The Dark Knight Trailer

New Dark Knight Viral Sites

RorysDeathKiss.com
TheGothamTimes.com
TheHaHaTimes.com
RememberingGina.org
GothamNationalBank.com
WeAretheAnswer.org
GothamPolice.com
GothamCityRail.com
WhySoSerious.com/PersonalityProfile
Gotham Cab Company
Acme Security Systems
Gotham Victims Advocate Foundation
Gotham Unified School District
whysoserious Crack A Safe
Rent-A-Clown

One of my favorite scenes from the summer movies

Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight

Thanks to Comic-Con, we now have a clear image of The Joker:


There are some things to note from this photo. First, the white is painted on. I doubt this is a makeup error. When I first heard he would have the "smile" carved into him, I was wondering whether or not he would be the lunatic we know and love. He has no reason to be loopy if his visage would not alter his psyche. I wonder now if what we are seeing may be a a pre-chemical bath Joker that's waiting for Batman to take the plunge. After all, he was already theatrical at the end of Batman Begins and they might want to do an origin. It would make some sense if his "character" would fall into the chemicals as we see him, and his appearance merges in permanently. It might help explain why he's "dead" but will return in December. Plus, the dead body doesn't really look like him.

Or we could see something completely different from the common continuity. I like different. It keeps things new and not repeated. I'm excited to see where this goes. I highly doubt that they'll stretch his story into the next film, as they want to stretch Harvey Dent's character into the next thanks to the actions of the Joker. We shall wait and see.

By the way, the voice and laugh in the teaser trailer are awesome. Hearing his quote "Starting tonight, people will die" reminds me of The Man Who Laughs, featuring the Joker's first appearance as himself. In it he appears on TV telling Gotham he will kill a high society bigwig at midnight. As the police scramble to protect the guy, who is poisoned already, the Joker barges into Arkham and releases weapons on the inmates and opens the door. In the pandemonium, he steals a news van so he can broadcast anytime, building to his grand scheme.

More info:
TheDarkKnight.com
IBelieveinHarveyDent.com
IBelieveinHarveyDenttoo.com (Select All, copy to Word, remove all the "H"s, "A"s, and spaces)
WhySoSerious.com (find the shiny dot)

It is to laugh

Finally, Some Progression

Are we gearing up for hopefully a final season? It looks that way on Smallville. Note: If you haven't seen the finale don't yell at me if I spoil things. Big News! They killed Lana! 6 years in the making. We knew Lois was the one to hook up with Superman and for the show to stagnate this relationship with Lana for so long was an exercise of futility. There's a nice bit of nihilism when Lana finds out everything and actually shows integrity for once, just to die. This may make Clark even more cautious about his secret now. Also, Chloe's power seems to be the ability to transfer life essence via tears?! How strangely odd and specific is that? That's almost as bad as the ability to see through glass. But it possibly gets rid of continuity-wrecking Chloe from the story. Who knows though because I like her character. Lionel finally stopped being a Snape and picked a side. Or at least, his side became apparent. Lex is finally in trouble with the law for once. And Bizarro makes an interesting appearance. I also explains why the Kryptonite didn't work on him. So are they going to invent Blue Kryptonite now? I love this show's finales. They make up for all the angst and crap throughout the year.

Now, let's get Clark in some glasses so that people won't put two and two together and get him on track toward his destiny. "No flights, no tights" may be the rule but it's time to move on before it becomes ridiculous and monotonous. I know it's supposed to be it's own continuity with its own outcomes but if they don't move toward Superman, it almost seems pointless.

Omaha and Rain

On Saturday it was Free Comic Book Day. After I got done with work I went into Krypton Comics. The stormtroopers, Spider-Man, and Venom were gone but Margot Kidder was still there. I got an autographed picture and a photo of her. She's looking really good. She was very friendly and I'm glad I went in. While waiting in line, Matt, Jen, and Will were there and we chatted. They invited me to see Spider-Man 3 again and I was hesitant as I had already seen it but I went along as I had nothing else to do. I grabbed a nice stack of Free Comics and went over to PhantaC and McDonald's before going to Matt and Jen's. We watched Venture Bros. until Will arrived. That wasn't too bad. We then watched Night of the Museum which was OK, but I'm not if I'd want to see it again. After that was over Mandy and Cory stopped by and Jodie came and we went to get our tickets. We met up with some of their Kung Fu friends at Barnes and Noble as I read up on the latest Diamond and Spider-Man 3 game guides.

The movie the second time was great. I noticed more things the second time. I didn't see Willem Dafoe in the audience at the Jazz Club. Go now, look for him! And if it isn't him it sure does really look like him. After we got out there is a downpour. Now, on Thursday night I went into Omaha without a coat and it rained on me then. It was hot all day Saturday and now there's a thunderstorm. I got home and then went to church in Omaha the next day. We got to Westroads to eat and left our coats in the car because it was hot and as we left, downpour! We went to my brother's house last night for dinner and as we left, downpour! What is up with Nebraska? Oh well, love life because it doesn't last long.

Midnight Review of "Spider-Man 3"

On Thursday, I went into Omaha for the midnight show of the next installment of the Spider-Man films. This one had a lot more to go in on. Spider-Man 2 had to perform as Spider-Man did and it did wonderfully. This one had to preform as Spider-Man 2 did and I believe it is on par with the other two. Instead of doing one villain at a time, this film tried 3 enemies: New Goblin, Sandman, and Venom. OK, enough of the intro on to the movie. I'll try not to spoil too much so If you want full surprise, just stop it.

The first thing I was looking for was a consistent intro. The second one basically copied the style of the first and created a precedent. The third follows suit. Whew. I love consistency. I knew Danny Elfman would not be directly involved with the score but it seems they got everything he had done prior to the film. The new music for the most part, takes some getting used to. The "symbiote theme" at first listen sucks balls but it does grow on you like the X-Men: The Last Stand soundtrack. As much as you want to hate it, you realize it is good, and grow to like it, but not at first.

Three villains does affect the pacing, but not enough for me to realize that it was crowded. They did do something with MJ's character that made me mad, and if you've seen the movie, it's not quite what you think. When she gets canned (no spoiler here, it's at the very beginning), she never, ever tells Peter. She tells Harry for once, considering the theme of the first movie was "Don't tell Harry." It makes me have less sympathy for her if she's not being honest. It gives me creepy Lana Lang vibes I don't like. Also, symbiote-influenced Peter Parker looks a lot like Conor Oberst. Jodie agrees.

Venom was very well done. Sandman's CG was exquisite. New Goblin did at the end exactly what I hoped he would do since the second film was finished. There's also some poetic justice with the first film. The ending is very poignant and lost some consistency with no Spidey-swinging-happy scene to close, but I love the ending. It leaves room open for a potential, yet not-required sequel. If they do start talking about it, watch for news from Tobey Maguire. He's only doing it if the story is good and Kirsten Dunst and Sam Raimi are back. It's kinda the same way for the other two. My favorite scene has to be when Sandman first awakens after his transformation. The music is perfect and the scene itself is also very poignant. Cameos are fun, too. Stan Lee's is silly but so him. Bruce Campbell's steals the show.

My review: 9 out of 10, I still love Spider-Man 2, especially Doc Ock but it is totally on par with the other two.
DVD-worthy: Midnight run to pick it up.

New Surfer Trailer!

A new trailer for the Fantastic Four sequel has been released. It's looking good and it appears to have some teaser shots of Doom. Check it out now!

Plus:
Spider-Man 3 Crane Disaster
Behind the Scenes of Spider-Man 3

Wrath of Con

I'm looking ahead at what to waste my money on for the next few months. It seems a good group of us are willing to go to ValleyCon in Fargo this fall. They're trying to get R.A. Salvatore which is cool but no media guests have been confirmed yet. Either way I'm going because it is loads of fun. I'm half tempted to leave a day early, head up to Bloomington, and check out the Mall of America for a day, then drive up to Fargo, which is about another 3 hours. I doubt I'd get anyone on board for that considering that's more money but the thought is nice. MarsCon is kinda a hit-and-miss up in Bloomington. It's next February/March and they've got the guy who plays Chandra Suresh in Heroes among many other roles. If they get one more media guest I've heard of, I will totally be considering going. This Sunday is MicroCon for one day up in St. Paul. If I didn't have the Blue October concert here, I would totally drive the 6 hours and check it out. There's a crap load of guests. It is so rare we get a good act here amongst the country crap. I really hope there's another FallCon in St. Paul. From the looks of last year, it seems that there were tone of people again, including Krypton Comics! There's no information but if there is no conflicts I will totally check that out. And, of course, there's WillyCon X. We're going to provide all of our previous guests free lodging and hopefully we can get most of them to return. All would be sweet! We're going into fundraising overdrive to secure our more popular guests just in case. I'm pumped. If anyone else knows of any conventions in the Midwest area that I'm unaware of, let me know.

Well, I should return to Pokémon Diamond. My Monferno needs leveling up.

Spider-Man 2.1

When I saw the press information for Spider-Man 2.1 I figured it was a gimmick. I'm probably right as they're only adding 8 minutes to the film. But after searching YouTube and finding what very well could be from the extended film, it is somewhat tempting. They sure knew where to add in 8 minutes, mainly fighting and funny. I may have to pick it up. I know it's not beyond me as I repurchased the Star Wars Limited Editions, it would just be nice if the movie industry would just make the definitive versions early. Because people out there are buying DVDs all the time as it is an dnot downloading them anyway, now they have to find ways to make us angry when we've bought a DVD and they release a better one. Torrents seem nicer. Oh well, I am a sucker.

Clips:
J.J.J. as Spider-Man
Bank Robbery
Train Fight

WillyCon IX: Saturday

Saturday was fun. I picked up Zach Miller's Joe and Monkey books and they are hilarious. He also signed and sketched the insides as well which was awesome. The Superhero Movie panel went very well. Heath showed an Underdog trailer which I did not know existed and I was stopped in speech. Additionally, I was able to prescreen the room to make sure the technology was working this time, plus with two hours we got to cover everything. He also brought up a video of Kevin Smith's experience with the Superman movie so it was fun to play that as well. Once we were done, I gave the remaining Spider-Man 3 posters to the rest of the Con for freebies. The large ones were gone at the end of the day. The art auction went well and the trivia contest was very fun, although I think we went way too hard on the questions. The categories were a little screwed up too but we got it figured out. I hope we do it again next year. After that was done I was talking to Steph and Zach Miller stops by to chat. Eventually we ended up going with him and Taki Soma to Subway for about 5 minutes and then we talked in the Con Suite. Jodie brought up a Jar Jar mask and so we put that on people and beat them up. It was funny. A group of us talked until about 3 am and then I retired. It was a good day.

Call of Irony

I took my PPST this morning after months of putting it off. I also had to handle my passport items as well to get that done. So in my crusing through Omaha I head over to Toys 'R Us because I forgot to go there last week. I walk in and there's a nice large Spider-Man 3 display. I check out the figures and realize my tax refund did get in so I went shopping. I picked up a Sandman, Symbiote Spider-Man, and New Goblin along with a Spider-Spud and Marvel Guess Who? As I was looking around my phone rang. Oh by the way, I guess I lost my service this past week. Thanks Cingular for the notification. So my phone rang and I answer and it's a recording from "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" telling me to head to my nearest store because the toys are in today. What timing!

I also headed over to my favorite GameStop and picked up Pokémon FireRed and preordered Diamond. I went over to the Apple Store to see if I could get my earbuds replaced. The right one is making a static-y noise and it's quite annoying. They asked where the iPod was and I said it was in the car and they needed to see that to make sure it's not the iPod making the noise. Do they honestly think I would check that? Do they think that I have no other headphones besides the Apple ones? I love the Apple ones because they sound the best but seriously, I'm not one to deal with silly, condescending customer service...today. Thank you Cingular and MicroLnk. I might go back next week, though. I also visited Wal-Mart to get Venom. There's no Spider-Man 3 Sorry but there is a really stupid door alarm thing that is not the New Goblin, I don't care what it says. He shouldnot be that happy.

I bug Book Lady to play the items and get giddy. I did notice that the new action figures are not to scale with the 1 and 2 figures and are actually more to scale with the Batman and Superman figures. I'm not sure itf they're trying to standardize or what and Doc Ock towers over Venom somewhat. That's OK. I wonder if the rereleases are to scale...

Oh, hey: Katamari for Wii, 360, PS3 coming soon!
Also: Guitar Hero for Wii

Board Games

The other day I was at Wal-Mart and I saw something interesting that immediately took my attention. It was a Spider-Man Origins Operation game. Apparently, based off the box art, you are Doctor Octopus and you must remove Spider-Man's problems so you can fight later, I guess. Don't touch the sides! If you know me, I like revamped versions of board games. I have Pirates of the Caribbean Battleship, Star Wars Game of Life, Batman Monopoly, Lord of the Rings Risk, Star Wars Clone Wars Risk, Batman Begins UNO, Superman Returns UNO, and The Batman UNO. The Pirates of the Caribbean Life and Star Wars Original Trilogy Risk escape me for the moment. Luckily, I found out that I will have to add at least one more game to my list. Looking at images from the Hasbro Toy Fair, it seems there will be a Spider-Man 3 Sorry. Whoops, sorry Venom! What I'd like to see is a mixed up version of Clue that isn't The Simpsons or the Haunted Mansion. I'm just not sure of what except for that DnD Clue, that's just cool.


Additionally, there seems to be some sort of Spider-Man Mr. Potato Head a la Darth Tater, Spudtrooper, and Artoo-Potatoo but I can't make out what it says...

Doom, New Goblin, and Venom

I found a link off digg that has production art of the villans from the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Spider-Man 3. Doom looks interesting and New Goblin and Venom seem to be on track with everything else we've seen.

Check it out here.

**Updated: Thank God the Doom artwork has been confirmed to be fake. The action figure basically looks the same as well so there may or may not be a redesign of the character's appearance.**

Silver Surfer's Packing

Apparently, I'm not sure who found this out but, in the HD version of the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer, which is a neat trailer by the way, the Surfer for a few frames appears to be anatomically correct. Throughout the trailer, he's a Ken doll but somewhere after the 1:00 mark the Surfer flies by and I guess the animators wanted to have a little fun. I highly doubt that we will see this in the final film, it isn't Hollow Man. I'm just wondering when the trailer will be replaced. And please, no "rise" of the Silver Surfer jokes.

You can see the nads here.

The Silver Surfer

The Son becomes the Father, and the Father becomes the Son

It's becoming rarer and rarer to have a day go by without seeing the Superman shield. When walking to class you see the thing on at least one person's shirt. Even I have a shirt and a Christopher Reeve dog tag sporting the shield on my bag. Steph and I both came up with a Morey Hall shirt with the shield at the same time (creepy). I saw one over the summer that was on pink with the word "bitch" on it. I'm still not sure what that has to do with the character. It's so neat to see such an iconic character permeate into mainstream culture so easily.

Now I'm not necessarily the biggest Superman fan. Personally, he's kind of a prude. He seems so one-dimensional at times. He's not like the Marvel heroes with their problems or even Batman with his tormented past. He's got it easy. He has almost every neat power that you could think of. You can't kill him by sheer force. His greatest nemesis is a regular human holding a rock. I guess it's just the ideals that he stands for that makes him great. He is a representation of what it means to live life t the fullest, untouchable and without a worry in the world. It's also the thought of knowing that no matter how crappy the situation can get, Superman will pull through every time.

In Superman: Birthright, now the official origin story of Superman, the S-Shield is symbolic of Krypton and means "hope." It's on about everything and is almost like a family crest of the House of El as seem in the movies. That must be what people want: hope. That, or air which is what the modified symbol means in Smallville. Either way, it's a neat symbol that needs no explanation that anyone, whether a fan or a person who's never touched a comic can wear. Swell.

The Dark Knight

Well, the next Batman movie isn't called "Batman Continues" or...um "Batman Returns". It's "The Dark Knight". That's a nice nifty title. It looks like they're doing away with any "Batman Does-Something" convention of titles. I wonder what Bryan Singer's going to do... They also announced that Heath Ledger would be playing the Joker. Now that's interesting. He has the world's largest smile so I can somewhat see it, but I mainly can't. I'm looking forward to being surprised on that one.

Superreview of "Superman Returns"

No midnight show for this one. People work, I guess. I saw this in Norfolk with Rachel and Jodie and I liked this movie. It's got a lot of connections with the first two, especially the first. It also retcons III and IV into nothingness which is another plus. It also includes some dialogue and homages to tie in its vague history. Basically Superman leaves in search for Krypton for 5 years and now, he's back! But does the world still need the Man of Steel?

Brandon Routh does a good job as a Christopher Reeve impersonater but is also a good actor as well. Jodie complained that there was too much of him in the movie but I reminded her that it was called "Superman Returns." Kate Bosworth does a good Lois as well. One thing I liked was the scarcity of kryptonite in the movie compared to other incarnations where there's a glowing, humming ball of the stuff everywhere. The plot was neat and Kevin Spacey was an awesome Lex Luthor. He puts to rest a lot of the quirkiness of Gene Hackman from the first two by making him bitter for what Superman did to him. So now he's pissed and bald. One thing that bothered me about Superman as a character was that he was too overpowered and his arch-nemesis was an ordinary man with a special rock. Ooh! Kevin Spacey actually provides a threat to Superman that is worthy of his attention.

After the movie, we called up Matt and Will to get their takes and I tried to get a hold of Heath who is a huge Superman fan with no avail. When we went to ACME, the owners said that they went to the Des Moines screening that Brandon Routh went to. They said he's really nice and still down to earth so there's hope that he won't become a jerk. Overall, most people liked the movie with only minor complaints. Rachel commented that there's a lot of unanswered questions that hopefully they'll field in the sequel: "Superman Stays." No, not really. I made that up.

My superreview: 9-9.5 out of 10- It's just thuper!
DVD-worthy: I will probably go midnight run to pick this up and I hope it doesn't take too long to be released. I think they're also re-releasing the originals in nice super editions along side with it. I need to see it again because that frickin' John Williams score has been playing in my head for the past few days. Just ask Rachel, she had to deal with me.