The Dark Knight is the latest in the new incarnation of the Batman movies (which started with Batman Begins). If you saw any of the trailers for this movie you know that it was pretty dark.  The primary villian in this movie was The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, who was a demented and insane individual who was intent on destroying Batman.  Ledger's portrayal of The Joker was psychotic and intense.  The Joker certainly was an uncomfortable character to be around.   This movie also explored more of Bruce Wayne's phychological state.  The Joker and Batman show two different ways of dealing with similar mental stuggles and issues.

Somehow in all my college education I missed any classes on economics. Feeling like I might be missing some important information I decided to pick up a basic economics book from the library and read through it.  It was my good luck to find this particular book because it provides a broad overview of the entire field of economics but at a level that an ordinary person can understand.  I learned a lot from the book.  There was more than just some facts and statistics.  Instead the author spent a lot of time explaining how to think about economics.

Henry Poole is a troubled man with a troubled past.  A broken and dysfunctional family left him to be an angry, sad, and frustrated man.  Then, when he receives news that he has a fatal illness he decides to check out.  He moves to a small suburban house somewhere in California and has just one request: leave me alone.  Yet that is just what his nosy neighbor will not do.  To make matters worse, a mysterious image of the face of Jesus appears in the poor stucco job on the side of his house.  Thus, the stage is set for a humorous but thought provoking exploration of the role of faith in a man's life.

Reading the news concerning the Republican Convention, especially the readers' comments on various articles, I'm getting the sense that either some Dems are panicing or it is just my imagination.  A week ago the criticisms that I saw bantered about were just the normal party politics and loyal soldiers on both sides firing little jabs and barbs at each other.  There was always the guy who popped out to call the other side stupid, lame, ignorant, etc.  And also the patriot who boldly states that the other side is simply going to ruin the country.  Up till now I was always seeing the same amount of hysteria and hyperbole coming from both sides.  Over the last few days the noise from the Dem side of the election has risen considerably.

I love finding new musical surprises.  It is exciting to find some band who you've never heard of, pop in their CD, and be quite pleased with their music.  I've had a few of these experiences of the last few months.  After Edmund is just one of the new bands I've stumbled upon.  Great stuff.  The best description of their sound is anthemic modern pop rock.  Think of a beefier version of U2 with vocals more like Switchfoot.  

If you've been reading my blog here then you will notice that I've been somewhat intrigued by this year's election.  Several months ago I indicated that Obama has a great chance to win because of several different factors.  None of those seemed to be because he had a lot of experience but instead were mostly image based.  Even still he is all about image with no substance.  Obama supporters, please don't take that as a criticism, it is just a fact.  He wants to make changes but he's not saying what or how.  There's nothing wrong with being an "idea guy" and that's not my point.  My point is that this election is a lot about image.

As the US is gearing up for the 2008 Presidential Election it seems like a good idea to have a movie about the circus that the election can become.  Swing Vote does that well.  The story revolves around Bud, a cronic underachiever, and his precocious daughter.  On election day Bud forgets to vote so his daughter does it for him.  However, the machine fails while she is trying to vote.  Nervous, she scampers away from the polling place and hopes she doesn't get in trouble.  In a situation reminiscent of Florida, the entire country's vote comes down to one state, in fact, it all comes down to the one precinct where Bud was supposed to vote.  And, of course, it's a tie but Bud's vote didn't count.  Due to the machine malfunction Bud is given another opportunity to vote.  And this time,  his one vote will decide who the next president is.