Apparently Neil Gaiman and your humble CrackedActor webmasters weren’t the only people to pick up on how much Johnny Depp sounded like Bowie in Sweeney Todd.  Depp recently said that he did not draw a direct inspiration from Bowie, stating “I wouldn’t ever dream of attempting to channel David Bowie because he is one of my heroes. But if there is a similarity it wasn’t intentional. It’s a nice compliment though.”  Hell, if someone told me I sounded like Bowie my response would be, “Yeah, that’s right I took some major inspiration from him.  David Bowie rocks my socks and we can all thank him for most modern music.”  But that’s just me.

As fan-boys and fan-girls are wont to do with a treasured book that is being adapted for the silver screen, MTV.com ran an article with their ideal cast for the eventual ‘Hobbit’ movie. For the part of Thranduil, king of the Elves of Mirkwood (Silvans to you Tolkien geeks), MTV.com would cast Bowie. On the surface it seems like an awesome choice…until you recall that Bowie is a bit campy in every movie he’s in. Except ‘The Prestige’, he did amazingly well in that movie. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the exact wrong thing for a movie adaptation of Tolkien. Anyhow. I don’t see Bowie as the type of actor who could disappear into a role like the part of Thranduil would require. This is a man who is used to projecting his facial expressions and body movements to thousands of people - it would be a complete mismatch. However, if there were talk of casting him as Cellophane in ‘Bored of the Rings‘ I would totally be on board with that.

The Webmistress and I want to wish Mr. David Bowie a very happy 61st birthday today! Tomorrow, we, of course, will go back to wishing he will release a new album this year, but today we selflessly wish him a killer day full of fun, family and friends. All the best!

SmokingGun.com which posted Rochester PD’s 1976 booking photo of David Bowie back in November has produced their own celebrity mugshot temporary tattoos. It doesn’t look like they are available to the general public just yet, but they have distributed them in Christmas cards to a number of media outlets which read:

Like us, you’ve probably wondered what it would be like to have Lindsay Lohan resting on your shoulder or Senator Larry Craig nestled against a bicep. Well, we’re making those dreams a reality with these Celebrity Mug Shot Tattoos, the easiest way to temporarily get close to your favorite perp (without risking a messy restraining order) . . . . So just add water and you’ll be able to put Paris Hilton’s face where we all know it belongs.

The tattoos come in two packs - The “Class of 2007 Edition” and the “Hall of Fame Edition” and have also been included in prize packages for Smoking Gun’s online contests.

One of the Christmas card recipients was New York Magazine, which wrote this article about them. Another was the MJ Morning Show radio program who posted this photo gallery of the tattoos being applied to appropriate locations on an intern’s body.

Last week I read a review of Sweeney Todd in Metroactive in which the writer Richard von Busack made an interesting observation on Johnny Depp’s vocals in the first musical number of the movie. Von Busack noted that it seemed Depp had modeled his vocals after Bowie, particularly on the song ‘Please Mr. Gravedigger.’ I held off making a comment about this article on here CrackedActor until I had seen the movie and read a few interviews with Depp to learn who his influences actually were. As soon as I heard the first measure of Depp’s singing in ‘No Place Like London’ I came to the exact conclusion that Von Busack did. Johnny Depp sounded so much like Bowie in ‘Please Mr. Gravedigger’ that I squeed with fangirl delight. The day after I saw the movie I sought out some interviews with Depp to see who inspired him while recording the musical numbers. He did not list Bowie as an influence (though I could clearly hear shades of Bowie), but interestingly he did list Iggy Pop. I am interested to know if anyone else heard Bowie’s influence on Depp and his vocal style in Sweeney Todd. By the way, the movie was fantastic and I recommend it to anyone with a dark sense of humor and a stomach for cartoonish gore.

Hear that? That’s the sound of me rejoicing over Iman’s new jewelry line. In designing pieces for Global Chic, Iman drew inspiration from various bits of jewelry collected from China, Africa, India, Bali, and her own vintage engagement ring. Iman said in an interview with Vogue that a woman is never fully dressed if she does not have the proper accessories. The Home Shopping Network will launch the line on their TV channel and website on December 15.

Additionally, the Canadian Press has another great interview with Iman. Read it for some fun tips for yourself or the important women in your life.

Music memorabilia site 991.com is selling a one-of-a-kind bit of Bowie memorabilia.  For a scant $1000 or so, a Bowie fan can buy the life mask made of Bowie’s face during The Hunger.  The mask was used to test out makeup for the movie.  I tell ya, if I had $1000 to burn I’d buy the mask myself.

For those of you getting a jump on your holiday shopping, hop over to Chuck Hammer’s iTunes store and consider getting your loved ones some gorgeous guitar music.  Or for that matter, getting a little present for yourself.  The man behind the guitar riffs on Ashes to Ashes, Teenage Wildlife, and a few Lou Reed songs is still hard at work.  I previewed some of the songs myself and may have to add a couple albums to my own wishlist.

Every time I turn around there is another music-related list made. VH1 has turned into the List Network and barely shows videos anymore. Rolling Stone must release a gross of lists and slap each on their cover every year. The Herald Sun is no stranger to the trend, having just released a new list of the Top Ten Rock Legends of all time. Freddie Mercury rings in at #1 with David Bowie bringing up the rear at #10. Right smack in the middle, ahead of Bowie by five spaces, is Jon Bon Jovi. (insert David E. Kelley record-scratching sound here) Ex-squeeze me? Bon Jovi is ahead of Bowie? I beg to differ. Someone must have accidentally switched those two. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. Yeah.

It was only a matter of time, really. With the advent of Guitar Queer-o, ahem, I mean Guitar Hero and the ability to virtually learn to play guitar riffs in popular songs, it is to be expected that David Bowie’s music would show up in a similar game. And it has. The makers of Rock Band, the new game that expands the virtual instrument-playing experience beyond the electric guitar, just released a new song pack with three Bowie songs - Moonage Daydream, Heroes, and Queen Bitch.

Kudos for the choice to include Moonage Daydream and Queen Bitch since they’re slightly less known than his hit singles, but I’m not sure how I feel about the overall idea of including Bowie’s music in a game that poorly simulates playing a musical instrument. Some may argue that it is an innovative way to expose Bowie’s music to a demographic that would not normally seek it out, but I’m ambivalent. This is not the first time that Bowie’s music has shown up in a video game. Most of the songs from “hours…” were featured in cut-scenes in Omikron: The Nomad Soul before the album was ever released. However, both Bowie and Iman had a hand in the making of that game and even lent their likenesses to in-game characters.

The Bowie song pack for Rock Band is a completely different thing. Technically, it’s not selling out since Bowie doesn’t need the money and his music has been featured in numerous commercials…but it still doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe I’m just thinking too hard about this. In any case, I think I’ll stick to learning Bowie’s music the good old-fashioned way, with my real instruments.