Batman: Gotham Knight

With the release of The Dark Knight only 7 days away!!!!!!! I had to get myself ready for the movie I have been waiting for since I stood up from my seat after Batman Begins ended. So the other day I re-watched Batman Begins and tonight I sat down to watch Batman: Gotham Knight. Now this movie is made up of six short animated features about what takes place between the end of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Basically the same thing The Matrix did with The Animatrix between the last two movies (both made my Warner Brothers).

Gotham Knights starts off with three skateboarders and their encounter with Batman on their way to a skate park. Each one has a crazed version of what Batman looks like (one makes him Alex Mack and The Shadow combined, one makes him a human bat creature, and the last one turns Batman into a mix between a Transformer and Inspector Gadget). The story comes to an end with the real Batman fighting the same criminal described in the three stories and Batman being saved by one of the four skateboarders.

The next five shorts actually are the filler between the real movies. We come to discover that the island the Narrows is on has been turned into Arkham Asylum. I found this really interesting because instead of the Gotham Police trying to recapture all the criminals that have escaped from Arkham they basically quarantine the entire island (great now all the homeless from the Narrows are going to take over the streets of Gotham City good going Gotham Police).

From their we see the struggle between Batman and Sal Maroni (he took over for Carmine Falcone) and "The Russian." It was interesting to see how both men couldn't put their differences aside to try and take care of "the bat problem." Along with that we see the return of Dr. Crane AKA The Scarecrow and how he is trying to take over the underground world in the Narrows.

The last two shorts I feel kind of don't live up to the previous three. We see Batman try to find a way to understand pain and how to use it and him fight the assassin Deadshot. Yea they fill you in on a more personal level with Batman, but I could have done with out them.

One thing I really like is how the three or four stories depicted Bruce Wayne as an average person. Not the NFL linebacker other animated Batman depictions have done and the last one basically made him look like Christian Bale.

All in all if you an avid Batman fan then this is for you. If your just a fan of the films you really aren't missing that much and will not be lost between films. Now I guess I just have to wait and try not to go crazy before I rush to the movie theater to see The Dark Knight at 12 Thursday night/ Friday morning.

The Get Up Kids - Eudora

For the past few days I have been listening to this CD over and over again because I really don't think there is anything else like it. Honestly the mix of demos, B-sides, and covers is amazing. No matter how many punk goes come out they will never compare to Eudora.

Katy Perry - One of the Boys

She may not be one of the boys, but Katy Perry certainly knows how to get the attention of the boys and the girls. With her debut album One of the Boys Katy Perry is making sure everyone knows that when she was posed as the next big thing back in 2004 it wasn’t a mistake. Right from the get go Mrs. Perry captures you with her voice and never let’s you go until the end of the last song Fingerprints. While others may feel that Katy Perry hasn’t lived up to her potential (I want to know what CD they were listening to because it surly wasn’t the one I was), this CD is nothing less then just short of prefect. Out of the 12 songs 7 to 9 have the ability to hit singles (not like her single I Kissed A Girl knocked off power house Coldplay from the number one spot on the billboard chart or anything, has been the top download song on iTunes for quite some time, and the 1000th chart-topper of the Rock Era). I have a feeling this is only a taste of what Katy Perry is capable of and we will be seeing big things from her for some time to come.

4 out of 5.