Brussels was absolutely amazing. We really only had one day there, but we managed to do a lot. We:

-Got up early and had breakfast in the Grande Plaza.
-Walked around to see the little statue of the peeing boy (which is apparently THE MOST POPULAR thing to see in Brussels (wut?)
-Went to a comic book store where I purchased 1) Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone, 2) The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and 3) Sandman: The Dolls House all in French.
-Went to the Beer Museum (where your 6 euro entrance fee buys you a seat for the movie and a cherry lambic and that's about it.
-Ate a Belgian waffle covered in bananas and chocolate syrup for lunch.
-Drank beer made by monks with some locals, who were friend's of Kate's traveling companion, Andrea.
-Got to see a large part of the city with said locals, who's names were Kevin and Crystal.
-Had raspberry beer in a bar that looked like it was decorated in early 1920 and probably was.
-Had peach beer out of a skull in a Vampire themed bar called The Coffin, which had coffins for tables. Hee. Coffin table.
-Went into a crazy shoe store or three. Almost bought some New Rocks and then remembered how much they cost.
-Shopped for chocolate in a mall that wasn't a mall and felt more like a cathedral.
-Had honey beer in the Delirium Tremens pub off of Butcher Street.
-Had grilled sole for dinner on Butcher Street. It was delicious!
-Drank Absinthe with Kate and Andrea after packing my bags for the last time.

( Photo from the Vampire Pub: )

It was a phenomenal weekend/day/whatever. I miss Kate so so much, and we've got several trips that we're looking into on the horizon, and I can't wait to see her again!!


The flight back from Brussels was uneventful and long, and we landed and then I got to go have Sushi dinner with Jessi who was still in town from Caps Con. Bonus!

I forced myself to stay up until 9 PM and then I crashed.

And woke up at 2:45.

And couldn't go back to sleep until 4 AM.



My first day back at work was a haze.

My first day back at training included the ever awesome thewronghands teaching us how to roll like Ninjas. It didn't even matter that I was hazed or tired, I had a fantastic time.


The good news is I only gained one single pound on vacation, and I've already lost it. We've started a new weight loss challenge, and I'm trying to get to 147 by Oct 15th, and 145 by Oct 24th. I'm 153 today, so I think I'm capable. Especially after having been on vacation, I don't feel like I've been depriving myself. In fact, I feel like its probably necessary to deprive myself for awhile, because I feel like I've been going a bit crazy with the cheating, and I feel guilty about my lack of exercise. So, no time like the present!

145 here I come!

So far, I absolutely love it. The screen is beautiful and so easy to read, totally glare free. It's light, its relatively well designed, although I have to get used to holding it so I don't accidentally hit the "Next Page" button with my right thumb when I'm not trying to.

The wireless service works pretty well for computer initiated downloads via amazon.com or by emailing a PDF to my account @kindle.com, but I ran into some unresponsiveness when trying to access the Kindle Store on the device which led to the damn thing accidentally purchasing a random book called "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". O_o

To be fair, I was trying to use it in a parking garage without very many bars of service. ;)

No problem though, I called Amazon and got it all sorted and they refunded and said not to worry that it happens sometimes and that they would always issue a credit if I bought a book on accident.

I reckon if I do it too much or read too much of the book, they might start asking questions, though. ;)

The main thing I'm not impressed with is that they charge you to ship yourself a PDF file. They don't charge a LOT, and it's still cheaper than re-purchasing the PDF books I already had.

Apparently they charge according to file size.

Here's the email I received with the charges:

I - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.30

II - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.15

III - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.30

IV - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.30

V - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.60

VI - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.30

VII - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.45

Fight Club.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.15

Nietzsche, Friedrich - Beyond Good and Evil.pdf [Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)], Price: $0.15


Also, OotP shouldn't be MORE than Deathly Hallows.... unless they charge extra for CAPSLOCK usage.

I'm a bit disappointed that they charge me to send PDFs, but at the same time I understand it, because of the bandwidth issue. Also, the charge will keep me from filling the damn thing full of useless stuff I don't really want, so that's probably a good thing.

They're so far not charging me for Internet use at all, which is all kinds of awesome.

Overall, I'm finding myself completely in love with this thing. At any given time, I am usually reading two books at once... One that is basically brain Doritos, like the Sookie Stackhouse novels, and one that is a bit more challenging, such as The Seven Daughters of Eve. It makes it pretty convenient for me to be able to switch back and forth depending on mood, without having to lug two books around. I've also got my eye on some travel guides to get for England and Brussels, and how awesome would it be to not have to carry a book with you for each region you're visiting?

In conclusion... Love. And a tiny bit of annoyance. But mostly love.

ETA: I totally forgot about the dictionary feature. If you're reading a book and come upon a word you want to know the actual dictionary definition, all you have to do is highlight it.

Also unexpected was the text to speech feature, which basically reads the book to you. This is fantastic for blind people, or people with sight problems, but also for random long road trips when you're bored. It has an audio jack so you can just unplug the iPod and plug in the Kindle. COOL.

So, this weekend I decided to take some time to give my hip a chance to heal. Sometimes things just need to rest. So Friday after the big corporate hoohah out on the lawn, and when I was done stripping bays that are supposed to be picked up this morning, I bailed out of work and skipped the gym. I knew I wasn't going to be able to go on Saturday because of tubing, but I skipped it anyhow.

We instead went out to the outlet mall to find some board shorts since both pair I have are kind of too big now. I can still wear them, but I have to be careful not to lose them, lol.

Anyway, Pac Sun was entirely out of board shorts. WTF?

So we wandered into Adidas and I found myself trying on running shoes. I haven't bought a pair of running shoes since I started training to do the Race for the Cure 5k last June. I've been wearing the same pair since then, so I figured it might be about time, considering my hip issues.

I ended up trying on a couple of pairs and then running around the store. The manager was laughing at me and encouraging me. It was pretty hilarious, but whatever, I needed to make sure! PS, I guess this is why Dick's has a track. :)

I ended up with these: adidas Running Megabounce TruVersa. (I didn't pay that much, but zappos has great pictures!) They are super bouncy and recommended for people who run hard on their heels, which HI. I can't wait to try them out at lunch today. :)


Anyway, Saturday I left early and met up with my friend Denice and we drove up to Front Royal to hit the campsite. It wasn't our usual campsite, it was a pay as you stay one with showers and bathrooms and it was fairly awesome even if it did remind me of another campsite featured in a movie about a guy in a hockey mask.

( Camping + Tubing )

I came back and read and took a nap and then got up and watched Torchwood: Children of Earth. It was fantastic and I totally cried, THANKS. I'm keeping my mouth shut, cause I know not everyone has seen it yet.

Also, last night I finally finished 2666. It was interesting and a good read, but man. HUGE. I'm going to read a Sookie Stackhouse book now, because my brain needs some doritoes.

Courtesy of shadowbody, who linked it this AM:



Also: mediocrechick has already put up some gorgeous screen caps!

Can't wait! Can't wait!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Exclusive: Stephen King on J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer

Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."

Also:

People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual.

Interesting. I also found his comparison of Matheson and Lovecraft to be particularly brilliant.

"People always say to me, 'Well, what about H.P. Lovecraft?' And the thing was, you read Lovecraft when you were a kid but I never felt that he was speaking my language. It was chillier than my heart was, and when Matheson started to write about ordinary people and stuff, that was something that I wanted to do. I said, 'This is the way to do it. He’s showing the way.' I think that I serve that purpose for some writers, and that’s a good thing.

I adore Lovecraft, but his stories are very detached and many of them from a scientific perspective which is just not how my brain works. I had to struggle to get through some of them. Every Matheson story I've ever read I just ate up. I read I Am Legend in a little over a weekend and came out the other side of it seriously having withdrawl from being with the character.

I stopped reading King's fiction awhile ago, but his stories definitely influenced me as a writer, because I read them almost exclusively from about 12-14. Except the Shining. I never got through the bathtub scene. *hides under pillow*

Someday I'll have to go back and re-visit some of his classics, because I know there was stuff under the surface I missed because of my lack of life experience.

I DID read his book "On Writing" a bit ago, and its pretty amazing. I highly recommend it. I might have to get his new book, Stephen King Goes to the Movies because it is apparently not what I thought it was. I kind of assumed it was reprints of the reviews he's done of other people's movies.

I was obviously wrong:

Product Description
Stephen King revisits five of his favorite short stories that have been turned into films: The Shawshank Redemption (based on the novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption") was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and best actor for Morgan Freeman. 1408 starred John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson and was a huge box office success in 2007. The short story "Children of the Corn" was adapted into the popular Children of the Corn. The Mangler was inspired by King's loathing for laundry machines from his own experience working in a laundromat. Hearts in Atlantis (based on "Low Men in Yellow Coats," the first part of the novel Hearts in Atlantis) starred Anthony Hopkins.

This collection features new commentary and introductions to all of these stories in a treasure-trove of movie trivia.

Maybe I'll grab it to read on my trip. :)

I have been informed that my journal has not been informative enough as of late, because I haven't posted about things going on! So here are a few things I've been doing!

- I went to Baltimore with Mark and our friends Brandon and Paige last night to see a metal show. The two bands that we actually got to see were Gojira and In Flames. They were both pretty awesome, although not my usual cup of tea. Also, I couldn't really get all the lyrics and so I found myself highly amused with what I thought they were saying, but probably weren't.

- I watched Becoming Jane on my new DVD player via Netflix streaming. They are streaming HD! YAY! James McAvoy is dreamy. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, not being a giant fan of Jane Austen. It was well done, although I'm not certain how historically accurate ;)

- I went to O'Faolain's tonight with my friend Gail and we had drinks and dinner and hung out for several hours chatting and had a fantastic time. This needs to happen way more often. ;)

- I read the House of Night series. A bit teen angsty, but really interesting as far as Vampire Mythos goes. I'm also halfway through the second book in the Blue Bloods series. Both are well written, but there's so much brand whoring and gossip girling in them that I find it hard to care much about most of the characters.

- I finished Beedle the Bard this morning. I was expecting all the fairy tales, but I wasn't expecting the 'expert commentary' by Albus Dumbledore. Fantastic.

The thing that really stuck out for me the most though, was in the commentary after Babbity Rabbity in which he states that a wizard must be powerful and intelligent in order to become an animagus.

Does someone want to explain to me how, then, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter managed to accomplish this? Just wondering.

The book was cute and clever and fun and all the net proceeds go to a good cause. What more could you want, other than about, oh, 400 pages?

- New icon was necessary after my Thanksgiving experience.

- I've started cramming for my A+ certification test. I'm sick of waiting to see if AOL is going to pay for it, and I'm just going to pay for it myself and hope they reimburse me after I pass it. Regardless, its something I need to do to validate myself for my career, so it really doesn't matter. I'm setting a date of Jan 31 to take the test, but I'm hoping to take it way sooner.

- I leave for Mississippi on Wednesday. I'm supposed to document everything that goes down while I'm there for their site, so expect mirror posts here. :)

Hope everyone is having a luverly weekend. :)

Maryland Renaissance Festival - Link for my mom (who I'm taking when she's here in October - YAY!) and anyone else who wants it. Its probably one of the better Renn Fests in the country. The location is gorgeous (all those trees! And SHADE! The one in AZ almost killed me, I'm not kidding. It was so bad.) and there are miles and miles of vendors. Plus, turkey legs.

I'm so excited to go! I didn't get to go last year at all, and this year its looking like I'll get to go TWICE!

---

Its starting to cool off at night, makes me very very happy. Fall is on the way, I can smell it in the air. Or maybe that's just all the trees at work dying because they stopped paying the groundskeepers. Cost cutting, you know. Anyway. Fall. Lovely. I can't wait to wear my new coat. I got it at H & M. It's beautiful.

---

Midnight Sun leaked to the internet. The first 12 chapters anyhow. Let's talk about how Robert Pattinson had like, the only copy. Ok, the only copy I know of.

I read it in like three hours.

Its way better than Breaking Dawn. In fact, she should have released this shit first and kept working on Breaking Dawn until it wasn't ridiculous. The more I think about that book, the more I am highly disturbed by it. If I ever re-read these books? I'm skipping to the end of BD, after the vamping. Cause seriously. WHUT?

PS, some of the pages are out of order. Someone was clearly high when they were numbering/scanning.

---

DRAGONCON next weekend! SO STOKED. I totally made a list of all the stuff I need for each costume, because I totally forgot so much stuff for Terminus. Let's talk about how amazing our dresses are. I have a picture. I could post it. Would that ruin the surprise?

---

17 days to NYC! We're going to Ellis Island! And we're going to try and hit John's Pizza on Friday, because every time I try to go, the line is around the block. Hoping Friday is better than Saturday for that. Also, we have tickets to see Equus. And if we're very very lucky, we'll get out to Jersey to see a friend's band play afterwards.

We've got a ride back into the city, now we just have to figure out how to get there on a train, or if a cab is worth it. And we sort of want to get there in less than two hours. Anyone have any ideas?

24 days to Boston! I guess I should go ahead and make that Sailing reservation. Doh! The hotel is ridiculous, and the only reason we can afford to stay there is because after Dragon*Con, I'll have enough Marriott points (I have to buy a few...thousand) to get a free night. Woot.

---

You all know the stories about Changelings, right? Where a child is off playing in the woods and gets stolen by faeries and is replaced with a faery disguised as them? Sometimes the Changeling goes back and is an absolute snot, refusing to do anything the parents ask, and sometimes it is sick, weak, crippled or dies off within a short amount of time.

Its almost become a formula for a story, Yeats wrote a spectacular poem about them called The Stolen Child (copied from wikipedia):

Away with us he's going,

The solemn-eyed -

He'll hear no more the lowing

Of the calves on the warm hillside

Or the kettle on the hob

Sing peace into his breast,

Or see the brown mice bob

Round and round the oatmeal chest

For he comes the human child

To the waters and the wild

With a fairy, hand in hand

For this world's more full of weeping than he can understand

Clearly not the first literary reference to Changelings, Shakespeare uses one in Midsummer Night's dream and he likely pulled it from Irish, Scottish or Welsh mythology, because they're all over Changelings.


Poll #1243827 Changelings
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

Why do you think Changeling Stories (in literature or mythology) came about and gained popularity?

I confess I loved them as a child because sometimes I wished the faeries would come and steal me away. But there's a childish part of me that sometimes wishes that my brother was stolen as a child and he's still out there somewhere living with faeries, never having grown up to get cancer.

What do you think?

So, last weekend we watched a movie called Black Sheep. It was absolutely ridiculous and totally hilarious.

Here's a trailer.

Its just like Dead Alive, except instead of turning into zombies, everyone becomes zombie sheep. It was hysterical. I freaking love stupid horror movies.

---

I'm three-quarters of the way through Breaking Dawn. Last night at like 1 AM, I finished act two and apparently could not suppress my commentary. Mark rolled over and went "WTF?" and I was like "Doh. Was that my outside voice?"

HAHAHA.

I'd tell you what I exclaimed, but that would be rude and spoilery. In case anyone I know is reading this. Since my friends list is generally over 17 years old, I don't imagine that many of you are, unless you're permanently stunted as a teenage girl, as I am. ;)

---

Also, its my birthday! YAY! I'm going to have a great day!

I hope everyone else does too!

http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060558123&WT.mc_id=author_AmerGods_FullAccess_022208

Neil Gaiman's spectacular novel, American Gods, is online for FREE for the next week.

Go forth and read!

I read Bloody Jack while I was on vacation in Jamaica, which was PERFECT scenery for it! It was all kinds of fun. Its about an orphan girl who disguises herself as a boy and signs on to become a ship's boy aboard the HMS Dolphin. The narrator is clever and funny and the story was fast paced and a great adventure. Definitely great weekend reading.

Last night, I finished I Capture the Castle. It started off a bit slow, but it picked up quickly and I loved it, especially the end. It was heartbreaking and beautiful. The last two lines, I had tears in my eyes. Very poignant and sweet. Highly recommended.

I finally read Wuthering Heights, on the plane today on the way home. May I add that reading on planes is one of my favourite parts of flying, because I don't have to feel guilty about indulging in the tearing through of a book because I have other things to do and so on?

But I digress.

Read it, enjoyed it very much. I'm currently packing for my camping trip, and the holly tree outside is scratching at the window, and it makes me wonder if its Catherine outside, still wandering.

I love when stories and life randomly collide like that.

Its still dark out, and I'm awake. I must be in New Mexico.

I landed last night about an hour late after several delays including a random Dulles ground stop that had us chilling on the tarmac for an hour, a thunderstorm in Arkansas and Oklahoma that had us going 300 miles out of the way to avoid it and when we arrived, we had to wait another fifteen or so before the guy with the orange glow sticks showed up to guide us into the gate.

I got to see deliriumdreams briefly, we had dinner and drinks before she dropped me back off again. Today, my mom and I are likely going to Dixon Farm up by Cochiti Lake.

Also, while I'm here we're going to the Balloon Fiesta, the Trinity Site. I'm not going to go up in a balloon, although I've talked about it, and I really want to. Its too expensive right now, and I'm doing too much travel right now to add that to growing list of things I need money for.

I'm thrilled to be here. In a minute, I'm going to go outside and walk around and see if there are any balloons up. I remember that, everyday in the fall walking to school. I miss it, a lot. New Mexico is nice in the fall. I can't wait to see the lake and get up into the mountains and see the aspens.



I've been reading Broken Summers by Henry Rollins, which is a journal that he kept during the arrangement, recording, release and subsequent supporting tour for Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three. It is equal parts fascinating and inspiring.

Interesting to hear about some of the interviews he did at and around the Memphis show. He talked to Pam Hobbs and explained that all they wanted was the truth and said he was truly sorry about what happened to her son, and he said she was pretty nice about the whole thing, despite the fact that she brought a bunch of TV cameras with her and was protesting the show.

I don't understand the mindset that people get behind when they start protesting something like what he did. Ok, so they're guilty and you're sure of it. Why are you upset that people want to test the DNA evidence? Do you want it on your concience if OOPS it turns out that he was innocent and he got put to death anyway? Is that ok? Is it ok for Jason and Jessie to spend their whole lives in lockup?

There are all kinds of people, especially close to the area, who apparently are dead set that they're guilty. Right on. It must be cool to know something so completely and not have questions about the way shit went down. Luckily, there were more people out there who still had questions, or had a need to hear some great music or maybe both. I remember the show in DC, and shouting the lyrics of along with the rest of the crowd so loud I lost my voice for days and jumping up and down and enjoying the hell out of myself. It felt immense. Like our little group was part of something bigger.

Its especially cool to read this now, knowing that they sent a LOT of money down to West Memphis, and the defense fund put it to use right away testing DNA. Its been a few years now, and the lab has finally gotten through all the evidence and the testing is complete. Lorri Davis is Damien's wife, and champion outside the prison walls, and she wrote a really nice letter for the WM3.org site, and when I saw it, I sent them 20 dollars that I really didn't have, because they needed it more than me anyhow.

She wrote me back personally and thanked me for it and said that they're filing the appeal very soon.

Everything I've read about the evidence, everything they've released so far points to their innocence. They didn't find a single piece of evidence that would prove in a fair court that those boys had anything to do with that awful murder.

And yet there they sit. Waiting.

And here I sit, hoping. Hoping that they get to have the appeal in a fair court. It's kind of their right.

In case you were wondering what happened to this...I've been putting it off because I have SO much stuff. :)

Write ups are categorized by day and by panel. Hopefully this doesn't get too confusing. ;) There are photos in some of them, fyi. ;)

Apologies for typos or for lack of context for quotes. I took the best notes I could without carting a laptop around ;)

Friday

( The Black Dog, The Curtain and the Other World  )

( The Science of Harry Potter )

( Playing in Jo's World )

( Hogwarts by the Pacific: Harry Potter goes to College )

( The Fountain Told A Lie )

After that, I went to Quidditch, and made it back in time for the ( Poster Session )

Saturday

( Illuminati Influence in Harry Potter )

( The Horcrux of the Matter )

( J.K. Rowling's Library )

( Lost in Translation )

( Voldemort: Shadow, Sociopath, Sinner )

( Magical Brew for Literacy )

( Enduring Grief in The Boy Who Lived )

( Harry Potter and the Battle over Censorship )

( Welcome to the Wizarding World )

I know you've been waiting for these!!

There are only two shots of me in here, cause they're my photos, but I'm hoping that Meredith or Dana got some shots of fedzgurl91 and I crashing the Harry and the Potters show. Or of us doing Attacking Chest Monster. Or something. ;)

Times like this make me wish I'd thought to hook up the camera to a tripod and get a photo of all of us in our fantastic, amazing costumes. But I didn't. Dammit. Next time!

Instead, Voldemort takes the cake, cause this shot, with all the smoke and the red eyes is just off the hook.


He's going to kill you.

( More photos!! Plus stories! )

You can find other assorted photos from this con at the link. Quidditch will be up later :)

Full Gallery ° Slideshow

Seriously, you guys. I had one of the greatest weekends EVER.

I wasn't certain what to expect from a Harry Potter conference, but I have to say that it vastly overwhelmed my expectations. It was intellectually stimulating, fun, and actually kind of validating. Here are all of these people who are educators, scholars, philosophers, and they're analyzing Harry Potter!

I suddenly felt like all the time I've spent thinking about these books wasn't silly, because there is so much depth in there! Things I never thought of, or things I thought of only peripherally were delved into with great detail and presented in a clever, charismatic and at times downright entertaining manner.

It was brilliant.

In between the presentations, we hung out in the various restaurants, bars, hallways, and coffee houses and had conversations ranging from incredibly interesting to downright hilarious. We wore robes and costumes and we bought too much shit from the vendor room.

We went to a Wizard Rock concert, featuring Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys. We went to the midnight showing of Goblet of Fire and shouted completely inappropriate things at the screen along with all of the other fans.

We had a fantastic time, we laughed SO much and we enjoyed almost all of the weekend. Trying to get back into America was a different story, since apparently every American in the world went to Canada this weekend, and they all decided to go back at the same time we did. We sat on the Ambassador bridge for almost two hours and I missed my flight, and had to fly standby on the 930 PM flight. Which was fine, except that it didnt leave until 1030 or so, and I landed barely before midnight. It was well into the 2 o'clock hour before I was able to get any sleep.

But I'm not going to let that last bullshit ruin what was a fantastic weekend. I had SO much fun! I made two new friends, I got to see fedzgurl91 and virginiadare and I got to spend a whole weekend totally geeking out over books. It was GREAT.

PS. I'm going to do a full write-up on some of the stuff that was discussed later this week in case anyone is interested.

I finished the book last night at 2 AM. My nefarious plan to be not spoiled worked (for the most part, the one I found out, I had long suspected) and I managed to make it through all of the almost 800 pages in a weekend where reading was the least of what I did.

I'm so glad that I didn't know what was going to happen. And I'm so glad that it was sort of set up that even if you KNEW how it ended, you didn't really know.

Great freaking book.

Also, I <3 Boston. I want to go back! It was so much fun!

More later...:)

Both from SciFiWire:

Batman Sequel is Dark Knight

Warner Brothers announced that its upcoming sequel to 2005's hit Batman Begins will be called The Dark Knight and will feature Heath Ledger as the Joker.

Christopher Nolan is set to direct from a script by Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer, who both wrote the screenplay for the previous film. Christian Bale, who played Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins, will again play the Caped Crusader. Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan will produce.

"I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins," Christopher Nolan said in a statement. "Our challenge in casting the Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented, but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on Christian Bale's Batman is going to be incredible." Production is set to begin on The Dark Knight in early 2007.

The Dark Knight appears to be an allusion to Frank Miller's groundbreaking 1986 graphic novel Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which redefined the character with a darkly psychological take and paved the way for subsequent comic and film interpretations of him, including Tim Burton's gothic Batman film in 1989.

We can only hope its based on Frank Miller's novel! Also, Heath Ledger, whaaaaa? I accidentally read Nolan's statement without the "just" in "not just extraordinarily talented" and then realised my mistake. Whatever, it doesn't matter who the surrounding cast is, as long as Bale is wearing the Cape and Cowl. I think Katie Holmes proved that in the last film, although I would like to see Michael Caine back as Alfred. :)

Also interesting that the directors brother, Jonathan, is working on the screenplay. He wrote the original story, Memento Mori, that Christopher turned into the brilliant film, Memento, which starred Guy Pierce.

---

Also, apparently several authors are begging Jo Rowling to let Harry Potter live!

fedzgurl91 mentioned this to me last night, and I finally saw the article and had to share.

Authors: Don't Kill Harry!

Best-selling authors John Irving and Stephen King both made a plea to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling not to kill the boy wizard in the final book of the series, but Rowling made no promises, the Reuters news service reported.

"My fingers are crossed for Harry," Irving said at a joint news conference before a charity reading by the three writers at New York's Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 1.

Added horrormeister King: "I don't want him to go over the Reichenbach Falls," a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's efforts to kill off the character of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.

Awesome.