Thursday Odds & Ends: Dark Shadows, Noah Wyle, and Seuss meets Picard

+ Johnny Depp has confirmed he'll be starring in a big-screen adaptation of the classically campy 1970s vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows." Shockingly, the project will be directed by Tim Burton.

+ The A.V. Club has an interesting discussion of the pros and cons of the Academy Awards now putting forth 10 best picture nominees rather than the traditional five. I'm hoping this means that mall cop movie will finally get the recognition it deserves.

+ There's really no suitable preface to this. It's simply called "If Dr. Seuss Wrote For Star Trek: The Next Generation." Very funny. Thanks to Luscious Pandora for linking to this on Twitter!

+ Noah Wyle of "ER" and the TNT "Librarian" movies will be taking on the starring role in Steven Spielberg's new TNT alien-invasion series. Cool!

+ And finally, nerdy wedding cake toppers. Some of these are really awesomely creative. Personally, I'm partial to the King Kong one and to the Stargate one.

Friday odds and ends

• Further evidence that one day Stephen Colbert will rule us all: he'll be appearing in the next issue of Amazing Spider-Man, presumably in two dimensions.

• Johnny Depp has signed on to play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland film. In far, far less exciting news, Depp also will appear in a fourth Pirates movie. If they promise to make this one run less than 17 hours, I might go see it.

• Following in the footsteps of This American Life, it looks like my all-time favorite NPR show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" is going to be turned into a TV series. Here's hoping it doesn't lose any of its wonderful, softly sarcastic charm in the process. And will the top prize still be an answering machine message?

• The Buffster returns! Sarah Michelle Gellar will be appearing in a new HBO half-hour series called "The Wonderful Maladys" about a group of three neurotic siblings who suffer the loss of their parents at a young age. The series' writer describes Gellar's character as having "a kind of zealous immaturity -- like a drug addict with a to-do list." At least she'll be organized...

• Bill Murray talked about "Ghostbusters" recently and said he'd be open to being involved in "Ghostbusters 3," which, as was mentioned a couple weeks ago, is being penned by two "Office" scribes. Cool.

• And finally, I was going to be coy and say, "Oh, look, The Park Bench got nominated for best geek blog over at the Blogger's Choice Awards! What a complete surprise!" But I don't think I'd be fooling anyone. Yes, I went and nominated the old gal myself because I'm not the kind of woman who waits to be asked to the dance (okay, actually, I waited A LOT in high school.). Anyway, if you'd like to cast a vote for The Park Bench, I'd love it more than candy.

Review: Sweeney Todd

Hey, are you in the mood for a really, really dark, semi-depressing musical gorefest starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter's cleavage? Then Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is for you.

I just got back from a preview showing of the new flick and here are some important salient facts I learned and which I will consequently share with you:

1) This is a good movie. It pulls you in from the moment Johnny Depp with his white-streaked hair and raccoon eyes first appears on screen. There's a quiet little hiccup when he first starts singing and you're suddenly reminded, "Oh yeah, this is a musical." But almost immediately, this story of a barber driven mad by the loss of his wife and child and the horrifying acts he commits in the name of revenge will have you pinned to your seat.

2) Johnny Depp can sing. This really shouldn't be a shock because by now we all should just accept the fact that Johnny can do anything including but not limited to: flying, performing a flawless Heimlich Maneuver, building a computer from string and Scotch tape, and knitting.

3) This is a ridiculously gory movie. In fact, if Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino had a love child, it would be Tim Burton directing this movie. I'm not good with gore so I watched a good portion of it with my hands over my eyes, but as grisly as some of the images are, they're not entirely gratuitous. This is a Gothic, over-the-top Broadway spectacular -- this level of violence and the broadness with which it's portrayed seems necessary.

4) I say this as a completely heterosexual woman: Helena Bonham Carter's bosom is extraordinary.

5) I'm still not overly fond of Stephen Sondheim's work, and I feel quite guilty about it. I'm not saying the music isn't good. It's actually terrific music. My quibble is with his lyrics and I apologize in advance for this analogy: like Alanis Morisette, Sondheim is prone to cramming as many words as humanly possible into as small a musical phrase as possible. And while the lyrics are always endlessly witty and smart, the total effect just sounds a bit awkward to me.

6) For all you Buffy fans out there, Anthony Stewart Head makes one of those "blink and you'll miss him" cameos toward the beginning of the film. Thankfully, Giles does not get offed. I don't think I could have handled that one.

In short, this is a very dark and violent movie. At the same time, though, it's enthralling and genuinely different from anything else I've seen this year. And ultimately, it's worth the price of admission just to see and hear Johnny Depp create another unforgettable character. The dude's so good I'm surprised he has enough time to knit.

Nothing says Christmas like Sweeney Todd

You know the holidays are nearly upon us when creepy new Tim Burton movies start appearing. The trailer for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is out. Sadly, I've heard rumors that Anthony Stewart Head's role was cut, but with Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen and Johnny Depp in the cast, I'll still survive.