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  • My Biking Adventure

    Yesterday when I got home, I saw that it was a brisk sunny day and thought that I should get on my bicycle for a quick jaunt.  I really wasn’t feeling the want to go for a bike ride but I always know that as soon as my ass hits that seat, I’m feeling good.

    I packed my Pierre Trudeau Memoirs in my bag as they have been quite inspiring over the past few days and I figured I would head down to Petrie Island to sit on the beach and read the book until it was time to head back home and go see Vero and her family.  According to Google Maps, this trip is around 6 kms.  A far cry from my usual 16km jaunt to Cumberland.  Nonetheless, I was interested in reading the book more than the bike ride.

    But as soon as I was whizzing down Trim Road, my thoughts changed.  I was thinking of the adventures Mr. Trudeau had traveling the world before heading into politics and it really inspired me to go on my own little adventures.  Then I started calculating everything in my head…it was 5PM and Vero’s family wasn’t due into town until 7PM.  I had 2 hours to play with and then it hit me.

    I should bike to Vero’s.

    Now let’s put this into some perspective.  I got the grand notion of biking to work from Bayshore years ago.  I went to see Allan-Paul at Bushtakah and he set me up with a new bike.  Throughout the next few years, I biked into work which was 15 kms.  I loved this bike ride as I followed the Ottawa river the entire way.  It used to take me 50 minutes to bike 15 km.  From talking with other cyclists (like Joe), I realized this wasn’t a great time, but nonetheless, it was the time it took me.

    When I moved to Orleans I realized that my dreams of biking to work would be squashed as it was quite the increase in distance.  As far as I can tell from Google Maps, if I followed a similar trek in my car, it would be 30 kms.  That’s double the distance!  This was quite intimidating as I didn’t feel like biking for 100 minutes each way every day.  So for years the bike stood idle.

    I got the biking itch after going to Gaspe and loved it again.  I was curious about the long distance cyclists out there…those who bike 100km+ a day, like Uncle Gerry and Shoko.  I had visions of one day being able to do this.  But in order to do it, one must push themselves.  It didn’t hurt that I actually enjoyed whizzing down paths of water and foliage while on my bicycle.  This is living!  As Eric pointed out a few weeks ago, I went out with him to find the path along the river and he now takes the same path to work each day.  He says that even though it takes a bit longer to arrive at Blair Road, the ride is more peaceful.  Heck, the man has even seen three deer in the past few weeks!  Imagine seeing a deer along your bike ride!  Much better than cutting across the city where all you have are people chatting on their cellphone or drinking their coffee (and I suppose we should point out that Eric also had a bad incident a few years back of actually being struck by a vehicle through an intersection.  Not a good thing.) and you get some scenery in your life.  Take time to smell the roses people.

    So there you have it…I was determined to head on the trek across town.  Did I have enough water?  Check.  Did I have my wallet or other necessary items for my arrival point.  Check.  The only thing I didn’t have is my emergency pump and a spare tube which I thought about and accepted the possible consequences of having a flat tire half way to Vero’s place.

    I still haven’t managed to figure out EXACTLY where the bike path meets up around Jeanne D’Arc so I spent a good five minutes navigating through streets to make my way to the path.  After that, it was clear sailing!  What a beautiful path it was.  Zooming down it, all I could see for miles is foliage and fields and the little strip of pavement with that line running through it.

    At one point I realized that you can follow directly along the river but it’s a fine gravel path.  Time was on my side in this case so I figured I would enjoy the view better.  I wasn’t disappointed.  The view of the Ottawa River is truly amazing.  I had never run along side it from the East end.  From the West end, there isn’t much forest around the path.  The East end, there are trees hugging you as you zoom down the path and see kids fishing, people jogging and sailboats having fun on the water.

    Around Blair Road I was thinking of hopping off the beaten trail and head back up to the paved portion which follows the Rockcliffe Parkway.  But then I noticed that they had a sign for Parliament saying it’s another 10kms.  With Pierre Trudeau’s memoirs on my back (as well as some wind) I realized that this should be my ultimate destination, and so I went.

    There is a moment that long distance athletes whisper about…that moment where marathon runners transition from the thought of collapsing and the thought of going all day long.  I hit this point and kept trucking.  I was inspired by the view and the goal of reaching Parliament in a good time….maybe even a good enough time to make my dream of biking to work a reality.

    I almost drove into the bush at one point as the path abruptly ends near the sailing club.  It hooks back up to the Parkway and after that it’s a bunch of winding roads and hills in Rockcliffe.  I will have to decide whether I want to cut some time off the trip in the future and avoid these winding paths.

    I marked the time as 60 minutes into the trip as soon as I hit Mike’s place of work…the Foreign Affairs building.  Success!  I never imagined that it would only take me 60 minutes to reach the downtown core!  It took another ten minutes to reach Parliament and that was due to traffic lights and trying to figure out a good method of reaching them.

    Victory was mine and I revelled in the amazing weather and the sight of the Parliament buildings.  I take it for granted that I work in the capital of Canada and I took it all in while cracking open the book to read for half an hour before I should leave to get to Vero’s.  I ended up biking another 30 minutes to get back to Vero’s place (it’s hard to get out of the downtown core on a bicycle…lot of traffic lights) and then realized I never packed my keys so I couldn’t get into her place.  Luckily they showed up ten minutes later and I told them of my adventures and they were impressed.  Heck, I was impressed.

    I’ve learned from this experience that I’m definitely in better shape than I was years ago while biking from Bayshore (or, on another thought, perhaps the bike from Bayshore is all uphill!) and that my speed has definitely increased.  The bike ride to Parliament is around 29 kms (whereas to my work is another few kms) so I made the bike trip in 70 minutes and I figure I could chop five minutes off of that for the time it took me to find the right route in Orleans and a mixup I did around Sussex Drive.  So on a good day, if I can do it in 65 minutes + 5 more to get to work, I am satisfied with that amount of time to get to work in the morning.  I also think that if I followed the path along the Rockcliffe Parkway and not the actual river, it may actually be a little straighter and I would gain time that way.  I suppose I’ll have to try both routes.

    I’m quite excited that I managed to make this trek and not encounter any problems and that it took me a lot less time than I thought it would.  Who knows if there were superious conditions aiding me…the quest for adventure, the wind at my back and my body in top shape (remember the other day when I was speaking about how sluggish I was biking to Cumberland and it took me 50 minutes to make a round trip?  Well I did it again with some strength in me and it only took 25 minutes!).  I will have to see how the morning slumber affects me on such a trip and I will have to get everything in order to make it more efficient (pack my clothes and lunch in my bag, prepare for all eventualities).

    I know it’s the end of the summer but I’m preparing to start biking in until it snows!  We’ll see how it works out though…maybe yesterday was a fluke and in the end, it will end up being too long of a trek.  But unless I try, I will never find out.

    This inspriring story was written by me.  Go forth and do something adventurous today, even if it is beating Super Mario Bros. under an hour.

  • Coincidence of Blackouts in Gaspe

    blackout_hoax_big.jpgThere are higher powers at work in the world…

    I have been reading Nanny’s Memories of Upper Wakeham and there was a story about how families in the Gaspe lived through ‘blackout periods’ which were at night during WWII and houses were asked to only leave one lamp on inside the house so enemies couldn’t see their houses.

    I was recounting this tale to Philipp and Mike at breakfast on Sunday morning indicating what a different world it was back then.

    Monday morning arrives and I stumble upon Pierre Trudeau’s Memoirs which I purchased a few years ago but never read.  I already have another book on the go at the moment but for some reason this book called out to me and I decided to read a few chapters.

    Lo and behold, on the bus this morning, I stumble upon a passage in the book which outlines how Mr. Trudeau was traveling along the Gaspe area as a student during the WWII blackout periods and how neighbours called the cops on them as they were camping in a field (thinking that they may be enemy forces).

    What are the odds that I pick up a random book off my shelf, start reading it, and find the same event referenced?  There are higher powers at work here.

    This post is dedicated to the five year anniversary of Blackout ’03.

  • The Madness Continues…Deep-Frying a Turkey

    As soon as Mike and I returned from Montreal, we headed over to Rob and Janice’s place where there was a BBQ happening.  Mike had all the necessary tools for the deep frying of a turkey so we had to make sure it was in working order before everyone showed up.

    I managed to chat with Matt a little before leaving for Rob’s.  Matt is staying over for a few weeks as he is in between moves into a new house in Westboro.  Pretty exciting times for him but I’m sure he’s not too impressed with the need to throw all his stuff into a storage locker for a few weeks and then move it all back into his new house.  At least I wouldn’t be!

    Armed with my trusty new hat and bathing suit, we headed to Rob’s, helped set up the deep fryer and started things up right.  I had to go pick up Duncan at Place D’Orleans and when I returned I got to take a dip in the pool (which was sneakily suggested by Janice considering there were a few kids who wanted to get into the pool).  Unfortunately for the little guy that I brought into the pool, I think the pool was a little too cold for him as I brought him into the water and he froze solid and started shaking.  I realized that this was a dumb move on my part; to bring him into the water so fast.  If *I* have to take five minutes to get into the pool, any other human being will need to take five minutes to get into the cold pool!  I felt bad for him but he went on his way and I floated in the pool while chatting with Jeff for an hour.

    Joe ended up showing up to the party which was a great surprise as I didn’t know if he would show up from Brockville.  He also had some excellent Heineken in tow that he needed help getting rid of.  We both headed down to Place D’Orleans again to pick up Carrie and we stopped by the Mazda dealership to check out the new colours on the Mazda5’s, as Joe is looking to purchase one considering the man now owns THREE dogs.  Good Lord!

    Upon return, we cooked up some corn and started the deep fryer up.  It takes awhile to get oil up to around 325 degrees and we were behind schedule.  Some obligatory pictures were taken with the turkey before dunking it into the oil.  Unfortunately, 35 minutes wasn’t enough for the turkey and we had to turn the fryer back on and dunk it in for another 15 minutes.  Too bad we only found this out AFTER cutting into the turkey.  Ah well.

    The place was a preverbial daycare inside as there were tons of kids running around.  I personally thought it was great to see Eric and Annie bring Philippe over as I don’t really know how many kids he hangs around with so I thought it was nice to see him roaming around the area.  I also made a comment of how you never know if Jenna and Philippe will end up together in the future and Rob declared that he is not allowing his daughter out of the house until she is 25.

    In the end, the turkey dinner was a success (although Rob was disappointed that he burnt all the potatoes!) and it was a good feast.  As people eventually left the party, we cleaned up the place and played some video games with Ryley for awhile and then finally headed home.  A great BBQ had by all.

  • Montreal Road Trip

    The summer is waning and so the itch to hit up Montreal took over my better senses.  I’m glad we went anyhow.

    Mike and I hit the road after work to surprise Philipp at a housewarming party of his.  Knowing Philipp is of the easy natured folk in this world (a club that I also belong to), I knew that if we showed up with a sleeping bag and some beer, there would be no problems in staying for the night.

    Armed with road trippin’ tunes and a tank of Ontario gas (only 10 cents/litre cheaper than Quebec!), we hit the road and zoomed to Montreal hearkening back to the days of Dad tearing a strip down the highway with more air under his tires than actual road.

    A pitstop at the local grocery store got us some great Quebec beer and then we ended up at the Bell Center where I needed to offload Vero’s Celine Dion ticket.  This was the first of eight shows Celine Dion was having in Montreal and we have had no luck in selling the ticket to anyone.  This is quite unfortunate as Vero spent quite a bit of money on this ticket as a gift to her step-mother, only to have another date open on the tour so she decided to buy two tickets to the show so that her Dad could go as well.  Hence, she was stuck with a ticket to a concert she didn’t really want to go to.

    I hit up the first scalper I could find and he blew me off when I asked if he wanted to buy my ticket.  I wanted to know why and it turns out that all the scalpers have excellent tickets (front row, etc.) but they couldn’t get rid of them.  He said the first show of eight is always the worst to try and sell tickets and the fact that there are eight shows means that a lot of people already have legitimate tickets.  He suggested that I ask the guys in front of the stadium but he didn’t think I would fare well.  I thanked him and went on my way to the next scalper.

    On the way I was tying my shoe and this leery guy comes right up into my face without saying a word and then gives me a punch on the arm and says “Allo boss.”  Man, that freaked me out.  I just said hello and went on my way.

    Unfortunately, a couple more scalpers confirmed the worst…there was no way they were buying my ticket.  With the knowledge that even a scalper couldn’t sell their own tickets, I realized that I probably couldn’t sell my own so I went to Plan B which Vero laid out and said “Maybe even give it to someone in the streets when you arrive to Montreal if we can’t sell it at this point. Might as well make someone happy if we’re not gonna sell it.”.
    I didn’t really know how to approach this.  I didn’t want to just hold a ticket in the air and say “Free ticket to tonight’s show!”.  So I started walking back to the car and I heard a few women walking away from the stadium sounding disappointed about something so I asked them if they would be interested in a free ticket to tonight’s show.  Turns out that they had two tickets to the show but it was for the next night but they thought it was Friday night!  They thanked me for the offer but declined and with that I realized that the adventure was hopeless and I stuffed the ticket into my pocket and met up with Mike and we headed to Philipp’s.  I even offered up the free ticket to everyone at the party but oddly enough, there were no Celine Dion fans amongst us…
    We found Philipp’s new pad easily (as it is right off the highway…highly convenient for me!) and we climbed the stairs with our cases of beer in tow.  Unfortunately for me, as I bent over to pick something up I heard a ‘rippppp’ and realized that my jeans had split down my ass!  That has never happened to me and I was shocked considering I had purchased these jeans a few months ago on our outlet mall trip!  Come on!  Mike had a good chuckle as my ass was hanging out of these jeans.
    We entered Philipp and Gregoire’s place and surprised the hell out of them and I went to get a new pair of shorts to wear for the night.  Philipp was excited to see we made the trek up and commented on how strange it was that I had not replied to his invitation.
    A good sized crew showed up during the night and I met a lot of new people, including fellow Germans; Marc, Thorbun (sp?) and some other guy I can’t remember the name of.  They taught me some new German words and now I have to remember that when I clink a beer together with someone, I should say “Bier und frauen unten”.  Don’t even ask me what it means because I kind of missed the translation and the story behind what it *should* mean.
    They had even invited all their neighbours so we got to meet a few of them.  One neighbour clued us into the fact that we can easily go up on the roof so we went up there a few times during the night.  Unfortunately at the end of the night, Philipp wasn’t thinking straight and proceeded to drop a beer bottle down one of the black pipes sticking out of the roof.  Lord only knows where that pipe leads to and Chris and I were shocked that he did that.  Only time will tell if we can ever find out where it leads to.
    Philipp had also made up this amazing ‘mudpunch’ which consisted of ice cream, fruit and various alcohols.  It was quite tasty and in twenty minutes the entire bowl was gone.
    Not much else to say about the event other than it was a hat themed party and I especially liked how Mike borrowed my Oktoberfest hat for the event and I had my nifty new hat from Gaspe.  Everyone had a grand old time…I had a nap for awhile but awoke in time to see some new neighbours invite us over to their apartment and then Chris, Philipp and I retired to the roof for one last drink around 4:30AM.  Philipp also took this time to blow up my air mattress which was much appreciated!
    The next morning I awoke around 10AM to move my car down the street.  I wasn’t feeling too hot so I was glad to see my sleeping bag on the floor when I got back to the apartment.  It was a late night for all of us and we awoke a few hours later and cleaned up the house before heading over to Chris’s so we could get a smoked meat sandwich.
    We ended up at Nickels diner which was alright but not amazing in the smoked meat department.  It did not matter as we were all starving by 3PM.  After Nickels, we piled into Chris’s car to go to the brew shop to get some ingredients for brewing our own beer.  Chris actually works in this field (studies of yeast on brewing…that sort of thing) and Philipp and him had been delving into the creation of their own beer for the past year.  I managed to have a nap in the car along the ride and we made it to the store at 5PM but the store-owner was gracious enough to open the store up again and let us buy the necessary yeast and malt to make porter.
    When we got back to Chris’s place we tried out one of their home-made beers and it was quite tasty and throughout the night I commented on how most of them were better than any other store-bought beers!  We then went through the process of preparing the new batch of beer which is to mix some malt in with some boiling water and then over the next few hours, add various hops (which give a beer it’s aroma/bitterness) while stirring it for the next two hours.  We all took turns at the stirring duty and I marvelled at this concoction that we were creating.  In the end, water is added and then poured into a bucket and yeast will eventually be added and allowed to ferment.  I am interested to see how the entire process works and hopefully will see the final product one day.  May I point out that the porter they were making was called “Port-o-Palmer” porter?  Excellent!
    We hung out and had some good laughs during the night but I think everyone was tired from the night before (at least I was!) and we headed back to the house at a reasonable hour, went to bed and hit the road around 10AM after a great breakfast by Philipp.
    Thanks to Philipp and Gregoire for the excellent housewarming party!

  • Memories of Upper Wakeham

    I’m currently reading ‘Memories of Upper Wakeham’, a book of short stories written by my grandmother.  It is quite interesting to peer into the lives of a forgotten age (or an age not even experienced in my case).  Here is a neat section about ‘entertainment’.  I’m assuming Nanny is fine with me taking a snippet out of her book and publishing it here:

    “Box socials were a good way to taste your favourite girl’s cooking, the money going for a favourite charity.  Girls would pack a box of goodies, wrapped nicely, the boxes then were auctioned off to the highest bidder.  The men who bid highest would sit and eat with the girls who packed the lunches.  In order that a girl would not be stuck with a boy she did not like she would give a clue to her beau as to which box was hers.  Lots of fun was had and these boxes were always filled with a very good lunch.  There was usually a dance after the bidding.  These events went out of style before the Second World War and I only remember one which did not go over very well.”

    Fascinating stuff!  I find it amazing how the concept of meeting a significant other was such a different one that it is today.  Anyhow, this book is available to borrow from me if you so choose, but I have heard that she is planning to make a second printing around Christmas-time.  I am really enjoying the read and Nanny is quite the interesting writer.

  • Wedsites

    In the past two days I’ve received two websites to visit that are ‘wedding websites’ or as Sam mentioned on her site, it’s a weDsite.  Cute.

    I personally love this concept to keep everyone up to date on information about the upcoming wedding, or to shed a little light onto the inner workings of their relationship (because really here folks…not everyone is an intimate friend of the bride and groom.  Heck, I didn’t even know how Sam and Marc-Andre met, but now I know.), or to share photos.

    It’s the wave of the future, and I encourage it.  In fact, I believe some of you have already heard my thoughts on how Evite is the ultimate RSVP for a wedding.  😉  At least for people with a computer and an Internet connection.

    What’s next?  Facebook groups?  Chain letters spanning the globe with good wishes for the happy couples?  Only time will tell.

    Hey, I just noticed that the two sites (Sam and MAD + Holly and Alex) have the same layout virtually….quizzes, polls, stuff.  Interesting.  There must be some automated wedding website planner out there.  That’s a cool service.  Dang.  Beat me to it.

  • Happy Birthday Mom!



    34, originally uploaded by palm0014.

    Today is my mother’s birthday. I’m sure she is having a grand old time now that she is enjoying her summer down in Gaspe. I phoned her this morning and the update is that they still have not found the mouse in the house and that it is very quiet at the cottage now that all the family has headed back home. I hope Dad remembered to get her a cake for tonight! Or bring her to Snowman’s for dinner.

    Leave some grand comments to Mom on her birthday! Or give her a call.

  • Bikeride to Cumberland

    It’s amazing how the body works and sometimes doesn’t work.  Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day after work and I decided to get on the bike and ride to Cumberland which is (surprisingly) 8.4 kilometers from my house according to Google Maps.  That’s interesting…I thought it was only 5 kilometers away.  Well then I guess that means I biked 16.8 kilometers yesterday which is fine by me.  It was a beautiful day to hit the road and I didn’t know how the Old Montreal Road would be with traffic but it wasn’t too bad at all.

    However, the problem was that my body had no energy in it.  It was very strange.  I was never feeling tired, but I realized that I had no power in my legs to push to the limit.  I really couldn’t figure out why it was so hard to pedal my way to Cumberland.  In the end I realized that I had only had a salad at lunch and there was no snack in the afternoon, plus I had not drank any liquids since lunch either.  It’s amazing how the body can lose so much power.  You don’t even realize it with the regular happenings in a day (mainly sitting at a desk) and it isn’t until you get out into some hardcore biking that you realize the power really isn’t there.  I will have to keep this in mind for the next trip (which is hopefully tonight!).

    I do love Cumberland village.  It’s an amazing little spot and I’ve often talked to Vero about moving there one day.  We’ve talked about eventually moving in together and buying another house (no firm plans on that one for any inquiring minds) and have always wondered where we should move to.  I would like to think that the next house will be the last house that is purchased for a long time so there are a lot of things to think about:

    • Travel Distance to Work: Currently Vero works over in South Nepean so Cumberland is definitely a far trip.  But what if we moved to Aylmer?  Aylmer is a nice spot I’ve always enjoyed and it’s definitely closer to downtown as well as Nepean.
    • Privacy: I’ve realized that I don’t care too much for neighbours squished right next to me in the back yard.  I like my privacy.  I like to be able to just sit outside and not have to wonder if the neighbours will come out to chat.  That being said, where can someone get privacy?  It’s definitely attainable, but at what price?  For example, I have always thought of moving to Blackburn Hamlet but the houses there are quite expensive.  Think $400K+.  But there still is privacy in the backyards.  I’m specifically thinking of Lynn’s place in this example.
    • Lot Size: The further you move out of the city, the cheaper you pay for a lot.  Hence, the larger lot size you can acquire.  How much land does a person need?  I look at my own house back home and the backyard wasn’t the largest and it did fine.  But I also had the woods in behind the house to play in, or fields to run around in.
    • Kid-Friendly: The aspect of thinking of having a house for the next twenty years is a daunting one as you have to think about what you envision your life to be.  I would assume that I’ll one day have kids so you have to wonder if it would be a pain to raise them outside the city in Cumberland where there’s not much going on.  It would be the equivalent of growing up in Moonbeam.  I would constantly be driving the kids some place.  Is that what I want life to become?  Tough call.  Maybe I can teach them how to bike 8.4 kilometres into town.  😉
    • Quebec vs. Ontario Living: There are ups and downs for both sides of the border and no one is a clear winner.  I’ve heard stories about bad health care on Quebec side, but great daycare subsidies.  I’ve heard of people moving there for the cheaper real estate, but higher property taxes.
    • Proximity to Friends: I enjoy living in Orleans for the few friends that I have living here.  The friends are spread out around the Ottawa area.  So it’s nice to think of a key group of friends being in the same area as I grow older.  If the decision was to move to Aylmer, I don’t think there’s many people living out there.  But at the same time, how much do I see my friends anyhow?

    So much to think about and in my case, I don’t think there is a clear winner.  I don’t know what I would rather have…convenience of being closer to work/the city, or the allure of a larger piece of land and privacy.  It’s a tough call to map out the next few decades of your life.

  • Change of Scenery

    What do you think about the website layout?  I must admit that I get irked when I post a photo from Flickr and it’s larger than the side bars…and I’ve noticed that there’s a heck of lot of things on the sidebars that I don’t tend to use, and chances are, you do not use them either.

    So…thoughts?  Should I look for something a little different?

  • Review: The Dark Knight (IMAX)

    the_dark_knight_poster.jpg*Scurvy Dogs beware…spoilers off the port bow!

    After a month of waiting, I finally got to see The Dark Knight last night.  I had wanted to see it in the IMAX and seeing that there is only one IMAX screen in town, I did not feel like waiting in the two hour + lineup to see a 2 1/2 hour film.  Luckily, yesterday the timing was right and we were third in line to see the film and we were only an hour before it started.  Unfortunately for me, I sat down on the carpet and I didn’t even notice some liquid that was there and it proceeded to get absorbed by my underwear.  Trish, Vero and Mike had a good laugh.

    Comments on the film: Oh Batman, how you have changed since the 60s TV show.  The Dark Knight takes what it did well in Batman Begins and runs with it…I enjoy Christopher Nolan’s portrayal of the Gotham universe because I feel it’s one of the more…realistic takes on superheroes.  While I can’t imagine ever seeing a man like Doctor Octopus or Magneto running through our streets, I can imagine villains like the Joker and Two-Face skulking about.

    That’s what I love about these films…they have a gritty, real edge to them.  I also love how the film is moved more by character development than other films…it reminds me of a good 70s film where there’s more time focussed on the characters than on action sequences.  My favourite part was the focus on Harvey Dent who we all should know (from comic book lore) becomes Two-Face, the man who leaves everything to chance.  He has always been an interesting villain in that he has good in him as well as evil but he doesn’t allow himself to choose between the two.  I really, really enjoyed their portrayal of this tragic figure.  It was a slow buildup of character to see the tragedy which befalls him.  Much more that the cartoony-like Tommy Lee Jones performance in Batman Forever.  Can I also point that the face of Two-Face was amazing and was very true to the comic book verson?  Kudos.

    The plot was all over the place and I enjoyed how I didn’t feel that it dragged on.  While there are a lot of action sequences in the film, I felt the film kept moving along without them.  I also enjoyed a few twists that they put into the film that has the viewer not knowing what’s going to happen next.  Can I also point out that I am disappointed in the french radio station in town for ruining a major plotpoint in the film telling me that Rachel bites the dust.  COME ON.  That would have been a terrific sequence in the film if I didn’t already see where it was heading.

    I found that there really wasn’t a lot of focus on Bruce Wayne/Batman in this one.  It was a Joker/Two-Face film.  Maybe it was on purpose, in that Batman has grown from the dual nature of Bruce Wayne/Batman from the first film into someone who is comfortable with being who he is (although he’s ready to hang up the cape for good for the better of Gotham).

    I enjoyed the portrayal of the Joker in this film and I enjoy how each version we have seen in moving picture is always a different take on the character.  From what I know of the Joker in the comics, the same holds true as he can be a trickster in one comic, and a vile sadistic madman in others (see The Killing Joke) who never lets on to his true origins and we are always left wondering how a madman like this can truly exist.  I really enjoyed how the film dug into these specific points about the Joker and how he is simply anarchy in its purest form who has nothing to lose.  Batman can’t handle this figure as he has limits whereas the Joker has none.  I really enjoyed the final conversation with the two of them as it nailed their relationship on the head; they are always meant to be opposing forces who can never truly destroy one another.  They will always be fighting each other throughout time.  Can I also comment that I loved how the Joker just comes and goes in this film…no real introduction of who this madman is, and no real conclusion of where he ends up either.  Two-Face’s story is a closed book, but the Joker just remains open and ambiguous…which I loved.  He’s just another player in the universe which is probably the most realistic portrayal of how a villain operates.

    I really enjoyed the film but in terms of super-hero films of the year, I thought Iron Man was better.  Heck, that doesn’t mean The Dark Knight sucked…it didn’t.  It’s really carving out a niche for more crime-centric, realistic superhero films.  But Iron Man had more of the grandiose feel to it and the characters were FUN to watch and listen to…I love Christian Bale but Robert Downey Jr. was awesome in his role as Tony Stark.

    My only beef with the Christian Bale Batman?  That dang voice.  I cringe everytime he uses it because it’s so lame.  There’s sometimes where I can’t even understand the guy!  Imagine that happening in real life?

    Batman: You’re coming with me to jail.
    Joker: What?  I couldn’t catch that?  Repeat again?

    Go see the film!  You won’t be disappointed.

    Fave Part of the Film: Seeing the Joker on a truck that says “Laughter is the Best Medicine” and he added an ‘s’ to the front of it to write “Slaughter is the Best Medicine.”  Awesome.

    Comments on seeing the film in IMAX: The main reason I wished to see the film in IMAX is that there were specific sequences filmed with IMAX cameras and this was a first in cinematic history (first being that there was actual IMAX cameras used in a big budget film).  I had never seen a feature film on IMAX hence I figured this would be a good time to do so.  Someone told me (I believe it was Alex) that he didn’t really see the big difference and was disappointed when he once saw a film on the IMAX.

    I must admit that I agree with him.  While I did appreciate the larger screen, your eyes cannot judge unless it’s in comparison mode.  I would need to see the two screens side to side to realize the immense difference.  It’s like when you have a 32″ TV screen and a 60″ Plasma screen.  You don’t really notice anything wrong with your viewing experience while you’re watching the film.  But if you were to see the two side-by-side you could tell who the victor is.

    That being said, I don’t think I will pay big money to see a film in IMAX again in the near future.  I did appreciate that the shots filmed by IMAX were vast in its scope…the sweeping shot of Hong Kong or the grand shots of the Gotham General Hospital blowing up…it was immense!  I need to go back into other films to see if they capture the same area in the picture like The Dark Knight did.  But either way, if I saw the film on the (small) big screen, the same shots would have been there.  So yes, I appreciate that they used IMAX cameras to film those sequences so we could see the vast landscapes, but in the end, it didn’t make that much of a difference to me and I could have easily seen it in the (small) big screen theatres three weeks ago.