I'm not the biggest fan in the world of beards and the hip 'beard movement' - not shaving for months on end is not exactly a hard-to-pick-up skill - but yesterday in The Times supplement, there was a spread of images from Mr Elbank and this one of John Hurt is a killer:
Firstly, what a great portrait, you can see the whole project at the link above or here if you can't be bothered scrolling back up. Secondly, I've never seen a beard suit anybody more. When I look at pictures of John Hurt without it, he looks like he's forgotten something really important. It's no secret that I think he would have made an impossible Doctor Who to follow. I would gladly hand over twice the licence fee to help make that happen, but the moment is gone and lost forever to time.
Why do men who are portraying heroic personalities need beards? Well, they don't need them as such but Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Game of Thrones (there are likely hundreds of others) would all be only half the sum of their parts if beards didn't come into play. Maybe it's a sign that when you're busy doing something important, you don't have time for such trivial matters. Where do you get a shave when you're out in the forest anyway? In amongst the trees, there's nobody to care if you've shaved or not, so what's the point?
Brock Elbank will be exhibiting the whole Beard project at Somerset House from 5-29 March.
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I'm struggling to write anything this weekend. I should have done at least something but alas, if writing is one third inspiration and two thirds perspiration, I have messed up on both counts. I could tell myself that with the new issue of the mag heading to print on Wednesday, I've been otherwise engaged - and I have - but my soul doesn't want to hear about it.
Some days a man just can't catch a break.
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If you're looking for something great to carry you through the week musically, I settled on John Corabi Unplugged yesterday. This passed me by a couple of years ago when it was released but that's fixed now and if you like that kinda thing (John used to front The Scream and also sung on the best album Mötley Crüe ever made - even Nikki told me that one day but also backed it up with the 'chemistry was just wrong and the hardcore fans weren't loving it', which is a shame because Vince can't sing for shit by comparison.
Here's Hooligan's Holiday from the Crüe:
And here he is knocking out Father, Mother, Son... which is pretty indicative of what you'll get on the album.
Just go buy it - here's the iTunes link.
That's all folks.
Shattered.
Have days that mean something to somebody tomorrow... whatever it is you're doing.