wasting away

i have spent the last few days, wallowing in complete lameness, watching deadliest catch on the discovery channel for hours at a time.

please, god, someone save me from this semi-educational hell.

worst. post. ever.

Double-Feature: The Dark Knight / The Descent of American Audiences

Having seen The Dark Knight, not once, not twice, but thrice now, I can safely say it's the best movie I've seen all year.

Like most things, I kept a naturally negative "too good to be true" mentality all through the build-up to this film.  When the hype machine started rolling out hardcore I started to wonder if it could possibly live up to all this buzz.

The casting of Heath Ledger seemed odd to me from the start.  I never payed any attention to him before.  I didn't like A Knights Tale and I certainly didn't see Brokeback Mountain, which someday I'll talk about why... it's not homophobia.  I wondered what was behind that casting choice.  Director Christopher Nolan said of Ledger when asked about the decision, "because he's fearless".  Makes sense.  You need an actor with cohones to take on such a part.  Perhaps one of the more famous villains in American folklore to start, and already immortalized on film very 

iconic-ally by another fantastic actor giving a superb performance.

Needless to say, the late Heath Ledger delivered what would have been a career-making performance.  The character is now, probably in part to do with the actors passing, hit the ranks of such evil-doers like Hannibal Lector, and more recently, John Doe of Se7en.

Everyone in the film is spectacular (with the exception of a few overacting "background artists" here and there, one of my few quips with the film).  The directing is unnaturally good for comic book fare.  The editing, still a wee bit on the choppy side, but nowhere near as messy as the films predecessor.  The score is subtle yet memorable.  Overall, extremely entertaining while at the same time being a piece of popular art.  Something we as movie nerds can analyze and pick apart, find little nuances in.  Everything a MOVIE should be.

- - -

Movie audiences are getting dumber.

It's becoming such a chore to sit in a packed theater with semi-casual movie goers.  As my brother Ty pointed out, movie audiences are getting more hostile in addition to so many other things.  Likely due to the rising ticket prices.

I'm simply astounded at how unbelievably stupid people are, and it's getting worse!  People bringing their babies and little children to MIDNIGHT showings!  WHAT?!  These people need to be locked away and their children put into protective custody before they continue the cycle of stupidity.   We must save the children!

As for our preceding generation, I find myself in my young age already starting to say things like "damn these kids" and "did I used to be like this when I was their age?".   I'm referring of course to people only 4 to 5 years younger than myself.  But by God, I KNOW I wasn't like these people at that age.  It's unbearable.  People will have flat-out normal toned conversations while the movie is showing.  Their heads so up their asses to the degree that they can't even comprehend that they might be hindering some other people's enjoyment of the show.  Such self-centered arrogance I can't stand in daily life, much less in something I'm paying to do. Why would you pay hard-earned money to do something you can easily sit at home and do for free, without making an entire room of 200-some-odd people hate you.

What brings about this rant is the audience I had to endure last night when I saw The Dark Knight with my mother.

They didn't laugh at anything funny, they mocked and got restless during the very brief dramatic scenes, their cell phones rang during key parts of the story, their babies wailed at the sight of the obviously not child-friendly material in the film.  For the majority, they sat, apparently dumb-founded by what was happening in the movie.  This movie is not complicated work, it's made for the masses and yet the masses can't take it.  I shutter to think of what will happen 5 years down the road.

It just makes no sense to me.

May the Joker put a SMILE on all of your FACES!  

mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me?

I thought I'd give in to nonexistent peer pressure and start a blog, a blog that will likely be read mostly by myself and a handful of others.

Blogs, like most things to me, are so easily subjected to ridicule for any number of reasons.  Whether they be uninteresting, too indulgent, or simply hard to read.  All of those things might be descriptions for things that I will type in the months to come.

Gentle readers, prepare for vague, sometimes borderline unintelligible ramblings by me, your humble narrator.  I promise to at least make an attempt at making it worth your while.