The Dark Knight

I had never seen a full Batman movie until last night and am still not quite sure why I wanted to see The Dark Knight. Nevertheless I was told to make my one go of it in IMAX. Thanks for the advice ya'll because it was awesome. This is definitely one of those movies that's worth $18 for an IMAX ticket. I felt tingly in moments when Mr. Batman threw himself from skyscrapers. Awesome. But what I'm really surprised about is how deep it is. It was a study in social conditioning. Of course, I expected the typical 'battle of good vs. evil' but, to me, it wasn't posed that way. Batman and the Joker are human, not superhuman the difference is that the Joker is more twisted due to what sounds like years of emotional abuse from his family, partners, and plain old innate craziness, etc. Harvey Dent's 'development' is posed to us as an example of how the Joker 'turned.'

The movie brought up these thoughts about human nature for me:

- Is it true that we dislike in others what we loath most about ourselves? I don't know about that. Things I dislike tend to be exact opposite of me. What about you?

- What is true is that people definitely show their true colors in times of crisis. Without giving too much away, I really admire, though am not all that surprised, by how the convict on the boat behaved at the end.

- Witness the 'moles,' is it really possible to bribe someone when human lives are at stake? Even though we were told the money was for medical purposes it's like she was trading one life for many. Which I guess is one of the main themes. How much is human life worth? Sacrifice someone near to you? Or many strangers? A bunch of convicts? Or regular citizens? Batman? Or the city of Gotham? The point posed goes against the popular concept of survival of the fittest. Rather, here, it's about the greater good. This movie seems apt in these times. We've become so much about ourselves whether in our personal lives in government, perhaps it's meant to be commentary on how we can improve on our society. Is the screenwriter saying that America is destined to become Gotham City if we stay on our general path? I admit, I think people have become increasingly selfish, care less about the greater good and social responsibility. For fear of sounding like an old fart, I think the generation of kids growing up today are really at a lack for all the aforementioned things, they're almost helpless because everything is done for them or at their fingertips. Kids are fearless about talking back to teachers, don't care about passing classes, don't care about disturbing a whole car of train passengers with their behavior, don't care about holding a door open for an elderly person (or anyone), don't care about giving up a seat for a pregnant lady, etc. I bet, my mother's generation said the same things about mine but I feel like I could easily chat with someone of my mom's age and we'd agree. It's a sense of common sense, decency, and etiquette that has been usurped by a focus on personal satisfaction. I feel like the more I write the more I lose meaning but I hope it makes sense because I think the deterioration is a damn shame. I mean, when I'm old are kids just gonna push me over on the sidewalk? Really, I'm just thinking of my own well-being as a senior citizen. ha.

In any case, a movie that makes me think is good in my book. 3 cheers for Batman and I really think Heath Ledger was fantastic. I can see how he must've been overtaken by the Joker's 'darkness.' I think I would be too.

sidewalk dining, All Points West festival

1. Just came across this really cool thing on NYMag.com it lists 200 of their top restaurants with sidewalk seating. I'd beware of heavily trafficked areas though, you don't want to end up inhaling more exhaust than food.

2. My friend has two extra tickets to the Alhttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2208490287871300707&postID=7136254816609073606l Points West Festival for this Saturday. He's looking to sell them for face value ($89). If you're interested, contact him: Subhash 917 340-4149

Looks like Radiohead and The Roots are playing.

3. If you want to opt out of catalogs, this seems like a good, central place to do it. Found on the Women's Health Mag website:

www.catalogchoice.org

Easy way to save some paper and energy.

4. Would the ladies reading use this???????
http://gocommandos.com/

Go forth and conquer!

subway etiquette 101

i can tell u what barb wouldn't do and that is to groom. on the. subway. seriously. some woman who had a faint resemblance to ms. piggy (and i mean that in the nicest possible way) sat one seat away from me on the subway this morning. she announced her arrival with the thud of her purse on the seat between us and i mean a THUD. there must've been bricks in there or something. then makeup started coming out and she was applying it here and there, nothing i hadn't seen before but then...then...then...she pulled out the tweezers! what's worse is that she was plucking stray hairs from her lip area. pursing her VERY full lips to pluck pluck pluck. i looked across at the other riders searching for looks of horror and disbelief and felt justified. who does that? i mean, i've seen people clip their nails and apply makeup but i think tweezing is a bit much. i understand the concept of multitasking but if you can't squeeze out 5 minutes to do that in your own bathroom then perhaps you should be relegated to hairiness. are on board subway waxers far behind?

we pull into 23rd street and it was like the conductor was waiting for her to pull her ish together to get off the train. the doors were open an abnormal amount of time while she dropped makeup, spilled coffee, and scrambled to throw herself out of the car in time before the doors shut behind her.

then all the people in my portion of the train just giggled both to each other and to themselves. i think even spied a smirk on the face of the gross offender while she composed herself on the platform. perhaps she realized the ridiculousness of it all or just wished she got off the train more gracefully aware of the audience around her.

Mortality

Sometimes I wonder why some deserve to live longer than others? Sometimes I wonder if it means that those who live longer are given the time because they have something further to contribute to humanity? Sometimes I wonder if some people would think of what lies after death, whatever that may be, as being better than life? These are not questions I expect answers to, likely because there aren't any, but I also can't help but ask when indirectly confronted with deaths that are so sudden, seemingly unjustified, and cruel (to those left behind). Perhaps asking questions doesn't help? Perhaps this is one of those instances where you just have to accept things as they are and look towards the happier things in life? Value what you have and all that jazz. After all, there's an endless array of the 'Sometimes,' 'Perhaps,' and 'maybes,' 'ifs,' 'ands,' or 'buts' one can pose. 'Unfair,' is another word that comes to mind. But because these are seemingly unanswerable questions, the only way for me to think about death is as a part of life and equally as unpredictable. As a result, we can only go day by day, enjoying all that we can in the time we are given so that perhaps when it is our time those we leave behind can say, 'hey, at least she lived a full life and never held back.'

Now that I'm in better humor compared to this morning when I wrote the above, I'd like to say, "Live hard, play hard, try not to die."