Awesome

Well, it's Friday. Usually I would post an epic list of trivia about some jerk-ass movie that only Mumford likes (like, honestly Mumford, Dark Knight!?!? What a piece of trash). But today, in honor of my work at this office coming to a ceremonial end, I'd like to send out a tribute to desk jockeys (and NFL offensive linebackers) everywhere.

Just remember folks, sometimes it's about intimidation.

Grimes Getting Hurt!

First off before i start my own post today, i'd like to add a little editor's note. We had a comment on one of the guest blogs yesterday that i'd just like to address. The person in question, who was anonymous, was none too pleased with the blog written by guestblogger AK. Now i understand for sure the content of said blog may not have been your cup of tea.....well it may not have been alot of people's cups of tea actually. Your comment was valid, no doubt about that. However for me personally, and i refuse to speak for my partner in crime "Alexander Kitz Canadian Pale Male", the whole point of this blog is to avoid censorship. It's for the two of us, aswell as anyone else who feels the inkling to express themselves, to be able to write about any and everything that we want. For the most part we keep it tastefu....well.....not really tasteful i guess....but at least we try not to piss people off, because the people who read this for the most part are friends of ours. I have known AK for a while. He's a good guy and he expressed an interest in adding something to the blog, I wanted to hear what he had to say, and i'm glad he did post, and if he wants to post again then he should feel free. That's the beauty of freedom of speech, and to the person who commented on his post, i'm glad you did comment and i appreciate your point, if you'd like the chance to add to this in a guestblog of your own, you need only ask, grimes17@hotmail.com is my email address.

Ok so now that we've tackled that subject, let's get to the stupid stuff! I decided today that you all deserve to hear about times i've hurt myself. Cause let's face it Wednesday is a pretty average day so why don't we all cheer up and gear up for the weekend with some pleasurable anecdotes about me in extreme pain.

The Fall: Hoo hoo hoo baby! What a doozy this one was. Ok i can't exactly remember how old i was, but if i had to guess i'd say around 12 years old. I had developed a mighty friendship through hockey with another young lad by the name of Rob Raham. Rob was a little on the hyper side but overall a fun kid. And even better he had a cottage on Lake Rosso in Muskoka. So he invited me up there one weekend with his fam and i gratefully accepted. The weather didn't cooperate too well however and we were stuck cooped up inside most of the weekend playing cards. We got a little sunshine one day and it was too cool to go swimming, so we took a walk down to the public tennis courts, but to our dismay, when we arrived, both were in use. However being kids and having the attention spans of a piece of toast, we couldn't just wait, so we decided to climb the tig ol' bree (big old tree) with the picnic bench underneath. This tree was pretty much perfect, tons of big thick branches everywhere all close together. So up we go, and eventually we get to the very top which is probably about the height of a two storey house. We're walking along one branch near the top, with our hands shimmying along a branch above. We notice that the tree ends in a stump at the top....not a good sign...the tree is dead....these branches can't be too strong.....CRACK! We didnt' fall right away, just heard a loud crack, enough time to look at each other in complete and utter dismay. SNAP! There we go, the branch beneath us breaks. We both managed to hold the branch above our heads for about a second or two......and then off we go! It was quite a long ride to the bottom....but we were lucky there were so many branches to go through cause they for sure slowed us down. We finally fall out the bottom, Rob somehow lands on his feet while i land with my tailbone on a root. Felt good. Haha i still remember Rob's sister yelling over to us, "ROB! Be careful!" And then going back to her tennis match. I wanted to yell back, "BITCH WHAT THE FUCK! I JUST FELL OUT OF A FUCKIN TREE! LITTLE HELP?" But i was 12....you just don't do that. So yeah i definitely got the worst of it, my right forearm, on the hairless part, i pretty much had lost a good amount of skin from the elbow to the wrist. And then i had assorted cuts and bruises over my other limbs. I felt bad for poor Rob's mom cause she had to deliver me back to my parents with bandages all over the place, but it was cool cause my parents don't really like me anyways so they were fine with it.

The Boot: Rugby. What a sport. I played five years in high school and my first year of University before my ankles took over and told me that I in fact was a 90 year old man and couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't too shabby either. Little self promotion there. Anyways so one wonderful game in O.A.C., we were playing an away game against a team i can't remember, and i'm going to assume we were killing them cause for the most part we usually did. So i was playing scrum half and one of their backs had the ball and was running on an angle towards the sideline. I managed to chase him down, and i could see it all unfolding in my head, miraculous try saving diving tackle, accolades from all my peers, head cheerleader in a whipped cream bikini that night, an assembly in my honor. Nope....not exactly what happened. I did in fact dive and managed to wrap the guy up around the waist, and i started to twist him down. That was when my old pal Derek "Not So Comfort" Mumford decided, "hey....looks like Eric's got this tackle in the bag....but maybe i should crank this guy's upper body as he's falling to make it an even bigger hit.....god i love Marijuana!" So he did. And in the process he gives me a full out boot to the face. I remember the impact striking me directly in the nose. Then i think i blacked out for a couple seconds, only to open my eyes to a whole lot of red liquid spraying out of my face. Yes that's right Derek had been playing the whole game with a pitcher of KOOL-AID in his shorts. Oh no wait that was my blood. So i was attended to by our trainer, and then lead off the field quite woozy, but with no serious injuries other than a lifetime of hatred for Mumford lodged firmly in my heart.

The Skate: I think i would have been about 6 when this next incident took place. My elementary school, Linbrook, had successfully created an outdoor ice rink on the soccer field one winter, and so one night, my Dad, my brother, and myself mosied on over for a little skoot around on the ice. We played myself and Mark against old Pappy. As the night wore on i believe eventually Big Mel called "last goal wins", and being the hell of a father that he is, he probably let us win. Mark scored the game winning goal and he was skating towards me to celebrate. What a moment! "Mark! Dearest older brother! What a goal! We actually defeated the old tyrant and.....WHOOPS!" Mark slipped backwards as i stumbled forwards and Mark's skate blade goes sliding right into my nose. So there i am wailing away as blood flows down my face and i have a gash between my eyes on the bridge of my nose. See my family always makes fun of me for this next part, and it's completley unjustified, apparently i was screaming my head off when my dad took me into get stitches, and he claims it was embarrassing! EMBARRASSING? EXCUSE ME? The fuckin quack that prevented the brains from streaming out of my face didn't even freeze me! He said that there wasn't enough meat where i was cut to properly freeze me, i have a small nose, so sue me. So a 6 year old kid who just took a sharp foot sized knife to the face is screaming as a doctor jams a needle in and out of his face. Jesus Christ Grimes family, like i know we like to laugh and joke around but to insinuate that i'm a little pussy in that moment is just plain.......well true i guess......but either way fuck you.

The SeeSaw: Now i think i've definitely mentioned this one before, but it's what brought this column to mind so i figured i'd pay it a second tribute, cause in truth it was pretty awesome. I saw an old picture of me this weekend, hanging out with all my cousins, and i'm sporting an absolute banger of a black eye in it. A real beaut. I look about 7 or 8 years old in the photo, which means i was probably in fact 9 or 10, seeing as how for most of my school life i looked at least two years younger than i actually was. You should try it sometime, really good for the confidence with the ladies.

"Hey you want to go out sometime?"

"Awww....sorry little man....you're a little cutie.....maybe once you're all grown up!"

"Uhhh.....i'm 16 and i'm in all your classes...."

So anyways how did i get this black eye? Well Mike Denby and I used to hang out a fair amount as youngsters. He had a wicked cool tree house/playground in his backyard, including a seesaw. So a favorite past time of ours was to find launchable items.....and then proceed to launch them. One person loads the item, which was often these awesome big wrestling figures like Ravishing Rick Rude or Coco B-Ware, and when it was go time the other one would slam the one end of the seesaw down and send that wrestler into orbit. Fuck yeah it was awesome. So one time i was finishing loading the item in question, and old Michael Robert, who's never been the cleanest sock in the drawer, decides to launch before i'm ready. Seesaw swings up and BLAMARAM! it's lights out for young Optimus Grime. I'm lying there, probably with my soul halfway out of my body, seeing stars, and young MRD goes screaming past me running to the house, "I KILLED HIM! I KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!" I continue to lie there picturing my new life as a disfigured mongoloid, and Mrs. Denby god bless her comes running out and leads me inside. She slaps a pack of frozen peas on my face and eventually takes me home. Medicine runs in the Denby blood with Big John Denby being a doctor and Mrs. D being a nurse, so she informed me to sleep on my side with my good eye on the pillow to avoid swelling. FUCK THAT! If i go through all that pain i'm at least going to have something to show for it. So i slept with the mangled eye down.....not smart (as i've proven more than a few times already). The next morning it pretty much looked like i'd glued a purple basketball to my face. Eventually however it settled into a pretty kickass black eye and i got laid more than a few times because of it i'm proud to say.

So there you go everyone, i hope you enjoyed me getting hurt. I hope each time you could actually see the incident in your mind and imagine the pain coursing through my body. I hope i've brought a little enjoyment to your Wednesday's you sadistic S.O.B.'s. Til we meet again.

-McGrime the Grime Dawg

Breaking News

Nazi Teddybears Are All The Rage

So if you're like me, you saw Valkyrie (or sent your intern to see it - thanks Mumford!!) and spent the whole time thinking, "yeah, yeah, this is all well and good, but where is the merchandising!?!?"

Well Entertainment Tonight (ET) has the answer!! Their functionally retarded back-up interviewer met with Tom Cruise to talk about the success of the movie and in an attempt to either suck up, or convince him to join her aryan nation, she presented him with a teddybear dressed up in his uniform from the movie.

And if you're thinking, "wait, Tom Cruise played a Nazi in that movie..." You're right.

Now if we can just find the illustrated kids version of Mein Kampf for Access Hollywood to give to him... [Oh No They Didn't!]

The Tittie Pipe

Lost Returns

(ABC, re-cap starts at 8 PM/EST, the 2 Hour Season Premier starts at 9 PM/EST)

Well, it's been a good long time, but Lost is finally starting again tonight, Wednesday January 21st and by the way, it's going to be awesome. The producers have already announced that this will be the second last season, so pretty much, you know they're not just leading you on and jerking you around. This is the beginning of the end. And if you ask me that's a good feeling. Lost has somehow managed to dodge the pitfalls of so many other long-running ensemble series (ER, Law & Order, Two & A Half Men) in that at no point has it slowed down. Even Season 3, widely considered to be the weakest of all the Seasons is still some of the best TV you'll see in a good long time. If you don't believe me, I'm pretty sure that Duggy has the season on DVD and is always happy to lend it out for extended periods of time, ain't that right Duggy?

Now I could go into all the philosophy and science (or FRINGE science!!) of Lost, but I'll let people discover that on their own - just know that EW and Lostpedia are heads above the rest for siiiick theories. In the meantime I'll just post this little re-cap of Seasons 1-4 in honor of the start of Season 5 tonight.

Awesome

Each Friday we drum up some cool trivia and quotes about amazing movies and not-so-amazing movies (read: pilfer the extensive trivia catalogues of IMDb) as a little treat for those thousands of loyal fans who stick it out till Friday afternoon to make sure they've read every. single. one. of our postings. This week: Batman Begins

There are a lot of reasons to write about a movie. It may touch you in ways long thought inappropriate. It may make you laugh, it may make you cry. I'm writing about 2005's Batman Begins because it is Derek Mumford's favorite movie.

Just kidding, I don't give a shit about that straightbacked sumbitch. I'm writing about Batman Begins because it holds the distinct honor of rebooting a long thought to be dead franchise through returning to both the source material and the new graphic novels surrounding the characters. 2005 was a big year for that (Frank Miller's Sin City was also released) but no movie combined a relatively fringe medium with blockbuster as successfully as Batman Begins. Hailed by many (including myself) as one of the best super-hero movies ever, Batman Begins certainly deserves a spot in our coveted "Awesome" column.

BATMAN BEGINS (2005)

- Before Christopher Nolan took over, director Darren Aronofsky was attached to make a Batman movie based on the graphic novel "Batman: Year One" and have the author Frank Miller write the screenplay. By 2003 there was a first draft screenplay with story boards, which are properties of AOL Time Warner. Warner's decision for not producing the film is unknown, but based on the details that have since leaked out, it would probably have to do with the screenplay, which strayed a considerable amount from the source material, making Alfred an African-American mechanic named "Big Al," the Batmobile being a souped-up Lincoln Towncar, and Bruce Wayne being homeless, among other things. This is all detailed in David Hughes' book "Tales from Development Hell."

- The device, on the heel of his boot, that the Batman uses to summon a swarm of bats is taken directly from Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One".

- The wide-shot of the house of the League of Shadows was entirely computer-generated.

- Before Christian Bale was cast as Batman, many other actors were considered for the role, including Ashton Kutcher, David Boreanaz and newcomer Hugh Dancy.

- Only days before the role of Batman was cast, eight actors were also asked to audition for the part. The actors were Christian Bale, Joshua Jackson, Eion Bailey, Hugh Dancy, Billy Crudup, Cillian Murphy, Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal. While Bale won the part, Christopher Nolan liked Murphy's audition so much, he cast him as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow.

- Marilyn Manson was also considered for the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow and during earlier developments of the movie, Ewan McGregor was considered as well.

- Christian Bale lost his voice three times during filming after altering his voice while playing Batman.

- During filming of the scene where Batman is being towed by a train through the streets of Gotham, so much steam was used that it would "rain" on the cast and crew for several minutes after each take.

- The Batmobile, 9 feet wide and 16 feet long, has a top speed of 106 miles per hour and can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6 seconds. The engine is a 5.7 liter V8 Chevy. It runs on unleaded gas and can do about 7 miles per gallon. It has four 44-inch tires at the rear, made by Interco Tire Corp, while the front is covered in jagged plates of armor. It was designed and built by 'Chris Corbould' and Andrew Smith at Shepperton Studios in England. This Batmobile was built from the ground up and is estimated to be worth half a million pounds. It was designed by mashing together several different off-the-shelf model kits; its construction was so exacting to the model that they even duplicated the blobs of excess glue.

- Director Christopher Nolan decided that there would be no second unit, and so for the whole of the one hundred and twenty nine shooting days Nolan oversaw every shot of the film personally.

- The name of the commissioner on the film is "Loeb". However, this is NOT a reference to comic book writer Jeph Loeb, author of the graphic novels "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory", but rather simply the canonical name of the Gotham City police commissioner when Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham. This is shown in Frank Miller's Year One, which actually influenced both "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" and was published nearly a full decade before either of these.

- David S. Goyer said that the graphic novels "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" by Jeph Loeb were a huge influence on his screenplay. When he was asked the question, "What about Frank Miller's "Year One"?", he replied, "Our story is not "Year One"." An early draft of David S. Goyer's script leaked onto the Internet in April 2004.

- During the interviews he performed to promote the movie, Christian Bale continued using the American accent he'd adopted to play Bruce Wayne/Batman. He explained that he didn't want potential moviegoers to be confused about why Batman, an American institution, was being played by a Welshman.

- Christian Bale's trailer didn't have his name on the door but said "Bruce Wayne" instead.

- When the prisoners are all released from Arkham, briefly visible is Mr. Zsaz, a serial killer from the comics with tally marks scarred into his skin, representing each of his victims. Mr. Zsaz also appears in the courtroom in the beginning of the film where he is being transferred to Arkham Asylum by Dr. Crane.

- Contrary to the previous Batman films, in which the Batcave was realized as a combination of a live set and matte paintings (done either by hand or computer), no visual effects were used in this film to show the Batcave. The entire Batcave is instead a massive full-scale set.

- The score track names refer to Latin names of bat species. Also notice that the first letters of tracks 4-9 spell B A T M A N.

- Christian Bale had previously screen tested and was considered for the role of Robin in Batman Forever (1995).

- In the movie, Bruce Wayne is shown arriving at a fancy hotel in a Lamborghini Murciélago. The word "murciélago" is Spanish for bat (although the car itself was named after a prized bull owned by Don Antonio Miura, who had nothing to do with bats).

- Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by at one of the sets during filming.

- The sets were built in the Admiralty Hangar No. 2 at Cardington, one of the largest hangars in the world. The floor area is the size of 16 Olympic-size swimming pools. The No. 2 shed was assembled at the site in 1928 to house the British airship R100.

- A full city block of Gotham - much of it based on the slums of Kowloon in Hong Kong which were torn down in 1994 - was built in the hangar.

- The license plates for the Gotham related cars were designed in the same style as the Illinois state license plates. This was done to stay consistent with other vehicle license plates while filming the car chases in Chicago.

- Ra's Al Ghul is Arabic for "The Demon's Head". This refers to his position at the height of the Brotherhood of the Demon, also called the League of Shadows.

- A quote from Christian Bale that some of the crew had on the back of their t-shirts (the wardrobe department did it as a joke) said: "It's hot, dark and sweaty and it gives me a headache."

- Chris Cooper turned down the role of James Gordon.

- Kurt Russell and Dennis Quaid were considered for the role of James Gordon.

- Viggo Mortensen turned down Liam Neeson's role. Daniel Day-Lewis was also approached.

- Anthony Hopkins was offered the role of Alfred but declined.

- Laurence Fishburne was considered for the role of Lucius Fox.

- The title went through many changes. First, it was known as "Batman 5". It became "Batman: The Frightening" for a while. To prevent script leaks, they were titled "Intimidation Game" to throw off the public, before settling on "Batman Begins".

- Filming was temporarily delayed on the London soundstage due to the sound of amorous pigeons in the rafters above.

- The crime boss Carmine "The Roman" Falcone was a character from the comics. He was Gotham City's last "old school" gangster. He was killed, and his empire wiped out, when Batman's familiar rogues gallery came into prominence.

- On the set, the costumed Christian Bale constantly had two people trailing him to keep the Batsuit smudge-free.

- On a converted parking lot at Shepperton, the film crew built an entire village of trailers where chemists and costume artists made neoprene-and-foam-latex Batsuits. The place was dubbed "Cape Town."

- The script was written by David S. Goyer in the seven weeks before he was due to direct Blade: Trinity (2004), which he also wrote. Director Christopher Nolan took over the writing chores from there.

- While shooting on the streets of Chicago, a person accidentally crashed into the Batmobile. The driver was apparently drunk, and said he hit the car in a state of panic, believing the Dark Knight's vehicle to be an invading alien spacecraft.

- David S. Goyer mentioned in an interview that his favorite pre-audition choice for Batman was Jake Gyllenhaal, but that he was won over by Christian Bale after seeing his test.

- While filming in Lower Wacker Drive, in Chicago, Illinois, the filmmakers were so concerned for the care of the Batmobile, that they told the stunt driver to take as much time as he needed to make any move. Therefore, when it came time to back the Batmobile up, they went so slow as to cause traffic jams that had to be reported on the news. Simply moving the Batmobile around Chicago took numerous police as well as caused traffic jams where ever they went.

- Before the shooting began, Christopher Nolan invited the whole film crew to a private screening of Blade Runner (1982). After the film he said to the whole crew, "This is how we're going to make "Batman"."

- Christopher Nolan wrote in the character Rachel Dawes with Katie Holmes in mind. No other actresses were in serious consideration; it was hers to lose.

- Unlike most characters on the movie, Rachel Dawes, played by Katie Holmes, doesn't exist in "Batman" or any other DC Comics' series. She was created by director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer.

- The "daylight" coming through the windows of Wayne Manor was created by a single 100,000-watt floodlight which weighed nearly 400 pounds.

- At the time of this film's release, Forbes Magazine did a breakdown of how much it would actually cost to become Batman. The magazine estimated that total expenses in US dollars would be around $3.5 million.

- The gun Bruce Wayne tosses in the river is a Brazilian six-shot Taurus.

- All the big name cast members were initially not told that the movie was a Batman movie as the script they were sent was titled "The Intimidation Game". Michael Caine commented that when he first saw the title, he assumed the script was some kind of gangster movie.

- A pair of Batman pajama bottoms can be seen hanging from the line in the scene where Batman talks to the little boy in the Narrows.

- Since Alfred's sense of duty and loyalty towards Bruce Wayne reminded him of the comradeship that exists in the military, Sir Michael Caine based his character's voice on that of a colonel he knew when he was in the army as an 18-year-old.

- The key "combination" that Bruce plays on the piano to open the secret entrance to the Bat Cave is comprised of three, two-note chords, starting three octaves above middle-C. The keys he presses are D-E, D-E (up an octave), and G-A. However, the tones heard in the soundtrack are actually a half-step down from the correct tones for the notes he plays. This may simply be a post-production soundtrack adjustment or variance, but could also be that the piano was tuned a half-step down, which is sometimes done on older pianos to reduce the 18-20 tons of string tension stress on their framing.

- Larry Wachowski and Andy Wachowski were approached to direct, and even wrote their own treatment based on Frank Miller's graphic novel "Batman: Year One", but turned down the offer and made the Matrix sequels instead.

- Broke opening weekend box office record for IMAX theaters.

- For the IMAX version, some of the theatres running older IMAX equipment, the credits for the movie wouldn't fit on the platters. IMAX and the theatres had to get special permission from Warner Brothers to show the movie without the credits.

- During production, DC Comics commissioned well known Batman artists to give their interpretation of the Dark Knight. The results were shown to Christopher Nolan and the cast to help give them a better idea of where the comic artists were coming from. Among the artists were James Jean, Jock, Tommy Lee Edwards and John Paul Leon.

- Early work on the script and the production design was conducted in the back of Christopher Nolan's garage. During the writing process, Nolan and David S. Goyer sometimes took walks near the site of the original Batcave from "Batman" (1966).

- Due to his part in Maquinista, El (2004) (aka The Machinist), Christian Bale was vastly underweight (about 120 pounds on his 6 foot+ frame) when he was under consideration for the part. After being cast, he was told to become as "big as you could be" by Christopher Nolan. Bale underwent a dietary and exercise regimen and ending up weighing about 220 pounds (about 40 pounds above his normal weight). It was decided that Bale had became too large (friends of his on the film's crew dubbed him "Fatman") and he quickly shed about 20 pounds to have leaner, more muscular frame.

- Alfred's last name is Pennyworth.

- When Christian Bale and Liam Neeson were fighting on the frozen lake they could hear the ice cracking beneath their feet. The next day, the lake was completely melted.

- Production designer Nathan Crowley said that the design of the Batmobile was largely influenced from the design seen in Frank Miller's graphic novel "The Dark Knight Returns". The incarnation of the Batmobile was given the nickname "The Tumbler" by both filmmakers and Miller.

- Director Christopher Nolan is reputed to have been so fascinated with Cillian Murphy's bright blue eyes, that he kept trying to find reasons/ways to have Crane remove his glasses.

- In fact, Nolan was so fascinated that originally he didn't want to give Scarecrow a mask. Finally screenwriter David S. Goyer was able to talk him into it.

- Wayne Tower is based on the Chicago Board of Trade Building.

- The name of Arkham Asylum is inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

- The Gotham Police cruisers' color scheme is based on that of the New York Police Department. Gotham is meant by Bob Kane to be a caricature of New York City.

- In an interview with Moviefone, Christian Bale said that he became interested in playing Batman after a friend of his loaned him the graphic novel "Arkham Asylum" in 2000. After he read it, he told his agent that if anyone was making another Batman movie, he wanted in.

- The 2006 Forbes Fictional 15 ranks Bruce Wayne as the 7th richest fictional character with a net worth of approximately $6.8 billion.

- Batman's journey to Tibet, and his ninja training, were both elements introduced into the comic book by writer James Owsley in Batman #431 (March, 1989). The series editor, Denny O'Neil, made the issue part of the Batman Writers Bible that he would hand out to each new writer on the series, thus confirming the story's place in canon.

- According to DC Comics, Batman stands 6'2" and weighs 210 lbs. Christian Bale stands 6'0-1/2" (according to his IMDB profile) and at the time of filming weighed 210 lbs.

- There is no reference in Batman Begins to Ra's Al Ghul having any daughters; however, his daughter Talia is mentioned in the novelization by Ra's & Talia's creator Dennis O'Neil.

- The opera that young Bruce attends with his parents is "Mefistofele", composed in the mid-1800s by Arrigo Boito.

- The average length of a shot is 1.9 seconds.

- Instances with just one or two bats in the shot (such as the single bat gone astray inside Wayne's mansion) uses real bats, but each scene with a flock of bats had to be done using CG bats, since it was decided too difficult to control that many bats at once.

- Both Tim Burton and Michael Keaton, from Batman (1989), have said they were impressed by this film.

- Producer Larry J. Franco has a cameo as a Police Officer during the chase sequence.

- Director Christopher Nolan's uncle John Nolan has a cameo as the birthday party guest who tells Bruce Wayne that "the apple has fallen very far from the tree."

- "Batman" is said only 10 times throughout the film.

- Much of Batman's gear and apparel, including his cape and suit, is based on actual military technology. The cape was made with a technique called electrostatic flocking, taught to the crew by the British Ministry of Defense and normally used to decrease the night-vision visibility of objects. Nylon parachute fabric was brushed with glue and covered with fine hair-like material. An electrostatic current was then passed under the material, creating a dark sheen while maintaining the billowing appearance.

*SPOILERS* 

- The calling card the Joker leaves is a replica of the Joker Card from the 1989 graphic novel "Arkham Asylum".

- In the shot of the newspaper. the story about Bruce Wayne's mansion burning down is credited to Julie Ochipinti, the name of the movie's assistant set decorator.

- The Joker playing card presented to Batman at the end of the film carries an evidence label, this label reads that the officer who discovered it was a J. Kerr.

The Most Amazing Things Ever

Sometimes in life there are certain things that just bring you more pleasure than a normal person can almost stand. Things that make you whisper to yourself....."too good.....too good!" They're different for each person of course, cause everyone is wired differently and everyone takes pleasure in different things. So i'm just going to write some things down here that bring me entirely too much pleasure. I'll try not to let it get weird. No promises.

Clementines - are you kidding me? Are these things not absolutely ridiculous or what? I mean how the hell does a fruit taste this good? These things are like candy. Although it is possible to get a bad batch, for the most part, they really tear shit up.

Outdoor Hockey - a gift from the gods. Playing outdoor at Hairy Gairey park at Dundas and Bathurst, on a cold but not too cold night right after a flood. The ice is insanely fast, there are no fights, no arguments, just a bunch of people who want to play hockey zipping around. You'd think with no goalies, and no raising the puck, it would be less fun, but you would be wrong.

Dairy Queen Blizzards - These do not get nearly enough credit. Not even close. Ice cream all blended up mixed with chocolate or whatever the hell you want to put in there. I think the devil steals part of your soul everytime you get one as payment for giving you something so sinful. Maybe that's why i get one like twice a year. Just don't turn it upside down before you give it to me ok? Like i know it probaby won't fall out.....but if it does i'm going to fuckin kill you!

EA Sports NHL games for Xbox - Every year i think the same thing. How are they going to make it better? How are they going to change it? They're going to fuck it up aren't they? And then i play it. And the first game i think...."it's alright". The second game...."actually that's kind of cool!" The third game...."how did they come up with that?" And finally the fourth game i just whip it out and have a tug. I only really play by myself Saturday or Sunday mornings before my bro's awake....that's my special time, wouldn't trade it for anything.

Concentrated Orange Juice - I prefer it to Tropicana or whatever else you can buy in a carton. Give me the little can full of frozen goodness, and then 3 cans of water and you've got a happy man. Bonus points for filling a glass and putting it in the freezer, couple hours later you got yourself an orange juice slushy, i ain't shittin' ya!

Derek Mumford's nicknames - Derek has had more nicknames over the years, then i have had sexual partners. Which to be honest really isn't too hard to do, but still. Catscan, Long Arms Bluntford, The Weedman, The Shivering Ghost, Awkward McMumford, Big Juicy Van, The Comfort, and there have been plenty more to boot. Each one is fantastic and fits him like a glove, or more appropriately, a back brace.

Surfing - Are any of us any good? No not really, but it doesn't matter. Surfing has so many positives going for it, and is so different from any other sport. First off...the workout is incredible, which you don't realize until your first time back on a board after a long time. OWIE OWIE OWIE MY ARMS! Hanging out in big blue, with your legs dangling in the water, and sitting with your brohans scattered around you, shooting the shit, waiting for a set of waves...well that's almost as good as catching a wave itself. I said almost. Cause the feeling of catching and riding a good wave.....well that's what we like to call feeding the soul right there. That's a four course meal.

Sex - I'm told it's quite good.

Honourable Mentions - Masturbation, Heroin, General Tao Chicken

Please feel free to comment on this blog and tell me some of your favorite things, cause i'd love to know!

"Each day's a gift!" -Cancer boy in Brain Candy

Ramblings

Nothing specific to talk about today so let's just have a nice ramble, we can talk about the news, sports, what's new in my life and the lives around me. Just catch up, wouldn't that be nice? I think that would be nice.

First off, mad props to all 17-19 year old males out there. Wait....that sounds really bad. I'm shouting out specifically to those Canadian males with gold medals around their necks. Some of you may have followed the World Juniors tournament in Ottawa this year. Some maybe saw just the final. Either way i think i will go on record and say that this was the most entertaining World Juniors i've ever watched. And i've watched them all for as long as i can remember. First off i got to see a game live, Canada's first against the Czech Republic. Sure they blew them out 8-2 but it was still a great atmosphere and had been on my "To Do Before I Die" list for a long time. Seeing as how i probably don't have much time left I'm glad i got it done. This year's team was fun to watch. So much skill and as cliche as it sounds, so much heart. They deserved to win unlike some years where the goaltending carries them through. The Canada vs. Russia game was a classic and always will be cause of the last second heroics of Eberle. And then the final, although it wasn't much of a nail biter, was still a fantastic game to watch cause they played their best game of the tournament when they needed to. So hats off to those young men, for those of us who were watching, you made us proud!

Next on the list.....let's talk about the Gaza strip! Actually let's not....i'll get depressed and i don't know enough about it. But i think many of us can agree that it's sad to see so many bodies pile up because of a piece of land, no matter how important it may be.

We haven't talked about Mike Denby in a while and i know he's always a hot topic! Specifically cause he just called me up a minute ago. The kid got his old job back! Not full time or anything, but they're going to find some work for him for a while so let's all give a Big John Denby "HEY HEY MIKEY BOY! WHAT A HOOT! ISN'T THAT JUST GREAT! HEY HEY!" Also for those music lovers out there, young Michael Robert is now in Jeff Buckley, and Mike Thompson's band "Make Your Exit". That's them in the picture above sans Mike Denby. I was fortunate enough to see their show at the El Mocambo on Friday night. Wow did they ever blow minds. They get better and better every time i see them play, and with the addition of Mr. Denby into the band they now pop boners aswell. Hmm....probably shouldn't have written that last part. Either way they're playing a show this Friday night at the Rivoli, we will all be there, and you should come too if you haven't seen them cause they're pretty much the best band in the history of music. No exageration.

Ok let's check the list, what's up next? Hmm...nothing there. So i'll just make a few short comments.

The Buffalo Bills suck, and it sucks being a fan, but i will not give up on them.

I've got box seats to the raptors game friday night, high rollin!!!

Alex Kitz wants to purchase a treadmill.

My friend and yours Peter N'geno, is due to be a father this Sunday Jan.11th! We're all very excited for him. But Peter....if the baby comes out white.....and maybe a little slow....and is blonde.....and loves weed.....well i think you know what i'm trying to say.

The Habs rule, the Leafs suck. Accept it.

Nicaragua surf trip is now only about a month and a half away, i seriously can not wait to gnar out with my brohan's in the freshy freshy.

Derek Mumford has a job interview tomorrow. If he gets it, he will be hanging with Inuits 2 weeks every month, and being paid far too much to do it.

Julien Favre cheered for Sweden in the World Juniors final last night, further cementing his position at the top of the list of "World's Largest Douchebags".

My brother will be strapping on the pads and playing goalie for my hockey team tonight. This marks the first time he's played net in 20 years. The over/under for goals scored will be set at 10. I personally am choosing over.

I filled out an expense claim for my year's worth of contact lenses yesterday, that's $445.00 worth of lenses since i wear dailies. I don't believe i filled out the form properly. So i'll probably receive a letter from Manulife Financial promptly in the mail, informing me of this. I'm not looking forward to filling it out again.

Well after rereading my final little note there i think i might have run out of things to say and probably should have stopped a while ago. Unless you guys want to hear about my pubic hair removal fiasco from the other day? No? Well we'll save that for another day then. Happy Tuesday everyone, i'll let you know how Mark does in net tonight!

Peace out,

Optimus Grime

Happy Birthday Mumford!

Today is Derek "the Comfort" Mumford's birthday. He's 28 years old, or 4 years old in reverse dog years. I suppose there's some truth to the rumour that guy's get better looking with age cause despite his chronic back pain, Mumford is looking damn fine these days. Probably cause he doesn't have a job stripping his looks away like the rest of us. So let's all wish him a happy birthday when we get the chance ok? Write on his facebook wall, send him a BB message, text message him, give him a call, just get in touch cause i'm sure he'd love to hear from you.

Mumford is going to hopefully have one of the happiest birthdays of his life, cause that lucky bastard is attending the Canada vs. Sweden world juniors game tonight which i know we're all looking forward too. Not only that....he finally has a job interview on Wednesday! Not only that, i have box seats to the Raptors game Friday night so we will be celebrating and getting drunk like the high rollers that we are that night! What a birthday week for the comfort!

So that's it for now. Not much of a blog, more of a shout out to Big Juicy Van on his birthday. Keep it real comfortable Mumford.

Merry Christmas!

Ok first off i'd just like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Thanks to all your love and support this blog is now in the top three blogs of people i know that have blogs. Trailing only Stacey Bowman's TornLake blog, and Dug Stevenson's blog, which also coincidentally are the only two other blogs i'm aware of.

Christmas kind of rules in my opinion. Some would say it's for the added time off. (11 days in a row this year including weekends so i'm pretty stoked on that!) Some would say it's for the gifts. (You greedy cheesedicks!) Some enjoy the food. (Fatty fatty fat fat stick your head in gravy! Mmmmm.......gravy.) Overall though i think it's a little bit of everything that contributes to the feeling of the season. Snow, presents, family, friends, drinks, food, vacation time, new year's eve, world juniors tourney, you name it this time of year has it all.

I'm sure you're all wondering just what the hell i'll be up to this year? Well first off i'll be spending the 24th and most of the 25th at home with the fam. Then the night of the 25th i'm cruising up to Kingston with Palmer to stay at the Mumford's retirement residence, which i'm pretty pumped about because i've never seen it and i've heard it's a pretty sick pad. The Mumford's are straight up genius', many months ago they purchased tickets to the World Juniors hockey tournament, possibly the greatest international hockey tournament in the world. They have 5 tickets to every single game and have very generously allowed Derek to invite myself and Mr. Palmer along to the first two days of the tournament. So when you tune in to TSN at 7p.m. on Boxing Day, to watch Canada take on the Czech Republic, keep an eye out for me, i'll be the one quietly beating off under my jersey and crossing "World Juniors Canada game" off my bucket list.

After that I'll be returning to Toronto and having a nice long week full of......well nothing really. I'm off work and i'll be making the most of it. And by making the most of it i mean drinking, relaxing and sleeping in. Sackville is making his way to Toronto for New Year's Eve which is exciting news, we have no plans as of yet, but one thing is for sure, when all the boys are looking for their wives to kiss at the stroke of Midnight, Mike and I will be looking for each other so we can laugh at them and act like we're happy being single! Fuckin chumps eh Mike? New Year's day will be a large Grimes family fun day with all the cousins, uncles, aunts and significant others getting together. I am already once again prepared for the onslaught of "so are you seeing anyone? really? why not? you know you should really be looking to settle down eric!" To which I will respond once again with my trusty shut them up line, "actually i'm gay!" Works every time.

Needless to say i'm excited about the holidays and i'm ready for them to start now. I need this time off pretty badly. Once i return to work on the 4th or 5th or whatever the hell day it is, well then it's only about a month and a half until the event of the year, surfing trip to Nicaragua! Booya! I can do a month and a half in my sleep once i've got something to look forward to.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kickass Kwanza, whatever it is you celebrate, celebrate it well and don't hold back. All the best.

Your pal,

eric