The Dark Knight Partial Review

Tonight I went to a midnight showing of The Dark Knight. First off, let me say, the film burned up in the final reel, so I still haven’t seen the ending, but that said:

It is incredible. It is so dark and so beautiful. Watching Heath Ledger act makes me want to cry. I cannot imagine a performance more stirring, more terrifying, more amusing and brutal than his; he IS the Joker. Nicholson has nothing on him. Next to Ledger, he’s a children’s party with cake and lemonade. And seeing his interactions with the always impeccable Bale is mind-warping. He is Batman’s darker twin, as he was always intended to be: his perfect, intractable nemesis. I can’t even begin to write about it. 

Just see it. See it. I have not been so moved by an actor’s performance… ever, I don’t think. This is without a doubt, the best superhero movie of all time. Because it isn’t a superhero movie at all. It’s a study of pathology, a Greek tragedy, an examination of madness, of chaos and order, of brilliance and light, and the cruelty of our fates. Goddamn. 

Mr. Ledger, may you rest in peace. And rest knowing for sure, that you have created a masterwork. And cemented, at least in my mind (though I suspect that I am far from the only one), your reputation as one of the greatest actors of our generation. You will be missed. 

More tomorrow, after I’ve seen it again, and seen the ending.

Jimmy Dean Sausage

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<p>Boy, is this gentleman angry about the loss of 4 oz. of sausage! Hey, hey, chief, I like Jimmy Dean too, but 4oz? Come on, man. Spring for another roll and you’ll have leftovers.

Hiatus Over!

Whoo. Bet y’all missed me. It’s okay. Here. Was this how you felt?

It’s cool. Don’t stress. That dye will eventually grow out. I’m back and badder than ever, bitches. My hands aren’t even cramped that much. (Smash Bros. status: 57%)

7 Insane Conspiracies That Are In Fact Real

Are you certain that the government watches you through your computer monitor? Do you have dogs to alert you of the Greys’ return visits? Were you pretty sure you saw a note at the beginning of The DaVinci Code that said, “Based on Real Events?” Well, my paranoid friend, have I got an article that’ll send you into the closet weeping. 7 absolutely true, confirmed conspiracies that are largely unbelievable. 

Be afraid of Project MKULTRA!

Quick Update from Texas

I’m in Austin, at the lovely La Quinta Inn by IH 35, and JAW and myself have been tearing shit up in the truly kick ass state of Texas. More to come next week about the wild happenings!

Ayahuasca Ceremonies in National Geographic

The Ayahuasca ceremony seems to be gaining in popularity everywhere as a method of spiritual healing; and now, there’s an article on a woman’s experience with it down in Peru in National Geographic. It sounds pretty amazing. I find myself desirous of experiences like these, whatever the cause. 

Here’s the link. It’s a really beautiful article, well written and quite affecting. 

Supposedly there’s a ayahuasca ceremony in Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. I’ve managed to track down a copy of it, so I’ll report on that after I watch it. 

Wishing you all a wonderfully weird Wednesday. 

EDIT: I was wrong about the ceremony in Dead Man. It’s still a fantastic movie, though!

Cool Time-Lapse of the Lunar Eclipse

Neat time-lapse of the lunar eclipse. Only 30 seconds. Link.

John Scalzi on Finances for New Writers

Most of it applies to just everyone though, unless you are one of those evil, evil people who are wildly lucky and talented at what they do in the corporate world, in which case, you probably know all this already and are waterskiing with a super-model. And I hate you for that.

But for me, this has been a great wake up call. Anyway, check it out. Makes sense to me. Link

In other news, I’m headed to Texas pretty soon, here at the beginning of March to tour with Just Add Water, and probably to see SXSW. And I get to see a really old friend who I adore a ridiculous amount, and the fact that we met at snowboarding camp in eighth grade is just the icing on that highly improbable cake. Windells, fuck yeah.

I noticed the fact that today I could actually see the lawns of the houses from the train back to CT. I was overcome by the urge to lie on the grass. I am very ready for sunshine. 

personal post / far more interesting

The last thing I feel like doing with this, if it’s actually going to turn into any sort of respectable blog (unlikely, in any case, though worth a game effort) is to have all my posts end up as an autoblography, making this little better than a livejournal or myspace, or any other of those histrionic institutions. But, I said I would include some personal content, and my guess is that more than any other thing people find odd, or curious about me, is why I left school, and what I’ve been doing in my time since. Those of you who know me, or have met me drunk at a party, have no doubt gotten various answers, ranging from highly unsatisfactory to vague and evasive. Or, at this point, you don’t even bother asking, since you assume that all I do is sit around and watch TV, play videogames, or otherwise relive Gen X stereotypes. Others still think I’ve taken this time off to work on my writing, which inevitably leads them to ask me the question, “How’s the writing going?” and confusion on their part when I evade it. 

None of these is completely true, though each is a facet of why I left, and part of what I do. I guess in this post, I’ll try and be as honest as I can be about the actual circumstances leading up to and after my withdrawal from Yale. 

For those of you who frankly don’t care, well, sirs and madams, I don’t blame you. That’s why the rest of this post is after the jump. You guys can just ignore this and wait for the subsequent postings. I’m a bit uncomfortable with this myself, but if it cuts down on the number of times I have to answer these painful bits of small talk, it’s worth it. 

Also, navel-gazing about the internet! Fun! The stuff about me’s only a paragraph. Skip it if you want to get right to teh ‘net. And final comment: I wrote it in one go. So there’re probably a few logical gaps. So unless you say something interesting about the rambling, don’t bother refuting it with miniscule logical errors, because I don’t care. Not one whit, which incidentally, is a very fun word to say as well as type. 

Welcome to the Polygon Castle

A place for me to yell about whatever may be on my mind at the moment, which includes, but is not limited to, video games, poetry, short fiction, music, movies, TV: in short, the greater ethereal realm of pop culture, from kitsch to classy. 

Come on in. Don’t mind the clutter.