Off The Walt

I was happy when my friend, Mark Reed, asked me to help out here and there (small things like reviewing, graphics/layout advice and so on) with his company’s RPG book, Bounty Head Bebop .

I’m further happy to see it hitting print as well!

Mark’s a great guy and this is a great, solid book. If you like RPGs, give the PDF a look. If you’re more into getting a freebie, subscribe to our RPG gameplay podcast where we’ll be giving away a couple copies (I think April or so).

Bounty Head Bebop Core Book as PDF $14 | Print $25
Bounty Head Bebop: Jacked Up! (supplement) as PDF $4

So Blizzard is to release their long-awaited StarCraft 2 . Many hoped, myself included, that this would be an MMO. I loathe the idea of paying for games once I’ve already paid for them, but I would have considered SCMMO.

Blizzard has recently revealed their plans for SC2 and while it does look neat, it really looks like the same old missions and such with pretty new graphics. Yes, there are a couple new units to play with, but it just doesn’t look all that compelling to me.

One thing that they further revealed was the game is going to be released in 3 parts… each race (Terran, Zerg and Protoss) are each going to get their own box on store shelves. This means fans will shell out $150 or thereabouts for the privilege to jump back into the StarCraft universe… Did ActiVision have any influence over how they are coming to market? I’d think yes, but it’s just an assumption.

I’ll likely grab the Terran game so I can get online, because you are apparently not restricted to which race you can play online. I’m mostly interested in seeing how the new UMS (Use Map Settings) maps are created and try to revamp my classic map that has had millions of plays and conversions, Test of Terran Survival. I did make a Protoss version, but the Terrans are more versatile than any of the other races, so I think I’ll focus on that. I hope there is a method to lock your maps in this release, because I’d like a single build of the map to go out there… also, something that recognizes you’ve made a revision of your map and gives the players the most recent would be great, too. I doubt we’ll see this, but I can hope, right?

Aside from the inital Terran release, I think I’ll wait to buy the other mission storylines until the battlechest comes out in a couple years.

I’ve been excited for quite some time about getting a small computer (a.k.a. netbook), but was worried about my large hands on such a small keyboard. I read reviews on such machines as the Asus Eee , MSI Wind and more, but the problem with all these machines is they had moving parts in some fashion. The Dell Mini 9 is complete solid state. Solid state means there’s less that can break because nothing moves.

Here’s my configuration:
Black top (you can get white for +$25 USD)
16GB SSD (SSD means solid state drive, just think of a USB flash drive, except this is the hard drive)
1 gig RAM
Bluetooth module (only +$20 USD)
Windows XP Home SP3 for Low-Cost Computers
Custom Timbuk2 Bag (+30 USD)
Total cost including tax and shipping: Approximately $510

Unboxing:
I get a number of packages sent to the house from time to time as I review a lot of stuff, although I really haven’t posted any of it to my blog before, perhaps I will from this point on. When this box arrived on the doorstep a couple weeks ago, I thought it was a hard drive or some other accessory. It sat in the living room for a few hours because I wasn’t that excited, until I remembered how small this was supposed to be… so I opened it and was delightfully surprised! My mini had arrived! It was well packed and it seems Dell is moving toward a more green packaging and isn’t as wasteful with packaging material as it used to be. Good stuff, less to throw away/recycle.

Love at first touch:
It was heavier than I thought it would be, but I suppose that was the battery. I haven’t weighed it specifically, but it’s advertised at 2.3 pounds. I’m guessing we’re more looking at 5ish. My daughter , who is on the small end of the growth chart, said it was a perfect size for her… I couldn’t argue, it absolutely is. She asked when I was going to give it to her and genuinely thought it was hers… and thought it was a toy, because “real computers aren’t that small!” I didn’t tell her it’s a real machine because I’d never get it back!
My wife, after getting home, asked when I was buying one for her. Well, the anniversary is coming up. This is exactly what we need… another frickin’ laptop in the house! We’ve got in the neighborhood of a dozen already, some prop doors open, but we’ve got ‘em! This would make our fourth laptop… did I mention I’m likely to buy a Mac Mini for myself at Christmas? Yeah, we need that too… then again, if she gets her own mini, I’ll get the Mac, so I think she’s getting hers! Fortunately, my son just laughed at the size. Good, one less I have to worry about.

Powering it on:
The machine performs faster than I expected it to, I’m assuming because of the small motherboard and length of the bus to the SSD. A standard boot takes approximately 30 seconds to accept your commands in Windows… not too shabby. When it came, I had to apply 300+ megs of windows updates and remove the crapware. I normally just format the machine and install Windows fresh, but considering the lack of optical drive, I just had to deal.

Video:
I wasn’t expecting to play Crysis on this or anything, but the video is very lacking. It wants to display in 4:3 mode (think old school monitors) instead of 16:10 (a normal computer widescreen) and I have to leave the driver package install (which I had to do manually after getting the machine) in startup, eating resources, just so it’ll display widescreen. It’s a minor annoyance, but maybe they should have used a different integrated graphics card.
I will say it runs Starcraft quite nicely. I play it on battery with absolutely no problems. it never lags and the video looks crisp… enough. I know it’s a 10-year-old game, but it runs REALLY nicely.

Processing Power:
This is not a machine that’s gonna render 3D scenes with any sense of haste. I literally could not run Skype and simultaneously browse the web. I wasn’t expecting to do major things with the machine, but I at least expected to do this. I’ll just have to relegate it to Skype only during podcasting from now on.

Going to Timbuk2:
Timbuk2 bags are handmade here in the USA, San Francisco to be exact. The bag was very minimal and frankly left me wanting. The bag itself feels thick and padded. While I’m certainly not going to throw the filled bag at the wall, if the machine were to hit the ground while inside the bag, I’d feel better about it. The construction is great, but the little zippered pocket doesn’t do a great job of storing the power adapter and has no little loops for a pen or notepad or really anything else. I keep my cellphone and iPod with headphones in it when I take it anywhere because the battery life, so long as you keep the wifi and bluetooth turned off, is just fine for my purposes.

Power to the People!
I’m pretty darn impressed with the battery life. Only a 4 cell battery can keep this thing going for around 4 hours, 3 if you have wifi and bluetooth on. (Tip: unless you’re using your wireless bluetooth keyboard, turn the module off in the BIOS. You’ll save on battery life!) I generally keep the wifi off when I’m not using it (function 2 brings the menu up) and it really lasts.

Typing:
I was really worried that I’d have a problem typing on the mini, but I got used to it pretty quickly. I wrote a 1,500 word story on it in a decent amount of time and once you learn where the apostrophe key is, you’re doing ok. Yes, I do miss the full-sized keyboard, so that’s why I spent $20 on a cheap Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combo for when I’m traveling.

Other thoughts:
The low-end model of the mini 9 comes with a lean version of Ubuntu. I didn’t get any kind of disc to install this version as I would have liked to experiment with it. I’m going to email Dell support for an ISO to download so I can play with it, but I suppose I can always throw a standard version on it if I really wanted to. If you don’t have a USB-Based optical (DVD or DC) drive, you may want to pick up the Dell offering for $80 as it’s not bad. You can find it for cheaper from other sellers, but if you’re already there, you may want to get something that matches the netbook’s aesthetics.

Final Words:
I’m very satisfied with this machine and am looking forward to the next version of the mini. I’ll only be wanting better graphics and more RAM, a larger disk would be nice, but I have a 16 gig SD card stuck in the reader as a D: drive, for a total of 32 gigs of space. If you’re looking for something to take the coffee shop or lounging around the house and don’t want to strain your arm or break the bank, the Dell Mini 9 is for you.

Update 2008-12-03
I generally recommend Dell computers to friends, family (my wife has a Dell tower) and clients, although I usually buy other brands myself so I learn specifics about the hardware and support methods to better support my clientelle.
As mentioned above, I did get a Mini 9 and a couple weeks ago, the SSD (solid state disk drive, basically a flash drive instead of a traditional spinning hard drive) failed and I sent the mini back.

I’m mainly writing this update to illustrate my mostly-positive support experience with Dell so that others may benefit from my experience.

Seeming at random, I would get errors that files couldn’t be written to the disk and more and more startup would give me bluescreens stating the disk couldn’t be read. I’d get these errors about 90% of the time on startup, so I tried to scandisk, but it wouldn’t run as read/writes were no possible for sustained periods of time. This was all I needed to KNOW the disk was bad.

I went to Dell’s support chat and met a person that did not belong in support. I introduced myself as having more than 20 years experience fixing computers and she ran me through all the newbie things to try, wasting my time. (Anyone that knows me understand this is worse than anything to me… you can’t buy more time and I always have something to do.) She wanted me to reinstall Windows on the machine again. Without even asking me if I had an external optical drive (you’d also call it a CD/DVD drive) she told me I’d need to purchase one and tried to close the case, not wanting to actually help me. I insisted several times to chat with a supervisor and she finally, after 30 minutes agreed to the thing I was asking since the beginning: send me a box so I can return the machine for a new SSD. This is where the bad experience ended.

11/13/2008 07:37:18PM	System: “Thanks for choosing chat for your technical support needs. A chat agent will be with you shortly. Just so you know, you can also visit our website at support.dell.com to get technical help.”
11/13/2008 07:38:34PM	Session Transferred to Agent (NishantM_172798)
11/13/2008 07:38:40PM	Session Started with Agent (NishantM_172798)
11/13/2008 07:38:44PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support. My name is Nishant and my rep ID number is 172798. How may I assist you today?”
11/13/2008 07:39:05PM	Walt Snider: “I have a Mini 9 and I believe I have a bad SSD.”
11/13/2008 07:39:36PM	Walt Snider: “I literally have experienced nothing but bluescreens for the past 2 days. At least 2 dozen.”
11/13/2008 07:40:06PM	Walt Snider: “The message at present onscreen is “STOP: c0000218 Unknown Hard Error Unknown Hard Error”
11/13/2008 07:40:48PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “I understand your concern and I will personally attend to the issue. I assure you that I will do my best to provide you quality service. Please allow me 2 to 3 minutes to pull up your account information.”
11/13/2008 07:42:43PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Thank you for staying online. I appreciate your patience.”
11/13/2008 07:42:44PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “As per the records , you have an Inspiron 910 with windows XP Home as an operating system on it. I would also like to inform you that the warranty on the system is valid till xx /xx /2009.” [Edited for privacy]
11/13/2008 07:42:46PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “How long have you been facing this issue?”
11/13/2008 07:44:34PM	Walt Snider: “If you will look up, I mentioned I have been experiencing this for the past 2 days.”
11/13/2008 07:44:43PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Yes.”
11/13/2008 07:45:24PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Walt, I would like to inform you that in order to correct this issue, we need to reinstall the operating system.”
11/13/2008 07:46:12PM	Walt Snider: “I believe this is the SSD.”
11/13/2008 07:47:13PM	Walt Snider: “I was getting into XP intermittently a couple days ago amongst blue screens, but now I have nothing. Windows doesn’t work sometimes or not on boot, it either does or not.”
11/13/2008 07:47:46PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “I would like to inform you that in order to reinstall the operating system, you need to separately buy the external CD drive for the system to reinstall the windows using windows XP disc.”
11/13/2008 07:48:20PM	Walt Snider: “Why are you ignoring my claims of SSD issues?”
11/13/2008 07:49:32PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Walt, I am not ignoring your claims of SSD. I understand your concern,however, in order to resolve this issue, we need to reinstall the operating system.”
11/13/2008 07:50:00PM	Walt Snider: “How long have you been working on computers?” [Edit: Notice the time it takes to dodge my question.]
11/13/2008 07:51:46PM	Walt Snider: “NishantM_172798, it is a simple question.”
11/13/2008 07:54:23PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Walt, I understand your concern, however, I would like to inform you that even if it is an issue with the SSD hard drive , we need to send the system to the depot repair center for the replacement as per the warranty and also if you do not have the CD dri”
	ve for reinstalling the operating system, then also we need to send the system to the depot repair center.
11/13/2008 07:54:59PM	Walt Snider: “You are very good at not directly answering my questions.”
11/13/2008 07:55:35PM	Walt Snider: “I have been a computer technician for 22 years and have more certifications than fingers. I send many, many people to Dell to buy machines.”
11/13/2008 07:56:40PM	Walt Snider: “I have several USB & Firewire optical drives on my workbench, I have tried to install XP again, it won’t take because it has problems writing to the disk.”
11/13/2008 07:57:07PM	Walt Snider: “Unless there’s a problem witht he FSB, I am assuming it’s the SSD.”
11/13/2008 07:57:40PM	Walt Snider: “Either way, it’s hardware by my assessment.”
11/13/2008 07:58:31PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Walt, I appreciate your computer knowledge and skills, however, in order to get the hard drive replaced on the system, we need to send the system to the depot repair center .”
11/13/2008 07:58:48PM	Walt Snider: “Let’s get the ball rolling.”
11/13/2008 07:59:30PM	Walt Snider: “You have my address on file, I presume (Main Street ) [Edited for privacy] , send the RMA box and I’ll place the system in it and take it to a drop off location.”
11/13/2008 07:59:52PM	Walt Snider: “Would I keep the battery and power adapter to lessen the shipping weight?”
11/13/2008 08:00:12PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Yes.”
11/13/2008 08:00:25PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Could you please provide me your current shipping address?”
11/13/2008 08:00:33PM	Walt Snider: “The same as is in my profile.”
11/13/2008 08:01:24PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “I request you to reconfirm the address once again to make sure.”
11/13/2008 08:03:11PM	Walt Snider: “Above you stated you were “pulling up my account information”. I have lived in this house for X [Edited for privacy] years. The system arrived here. It stands to reason that if the system arrived here, the RMA box will as well. I have further stated, without being asked, that I am on Main Street [Edited for privacy] , . “
11/13/2008 08:03:38PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Okay.”
11/13/2008 08:03:43PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “May, I place this session on hold for 2-3 minutes while i go ahead and complete the documentation and provide you the reference numbers?”
11/13/2008 08:03:53PM	Walt Snider: “Yes.”
11/13/2008 08:09:05PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Thank you for staying online. I appreciate your patience.”
11/13/2008 08:09:20PM	Walt Snider: “A great virtue.”
11/13/2008 08:10:16PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “I have created the dispatch. Please make a note of your dispatch number. The dispatch number # is xxxxxxx [Edited for privacy] . You will be receiving an empty box within 2 business days which will be delivered for shipping the system.”
11/13/2008 08:10:25PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Estimated return time after shipping the system to depot 5-8 Business Days.”
11/13/2008 08:10:44PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “In the depot, a team of technicians will work on your system and will replace the required parts to make sure that the system is working fine before sending it back to you.”
11/13/2008 08:10:49PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Is there anything else regarding your Dell system that you need help with?”
11/13/2008 08:11:01PM	Walt Snider: “That will be all.”
11/13/2008 08:11:14PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Are you satisfied with the level of service provided to you on this interaction? Is there anything feedback would you like to share with me about the service you have received today?”
11/13/2008 08:11:50PM	Walt Snider: “Not entirely. I feel you should pay attention to things that were already mentioned instead of asking questions that have already been answered.”
11/13/2008 08:12:08PM	Walt Snider: “But the outcome is the one I desired, so I am not disappointed.”
11/13/2008 08:13:32PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “I apologize for the inconvenience, however, I will definitely make sure this thing.”
11/13/2008 08:13:39PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “Thank you for contacting dell technical support. We appreciate your business.”
11/13/2008 08:13:50PM	Agent (NishantM_172798): “It was a wonderful experience chatting with you. You have been really cooperative. It is always a pleasure to serve a Dell Valuable Customer like you. You have been a wonder to have a word with. Please do take care of yourself, bye.”
11/13/2008 08:13:56PM	Walt Snider: “Good night.”
11/13/2008 08:14:57PM	Session Ended

I got the box in 36 hours, removed the battery (cuts down on shipping weight = Dell saves money) and sent it off. 2 days later (assume 1 for shipping, 1 more  for receiving and unboxing) I got a call stating they had my machine, determined the SSD was bad (gee, really?) and needed my BIOS password to test the new installation. Oops, I forgot to remove that. Once they had the info they apparently did their testing and I got an automated email with tracking info that night. 36 hours later, FedEx handed my mini. My machine was taken care of in less than a week. That’s pretty darn good! I’m quite impressed.

I’ve sent laptops, usual several different models, to manufacturers for hardware replacement. I’ve found Apple machines are the hardest to get repaired and take the longest to get back, sometimes upward of 2 months! Literally. Generally your median is 2-3 weeks for a return. Always remember to have a backup of your data because you have to assume all your data (documents, photos, programs and more) will be wiped clean when you send it back. For some manufacturers, this is a SOP!

Dell support, once I got past the ill-placed chat operator, really treated me right. I’m glad I recommend Dell to all my clientele and family.

When I was a young kid and watched everything my mother did, I was entranced by a series in the late 80′s called Beauty and the Beast where a half-man, half-lion named Vincent, my brother‘s namesake, lived underground and fell in love with a lawyer from the surface called Catherine, played by Linda Hamilton after she became John Connor’s mommy. My Uncle Grant just introduced me to Dungeons & Dragons by then and it made the show all the more enticing. I do miss my Uncle Grant.

What amazes me as I think back to a lion-mutant running around in sewers taking advice from a fallen priest, I almost exclusively think of Vincent. As I got older, I realized it was because of the amazing range portrayed by the actor beneath the makeup, by Ron Perlman.

Over the years, any chance I’ve had to see Perlman in action, I’ve taken advantage of it. The man has been in Miami Vice, Max Hedroom, The Fall Guy, Batman, Animaniacs, The Tick, Danny Phantom, Aladdin, Mortal Kombat (animated), Blade II and tons more… 157 individual credits as of the time of this writing, in fact. Perlman is in such demand that he’s got nine projects either in post or production. What an amazing powerhouse!

This love for Perlman’s career lead my wife and I to see his latest silver screen release, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

My beautiful wife has been wanting to see this movie so we went on a mini date for breakfast and Hellboy, yeah, we know how to do it! We got stuffed into one of the small auditoriums but it wasn’t actually that bad, only 4 parties were there so it was kinda cozy, actually.

Tiffany really enjoyed the movie… here are my thoughts…

We open on a military base where a young Hellboy that is awaiting Santa with great anticipation. John Hurt gives us a nice cameo as Professor Broom and reads a bedtime to our favorite red ape called "The Golden Army." The animation to help us visualize the story, which sets up the movie, is masterfully done in the way a child would see it. Can you imagine a child growing up to bedtime stories like that? No wonder he’s ornery as an adult!

Jeffrey Tambor returns as Tom "Manny" Manning but this time he’s a sniveling shoescrape, a far cry from what he saw him as in the last movie. Nonetheless, Tambor does a great job acting the character as written.

To see Red and Liz fighting the way that couples fight made me think of them like old friends, although the use of their powers does, well, spice things up a bit.

Abe Sapien now takes over Broom’s job even though Manny pretends to. Doug Jones does a great job portraying the fishman… it’s hard to picture him as the Silver Surfer and with 4 movies coming out, one of them being Silver Surfer as a stand alone, it’s good to see being a part of the Fantastic 4 series didn’t hurt his career.

Johann Krauss, I felt, was a useless character, although the voicework done by Seth MacFarlane was quite impressive. I’d like to see what else he’ll bring us in the future.

The effects were fantastic and completely believeable. The acting was flawless. del Torro certainly used his vision to continue the Hellboy IP that allows me to hope that in 2011 & 2012, we’ll have a great continuation of the Lord of the Rings IP with The Hobbit.

I wasn’t sure that I’d like the angle of using the boogymen would work, especially Prince Nuada/Princess Nuala, but I was plesantly surprised. Luke Goss (you may remember him as Nomak from Blade II) was brilliant and I’m really looking forward to seeing him in the upcoming Tekken movie, if for nothing else, his portrayal of Steve Fox. Anna Walton as Nuala was fantastic. She hasn’t done that many movies yet, but I hope to see her on the silver screen in the near future. I think she can offer any production a sense of class and youth.

If you’re a fan of the original Hellboy Movie, then you’ll want to see this. If you’re not, you may want to skip it.

Walt Snider is a Computer Technician and Webmaster in South Florida that operates Kore New Media, the fourth largest podcast group in the world, Florida’s largest podcast group. More about Walt Snider can found at www.WaltSnider.com or on his blog at www.OffTheWalt.com. His podcasting group, Kore New Media, can be found at www.KoreNewMedia.com where he produces one of the most-listened to movie podcasts, Kore Movies at www.KoreMovies.com.

Russian writer/director Timur Bekmambetov thrilled me with Night Watch in 2004 and sequel Day Watch in 2006.

When I saw previews of a movie called Wanted , I thought it looked strangely familiar and couldn’t put my finger on it until I looked up who was behind it. I was elated to find Bekmambetov was doing a movie for American cinema, in fact, I couldn”t wait!

All I knew walking into the theater was that it featured James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie , based on a comic book.

The plot, which does offer a nifty twist in Act III, is basically that Wesley’s (McAvoy ) father was killed by a rogue assassin from an elite assassin’s fraternity and Fox (Jolie ) is taking him under her wing and protecting him. The discovery/training sequences are overdone and frankly boring to me. Meeting Sloan (Morgan Freeman ) was kinda neat but I didn’t like him, I couldn’t figure out why. Sloan runs this branch of the fraternity, being the ‘eye of fate’ and writing death orders for his assassins to complete.

Act II teaches you there’s a giant loom that decides who has to die. Seriously. I’m not joking. Who’s the only one that’s allowed to read it? Yeah, it’s Sloan. So much for quality control.

I do understand the movie is written and directed from Russian ideals, but it disturbs me that there was never concequence for killing people, in fact, it was sensationalized and made fun of. I would have liked to see some sort of remorse or questioning if it was acceptable, etc., but I was told in the past by a well-known director that if I wanted to see movies done a certain way that I should make them myself. Mr. S. was right, of course.

Overall this was a great movie. Despite the couple dozen lines she was given, Fox was by far my favorite character, a true believer in the fraternity and the end blew my mind… and theirs… you’ll understand when you see it.

I’m not interested in a sequel, but I will get the DVD just for the director’s commentary.

This is absolutely not something to let anyone under 14 watch.

Walt Snider is a Computer Technician and Webmaster in South Florida that operates Kore New Media , the fourth largest podcast group in the world, Florida’s largest podcast group. More about Walt Snider can found at www.WaltSnider.com or on his blog at www.OffTheWalt.com . His podcasting group, Kore New Media , can be found at www.KoreNewMedia.com where he produces one of the most-listened to movie podcasts, Kore Movies at www.KoreMovies.com .

Walking up the stairs to the Museum of Discovery and Science and Autonation IMAX 3D Theater for a screener was certainly a treat. The limited number of patrons outside gave the normally child-centric building a different feel and on the other side of the glass doors the crowd of adults reinforced this.

After speaking to Jody Ligas and picking up my ticket, I took the elevator up about 5 floors where I was repeatedly told to turn my cellphone off… that if it went off during the theater I’d be asked to leave. I love it! Finally a movie with no phones and conversations interrupting the movie! I love you Fort Lauderdale IMAX!

Walking into the press area, I sat next to a guy who introduced himself as Kit Mobley. I was having a conversation with Kit, ignoring the crowd below when he directed my attention to the ‘preshow’ in the middle rows below. It seems when you mix beer, 8pm and problems, you have a preshow. Fun stuff. It kept us amused for the minutes while waiting for the projector to fire.

So as the movie started and Dave clarified this was a DC Comics movie, I began to wonder if DC would follow Marvel in forming a large studio to film its own movies or what if they bound together for this?

A DJ from a local radio station spoke for a moment and the lights dimmed and the five-story screen came alive.

The film opens on the oddly-serene cityscape, zooming in toward a building finally slowing to reveal an exploding window and men in clown costumes firing a cable to the top of a lower building, zipping down and disabling an alarm, kicking off a bank heist.

Too bad for the robbers, the bank is managed by William Fichtner, who we’ve seen recently in Prison Break and who we last saw with Christian Bale in Equilibrium.

The introduction of The Joker was very well done. True fans of Heath Ledger will spot him despite being masked right away, just based on his gait. The “execution” (don’t worry, you’ll get it) of the bank heist is fantastic and sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

The Joker is also a great magician. In a meeting with fellow crime lords, he makes a pencil disappear. 10 points to you if figure out how as you’re watching.

Michael Caine as Alfred brings back memories of Alastair Duncan in previous incarnations of the IP. Alfred continues his role as protector and advisor of Batman and Caine plays the role with great finesse.

I was pleasantly surprised by Nestor Carbonell as Gotham’s mayor, but I couldn’t help thinking of him as Batmanuel in The Tick earlier this decade. (Watch The Tick for free at Hulu!) I do have to say that I enjoy his range as an actor and it’s unfortunate he doesn’t have too many projects in his queue.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jake Gyllenhaal of Jarhead and Donnie Darko’s sister) did a good job as Rachel Dawes, but I didn’t care for her in the previous movie, nor did I like her now. Maybe it was just the character or maybe I just don’t like her. She wasn’t bad in my opinion, mind you, just not stellar.

Dark Knight is absolutely, positively the best movie I’ve seen all year. The action scenes are amazing, well choreographed and realistic. The movie wears its PG-13 rating well and delivers all promises of action and grit. I’m really, really glad they are showing a more realistic portrayal of Gotham and taking it away from the Keaton/Kilmer/Clooney formulaic comic book method. This film shows a darkening knight.

All in all, you don’t have to like action, suspense, explosions, gunplay or anything else, you only have to see this movie . It is all things cool and it will be the center of discussion around the water cooler for weeks to come. I predict one of the best box office openings for the year, possibly in history of cinema.

If you have the opportunity, see it in IMAX. If you have to wait a day or travel to the next city, do it. There were certain scenes specifically filmed just for IMAX and you really should take advantage of it.

Kids under 14 will probably not want to see this unless they are nerds-in-training like my son. There’s a lot of plot development and not as much action as in the previous movie and it may bore those that can’t comprehend, so a babysitter may be in order.

The movie was generously dedicated to Heath Ledger. We’ll look forward to seeing his final stand in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

The Dark Knight’s Official Website: http://www.thedarkknight.com/

Walt Snider is a Computer Technician and Webmaster in South Florida that operates the largest independent podcast group in the world. Walt Snider can be reached at www.WaltSnider.com, blog at www.OffTheWalt.com. His podcasting group, Kore New Media, can be found at www.KoreNewMedia.com.