"I'm Spartacus!!"

I saw Batman Begins on friday. This is one of the very few movies i've actually watched in the movie theaters this year, the other being star wars (couldn't wait for lucas to put it out on dvd) and Sin City (Bruce Willis is one lucky bastard). There really hasn't been that many good movies out recently. But Batman. This one is definitely worth watching again. And again.

There were a lot of people playing roles that I personally am not used to seeing them play. For instance, Gary Oldman always tends to play the bad guy. 5th Element? Bad guy. The Professional? Very bad guy. Morgan Freeman was the techno whiz kinda guy, kind of like 'Q' from the bond filmes. But his roles? Robin Hood Prince of Thieves? The Painted Man. Shawshank Redemption? Token Black Guy.
And then there's Christian Bale. People say he was great in American Pyscho (didn't see it) or this movie or that movie. But what I do remember of him is from the very old Steven Spielberg movie "Empire of the Sun".


The movie is basically about the Japanese invasion of Shanghai during WWII and the internment of the British civilians living there. Anyways, Christian Bale plays this annoying 12 year kid who's uber scrawny and runs around the whole movie saying "I SURRENDER!!" to all the passing troops that come his way.

Quite a far cry from the Bat in Black he plays in his latest film. It's kind of hard to take batman seriously when all you can picture him saying is "I SURRENDER!!!" Watch Empire of the Sun before you watch Batman, and you'll understand.

But in any case, the movie was worth the 8 bucks (big ups to columbia u. for not putting exp. date on the student i.d.) and the plot line/gadgets were somewhat believable, and definitely tolerable. More so than the last few batmans they tried to put out (AHhhhhmmm Mr. Freeeeeeeggzzzeeeee).


And as if that wasn't enough entertainment for a weekend, I had a luau/potluck at one of my grad school friend's place. I've been to a luau before when i went to hawaii, but that was a few years back at a commercialized venue where you have mediocre food at a ridiculously high price. But this luau was different.


There was so much food. Most of it was prepared by the host. Kaluha Pig, some hawaiian style salmon cerviche, potato salad, corn bread, vermicelli noodles with chicken,... you get the idea. There was good eating that night. But the best part of all this was that the host was drunk even before the guests arrived.


She could barely even stand to greet people. Made you kind of wonder whether the food she prepared was any good. But to her credit, it was damn good. I don't think a person left without having trouble breathing from stuffing themselves.

And if that wasn't enough excitement? On the way home from church on sunday, I couldn't help but take in the magnificent weather and the clear blue skies. Driving home on 280, the self-proclaimed "Most Beautiful Highway" truly held up to it's name.


The views were definitely amazing and it's a shame that the pictures didn't come out any better. But it's kind of hard to take nice pictures of scenery when you're driving about 85mph


while driving in the fast lane. But it does provide some amazing pictures from a perspective that tends to be fleeting at best.