Why so serious?

Some belated thoughts on The Dark Knight:

A fantastic action movie -- surprising, twisty, tense, scary -- but not quite enough mythical Batman mystique for me. With the decision to make this movie as real-world as possible (even more so than Batman Begins), there's a trade-off, and the result lacks poetry.

Batman isn't just an action-movie star interchangeable with Nicolas Cage or Denzel Washington. He's been around for almost 70 years. He's an icon and an American myth, right up there with Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan, and The Dark Knight didn't treat him as such enough for me. Begins did. For example, the scene where Bruce's parents are murdered (the crucial moment of the Batman legend) felt like an opera on screen; it had the weight it deserved. The Dark Knight has no equivalent moment. We never even see the Batcave.

Heath Ledger was amazing, though. I read somewhere someone say that everyone else who's ever played the Joker was merely a caretaker for a role that Heath now owns, and that's definitely true. My fondness for the sweet blond Heath Ledger over the course of his entire too-short career has been well chronicled in this blog... that he was able, after all my swooning, to make me afraid of him, is the highest praise I can give.

On a final note, it's nice to see a DC character trounce Marvel! Now let's see if Batman can beat Titanic.

Long Awkward Pose

As if people don't look awkward in posed photos already. This website is encouraging you to document their lameness by videotaping instead of snapping a picture.

It's kinda mean.

It's a trick I could totally get into pulling.

Quote for the day

"You know, they think it is funny that they are making fun of something that is actually true... It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

--Barack Obama, responding to Republicans mocking him for recommending that drivers keep their tires fully inflated to increase gas mileage.

Gettin' some tail

Ben: This guy from Billerica is on the shooting team in the Olympics. He's super hot. It says he's a descendant of Daniel Boone.

Chris: The woodsman.

Ben: Yes. Daniel Boone was super hot too, you know. That's where the phrase "Getting some tail" came from. Because he wore those coonskin caps with the tail. When the ladies back in that day hooked up with him, they told their friends that they'd gotten some tail.

Chris: Is that true?

Ben: No but it sounds good, doesn't it?

1913 no more

With a stroke of his pen and the near-unanimous support of the state congress, the Governor lays waste to a nasty law.

Patrick, who turned 52 today, also called the bill "a great birthday present."

PS: Suck it, Romney!

Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet

From The Onion:

Al Gore -- or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al -- placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity's hubristic folly.

So perfectly, awesomely hilarious it's amazing no one thought of it sooner.