 1953, died at his home, the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, the publication announced.

Cooper Hefner, Hefner’s son and the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, said in a statement: “My father lived an exceptional and impactful life as a media and cultural pioneer and a leading voice behind some of the most significant social and cultural movements of our time in advocating free speech, civil rights and sexual freedom. He defined a lifestyle and ethos that lie at the heart of the Playboy brand, one of the most recognizable and enduring in history.”

Books that made me / Philip Pullman / ‘The book I wish I’d written? My next one’

Philip Pullman … ‘I only cry when I stub my toe.’ Photograph: Michael Leckie


Books

that 

made me


Philip Pullman: ‘The book I wish I’d written? My next one’

The Northern Lights author loves John le Carré and William Blake, Anthony Powell not so much

PHILIP PULLMAN
FRIDADY 29 SEPTEMBER 2017

The book I am currently reading
John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies.
The book that changed my life/the world
William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
The book I wish I’d written
My next one.
The book that had the greatest influence on my writing
Jonathan Swift, Directions to Servants.
The book I think is most under/overrated
Underrated: David Lindsay, A Voyage to Arcturus; overrated: Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time.
The last book that made me cry/laugh
Laugh: Bernard Shaw, Our Theatres in the Nineties; cry: I only cry when I stub my toe.
The book I couldn’t finish
Far too many to list, but including Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men.
The book I’m most ashamed not to have read
James Joyce, Ulysses.
The book I most often give as a gift
Harry Frankfurt, On Bullshit.
The book I’d most like to be remembered for
Clockwork, or All Wound Up.


THE BOOKS THAT MADE ME
2017
13 October 2017
Eimear McBride / ‘I can never finish Dickens – it’s sacrilege’
20 October 2017
Shami Chakrabarti / ‘Harry Potter offers a great metaphor for the war on terror’


From 'Rock of Ages' to Rod Stewart: After leaving ND, Kotte finds success on stage


Kotte refers to Rod Stewart as "the coolest man in the world." Special to The Forum


From 'Rock of Ages' to Rod Stewart: After leaving ND, Kotte finds success on stage


HADDON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Becca Kotte is a one happy employee, calling her boss "the coolest man I've ever met." High praise, but not all that surprising when you find out the former Fargoan works for one of the biggest rock stars in history.
Kotte, a 2005 graduate of Fargo South High School, has been working as a backup singer for Rod Stewart for about a year.
"He's an absolute dream to work for," she says. "People say when you meet a celebrity, there's an aura around them. That was absolutely the case when I met him. He's so cool."
Kotte is on a four-month break from touring the country with Stewart. It's just enough time for her to regroup, move into a new home in New Jersey with her husband James McCroan and reflect on a career that's taken some unexpected twists and turns, but always taken her to where she needs to be.
Becca Kotte, a 2005 Fargo South graduate, has been been a backup singer for Rod Stewart since November 2016.
In her DNA
Kotte, who moved to Fargo from southern California when she was just 5 years old, says her love for music was passed down from family.
"I was drawn to music from the time I couldn't even speak," she says. "I think it's in my blood. Both my parents can sing. We were always listening to music."
She joined church choir and had her big break when she sang the national anthem at a Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks game when she was an "embarrassing nerdy 10-year-old (kid)," she says.
Theater was a love as well, but something she never thought would be a career.
"I remember going to shows at FMCT (Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre) but just thinking of acting and singing as a hobby," she says.
But all of that changed when she got involved at Trollwood Performing Arts School. She participated in "Totally Trollwood" in middle school and four mainstage musical productions during high school.
"I totally got the bug from it," she says. "I became more drawn to theater. I had found my tribe."
Trollwood alumna Becca Kotte is starring in the musical, “Rock of Ages,” in Las Vegas. Photo courtesy Denise Truscello.
Surrounded by excellence
Kotte says it helped that so many of her counterparts in local theater from the late '90s and early 2000s pursued the arts long after high school graduation, including Broadway performers Becky Gulsvig and Ben Gunderson and New York-based director Austin Regan.
"I'm blown away that this little small town has all of these really successful people pursuing music," she says. "I'm very grateful I grew up here. It set the stage for me."
After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater from the University of Miami, Kotte lived in New York City for just 10 days before signing a contract to perform on a cruise ship — a job she calls the perfect fit for a single, 22-year-old wanting to see the world. She worked off and on for Norwegian Cruise Lines for a couple of years before fate stepped in and changed her life.
An unexpected detour
After she left the cruise ship, Kotte was ready to settle in New York City to look for work when tragedy struck. Her brother-in-law, West Fargo native Eric Ziegler an Air Force F-16 pilot, was killed in a training exercise at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. He left behind his wife, Kotte's sister Sarah, and a 9-month-old daughter named Anna.
"It took me about two seconds to decide I would move to Las Vegas and help my sister with the baby," she says. "It's pretty crazy for this single, free-spirited girl living in New York to move. But I remember thinking, 'We're going to make this work one day at a time.' "
Fate stepped in when Kotte met her future husband at her brother-in-law's memorial service.
"They were best friends," she says. "They were roommates at the Air Force Academy and kept getting stationed together all over the world. After the accident, we kept in touch and once I made the decision to move to Vegas, we started dating and have been together ever since."
Back to the stage
Kotte's niece Anna, whom she affectionately calls "my baby," is now "7 going on 17" and enjoys following her aunt's career — which carried on in Las Vegas as a singer with '80s bands on Fremont Street and later performing roles in the musical, "Rock of Ages."
"It was my absolute dream to be in that production," Kotte says. "I've always loved '80s music. I don't listen to showtunes. It's classic rock and oldies."
She says she "soaked in every minute" of the 3 ½ years she spent in the "Rock of Ages" production, first as a swing performer (someone who learns one or more roles in the acting ensemble of a production and steps in when needed) then in the lead role of the character Sherrie, but she says she knew it was time to leave. She was preparing to move back to New York City when a "Rock of Ages" drummer told her rock artist Rod Stewart, with whom he had performed, was looking for a new backup singer.
After an audition in Los Angeles, she landed the job and has been traveling with Stewart since November 2016. Stewart goes back on tour in January and Kotte will be right behind him. She hopes one day to be on Broadway but says she's in no hurry. She loves touring with Stewart and the rest of her "big family" on the road, she says. Once in awhile, this one-time Fargo kid, has to pinch herself to make sure she's not dreaming.
"I have those moments all the time. It's always on mind," Kotte says. "All of the things I hoped for ... so many of them have come true."


Thursday, September 28, 2017

Nabokov / Father of Gonzo





Vladimir Nabokov, father of Gonzo

Saturday, 1 June 2013

While it's important to get the dates right in any history I'll have to fudge that of this photo of novelist Vladimir Nabokov and just say that it's from his youth. Some people might be familiar with photos of an older Nabokov - that heavyset geezer dressed in shorts and carrying a butterfly net, perhaps - that date from the time of his eventual commercial success, a time that was suddenly full of photographers and journalists looking for topical content, but I imagine that this photo shows what the man looked like when he studied at Cambridge in the years immediately following the Russian Revolution, an important event in the life of a boy born into the minor nobility in Russia in 1899.

The secret of Nabokov's sexual style


Dominique Swain as Lolita

The secret of Nabokov's sexual style


Lolita was a taboo-breaker, but Nabokov always denied it was pornographic. David Lodge on how poetry and humour come together in his writing about sex


Saturday 7 June 2014 08.30 BST

W
riting well about sexual intercourse is not easy, and it has got more, not less, difficult as virtually all legal restraint on the explicit description of sexual acts in literature ceased in most western democracies from the 1960s onwards. Censorship in the past was often oppressive and silly, but it also presented a stimulating challenge to writers, to which they responded by finding subtle ways to convey their meaning indirectly, or more courageously by gradually testing and extending the limits of socially acceptable explicitness. There are a limited number of possible sexual acts. Now that the novelist is expected to describe them, how does s(he) achieve originality? How to avoid revealing, or appearing to  reveal, his/her own sexual predilections and fantasies?

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Stephen King on His New Netflix Movies, It, and His Big Year


Stephen King on His New Netflix Movies, It, and His Big Year

By Kyle Buchanan
September 25, 2017



Stephen King turned 70 last week, and he’s got plenty to celebrate. The prolific author is having a major moment this year as the film Itadapted from his 1986 novel, has become a box-office phenomenon. Everywhere you look, though, there’s some new King project in the works, whether it’s the recent movie version of The Dark Tower, the limited series Mr. Mercedes, or Hulu’s upcoming show Castle Rock. In addition to his latest book Sleeping Beauties — written with his son Owen; it’s out tomorrow — King has two other well-reviewed movies that just premiered at Fantastic Fest and are hitting Netflix soon: Gerald’s Game, based on his 1992 novel, casts Carla Gugino as a woman who’s handcuffed to a bed by her husband (Bruce Greenwood) in a role-play scenario gone wrong, while 1922, adapted from a King short story, stars Thomas Jane as a flinty-eyed farmer named Wilfred who plunges into madness after the murder of his wife. As King told me on the phone a few days ago, he couldn’t be more pleased about the movies and his banner year.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Is the Ending of Black Mirror’s ‘San Junipero’ Exactly As It Seems?

Gugu Mbatha-Raw


Is the Ending of Black Mirror’s ‘San Junipero’ Exactly As It Seems?


By 


Spoilers ahead for those who haven’t watched this particular episode of Black Mirror yet.
It’s already ruined our lives, according to the rest of Black Mirror, but now, the internet would like to ruin “San Junipero.” By most accounts, that episode, which centers on a romance between Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Kelly and Mackenzie Davis’s Yorkie, interrupts the rest of the cynical gloom of the rest of season three of Black Mirror like sunshine breaking through the clouds (or rants about the Cloud). The two characters turn out to be avatars of two near-dead humans, and by the end of the episode, both cheat death and decide to live with each other in San Junipero’s Belinda Carlisle afterlife.

Inside “San Junipero,” Black Mirror’s Uncharacteristically Beautiful Nostalgia Trip



Black Mirror
Courtesy of Netflix.

Inside “San Junipero,” Black Mirror’s Uncharacteristically Beautiful Nostalgia Trip

Charlie Brooker and Gugu Mbatha-Raw explain the choice to focus on a same-sex couple without giving them a tragic end.
by LAURA BRADLEY
OCTOBER 28, 2016 9:00 AM


“San Junipero” is not your typical Black Mirror episode. The sunny installment in Charlie Brooker’s typically gray, murky dystopia has no sense of foreboding. There’s no dubious technical advance threatening to destroy anyone’s life as she knows it. There’s just a beautiful love story, heartwarmingly portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis. The episode has been lauded not only as one of Black Mirror’s most accomplished yet, but also as a rare find among TV offerings in general: a story starring a same-sex couple that doesn’t end in pure tragedy.
Brooker said that in writing “San Junipero” he aimed “to upend the notion of what a Black Mirror episode was.” The show started out with the goal of telling a wide variety of stories, after all.
“I’d read some people going, ‘Oh, it’s going to Netflix; it’s all going to be American now. It’s all going to be little kids playing baseball.’ And I thought, Ah, fuck you, then, O.K. California. Haha!,” Brooker said with a laugh.
Brooker and Mbatha-Raw sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss the episode, Brooker’s choice to focus on two women, and what it was like to bring the story to life. But before you read on, make sure you’ve seen the episode. Spoilers a-plenty ahead.

The story of San Junipero / Why Charlie Brooker's Emmy-winning vision of Heaven will live forever



The story of San Junipero: why Charlie Brooker's Emmy-winning vision of Heaven will live forever


Helen O´Hara
18 SEPTEMBER 2017 • 7:40AM



In January 2015 the humourist Mallory Ortberg summed up Charlie Brooker’s tech-anthology series Black Mirror as “What if phones, but more so?”. The science fiction show focuses on how high technology and low entertainment can magnify our flaws and destroy our relationships.

Monday, September 25, 2017

Black Mirror / San Junipero wins at Emmys, as Charlie Brooker urges crowd to 'physically make love'

















 




Netflix's sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror took two awards at last night's Primetime Emmys, with show creator Charlie Brooker winning both Outstanding Television Movie and an Outstanding Writing award for the episode San Junipero, a futuristic love story.