Depp and Burton together again

Well I just heard some news that sounds great. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are in pre production on a new movie. For those of you who don't know, or need a refresher. Tim Burton, master of the strange, has provided Johnny Depp, master of the quirky character, with some of his best characters in 5 previous movies together. Depp was in Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride, all Burton films.

So what new quirky character will Depp be playing? And what strange story will Burton be tackling? Sweeny Todd, Based on the hit Broadway musical which tells the infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. A barber and serial killer, Sweeny Todd's weapon of choice is a straight razor, with which he cuts his victim's throats; Then with Ms. Lovett's help bakes the carcasses into meat pies. Sounds like right up Mr. Burton's alley. So I guees the only question will be if Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) can sing.

Did You Know: Friday the Thirteenth

Did you know that 3.5% of the workforce will not go to work today simply because it is Friday the Thirteenth? So if there are 10 million workers, 350 thousand will stay home.

Did You Know: Muppets

Muppets are predominately left handed. There is no mystical reason for this. Muppeteers are mostly right handed so they operate the body and mouth with their right hand, leaving the arm to the left hand.

By the way, if you see a muppet use two hands, there is a second muppeteer operating the other hand.

Did You Know: The Silent Treatment

This scene from Back To The Future (1985) marks the only on-screen dialog between Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson. The scene consisted of Thompson as Lorraine saying "Hi." and Lloyd, as Professor Brown, replying with "Hi."

I guess you are wondering why I am telling you this? Well, it turns out that Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson have been in 5 movies and one TV movie together.

Both were in all three Back To The Future movies (1985, 1989, 1990), Dennis The Menace (1993), Haunted Lighthouse (2003), and the TV movie Right To Remain Silent (1996).

Did You Know: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

For those of you that do not know it, there is a game called the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Here is how to play: Pick an actor, say Denzel Washington, and try to connect him to Kevin Bacon using movies they have in common with other actors. In this case Denzel Washington was in the movie Philadelphia (1993) with Tom Hanks, who was in Apollo 13 (1995) with Mr. Kevin Bacon. This means Denzel Washington has a Bacon Number of 2, while Tom Hanks has a Bacon Number of 1 (was in a movie with Kevin Bacon).

The game was created by Mike Ginelli, Craig Fass and Brian Turtle while at Albright Collegewith the premis that Kevin Bacon IS the Center of the Entertainment Universe. According to The Oracle Of Bacon Of Virginia, there are 1888 actors with a Bacon Number of 1.

The first movie that Kevin Bacon was in was Animal House (1978), which means Donald Sutherland, John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Tom Hulce, and Karen Allen were among the first to be able to claim a Bacon Number of 1.

Did You Know: Subbing For A Sub

In the movie Hunt For Red October, the American sub's name is U.S.S. Dallas. The Sub you see on screen is not the U.S.S. Dallas, but another Lone Star product, the U.S.S. Houston.

Once again, we get to cover for our neighbors up north.

By the way, the underwater model of the Red October has never been in the water. This effect was achieved using smoke on the 'underwater' set and a few digital touch-ups. The sub was hung by 12 wires from an overhead grid which gave the ability to tilt and turn the model as needed.

For the purposes of filming the underwater model of the Red October, only the left side of the sub was detailed to appear as an authentic submarine. The effect of showing the right side of the boat was achieved by simply turning the frame and reversing the image.

Did You Know: Fake vs. Real People

in 2004 Clint Eastwood was the only nominee for the Best Actor Oscar to play a fictitious character, Frankie Dunn in Million Dollar Baby. All four other nominees portrayed real people in their respective films. Don Cheadle played hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rowanda. Johnny Depp played Peter Pan author Sir James Matthew Barrie in Finding Neverland. Leonardo DiCaprio played recluse Howard Hughes in The Aviator. And the winner...Jamie Foxx played singer Ray Charles in Ray.

Did You Know: Dinosaurs and Guitar Strings

In Jurassic Park (1993), to simulate dinosaur footsteps, the glass of water sitting on the dash of the Ford Explorer was made to ripple using a guitar string that was attached to the underside of the dash beneath the glass.

In Michael Crichton's novel, John Hammond proudly says that the narrator on the prerecorded park tour is Richard Kiley. Later, Kiley was hired to play himself in that role for the movie; possibly the only instance of a celebrity appearing in a book, and then later cast as him or herself in the film version.

Jumping the Shark

On my other blog, Who Is That Toon? I linked to a website called Jump The Shark. Mick commented that it would be an interesting quiz to find out the meaning. Well, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you. Jump the Shark is a term that was created by Jon Hein and his friends. This is from his website:

Q. What is jumping the shark?

A. It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it "Jumping the Shark." From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same.

Mr. Hein and his friends say the term comes from an episode of "Happy Days" where Fonzie is in California and actually jumps a shark while on water skis while wearing his leather jacket. The Fronz jumped the shark. AAAAAIIIIHHHHHHHH (Thumbs Up)

Okay for an example. The Astros' World Series jumped the shark when Roy Oswalt gave up 5 runs in the fifth inning of game 3, going from being up 4-0 to being down 5-4.

Did You Know: Vader Loves Her

The lovely Natalie Portman, best known as Padme Amidala, the love of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader's life in the first three episodes of Star Wars, was born in 1981 in Jerusalem, Israel, as the only child of a doctor father and an artist mother. This means that she is 25 years younger then Carrie Fisher, who played Leia Organa, Padme's daughter in episodes 4 though 6 of Star Wars.