Look who's Hamlet now!

Hamlet. The mere sound of the word gives you shivers ... you're beset by horrific memories of your Ninth Grade classroom, where Miss Perkins goose-stepped up and down in front of the blackboard and her cringing students took turns making verbal compost out of Shakespeare. The entire year you were 15, you were sure you were allergic to Shakespeare ... every time someone started to read it, you got woozy -- or at least the English language stopped making sense, and everyone said it was your fault.

Then you grew up a bit and realized that if you wanted to see Mel Gibson in his latest flick, you'd have to slog through the whole thing again ... and it wasn't just Mel Gibson who was doing Hamlet.

Kevin Kline. Paul Gross. Kenneth Branagh. David Tennant!!

Is there no end to the list of luscious actors who've had a crack at the Crazy Dane?

Apparently not -- and the next one might surprise you. Jude Law is doing Hamlet in '09, directed by Kenneth Branagh.


You reckon I'm making it up? Shame on you! Click here, and eat your words.

Jude Law as Hamlet. Think of the possibilities...



Hamlet ... the word might make you come over goosey for different reasons, in a while! I've heard that David Tennant was the "best Hamlet in years," and someone who was in the audience at the Kevin Kline production a couple of times said KK never played Ham the same way twice. One night it was tragedy, the next night it was hilarious farce. Remember the line in The Last Action Hero: "Something is rotten in the State of Denmark, and Hamlet is taking out the trash."

One more cute Jude Law photo, and I'm done for today. No, not the nekkid one ... I'm not even convinced that one is JL. Somebody convince me.

Headin' back through the Stargate in 2009

And the good news is ... they're revving the Stargate up again. She's powered up, ready for a new series entitled Stargate Universe. Great news for those of us who enjoyed having our spectacles glued to Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Ben Browder and company! Moreover, the thinking viewer's hunk is back:

Any chance the SGC would let O'Neill grow his hair long and color it blond in the new show...? Rats. It would've been nice.

Anyway -- this story just showed up on I09.com: http://io9.com/5139871/dr-daniel-jackson-first-gater-to-cameo-on-stargate-universe, and in it, Michael Shanks says...

"There will be a Stargate SG-1 movie [for DVD], probably filmed around the same time the Atlantis movie is filmed this coming summer," he added. "So that's all going to be going on....as far as I know, is pretty Rick-heavy, pretty O'Neill-heavy," Shanks said. "So I don't know much more than that, but I will most definitely be involved in it."



Puts me in a mood to watch the old DVDs. It's going to be great seeing the characters back. Though I don't think Daniel Jackson will be allowed to lay a full-on smooch upon the tender lips of Cameron Mitchell ... as Michael Shanks has been known to do to Ben Browder:


Kewl. I mean, that is seriously kewl. Opens a whoooole perspective on the stories they could tell in the future. How's about a mirror univers (like the one where Spock has a beard), where everything's in a tangle and things get steamy?? Well, somebody should pitch the story idea! They can only reject it...

In honor of ther occasion, let's have a few more pictures before we move on to the other topic of today's fascination:


Who's buff now?! He must know every machine at the gym by its first name...


There you are, you see? He has got a great bod. Beats hell out of everyone why he refuses to show it. I think the scripts ought to have the aliens rip his shirt to shreds at least once per episode. I know, I'm wicked. I've been told.


Now, some folks professed to have some reason to protest the situation when Rick Anderson took a couple of years off the job to be with his family while his kids still remembered who is is, and his place in the show, and on the team, was filled by Ben Browder. And being thoroughly disgrunted, they took out their ire on Ben, as if there was something wrong with him filling in. Good grief, people!! Try cleaning your glasses once in a while, and have another look!!

The highlanders are back in town

The previous post has put me in a mood for kilts (don't worry, it'll be tattoos or dreadlocks or earrings tomorrow...) so let's have some tartan type fun here. Being part Scottish myself, I have the right to get into kilts literally, without misappropriating anyone's culture! So:


Gerard Butler, not only kilted, but with the big broadsword...



...and Ewan McGregor doing the Scotting thing at full-throttle.


Tom Baker (everyone's favorite Doctor Who from yonks ago) also doing the highlander thing full-on, and THAT is a claymore. Woah.


And, speaking of highlanders, no such collection as this would be complete without THE highlander himself, Connor McLeaod.


...and not to be outdone, here's Sean Connery whose character was pivotal to the Highlander movies and mythos, even if he didn't play a Scot in them (though he sure sounded like one; then again, he always does ... which is no bad thing!)

And -- OKAY, ALL RIGHT ALREADY! I surrender. Here's the one you've been waiting for, John Barrowman in the kilt:



Nice. Verrrrry nice. Uh ... I'm going to bend the rules now -- or, stretch a point. What's a kilt anyway? What's in a name? It doesn't have to be tartan to be a kilt, does it? before you speak too soon, check out these and think again before voting!



And the question always comes up ... what DO Scotsmen wear under their kilts? Well, gird your loins, folks and click on this here link, but be warned: it gets windy in them thar hills, and the myth appears to be true, and you're linking to a page that delights in the male form (as do we all, but some blogs are still trying to get established and are therefore a mite skittish! Understood? Okay, 'nuff said. You're connecting to the Kilts Page on Just Beautiful Men, and ... enjoy!

Ewan and Jim: an aesthetic dither?!

The trick is to blog a bit before it gets too hot. We're still in the middle of the Record Breaking Adelaide Heatwave as I write this, and I confess, my brain is melted down (past tense) so I'm going to have mercy on myself and make it easy today. Like this:

-- which, being totally evil and beyond redemption, I'm going to partner up with these movie reviews of I Love You, Philip Morris:

The Hollywood Reporter: "Like Carrey's character, the story and style are all over the place, rendering it somewhat inaccessible. Admittedly, the whole film is in a bit of an aesthetic dither that will confound many viewers. Still, filmmakers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have concocted a frothy and misty amusement."

Defamer: "Let's get this out of the way: Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor make just about the cutest, most gaga-in-love couple we'll likely see in any movie at Sundance. No, the camera does not cut away from their passionate kisses or acts of fellative love; dare we say Morris contains some of the most sensitive images of bitch-on-inmate affection that have ever been captured on film."

Variety: "The 100 minutes is one of the most unusual mixtures of the fest -- moments of Carrey's branded hilarity opposite brutal prison culture and graphic gay sex. Requa said they'll put some even hotter cut scenes on the DVD extras."

Said Jim Carrey, on the subject of Kissing Ewan McGregor: "Ewan was a bit prickly. I think we have some great sexual chemistry on screen. I think there is definitely a lot of smouldering,'yum, yum, eat-him-up' vibe." And elsewhere, "A dream come true. I mean, look at the guy."

We looked, Jim, we looked. Oh, yeah.


(Special note to Mel Keegan: on your blog, you were wondering where I find all this stuff. Well, this one -- above -- I found on YOUR BLOG. Honest, I don't make any of this up! Although at times you could be forgiven for wondering ... and drooling while you wonder...)

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!

Undies can be chic. Well, can't they? Ask Armani!

Undies. They lie there in the drawer, limp and kind of forlorn. Then you put them on, look in the mirror and think, "Gee, I should've bought a bigger size." And if you're really vulnerable you think, "Gee, I ought to eat right and exercise."


Unless your name is David Beckham, of course. Then you thing, "Gee, I wonder if Armani would pay me to wear their undies and strut my stuff in front of the camera, so that they can put the pictures on forty-foot-tall posters on the side of sky scrapers...?"


And the answer to this canny question is, "Gee, I guess Armani would! And did." Like so:


Woah. I'll just bet there were some traffic jams and fender benders on that block! The city traffic police were probably the ones responsible for the graffiti that wrecked the whole thing the next day, so they had to take it down ... just kidding, guys. I think.

A hobbit one gets into ... hey, that's James McAvoy!

First, an apology to everyone: I haven't posted in a couple of days. The reason is, THE HEAT. You might not be aware of this, but we were at 115F the other day, and it's only 95F overnight! I'm a grease spot, melted into the carpet, and somebody trod on me this morning. So, the reason I haven't posted is ... I reckon I'm lucky to be alive. AND this heatwave is going to continue on for another week --!! I'm starting to wish I were in Wellington --

And speaking of Wellington ... as in New Zealand ... as in Middle Earth ... let's get down to business! The last time I was able to post, I was talking about the new movie of The Hobbit, and then I had to take a rather nasty hiatus. So let me get back to where I was, and start there!

The movie is no only ON, it's been doubled. My info is that they're doing it in two movies. Th director has been set and alas it isn't Peter Jackson. However, it's somebody PJ knows and respects, and PK is going to produce, so ... good enough. The big question uppermost in everybody's mind is ... who's going to play Bilbo Baggins?

I'd have liked to see Iam Holm again. He says he's too old, but he probably isn't. The first time Gandalf meets him again in Fellowship, he (Gandalf) says, "You haven't aged a day," which means that Bilbo wasn't any spring chicken when he and the dwarfs went chasing Smaug. Gandalf reckons he looks the same. Anyway, there's my reasoning, but --

New Line (and they're probably right) seem to think the part ought to be played by a Young and Beautiful actor, probably to put bums on seats at the movie house! The last I looked at this half of the story, everybody was talking about James McAvoy.

You probably know him best from the movie he made half naked with his knees on backwards: Narnia. Yep, he was Tumnus the faun, who was seriously cute. But Tumnus is not the extent of James's potential (with or without his knees on the right way around). For your consideration, I present the photographic evidence:






...and based on that evidence, you'd kinda have to agree with New Line!

Parting shot: the Photoshop Fiends are at it again. The mock-poster I started with, and the Saruman I'm closing with, are not down to me -- I have no idea where they came from, but they're a good chuckle. If anyone knows source and credit, let me know -- I'd love to put them on...

Elijah Wood: Happy birthday, 2009

And today it's Happy Birthday Elijah Wood -- he turns 28! Time flies, doesn't it? The first time I saw Elijah Wood he was about 12, and he was playing Jamie Lee Curtis's son in the Mel Gibson movie, Forever Young.

History happened thereafter with the Lord of the Rings trilogy ... and the question fans are asking right now is, will he, Billy and Dominic be in the upcoming Hobbit movie? And this picture is NOT a costume call for The Hobbit, though one might wish it was:


The real problem with having Elijah, Billy and Dom in the next Tolkein movie would be simply that the three young hobbits didn't take part in the book ... in fact they wouldn't even have been born at the time Bilbo and Gahdalf took off on their previous adventures! ... so if they're going to be in the movie they'll have to be written into it. Or else they'll be under ten pounds of makeup playing dwarf characters. That won't be too good because when there's that much latex and paint on someone, you can't really SEE them! But for the story on this, click here: http://www.entertainmentandshowbiz.com/the-hobbit-the-hobbit-prequel-in-the-pipeline-2009012710073

Heath Ledger: happy endings

It's official ... Heath Ledger has earned more since his tragic and untimely death than he did when he was on this earth and making movies like A Knight's Tale and The Dark Knight. It's just too bad that the will he left is old, and leaves little or nothing to his daughter. (It all goes to his Dad, and down here the elder Ledger has something of a rep for not being able to handle money, so it seems.)

However, I heard something nice ... and let's be honest, Hollywood is not the usual place from which you expect to hear really nice things! Turns out that Johnny Depp, Colin Farrel and Jude Law came in to finish off the work Heath had begun on the Doctor Parnassus movie, and they donated their paychecks to Matilda Rose.

This is one heck of a nice story. Read more about it right here: http://www.dailystab.com/johnny-depp-colin-farrell-jude-law-donate-earnings-to-heath-ledgers-daughter/

...and meanwhile, let's have another couple of pictures while we're here. NOT the full-frontal totally nekkid one ... let's have a little respect for Heath, guys. Now's not the time ... and this blog probably ain't quite the place for that kind of in-ya-face explicitness. Thoughts, people??

Mikhail Baryshnikov: happy birthday, 2009!

It just doesn't seem possible to believe that Mischa is 61 years old today! And yet ... how long is it since I sat in a cinema watching White Nights, and wishing the boy would stop acting (which he does very well) and start dancing ... because noooobody in this world does that like Baryshnikov!

I feel privileged to be old enough to remember seeing him when he was young, when things like The Turning Point were brand-new.

I hear somebody out there saying, "Mikhail who?"

Let me get this straight: some of you don't know who Baryshnikov is? Take a word of advice from AG: find out. Find out soon. You have no time to waste.

And if you'll just keeping scrolling down, I shall avail myself of the opportunity to show you why!







There you go. Men in tights. And you thought the ballet was boring! Snarfle. Who told you that?!

Tattoo shriek, or do I mean chic?

Tattoos. I'm in a tattoo mood today since seeing this, while surfing for something else entirely:



I was searching for ebook software -- meaning, the kind of software that MAKES ebooks and lets you open them later, maybe even when you've done something daft and password protected the thing, and forgotten the password. So what pops up? Tattoos. Perfect, what else could you ask for? Well -- maybe this:



Viggo as art. Now, you have got to like that. Way to go, Mr. Mortensen. And while we're on the subject of the body as art --


Very, very nice indeed! So nice, in fact, let's have one more picture before we change the channel and get onto a new topic (don't worry ... it'll be dreadlocks next week):



Tattoos are very chic just now; makes you wonder what would happen if they stopped being chic next year, and it was considered gross to show them. There would be cause to rejoice if you'd just had 'em painted on, like this:



These are not really Maori tattoos, they just have that look. Maori cultural watchdogs are very hot on protecting their national icons, and will fight long and hard to keep their tattoos out of public usage.