Happy Birthday, Aidan Quinn -- and Welcome Back, Jack!

It's March 8, which means it's Happy 52nd Birthday, Aidan Quinn!

The first time I saw Aidan Quinn was in Legends of the Fall, and I was impressed. He held his own against a Brad Pitt who, for the first time in his career, had been allowd off the leash. In retrospect, we know all about what a Brad on the rampage is capable of, and Aidan was admirable in the part of the elder brother ... more sane, more stable, competing for the hand of the lovely Julia Ormond, and not really succeeding. Though, the fact is, in real life ... welllll, I think he would have. Not that Brad's character wasn't amazing, but I think Julia's character would have opted for Aiden's character, and a long, peaceful life! And why not? Because we're talking about tasty, here ... seriously tasty!

I think the next one I saw was probably Benny and Joon, with Johnny Depp, and I'll always remember Practical Magic, with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. In Benny and Joon, Aidan went up against Johnny Depp in full-on "cute as a bug" mode, and was terrific; and in Practical Magic he had the sanest, most normal, least outrageous ... and nicest of all the characters to play, which was quite a challenge. Go up against that cast and be visible? Neat trick, if you can do it -- and what's more, he did!




So, Happy 52nd to Aidan, and many more of them.

Second bit of news that has me blogging today:

Welcome back, Jack!

As in, Sparrow.

Go to the movies right now, and you'll be seeing this:

(Click on that -- I put it up at 1000 pixels wide, because it's such a treat. May. Woot! Can't wait!

Surfings on New Year's Eve ... Ewan McGregor, Robert Downey Jr. and the sexiest folks on the planet

An hour to spare on New Year's Eve is a good thing, so what do I do? Surf. Well, put the feet up, have a cup of coffee, and surf. And you'd be surprised what's sizzling...

Ewan McGregor: death threats on the set of his latest movie (!) and at last -- at long last -- I Love You, Philip Morris is getting an airing, starting at Christmas.

What's this about death threats against Ewan --? Seems a looney toon -- an American actor living in Thailand, playing extra parts -- would dearly like to put a knife into Ewan. But at least up till Christmas Eve he just wrote the desire into poems ... and was caught in Ewan's trailer, writing said iffy literature! Here's the rest of the story -- and it's bizarre, in a subtle kind of way. So off-key and under-played, you gotta remember the dialog given to Johnny Depp in his new one, when he's trying to convince the police of the importance of an attempted murder as opposed to, say, room service. Indulge yourself in a shiver.

Meanwhile, looks like the forgotten Phillip Morris gay romance is on the big screen at last and, surprise, surprise, it's getting good reviews. It opened right before Christmas, at last in some parts of the US, and here's the review from the Idaho Statesman. Better late than never ... and remember the old adage, "Success is the sweetest revenge."

Here's a really neat interview with Ewan ... you have to love the line, "You want coffee with that, Obiwan?"

Well, actually ... yes, ta.

So ... who's the sexiest human alive on the planet? I guess you'd have to allow for a he and a she in that category -- certainly Fandango.com did, and they came up with some very, very interesting results. Get this:

Guys voted Natalie Portman (currently pregnant) the sexiest lass on Earth this year ...

Gals voted Penelope Cruz the sexiest woman in the World. Which is a chalk mark for older women, because Cruz is 37. Oh yes, and also pregnant.

And meanwhile...

Guys voted Johnny Depp the sexiest man alive -- in praise of older fellas, yes? He's 47, and I was just saying the other day, he's delicious. But who did women vote for?

Gals also voted for Johnny Depp, with Robert Downey Jr., who's a debonair 45, behind him --




No Brad and Ange? No Orlie and, uh, so on? Nope. And no young-young folks. The youngest of the lot, here, is Natalie, who'll be 30 in six months.

Interesting that the consensus point, where both genders agreed, was Johnny. And the girls' choice of Robert Downey Jr. should be quite encouraging to guys who've actually learned to shave recently. Interestingly, Downey says he feels his age, and the limitations of it. Don't we all!


Now, that's worth writing home about. Or at least worth writing a blog post about, while I watch the countdown to the fireworks.

And you have to admit, this is nice:







Jack Sparrow at his tipsy best. The movie is going to be loads of fun. And for now --

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Captain Jack ... what's in a name?

And apparently, when the name is "Captain Jack," there's a heck of a lot in it. In fact, I was very tempted to chuck all the images in here and say, "There, sort them out yourself!" But no. Would I do that to you? Well, I probably would if I didn't have the time to do this properly, but since I do...!

There's at least EIGHT Captain Jacks that I know of, and you could probably find someone out there who knows some more. But right now let's have a look at the eight of 'em. This gallant company starts with the one you probably know best, or second-best:


There you go ... with strains of The Johnny Depp Song going around your head ... Jack Sparrow himself! What's the Johnny Depp song? Allow me to illuminate you:

Okay --! So that's one down, seven more to go! The other one you probably know best, or second best: Harkness, Jack Harkness ... the time agent from the 51st Century who's now not merely immortal but indestructible:

...and now it gets better, because you get two Jack Harknesses for the price of one:


And if you think your glasses just steamed up, and you didn't see that right, here's Take Two ... oooooh, yes you did:

Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood, 2007, meet Captain Jack Harkness of the US Airforce, 1941. Boy meets boy, the old, old story, right?

Okay, there's three down! Next:

Let me transport you back to 1980, or thereabouts. Captain Jack Vincent ... the show was Smuggler, a young adults' adventure series set in the Napoleonic Wars. Some episodes were too juvenile to really "travel well" across the generations, but some were absolutely top-notch. This Captain Jack was brooding, simmering ... smuggling in fact. So there's Number Four. Next?

Your grandmom would tell you, maybe with a quiver in her voice, that John Wayne wasn't always old and grizzled. You demand the evidence before you believe? Okay, you got it. Our generation didn't invent gorgeous, we only think we did:

And this here, with the hat and the major sideburns in the color still above, is Captain Jack ... Stewart. The movie is Reap the Wild Wind, and it's still a good watch, about sixty years later! So that's Captain Jack number 5. Next?

Now it gets musical. Enter Billy Joel at stage left:

Not sure if I'd call Billy's music "timeless." Not usually my kind of thing, actually, but there sure is a Captain Jack coming at you from this direction ... and if you're in the mood for two Captain Jacks for the price of one again, here's Billy Joel's Jack, plus the one in the greatcoat ... "Captain Jack will get you high tonight." (Warning to the faint hearted: there's some stuff on the soundtrack that rates this MA15, and some visuals, likewise.)



So that's Captain Jack number Six. Still two to go, that I know of ... and I'm sure there's others. Drop me a line, kids, and I'll update this. But in the meantime, try this for a golden oldie: Captain Jack and the Mermaid was a folk album that came out in 1975 ... and I've been listening to the audio CD since about 1982. Would give anything for a CD version, but you can't beg, borrow or steal them. You can only get Captain Jack as Amazon MP3 downloads ... and if you're not in America, you're outta luck, because Amazon MP3 is another Americans Only club. Here is is:


And I know the cover of a music album doesn't mean a heck of a lot, so try this instead ... YouTube to the rescue, to a point. They won't let you embed a videoclip. It's a good song, though not the best on the album (The Elf Glade is the best ... whoooo!)

And there is actually one more Captain Jack. The real one -- real, live historical character. The Black Irish Band has recorded the story. The first 75 seconds of this video give you a history lesson, so if you just want the song, fast forward to 1:15. But this is the real deal:



Starring as Captain Jack:

Johnny Depp as Sparrow
John Barrowman as Harkness
Matt Rippy as the "real" Harkness
Oliver Tobias as Vincent
John Wayne as Stewart

With music by Billy Joel, Meg Davis and Black Irish.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

Pirates, pirates everywhere, and gallons of rum to drink!

The rumor circulating right now is that Disney is paying Johnny Depp about sixty million to return to the Caribbean, put on the hat and boots and, uh, do the whole Swishbuckler thing ... which is very nice of Disney, because Johnny had said months (years?) earlier that he wasn't done with the character of Jack and would be happy to play him a couple more times!


Same day ... more news: Keia Knightly came right out with it and said she won't do another one.


Same day ... no news: I was soooo expecting Orlando Bloom to be in the next one, and Disney didn't whisper his name in the press release where the movie was announced. Is that weird, or what? Okay, Elizabeth's story is done (she's going home pregnant: The End. It usually is, when you go home pregnant). But Will is out there as the skipper of The Flying Dutchman, and the way Jack flirts with death, you'd expect their paths to cross (and entangle) three times a week, and twice on Tuesday.

No wonder Orlie seems to have a headache. I guess we need to wait a while and see what develops. And while we're here, lets have a couple more photos, for the fun of it. Don't you hate it when people are stingy with the photos -- as if there's a national shortage of them! Enjoy ... I did!

Swishbucker: Jack Sparrow to the rescue!

Here's a quick quote to write home about:

"All this talk of a terminal box office slide has been made to look just a little bit silly this weekend, and all it took was Edward Scissorhands acting a bit gay; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is the number one US weekend box office movie - ever." 

So said by Stuart Heritage back on July 10th, 2006 at 13:30, at this address:

http://www.hecklerspray.com/pirates-of-the-caribbean-all-time-best-ever-us-weekend-box-office/20063867.php

...and that's kwelll enough to chill your marini!

Left: the other Cap'n Jack: "I'm not gay, I'm just having a good time."

Trivia Kwiz: how many Captain Jacks can you think of? There's ... a lot!