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Never underestimate the power of nerds! Though the movie doesn't open until July 20th, several midnight IMAX showings of The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan's massive Batman trilogy, are sold out. Yup! Screenings at the AMC Lincoln Square in New York and the AMC Universal City in Los Angeles are now fully booked, which is an insane feat of not only marketing but of long-term planning! We can't even make plans a week in advance, let alone buy movie tickets for six months from now. Let's just hope everyone remembers to go. "I feel like we...

Batman Star Christian Bale Attacked for Visiting Chen Guangcheng Beijing, China -- Batman movie star Christian Bale traveled nine hours from Beijing to visit blind forced abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng, who has been sentenced to home confinement by local Chinese family planning officials. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/12/16/batman-star-christian-bale-attacked-for-visiting-chen-guangcheng/

Patient: Wayne, Bruce DOB: 2/16/1971 Occupation: Industrialist Insurance: Self-pay Emergency Contact: Dick Grayson, XXX-269-9637 Interval History: Patient was seen for his last annual physical approximately one year ago. Since that time he has had numerous visits for acute illnesses or injuries, generally accompanied either by his companion Mr. Grayson or Alfred, a senior member of his household staff. These recent maladies appear to be in keeping with the pattern that has emerged over the past several years, in which significant medical problems are associated with odd or incongruous explanations. Most recently, patient was seen for numerous areas of lower extremity...

Oh how your humble correspondent has yearned for his own Marshall McLuhan moment. You might remember that scene from the movie "Annie Hall" when some pompous blowhard on a theater line pontificated about the thoughts of the author of "the medium is the message." An irritated Woody Allen then pulled out McLuhan himself to harshly rebuke the guy. Well, now I get that opportunity with comics  artist and writer Frank Miller severely criticizing the Occupy Wall Street protests. First let us look at Stephen Kelly of the UK Guardian speculating that Batman could become a hero for the OWS movement:

Lois Lane shacking up? Superman graphically tortured in an electric chair? Batman and Catwoman having sex on a roof? DC Comics has relaunched 52 of its comic book series, with popular characters and story lines starting over from scratch and getting a decidedly edgy makeover. In the six weeks since the rollout began, more than 5 million copies have sold, stimulating a stagnant market. DC officials say sales are the highest in 20 years.

Tom Lashinski was walking his mother's small dog in the North Center neighborhood early Sunday when he noticed two people scuffling in an alley. "It was like something out of Batman ... with Batman jumping into someone and people rolling around and getting up and going back at it."

Batman is ready for his closeup again. Shooting is now underway on Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures' The Dark Knight Rises, the third and presumably final chapter in director Christopher Nolan's epic trilogy on the Caped Crusader. Christian Bale once again reprises his role as Bruce Wayne and his gruff-voiced alterego. Joining him will be an all-star cast including newcomers Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, better known by her meow de plume Catwoman, Tom Hardy as the villainous Bane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Gotham City cop John Blake and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, a Wayne Enterprises boardmember who helps Bruce...

My 3-year-old daughter is a Batman nut. She kinda’ thinks she is Batman. Not Batgirl, mind you. Batman. Most days, she pretends to be caped crusader leaping from cushion to cushion saving us all from evil of some sort or another. She has an assortment of Batman shirts she wears when she changes out of her Batman pajamas. When we go to the beach she wears her bathing suit and a batman mask. I’ve got pictures. I’m not proud of that you see, I’m just explaining. When I’m forced to peel her Batman shirt off and wash it she stands...

Michael Gough, who was best known for playing Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred, in Tim Burton and Joel Schmaucher's Batman films has died, aged 94.

Last night "The Daily Show" aired a prerecorded segment that I taped with them a few weeks ago. During the segment I was interviewed by Aasif Mandvi, the show's "liberal Muslim" correspondent. The main topic discussed was the "Muslim" Batman, but we also spent a significant amount of time discussing my own creation, a counter-jihad superhero named Pigman. Based on what was filmed during the 3-hour shoot, the segment had the potential to be humorous, controversial and informative. How it actually turned out was the product of some pretty crafty editing. And, unfortunately, I had no control over that. It...

Warner Bros. announced in a press release Wednesday that the actress as been cast as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises."

Every key move of Christopher Nolan's newest Batman project has stirred speculation and scrutiny. So Comic Riffs eagerly awaits "fanboy" reaction to this fresh news: Anne Hathaway has now been cast as Selina Kyle -- Catwoman's alter ego -- for Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," Warner Bros. Pictures has just announced today. . "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story," Nolan said in a statement. The studio also announced that Tom Hardy has been cast to play Bane. Said Nolan: "I...

LYNNWOOD, Wash. -- A local man said he came within seconds of having his car broken into, and perhaps stolen, until a real-life “superhero" came to his aid, wearing tights, a mask and a skin-tight super suit. The encounter started in Lynnwood Sunday evening when a man, who asked to be identified only as Dan, was walking back to his car in a parking lot when he saw a man with a metal strip trying to pry open his car. “He started sticking it down between the window and the rubber strip,” said Dan. Dan began to call 911, but...

Nightrunner is a citizen of France, a Sunni Muslim, and 22 years old living in the Clichy-sous-Bois of Paris who is phenomenally well trained in parkour. Astute Bloggers reported on this new twist, via Religion of Peace: "I knew it was only going to get worse at DC Comics: in his continuing efforts to form Batman Inc, Bruce Wayne recruits an Algerian Muslim living in France, in Clichy-Sous-Bois, where the Muslim riots grew out of in 2005, over the death of 2 delinquents who electrocuted themselves by stupidly entering a power station, and the blame was laid upon at least...

Google supplied satellite photos recently revealed something the American military uses to help morale, but that they would rather keep secret. In this case it was a Batman style bat symbol painted on the roof of a hanger in a U.S. airbase (Kadena Air Force Base in Japan). There are actually a lot of these roof paintings, usually representing the squadron (the Batman symbol was for a fighter squadron known as the vampire bats.) Now that the pictures of this custom has gone viral, many more people will check Google Earth pictures of military bases, and publicize what they find....

The riddle is over -- sort of. Christopher Nolan has revealed that his third Batman installment will be titled "The Dark Knight Rises" and that its villain will not be who everyone is expecting. "It won't be the Riddler," the director told Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex. Nolan also confirmed that the film will be in high-definition and use IMAX cameras as opposed to 3D. The fan boy section of the L.A. Times suggested Harvey Dent could return from the dead -- "The Dark Knight’s" title reportedly referred to his fall from grace. "Rises" may suggest Harvey will re-emerge from...

NEW YORK - No real psychiatrist has ever gotten the chance to diagnose and treat Batman, but they'd likely have as little luck as any of their fictional counterparts in Gotham City. A strong anti-psychiatry bias in the Batman comic book universe may even be why readers and moviegoers love the dark knight so much, according to a psychiatrist at New York Comic Con. Psychiatrists and cognitive neuroscientists not only fail to stem the tide of mentally unbalanced supervillains that Batman fights, but often end up becoming villains themselves. That depiction may work so well because people often do feel...

Holy tricked-out ride, Batman! The '60s-style Batmobile is now available -- for those with Bruce Wayne bank accounts -- in life-sized replica form. DC Comics has officially licensed Fiberglass Freaks to re-create, down to the flame throwers (working, natch), the futuristic car that the Caped Crusader drove in the 1960s TV series. For $150,000, you too could keep Gotham City safe. Or at least look really, really cool while sitting in traffic. Each car frame is built around a 1970s Lincoln Town Car. And only eight of these hand-crafted beauties roll off the factory floor each year. Company founder Mark...

Prosecutor says Narcy Novack killed millionaire husband & mother-in-lawBernice Novack is already facing charges related to the murder of her millionaire Fort Lauderdale husband, and now she could face more charges in the death of her mother-in-law. The shocking allegation was made by a Federal prosecutor during Narcy Novack's appearance Wednesday in a Fort Lauderdale Federal court, where she's seeking her release from custody. Narcy Novack, the widow of businessman Ben Novack Jr., may have also had a hand in the death of her late husband's mother, Bernice Novack, according to prosecutor Elliott Jacobson. Bernice Novack, 86, was found dead...

Even by South Florida's quirky standards it was a murder most bizarre, encompassing greed, peculiar sex, faded glamour and warehouses brimming with Batman memorabilia. The murder of Ben Novack Jr. of Fort Lauderdale, heir to the famed Fontainebleau Hotel, was also a "family affair," as one prosecutor termed it. Novack's wife of 19 years, a former exotic dancer, assisted the killers, federal authorities said. Narcisa "Narcy" Novack, 53, along with her brother, Cristobal Veliz, 56, and two other men, Denis Ramirez,36, and Joel Jorge Gonzalez, 25, were charged Thursday in connection with Ben Novack's murder in Rye Brook, a wealthy...

As Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced new elections, Britain’s top tax rate rose today to 50% from 45%. The government faces massive budget deficits, but critics say it may drive people and businesses out of the country. Now, this may be just a coincidence, but Christian Bale, star of the recent Batman movies and Terminator: Salvation, reportedly plans to apply for U.S. citizenship,

Despite the fevered speculation about the future of Batman in the wake of the spectacular success of The Dark Knight two years ago, we've been given very little in the way of hard facts about the future of the series. That is, until now. A new interview with director Christopher Nolan, in which he talks about his plans for the third film, as well as his overseeing role on Superman, appears to outline where the man who brought Batman back from the horrors of the Joel Schumacher years sees the character going. And it may not make comfortable reading for...

From the Romanian television, one of the funniest TV commercials of the year. Subtitled in English Click link for video.

Missing collection found, wife was the culprit The country's second-largest Batman memorabilia collection which was stolen from South Florida warehouses last month has been found, and it wasn't the Catwoman. It turns out the wife of slain millionaire Ben Novack Jr. took the collection herself, and she says the toys aren't going anywhere. "It belongs to Narcy Novack. She was married to him for 19 years," lawyer Howard Tanner told the Miami Herald. "It was purchased during their marriage. Wouldn't you rightfully assume the property belongs to you?" The collection, enough to fill two Batcaves, is at the center of...

Resident cracks bat on fleeing intruder 11:11 AM Sunday, September 6, 2009 SPRINGFIELD — A resident in the 1600 block of East High Street reported that around 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 he arrived home to find his back door standing open and a blue racing bike lying on the ground. The lock on the door was on the ground and the door frame was damaged. The resident told police he went into his garage to retrieve a metal baseball bat. As he returned to the back door a man walked out carrying the resident’s DVD player. He got on...

Megan Fox is set to take up the role of Catwoman in the next Batman flick, it has emerged. Also, actors Christian Bale and Michael Caine will reprise their characters from "The Dark Knight'.

Chris Nolan Makes More Room For Batman 3 By Leaving The Prisoner Batman 3 may have just gotten a little closer to happening. Director Christopher Nolan is currently working on Inception, but also on his schedule was a The Prisoner, a sci-fi movie based on the short-lived 60s television series of the same name. With Warner Bros. eager to fill their coffers with more fat nerd cash, doing yet another movie before following up The Dark Knight might have been too much waiting for them to handle. Luckily, it’s no longer an issue. Cine Fools recently spoke with one of...

In the realm of street art, the posters portraying President Barack Obama as the Joker, as played by the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, aren't high art. They aren't like the iconic images of "Hope'' that sprouted during the Obama camapign. But then, these are the post-campaign portraits of discontent in some quarters. And, like their predecessors, the newest posters are becoming an Internet sensation among those for whom a picture is worth 1,000 words--or one word, in the case of this poster campaign: "socialism." Looking at the anonymously created posters that started on the streets of L.A....

Have you seen this poster? Apparently, it's beginning to appear in odd places in Los Angeles, but nobody seems to know who's responsible for it. Radio host Tammy Bruce posted some pictures of this odd creation at her blog Saturday morning (h/t Pamela Geller) leading me to investigate further. At this point, all I could find on the subject was an April 25 article from Bedlam Magazine: A poster of Barack Obama in Heath Ledger-style Joker make-up with the legend 'Socialism' beneath it has been popping up recently on surfaces around L.A. It does not appear to be in the...

What is the difference between art and entertainment? There is, obviously, some overlap: Not all art entertains (though some does); not all entertainment is art (though some is). At bottom, it seems, the difference is one of intent - the artist seeks to connect us with larger meanings, larger truths about the world, about ourselves. The primary focus of art is therefore to illuminate, with any entertainment had in the process merely a bonus. The goal of the entertainer, on the other hand, is perhaps less sublime, though no less worthy - to distract, to tickle, to stimulate the fancy....

Johnny Depp has expressed interest in joining the cast of Batman 3 as The Riddler. During an interview with MTV Depp said that he is willing to take the role of the puzzling villain. When asked about the likelihood of him portraying The Riddler, Depp simply said, “If the opportunity came, I’d definitely juggle it.” He went on to profess his admiration of both The Riddler character and Frank Gorshin, the actor who originally played The Riddler in the 60’s TV show. “I always liked the Riddler,” he explains. “I always liked Frank Gorshin. Frank Gorshin was brilliant. I always...

With the success of Batman Begins and the even bigger success of The Dark Knight, one can’t help but ask the question…when will we see a third installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films? With Nolan currently in pre-production of his film Inception for a 2010 release, it is most likely that fans will not see a third Batman film until 2011 if not even 2012. In the meantime fan-boys, fans and the media a like will have fun speculating over the plot for the film as well as which villains may or may not be making an appearance.

Warning, naughty words. One of the best animated spoofs ever !!!!

The bat, seen clinging to the external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery before its launch on Sunday, apparently clung for dear life to the side of the tank as the spaceship lifted off. And what a ride. The shuttle accelerates to an orbital velocity of 17,500 milers per hour, which is 25 times faster than the speed of sound, in just over eight minutes. That's zero to 100 mph in 10 seconds. Did it make it into space? No one knows yet. But photos of Discovery as it cleared the launch tower showed a tiny speck on the...

On March 6 audiences will experience Watchmen, the most political comic book movie yet made. The film, based off of the acclaimed graphic novel, considers superheroes in the “real world,” and imagines a 1980s Cold War world in which the presence of superheroes has given the United States an edge over the Soviet Union. The film is not the first to consider the superhero in a political context. As the genre developed especially since when Watchmen was first published in the mid ’80s stories and characters have gone well beyond simple escapism. And as superhero films started being adapted more...

Actor Val Kilmer says he is strongly considering a run for governor of New Mexico in 2011 when term limits force Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson out after 12 years. Reports that Kilmer is serious about making a bid for his home state’s highest office have been circulating for months. In November, Kilmer told the New York Post, "There's sort of a rumor around that I'm maybe thinking about running to be governor of New Mexico? Well, it's sort of true. It's been my home for 25 years. I really love my state. Poor, hardworking, decent people — Native Americans, carpenters,...

FUNNYMAN EDDIE MURPHY will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie, The Sun can reveal. The Beverly Hills Cop star, 47, has been signed up by British director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN to reprise the role played by JIM CARREY in 1995’s Batman Forever. The surprise move follows speculation linking Pirates of the Caribbean star JOHNNY DEPP to the part. The film, set for a 2010 release, is being developed under the working title Gotham. Execs have also signed up rising Transformers star SHIA LABEOUF, 22, to play Robin. CHRISTIAN BALE will return as Bruce Wayne, while MICHAEL CAINE will again...

FUNNYMAN EDDIE MURPHY will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie, The Sun can reveal. Gotham villain ... Eddie Murphy The Beverly Hills Cop star, 47, has been signed up by British director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN to reprise the role played by JIM CARREY in 1995’s Batman Forever. The surprise move follows speculation linking Pirates of the Caribbean star JOHNNY DEPP to the part. The film, set for a 2010 release, is being developed under the working title Gotham. Execs have also signed up rising Transformers star SHIA LABEOUF, 22, to play Robin.

'Batman RIP' will see "the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman", according to Grant Morrison. There are rumours that Batman will suffer a gruesome end when his sidekick Robin goes over to "the dark side" and destroys him in a terrible betrayal. Batman, alter ego of Bruce Wayne a wealthy industrialist, operates in the American Gotham City. Others speculate that Wayne may either retire from his duties or be killed by a mystery villain known as the Black Glove. His fate will be revealed in the latest issue of DC Comic's Batman, published on 26 November. Either way, his demise...

So, today I went and saw the new Batman [again] with a couple of friends. It struck me about how there are certain analogies to the characters within politics. For Example: The Joker In his own words, he describes himself as an agent of chaos [chance], which is the only fair thing in the world. He says that he makes no real plans, doing whatever ‘feels good’ at the moment, living [from day to day] only to throw the wrench in others’ plans. He is of course, lying. It is shown that his plans for Harvey Dent were to bring...

Batman has a new adversary: Batman. The mayor of an oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, which has the same name as the Caped Crusader, is suing helmer Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from mega-grosser "The Dark Knight." Huseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of Batman, has accused "The Dark Knight" producers of using the city's name without permission. "There is only one Batman in the world," Kalkan said. "The American producers used the name of our city without informing us." No one from the town of Batman has explained why it took so many years to...

OBAMA SAYS IN TEXT: "In Albuquerque, before a massive crowd, Obama moves away from the (politically incorrect?) Lone Ranger and Tonto analogy to a new one: "It’s like Robin getting mad at Batman," he says of McCain's recent efforts to distance himself from Bush""

I wish someone would print bumper stickers that say "I Believe in Sarah Palin" like the DA Harvey Dent's slogan in the latest Batman movie I would make me a happy man to put one on my truck

Again and again we see Mr. Ledger's Joker pulling off the most fantastically conceived acts of evil which, in real life, would require a virtual army of assistants, many of whom would have to be almost as clever as he is. Yet the movie shows us not even one. We do see the Joker lording it over some fellow criminals on a couple of occasions -- not the best way to gain their cooperation, one might have thought. And, in the bank robbery with which the film opens, he casually murders all his assistants, which is even less likely to...

British prosecutors said there is insufficient evidence to build a "realistic prospect of conviction" following the incident at Park Lane's Dorchester Hotel on July 21. It had been reported that the Dark Knight star's mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, told police he had assaulted them at the hotel a day before the European premiere of the international smash hit. The Crown Prosecution Service has ordered the police not to take any further action in the matter. A CPS spokesman said: We can today confirm that we have advised the Metropolitan Police Service that the actor Christian Bale should...

In the middle of an armed robbery of a Tulsa, Okla., grocery store by a man wearing a Batman mask, one customer leaped into action, charging, wrestling and subduing the gunman until police arrived. A surveillance video captured several minutes of the struggle as the customer, Craig Stutzman, single-handedly wrestled the robber across the store before finally pinning the phony Batman to the ground in the store's parking lot. Stutzman, 44, an American Airlines mechanic, had stopped at the Food Pyramid store to buy some dog food before leaving town for a family reunion, according to a Tulsa World report....

Dark Knight Shift: Why Batman Could Exist--But Not for Long Q&A with movement researcher E. Paul Zehr Batman is the most down-to-earth of all the superheroes. He has no special powers from being born on a distant world or bitten by a radioactive spider. All that protects him from the Joker and other Gotham City villains are his wits and a physique shaped by years of training—combined with the vast fortune to reach his maximum potential and augment himself with Batmobiles, Batcables and other Bat-goodies, of course. In the 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins, vengeful Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale)...

At last there's a liberal who's tough on terrorism: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). Too bad it's make-believe. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a man who's done everything in his power to obstruct President George W. Bush's efforts to fight Islamofascist terrorism, has a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight.The Hill reports that in the movie Leahy confronts Batman's nemesis, the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. (See screen capture above from a clip of the movie on youtube.com.) "We're not intimidated by thugs," Leahy says. "You know you remind me of my father. I hated my father,"...

Bat-lash By Sharon McGovern The Dark Knight is a box office phenomenon, having beat the following records: • Biggest single day gross (66.4 million).• Biggest opening weekend (155.34 million).• Broke the record for days taken to reach a 200 million dollar gross.• Broke the record for days taken to reach a 300 million dollar gross. And it’s on track to tie Titanic, the biggest blockbuster in history. Now, the sheer profitability of a movie doesn’t necessarily speak to its merit (see Titanic), but TDK’s continuing box office appeal does seem to indicate it’s touched a nerve. Some have proposed (with...

Would Barack Obama be willing to take an unpopular action because he believes it is the right action? Would he sacrifice his popularity for his country? Batman would. The Dark Knight is not merely an extraordinary movie and an excellent final performance by Heath Ledger. It is the story of America, its people and its leaders. And it brings forth serious questions about Obama’s presidential fitness, or lack thereof.