this is slowly turning into a comic book blog, but i'm sort of impressed that i know enough about comic books to write this much

i realized that lately i have pretty much only written in this blog when i've had something to complain about, and while it's been pretty cathartic, i can't imagine that it reflects very well on me. let's talk about some things that i am pretty happy with right now.

i really love my mom. i had a great time with her when i was home. yesterday, i got a call from the company that's in charge of the security system at my house, and the fire alarm had gone off. i flipped my lid, because what if something happened to her? i know that sounds a little like a complaint, but really it's just evidence that i really, really care about her, which makes me happy. i'm really lucky to have a mother that is so awesome that it's easy for me to feel that way.

the cat has been surprisingly patient lately. usually he is up at five, and the second you move your hand or so much as sigh deepy, he is all over you trying to get fed. today he let me sleep until ten. ten! and i didn't even have to yell at him!

jake and i cleaned the house in preparation for finding a roommate, and it is still sort of clean. sort of. i mean, i can use the kitchen without too much trouble. that feels way good.

i saw the prestige again. still awesome. now, though, my ideas about nikola tesla are inextricably entwined with david bowie's music. and, christopher nolan is putting out a new batman - "the dark knight," although not based on frank miller's work - and heath ledger is playing the joker. my knickers are not in a twist over them picking a pretty boy, though. first of all, heath ledger is not a bad actor. second of all, in the original movie, the joker was played by jack nicholson, and portrayed as much older than batman (played by michael keaton). while this made for a great dynamic in that one movie because they were able to imply that the joker played a role in the deaths of the waynes, in the comic books the joker and batman are the same age, which leads to a completely different kind of adversarial relationship, which i feel will be reflected with this younger choice. not to pooh-pooh the first batman movie, though - of course, jack nicholson was terrific, but i feel that michael keaton doesn't get enough recognition for really setting the standard for how batman was going to be portrayed cinematically. he really distanced himself from the goofy adam west character (channeled later by george clooney in hands-down the worst batman movie ever), nailed the seemingly carefree drunkard millionaire playboy, and struck terror in the hearts of villains with the dead-serious, almost deadpan gravelly voice from the shadows. one of the reasons that i like christian bale in the role so much is that he takes pretty much all of his cues from this performance. also, i am really excited about the new spiderman. at first, i was sort of dismayed that they picked topher grace to be eddie brock. not that i don't like topher grace, but he's just so little and young. i always pictured eddie brock as older than peter parker, and much bigger. but then i talked to some coworkers who are even nerdier than me and reread some venom storylines, and eddie brock was much smaller before venom came along. i was also a little worried that they were going to try and tackle so many storylines in one movie. i mean, look at what happened with x3. gwen stacey, the sandman, and venom. they could probably make two movies for each of those plotlines alone. also, ten bucks says something's going to happen with both doc connors and the hobgoblin. but, i figure that like x3, this movie will probably be a jumping-off point for at least a couple different storylines, if not a couple different characters. they could do a whole venom movie, and it would be awesome. ron howard's daughter playing gwen stacey, i'm not too sure about, especially since the trailers make it look like he goes after gwen while he's still with mary jane. but she does look okay in the blonde wig. and i'm really excited about the dude from wings playing the sandman. i think he'll be great.