The Dark Knight: The Best Batman, So Far *No Spoilers*

Now, you had to be expecting this. From the moment the teaser trailer ended on the big screen some several months (or, was it a year ago?) before the release of the trailer, The Dark Knight grabbed the attention of many, if not all movie-goers. The Joker's laugh at the end of the teaser brought a gasp of incredible anticipation--and, then the Joker trailer was released: Sold. If you haven't heard any quasi-regular movie-goer say anything similar to "That shit looks crazy" regarding The Dark Knight, then I've gotta say you've got some pretty vanilla homies.

Sitting in an incredibly packed 12:01 am show at Hilltop in Richmond next to my awesome girlfriend (Previous quote requested =D), I was certain that the movie experience was going to be tainted by some group of rowdy ruffians eager to yell out remarks in an attempt to get a rise out of the crowd--after all, all three midnight show times were packed, and rowdiness is an expectation at such a highly anticipated showing in this Century: Even with the movie being two and a half hours, the crowd remained surprisingly quiet--I assume the well-timed suspense kept the rowdy audience members focused on the movie as opposed to their impulsive remarking.

Moments after the movie began, the theater became supremely silent as the movie snatches your attention like a hot pink tie at a black and white formal. The beginning of The Dark Knight sucks you in immediately. It begins with an action scene that integrates a scheme that puts the audience into problem-solving mode. The maze leads to an explosive transition leaving the viewer with a feeling analogous to a micro-orgasm. And, from that point on--you're in it. The film sucks you into a vacuum that is Gotham City where you're reintroduced to old faces, and get acquainted with new ones: character development is steady, and in depth. The film continues with the dark, and serious heritage of Batman Begins that had audiences applauding Christopher Nolan's more realistic interpretation of the Dark Knight.

The structure and pace of the film is perfectly entertaining: light viewing, here, into some intense dialogue, there, a heavy idea, here, and a joke to break the tension, there. And, the film does a great job at living up to the title of the film (answering the question why Batman is the Dark Knight). With so many dimensions continuously being dynamic in the film, it's difficult for me to really elaborate the quality construction of the film. But, I can say The Dark Knight entertains you on several different levels, and weaves through the levels in a coherent, and balanced manner. Essentially: You definitely won't want to get out of your seat to take a piss--so, lighten your fluid intake.

The actors play their roles superbly. Christian Bale continues to carry the torch as Batman of the 21st century. Aaron Eckhart plays the perfect Harvey Dent. All the actors fit their roles to create a unique, and attractive chemistry.

But, Heath Ledger stole the show.

As anticipated, Heath Ledger creates a masterpiece Joker, with so much depth and dimension that a part of you entertains, and fears the plausibility of The Joker's plausible existence. Ledger makes you love The Joker in a unique, and uncomfortable way. Ledger's depiction of The Joker carries an endearing quality in The Joker's twisted psychology, you can't wait to see what this crazy guy has whipped up. Ledger's performance was so superb that I'm just going to resort to a Lil Mama phrase, and say this: Heath Ledger "kilt it".

The Dark Knight: 152 minutes of the DC Universe come to life.

Things To Remember When Going Clubbing In Vegas

After taking a trip out to Sin City for five days and four nights in June, I thought I'd put out a little list of things for a group of guys, or mixed group of guys and girls to remember when planning a trip filled with nightclubs. I also thought, it would be a nice to know what kind of atmosphere to expect in a Vegas Nightclub, so I wanted to briefly, and casually speak about four of the more popular clubs that I went to on my last Vegas trip.

First thing's first: If you are going to Vegas with a majority of guys (actually, this advice could go for girls, too), the best thing to do is pick up VIP passes for the nightclubs you want to go to at the front desks of the hotels they reside in. For example, if you wanted to go to Pure, go to Caesar's Palace during the day and see if you could get some. Many clubs in Vegas offer free cover since they make the most money off of drinks.

Also, if you don't have any girls to get in the guestlist line with, expect to wait in the general admission line for an hour (after the club opens its doors), AT LEAST. Vegas nightlife is always crackin', but the downside to getting into a club a little later is that you won't get in until after midnight when the dance floor is ridiculously full of drunk people who got there before you did. Of course, a packed dance floor is expected--but, to those who have been to the Levende Lounge in SF, a couple more people in your grill is the difference between crackin' and uncomfortably crowded. So, get bottle service if you can afford it. Otherwise, claim your dance space early (or, drink so that being in the midst of hot sweatiness doesn't bother you).

General rules of thumb for maximizing your nightclub experience:
1. Get your VIP Passes for free admission
2. Go with a group of girls to expedite the line-waiting process
3. Make friends with someone who will hook you up with bottle service, or get used to people stepping on your kicks.
4. If you have a lot of money, then you'll be alright.

Here is are the clubs I went to Thursday through Sunday nights, on my trip to Vegas last month. The schedule went:

Thursday: Tao @ The Venetian
Friday: Jet @ The Mirage
Saturday: Pure @ Caesar's Palace
Sunday: Poetry @ Caesar's Palace

The following is a rough journaling of the atmospheres (minus the interior designing since you can find that on the clubs' websites) I encountered this past June:

@ Tao: The club is most spacious from 10pm-11pm. On a Thursday night, it fills up quick, and on our particular night the DJ was playing the lady R&B jams during this spacious period which made the environment very, very chill. At about 11:30pm to 12:30am is when the place really begins to hit capacity. At that point, it's difficult to dance in the main room, here, because you're constantly avoiding sharp heels, or if you're drunk you're just ignoring them stabbing your feet. The music is Hip-Hop/Top 40 (AKA OK hype for a dancer more geared towards Hip-Hop) between 11:30pm and 1:30pm, and then the DJ starts to drift off into techno and dance towards 3am as the crowd thins out. There is a secondary dancing room that is a bit darker than the mainroom that does not get as crowded as the main room, but would be a good place to escape to for a bit. The crowd is pretty mixed: The bulk of the crowd is probably 21 to late twenties, with a good deal of middle-aged men and women partying like they're still in college. One interesting trait Tao has is that there are a LOT of tables set up for bottle service that make the club seem more spacious than it is for those who don't get bottle service. The side effect is this: Enjoy yourself on the dance floor, or find yourself endlessly nudging along with a stream of pedestrians through the crowd. There is no place to be a wall flower here for more than 5-10 seconds, and the bouncers make sure of that. While this can lead to the temptation to try to KO a bouncer, Tao is definitely a good call on a Thursday night.

@ Jet: Similar experience to Tao crowd-filling and initial impressions-wise, except the DJ opted out of the lady R&B jams and went straight to the Hip-Hop/Top 40 early on. There's a little more room to get around here--part of me thinks it's because there aren't as many tables for bottle service in the main dance room as in Tao. The bouncers aren't as adamant about you moving along with the flow of a stream of pedestrians. And, the crowd in the main dancing room has a younger average than at Tao. Again, the crowd is mixed, but more of the middle-aged people stayed in a smaller second room that was knocking 80s hits. Cannot go wrong with Jet on Friday/Saturday.

@ Pure: Similar crowd experience to Tao & Jet, except that the geography of the main room makes it extremely difficult to dance comfortably. This is one club that I would strongly suggest bottle service for. While you can get by without bottle service at Tao, or Jet, I found myself in a more obvious constant envy of those people who had tables for bottle service since Pure allocates so much room for bottle service. The crowd shared an aesthetic diversity comparable to Tao and Jet, however definitely felt a bit "richer"--I'll leave this up to interpretation.

@ Poetry: This place is known as the "Brother Club". It is the only place that plays solely Hip-Hop in Vegas, and thus was the place that the group that I went with enjoyed the most since we enjoy dancing to this type of music. On a Sunday night, the place fills up a little slowly, but picks up to a comfortable fill--much more comfortably spaced than the three aforementioned nightclubs, but this does not negatively effect your dancing experience. Like to get hyphy? Get crunk? Or, dance with swag? Then Poetry is the place you wanna hit up. A blunt note: Yes, it's primarily black people--but, if you're down with the brothas, then you gonna be al-RIGHT. Seriously, all good vibes, here.

Hopefully, this gives you a little more of an idea than you might have had about the said nightclubs. I just wanted to shed some light on some intricacies in order to give people a better idea about what they may be getting into.

Review of 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid II (HCHII) after about 2 1/2 months

So, as some may know, I decided to cop out of the pocket rocket scene, sell my Scooby, and make the transition towards a more efficient lifestyle (as you grow, your values change) by picking up a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid.

After two and half months and about 4,000 miles driving the HCHII, I have filled up my tank about 10 times, if not less (since I have gotten a 500+ mile tank, once or twice =D), and I have had no complaints: The drive is comfortable and smooth, the car is well-made and predictably reliable, so far. And the power, though light years short of my Subaru's, is adequate and accessible (i.e. I have driven to Stinson Beach and back with a full trunk, and car load of people with no stress, and no problems).

Despite the car's quality build, I did find that the headlights cut off a little shorter than are comfortable for my eyes (and, my Dad felt the same about his Hybrid). So, I installed some amazon.com-purchased aftermarket HID kits on my (4300K), and my Dad's (5100K) HCHII's following these instructions. I have had no issues besides slightly asymmetric wall patterns (because the stock headlight housings are designed for Halogen bulbs, thus the Xenon bulbs I installed emit light that bounces off the reflectors differently).

In the end (as far as we've had them), the cars have become a relief and are a great comfort. While I am losing out on more agile handling, quicker acceleration, and a louder car audibly and visually, I consider my HCHII an upgrade from my 2004 WRX in comfort, reliability, safety, security and practicality--I will be keeping this car until it falls to pieces (and I believe it will relieve any future sports car I might have of daily driving wear and tear =D).

Where the f*ck you been? (Prelude to the following posts)

So, Proscrastin Nation has been stagnant for about a month and a half, or so. I hopped on the breeze of summertime, and the zephyr that has taken me to Vegas, around the Bay, and is taking me to the East Coast at the end of this month has dragged my attention away from the blog. So, after a night of binging to farewell Corporal V.D. AKA Robinson...


...I decided I'd make the most of my quasi-hangover and take the time to reminisce over some of the summer's highlights, AND share a couple reviews, as well. With that said, I will efficiently re-cap the last month-ish, or so. So, check out the following posts, and take care of yourself Rob: We're all looking forward to your safe return.