How many Johnny Depp movies have you seen? How many of his quirky characters have you enjoyed watching on the big screen? He’s an amazing actor, isn’t he? The man just dives right in to madness and boy, oh boy do we believe.

In ‘Edward Scissorhands’ (a Tim Burton flick), Johnny Depp became the title role; a gentle, sweet, talented young man with pasty-white skin and well… scissors for hands.

“Hold me…” Kim asked of Edward, needing desperately to feel his touch. Edward simply replied, “I can’t.”

Wow. …How utterly heartrending that moment was. I was mesmerized by Depp’s performance, drawn in by the simplistic beauty, the magic. Johnny Depp, as Edward, made this fairytale feel so very real, so very, very poignant.

“Before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. I don’t think it would be snowing now if he weren’t still up there. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it.”

Oh, you bet… I cried.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, however, Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow had me busting a gut, I laughed so hard. He had so many wonderfully witty lines; it’s difficult to narrow the favorites down to just a few.

When Will and Jack first meet, Will draws his sword upon Jack in the hopes of capturing the pirate. But at one point, Jack tosses dirt into Will’s eyes, thusly becoming the victor.

Will Turner: “You cheated.”
Jack Sparrow: “Pirate.”

Ha! That was pure comedic genius with the simplest of words. And then later, as Will once again draws his sword on Jack…

Jack Sparrow: “Put it away, son. It’s not worth you getting beat again.
Will Turner: “You didn’t beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I’d kill you.
Jack Sparrow: “That’s not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?”

Honestly, I could go on and on and on with quotes and whatnot from all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Johnny Depp was a pure delight as Captain Jack Sparrow, a character that will live forever in my mind; a character that will always make me smile, and by far my favorite yet.

That being said, I just took a look at the trailer for Sweeny Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and I have this to say: Oh. My. Gosh. Could Johnny Depp be any more amazing? This film looks to be quite spectacular, and, be still my heart… Johnny Depp sings in this movie.

*sigh*

It’s a Tim Burton film, so we know it’s going to be dark. But hey, dark can be fun, right? Wicked fun.

Sweeny Todd: A man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter.

“Never forget. Never forgive.”

With an opening line like that, how can one not be incredibly intrigued? I mean, seriously. Sweeny Todd: Demon Barber out for vengeance. What better way to spend to spend this holiday season than watching this delightfully entertaining film. There is nothing quite like blood, vengeance, sharp knives, and graphic violence to get one in the mood to greet the crowds of holiday shoppers. Kind of makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Guaranteed the closest shave you’ve ever had.”
–Sweeny Todd

Ha!

Go see this film! I know that I am going to. Hello! It’s Johnny Depp.

visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site

visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace

Technorati Tags: Johnny Depp, movies, big screen, actor, Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton, heartrending, magic, fairytale, poignant, Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow, witty, Will Turner, comedic genius, Sweeny Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street, revenge, vengeance, holiday season

I am a paradox
and therefore
it must be true
or not

Whatever that means.

Most of my life I have lived alone, snuggled in a shell of avoidance. Oh, there were always people around me, putting a roof over my head, food on the table, and offering me ice cream. I had an older brother who teased me, told me how ugly I was at least three times a day. He burned my barbies, too. I didn’t like that.

But I suppose that’s what brother’s do. Don’t know why. I guess they’re insecure. …or clinically insane.

That was a joke, actually. I love my brother. It took some time to figure that out, but I do.

I have a younger brother too, much younger, ten years younger. Which means that I was the one doing the teasing in that relationship. Poor kid. I ran him over with a three-wheeled mini-bike and told him, once, that Fred Flintstone was on the line. You should have seen his face drop when I bust a gut at his eager ‘Hello’. Jeez. That was mean.

By the way, the three-wheeler incident was an accident and it was all his fault. I told him to hold on, not let go. How is it my fault that he didn’t listen? Besides, he wasn’t hurt, only scared. Stupid toddlers.

I used to live for Saturday’s when my mom would take us to the library. I loved the library; loved reading; loved books… loved that it didn’t cost a thing. I learned how to escape reality that way, step into my own little world and every mundane or ugly thing in my life just faded away, replaced by fairytales and adventures and magic.

I believed in magic. I believed in fairytales. I believed I was switched at birth in the hospital and given to the wrong family. It didn’t matter that I shared the same red tresses as my mother and brother. I just knew that I didn’t belong. I was the white sheep of the family.

I was dutiful too. At nine years of age I woke bright and early to care for my baby brother, while my mother and step-father picked apples and pears and cherries for Farmer Brown. I made cheese, lettuce, and mayo sandwiches for lunch each day, taking them out to my parents with a thermos full of coffee. Sometimes, I would bring them donuts and coffee before lunch. After my mother fed my baby brother, I would take him and place him in an apple bin, climb in with him, eat my sandwich, and then promptly fall asleep. You would too, had you started your day at 5am.

When I was ten years of age, my step-father decided to move us out to the wilderness–the Idaho mountains. Jack, was his name, and a house he did build. He made trenches and skinned the bark off of trees that he had cut down with his chainsaw. I had to do the bark skinning thing too. It was milky, sticky and gross… but kinda fun.

There were too many bugs in Idaho, though. Flying ants! I refused to get out of the truck when we first drove up on our land. My mother was angry. She yelled at me, called me a baby, and then walked away in frustration. I slept in the truck that night. The next day I discovered that I could annihilate thousands upon thousands of those ants, simply by overturning a rock or twenty. The ants laid their eggs under the rocks and exposure to the sunlight killed them. …fried the little bastards. You should have seen them scurry to carry those exposed eggs under a neighboring rock. One of the many I removed.

(Why no. I’m not demented. But thanks for asking.)

I also collected and carried water from a natural spring back to our log house on a daily basis. Two gallon jugs in either hand: 16 lbs each. We didn’t have any running water or electricity. And I had to walk a mile and a half to the school bus stop each day. I left so early in the morning that it was always dark, save for a full moon. It was dark by the time I returned as well. My bus route was 35 miles long and it took nearly an hour and a half to get to school. I slept a lot on the bus. Sometimes I read a book.

Idaho was beautiful, really. The most memorable time of my childhood. I used to go for long, long, long walks in the woods… trying to get lost. But I never could win that game. Honestly, I don’t understand how anyone could get lost in the woods. It’s exceptionally easy to find your way out, all you have to do is pay attention to your surroundings: look, listen, smell. It’s easy. And I’ve never even been a Scout. Whether that’s significant or not.

Well, actually. I was a Girl Scout for all of one day. Until my mother discovered that she actually had to pay for me to join. That ended that. Not like I was much of a joiner anyway.

Speaking of finding my way… I think I’ve found my way to the end of this post.

Was the trip worth it? ‘Cuz the ‘Delete’ button is looking mighty tempting about now…

CATS..

Big cats, little cats, jungle, and island cats.

Bobcats (not Goldthwait), Leopards, Cheetahs, Caracals, Cougars, Domestics, Tigers, Jaguars, Ocelots, and more!

Intelligent, informative, and fun! Cats is a great blog to visit, a great place to learn. And they have pretty-ful pictures too!

Check ‘em out! Check out the Bornean Clouded Leopard, it’s bee-yoo-tee-ful! Go on, you know ya wanna.

(Brought to you courtesy of a Friday afternoon, TTLB Ecosystem blog surf.)

Technorati Tags: cats, TTLB Ecosystem

Death.

I smell death.

The rotting carcass of a mouse, no longer squealing in horror, his escape for naught.

‘Twas his ill-fortune, and I suppose now mine, that the humane traps… did not.

(Please forgive me, Mrs. Flipphead, champion of all things that breathe…)

But, switched I, to the tried and true and utterly horrific, bone-snapping, peanut-butter laced snare of death.

And I smell him now, the ever-elusive Houdini varmit sustained fatal injury before his flight. He is dead, dead, dead… snuggled deep within the trenches of a hoarder’s treasures.

I should be hammering away on my keyboard, pounding out more words… more words… more words, for the great ‘NaNo Write Off‘. But I cannot concentrate with death permeating my nose.

Putrid.

Rotting.

Rodent.

Death.

So I must hunt—-which entails a great deal of work, mind you—-searching through the madness that is…

Not my side of the room.

{sigh}

We were playing Cranium with the kids last night, and Gloria (our 9 yr. old) had a ‘Star Performer‘ card. If you’ve never played the game, this basically means that you are given a word (of a name, place, or thing) and you have to ‘silently’ act it out for your teammate to guess. Shortened version: Charades. That’s just one aspect of the game, there’s often drawing, word puzzles, and clay involved as well.

However, this time, it just so happened that Gloria’s ‘Star Performer’ word was ‘Humphrey Bogart‘, and being nine years old, she had absolutely no idea who that was. But that didn’t stop her from playing.

She crouched down on the floor and starting hopping around, making snorting noises.

We guessed ‘pig’ and ‘hog’ because of the snorting; ‘bullfrog’ because she was leaping around like a frog; and then… She hopped up and stood on two legs, placing her hand in a circle on her daddy’s face. She crouched down and hopped back up and did this again. And, with my brain stuck on ‘frog’ I guessed the word ‘wart-frog’.

“Time!” was called as the last of the sand ran out of the glass. And after we all stopped giggling, we asked Gloria what the heck she had tried to tell us, and she said…

“Hogwart!… Humphrey Hogwart.”

Of course, this caused us all to bust a gut again; including Gloria.

So she read the card wrong. Who cares? That was just too much fun!

On yet another ‘Star Performer’ play, Jon (our other 9 yr. old), was given the word ‘Power Lunch’ to act out for us to guess. He took one look at the words and said, “I have no idea what that is,” and then just as quickly said, “Oh well. I’ll just act out the words.”

I was totally amazed by his performance. He nearly got his team to guess, but the timer went out before they got it. He had made a muscle and pointed to it for ‘power’ and then pointed to the clock and pretended to be eating for ‘lunch’. His teammates guessed ‘lunch’, but couldn’t quite get the ‘power’ part. They guessed ‘strong’ and ‘strength’ instead.

All the same… clever kids, I’m telling ya. They’re excellent problem solvers, quick and clever thinkers.

And now, this afternoon, they’ve just decided to go outside and play Dodgeball on the swingset. Um, yeah… what was I saying about them being clever?

Heh.

So what have you done this weekend? Have any fun?

Technorati Tags: Cranium, kids, Star Performer, game, Charades, drawing, word puzzles, clay, Humphrey Bogart, Dodgeball, swingset, weekend, fun