Cool Villains - Vigo The Carpathian

No blockbuster movie is complete without a cool badass villain, and this guy is no exception.

Enter Vigo The Carpathian! He was the baddie in the 1989 sequel to the phenomenally successful "Ghostbusters". Fictional though he was, apparently the character was inspired by historical figures such as Vlad The Impaler and Rasputin.

He was played by a guy called Wilhelm Von Homburg AKA Norbert Grupe, who himself was quite a character, if the Wiki entry on him is any indication.

Many years ago I played the PC version of Blood Omen, the first in the series of games featuring the Angry Young Man turned vampire, Kain. Whenever I pictured Kain back then, I always thought of Vigo.

Deep Thought of The Day! (tm)

The world is going to hell in a handbasket!

'Nuff said.

The Dark Knight 2-disc special edition DVD set

Guess what I got on DVD? ;-)

As to be expected, this set is top quality stuff, with both high-quality image and sound, the latter seems to explode out of my humble speakerset like no tomorrow!

The second disc has an extensive - but not TOO extensive -"making of" series of featurettes, trailers, and more originally, a series of fictional TV shows and news reports featuring key characters from the movie, nicely fleshing out the movie's background story and giving some insight in the Dark Knight world.

Dark Knight is definitely one of my favourite movies this year, and as such this set was an absolute must-have. Highly recommended!

Batman: Gotham Knight 2-Disc Special Edition

Two days ago I received the Batman: Gotham Knight Special Edition. I've
mentioned it before; as you may know, it's this animatrix-like collection of
short anime stories based on & inspired by the recent Batman movies.

For some reason I didn't seem able to get hold of the 2-disc edition here in
the Old Continent (tm), so I had no choice but to order it from an American
site.

But I figured it was worth it, and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed.
Having, erh, do*COUGH*wnloaded the game before, I wanted it and I wanted to
get me the extras.

IMO they were worth it. One is an exploration of both Batman himself and the
eccentric villains that populate Gotham city. Which I really liked. Nothing
really earth-shattering, I suppose, but I did like it enough to watch it
twice in a row. I guess that means something. :-)

Then there was a documentary on Bob Kane, who apparently was quite a
character in his own right.

On top of that, there was an interesting selection of episodes from the
Batman animated series from the 90's. One of them in particular was
interesting in that it featured some kids talking about how they knew/saw
Batman, an idea that was revisited in one of the actual anime episodes, but
the way it was done was nice: in one kid's version, Batman, Robin and the
villains looked like they did in the 60's series intro, and with the story
reflecting the campy wackiness of that series.

Another part was way cool in that they actually did what was basically an
animated version of a chapter from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns"
in which Batman takes on some gang, and its leader, all done in the drawing
style that was used in the actual graphic novel. Great stuff!

That's basically it. Highly recommended!

The Dark Knight

Batman's back, and he's pissed off! Well, he's always like that, really, because that's just the sort of person he is. But anyway...

Christian Bale returns as Wayne/Batman, and does a pretty decent job. He gets to have some funny scenes having Bruce Wayne goof around, while being dead serious and focused as the Dark Knight. Which illustrates a point one of the characters made in Batman Begins: which is the disguise? Batman? Or is it as Bruce Wayne that he is playing a role?

In this latest movie we are re-introduced to Batman's old nemesis, an enigmatic villain who is known only as the Joker. Despite his clownish appearance he is a force to be reckoned with: highly intelligent, unpredictable and extremely dangerous.

As we all know this is Heath Ledger's final role, and man, talk about going out with a bang! His portrayal is multilayered, giving us a villain that's interesting and fascinating without hamming it up or chewing the scenery. This is a more realistic take on the Joker that fits in with the entire direction the franchise has taken with Batman Begins.

Bottom line: well, I like it! This has been a great year for superhero movies (I loved the Iron Man movie).

This is Belgian - New Beat

Anyone remember New Beat?

Ulysses 31

This has got to be one of the best series I watched way back in the 1980's.

It's called Ulysses 31, and it was based on the ancient tales of Ulysses.

Lego is cool

I've been looking for a decent, affordable, Blade Runner Spinner model for years! either they're vewwwwy expensive, or impossible to find - or both. And that's on a GOOD day!

But this custom-made lego version (found here)got me drooling. Great likeness, very detailed, great colors... As close to perfect as you are going to get using legos!

Check this page for an entire gallery of stuff made by this person called Kaitimar.

Deckard is a replicant! Neener neener

One of the persistent controversies surrounding Blade Runner has always been the matter of Ridley Scott's hints that Deckard himself is the very thing he is hunting -a replicant. It is a religious discussiuon; people are very passionate about how they feel about it. Some will deny to the bitter, bloody, gory end that this is nonsense, even if the director himself has been telling us over and over that he is.