Fan art. Source: http://movieblaze.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/the-dark-knight-2who-terrororise-gotham-next/

I’m sure everyone has heard this news by now.

I’m skeptical. Though not quite as far-fetched and ridiculous as the Cher rumors, I still don’t buy it.

All this confirms is that a studio executive wants Depp and Hoffman. We don’t know how close he is to Nolan and what Nolan’s intentions are. For all we know, Nolan hasn’t revealed anything to the studios yet regarding the villains he’s going to have, let alone the actors to play the roles. All that studio executive is doing is fanning the flames of the Batman hype as of late, ensuring that the public remains excited until the third one is released.

As we’ve seen in shows like “Entourage,” just because a studio executive wants something to happen doesn’t mean that it’s going to. I think Nolan is going to have final say in the situation and until I hear a quote from him, I’m filing this under “rumor mill.”

However, as much as I like Batman, I’m more excited about the Ghostbusters 3 rumors!

Image from the upcoming Ghostbusters game. Ray Stanz, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, and. . . .some other guy (that's certainly NOT Winston Zedmore!)?

If the originals plus any of the people being mentioned (Rogen/Apatow, The Office writers), this movie will be comedy gold. I think the idea of a the originals mentoring the next generation of Ghostbusters is cool and is definitly a good way to bring in younger viewers who may not know Ghostbusters at all (you’d be surprised. . . I once met a 19 year old that didn’t know Ghostbusters. . .19!!!).

Here is a clip from Ghostbusters 2. Skip to 6:42 for one of the funniest lines in the movie, uttured by the hapless Louis Tulley (Rick Moranis).

Time to take the proton packs and trap out of storage.

Well, I believe the subject line explains it all, as does this post. Let me digress to express my excitement. . . 

eauteiauhta98ey598y598y3958y9385y9q83y5938qy5qhffffffufuuuckccckkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Get Up Kids

This more than makes up for my relatively bleak world view as of late! 

Now I’m just waiting on Jawbreaker, Mineral, and At The Drive-In reunions (though the last one is certainly well-wishing).

Here is a video of what is to come next year, enjoy:

In discussing with a friend whether Curb Your Enthusiasm would have another season (which, although the show ended so well last season, they are unfortunately doing), I came upon finding out that Larry David will be starring in Woody Allen’s new comedy Whatever Works. Apparently he is the love interest for Evan Rachel Wood.

Two of the funniest men alive.

I’ve often dreamed of the day this would happen. This will hopefully be one of the most awkward, neurotic, and hilarious movies ever made. Upon citing this, a friend of mine pointed out that the Arrested Development movie will be the funniest movie ever. I’m going to have to disagree.

Arrested Development was an amazing show. GOB and George Michael are some of my favorite TV characters. Season 1 and 2 were completely spot on. Season 3, however, dwindled a little. It was still funny and I watched it to the end, but it wasn’t as clever as the previous seasons and the jokes sometimes felt old to me. Maybe this had something to do with only having 13 episodes to tell their story, maybe not. However, disregarding the mediocrity of Season 3, the show ended conclusively.

But fans kept clamoring for more. Hurwitz saw a chance to take advantage of this cult following and announced an Arrested Development movie, set to release in 2009. There is really no reason for this movie to be made, but it’s a chance to make a few bucks on Arrested Development’s posthumous popularity.

According to this website, the movie is going to be about a movie getting made about the Bluth family. It will include interactions between the original actors with the actors playing them in the movie (expect interactions similar to when Tobias meets the actor playing him in Carl Whether’s TV special on George Bluth). The movie will probably be funny, and I will definitely go to see it, but it just seems a little unnecessary.

In other news, I’ve been a huge fucking dork and watching ridiculous amounts of Battlestar Galactica. I’m almost caught up with Season 4, just a few more episodes to go. One thing about me is that I usually hate sci-fi stuff. I’m not even a big fan of Star Wars. I’ve also watched a lot of TV dramas (Lost, Dexter, Heroes, 24).

Battlestar Galactica is the best of them.

Complex characters, moral debate, religious and political connections to our world, hardly any filler episodes, and some of the hottest robots imaginable. I HIGHLY recommend Battlestar Galactica to anyone that likes TV shows with great story telling that doesn’t drag on (*achem* Lost *achem*) and interesting, sympathetic characters.

Anyways, here is one of my favorite clips from Seinfeld (I’ve been watching a lot of that lately too).

“These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty”

I wanted to write a blog about this for the last two weeks, but IGN just went ahead and took the words right out of my mouth: http://comics.ign.com/articles/896/896638p1.html.

I agree completely with this article. Batman needs to be dark, yes, but not unsympathetic. He could easily transcend into unrelateble territory in the next film, and Robin is the character that can bring him back to the human side. It would be the perfect ending to a trilogy (the student becomes the master). The Dark Knight is the Empire Strikes Back of this series. The third film can be the Return of the Jedi: not as universally lauded but still loved and respected (minus the Ewoks). Besides, it’s doubtful that anything could top The Dark Knight (considering that it included two of the best villains), but it will still be a good film on it’s own merit.

Though I’m all for having Robin, there was one aspect of the character that I never liked: the fact that he lived with Bruce Wayne. I mean, it’s a little more understandable if Robin were a younger kid, like 10 or so. . . but then it’d just be irresponsible to let a kid that age fight crime. But if this Robin were to be 15, then it’s just really weird if he lived with Bruce Wayne. Also, it would obviously make the news if Bruce Wayne were to take in a teenage boy. . .and when people see Batman has a new partner, it won’t be hard to put two and two together.

Costume Design for Robin inspired by Nolan Universe

I propose that Dick Grayson gets put into foster care till he’s 18. Every night he escapes and prowls the streets to find the killer who sabotaged the circus. Batman sees him doing this and gives him a good dressing down and tells him to stop. Of course, Dick continues and Batman realizes that he can’t stop this kid, that he has the same drive for justice, and decides to mentor him as Batman. As Bruce Wayne, he tries to reach out to all the kids in the Foster Home and starts an internship program at Wayne Enterprises. Eventually, something’ll happen and Batman will be reminded of what happened to Dent and Rachel and will shut the boy out of his life, wanting nothing to happen to him. Then in one of the big battles at the end with the villain, Dick Grayson comes in to save Batman. No Robin costume or Wayne designed gear, just a dark red hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. At the end of the battle, he takes Dick to the Batcave and reveals himself as Batman. He still doesn’t take the kid in, and he doesn’t don the costume immediately, but he trains him because he sees that this kid has what it takes, has heart, and could eventually be better than him (which is what Bruce thinks of Dick in the comics). So the movie will end with leaving it open for Robin to appear in a future sequel, if another director decides to take the project. However, I’m all for continual reboots every 3 movies .

Purists may argue that this messes with the original origin, but Team Nolan has showed us twice already that you can revamp origins so long as you stay true to the nature of the character. But so far, Batman Begins = Year 1 = Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight = Year Two = The Long Halloween, so . . . Batman 3 = Year 3 = Dark Victory.

After the third movie, I’d love it if WB hung up the Batman towel. It’s doubtful, but it’d be great if they let the series end on a high note being that it’s unlikely whether Nolan and Bale would do anymore after the third one. I’m into the idea of them continuing the Nolan film series in a new animated series produced by Nolan. It would pick up where Batman 3 left off. Also, some things would just come across better in cartoons (like Robin in costume). You can bring the Joker back, introduce Harley Quinn and a slew of other villains and give them revamped, realistic origins. This could be cool even as a DCU direct-to-dvd release.

Alright Robin haters, bring on the hate.

Coming soon: Villains for Batman 3

However, in the passing years, I’ve managed to open my mind and stop hating on things just based on principle—now Radiohead is the number 10 artist on my last.fm page. I’ve come to terms with the fact that they are a really interesting band that doesn’t follow any mainstream rock conventions and still manage put out consistently good records.

This past Friday was my first time seeing Radiohead. My friend Waqas is abroad right now and he had two tickets for the Friday show, so my buddy Neel and I got to go for free.

Radiohead was pretty awesome. I don’t usually go to shows where there is an emphasis on the visuals and lights, but I must admit that it was amazing and added a much needed element to a show of that magnitude. It also made seeing the band much easier. But being that this tour is in support of In Rainbows, the first half of their set was nearly all the songs off of that album. It’s a good album. . . but certainly not the second coming. It has some great songs, like “Videotape,” which is in my top 5 Radiohead songs, and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi,” but the rest of the album is just good. . . solid, definitely, but nothing that makes me cream, so to speak.

However, Radiohead did play a lot of songs off of Kid A, my favorite album of theirs. And my my, seeing these songs live were even better than the record. Not even being a huge fan of electronic music, it’s weird that this is my favorite album of theirs. Seeing them do all the glitchy samples live AND managing to sound like a more energetic version of the record was great. The breakbeat of “Idioteque” pulsated through the crowd and you just couldn’t help but bust out a jittery two step. Here is a video of that awesome performance:

They didn’t play too much old stuff though, which is fine by me. I think The Bends is an overrated and overall uninteresting album. When I want guitar rock, there are hundreds of other records I would put on before The Bends. It has some great songs, like “Just,” “Black Star,” “Planet Telex,” and “Fake Plastic Trees,” but that’s about it. It’s kind of weird that The Bends is so many peoples favorite Radiohead record, especially considering that the sound on that record isn’t even emblematic of their style as a whole (their definitive record being OK Computer). I must say, hearing “Just” live was fucking great. But then they played “Street Spirit,” which is the worst song they’ve written, aside from all of Pablo Honey. Oddly enough, the only song they played off of OK Computer was “Paranoid Android.” Great song, but I would’ve loved to hear “Airbag” (which I heard they did on Saturday) and “Let Down” (the best Radiohead song ever written).

Thom Yorke and crew bring so much energy to the songs, even the mellower ones. And they are probably the tightest live band I’ve seen. Overall it was a great show, although I’d much rather see them indoors sitting down than at an outdoor festival standing up.

Alright everyone, bring on the hate.

PS. Top 5 Radiohead Songs, in no order:
1. Let Down
2. Airbag
3. Idioteque
4. Videotape
5. Everything In It’s Right Place
runner up: There, There

Radiohead albums, in order of awesomenses:
1. Kid A
2. OK Computer
3. In Rainbows
4. Amnesiac
5. Hail to the Thief
6. The Bends
Pablo Honey doesn’t even make the list because it is so un-awesome.

Basically, The Dark Knight was the movie I’ve been looking forward to for ages. And it did not disappoint.

*SPOILERS*

I’m going to just say random things about the movie in list format, for easy consumption.

1. Accountants are the cause of all problems. Lau fucked up the mob’s shit. The auditor at Wayne Enterprises, Mr. Reese, nearly fucked up Bruce Wayne’s shit. In the DC Universe, most financial types are not to be trusted.

2. Dogs are the only thing that can take Batman down. Bullets, knives, beatings, and Tumbler blowing up are fine. But dogs, no way.

Batman's worst nightmare

3. Two-Face is dead. It even says so in the script, which is widely available at book retailers throughout the country. It would also be gimmicky if they brought him back in the next one.  Also, just think about the story. . . if he were in fact alive, that would be pretty awkward for Gordon. Batman’s running, leaves Gordon. Cops come and check Two Face’s pulse to see if he’s still alive. . .turns out he is! Gordon is in a VERY awkward position: he and Batman decided to let Harvey continue being the white knight, but how would Gordon not be able to put him in jail after he nearly killed his family! No one would be able to make that decision. Besides, the most interesting thing about Two-Face is how he became Two-Face. There really isn’t much story to tell about him.

4. Seeing it the first time I thought the sonar bit was lame, but after seeing it again I see how it was important to the story. However, they should tone down the tech gadgetry for the next one. I did like the ethical dilemma with Lucius that come out of it.

5. People complained about the lack of action in Batman Begins. . . I’m complaining about too much action in this one. I liked how a lot of Batman Begins’ action sequences were in the dark, made it more horror-like. This one just has Batman visibly kicking ass throughout the entire film. That is literally all he does. . . kick ass. There is hardly a time in the film when Batman isn’t punching someone.

6. Scarecrow’s cameo was pretty sweet. In the plausible universe of Nolan’s Batman, Scarecrow fills the void of town drug dealer. Great way to use the character.

7. On my third viewing, tears were welling up in a couple different parts (both happy and sad tears): Mayor awarding Lt. Gordon the title of Commissioner, Rachel dying mid-sentence, Bruce’s reaction to Rachel’s death and thinking that she was going to wait for him, Gordon having to tell his son that it’s gonna be okay, and Batman having to run off at the end and be the outcast.

8. The new Batman costume is amazing. Especially in direct comparison with the Batman Begins costume (or any old costume for that matter). His neck in the previous costume really is gigantic. The new costume is much more techy looking, which I’m not crazy about, but allows him to move more fluidly, which is great.

9. Bale’s voice. Everyone seems to point out this as the one thing they don’t really like about the movies. I think it’s okay. In his defense, he needs to disguise his voice and intimidate evil doers. . . but it also sounds a lil ridiculous sometimes. It sounds good when hes whispering or saying a quick phrase. It sounds really bad when he’s gotta speak more than 5 syllables. For example, at the end of the film when he’s talking to Joker he says, “This city. . . just showed you. . . that it’s people. . .are ready to believe in good.” Sounds like he has an asthma problem but is still trying to sound scary. 

Overall, I’m not sure whether I like The Dark Knight more than Batman Begins. They are both fantastic, but Batman Begins had this energy that The Dark Knight didn’t have. It felt more exciting. This was probably because there weren’t any early reviews or as many spoilers. I guess they are both pretty equal for me, meaning they are tied for the number 1 spot, hah.

Coming soon: my Batman 3 hopes. . .

Chains:

fender telecaster > guyatone micro tuner > proco rat > boss ds1 distortion > line 6 echo park delay > boss dd20 giga delay + footswitch > ehx pulsar tremolo > boss rv2 reverb (or line 6 verbzilla) > fender twin reverb amp (or kustom 72).

fender jazz bass > sansamp bass di > nady mixer
midi keyboard > macbook > mbox > nady mixer
acoustic guitar + electric pickup > nady mixer
pulsar tremolo stereo out > nady mixer
boss rv reverb (or line 6 verbzilla) stereo out > nady mixer

nady mixer > line 6 echo park stereo > boss dd20 giga delay stereo > hartke kickback 10 bass amp

man, was that a mouthful.

I’ve been working for a little over 2 months and I really haven’t saved anything. I suppose that your habits don’t really change, everything just increases proportionally. I find myself spending more money on booze and food and impulse purchases.

In my defense, it’s probably best to get all the splurging out of my system while I live at home. At least I’ll have most of what I want by the time I move out and have to start paying rent.

On that note, I just bought a Boss DD-20 Delay Pedal.

My new toy

Last week I bought an Audio Technica condensor mic and monitor headphones. Today I’m buying an MBox Mini 2. By the end of the month I also expect to buy either a Boss RV-2 or Line 6 Verbzilla reverb pedal and either a Fender Twin Reverb or a Kustom 72. But then, my gear hunt will be nearly complete, I swear!

Band practice with Matt was pretty awesome last night. However, we really don’t know how everything will sound until it’s recorded since it’s just the two of us trying to play a billion instruments.

The Dark Knight and Batman 3 musings coming soon!

In the meantime, enjoy this video:

I don’t really plan on talking about personal things here, but just muse on shit that I think way too much about like top 5 second wave emo bands and what I think should happen in third Batman film.

Anyways, welcome!

This page was inspired my being bored as fuck at work and reading Liz’s blog (http://twobirds1stone.blogspot.com) and Phil’s blog (http://www.philnguyen.com).

More to come in the future!