A word or two from your host: heeeeer's AG!

And an editorial note here ... thanks gazillions to Jade (who is the cover artist for DreamCraft and Mel Keegan) for the spanking new header for this blog! I think it looks amazing, and it also reflects where most visitors are coming from, and what they want when they get here!

In fact, you might be interested to know a few stats on this here blog, since there's over 100 posts up now, and visitors from every part of the world are browsing through as if it were a magazine ... which I suppose it is, really!

• About 40% of all visitors follow a link or an image or a Google search of some description (blog, web or image) for ... Johnny Depp!
• Johnny Depp's tattoos are the most popular single feature on the blog!
• Followed a close second by Viggo's tattoos -- and then by Viggo himself.
• Next up, folks follow links and threads and wind up here on the trail of Elijah Wood...
• And about equal numbers of people are looking for Elijah Wood and Christian Bale; and finding it here!
• Next, James Spader, without or without the long hair (but searches and visitor "came from" links show a definite preference for "with").
• And Richard Dean Anderson is right up there with James Spader, Christian Bale and Elijah Wood, in terms of how many visitors are looking, and searching.

After that -- well, it's a free-for-all, with an absolute gran-bag of everything on the blog.

You'll have noticed the "Link Within" widgets ... I added this service about two weeks ago, and it really has added value to the blog. Visitors like it, and many wind up browsing from topic to topic ... a few have stayed for an hour!

I'm not so sure about the "Snapshots" feature, though. I know it's popular on a lot of sites (like Live Journal and (Wordpress) but I'm not totally "sold" on how it works here.

But I have checked out my Statcounter stats and made a note of what visitors are downloading as "keepers." Guys: you're sussed ... ie., I know what you like! Therefore, I can "keep it coming." And let's be honest, there is never a shortage of stuff to babble about!

Many thanks to all who have supported the blog with a click or two on whatever interesting advertising has come along. I appreciate it!

The next thing I want to add to the site here is a Movie Shoppe. Stay tuned...

Viggo Mortensen -- being Good

As a kind of post script to the last entry in this odd journal, I'm going to talk about Viggo again for a couple of minutes, and his new movie, Good.

I was over at YouTube, getting the trailer to plug in here, and couldn't help noticing that there's a bit of a furore brewing up over there. Most of it is about Nazis, Germans, Jews, Israelis, Palestinians and so forth -- and I really don't want to get into that ... I'm not qualified, honestly! There's people who know 100 times what I know, about all those subjects, and they're out there on the web, whanging it out all the time: they've said everything, fifty times each. Nothing left for me to add, and if I did, I'd either get it wrong or get everyone steamed.

But one thing on the discussion about the movie, Good, that seemed (to me) to be silly enough to be worth a post here is this:

A fair few people say they're "bothered" be the fact that Viggo and Jason Isaacs are playing the parts of Germans, using English accents. Apparently these viewers would have preferred to hear Viggo and Jason speaking with German accents.

Hunh?! Here's the problem. We hear German accents when German people speak English. But in Good, all the characters are German, speaking German, as German native speakers, in Germany.

No way in the world would you hear German accents! Think of it like this: the whole movie has been translated out of German into English. You just wouldn't, shoudn't, couldn't, hear an accent like Max von Sydow speaking English! (And incidentally, I could listen to Max von Sydow all night.)

Making a movie about Germans speaking German in Germany, they only had two choices: 1) have everyone speak German and subtitle it; or, 2) have everyone speak English that sounds as perfect to the ear as proper German would sound to native German speakers.

Now, the question of "should Viggo be speaking with an English accent?" comes up ... and it's pretty plain to me that since all the characters are German etc. etc., then you have no choice but the stabilize the accent used in the movie to ONE accent. Jason Isaacs is English -- so is everyone else in the cast ... I know, because I bothered to go to the movie's IMDb page and check! So, since they're all English barring Viggo ... if someone wanted to have Viggo speaking with his American accent or his Danish accent, they'd have to coach everybody else in the movie to speak with the same accent as him ... that's a huge amount of work, to make 10 people match up with one!

Why bother, when Viggo already "does" a gorgeous English accent (Aragorn), so he can mesh with the rest of the cast without problems.

This seems to be such a weird thing to me. It's just about the last reason I could think of for people saying, "I'm bothered by an American speaking in an English accent, playing a German." I mean -- duh. It's so obvious, I shouldn't have to be saying this!

Eye candy now, anyone...?!

Viggo Mortensen -- trilingual is terrific!

I'm in a Viggo mood today ... because he's been on the box promoting GOOD, which is just one of his new movies.

So, what the hey? Let's have some Viggo stuff today.

Let's start with the GOOD trailer ... which is a marvelous piece of filmmaking in itself. Listen to that accent! Viggo is "doing" the gorgeous British accent we heard in Lord of the Rings. Aragorn speaks! Have a listen to this...



This is going to be such a good movie. Next ... since we're on the subject of
accents and languages, you have to check this out:



Being bilingual would be fantastic. I always wanted to speak a second language. Viggo, it turns out, speaks at least three. He did CAPITAN ALATRISTE in the Spanish language:



And yes, I have a copy of ALATRISTE ... in Spanish ... with English subtitles, thank heavens, or I wouldn't get one word in three of what's being said!

Lastly ... well, let's get naughty. Chuckle! Enjoy:

Elijah Wood ... as Iggy Pop?!

Would you believe Elijah Wood starring as Iggy Pop?! I mean, the guy's an incredibly talented actor, but this is the reverse of casting Viggo Mortensen in the title role of Heidi ... you get what I mean. A complete mis-match:

They couldn't put enough makeup on Elijah Wood to make him look remotely like Iggy Pop. Some wise-cracker suggested casting Robert Downey Jr. in the part (maybe because Robert Downey can and will wear so much makeup, they might stand half a chance of getting a remote likeness...

...and I mean, it would have to be an utterly REMOTE likeness.

But as per angelic Elijah Wood...???

Pull the other leg, man ... it has bells on.

Speaking of Elijah Wood, there's a cute little piece running on Softpedia:

Actor Elijah Wood, aka Frodo from "Lord on The Rings" trilogy confessed he is the subject of a gay site, made by some online jokers.

During a TV show he was invited, Elija told the host that some pranksters have started a website named elijahwoodisveryverygay, where they present fake photos with him that are 'proving' the 'Lord Of The Rings' star is homosexual.

He told US chat show host Conan O'Brien: "There's one that's called elijahwoodisveryverygay, which is actually a personal favorite of mine, it's absolutely hilarious.

"It's this kind of joke website that maintains that they have proof that I am very, very gay in various photographs - photographic evidence of me holding hands with a male".

The actor also revealed he was approached many times by fans who wanted to give him "fake" pictures of himself in compromising situations with his male co-stars.

He explained: "They want to create moments that they didn't get to see in the film, of these characters in sexual congress.

I was actually at a film festival once and this fan came up with a gift, I open the gift in front of all these people that I'm talking to and it happens to be a photo from one of these websites of me and Dominic Monaghan making sweet love".

Now, that wasn't a nice thing to do to the actor! (However ... I've seen photos (and they are not faked; they're on one of the leading PR image sites, where the dopyright owners charge an arm and a leg for reproduction royalties ... fake photos don't sit on those sites) of Dominic Monaghan frenching -- or getting frenched by?? -- Viggo. So ... who knows where imagination and wishful thinking ends, and where the truth begins?! But I really do think fans ought to have more sense and more manners than to hand the actor fake photos -- called digital maniupulations -- in public ... or anywhere else, for that matter. Guys -- get real here. Nuff said.)

Viggo, Orlando -- and that other cute dude from TROY...

I've got some reading for you today -- good, meaty stuff ... if you're in a Viggo mood, and I am. There's a really good feature article you need to get your teeth into, so after you've grabbed the eye candy below, go over here:

Mr Good Bard

The feature is running on the Sydney Morning Herald -- the Australian paper, so you might not have seen it. And staying in Aus, and staying with things sorta-kinda Lord of the Rings -ish, here's another beaut:

Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom show their revhead side

...that one is on the Daily Telegraph, and allow me to give you the hook: "THEY'RE two of Hollywood's leading hoons and Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana hung out to talk the secret men's business of custom motorcycles in Sydney yesterday."

Can you imagine working at a bike shop in Sydney, and looking up over the keyboard, or out the window, and Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom just walked in??? You'd have to drop your Pepsi stright into the computer. I mean, you'd have no choice, would you?!

Anway -- there's some reading for you; also food for thought. And now the eye candy!

The Thunder God commeth ... in 2011!

In fact, Viggo has been in a couple more newsie items that might have blown right by you, because they're not (yet) Hollywoodish.

The big news first: Marvel considers a real-life Thunder God ... woah! You do know, don't you, that the next massive, monster movie of a comic book legend is The Mighty Thor ...?! If you didn't know -- consider yourself informed! And in fact they're casting the part now. They're looking at Brad Pitt, Viggo Mortensen, Gerard Butler, and James Preston Rogers ...

Ouch! Okay, well... James Preston Rogers has six-foot-six, has the muscles and the hair, but he's a pro wrestler. Thor won't be a simple acting part, and there's more to it than looking right. Unless he has the voice and the presence, you'll wind up with a movie that tanks, even though the actor looked right:



Oooooh, how I could wish Viggo would land the part, but as much as we love ya, Viggo, I have to admit, I don't think you're tall enough or big enough, muscles-wise. Thor was ... a big, big boy.


Gerard Butler could do the part. He has the presence, the stature, and some extremely nice, uh, muscles...



But if I had to choose? If I really, seriously, had to choose? Well ... I grew up with the comic books, and I have to tell you, folks, Brad Pitt's Achilles looked more like Thor than Thor did. And Brad can act. And Brad has a good voice. And Brad is close to the top of the Hollywood A-list.

Viggo Mortensen -- being Aragorn. Again!

I'm in a Viggo mood today, and there's plenty to be in a mood about! You probably know that The Hobbit is in serious, serious preproduction. I blogged a little about it here, when Dominic Monaghan was talking about the very real possibility that he, Billy and Elijah would be in the movie. (It was Elijah Wood's birthday at the time...)

I still don't know how those talks have turned out, but I can tell you this much: now the company is talking to Viggo about coming back to be Aragorn again!! Here's the news: Viggo Mortensen talks the Hobbit. This is so cool, it gives you shivers.



Now, the problem is that Aragorn wasn't in the book of The Hobbit -- any more than Pip, Merry and Frodo were in it. However, if Aragorn was 87 y.o. in Two Towers, then he sure as heck was there, temporally speaking at least, when the story of The Hobbit was actually happening. So was Legloas. And Elrond and Arwen.


So potentially you could have Aragorn and Legolas, and Elrond and Arwen, at least as "guest stars" along the way. You could also have Gimli, but remember that he'd never met Aragorn and Legolas before the Council of Elrond.

James McAvoy is being whispered about as the actor to play the younger Bilbo. (I blogged about this too, right here. With succulent pictures.)

You could even write in a part for Saruman, who was still sane at the time. Send for Christopher Lee ... and if Ian McKellen doesn't play Gandalf, not only will I not blog about it, I won't even go and see it!

Same goes for Orlando Bloom, who looks far more gorgeous now than he did 10 years ago, and if they get anybody else in the cosmos to play Legolas ...!!!



Which leaves Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood kind of "dangling" ... and I just can't figure out how their characters are going to get into the picture.

Anyway, while I'm in a Viggo mood, let's have some pictures...




I'm STILL in a Viggo mood, so I'll be posting again shortly, with more news...

Orlando Bloom: headed back to Australia in '09!

It's official, folks: Orlando Bloom has signed up, along with French actor Vincent Cassel, to shoot a movie downunder.

He'll be arriving here in June or July, and the movie shoots in July. The project is called The Cross, and is being described as "a sci-fi escape story." It's shooting on a $24m budget, so it's on a little bit of a shoestring by today's standards ... good idea to film it downunder -- it's cheaper here!

This makes a break -- could be a welcome one?? -- for Orlando, who's done three of the most enormous fantasy movies, and then another five or six historicals that I can think of, and a small number of contemporary films that didn't go down too well. (I really liked Elizabethtown ... I caught on to its loopy sense of humor and laughed my a$$ off, but apparently some people just didn't see the joke. Well -- their loss.)

Am I right, is The Cross the first big Hollywood picture to be filmed down here since Nicholas Cage in Ghostrider?

Here's just about all that's known about the movie at this time: Orlando Bloom to star in 'The Cross' ... that story ran about a week ago, but at the time I saw a few pages that put a big question mark against Orlie's name -- would he be in it, wouldn't he? Seems, he will!

It'll be the first time he's been down here in Aus since making Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger ... and it's interesting that Vincent Cassel has an odd kind of connection: he starred in Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen, who starred with Orlie in Lord of the Rings. Full circle. Nice.

Now, how about some eye candy, thanks very much! Here goes:




Want more? Come back tomorrow! There's plenty of candy for the senses -- and a lot to talk about...

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.

Gilded lilies: tattoos on hot celeb bods

There's absolutely no question about it: celebrities love their tattoos. It used to be that tatoos were a guy thing, but there's a lot more girls sporting them these days, and no one's more famous for them than that luscious other 50% of Brandeglina -- that is, the half that wears the slinky dresses and the stilleto heels ... just in case you were in any doubt as to which luscious 50% I was referring to. Could have been either half, right? But she's the 50% with the tatoos, at least right now. He could start in on them next Tuesday, since he seems to like 'em:









Next time I feel in the mood to look at tattoos, we'll have a look at Viggo Mortensen and Johnny Depp. But for now ... enough's enough. Let's get onto something else just as fascinating...

Come to me arms, ya bundle o' charms, an' stick to me 'eart like chewie

It's the Return of the King premier in Wellington, end of 2003, right? Some cutie in the crowd throws a pair of underwear at either Orlando Bloom or Viggo, or both, and Viggo catches them, and the boys pose for a pic. Woah.

To which I will add this, and then shut up and leave the remainder to your fertile imagination (come on, everybody's got one, admit it, it't nothing to keep in your closet) :



I'm not going to say a word. Not even a syllable. I'm just going to smile a lot and enjoy one of those "squodgy moments" that make your day more and more bearable.