Another reason to go see 'The Dark Knight'

Naturally, there was been a great deal of hype leading up to the imminent Dark Knight release, with talk of a posthumous Oscar for Ledger's Joker, and the promise of a more intense movie experience than the previous film...but for me there is another equally appealing and compelling need to see this movie; for the trailers that will be affixed to the beginning. In particular, the trailer that will be shown for the new DC Comics movie to be released in March of 2009: 'Watchmen'. For those of you not familiar with the source material, it was written by Alan Moore back in the 80s, and is a graphic novel set in 1985, during an alternate history of the US where we decisively won the Vietnam War and vigilante costumed crimefighters walk the streets of American cities, meting out their own brand of justice. While my brief synopsis sounds like the setup for a generic superhero romp, 'Watchmen' is far removed from such insipid comic trappings. Of all the "superheroes", only one has any quantifiable superhuman powers, and most are washed up or retired as a result of the fictitious Keene Act of 1977, barring any costumed heroes from practicing vigilante justice. Further, the heroes themselves are deeply flawed (for the most part), and certainly do not fit the standard paragon of virtue and truth typically attributed to masked lawmen, and in fact, one of the more important characters is essentially a nihilist. The graphic novel also serves as a compelling study of the paranoia associated with the Cold War (which the US is still engaged in), nuclear conflict, and moreover, the human condition. And honestly, for me to claim I have presented all that one can glean from this story would be foolhardy...this is just a damn good read, period, and a pretty cool mystery, to boot. If you have some time on your hands, I highly recommend picking up a copy (you should be able to acquire one on Amazon for about 12 or 13 bucks). And just keep in mind, the Comedian didn't get the name for his innate ability to crack clever jokes...

Needless to say, I'm fairly excited about this movie. The guy who wrote the screenplay (David Hayter) also penned the first X-men movie, and some might recognize the name in conjuction with the voice of Solid Snake from the immensely popular 'Metal Gear Solid' game series. Zack Snyder (of '300' fame) took the reigns as director of the film, and from reading his commentary, it sounds like they are staying quite true to the source material, which includes a couple of scenes that will be disturbing on-screen, but are absolutely vital to the story.

So, hopefully everyone will head to see the Dark Knight, and just remember, there's a good reason to make it for the trailers for this one...

So I finally broke into the Indian genre of food units for the first time in my life...not too shabby I must say. The place I went to was doing a lunch buffet, so I was able to peruse an assortment of different dishes. The hot pepper chicken I had (sorry, can't recall the exact nomenclature) was actually downright awesome, no churrascuria bacon-wrapped chicken, but not too terribly far off.