Dark Knight Forever

It's official! Filming has wrapped on one of the most anticipated movies of next year. This movie is none other than The Dark Knight Rises. It is the last in the Christopher Nolan trilogy story-arc. And is set to blow our fucking minds. Give in to the inevitable, boys and girls. (For more mind-blowing, see Inception)

In 2005, the Batman franchise was rebooted into a gritty, realistic successor. The first film, Batman Begins, went back to its roots to explain how Batman came to be. It set the bar for gritty reboots everywhere, especially when talking about superhero movies. The only popular movie before would be Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. In a way, it had paved way for superhero movies.

In Batman Begins, it shows Bruce Wayne as he was before he put on the cowl; his journeys away from Gotham and his training with Ra's al Ghul. In the eyes of the League of Shadows, Gotham City is deemed corrupt and must be cleansed (burned to the ground). But like Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne, he believed that Gotham still has a chance. And with that premise, he chose to be Batman to become a symbol that Gotham needed.

The origins of the story of Batman had always been a standard. The witnessing of the murder of his parents had always remained constant. This was especially hard to reboot(in the comic books) because, essentially, Batman's origins are perfect.

In the old version of Batman which was directed by Tim Burton, Bruce had seen the murder of his parents, but in showed that Joker, in someway, did it. In the 2005 reboot, Joe Chill kills his parents when they go out of the opera house in a hurry. Although willing to hand over their belongings,   the mugger still killed the unfortunate couple which in turn set the stage for Batman.

                  Alfred Pennyworth: Why bats, Master Wayne?
                  Bruce Wayne: Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.


Bats have become a fear of Bruce, since falling down a well into a cave, when he was younger. This fear indirectly led to the murder of his parents, and also the creation of Batman. Through the training with Ra's al Ghul, he has learned to embrace his fear. And he epitomizes it, by being putting on the cowl.


Since the release of Batman Begins, people had wanted to look more into the adventures of the Dark Knight. Inevitably, a sequel was released in 2008, The Dark Knight. The film was a massive hit, largely because of Heath Ledger's haunting performance of the Joker, Batman's archenemy.


The film itself depicted chaos through the doings of Joker. It also showed the morals of Batman were threatened by the horrors of Joker's evil deeds. Batman has always shown an aversion to killing. It was his number 1 rule, and in someway his greatest flaw. 


Joker's intent on having Batman break his "one rule," led to the destruction of Gotham City, the death of the love of his life, and her lover, Gotham's White Knight. This was a dilemma on Batman, when asked to choose between two locations that were set to blow up. Batman had intended to save Rachel, but to his dismay he was lead the wrong way by the Joker. 


The death of Rachel also made it easier for Gotham's White Knight to fall in the hands of the Joker. The grief of Rachel's death paved the way for Two-Face to come to life. Basing his actions with a flip of a coin, he left everything to luck. 

                        Joker: Uhh, you... You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an                  unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness... and I won't kill you because you're just too much fun! I think you and I are destined to do this forever.


Gotham's White Knight had already been changed. And in the end, he died when he and Batman fell. And although Batman was not responsible for the death, he chose to be. So that the city would not lose hope on it's once great leader. 


The ending showed Batman running away from the Police. And Lt. James Gordon says to his child that Batman is the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs. 


And credits roll.


The second installment was a success. And people can't wait for the sequel, especially me who has become very invested in the franchise. 


I had followed the development of this epic since its announcement, which only made it more exciting for me. I would look at leaked photos from the set, and follow with the interviews the cast made. But nothing gets you pumped up for a movie more than viral marketing.


The very first campaign for the new movie was the official website that had audio of people chanting. And that led to a twitter account. If a twitter user placed #TheFireRises and mentions the twitter account, the user would be part of a mosaic that would eventually become the first official photo of Tom Hardy as Bane.


I was very excited to be part of it, pictures of every user had become a pixel to the large image and I had been a part of the process. Social media had really paved the way for viral marketing.


Months later, a trailer was released. It was attached to the last film in the Harry Potter series. It was Gordon talking, and there were chants at the end of it. And that's another thing right there.


Hans Zimmer, the person who scores the film, crowdsourced online. He invited everyone to chant the words to be part of the phenomenon. And being myself, I got on the bandwagon and recorded my chant like a crazy person. 


With a release date of July 20, 2012, it couldn't be farther away. But with each passing day, the set date draws closer and closer! I'm even watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on IMAX to get a glimpse of the movie's prologue.


Can't wait! 


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This post just goes to show how I'm such a fan. Ask anyone, they'll agree. This isn't my best post, probably very redundant, in fact. Mind me.

Literary Wyrm

I had just finished reading a book.

One thing I really wanted to read since it first came out was Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Having read all except one of his books, Dan Brown was fast becoming my favorite author. The third book in the series which features professor Robert Langdon who specializes in symbology.

I had taken interest in his books because of the then controversial release of The Da Vinci Code. My sister and I then bought all the books by Dan Brown: Deception Point, Digital Fortress, Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code. And just because it piqued my curiosity more, I read The Da Vinci Code first, not thinking that it was the 2nd book in the series. I like Angels & Demons better.

The only Dan Brown book I haven't read was Deception Point. I had only started to read it, but I put it down after reading a couple pages. I had gotten lazy, since reading Digital Fortress which kind of disappointed me. But people tell me that the book is good, and I'll probably go back to reading it, and finishing this time.

The Lost Symbol is the most recent book I've read, but a couple of months before I had read The Little Prince which I read in one night. I am proud, the only other book I've read in a night was Mitch Albom's For One More Day. I read it, simply because I was bored. And a few weeks before reading The Little Prince, I read George R. R. Martin's  A Game of Thrones from the series A Song of Ice and Fire. I wish to read all the books in the series.

I only read A Game of Thrones because I had watched the HBO adaptation of it, Game of Thrones. I saw the series before reading the book and still felt compelled to read it. And after reading the book, I watched every episode again and found that I understood the whole mythos more, even noticed slight changes from the book, like the renaming of Jon Arryn's child into Robin, rather than Robert. This was done so that viewers would not confuse him with Robert Baratheon, from which the child was named.

I'm no bookworm, that's for sure. But with all the books I've read, I actually read more than a lot of my friends who don't read at all. This is with the exception of school books, of course. But if that counts, I lost the reading contest.

And I realized somewhere along writing this post that I only read books that are popular. I've even read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. This would put-off most male readers because the Twilight series is intended for teenage girls. I don't mind having read the series, and if someone asks me, I'll say Team Jacob.

One series that I haven't read yet is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. The books always seem to elude me. The only book I've read is the first, and having seen all movies, some plot points are already known to me. If someone's reading this post right now who hasn't seen the movies, but is reading the novels first, you heard it here first. Dumbledore is GAY. You're welcome.

There are a lot of books out there that have a cult following, most of this involving some form of mythology that only expands with every passing book. Some books that adapted to film are even more famous as a film than it's source, Jurassic Park is one quite example.

There are some books that I've read that are quite surprising even for me, just because I've read it. I've read a novel by R. A. Salvatore, a very popular author known for his Forgotten Realms books. The name of the book fazed me, but after a minute of searching the net by typing a few keywords I remembered, I can say that the title of the book was The Crystal Shard which is part of The Icewind Dale trilogy.

I've actually really just want to read more these days, but without funding I'm stuck with reading eBooks which is, for me, harder to read. There's really just a different feeling with flipping a page with your finger. Most days, I just watch TV series and lie in bed.

And honestly, reading just seemed like a better hobby.