Xanthippe and I rolled out to take in The Dark Knight yesterday evening. It was a good film. Heath Ledger certainly stole the show with his portrayal of The Joker. Bat-Man was clearly a second stringer, everyone had more character than him from Bruce Wayne to Commissioner Gordon.  A few bits were far too comic-bookish for my tastes but, after all, this is a Bat-Man movie. Some bits were absolutely made of awesome. The biggest downside was rolling away from the cinemaplex afterward with my dear bride going on and on about chaos and how she wants to be The Joker. I don't know what they've got on the radar for the next installment, but I hope they do The Cult plot arc. On the other hand, I'd not be surprised if better Bat-Man stories have been inked since the last I read a comic book. I'm also looking forward to Christian Bale getting old and barrel chested so that they can do The Dark Knight Returns.

Here's the money shot from my local parish priest's review:

It makes a serious exploration of some universal themes in a dramatically attractive way.  Though quite entertaining, it is equally unsettling. "The Dark Knight" unfolds within a seemingly "closed universe," but still raises, if even unconsciously, genuine "theological" issues. Hard, thoughtful questions and moral/ethical dilemmas are raised, without easy ready-made answers.  "The Dark Knight," through the dominating presence of the Joker, also raises the troubling issue posed by genuine works of art of making evil characters, if not the most appealing or attractive, certainly the most fascinating, intriguing and convincing.

Today, after days upon days of waiting, Xanthippe and I signed a lease for a nice little pad up in Silver Spring. I think the entire staff of the leasing office earned degrees in doofusry with minors in asshattery. They seemed nice enough, just utterly clueless. Despite several explanations of our situation, they seemed in no hurry to do any of the paperwork. My wife thought they were being malicious. I think they just need a cup of motivation. But we now have everything we need to do things like fill out change of address cards and register the wee tykes for their lessons. Regrettably, we forgot to bring the family Bible, which is still considered an acceptable proof of date of birth for children entering Maryland's public schools. We'll have to send it air mail with the other requisite documentation such as photographs of the track marks that will serve as proof of their respective vaccination histories.

Yesterday (or was it the day before) I registered with Wikipedia and modified an article for the first time. It was an exceedingly small edit to a rather inconsequential article.

I have more stuck in my head, but I'm too tired to pound it out. I'm headed for the sack.