bettie page blog

It has been a goal of mine to make a visit to Brooke Army Medical Center ever since I started the project in 2007. Brooke Army Medical Center is the Defense Department's only burn center. It is able to save people like never before because burn victims get there quickly -– as fast as 36 hours from injury in Iraq to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and then to Texas. Doctors there have treated more than 450 patients with severe burn injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I finally made my visit to San Antonio, TX in early April to visit the Wounded Warriors there and to deliver your donated calendars, posters and tee shirts.

To see all the pix from my Brooke Army Medical Center visit, check out Pages 50-51 of "In the Field" link on my website www.pinupsforvets.com

The visit was one that I will never forget.

Here I am with one of the donated tee-shirts before going in to visit the patients at BAMC in TX. The patients LOVED the donated tee shirts. I told them all that they would get lots of kisses when they wear their "Kiss a Vet" shirt!!!!

I also attended a dinner at the Warrior and Family Support Center right next to BAMC. I was as able to meet with many of the recovering Wounded Warriors and handed out your donated calendars. These brave heroes are amazing people and were so thankful to all of you who donated calendars for this visit! I told them that I had flown to BAMC all the way from California to visit them! I think they were pretty impressed!

The Warrior and Family Support Center is a place where families can be involved with the rehabilitation of the Wounded Warriors.

I received emails of "thanks" after the visit. One of the brave heroes wrote to me:

"Thanks. I really like your pics and it keeps a smile on my face when I wake up in the morning and look at your calendar on my wall."

I know that it means so much to these Wounded Warriors to know that people all over the country and the world are thinking of them. The calendars, posters and tee shirts that you have donated always bring a smile to their face!

Once again, thank you to all of you who so generously donated calendars, posters and tee shirts for this visit.

While I was at BAMC, I learned about one of the patients that was treated there, a very special Marine, Merlin German. Merlin was burned on 97% of his body and endured over 150 surgeries. He was called the "Miracle Man" at BAMC. He passed away last April. Click on the link to read about this amazing young man:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/05/03/2008-05-03_marine_sgt_merlin_germans_loved_ones_rec.html

I wanted to let you know that I am planning another hospital visit to Northern California--two VA Hospitals that I haven't visited yet. So, if you are interested in donating a calendar, poster or tee shirt for this visit, please check out www.pinupsforvets.com and click on ORDER NOW, option #2

Much love and thank you to all of you for your continued support,
xoxo
Gina
www.pinupsforvets.com

PS I am now on Facebook.com. You can find my profile by entering my email address: pinupsforvets@aol.com in the search box. Would love to "friend" all of you!!!! :)

Don't drink and drive... you may loose your hot rod!

Home for Big Mac also welcomes the hot rods

LA WEEKLY talks 'bout Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson.

Amy Winehouse - drugs = VV Brown?

RIVERFRONT TIMES catches up with James "Cry Baby" Intveld.

Aly Fell, a 3D animator, modeller and concept artist for Eurocom Entertainment Software in Derby, UK, is responsible for the above beautiful, classic pin-up, featuring Bettie as an alluring "Miss Muffet". Aly Fell explains what motivated his cool drawing:

A recent "Character of the Week" on Concept Art was Bettie Page, after she passed away. This was my entry portraying her as Little Miss Muffet. It... was very much a Gil Elvgrenisation of her. Hope it works a bit!

Most of my stuff is purely character work, and I enjoy drawing women, in traditional pin-up styles -- cheesy pics of girls in unlikely situations a la Gil Elvgren -- and in a more complex way.

For fun I like to visit places like Egypt with my girlfriend and hang around with people who wear too much black clothing and eyeliner. And I like to drive my hearse, when it's going...

Check out Aly's ONLINE GALLERY and his blog, PORT OUT, STARBOARD HOME. He's a regular at CG SOCIETY (which also features a gallery), CONCEPT ART and is a regular contributor to IMAGINE FX. Hopefully, he'll grace the Bettie Page Blog again in the future, as well!

Cruel Story of Youth
By Jim Hoberman, from THE VILLAGE VOICE

(Nagisa Oshima, 1960). Set in a widescreen world of strident rockabilly and lurid neon lights, flashy cars and boldly patterned synthetic fabrics, turquoise telephones and motorcycle punks, Nagisa Oshima’s 1960 “new wave” feature was less Japan’s Rebel Without a Cause than its Brave New World. Perhaps that why, although the movie is nearly 50 years old, its vision of ginza punks and adolescent sex urgency still feels contemporary.

This sounds like a killer flick!

Glamorous alt model Bettie Butcher not only walks in Bettie Page's shoes... she walks with Bettie inked on her entire outer left thigh! This tat is no joke... but it is a sexy image fit for this vampy Aussie.

"She is from a comic book i found in my brother wardrobe - Steve Worons' "Betty Page the 50s Rage", issue #1a.

Got her in about 2004... the tattoo artist was Josh Charelton from Rudys Tattoo in Sandgate, Brisbane, Australia."

This "fun loving, friendly 25 year old gal from Brisbane" is an enthusiast of vintage fashion, corsetry, role playing, vehicle mechanics, reading, and is devoted to her cats.

Although she doesn't want to be locked into alt-modeling or pin-ups, she is serious about her body mods:

"I have streched ears, as well as a septum piercing" ...and at least ten major tattoos, which, in addition to Bettie Page, includes a cool red angel wings back piece, a panther on her upper arm, a geisha, a wicked chest piece and LIVE and LOVE on her knuckles.

See more of Bettie Butcher (and her Bettie Page tattoo) on MYSPACE and MODEL MAYHEM.

---

Have a Bettie Page tattoo you want to share with the world? Email us! Tattoosdays are always better when we have a great tattoo to feature!

Teo Jonelli’s Betty in Bondage is profiled at Atomic Avenue.

EARTH'S MIGHTIEST FANSITES gives a solid rundown of "The Comic Book Life of Bettie Page".

COMIC VINE has a nice little slideshow of comic book covers in which Bettie "appears".

i09 is a crazy popular blog, part of the blogging empire that includes Jezebel, Jalopnik, Gizmodo and other actually successful, well read blogs that, like, get comments and stuff. Anyway, Jesus Diaz, an employee of this bloggantuan group of sites, worked this up. So... enjoy, if that's your bag.

(by the way, I pulled this from their comments section, as no credit was given for the "ahem" inspiration for the work - no mention of Bunny Yeager and they called Bettie Page "Bette" -- TWICE, so it wasn't a typo! GRRRR. I saw this a while ago but these facts prevented me from posting it then... but I did bookmark it and I'm going through my bookmarks and, well, y'know...)

#
10:05 AM on Fri Mar 27 2009
Plague

A lot?
Sorry, that's a Betty [sic] Page Bunny Yeager photo badly photoshopped.

Betty [sic] should not be defiled.

I saw this on a newsfeed, then searched around for good coverage, of which this AVN article seems to be most comprehensive.

Marilyn Chambers, like Bettie Page, was unapologetic in her sexual expression. Her early work as the "Ivory Soap" girl gave her a similar "messes with the Madonna/whore dichotomy... does not compute" kind of vibe that also characterizes Bettie Page's appeal.

She starred in films such as BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR and INSATIABLE, which, despite the fact that my creepy uncle had them on Betamax, were attempts to "legitimize" hardcore pornography as a genre of mainstream filmmaking. Despite porn becoming a multi-billion dollar business, the division between "mainstream" fare and "adult entertainment" remain within the Hollywood community (with the line blurring somewhere near VH1's ROCK OF LOVE BUS).

Chambers did "cross over" in David Cronenberg's RABID (see! see!), but ended up returning to adult filmmaking, in many different capacities, often trying to produce work that was at least quasi-sex-positive.

Marilyn was found in her Santa Clarita residence by her daughter on Sunday night. She was 57 years old. Cause of death is pending.

Frankly, it is hard to embrace all of the adult industry, as much of it is juvenile

and filled with not-so-great portrayals of women. However, a society that ghettoizes the expression of sexuality in media, so it can condemn/decry it en masse, seems equally as pathetic. Maybe Marilyn really did want a world where we didn't require two entirely separate industries to release a movie where naked people do what naked people do. It seems like that could lead to a more enlightened society that would take some of the piss out of both of the negative extremes.

I won't hold my breath!

(Netflix THE FILM IS NOT YET RATED if this topic interests you -- it explains why frank, realistic sexuality is marginalized by the Motion Picture Association of America... and how the NC-17 rating, that was to free serious cinema, failed so spectacularly.)

Even non-nerds can appreciate that Batwoman has evolved from an afterthought to a LIPSTICK LESBIAN male fantasy afterthought (except when drawn in loving detail by Adam Hughes). Now, thanks to TOPLESS ROBOT and ROBOT 6, comes the breaking news that Batwoman (not to be confused with Batgirl -- totally different character) will wear SENSIBLE WORKBOOTS for crimefighting and, out of costume, will have a smart bob with Bettie Page bangs, a few tasteful retro tats and will start shopping at TORRID.


In the spirit of equal time, Marvel is launching Marvel Divas, which will be "frothy" and features another afterthought female character, "Firestar", who Gen Xers will remember from SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS WHO AREN'T POPULAR ENOUGH TO BE NAME-CHECKED IN THE TITLE, ONE OF WHOM WAS CREATED FOR THIS CRAP, AS "THE HUMAN TORCH" WAS ALREADY UNDER CONTRACT TO A DIFFERENT STUDIO TO DO A BAD TV MOVIE THAT NEVER GOT MADE AND ALSO THERE WAS PROBABLY PRESSURE FROM "FEMINISTS" TO HAVE, LIKE, A GIRL, OR SOMETHING.

Evidently SoCal Beaches Magazine likes girls in bikinis lounging near classic cars taking in the ocean breeze.

Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy's passion for vintage girlie art has bloomed into a second career, as profiled in the MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE.

Photostream from the Tuscon Tattoo Expo pin-up contest on FLICKR.

Someone's DIGG list of contemporary pin-up art.

ACCESS HOLLYWOOD celebrated Easter by running down the most notable PLAYBOY BUNNIES and PLAYMATES of all time. And Jesus wept. Aw, what the heck... at least they had the good sense of including Bettie Page!

Little article about Viva Las Vegas from a slightly dismissive scene outsider.

TIME OUT NEW YORK article on THE NEW YORK PIN-UP PHOTOGRAPHY MEETUP GROUP. Sounds like fun - like a re-ignition of the camera clubs of yore that helped promulgate Bettie Page's popularity!

Automopedia has pin-ups, apropos of nothing, but we're not complaining.

Interview with Alicia Estrada, founder of STOP STARING, at LAist.

Shripmton Couture's "open letter to Dita", urging more vintage, less designer.