I loved Dennis Hopper, who died yesterday. His is really an epic story of a literal climb from the depths to rise again. You can see him in films as early as "Rebel Without A Cause" to as late as "Cool Hand Luke". Then came "Easy Rider", which he also directed (he got two nominations for that), soon to be a classic. Then the downward spiral began.

When I saw him next in "Apocalypse Now", I actually feared for his life. I know that movie had lots of baggage in its backstory. It was hard to to distinguish how much he was acting or if he was just playing Dennis Hopper at the time.

Hopper on Brando



After he got out of some rather intensive rehab came two gems. "Blue Velvet", which I have to believe someone will show this week. Hopper was Frank Booth, probably the most vicious character ever. How he loved to sniff that gas. And, of course, the rallying cry, "Heineken? Fuck that shit. Pabst Blue Ribbon!" and that's when no one was drinking Pabst. I think it took many years before PBR made its own comeback.

"Pabst Blue Ribbon!" from "Blue Velvet"



Then it was "Hoosiers". He got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for this one. He was Shooter. The town drunk who knew a lot about basketball. Especially the "picket fence". He was awfully good in this one. Turner had this previously scheduled for June 1 at 8:00.

"The Picket Fence" from "Hoosiers"



Later on, he was paired off with that other original, Christopher Walken, in "True Romance". This was a Tarantino screenplay and they do a great job with his words.

"Sicilians" from "True Romance"



"Red Rock West" was another interesting film. There are people who really love this one, like me, and there are others who are kinda meh on the whole thing. One thing, for sure, the whole movie changes when Hopper, as the real Lyle, shows up in town. Great work from Nicky Cage and even Dwight Yoakam shows up. The following review stresses Hopper as a "weirdo".

"Red Rock West" reviewed by Siskel and Ebert



After that, not really much stood out for me. Yeah, he was the villain in "Waterworld" and had a memorable one-off on "Entourage". But he was the guy in "Speed" who put Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock on a bus ride for the ages.

"Shoot the Hostage" from "Speed"



Of course, he did go "Fishing With John".

He also did commercials. In the mid-90's, he was the, let's say, over eager referee in the Nike ads. I recall mental health organizations protesting these ads, at the time, because of his character. Most famously, he sniffed Bruce Smith's shoes in an empty locker room and invaded a practice to meet Sterling Sharpe: "Like a freight train, man." I thought the "ESP" one about the Cowboys fit him perfectly.

Dennis Hopper Nike "ESP" Commercial



Later in life, he did some rather fine looking Ameriprise ads with "Gimme Some Lovin'" as the background music.

Have a PBR on him sometime soon.

"Furry Vengeance" Update

Since Thursday, the list of critters that I have seen in the hood is growing. I saw the neighborhood skunk on both Thursday and Friday evenings. Both times on tree lawns between 10 and 10:30 and not sure what you do when you see one, except avoid it. Can't yell "shoo!" to it, can't chase it, can't throw a box on it. I guess you hope it leaves or gets runded over.

I also saw a chipmunk on Friday, which is a rarity around here. Then, yesterday, I get home from a haircut about 10, and as I'm heading to the side door, a giant groundhog appears. Now I was drinking Friday, but this was the next morning. The groundhog was actually running across our front lawns. Did Kevin Spacey run in "The Usual Suspects"? Cause that's how it looked, as it was lumbering past. All out of kilter, like Kevin Spacey walking in that movie.

Meal of Links

I'm always looking for different recipes and yesterday I used this one for grilled chicken wings. They came out really, really nice. A couple of thoughts. 12 ounces is 1.5 cups or 72 teaspoons, if you have a 2-liter bottle of cola for the sauce. I happened to use RC. My wings were thawed and I didn't need a full rotation on the last try.

Joe McGinniss talks about moving into the house next to Sarah Palin. A house, BTW, the Palins actually lived in at one time, for 6 months.

Only 6 days until I get to see "Marmaduke".

Somewhere Soy Bomb is Smiling (70-second mark)



Exercise Yard

When it comes to Memorial Day weekend, I still watch the Indy 500. There is nothing like Jim Nabors singing "Back Home In Indiana"! Actually, it was a fairly dominant win by Dario Franchitti. Except for the last 10 laps, when everyone decided they needed to conserve fuel, and it got rather nuts.

Big time crash on the final lap though, as Mike Conway ended up with half a car, going airborne. Look how close that is to Ryan Hunter-Reay's head.

Conway Crash



Visitor

None, on a sunny Sunday.