Esse fim de semana sai pra passear ao shopping com minha mãe e minha filha e também para comprar uma coisas necessárias para a bebê no supermercado anexo ao shopping. Quando vi o okoshi na seção de produtos orientais, peguei um de curiosidade para experimentar.  Ao chegar em casa dei uma mordida cheia de expectativas quanto ao doce que nunca havia experimentado, e a primeira sensação que tive foi de estar comendo pipoca doce… tem grande semelhança na crocância, mas o sabor, é de arroz. Pra quem gosta de “pipoca” com calda de açúcar é uma delícia!

Nota: Okoshi me fez lembrar da minha infância, quando via o vendedor de pipocas doces coloridas, com seu carrinho na entrada/saída da escola, rodeado de crianças.

No one can play American celebrity chess better than Angelina Jolie. The fame game is like osmosis to her when everyone rides her tail for fame and popularity.

As the American media frame Jolie in a role feuding with President Barack Obama’s policies today, Jolie’s reply is to put the focus on the Johnny Depp film she will star in where her and Johnny Depp will strip naked together for a romance scene.

Depp and Jolie share American-French connections both raising French-American children and families in France as French property owners, so they are just keeping it all in the family today as Jolie is supposedly embroiled in an Obama policy-hating scandal with the President. Jolie makes it about Johnny and Brad, not just Obama. She’s a smart girl. Love her.

Nice PR from Jolie!

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.24.09~

Johnny Depp está em negociações para protagonizar “The Tourist” ao lado de Angelina Jolie, noticia o site da “Variety”. A notícia espalhou-se rapidamente, com a previsão de várias cenas quentes entre o par, uma vez que “The Tourist” é um remake do filme francês “Anthony Zimmer” – que, a propósito, é imperdível.

A versão norte-americana prevê-se mais ousada e a perspectiva de ter no ecrã aquela que é provavelmente a dupla mais sexy do planeta já pôs muita gente em pulgas. Calma. A produção só começa em Fevereiro. Se Depp der o sim, vai interpretar um homem a contas com uma agente da Interpol. Chega para abrir o apetite?

Truly Wonderful!  Someone has created a mash-up fan-trailer for the next Batman movie.  It features Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Johnny Depp as The Penguin and The Joker, respectively.  Both actors have been tethered to rumors that they are attached to the newest project despite the fact that Nolan himself hasn’t even publically announced his involvement.  Regardless, this trailer is SO good (I still believe there is an art to trailer-makin’) and it makes me PRAY that Nolan goes ahead with a Depp/Hoffman pairing.  It will take these two together to try and accomplish what Ledger and Eckhart pulled off.  So, without further ado, my Bat-dream movie!

P.S.  Also, if you checked out the previous post on Nick’s Commercials and realized that all of the Youtube links were unembeddable, I apologize, I found out too late.  You can still use the links above them or just click the links to their Youtube pages.

P.P.S. Bears With Sparklers

Here is an excellent fan made trailer by Hawkeye Protagonist. Would you want the next Batman film to be like this?

CAPED CRUSADER aka SHADOW OF THE BAT Teaser Trailer for the Dark Knight sequel.

-Gotham is being overrun by a billionaire crime boss known as the penguin.
-A potential threat, known as Edward Nygma, battles with his own mind and the answer to “Why?”
-The key theme of Batman Begins was “Fear”, in The Dark Knight it was “Anarchy”. In Caped Crusader it’s “GREED”.

Starring:
Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot
Johnny Depp as Riddler/Edward Nigma

The poster is an old fan made one as well.

Johnny depp sexiest man alive

Das People Magazin läßt sich von dem “Twilight-Hype” nicht beeindrucken und wählte in diesem Jahr wieder einen reiferen Typen zum “sexiest Man alive”. Er ist 46, Vater von zwei Kindern und hat Piraten-Filme wieder zu Kassenschlagern gemacht. Was soll denn diese Geheimnis-Krämerei?! Steht doch in der Überschrift und blind sind wir auch nicht!! Okay sag ichs halt direkt:”Johnny Depp“!

Some artists ––– oh, say, Leonardo Da Vinci —— are known for their discipline and concentration. Consider the number of sketches he made for a horse statue that was never completed. Others, however, have taken the tack that to be an artist or an intellectual, you must somehow be undisciplined, clueless, and/or completely self-absorbed. THOSE are the kind Hollywood likes. After you’ve been awed by Leonardo at the High’s Hand of the Genius exhibition at our 12-hour artfest Go All Night, why not visit with some of his lesser brethren?

Eleanor Ringel Cater’s picks:

Barton Fink

Barton Fink (1991)

Leave it to the brothers Coen to come up with something as hilariously berserk and mind-teasingly perverse as this surreal black comedy about (of all things) writer’s block. A High-minded New York playwright, Barton Fink (John Turturro) is lured to 1941 Hollywood to give “that Barton Fink feeling” to a Wallace Beery wrestling movie. On one level, the film is about Fink’s Day-of-the-Locust encounters with moguls, producers and washed-up self-loathing Southern writers who’ve sold out to the flicks. But then there’s also the Earle, the hotel where Barton is holed up to write his masterpiece. A hotel worthy of The Shining, it’s also home to genial traveling salesman, John Goodman, who’s got stories to tell. LOTS of ‘em. The picture is a brainy goof, fleshed out by the brilliant performances, the rich production design and the Coen’s ever-clever camera. It’s as bleakly funny and tantalizingly obtuse as a Beckett on-act. I’ll give you the life of the mind…..

Naked Lunch (1991)

It will eat you alive if you’re not well-versed in the coded cool of Beat junkie icon, William S. Burroughs, or the insect-infected visions of director David Cronenberg (The Fly). And even if you are, this mercilessly exacting black comedy will leave its teeth marks on you.

Part biography, part literary adaptation, the film is less a literal rendering of the writer’s scandalous 1959 novel than a jazz-riff interpretation. Turning down the role of Robocop 3 (!), Peter Weller is the Burroughs surrogate who travels from 1953 New York to the Interzone — a kind of surreal Tangiers of the mind, populated by sweaty addicts, decadent ex-patriots and typewriters that mutate into giant talking bugs. However, those less than enthralled with Burroughs’ masturbatory self-infatuation may find this daring demanding picture something of a Pyrrhic victory. That is, more worthily done, perhaps, than worth doing.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Too much is never enough for fabled gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and director Terry Gilliam. You could almost say they are a match made in excess heaven (or hell). This is Hollywood’s second attempt to translate Thompson’s 1971 book about his drug-drenched trip to Vegas, the first being the rather abysmal Where the Buffalo Roam, starring a game Bill Murray.

Here, it’s the ever-unpredictable Johnny Depp who takes on the role of Raoul Duke (Thompson’s alter-ego) and a chunked-up pre-Oscar Benicio Del Toro plays Dr. Gonzo, Duke’s lawyer/companion-in-chaos. The assignment — as if it matters — is a dirt-bike race. Their true quest is to ingest every kind of “uppers, downers, screamers, laughers” they can find. Plus several oceans of booze. However, like most drug experiences, the film has a downside, too. Barely making it out of Vegas alive the first time, they’re dragged back in (like Pacino in Godfather III) for another round of the same thing.

Still, Depp is astonishing, Joe Coker by way of John Belushi and pure pandemonium on the prowl. The movie isn’t exactly a success, but it’s the most glorious kind of failure: Imaginative, uncompromising and true to itself. A tip: if hearing Debbie Reynolds tell a Vegas crowd, “Let’s rock and roll!” doesn’t crack you up, you don’t want any part of this movie. Not even the good parts.

Linda Dubler’s picks:

A Bucket of Blood

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

With its lurid title and down at the heels production values, A Bucket of Blood is a sterling example of legendary B-movie producer/director Roger Corman’s talent for entertaining, inspired schlock. The film’s central character, Walter Paisley (Dick Miller), is a bus boy at a beatnik coffee house who is so inept he makes Maynard G. Krebs look like Jackson Pollock.

Poor, talentless Walter longs for the limelight, so when his landlady’s cat dies accidentally, he covers the stiff feline in plaster, a la George Segal, and presents the critter as a work of art. The hipsters are wowed, and soon the would-be-genius is trolling for additional bodies to receive the Paisley treatment. The lively script was written by Charles Griffith, screenwriter for The Little Shop of Horrors. Corman mentored Scorsese, Coppola, and Jonathan Demme among others, so even if you’re not a B-movie fan, consider taking a look.

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

The grass is always greener – even for those who’ve successfully made it to the other side. Such is the case for Sullivan, a sought-after Hollywood director known for hits like Ants in Your Pants of 1939. Yearning for the gravity and respect that genius endows, this would be Steinbeck declares he’s finished with fluff and ready to undertake his masterpiece, a gritty, relevant opus called Oh Brother Where Art Thou? But before he can write about the common man, it would help to meet a few.

Sullivan and his fetching, hold-the-hooey secretary (Veronica Lake, famous for her peek-a-boo wave) take to the road in a luxuriously appointed Airstream in search of America. Preston Sturges, a treasure of American cinema and the writer/director behind The Palm Beach Story and The Lady Eve, mixes comedy with melodrama in this delicious satire of self-importance and fame.

The Lady Eve (1941) , Ball of Fire (1941) , and Bringing Up Baby (1938)

The movies are full of evil geniuses (Dr. Frankenstein and his many peers), troubled geniuses (viz. any standard issue artist bio pic, from Lust for Life to Basquiat), even idiotic geniuses (e.g. Austin Powers), but my favorite variety are the clueless intellectuals, beloved by the makes of classic screwball comedies. Invariably men, these champions of book learnin’ are short on smarts and easy marks for women who either thing or two about the world, or are so ditzy they defy comprehension.

In The Lady Eve, Henry Fonda is a herpetologist (a snake specialist to be precise) who makes an appetizing victim for slithery card-sharp Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck shows up again in Ball of Fire as Sugarpuss O’Shea, a nightclub singer who knows her way around a colloquialism, who ends up hiding out in a house full of lexographers, among them sexy language specialist Prof. Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper). And in what’s probably my favorite American comedy, Katherine Hepburn is as untamed as the titular leopard Baby, driving poor paleontologist Cary Grant around the bend and into her waiting arms. After a lousy day or a lousy week, any one of these gems will help to chase away the blues.

CLICK FOR TRAILER

What?

Johnny Depp is Ichabod Crane, an eccentric investigator determined to stop the murderous Headless Horseman. Christina Ricci is Katrina Van Tassel, the beautiful and mysterious girl with secret ties to the supernatural terror…

Where?

My hotel room in Fuerteventura

With?

Technically with the girlfriend, but she was asleep.

Why?

It was a movie that completely passed me by on its initial release…and DVD release…and every time it was on TV. So I figure I should give it a shout, no doubt it will be filled with the typical Burton-isms but you can usually rely in Depp putting in a decent performance.

Worth It?

Well it took up 100 minutes of dead time, and I don’t remember not liking it whilst watching it. Yet, it wasn’t what I would call memorable, to the point that I finished watching it about 40 minutes ago and I’ve already forgotten a lot of it.

As usual, Depp was pretty good albeit restrained, and the rest of the cast didn’t do a bad job. Apart from Casper Van Dien, but then I can’t blame him too much considering he lacks any acting ability anyway.

The gore was good, Walken was great, and the film was fairly forgettable. Definitely a Sunday afternoon post-roast movie.

6/10

So while I wasn’t organized enough to pull off 10 days of Giving Thanks like the awesome Lisa D, I thought I would post an ode to some of my favorite actors, sports stars and singers that I’m incredibly thankful for whether it be their handsome bodies, incredible acting abilities, great knack for sports or voices that make me swoon.

Daniel Sunjata from Rescue Me and one episode of Sex and the City:

Gabriel Macht from The Spirit, an episode of Sex and the City and Because I Said So:

Johnny Depp, Sexiest Man Alive five times and counting

Derek Jeter, my favorite Yankee yesterday, today and tomorrow:

Dave Matthews, for his beautiful songs and romantic lyrics

Rapporten är inlämnad för att granskas och opponeras. Nu ska jag lägga mig i sängen och tillbringa eftermiddagen med en av mina favoriter

Time Passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me. – New Moon. I loved that intro in the fouth chapter of the book.

For starters, it’s better than the first movie (Twilight) because of the effects, lighting and cinematography. Although I am a big fan of the Twilight series, I couldn’t say that it was the best movie ever. It’s good though but not exceptional.

It was better patterned after the book and I applaud the director Chris Weitz for fitting a five hundred plus page book into a two hour (+ a couple more minutes) movie.

In the book, Jacob and some guys from his Quileute tribe transformed into wolves but I didn’t think they’d literally look like wolves. In the movie though, the director made it known that it was exactly what he thought of (different shades of huge wolves). All I can say is, I liked the CGI but not exactly what I perceived them to be. They didn’t look as vicious as I thought.

I also noticed something and I believe a lot of fans will hate me for this, including my teenage niece: Kristen Stewart should take some acting classes. I mean, in the book, Bella’s supposed to be a softie pretending she’s a toughie but still, the frail girl inside her shows. In the movie, it was the opposite. It probably has something to do with her not reading the book. In any job, a person should learn his/her craft to be called as someone who is extraordinarily brilliant (that’s redundant, I know). I guess she’d still take home dozens of awards because some people would refuse to notice that beyond the fame of New Moon that her acting lacks a couple of important details: That you should mold the character you are portraying into your personality and not your personality into the character you are portraying (sort of a Johnny Depp thing. That’s the reason he’s able to portray every role and look like he’s the character himself). I probably should also mention after I said all of that, I still believe that Kristen Stewart has potential if she submerges herself in making an effort to learn each and every character she plays. After all, it’s what makes her earn millions.

“Ow, papercut”, Kristen Stewart watches her finger drip blood but just looks at it, reactionless like it didn’t hurt at all. In tagalog: “Ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay dama ng buong katawan”. Google that up, will ya?

Since we are talking of character portrayals and I mentioned Johnny Depp’s acting appeal, in my opinion Robert Pattinson will someday be able to do what Mr. Depp had achieved – if he doesn’t let all the fame and fortune go into his head and keep on studying each role he plays in his movies. I said that not because of Twilight/New Moon alone or that in some point of my life I have found him utterly gorgeous but for the fact that he was able to play a gay role, an invalid, a musician geek, a loser guy and a wizard among his many movies. Plus, I believe that he still is the perfect Edward Cullen which means he looks pale – dead but still cute. Not to mention that he can still do that “I so want to drink your blood” gaze (I think I’ll go run now. The question is: will I run towards him or away?) eventhough his age lines were already showing in the movie, which shouldn’t have because Edward Cullen never grows old and in the first movie the wrinkles weren’t there at all.

Let’s talk about Taylor Lautner. I have to mention that this boy deserves a round of applause of what he had done. Both in his performance and the body mass he had put on himself so no one would ever have to doubt that he deserves to be Jacob Black (of course, Summit will pay him millions for that , no disrespect intended). I have to say that I doubted him before. I thought that he wouldn’t be able to fit into the character of that wolf boy but he did it. It’s easy to gain thirty pounds but the hard part about it is to form them into muscles in a couple of weeks. Let’s not forget that he was only sixteen when that all happened (he’s seventeen now). Hold on, I just lost my train of thought. Oh right, I was supposed to say “nice ass Lautner”. Gosh, I feel so old.

All in all, most of it was in accordance from the book but I couldn’t help but think now that I am not so blinded by Edward Cullen’s charms anymore: Would I leave my father to be worried sick where I am, leave abruptly to rescue the love of my life who is literally as gorgeous as hell? I’m not sure since Edward was about to commit suicide. I don’t know if I missed the part where it was mentioned that Bella made a long distance call to her dad to tell him where she was but it was supposed to be like that.

Some said that it’s more of a guy movie time. I can’t totally say it’s true although my nephew Ralph was with us all three girls, not to mention that his sister Rachelle was squealing and twisting in her chair. I mean the love story is still there although towards the end there was some action but still it was totally a love story. Some guys will probably like it better than Twilight because of the werewolf and the face smashing part. I bet most guys just want to see Edward’s face get ripped off or just to see him in pain. One word guys: ENVY. (Insert me here laughing out loud).

Here are some notes about New Moon: It would break your heart even more when you’ve just gone through a break up yourself, even when you feel that it won’t affect you anymore, believe me it will. Edward left Bella, Bella uses Jacob like a comfort pillow then leaves him when Edward comes back. In the end, Jacob was the one at the losing end. I am not team Jacob, simply for the fact that Edward is wealthier but I felt Jacob’s hurt. In the end, the summary was that Bella used Jacob. She was selfish and it was right for her to feel guilty about everything. “Poor, poor, wolf boy”. I’m sorry Bella fans, but it’s true. I hope they make a Breaking Dawn movie so people who didn’t read the book (not me, I have read all four books.), will get to see that for every sacrifice, there is a greater reward. If it’s love you sow, it will be love you reap.

Seven out of ten stars for the New Moon movie. Rated PG-13.

Less a greatest hits set and more a badly-edited VHS clip compilation of your favourite squirt-shots, New York quartet Gay For Johnny Depp return to release career-spanning retrospective Manthology and tour the UK’s tawdry grief-holes.

Triple Threat Tour 09 with Blakfish and Outcry Collective

NOVEMBER
13 PLYMOUTH White Rabbit
14 BRISTOL Louisiana
15 SOUTHAMPTON Talking Heads
16 BIRMINGHAM Flapper & Firkin
17 NOTTINGHAM Seven
18 BRIGHTON The Engine Room
19 GUILDFORD Boileroom
20 OXFORD Bullingdon
21 HIGH WYCOMBE Nags Head Loft
22 SOUTHEND Chinnerys
23 BOURNEMOUTH iBar
24 DERBY The Royal
25 GLASGOW Ivory Blacks
26 MANCHESTER Satan’s Hollow
27 LUTON UBSU
28 SHEFFIELD Leadmill
29 YORK Fibbers
30 NEWCASTLE The Cluny 2

DECEMBER
01 LEEDS Cockpit
02 CARDIFF Barfly
03 EXETER Cavern
04 LONDON Borderline

CD Tracklisting

The Politics of Cruelty
1. Cumpassion
2. You Have a Theory, I Have a Gun
3. Belief In God Is So Adorable
4. Lights Out!
5. Noise
6. Juicy’s Last $ (Point the Finger)
7. Happens
8. Very Little Good Happens Between 3 and 4 in the Morning: In Which We Out Paul Stanley
9. Delirium Approached (Slut Dust)
10. To the Alcoholics: Life IS Depressing
11. Here
12. I Hate our Freedom (Fuck You Gladys, I’m on Vacation)
Blood: The Natural Lubricant
13 Hey Sailor!
14. No Teeth Thumbs Up
15. Sex In Your Mouth
16. Nothing Worse Than A Whining Boy
17. Shh, Put The Shiv To My Throat
18. Fucking Isn’t Cheating
Ski Mask Orgy
19. Seriously Ted, Just Admit It
20. Condo Shots (Bad Day To Be A Templar)
21. Hey Fucked Up! (Punk Rock Can’t Exist In Countries With Good Social Services)
22. We Bleed America (Dad Get The Cuffs)
23. No One Knows Anyone, Not Really
Erotically Charged Dance Songs For The Desperate
24. Kill The Cool Kids
25. Lights Out!
26. She Said, “I Like This One”
27. At Least Be A Target
28. He Loved It So Much He Went Mad
Blacksmoke Remix
29. Gay For Johnny Depp Inhale Blacksmoke
Tour 7″
30. Godspeed You Black Mogwai
31. Happy Go Loopy

1234 Feist mp3
Fancy Footwork Chromeo mp3
DJ Promotion CD Pool Pop 82 Various Artists mp3
The Hits Prince mp3
The Queen is Dead The Smiths mp3
75 Brazil Street Nicola Fasano and Pat-Rich mp3
Love in this Club (featuring Young Jeezy) Usher mp3
Universal promo sampler October Various Artists mp3
Devil Toy Hoxton Whores mp3
Everybodys Free Global Deejays featuring Rozzalla mp3
Spirit the Deluxe edition Leona Lewis mp3
Little Voice Sara Bareilles mp3
With You Chris Brown mp3
The Boy Does Nothing Alesha Dixon mp3
Vanguard 08-20 Various Artists mp3
Mastercuts the Best of Jazz Funk 2CD Various Artists mp3
Good Girl Gone Bad Rihanna mp3
Animals Pink Floyd mp3
Day N Nite Kid Cudi vs. Crookers mp3
Infinity 2008 (including Klaas remix) Guru Josh Project mp3
Kissing Strangers Ralf Gum featuring Monique Bingham mp3
Cry for You September mp3
Diva Sebo K mp3
Honey (Produced by 9th Wonder) Erykah Badu mp3
Spotlight Jennifer Hudson mp3
Love Etc Pet Shop Boys mp3
Twenty Five George Michael mp3
Trompeta Sis mp3
Brookes Brothers featuring Furlonge Breakbeat Kaos mp3
Just Another Groove Mighty dub Katz mp3
Girls Sugababes mp3
Classique 2 (DFAEMI2185) Hercules and Love Affair mp3
The Beatles White album 1 The Beatles mp3
Finding Forever Common mp3
Flashing Lights Kanye West featuring Dwele mp3
Top Gun OST mp3

Resource – http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?H=Gay-For-Johnny-Depp-new-video&nItemID=30765

“There are only four great questions in life: What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to all of them is the same:

Only Love.”

~ Johnny Depp (as Don Juan de Marco)

This is just a great, great movie.

Anyone who says that vinyl will never die is right. You don’t have to be a DJ to notice that the turntable is an icon of modern music culture — it has been elevated from its original intention as a lowly playback device to a musical instrument that is glorified by pop culture at large. Clearly, there’s something special about vinyl, but why do people hang on to this archaic 19th-century technology when modern tools like CD players and automatic computer software are everywhere?

Questions like these have been at the heart of arguments between vinyl purists and digital devotees for years. Fortunately, enterprising software engineers and savvy hardware companies have brought forth the best of both worlds with digital vinyl systems that allow DJs to control digital audio files with traditional analog vinyl.
One of the most common, and the current industry standard throughout the world is Rane — purveyor of some of the finest scratch DJ mixers available — and the high-end DSP coders at Serato, best known for its groundbreaking Pitch ‘n Time plug-in. Both manufacturers are leaders in their fields of expertise, and both continue that legacy by offering a digital vinyl system with rock-solid performance and unique tools aimed squarely at the turntablist market.

The Scratch Live hardware is a small, unassuming black box that’s slightly larger than a VHS cassette. The unit sports six pairs of RCA jacks for connecting to turntables and a mixer, a USB port to communicate with the host computer and a power jack for a wall-wart power supply. There’s also a ¼-inch input for connecting an external microphone. The hardware has an all-metal construction and, like all of Rane’s equipment, appears to be built to withstand the apocalypse. It’s large enough that it won’t be misplaced easily yet compact enough to fit conveniently in a record bag or a laptop carrier. The only glaring omission is the lack of a packaged power supply, a required accessory if you plan to play regular records through the unit without a laptop attached. Something I’ve managed to fix by visiting the local JayCar store with the power specifications.

Patching in the hardware isn’t all that difficult, but it does require a little cable jockeying and free access to the phono and line inputs on the DJ mixer. The unit plays audio from the computer through the mixer’s line inputs and acts as a pass-through for phono inputs, so if you need to throw some old-fashioned analog grooves into the mix, it’s as simple as switching from line to phono on your mixer.

One look at the vinyl that ships with Scratch Live, and it’s clear that Rane has spent a lot of time listening closely to what professional DJs want in a digital vinyl system. The Scratch Live records offer a wealth of information at a glance — thin, visible grooves mark each minute on the vinyl, and thicker grooves indicate five-minute marks. This feature is a serious help when needle-dropping to find a specific spot in a track.

One side of the vinyl is 15 minutes in length and the other is 10. The code on each record is identical (the grooves on the 10-minute side are simply further apart), so if one side becomes scratched or worn, you can flip it over and keep mixing. Because you’re not playing music from the records themselves, it doesn’t matter how worn the records become. As long as the system can still hear valid code from the coded vinyl, the music played from the Scratch Live system will sound as good as the day you recorded it.

The 10-minute side of the disc also has a special “vinyl select” area that allows you to choose songs without ever touching the laptop. Moving the record back and forth in this area skips forward and backward in the song browser. This very cool feature is great for DJs who would rather spend less time hunting and pecking on a laptop keyboard and more on the decks.

One of the primary reasons for switching from old-fashioned vinyl to a digital system like Scratch Live is the convenience of having thousands of records at your fingertips without the back-breaking work associated with carrying around an entire room’s worth of vinyl. There’s nothing quite like having the perfect record for the perfect moment, and Scratch Live gives you that power and flexibility

All of this tech wizardry is useless if the system does not perform like real vinyl. And Scratch Live simply steals the show when it comes to delivering flawless music with low latency. Cueing and scratching with Scratch Live is literally just like working with real vinyl. The system is so stable and responsive that it’s easy to completely forget that you’re working with MP3s streamed off of a computer and not analog music stamped on wax.

Scratch Live is a robust digital vinyl system that easily holds its own against competing products. The system’s unusual interface takes some getting used to, but many DJs will find the unique features — such as frequency-colored waveforms, beat-matching tools and marker points — well worth the effort. The hardware is built like a tank and leaves little to be desired, aside from a built-in power supply, and the sound and responsiveness of the system is second to none.

There really isn’t much to dislike about Scratch Live, I’ve been using it since the beginning of 2009, about 5 years or so after seeing it used in a nightclub I previously worked in, but it seems like the best solution for me, the mobile and nightclub DJ who simply doesn’t have the room in the car for all my vinyl or CDs. I have used most of the available forms to DJ that are available today – Vinyl, CDs, and computer software.

No matter what other DJs say to me who aren’t using it, you are really DJing. Even I get annoyed when you go to a party or nightclub and see the “DJ” using an auto-mixing piece of software on a computer or laptop. Serato does not do auto mix for you and what you see is what you get. If you were a mediocre DJ on real Vinyl and CDs then you will be exactly that with Serato. It is simply a simpler way of moving to the future without killing the art form known as the Disc Jockey.

If you’re looking for a solid, reliable digital vinyl system from a company with an intimate understanding of the turntablist’s needs, Scratch Live could be the one for you.

Daniel “BODZ” Bodington OUT!

There must be something horribly wrong with me because Johnny Depp has always left me cold.  Sure, if he snuck into my bedroom begging for some lovin’, I wouldn’t tell him to take a hike.  But here he is, People’s Sexiest Man Alive again and I’m like, “whatev.”

I never agree with People’s choices around beauty and sexiness.  Boring Pierce Brosnan?  Frat Boy Affleck?  Two-time Sexiest winner Brad Pitt’s another hunk about whom I’ve always been lukewarm.  I was down with former Sexiest Men Denzel and Clooney, and still consider JFK, Jr. one of the sexiest men to have ever walked the planet.  But the rest of People’s choices…yawn.

So what better thing to do on a cold Sunday afternoon than sit around deciding who the sexiest men in the world are.  Here’s my list. 

Edward Norton – He’s scrawny and has a receding chin, but Edward deserves the clichéd “best actor of his generation” title.  Ol’ Ed must have something in the sexiness department considering he scored babes Rosario Dawson in 25^th Hour and Salma Hayek in real life.  Anyone who can make a neo-Nazi hot definitely deserves to be on some list.

Barack Obama – Nobel Prize winner.  Devoted family man.  Coolest American president who ever lived.  Obama is the epitome of sexiness.  Now, if he can just pass health care.

David Letterman – Yep.  Dave.  In high school, I had a major crush on him.  He doesn’t offer much in the looks department but the dry, quirky, somewhat mean-spirited wit adds more to his appeal than a pretty face ever could.  Plus, you can see in the way he flirts with female guests and fawns over Julia Roberts’ mouth that there’s a love monster within the geek’s body.  This latest scandal only proves my point.

Javier Bardem – I saw him a couple times in Madrid and he came off as one of those “serious” actors who think smelling bad is a sign of artistic depth.  Seems he doesn’t bathe.  Still, Javier’s intensity is the stuff of dirty dreams.  His fights with Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona made you believe co-dependent, mind-fucking romances are the way to go.  Even with that weird Coen brothers haircut in No Country for Old Men, Javier’s the bee’s knees.

This Guy Who Rides My Bus – I really need to get over my attraction to tattooed, messily gorgeous meatheads who chain smoke and work in sandwich shops.  The one who rides my bus every morning was recently reading a Dummies guide on raising ferrets.  Upgrade, Laura, upgrade.    

Ewan McGregor – He wears makeup and skirts, sings in musicals and shows his butt all the time in films.  Ewan is the cute, wacky class clown who just happens to be easy on the peepers.  While his sexier peers have fallen off the cultural radar (Jude Law anyone?) Ewan keeps showing up and giving his all in decent flicks.  He ought to instruct his friend Jude on the finer points of career longevity and how not to shag nannies. 

Djimon Hounsou – Remember how great Janet Jackson looked in her black-and-white music video, “Love Will Never Do Without You?”  I don’t because I was too busy staring at Djimon Hounsou.  He’s one of those lucky bastards who gets to look incredible and have talent.  Only a god like Djimon could distract anyone from the sexy powder keg also known as Leo DiCaprio, but he did it in Blood Diamond.  Then he had to ruin it and marry that Kimora Simmons witch.  What a loss…

Lenny Kravitz – When I lived in New York, a friend of a friend was subletting an apartment in Soho.  Lenny Kravitz supposedly lived across the street.  For a time, five of my girlfriends and I were seriously considering taking on several jobs and living in the cramped place together just to see Lenny walk by the window in his Calvins.  Though he hasn’t made an interesting album in a decade and his lyrics are kinda dumb (“my mama said that your life is a gift/my mama said there’s much weight you will lift”), not much more comes to mind when looking at that face than sex. 

Don Draper – A handsome as hell, emotionally remote, psychologically tortured cad who can’t keep it in his pants?  What a dreamboat!  I refuse to read articles about or watch interviews of Jon Hamm, the actor who plays him, because I have a feeling he’s actually a likeable and even shy person.  I prefer scumbags like Draper.

Freddie Ljungberg – He’s a Swedish football player.  He did ads for Calvin Klein underwear.  If there’s any confusion as to why he’s the sexiest man alive, please refer to the southern portion of the aforementioned ad.

Dillinger è morto. Anzi, no. Dillinger è vivo. Ma è meglio dire vivido. È questo l’aggettivo che più si addice all’immagine che Michael Mann confeziona per il suo Nemico pubblico, ritratto di un uomo, il rapinatore gentiluomo John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) e di un’epoca, gli anni Trenta della Grande Depressione post 1929. Le immagini che raccontano questa storia così antica sono in realtà modernissime, nitide. Vivide, appunto. Il film è girato in digitale, un mezzo che nessun altro oggi sa usare come Michael Mann, che di questa tecnica può essere considerato il precursore, e uno dei più agguerriti sostenitori. Uno dei maestri, insomma.

Michael Mann per Nemico pubblico ha cercato la realtà. Ha voluto fare un film ambientato negli anni Trenta che non sembrasse un film d’epoca, senza filtri nostalgici. Come se ci si svegliasse e si trovasse lì, in quel tempo. Il digitale in Alta Definizione è uno dei fattori che hanno portato il film in questa direzione. Mann e il suo operatore Dante Spinotti, hanno usato vari tipi di telecamere HD per quasi tutte le scene: quattro nuove HDC-F23 della Sony e la XDCAM-EX1s. Le riprese sono una combinazione di macchina a mano, addosso ai volti degli attori, e di riprese in campo lungo sull’intera scena, realizzate contemporaneamente. La sensazione è quella di vedere quello che succede in tempo reale, un senso di immediatezza. Come se, pur se l’azione si svolge in un’epoca lontana, stessimo assistendo a un film verità. In questo senso sono state fatte le scelte per illuminare le scene: non dovevano essere illuminati solo gli attori, ma tutto l’ambiente circostante. “Abbiamo sempre tenuto a mente il realismo estremo della situazione” ha dichiarato Dante Spinotti. “Volevamo rappresentare, in modo aggressivo e vero, che cosa era quel tempo e che cos’è la scena. Così abbiamo illuminato tutta la scena e raramente solo l’inquadratura. Gli attori devono sembrare giusti, perfetti quando finiscono in primo piano e questo è stato girato con una telecamera per i primi piani, mentre un’altra riprende i primi piani opposti di altri attori o attrici”. Il risultato lascia sorpresi: è forse la prima volta che un ritratto d’epoca viene proposto con un’immagine così moderna e nitida, perfettamente definita, invece che con la classica fotografia più sgranata che siamo soliti associare alla patina d’epoca. L’immagine di Nemico pubblico è antica e moderna allo stesso tempo.

L’altra “sfida” di Mann per avvicinarsi al maggior grado possibile di realismo è stato girare nel maggior numero di luoghi reali possibile. Molti dei luoghi visitati da John Dillinger esistono ancora oggi. Quando vediamo il carcere di Lake County a Crown Point, nell’Indiana, o la pensione Little Bohemia a Manitowish Waters, in Wisconsin, vediamo i veri luoghi nei quali è stato Dillinger, e che sono stati teatro della sua sfida alla legalità. Anche il fatale cinema Biograph in Lincoln Avenue, di Chicago, che ha visto la sua fine, dopo che aveva visto Manhattan Melodrama (Le due strade), è quello vero. Il carcere  di Lake County, dove Dillinger fuggì con l’auto dello sceriffo, è dunque quello vero, non è stato inventato niente. Evidentemente non poteva essere nelle condizioni in cui si trovava negli anni Trenta, ma è stato ricostruito accuratamente in base alle foto scattate all’epoca (mentre per le celle, di cui non c’erano foto, si è lavorato d’immaginazione). Nella pensione Little Bohemia gli agenti dell’FBI circondarono Dillinger ma furono beffati dalla sua fuga. La pensione è un luogo turistico e ora è diventata un ristorante. È stato fatto un lavoro particolare per riportarle a quell’epoca, piantando degli arbusti sul terreno, e lavorando sulle camere. Che però sono proprio quelle in cui dormirono i gangster. “Come si può immaginare, per Johnny Depp c’è una sorta di magia nello sdraiarsi sul letto in cui aveva davvero dormito Dillinger” ha dichiarato Michael Mann. Quando mette la mano e apre la porta, è la stessa maniglia sulla quale Dillinger aveva messo la sua mano”. Little Bohemia porta ancora oggi i segni di quella giornata, come i buchi delle pallottole, le finestre rotte e parte del bagaglio che la gang lasciò fuggendo. Il cinema Biograph, davanti al quale Dillinger viene tradito e ucciso, aveva perso le pensiline per le insegne dei film, ma Mann lo ha fatto restaurare.

Cogliere la realtà circostante, l’anima di un luogo, le luci della città, e con esse la sua essenza, è stata la chiave espressiva degli ultimi lavori di Mann, Collateral e Miami Vice, con cui Nemico pubblico costituisce un’ideale trilogia, e di cui è un ideale prequel. Il rapporto tra la città e il male che vive al suo interno, e da cui è inscindibile, è alla base di tutti e tre i film. E la chiave per rendere tutto questo in immagini è proprio il digitale. Proprio in questo modo, l’unico modo possibile, in Collateral Mann era riuscito a cogliere i colori della notte e le vere luci di Los Angeles: le luci al neon, in primo piano, sfocate, o riflesse su vetri e superfici metalliche in affascinanti riverberi, annegate nel blu notte della città. Los Angeles è una delle protagonista di Collateral, come Chicago è un’assoluta protagonista di Nemico pubblico. E come Miami è protagonista di Miami Vice, discesa agli inferi nelle tentazioni di una città tentacolare, peccaminosa, sensuale e pericolosa. Anche qui i colori della notte sono colti alla perfezione dalla macchina da presa digitale. Pensiamo alla prima scena, al suono di Linkin Park e Jay-Z, nella discoteca, che ci fa capire subito la cifra stilistica del film. Anche in Miami Vice Mann ha scelto la direzione del realismo, operando un taglio netto con l’edonismo pop della serie originale, e cercando di trasmettere le vere azioni della polizia, con cui i protagonisti si sono addestrati prima di girare. Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago. Tre città, le loro luci, la loro aria, i loro uomini. Sempre troppo piccoli di fronte a una città che finisce per schiacciarli. Anche questo è Michael Mann.  

We all know Johnny Depp but what you might not have known is that his common-law wife is Vanessa Paradis, French actress, model and singer. She is known for having been the face of Chanel perfume, singing with Lenny Kravitz and Charles Aznavour and very much for her relationship with Johnny Depp.

We love her musique and haven’t heard from her in a while which is apparently normal

BUT to our delight, she has returned!! with a Best Of Album which is set to release tomorrow le 23 novembre!

And apparently the French agree that their ”divine idol” has been gone too long.

We agree!!

Not only did she get the chance to see Tim Burton’s exhibition, she also saw Burton’s best friend and favourite actor to star in all his films….

Guess who?

Johnny Depp!

Taken from her post

But the best moment of all had to be at the end. The Dish & I were sitting on a bench near the exit, beside the garden, drinking & talking. All of a sudden there was a weird silence, & we looked up to see Johnny Depp being escorted out of the building. He was with a couple of security guards & maybe his wife but I’m not sure. They had cut through the garden to avoid all the party-goers & were just about to reach the door. We looked at him, & then he looked at us & nodded before walking on! I know I sound like a huge fangirl (“Oh my god, Johnny Depp NODDED AT ME!!!”) but it was the raddest thing ever. We like to think that in that brief moment what he was really saying with his nod was, “Wow, you are both so well-dressed & obviously cool, why don’t you come to the south of France & kick it with Vanessa & me for an indefinite period of time?” …Um, also, he is very, very handsome in person.

Soooo super!

I’d die to ever, ever see him IRL. Had a major crush on him since… IDK. Say 13 years old? Sheesh.

The only John and Kate that matter.