my tryst with mr. stench

I know I've been completely slacking on my blog for the last few weeks, but I have a bunch of posts in my head, just waiting to be typed. But first I need to get this one teeny little thing out into the blogosphere:

I SAW JOHNNY DEPP LAST NIGHT.

Yes, that's right my friends. And furthermore?

I TOUCHED JOHNNY DEPP'S JACKET LAST NIGHT.

They're filming scenes from his new movie Public Enemies at my old stomping ground, Crown Point, Indiana. The movie is about the FBI and John Dillinger, who - in case you were born under a rock or don't share my macabre affinity for mob history - killed a police officer in a bank robbery and escaped from the "escape-proof" Lake County Jail supposedly by using a carved wooden or soap gun. He hopped in the sheriff's brand new car and drove away, causing J. Edgar Hoover to proclaim him Public Enemy #1.

Anyway, I've been up there every night since Saturday, and my dedication finally paid off last night when I got close enough to take some pictures and almost shake his hand. He turned at the last minute, which resulted in me just touching his coat. In my five hours standing at the crowd barriers on the set, I had become friends with the girl next to me, and when she saw I had just missed shaking his hand, she let me touch hers after she was done shaking his. Thanks, Amanda, where ever you are - you're probably going to heaven for that.

The set is so cool. Well, I've only seen the outdoor set, but it's still cool! They laid fake cobblestone, and there were some old-timey cars lining the streets. It was cool to see all the actors in their period costumes, too. This afternoon, they sprayed everything down with fake snow to film the outdoor stuff - but my stupid job got in the way of seeing that. It's just so incredible to see the way that stretch of town has been transformed. Even standing in the middle of a throng of screaming teenagers, it was still so easy to imagine I was in the 1930s.

I can't decide if I should go back tonight or not. It's gotten progressively more crowded every night, and since I already got my pictures and copped a feel, I don't see much sense in standing outside in the cold again. Although, it's 50 degrees outside right now, when I was wearing two shirts, a winter coat, and two pairs of gloves last night. Bitchin', Mother Nature.

I really can't wait for this movie to come out. I've always had a strange fascination with all things gangster/mob/mafia related, and growing up so close to Chicago, there was always some cool artifact or historical building to visit on the weekends. I spent a lot of time at the old Lake County Jail, actually, poking around things, dreaming about John Dillinger and desperately searching for some evidence of his existence in my small town. Eventually, I grew out of it, also known as When Becky Finally Made Some Friends And Stopped Being a Freak.

If I had the chance of running into Johnny Depp back then, I think I would have been much more reluctant to trade a hobby for a social life, though.

And, sidenote/rant: Roughly 90% of the crowd at the set on any given day is approximately 16 years old or younger, coming out for the chance to get a good look at Captain Jack Sparrow, Sweeney Todd, Willy Wonka, or Edward Scissorhands. I couldn't help but wonder if the titles Blow, Sleepy Hollow, or The Ninth Gate meant anything to them. Had they ever even heard of Fear and Loathing or Gilbert Grape? Benny & Joon? Platoon? Even the first Nightmare on Elm Street?!

More importantly, do the words "twenty-one jump street" mean absolutely nothing to today's youth?! Am I wrong to still consider 21 Jump Street one of the best police crime dramas ever created? Does it mean I'm old that when I hear people say "too cool for school" I automatically think of that show? Please tell me I wasn't the only girl who considered getting involved in something bad in school so that the dreamy Officer Hanson would come frisk me.