Batman: Gotham Knight (Part 2)

In Darkness Dwells
Another direct link to the Christian Bale Batman era, segment #4 builds on the Dark Knight's growing relationship with Lt. Gordon. It also showed the detective side of Batman as he and Gordon trade facts, trying to track their enemies. On the villan's side it continued the Scarecrow storyline from Batman Begins and threw in Killer Croc from the comics. Batman had a demonic look in this one. His cowl had some extra edges to it.

Working Through Pain
There were two parts to this one... the current timeline and a flashback. In the current timeline, a wounded Batman tries to make his way out of the sewers. The flashback he has while down there takes place during the years Bruce Wayne traveled the world to build various skills. This one focused on fakir techniques in India. I enjoyed this segment because a lot of the dialog was allegorical and gave some insight into Batman's psyche.

Deadshot
They saved the best for last. Deadshot touches on how Batman feels about guns and why he doesn't use them. However, he needs to be familiar with them because his enemies use them. The figures are as realistic as Crossfire. Batman looked very much like the classic comic book version.

I gave high ratings all around because I was really surprised by how good this DVD was. Its release was overshadowed by Dark Knight in the theaters, so it may not have made as many sales as if it were released a few weeks earlier. The action, though short is very fluid and rhythmic. The Japanese animators did a great job. The stories and acting were a perfect compliment to the artwork and the voice of Batman would not have been the same if it was anyone other than Kevin Conroy. The special features on both discs were very complete. As expected, there was a commentary track, making of featurettes and bonus episodes from Batman: The Animated Series. During the commentary, there was a touching 9/11 story shared by Conroy. This 2-disc set is a must for any Batman fan.

Related: Batman: Gotham Knight, Batman: The Dark Knight, YouTube

Batman: Gotham Knight (Part 1)

Story: 9
Action: 7
Acting: 8
FX: 8
Durability: 7
Special Features: 6

Note: I'm splitting this review into two parts because there's a lot cover. This first part will over my introduction and the first 3 segments. The second part will cover the last 3 + my ratings explained.

Gotham Knight is a series of Batman stories that takes place between Batman Begins and Dark Knight. It's written by David Goyer of Batman Begins and Alan Burnett from Batman: The animated Series. Batman is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who voiced pretty much every Batman animation since 1992. In my opinion, he does the Batman/Bruce Wayne voice better than any actor, including Christian Bale. The animation is done by some of the best Anime teams from Japan. So this mini-series is an all-star collaboration.

Have I Got a Story for You
The art in this one is probably the most abstract and stylized of the six. The figures aren't drawn in normal human proportions, but the emphasis was on the fluid animation. The style matches the synopsis because the point of the story was the various interpretations of what the Batman is. Since he operates in the shadows, no one really gets a good look at him. A bunch of kids share stories of their encounters the the Batman and each flashback is completely different, ranging from supernatural to sci-fi.

Crossfire
This segment reveals another view of Batman... this time from the point of view of 2 cops. One is trusting and the other still skeptical. Crossfire had the best artwork in my opinion. The characters were detailed and realistic. The artwork showed some influence from Fist of the North Star. Batman was tall and built, but with feline reflexes. The fight scene at the end was dramatic and action-packed.

Field Test
A bit of a change from the first 2 stories, the 3rd one featured the alter ego, Brue Wayne. The Wayne & Lucious Fox scenes matched the new movies perfectly. The characters were drawn and voiced to sound like Christian Bale and Morgan Freeman. The batsuit was in th style of a futuristic Japanese anime... there was a G-Force influence with the cape and cowl. The storyline was an important piece to how Batman developed his own rules and regulations.

To be continued...

DVDeals 7/27 - 8/2

DVD Tuesday
There are a bunch of nice new releases this week. I'll start with my favorite, Stargate: Continuum. This is the 2nd direct to DVD movie for the Stargate SG-1 saga. Both Circuit City and Best Buy have it for $17.99. Harold & Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay is $15.99 at both stores. Never Back Down is $15.99 at Circuit City... $2 lower than Best Buy.

Circuit City Deals
- Harold & Kumar go to White Castle for $3.99
- Invincible Ironman for $3.99
- Punisher for $3.99
- Bulletproof Monk for $3.99
- Doom for $3.99
- Unleashed for $3.99
- War for $7.99
- Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer for $7.99

Festive Sunday

There was no special occasion this weekend, but a bunch of us happened to be free and we haven't gotten together in a while. Actually, all of the special occasions are coming soon... Dad's Birthday, Dragonboat Festival and Wesley's Birthday. So we'll likely have more gatherings very soon! At tonight's dinner were Mom, Dad, Emily, Auntie Janice, Cindy, Wil, Wesley, Auntie Kim & Uncle Bock.

DVDeals 7/20 - 7/26

DVD Tuesday
There's nothing that great this week. Robot Chicken: Star Wars comes out on Tuesday. So that might be worth a look. I'm not familiar with the series, but Star Wars parodies are usually good. Circuit City has the best price @ $8.99.

Best Buy Deals
- Gangs of NY for $5.99
- The 13th Warrior for $5.99
- Scorpion King for $5.99
- Chronicles of Riddick for $5.99

Circuit City Deals
- Fearless for $9.99
- Mummy for $9.99
- Mummy II for $9.99
- The Island for $4.99
- Minority Report for $4.99
- i, Robot for $4.99
- Princess Bride for $4.99
- West Side Story for $4.99

Dragonboat 2007 Hi-res

Original Date: August 5, 2007

In my Picasa album, I mentioned that Charlotte was testing out her new Sony Alpha DSLR. The shots came out great. For most of them, we were standing from similar positions. My point-and-shoot gave me distant shots while the Alpha made it look like Charlotte was right in the middle of the action. When the dumpling eating contest was about to begin, they reserved the area up front for press photographers. I convinced Charlotte to get up there. They weren't really looking carefully at who had press passes and holding a DSLR looked professional enough. So her dumpling contest photos were especially close-up.

Click Here for Charlotte's Dragonboat 2007 Photos
Warning: The dumpling contest photos are especially graphic. Don't view these on a full stomach!

Dragonboat Preview

Original Dates: August 4-5, 2007

The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon... August 2-3 to be exact. I didn't have a blog yet at that time last year, but took a bunch of pictures of the event. So I thought I'd post a flashback as a preview to this year's race.


The event will be at the Meadow Lake of Flushing Meadow Park. The best way to get there is to take the train to Shea Stadium and then hop on the shuttle bus.

Tips:
- Wear sunblock. It's usually a hot day and there's very little shade in the Meadow Lake area.
- If you spend money at the booths, buy the cold drink and not the food. The drinks are very refreshing. The food is just OK, but overpriced. You're better off holding your hunger for Main St. (one stop away by subway).
- The area to the back of the food stands has the best shot of the finish line.

Related: Frommer's Events, Official Site, Wikipedia

DVDeals 7/13 - 7/19

DVD Tuesday
Probably prompted by the upcoming release of Batman: Dark Knight, an old series called Birds of Prey is coming out this Tuesday. This is an alternate Batman story that takes place in the future with a character called Huntress, who is the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. She teams up with Oracle (Barbara Gordon) and Black Canary to fight crime in Gotham. Buy.com wins the price war for this one... $28.99 for the full season and it qualifies for FREE shipping.

Best Buy Deals
- Casino Royale for $8.99
- War for $8.99
- Shooter for $8.99
- Batman Begins for $5.99
- Superman: Doomsday for $9.99
- Batman: Animated Series Seasons 1-4 for $17.99 each

Circuit City Deals
- Man on Fire for $6.99
- Rundown for $6.99
- Patriot for $7.99
- XXX for $7.99
- Ghost Rider for $7.99
- Curse of the Golden Flower for $7.99
- Rocky Balboa for $7.99
- Final Fantasy VII for $7.99

Takhisis 2.6 (Part 4)

So not much ended up being transferred over to the IBM because most essentials were already built-in. I just moved the 200 GB secondary drive over to the external case. I also moved over the software. Since this was replacing the old Dell, it had to run all of the same software.


I also moved over the external devices, which included a USB 802.11g wireless card, all-in-one card reader and a couple of USB extension cords to route more ports to the front.

Ihawan

Location: 40-60 70th St., Woodside, NY 11377
Cuisine: Filipino
Phone: (718) 205-1480
Prices: about $12/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 9
Value: 8
Environment: 3

Frequency: Common

Jennifer visited us at the end of the weekend as she was flying out of NY for her Summer long trip to China. So we weren't about to take her out for Chinese food! Originally I thought we would go for something American because Filipino food is still Asian and she won't have any American food for weeks. But this turned out to be a good choice because it was very exotic for her as there is no prominent Filipino community in her hometown of Boston. For detailed food reviews, please visit my Picasa Web album.


Ihawan is an old family business. They've been around for a while and have great service. The waiters are the friendliest you'll ever run into. The prices are very reasonable despite their fame. The only negative about the place is the environment. It's nothing fancy and has an unappealing exterior. This probably turns away many tourists, but the locals know this place well. The dining area looks more like an average household kitchen rather than a restaurant.

We live in an age where everyone seems to be health conscious, but once in a while we need to drop every diet restriction we have and eat here. The food is one of the best of any cuisine.

DVDeals 7/6 - 7/12

DVD Tuesday
Counting down the days to Batman: Dark Knight, there are a bunch of DC related deals this week, including the release of Batman: Gotham Knight this Tuesday. This is a dark, anime style, 6-chapter story following Batman's early years. Both Circuit City and Best Buy have the regular edition for $12.99 & special 2-disc version for $22.99.

This is also a good week to catchup on any action DVDs you might be missing in your collection because Circuit City has a ton of titles for $5.99 & $6.99.


Circuit City Deals
- Batman Begins for $5.99
- Superman I-IV for $5.99 each
- Blade 1-3 for $5.99 each
- Spawn for $5.99
- Justice League: The Brave & The Bold for $5.99
- Justice League: Saving the World for $5.99
- Justice League: Justice on Trial for $5.99
- Justice League: Joining Forces for $5.99
- Spiderman 1-2 for $6.99 each
- A Knight's Tale for $6.99
- Armageddon for $6.99
- Underworld 1-2 for $6.99 each
- Troy for $6.99
- Matrix for $6.99
- Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life for $6.99
- Saving Private Ryan for $6.99
- Van Helsing for $6.99
- Bourne Identity for $6.99
- Bourne Supremacy for $6.99
- Predator for $6.99
- X-men 1-2 for $6.99 each
- Top Gun (Collector's Ed.) for $6.99
- Rush Hour 1-2 for $6.99 each

Best Buy Deals
- Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer for $7.99
- Saving Private Ryan for $5.99
- Top Gun (Collector's Ed.) for $5.99
- Forrest Gump (Collector's Ed.) for $5.99
- Armageddon for $5.99
- Punisher for $5.99
- Fugitive for $5.99
- Lois & Clark Seasons 1-4 for $16.99 each

Happy 4th of July

Takhisis 2.6 (Part 3)

Black Galaxy Metal Gear 3507

One of the disadvantages of a small form factor is there's no space to add devices to the computer's body. The old system I'm moving from had 2 internal hard drives. The 200 GB data/video drive needs to move to the new system because it has all of my work on it, but it can't fit into the case. So I had to convert it to an external. Shopping for a case can be overwhelming because there are so many out there and at various price ranges. You can get a really cheap one for under $10, but it probably won't last too long. After a lot of looking around, I settled on the Black Galaxy Metal Gear 3507 from Directron for $25.99. It has a nice big fan and is made of aluminum to help in cooling. It's also black... same color as the IBM case. The interior of the case is well-padded too. The hard drive is a tight fit (must be installed very carefully), yet very protected. There are foam shock absorbers on all sides and not one part of the drive touches the case's interior wall. It could easily survive a fall. The installation was a little harder than most cases, but still pretty easy. It's durable, performs great and looks cool.