shh

there's something profane about all of this, but 

[fatefatale]

smile, and mouthfuck you forever.

[fatefatale]

my body's made of hand-grenade  girl bled to death while she was tongue-kissin a razorblade.

Wyclef, The Fugees, “Fu-Gee-La”

[fatefatale]

Hold my life  until I'm ready to use it / Hold my life  because I just might lose it,   because I just might lose it

The Replacements, “Hold My Life”

[fatefatale]

Forgive me but: I found this costume to have an utterly unexpected depth. The split black train like a wedding train’s inversion, the train you wear at a marriage’s death, halves disjoined, funereal, with the full face mask hinting at a hunger to be unseen, a rejection of fame come to bear so ironically by perhaps the most fame-hungry person alive. 

[fatefatale]

Everyone who speaks English understands you. How they interpret you is something else.

Carrie Fisher, Postcards from the Edge

[fatefatale]

Are we all so wedded to the ‘spectatorial’ gaze -- the confirming, approving gaze of others -- that we don’t feel endorsed in the privacy of our own consciousness?

unattributed, from Britney Spears’s Instagram

[fatefatale]

I was an old soul, which is what adults call you when they don't wanna say "loser" in front of your parents.

Taylor Tomlinson

[fatefatale]

Funny how gentle people get with you once you're dead.

Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard

[fatefatale]

People are stupid. I don't understand why people like daylight so much. It's so loud when it hits your skin.

Korvo, Solar Opposites

[fatefatale]

She is like a cat in the dark and then she is the darkness.

Stevie Nicks, Rhiannon 

[fatefatale]

Grab this gun and aim it there / Shoot my pain and slay my fear.

Stormzy

[fatefatale]

Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

[fatefatale]

[Art] should prepare us for tenderness. And in this regard it starts, I think, with intention... Our intention is to crack life open for just a second.

Anton Chekhov

[fatefatale]

Marilyn Monroe photographed by Bert Stern, 1962

First I just wanna say that if you can help me make this post go at least slightly viral by reblogging it if you see it, that would mean the world to me and I will tell you why: I took these photos from a book I just bought, The Complete Last Sitting, which includes every single one of over two thousand photos that were taken of her over the course of three days by a genius photographer named Bert Stern. No other professional photos were taken of her before she died only a few weeks later. 

 It normally sells for over $400 but I found a copy going for $200 and dipped into my savings to grab it. But, see, I know most people can’t afford to drop that kind of money on a book -- I know I am utterly blessed to have it to spare. As such, I want to share as much of it as I can with other fans, because these photos are not available ANYWHERE but in this book. Maybe 50 or so of them can be found online but not any of the ones seen above or any of the other 2k pics that were taken. I think it’s wildly unfair that no one who can’t afford this book gets to see them. I know there are millions who love her as much as I do and I’d love for some of them to get to see these. So it’s not a selfish reason for wanting to go viral -- I really, really, really want to share these photos with other fans.  I will post more if there is enough interest. Every single photo is in this book, including outtakes, blurry pics, over or underexposed pics, pics where she isn’t quite ready, just... everything. It is AMAZING. I’ve wanted this book for 20 years and it was worth the wait and worth the money and I want to share as much of it as I can with everyone who loves her like I do. 

[fatefatale]

The truth was in front of me and every time I flashed the light I saw her coming at me. You try to photograph the truth... you frame it... you outline it using nothing but white light. Then you press the button. And if you're in tune, on that rare wavelength, you'll get to see the truth in black and white and circle it with red grease pencil. Right before my eyes, she was turning into an animal made of light. There was no time to stop. So instead of reaching for her, which was what I wanted to do, I stayed right on the edge, at a magnetic distance that was like the opposite of touching. I wanted to take the time to dwell on the sight of her and not go past. That energy of observing is marvelous. When you desire someone so much, and she's right there in front of you, there's something very special about *not* touching, and just letting the light caress her. And the camera plays a very powerful role in all this. Because you've got love coming through the lens. You just let in and click! Close the box, and you've recorded impressions of that love, that energy, in photographs you can print and preserve. My mouth was dry. My desire all seemed to be drawn up into my head and my eyes. I just kept going into that desire, expanding that space, making it brighter and brighter and brighter. The shutter feverishly clicked and whirred. In the whole world there were only the two of us, a man and a woman, alone together in that magical space of flashing white light. She is gone but she is everywhere. Stars die but light goes on forever.

Bert Stern, The Last Sitting, a book featuring the final professional photos ever taken of Marilyn Monroe, just a few weeks before she died.

[fatefatale]

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Socrates Literally not one single day goes by in my life that I don’t remind myself of this, and in so doing I have become a wiser person.

[fatefatale]

It's a lonely ol' night, but ain't they all?

John Cougar Mellancamp, Lonely Old Night