But now you shall play in the market square, 'till you'll be a man

From a post by by "Cherrybomb" on the ever-wonderful Dangerous Minds:

Though it’s not actually from Mars (BOO!), a David Bowie Monopoly-themed game does exist, and yes, you can have one.

The Thin White Duke’s version of Monopoly came out [in 2020] via an exclusive distribution with UK site Booghe...[and] here’s the scoop on the gameplay for this Ziggy-centric edition...

First, speaking as a collector of Monopoly board games, one of the things geeks like me look forward to are the game pieces, and wham-bam, thank you ma’am, the ones created for Bowie Monopoly do not disappoint. There is Major Tom, an astronaut helmet, a rolled-up tie for Bowie’s 1993 album Black Tie White Noise, and a replica of the hat Bowie wore as Pierrot in the video for Ashes to Ashes and on the cover of Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), designed by Natasha Korniloff. Of course, there is a lightning bolt in honour of Aladdin Sane, a star to signify Bowie’s musical swan song Black Star, and a skull, which of course, was often a Hamlet-esque Bowie stage prop...

...instead of buying property, the squares on the board represent albums from Bowie’s vast musical catalogue. Once you own one of his albums, you can then build stages (instead of houses) and then stadiums (instead of hotels) to increase the “rent” paid when other players land on your square...There are also Sound and Vision cards (like the Chance and Community Chest cards), which bring both good and bad fortune to players drawing from the deck.

It’s hard to conceive there might be a Bowie fan out there who also digs board games that would not want a Bowie-themed Monopoly game. I should know; I am one of those people currently waiting for their very own Bowie-Opoly to arrive.

I'd love one!

In memoriam, David Bowie (born David Robert Jones, 8th January 1947 – 10th January 2016)

This weekend, I am mostly dressing casual...

...just like the legendary Puerto Rican television astrologer and cult icon [who bore a striking resemblance to my Nan towards the end] Walter Mercado, subject of a recent (Netflix-only at the moment, more's the pity) documentary about his life, named after his catchphrase: Mucho Mucho Amor.

From the New York Post:

Mercado’s career began in 1969 when he began reading horoscopes on television in his native Puerto Rico. He eventually became an international phenomenon, known as much for his astrology shows as he was for his coiffed look and Liberace-like wardrobe of colourful suits and jewellery and signature crystal-bedecked capes.

While one might assume he was gay, it wasn’t something Mercado ever discussed. He was an open book with the film-makers, except with it came to his romantic life. “He didn’t like the labels and he didn’t kind of embrace them in any particular way,” co-director Kareem Tabsch said. “But, he was a queer icon. If you were a Latino, Latin American, like myself as a young queer kid watching for the first time, I recognized that sense of otherness in him that I saw in me. I was a much less fabulous version, but I could tell he was different in a way that I was different. And if there was that possibility that he was so loved in the Latino community being so different, that as a young queer person, maybe I too could be loved.”

Mercado was in his 80s when [they] approached him about making the documentary. He agreed after they told him their astrological signs.

By then, Mercado’s life in the spotlight was long gone. His career stumbled during a seven-year legal battle that began in 2006 over the rights to his name and likeness with his former manager Bill Bakula.

Mercado was 87 when he died in November 2019, not long after the doc had wrapped. “He’s our Mr. Rogers and our Oprah and our Liberace all combined into one,” co-director Cristina Costantini said. “I think on a certain level we were shocked that he agreed to do the film. But he so badly wanted to be a public guy, so badly wanted attention and wanted to make this his comeback. We thought it was going to be a comeback but it ended up being a swan song, of course. He really loved the lights and the camera. They gave him energy. They gave him life.”

Here's a trailer for what promises to be an extraordinary programme [and should it ever be shown on "proper telly", I might watch it]:

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado

Extraordinary!

Things to keep you busy over the Bank Holiday weekend

Much, much more at our new favourite interwebs obsession - Awful Library Books!

Penises or Penii?

...regardless, there were many of various sizes at Japan's notorious Penis Festival.

Now, that's what I call a good way to start a weekend!

Travel in style

I need one - if not all - of these "weekend bags" to take on our holiday!!!







Thank you, once again, Dangerous Minds for dangling these "shopping opportunities" in front of my face...

[All bags available for $75 - or around £62 in real money - from 99 Wooster]

All I want for Xmas is...

...a fully-poseable Michaelangelo's David!

As a reviewer over at the Boing-Boing blog puts it :"The stop-motion animation possibilities are endless."

Reserve yours today at the Japanese "Good Smile" online shop.

Birds without irony?

“The reason I called it Pink Flamingos was because the movie was so outrageous that we wanted to have a very normal title that wasn’t exploitative. The only people who had [flamingos in their garden] had them for real, without irony. My movie wrecked that.” - John Waters





Sad news. The creator of possibly the most influential piece of plastic in cultural history, that epitome of kitsch, the plastic pink flamingo garden ornament - Don Featherstone has died.

From Improbable Research website:

Don created the flamingo when he was freshly graduated from art school, and newly employed at a plastics factory. One of his first assignments was to create three-dimensional plastic lawn ornaments (up to that time, most plastic lawn ornaments were more or less flat). The flamingo was one of his earliest efforts for the factory.

Eventually he became president of the company. After Don retired, dire things were done, by his successor, to the flamingo, triggering a worldwide protest, which eventually led to a more or less happy rallying of the forces of Good, and a restoration of the plastic pink flamingo’s status. In 2011, the flamingo attained new heights, when the Disney movie Gnomeo and Juliet featured a plastic pink lawn ornament named “Featherstone”.

RIP Mr Featherstone. I hope your headstone is appropriately shaped and coloured...

On the Jukebox at Dolores Delargo Towers - special edition

RIP James Last, maestro of Easy Listening.

Some of "Hansi"'s musical gems may be found over at my Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle blog here and here.

Liberace lives!

You couldn't make it up.

From The Guardian:

Liberace is set to tour the world as a hologram. A simulated version of the late pianist will be resurrected by some of the same people who staged Coachella’s holographic Tupac Shakur, with a début performance scheduled to take place in Las Vegas.

“This is a major step in the evolution of this medium for entertainment,” Hologram USA’s Alki David said in a press release. The show will be so “lifelike”, he predicted, that “the room will be filled with all of the great singer’s charm and charisma”.

The cyber Liberace will also be able to interact with audience members. “You’ll feel the warmth from his heart, the sparkle of his eye and the pure lightning from his fingertips,” explained Jonathan Warren, chairman of the Liberace Foundation.

The Liberace Foundation is a full partner in Hologram USA’s plans, loaning the company the footage and artefacts that will allow them to create their hologram.

The date of holo-Liberace’s Las Vegas premiere will be announced “very soon”, organisers said. Described as a “full-scale, long-running” show, the high-tech soiree will later be “roll[ed] out across the USA and … globally”.

To quote the saintly Lee himself:"You can have either the Resurrection or you can have Liberace. But you can't have both."

Cleanliness is next to...

I must have these!











Probably the campest shower curtains ever.

Read more about them over at the ever-wonderful Dangerous Minds.

It's a look...

Must get a pair for those "special moments".

Tutti Bella!

Here at Dolores Delargo Towers we never tire of that delightful and unique source of "entertainment", the Italian TV spectacular!

Why ask for quality primetime weekend television when you can have sweatbands, instantly forgettable music, leggings, spangles, boobs, lycra and frenetic dancing? Just don't mention the clowns, OK?

Bonnie Bianco - Circo Circo [from Al Paradise]

Stefania Rotolo - Marameo