First things first, I have to send out much Birthday Lurve to my boy Mike who is celebrating his birthday today :) I know the poor guy has to work today but we’re gonna do our best to help him celebrate in style tonight!!!

Lawd … what a day I had yesterday … without going into the painfully long details, my 2009 VW Tiguan crossover arrived from Germany (finally) and I was able to get the deal done last night, which almost didn’t happen. Basically, there was some confusion about stock — blah blah blah — but after a couple of hours, everything was straightened out and the car is mine. I pick it up in a few hours so I won’t be able to do much more work this afternoon. I’m only running on 4 hours sleep and I still have to pick up my car, meet Darion at the IMAX for another viewing of The Dark Knight and then meet up with peeps for Mike’s birthday celebration tonight.

Last night was fun tho, Darion and I met up at the Arc Light at around midnight to watch The Dark Knight (my review is HERE and found the place bumpin … here are a few pics from last night’s fun:

I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Pink readers Kyle and Eileen in the popcorn line before the film (head’s up, you have to check out THIS awesome pic of Kyle’s wife NicoleLee — she’s a Suicide Girl — doing her best Joker impersonation … it’s a kickass photo but be warned the site is semi-NSFW). The only bummer of the night was about 10 mins. into the film someone pulled a fire alarm and shut down the entire theater! It took about 15 mins. to get the movies going again but the Arc Light told us to save our ticket stubs to see a free movie to make up for it. D and I had fun … tho he had a bit more fun, posing with the costumed fans :)

So yeah … I’ve got a lot to do today … I got a car to start lovin’ up on and a good friend’s birthday to celebrate. Happy Friday!!

OY! So, Darion and I made our way out to a midnight screening of Batman: The Dark Knight last night/this morning which, after it was all said and done, had me in bed around 4AM this morning. After the long afternoon/evening/night I had last night (long story short, my VW arrived, it’s a done deal, I take possession this afternoon) I’m pretty wiped right now … but a movie like The Dark Knight needs immediate exposition (as I’m sure the many of you who also saw it last night can attest) so I’m gonna go ahead an post my thoughts on the movie now:

As you can imagine, I really enjoyed the film and you can read my spoilery thoughts and observations after the cut but I have to make clear before I get into the film itself that all the talk that we are hearing about Heath Ledger’s performance in the film is absolutely right on target — the man gives a stunning performance, hand’s down. Whether or not it’s Oscar worthy is another question but he absolutely becomes the psychotic villain of the darkest Batman lore — this movie is NOT TO BE MISSED. After the jump, read the rest of my review …

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Batman: The Dark Knight held it’s first premiere, a black carpet event, at the AMC Loews Lincoln Center in NYC last night. All of the principal stars of the movie were in attendance (many of them matched up with their partners) including members of the late Heath Ledger’s family (who opted out of talking to any press as they walked the carpet). Here are a few pics from the black carpet arrivals at last night’s premiere:

There were lots of jubilant smiles and happy faces … it’s nice that the stars of The Dark Knight can celebrate their new movie (reportedly a tour de force for Heath Ledger) without having to cast any mournful sadness on the event over the loss of Heath Ledger. After the jump, check out more pics from the black carpet arrivals at the movie premiere and a few photos of some of the attendees at the movie’s afterparty at the Mandarin Oriental …

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One of the full-size, official rubber Batman costumes, worn by Christian Bale during the filming of Batman: The Dark Knight, is currently on display at the Toys R’ Us store in Times Square, NYC … here are a few pics of the exhibit:

This display at Toys ‘R Us also features a scaled down original prop of the Batmobile but I’d be more interested in seeing this full size rubber suit … the suit that Christian Bale had to squeeze his lithe body into day in and day out for months at a time … probably sweating inside all the while. HMMMM. It’s an intriguing notion, don’t you think? I understand that the Arc Light theater here in Hollywood will also feature a Batman costume display which I plan on getting as close to as possible when I see the movie later on this week. Hey, I’m just sayin’.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, in their roles as Batman and The Joker, are featured on the cover and in the pages of this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly … here is the magazine cover and an excerpt from the coverstory that contains no spoilers but gives you a good understanding of what the article is all about:

With The Dark Knight, Nolan and Bale return to Gotham City for a second, even moodier and more savage installment of the superhero franchise they revamped in 2005 with Batman Begins. The movie delivers on its promise, pitting Batman against the freaky new fiend in psychotic cosmetics who robs banks and blows up hospitals for the sheer anarchic kick of it. Most of the familiar faces (and one new Two-Face) are on board, including wry butler Alfred (Michael Caine), stalwart police detective Gordon (Gary Oldman), and lawyer-slash-love interest Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, taking over the role from Katie Holmes), as well as a new crusading district attorney named Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). The Dark Knight has everything fans expect from the series: gizmos like a sleek new ”Bat Pod” motorcycle, eye-popping stunts (most performed the old-fashioned way, with real stuntmen and real explosions), and, of course, the brooding Bale, arguably the best, certainly the most serious actor ever to growl under the cowl. Still, when the film opens July 18, Ledger will be Topic A. His turn in The Dark Knight would have been widely talked about this summer even if the 28-year-old actor hadn’t died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose last January. It might have even earned him another Oscar nomination (it still could, posthumously). Now the performance is shrouded in tragedy, though, and may well be Ledger’s last cinematic testament (it’s unclear what Terry Gilliam will, or can, do with the actor’s unfinished footage from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). And that loads The Dark Knight with a poignancy its creators never anticipated. Certainly one they never desired. Along with the grief it caused friends and family, Ledger’s death cast a shadow of uncertainty over the film. It had Warner Bros. reexamining its entire marketing plans for the movie, conducting taste tests on the appropriateness of Ledger’s clown face on publicity stills and in trailers. Hardly the way the studio had hoped it would be launching its biggest summer thrill ride.

To be honest, I haven’t even read the entire coverstory for fear of reading too much about the movie that is still over a week away from release. If you are so inclined, you can read the article online HERE and risk the spoilers for yourself (a new trailer for The Dark Knight ran in front of Hancock last night and I tried to cover my eyes … there’s just so much TDK stuff out there that I don’t want to see any more until the movie comes out on the 18th). Even still … there is a lot of cool stuff that I think we can see safely, without fear of spoiling the movie. After the jump, check out a photo of Heath Ledger wearing The Joker prosthetics on his face but without make-up … it’s kind of an eerie thing to see …

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The viral marketing campaign for Batman: The Dark Knight has just unveiled a new poster to promote the movie’s July 18 release:

I love it. I want to see this movie, like NOW. Head on over to Superhero Hype! to download this poster in Hi-Res size.

[Source]

Rolling Stone magazine movie critic Peter Travers has reviewed the new Batman sequel The Dark Knight, giving the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, and has posted it online for your reading pleasure. I will post only the introductory portion of the review for those of you who do not want to be spoiled:

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan’s absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005’s Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up.

Sounds pretty positive thus far … if you want to read the rest of the extensive Rolling Stone review (chock full of plot spoilers) then read on …

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