Johnny Depp returned to his musical roots Friday night, reuniting with his old band The Kids for a fund-raiser at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach, Florida.
With his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis, and their 9-year-old daughter, Lily-Rose sitting together in box seats
screaming in the crowd of 2,500 as Depp smiled up at them from the stage, the Oscar-nominated actor strapped on
a guitar and sang backup vocals during the power-pop group's 90-minute
set.
The second annual Sheila Witkin Memorial Reunion Concert honors The
Kids' late manager, who was well known in South Florida's music scene.
All proceeds from the benefit go to the Dan Marino Foundation, which
funds programs for children with special needs. The band also reunited
in January 2007 for the same cause.
The 45-year-old actor joined The Kids when he was a high school
student in Miramar, Fla., and moved to Los Angeles with them in search
of a record deal. After the band broke up, Depp decided to pursue a
career in acting.
Johnny and the boys are scheduled to rock out again tonight on day two of the benefit.
Spouse and I will be driving north tomorrow and will be at Lake on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If I didn't have responsibilities you could not pry me away to come back home. However, from the perspective of being home my biggest responsibility--my family--is also the one that I get the most joy from.
At least spouse and I get to enjoy 3 days of it! Woot!
Wait 'till you see the Moocards I ordered today-almost all have Haliburton cottage country scenes that I photographed. They are beautiful and now are updated since my sample pack--which I don't want to give away the last of, is really outdated and the contact information is outdated as well (one of ways to customize Moocards is as mini-business cards).
Did you know I see a shrink once every 3 months? Now you do. I saw him today. I never stay longer than 5 minutes. He makes upwards of $100 for 5 minutes though I think he can only squeeze in maybe 6 patients per hour, leaving the rest for quickly-scrawled mandatory paperwork. Dx: Depression w/anxiety though I think I've had a handle on the depression for about 5 years now. Prior to that other long stretches as well. First time I've been diagnosed with anxiety but it practically ruled my life prior to the heart failure. (Yes, I've wondered if there was a connection as my heart failure was of unknown causes (kinda spooky, not knowing). Anyway Dr. P. is doing medication management--but forgot to ask about that today. ;)
New store with my name...where's the apostrophe?!
OK. Gotta go. Twitter updates and Photoshop just to give you something. I'll be back
*Smooches*
New store with my name...where's the apostrophe?!
I'm not sure if I over-shared this. The Lake had more rain this summer and spring past than it's had in 70 years. That's' before my dad--who is the patriarch--started going up there--before the cottages were built.
My week alone...before spouse groomed the bank ;)
Lake Bottom and my personal flotation device (raft)
Got a little yucky for a short while after storms
Twitterific: 8/25/08
Comment spamming my personal blog, catching up. I'm terribly behind. Twitter is too much for me! Do not deserve the noble moniker "blogger." 10 minutes ago from web
Must finish the great dig--my email--before our trek north Fri to Maple Lake, Ontario, CA. Cottage closing, saying goodbye to the Lake :( (about 2 hours ago from web)
Also, I need to drop email from my life completely, forever. *sigh* A fond daydream.
Time to make Earl Grey and watch Weeds! about 2 hours ago from web
Remembering that I forgot to celebrate 10 yr Anni of not dying from heart failure. Aug 19-a fun day spent at Gameworks for 16 y.o.son's b-day about 2 hours ago from web
Though previous speculation about who would wear the cat suit in the Dark Knight Batman franchise indicated that Angelina Jolie would take the role, it sounds like previous buzz was way off base.
The 62-year-old singer-actress Cher who earned an Academy Award for Best Actress for 1987's "Moonstruck" --is reported to be in talks to play Catwoman opposite Christian Bale in the third Batman film from British director Christopher Nolan.
"Cher is Nolan's first choice to play Catwoman. He wants to her to portray her like a vamp in her twilight years.
"The new Catwoman will be the absolute opposite of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry's purring creations."
The working title for the Dark Knight film is "The Caped Crusader" and it is to begin shooting in Vancouver, CA in early 2009.
Johnny Depp has already been cast in the film as The Riddler.
Catwoman has had many incarnations both on the small and large screens. The big-screen versions were previously portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry.
Four of them have and I've not got a lot to show for it. Took son school supply shopping ostensibly for just his engineering class. Dropped $50 in the blink of a eye. Haven't gotten the supply lists for other classes but he thinks that we may not have to purchase 4 extra books for English again this year (we didn't have to but it was suggested so that when mid-term test time rolled around he'd have the books from which a chunk of it was based on). Remember when all you needed to purchase for school supplies was a pencil and later, a pen? No? Then you are too young to relate. Modern parents buy a tons of stuff and then pay hundreds in book fees.
The second day home I took son and two of his long-times buddies to Gameworks from early afternoon through evening.
Son's 16th birthday and first day of school were yesterday and by then I felt like a wet dish-rag. The long drive home alone from the doesn't really hit me until a day or two later--and that's when (in my fantasies) I chill at home leisurely unpacking. There's been no chilling and nothing leisurely. Also no unpacking.
However I was reminded today of how much I the school day "debriefings" son and I do immediately after school. I get to hear the news of the day whilst it is still fresh and he reinforces what is on his plate for each class. He really doesn't seem to mind it though it came about as a way for him to be better organized/us better informed.
So far he's really digging his AP Physics and AP Trig and Calc classes. With the exception of one or two friends he's got a goodly amount in each class so the social aspect seems to be off to a good start, too. Apologies to anyone who I've neglected online. It's just a pretty big deal to go away for a month but leave one person here--one person who does not really clean--yet didn't do anything strikingly bad either. I just have to wipe off everything before I touch it which was exactly as I did for the first week in the cottage after it was sealed up tightly for nine months. Plus no person of the male persuation in this house can "see" dust collecting EVERYWHERE. Housework should be called house hard labour.
So OK, here I am about to attack the gmail. Stay tuned for some graphics of why my drive home took 1.5 hours longer than it should have (14 hours, total). From Battle Creek to Climax to Kalamazoo, Michigan--one lane highway--many big trucks--top speed 20 mph. Usually 5 or 10 mph. The truckers, me, and other souls who had to shift gears were not really thrilled with this. Burned a quarter tank of gas.
Oh Detroit, what can one say that hasn't already been said? Who made the detour so I had to fear for my life to be able to get back in to the US? It's just a big circle! And my, what a lovely little tour of the city one gets! The construction mini-highway signs seemed to be directing me correctly but as I saw the last choice --94 East and no sign that said 94 West, I pulled into a well-lit Marathon station. The bullet-proof glass looked like it would be highly effective. The nice man inside quickly verified that I just needed to continue down the road and the on-ramp would be on my left. Then he added a grave-sounding "Be careful!" Holy moley. I was being careful--did not need confirmation that this was a scary place. I was sincerely trying get the heck out of there as quickly as my 5-speed would let me. So home is where I am, feeling sort of normal, finally. Still haven't unpacked my suitcase though I've been cheating and getting clothes to wear each day from it so I'll have less to drag out of there.
The "little guy" turned 16 year-old today--plus started his first day of junior year in high school.
School seemed uneventful. I was a bit annoyed that we didn't coordinates things so Chris could get something to eat at school. He has no official lunch period--just half of AP physics, second half--and no one remembered that his lunch card, paid up as it is, wasn't usable until he'd gotten a new mugshot and that was later in the day, during gym class.
He seemed to have a good time with his two good buds yesterday when everyone got an all you can spend card for Gameworks. Plus they left after over 3 hours of play and still had more than half the game time available to them on their game cards--for another day.
Getting ready to leave and I don't want to go. Even though everyone says this was the worst summer ever I've been happier than ever here in this little cottage. Life is very simple. Our water is unfiltered and comes from the lake about 100 feet from where I sit now. One cannot drink it, rather one must fill up big container of spring water which can be obtained for free near the tiny airport about 2 miles from here.The airport and a now-shuttered resort are what brought people from Toronto to this lake in the first place in the first half of the 20th Century.
We do a lot of our grocery shopping at a little market with one butcher and one bakery lady. All the dairy and meat products are fresh, obtained locally as is much of the produce.
For the first time ever there is a local radio station, "The Moose"--they play a lot of Rush-- and they'll show up to almost any little event. Today spouse went to buy grass seed and they were there broadcasting at the Not Home Depot, raising money for some lifts for the two hospitals in this massive county. They thanked my spouse as "Roger from Chicago" on the air which tickled him.
The counter lady at the brand new Rexall drugs recommended a local photographer for my son and I to get our Canadian passport photos taken. She'd had no trouble she said, last winter when she and her children had theirs done and sure enough, it went off without a hitch for us, too. Afterward, we got milkshakes, possibly the best anywhere, at a local ice cream stand that's been there at least 30 years, maybe more.
On that trip into town I ordered the rustic wooden sign I've wanted made--don't know where I'll put it but it'll be hand-carved and ready to pick up when I come back to close the cottage in September. It's says "Alice's Place" and will have two little hearts as embellishments, in remembrance of the woman to whom I can thank for the privilege of being here--my grandmother. My grandfather outlived her by 35 years and after he died at age 101 the county put a road sign at the end of our dirt and gravel road--"Frank's Lane" --which is nice but I want to make sure that we are reminded of her, too. I think of her often but many folks though they know of my grandfather don't have any reference to my grandmother. There is a teevee but it only gets one channel so we never use it and don't miss it. We play Uno at night or watch movies. In the evening too one hears the nearby haunting call of the loons, which scares our little dog.
Spouse spent much of his time building a groin to better build the beach and when he finished that he secured the bank down to the lake with the many stones that had been buried in the sand--some almost the size of boulders. My grandfather had them hauled in many, many years ago. Spouse also fixed both sets of stone steps which take you down the 15 feet or so to the beach and the lake. It's peaceful through the week and because of the wet and cool weather even weekends have been more quiet than normal.
We are in the woods on a lake. I've had this privilege all my life and I realize how very precious it is. After dinner tonight spouse and I took the canoe out further than he'd ever been and so got a view of the lake which was completely new for him. We saw the ever-present common loons and a beautiful blue heron that swooped by us.
I have to leave this life, go back to suburbia as school is starting and my son is turning 16--both on August 20-- and I owe that to my son but I do not want to go--at all.The one concession to modern life has been what facilitated me being able to stay here for a month--the satellite internet. I've gotten a lot of work done--but on my own schedule. I did a conference call today which involved pulling up visuals on the Internet and it was totally awesome to do so in my swimsuit and shorts. Heaven if there is one, could not be any better than right here.
ABC has quietly started renegotiation with Lost actors Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly to beef up their paychecks, currently at about $150,000 per episode.
However, word of the talks leaked out by Friday, prompting reps for
some of the other regulars to call the studio to open their own renegotiation. The majority of the “Lost” supporting players are in
the $80,000-90,000 per episode range.
You are well prepared and knowledgeable and will no doubt live a long and happy zombie-free life. You might want to think about setting up a zombie survival group in your area, an anti-undead militia. But please, for everyone's sake keep it low-key. We don't want the government to think we are on to their scheme so take your band and keep moving.
We bought a canoe at the end of last season with the plan being to use it this season. As luck would have it, the weather has not cooperated, with lots of choppy not-canoe friendly waves on the Lake on most days. Yesterday, however looked pretty calm so whilst spouse went to town I put the waterproof housing on the camera and headed out.
I did pretty well until I rounded a small point and paddled into a bigger cove and the lake current spun the canoe 90 degrees and then quickly another ninety degrees. At first, I corrected this situation but quickly found myself being spun about repeatedly. I didn't panic as I had all the gear I was supposed to--but this was perhaps the fourth time I've ever been in a canoe in my life.
I just had no idea how strong the currents on the seemingly calm lake could be.
I should have realized though with the crazy weather--the 70-year record rainfall--that the lake which is quite deep this year, could behave unpredictably.
Anyway it was a learning experience. Our canoe is a light one. Two people would have given it a bit more stability.
Also, fighting it is dumb. As soon as I reverted to a more Zen approach which was, "OK it seems the current is taking me this way--I'll go with it until it doesn't and try another way when it stops being so strong," things got a lot better. I ended up coming in from being stuck in the middle of the lake on a diagonal then in more shallow water regaining control of exactly where I needed to go. Still, it took at least a half-dozen attempts to make it in to our beach.
I noticed a number of beach-goers seemingly watching and I fervently hoped they would not ask me if I needed help. At one point when the current calmed but was still too rough in the direction I wished to go I just pulled out the camera and acted nonchalant. At worst I thought I'll just get in the water and swim, towing the canoe behind me. But it did not come to that and I got off a couple of good snaps with the best being after I landed back on our beach.
That lastest Johnny Depp buzz is that he's re-teaming with close friend, director Tim Burton to play The Mad Hatter in Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland 3-D, due for release in 2010. Alice in Wonderland 3-D will be Burton's telling of the trippy classic by Lewis Carroll. According to sources the film will segue into computer generation after Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Prior to that it will be live-action. Only time or a well-placed source will tell whether Depp will himself be the Mad Hatter or voice the computer-generated version. Previously, Depp and Burton have teamed up for Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, The Corpse Bride (voice), Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and most recently, the butcherly musical Sweeny Todd. Alice will be played by Mia Wasikowska (HBO's
In Treatment) .
I was having my bowl of heart-healthy cereal this a.m.whilst perusing the online New York Times when I came across an article on Peter Gabriel in the business section. The not-very-compelling headline was "An Old Rocker Gets Digital" which turned out to be rather inaccurate, too. Gabriel has been digital at least since the wholly digital "Shock The Monkey" back in the 1980's. As it happens, yesterday, one in a series of rainy days here in cottage country, I had the local FM station,"The Moose," tuned to a syndicated music show in which an aspect of the background of classic rock music is highlighted each week by the engaging Steve Downs. He spoke about Gabriel and his Genesis departure and how both the band and Gabriel went on the have more fame and fortune than they'd had together. I found it interesting that Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" explains his sudden departure from the band that he founded. So I was primed to read about what Pete has been up to of late and it turns out what he's been doing has been very intriguing for many years now. He sums it up in the last line of the article with,
“I don’t believe in the death of the major record companies,” Mr.
Gabriel says. “But as an artist, I’d love to see them reinvented as
service companies.”
Within the two-page article, the likes of Richard Branson, Thomas Dolby and astrophysicist Michael Large comment on their admiration for Gabriel from business, technological, and artistic standpoints. Branson: "In the early days, we’d go skiing together and Peter would have an idea every 30 seconds,” says the British entrepreneur,
whose Virgin Group includes more than 200 companies. “We’d be sitting
on the lift with me scribbling madly in my notebook, trying to get
everything down. He’s worse than me.”
Thomas Dolby: “Peter approaches business the way he approaches his music: it’s not
digital, it’s organic,” says the musician, who has enjoyed
his own business success as the co-designer of the Beatnik ring-tone
synthesizer, a utility included in more than a billion Nokia mobile phones. “I am impressed that he’s achieved so much in the business world.”
With so much praise being heaped upon a guy I already admired I had to read the whole article and after doing so, I wholeheartedly agree that that Peter Gabriel is a nice guy with heaps of talent, loads of foresight, and an outstanding business sense. Plus, I want to watch one of his 20th Century videos again.
But Peter Gabriel the "old rocker"? I don't think the word "old" and Peter Gabriel belong in the same sentence.
"While major record companies have spent heavily on the Internet with relatively little to show, Gabriel and his partners started OD2 on
a tight budget, built it into a digital delivery platform that
retailers like Virgin used on their Web sites, and sold it in 2004 for
$40.5 million.
“When most labels were banging their heads, he got
it and saw the liberating value of Internet distribution to artists,
and that’s what excited him,” says Mr. Grimsdale, a partner at Eden
Ventures, of Mr. Gabriel. “He has a very good sense technologically of
what’s going to work.”
OD2’s success also catapulted Mr. Gabriel,
after decades as a top-selling artist, into a second career as a
powerful player in the emerging online music industry, a move that once
seemed more outlandish than the costumes he wore in the early 1970s as
a singer for the rock group Genesis.
But Mr. Gabriel, the son
of an inventor, keeps devising new ways for musicians and record labels
to use the Web to control their work and to make — not lose — money.
His two newest Internet ventures — We7, an advertising-driven music site, and TheFilter.com,
which offers personally tailored multimedia recommendations — have
received strong financial backing and positive user reviews in early
tests.
As an artist, Mr. Gabriel was quick to embrace new
technologies like music videos, interactive CDs and high-definition
television. His 1982 release featuring the popular single “Shock the
Monkey” was among the first completely digital recordings.
It's another rainy day here at the cottage. It's very, very cold for this time of year as well--if we are lucky there will be a high of 60F today. I really doubt it though. I'm glad I brought hoodies because I'm wearing them with the hoods up--indoors. I've not ever had to use a space heater that I can recall but both of them are cranked up right now. I've been blog-keeping, younger son is watching 80's and 90's cartoon openings on YouTube, and spouse drew the short straw has gone to West Guilford to do laundry. Supposedly, the weather is going to improve slightly as the weekend progresses so we figured we'd get the bigger chores out of the way whilst it is like this. Anyway what better a way to feel cheery than to look at some photos of last night's trip into Haliburton to Win Yeung for some Canadian Chinese food, followed by some sightseeing around the village.
No one home: a home at the perimeter of Stanhope Airport
I'm sure some of us are hankering for LOST tidbits and I've found a few which were revealed at Comic-Con a few weeks ago:
The big news is the adding of two new characters one male, one female--sort of typical dangerous and/or mysterious LOST-types. See more here.
Other news includes the dark and handsome, "Richard" (Alpert) returning with some substantial screen time. Also the showrunners are proclaiming flashbacks and forwards will "have a whole new meaning."
Danielle Rousseau (photo)
Jin will be back but it was not revealed if he's dead or alive. My money, if I were a betting type, would be that eventually he'll be reunited with Sun and their tot, if not in S5 than in S6.
In news that makes me say "yay!" it was "suggested strongly" that Jeremy Davies' character Daniel Faraday survived. Further, Faraday's notebook "will play a prominent role" this season.
Kind of surprisingly Rousseau's (Mira Furlan) back-story will finally be revealed but not in a flashback episode. It was so stupid to kill her off. Please, showrunners, resurrect Danielle Rousseau!
It started off a pretty day. Comfortably warm with the lake fairly calm. The waves began picking up a bit, then a bit more and quite suddenly things became chaotic. The screen blew in on one of the front windows and I feared that the window which cranks out so that it forms a "t" when fully open would snap off, too.
There are several other windows in the cottage like that--all were open and needed to be closed. Spouse and son were shielded by the hill going down to the lake and didn't seem to realize how serious things were getting so didn't respond to me yelling for help with battening down the hatches. By the time they came inside hail was raining down, the high winds were blowing the deck furniture about, leaves and branches were flying every which way--and then the power shut off.
The storm continued for some time and since one never knows just how long the power will be out here on the Lake, spouse went to the town a couple of lakes away and bought ice and food to barbecue. It's good that he did as the power was off for 8.5 hours and the hydro company had told us that the couldn't find where the problem was and would have to quit for the night and come back in the morning.
We were heating up water on the barbecue at 11 p.m. for clean-up having given up on having the juice on to power the water pump when it switched back on.
It was a relief but the situation has been pretty disruptive.
Our neighbor next door built a fire despite the lingering drizzle and as the light faded to black we did, too.
Spouse got a pic of our neighbour who is nothing if not a good humoured guy.
We finally had a non-choppy enough lake upon which to take the canoe today. Spouse and Raven had gone out earlier and covered lots of territory and later he and I went. It's quite a different perspective when one views the shore from the lake. I think I was struck most by how the depth varies and in turn the type of vegetation growing (reeds, lily pads, etc.) Our area is shallow water until pretty far out with sandy bottom, other areas have an immediate drop off at the lake's edge and are muddy-bottomed. This too was the first time I took the camera out with it's waterproof housing. It's kind of tricky to change settings say from telephoto to standard but it's a learning curve that I think we'll get through pretty quickly. There are so many large luxurious homes on the lake now, too. Odd-looking sometimes like when a humble cottage is on either side of a higher-status home. We ran into some very choppy waters when the winds that accompanied a big storm adjacent to our area blew through. That was a bit exciting though I had no worries and soon enough we paddled through. I am pretty tired from the sun, canoeing and swimming afterward so I'll probably come back to this later tonight or tomorrow with some photos. The temperature has taken severe plunge now and I'm about to flake out but can't until I compete a few more tasks. Cheers!
You may have heard that I like Johnny Depp. A lot (check category cloud--you'll see plenty).
Anyway, I'm belatedly getting to posting this very cool video--it couldn't be anything but as it stars Johnny Depp as Johnny Depp.
It is as the title of the post states, Johnny Depp taking the then newly-revamped Disneyland Pirates Of the Caribbean theme ride including getting out of the ride for a portion to better examine one of the three anamatronic (sp) Johnny Depps that now reside there. t one point in particular he has a very genuine reaction of awe to meeting himself as he pokes his head up from hiding in a wine barrel. Enjoy! *
I think my brother sent this to me so again, I thank him for his contribution. **This is also the very first time, as Disneyland does not allow filming on their theme rides, that nearly the entirety of the ride is shown from start to finish.
About one-third of the biggest clam I've ever seen in Maple Lake.
It's been another rainy day here at the lake--not steady--on and off--a few sun showers. Temperatures are bit low so it was perfect to tackle more cleaning (I know). I love to go barefoot but am persnickety about clean floors so last night I started with tile/linoleum floors and today the wood flooring. Good exercise, I must say!
I'm super happy to ditch the flip-flops and except for the odd kibble that Raven has picked from her mixed flavour dry dog food--there's nothing on the floor that doesn't belong there. Spouse has been assembling a slider which is a gilding bench for outside. I don't know what possessed him to purchase it but he's putting each slat on and then getting to the assembly of the sliding part. I totally would not have the patience or persistence that he's shown. He's going to have to find a stopping point soon tho' as we are going to watch the DVD of "Blade Runner." Just discovered before leaving that younger son has never seen it--he'd thought it had something do with Wesley Snipes' "Blade" movies but once I put it in context he was up for
watching it. I think I've seen it 7-8 times. It's referenced so often
when that genre is written about that you really can't go wrong watching
it. That, and it is amazing. (For the record, I do like the original theatrical version with the Harrison Ford voice over best.)
Above and below are a couple of interesting pics I took yesterday using the waterproof housing.The water was very choppy and I'd not ever done this before so I want to get out there again and practice not floating to the top as I'm trying to get a shot of the lake floor.
S'posed to be a run of good weather after tomorrow. Have plans for The Sculpture Forest , go-karting, and canoeing. So far. :)
Source Batman sequel to The Dark Knight: Johnny Depp to play The Riddler? is what is being reported.
Reports in the US say studio bosses have set their sights on Depp as The RiddlerPhoto: GETTY
Reports are that studio executives want Johnny Depp to play the Riddler opposite Christian Bale and alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman as The
Penguin and possibly Angelina Jolie as Catwoman!
"Producers are convinced that the role of The Riddler is
perfect for Depp. Johnny's a pro. He'll be able to take direction and
still make the character his own. And what better Penguin is there than
Philip Seymour Hoffman?" a source said.
Even though plans for the sequel have not yet been officially announced it appears that there is a flurry of behind-the-scenes negotiations in the works for the cast of the next installment of the Batman saga.
Frank
Gorshin brought The Riddler to life in the Sixties television series with Burgess Meredith camping his way through the role of The Penguin. Jim Carrey and Danny DeVito played the two villains respectively on the big screen. I preferred by far their television counterparts.
The Dark Knight has blown away box office records in the US, taking $314 million in just 10 days.
It's pretty big here in Canada as well. We saw it last night and the theater was jam-packed--on a Wednesday night which would usually not be a big night for the big screen.
Anyway I've already waxed on about my love of both Christian Bale and Johnny Depp as well as Angelina on my other blog. I would probably have to restrain myself from squeeing all the way through the next installment in what is shaping up to be at least a Christian Bale trilogy of Batman's early years.
Thanks to my bro for giving me the heads up on this story and to my dad for introducing me to Batman via the television series and DC comics.
