a word on johnny depp

back in the late eighties or early nineties, depp and river phoenix were good friends. one night outside a club in l.a. (i think) river phoenix overdoses and dies, cutting short what could have become a life-long career in films. depp was at the same club that night. people wonder why he has eschewed his well-deserved fame for so long but i believe that is the reason. phoenix was about the same age and both were just starting out and depp saw his own death that night and refused to let his life end that way.
as such, he has chosen to stay away from traditional leading man roles in exchange for roles that are often weird ("edward scissorhands") or quirky ("benny and june") or dark ("the astronaut's wife"& "the secret window") or anti-heroic ("the ninth gate" & "pirates of the caribbean") or the occasional supporting cast role ("chocolat" & "the man who cried").
he is a great leading man but because of his role choices and acting style, he is also the best character actor alive today.

need a new profile

so i finally my old profile _ the one describing the heart-wrenching demise of my late relationship with térèsa - but now i don't know what to put instead. everything i can think of about myself sounds lame.
as such, i am asking for suggestions from those who know me well or barely know me at all (the latter group may have better things to say about me) as to what my profile should be. you know, just in case one day someone new actually stumbles upon my little endeavor here.

"we can't all be butterflies..."

most of the time when i cite this quote, no one gets the reference. maybe my siblings and father will, though. when we were kids, my mother had a refrigerator magnet with that saying and a picture of a grasshopper standing in front of the petals of a pretty flower, giving it the appearance of a butterfly.
we cannot always be what we want to be.
i cannot always be the man i would like to be.
on some issues, i can become the man i desire but on some things the best i can do is try my best and hope to achieve some of the attributes of that idealistic man.
-another favourite saying of mine is "if at first you don't succeed, give up and try something else."
we cannot always do what we want to do.
i can't do many things that i've tried. but there are so many things i can do. instead of focusing on my inabilities and seeking to improve what i'm not good at, i spend my time honing my skills and perfecting my talents and natural abilities.
bill wilson (senior pastor of metro ministries intl. in the bedford-stuyvesant area of brooklyn) is a skinny man about 55 years old. he's not that pretty to the eye, he can't sing, he can't dance, he can barely get his voice above a sandpaper rasp. he is also in charge of the largest sunday school program in the nation, reaching over 22,000 kids a week the last time i was there. he also speaks about focusing on your strengths and leaving your faults to fall in line afterward.
there are times to "try, try again" and there are times to "give up and try something else".

another top 5-ish list

i think it's time for a top 5 list:
how about top five character actors:
1)johnny depp
2)brian cox
3)paul giamatti
4)steve buscemi
5)john tuturro
6)willem dafoe
7)milla jovavich
add-ons
8)john malchovich
9)christopher walken
10)alan rickman

the daily show

i was just watching "the daily show with jon stewart" as he interviewed some guy named 'packer' (last name, that is) who wrote a book titled "assassin's gate: america in iraq". during the interview, stewart referenced 'star trek - part 2' (although, i think it was 3), 'star wars' andthe first week of freshman year in a college dormroom with a mini-fridge to describe the goings-on in iraq.

new year's plans (or 'entropy or providence?')

chrissy - the girl i've been dating since early november - had never been to athens, even though she's lived in north georgia her entire life. i told her i would take her sometime and eventually we decided new year's eve would be her first adventure to the great city. she and i and a few friends planned to drive up, have fun and get a hotel room for the night.
though most of us had worked, we were all ready to leave except for one by ten o'clock. after everyone was ready - and we stopped for gas - we were on our way with a three-car caravan. then we hit a police roadblock just past jefferson (in arcade?) which took a few minutes. the plan was to check in at the reserved room before taking a cab downtown so no one had to drive after drinking. only we were running out of time and had to head straight downtown or miss midnight altogether.
so i lead them from gainesville to downtown athens, through the streets crowded with revelers and other drivers to the courthouse parking lot which only had parking spaces available on the top deck. we were driving as fast as safety and law would allow, counting down the final moments before midnight and hoping to get at least a drink ordered before the clock struck twelve.
but alas, we were late. as we got out of our cars the fireworks began. we had missed midnight by a matter of seconds but had an unhindered view as we stood atop the parking deck watching the fireworks.
not as planned, but not bad either.