AZ's Diary of a Damned Man

We arrived at Crobar around 930 PM. it was Me, Kelly and our friend Sherrie all meeting on the El. Sheri gets into the CTA train and her huge rack is spilling out of her corset which is tied tight over her 4'11 frame. And she's getting all the stares and comments from assholes who act like they've never seen a woman before. But that's the way she seems to like it so good for her. I though those things were going to pop myself like two over inflated balloons. We got to the door and checked in as they crossed our names off of the list and I asked for John. And the guy next to me tells me that he’s John (Brads brother) and asks if I’m Alex Zander and after my reply and handshakes he hands me an envelope with our two passes to Monday (last nights) advance screening of my personal most anticipated film of the last year.

Once inside we go upstairs and an old acquaintance of mine Matt is bartending and Kelly starts a tab. A tab that would get ludicrous due to the Crobars overinlflated drink prices. Lets for the record say that for the price of 2 cocktails we could have a 1/5th of the liquor we were sipping. But that’s the way these big clubs are. Hell even Metro is getting pricey on their mixes. But in joints like Crobar, Transit and House Of Blues you’re paying for the atmosphere.

David and Jamey from Your Plan B and Gothic Chicago found us and I told them that our friend Trisha Starr emailed me and told me that she had done the costumes and choreography for the event. It took awhile but we found Trish but it would be much later.

Joel found me and then Dietrich showed up and we had our own little gang growing. And drinks were flowing and flowing and we were just at about the point where it was time to go home. So Kelly closed our tab and we ended up getting on our way in a cab en route to her abode.

The show at the club was pretty nice though being upstairs we missed the Catwomen go go dancing and guys swinging around on ropes dressed like Robin or a likeness of him at least. Several guys were dressed exactly the same in Riddler outfits and the girls dressed like Catwoman all looked HOT. But Kelly out-hotted them all in her black version of the dress Marilyn Monroe wore in Seven Year Itch. And I said it then, and the day after and I'm putting in on the record that of all of the women I've been out with NEVER has anyone looked so nice in a particular attire as Kelly did this night at Crobar.

And I spent all weekend in antcipation of last night and it was about to become Monday.

Yesterday I woke too early and got some work out of the way rather quickly before shooting over to Kelly’s to get her going so we could get downtown to the cinema and get in line. You need to understand that they purposely over book the theatres so it’s first come first serve when it comes to seating.

Around 4 they announced the Michael Jackson verdict. And I was shocked that they didn’t even find him guilty of a misdemeanor. In a way I’m not surprised but at the same time everyone knows that sex offenders especially pedophiliacs are not able to be rehabilitated. And are more often than not repeat offenders. And this guy has beat the rap every time. The news stations were and still are all over it. A reporter on CNN reminded us that “Not Guilty Does Not Mean Innocent”. And the late night comedians were the most fun about it. And I got to catch Jon Stewart, Letterman and Craig Ferguson give the verdict their treatment. The latter by far being the most hilarious.

But rewinding to earlier in the afternoon, we finally after a slow train conductor got downtown to the theatre to get in line for BATMAN BEGINS advanced screening. That’s Murphy’s Law hard at work for ya’. Any other time it’d take 15 minutes to get to the stop we needed to get out from However before we arrived at our destination we had already been on 35 min.

And we were in line for a long fucking time. And it has been a long fucking time that I’ve stood in line. But for this movie you can bet you ass that I would. I also avoid crowded theatres, preferring to catch a film during the day when it’s not packed full of people and people talk over the film. But as we got in and they checked our bags and they ran metal detectors over us we got a nice pair of isle seats which made the wait in line well worth the wait.

The movie began and it was a non-stop thrill ride for 2 ½ hours. And this one didn’t miss a beat. They showed exactly how Bruce Wayne’s parents murder had affected him, they showed how Gotham had gone bad, they told the story of how a Princeton graduate would acquire his skill and agility and fighting lessons. And then they told the story of how he developed the character and the Batcave and how the Batmobile was created, and how and how all of the weapons and the suit and the cape were invented.

And Alfred’s character was truly developed and a pivotal part of the film as well as Morgan Freeman’s character of Fox. And Gary Oldman as Gordon was perfectly cast and it was good to see him not play a villain for once.

Bale was over the top. He was Batman and I feel was perfectly cast as the Dark Knight. And when he took on his prey he would swoop out of the sky unlike any other Batman. He would use the element of surprise more akin to Alien or Predator or some sort of creature as opposed to a stereotypical vigilante’ or superhero.

Over all it was a truly dark tale and perfectly cast as far as I’m concerned. Am I going to see it again? You bet and hopefully on IMAX, which now seems to be a good way to take another look. And as far as meeting my expectations? It more than did that. It beat my expectations and was well worth the year I’ve been longing to see this film finally DONE RIGHT!