Knight Spent Fighting Crime

While the idea of a rich playboy gallivanting around in a black suit with plastic pointy ears punching criminals into submission has lost its appeal on me, apparently the general public still loves it: the [relatively] newly released movie “The Dark Knight”, depicting the Batman’s struggles against the Joker and introducing Two-Face, has earned 314.2 million so far. The pushes it above the 300 million dollar level needed to break the current record of fastest-grossing film (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at 16 days) in just 10 days.

Author’s note: this is my first review. Don’t be too harsh, and beware spoilers. I will forget that you haven’t seen it too – sorry.

I’d like to cover three main things here.

1. Plot
2. Effects
3. Originality

First things first: the plot. This is something I can’t really find much fault with. Moving along at a surprising speed, several twists and turns made it interesting: notedly, the not-running down of the Joker and the prisoner tossing the detonator (everyone got a whole lot happier right after that happened).

Notes on individual characters: The Joker was absolutely fantastic. Heath Ledger fit the role like nobody’s business, and when they had to fill in for him it was well done and seamless. Probably the only reason I didn’t like it as much as I should have was because of my squeamish fascination of how the Joker acted, especially when intimidating people (hint: knives. Not all people share your fascination, Mr. Joker…) – though I do get that that was pretty much the intended reaction. The Batman: I wasn’t as impressed with Bale, probably because I held him to a higher standard, but all the little flaws I could point out are worthless in the long run, aesthetic, and would sound whiny. Two-Face: Not mentioning the CGI flaws (see effects section) I was impressed with Aaron Eckhart’s role for one thing specifically: the way he expressed fear and pain. This seems rather morbid (or sadistic?), but most of his persona was based around his pain, and how he changed afterwards. He did this extremely well, especially when representing emotional pain.

Secondly the effects: I was rather pleased with the way they used CGI et cetera. My favorite augmented part: the final batmobile scene, the RPG, and the subsequent transformation into the bat-cycle. The exploding hospital was impressive, too, but not as impressive – explosions are computer-generated all the time. There’s one other thing that absolutely begs to be mentioned: The work they did on Eckhart’s face after the fire incident. Now, before you criticize: I know fire can be destructive. I know there’s a lot of things it can do. I know it’s probably possible, and that they probably had a trained medical professional in to supervise how the muscles were shown, but honestly, people, it looked ridiculous. For one, half his face was gone. I know that’s the point, but still, the damage was horrendous – could one even survive after that? And second, and hardest to refute: there were at all times holes for air to enter his mouth. Have you ever tried speaking coherently with your mouth constantly open? You simply can’t be heard clearly, and yet there he was, waxing eloquent in his evil doings.

Lastly, the originality of the entire idea. As I said, the appeal has been lost on me for a movie about the Batman. It seems as if an superhero without powers would have been tossed out by now, but I do have to commend the Batman for one thing: He’s the most courageous man I know.

Overall, I have to say I am glad to have seen the movie (partially for the experience, and partially for the social aspect). Despite my scathing (or so I would hope) review, I would rate this movie at 79 1/3 out of a hundred (one hundred being the perfect movie).

Author’s Note, take two: I am very glad that I have friends like Morgante (you know who you are). He was kind enough to point out that Vermont’s very own Patrick Leahy played an obviously vitally important role. Article on the subject here, and a video here. What would I do without you, Morgan?

…Don’t answer that, please.

What I’m Doing (despite whatever Twitter says)

There are three goals I have set myself for the end of this summer. Yes, it is fairly late to be mentioning these, and yes, I have already been working at them for some time now, but I think it’s worth putting them out there. Without further ado:

1. Become ambidextrous.
2. Learn Esperanto.
3. Figure out my meaning in life.

All of these require explanation.

1. This was a goal I set for myself when I learned of all the benefits. It is simply and purely a leisure. Priority: Third. Interest: Second. Achievability: Second.
2. This goal was set immediately when I first heard of the language and all that it meant. I am now a part of the Esperanto movement and I would encourage you to learn the language, or at least learn of it. Priority: Second. Interest: First. Achievability: First.
3. I suppose this is the ultimate goal for everyone, but it came into light this year especially. I know nobody can truly solve it, but for me, I came close late June (I can tell you about it if you wish) Priority: First. Interest: Third. Achievability: Third.

Since the beginning of the summer (when I started, more or less) I have progressed to leciono ses of the full ten (though I recommend starting here), am currently eating with my nondominant hand, and have written two fairly long pieces on why I exist and how I feel about it.

I would rate my progress at six and one-third out of ten.

What are you guys doing? Please send a link over or just link me in the post so I can use the trackback. Thanks!

Reentering the Edutech World

First, some background: Arthus showed me a whole new world the year I was to graduate middle school. I participated in When Night Falls that year (or possibly the next, it’s very fuzzy in my mind). I started blogging more often, got connected with many a wise being such as Lisa Durff (who deserves special thanks because she is the one who reminds me via twitter whenever ANYTHING is happening). I never did get the hang of google reader, although I really should try, and became something akin to Arthus’s little brother, tagging along and learning to think for myself. I’d like to end the background section with a little apology: To whom it may concern, I am deeply ashamed of how I acted, and although some may consider this an overreaction, I believe I was too immature then to be at the level I was attempting to emulate. The most obvious form this took was my spelling and grammar – I used abbrs like “lol”, smileys, and 1337. Though I know some of you may use these, and think nothing of it, I must hold myself and be held by others to a higher standard. Again, sincerest apologies.

Time passed, and the idea of students 2.0 was born. Whether it was my immaturity or, as I believe, because I simply was too lazy to write enough content, I dropped out of the project.

After the whole fiasco, months passed. I attempted to blog intermittently, with little or no success, and soon gave up on the entire idea. Near the end of my freshman year in high school, however, I began to realize the value of expressing myself in this way. Once again, I was interested, and about a week ago, I began to watch the streams, and join the conversations. I began tweeting again, which I gave up along with blogging.

And so, with new resolve, here I am again. I’m bound to fail eventually, but here goes anyway. I’m off to go use google reader, take two. Any help for the noob is appreciated, or any suggestions for feed programs et cetera.