That Saucy Bastard

Continuing on my sci-fi 'trip', I'd recently watched the 1980 cult classic film 'Flash Gordon', re-released on DVD. It's in turn based on a comic strip by American artist Alex Raymond from the 1930s, and which has gone through a few incarnations on the small screen since.

Flash!! Aa..Ah!!

The premise of the story is that a ruthless dictator from another galaxy (or star system) is bombarding Earth with meteors. Flash Gordon, a polo player, is caught up with heroine Dale Arden and the Russian scientist Zarkov - who believes he has discovered the source of these attacks - in a space adventure to the distant planet of Mongo, homeworld of said dictator, Ming the Merciless.

By today's 'standards' in the mainstream, the whole premise of such a story may seem unbelievably camp and even dated. Indeed, that is why the concept of Flash Gordon has attained a sort of cult status in the sci-fi world, even recently being re-imagined into a TV series in recent years.

But it is probably precisely because it has a certain cult status, with a pedigree from the Golden Age of science fiction, that it is so notable.

Not only does it have that '80s, big-hair, over-the-top kind of feeling, it has that kind of unabashed sexiness too, which is probably partially a holdover from the '70s.

Take, for instance, the Mongo Princess Aura (right).

I must confess that I didn't like the movie that much...it wasn't the campiness as much as that some sci-fi ideas or stories, in my opinion, are difficult to translate onscreen.

Sometimes I prefer the printed word - on hardcopy, not even online. And I don't just mean text either, but graphics: the picture from (one of) the comic strips below, for example. Or the picture after that?

And now for something different.

There is a lot of sex (and sexiness) out there in one of my other areas of interest: science fiction, or sci-fi. Over the last couple of years I've noticed some wonderfully creative and salacious material out there.

EVer since the production of the 1956 sci-fi thriller Forbidden Planet, science fiction has never been the same.

Poster from Fim Forno

Fast forward to the 1980s, and you have the memorable Princess Leia in a metal bikini...

But if you're talking about a sub-genre called 'sci-fi porn' (pretty good write-up in the link), then 'Barbarella' (1968) starring Jane Fonda would be the first original one ever. Check out this clip of her in the Excessive Machine.

 

There's also this piece on mainstream Hollywood making fun of cult-turned-mainstream Hollywood - in 'Zach and Miri Make a Porno', Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks spoof Star Wars (NSFW!). This article also has pictures from an artist who has drawn Star Wars 'porn' involving a varied cast of female characters, both major, minor and almost unknown.

I have a 2007 calendar from the British men's magazine ARENA, and the last month of this year features French-Swedish actress Eva Green.

I started to take notice of her after I first saw her in the movie Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Then I caught an older film called The Dreamers (2003), and she's had me hooked ever since, and this was cemented when the latest James Bond move Casino Royale (2006) came out. It was a pity that her latest, The Golden Compass (2007), half-wasted her screen presence; nothing wrong with her acting, but the script and production of that movie didn't really do any of the actors  there justice, I felt.

Not only is this talented and beautiful actress as close to my ideal type of woman as any, it also happens that the years 2005-2007 have had some meaning for me in terms of relationships, and were related to the timing of her rising star in films. Green reminds me of a couple women I've been particularly fond of or been with, and they in turn have reminded me of her.

Memories of those times have been bittersweet. And I guess it was appropriate that she would be the December girl in the calendar, to round off the year.

Here are some photos of her from ARENA magazine.

 

 

 

Here's hoping that 2008 will be better.

Have a Happy New Year!

 

 

Ahhh......Ashley Judd.

 

 And if you still can't get enough of Ashley, here's a couple more pictures (wallpapers) for good measure...

 

 

 

 

   

...Monica Bellucci.

 

You are looking at the new voluptuous perfection. I "fell in love" with her ever since she appeared as the title character in the movie "Malena".

    

 

 

 

Yet another book is Callgirl by Jeannette Angell, a former Boston-based escort, now professor and novelist, who recounts her life as a paid companion after her (ex-)boyfriend absconds with her money. The now-married Angell apparently concludes her book with a call to legalize prostitution in order to encourage regulation of the sex industry.


For those who have any of these books, happy reading! Now I wish I could say the same for myself, because although I don't intend to read every one, I've yet to get my hands on a single one of them...