Rob and Rose

Okay first of all, a few introductions…. Meet Bob, my pet roboraptor gifted to me by Roz and my parents in law.

Rather gimmicky I know, but still great fun to play about with :)

Elliot on the other hand, doesn’t seem quite so taken by him.

Been looking after Elliot this weekend whilst Roz is shopping in Southampton. This has largely been nice and Elliot has been overall a very good boy. However, last night it seemed as if he was coming down with a cold and as such woke up 10-12 times in the night. The funny thing is he has seemed fine most of today – will have to see how he is tonight (fingers crossed).

Films watched:
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
An interesting film which avoids the obvious pitfall of retreading the exorcist and instead opts for a largely court based affair.

It’s a shame that it felt necessary to use so many CGI effect at certain parts of the film. The thing about CGI is that it doesn’t look real, therefore negating any scare factor. Other scares in the movie, namely the strange and slightly disturbing body contortion, were a lot more effective.

7/10

Stress, theft and bad movies

Well, it’s been an interesting week so far. What with sickness, stress, headaches and far too much work for my liking. On the plus side, Roz and Roz’s parents brought me a gift the other day to say “thanks” for looking after Elliot this coming weekend. This gift, or pet of sorts, will probably get a further mention on my blog as soon as I have gotten to grips with this.

On a stressful note, the people who were looking to let our flat have now pulled out and we no longer have anyone interested. The advert is now also no longer in the press, so for the moment, we shouldn’t expect anymore phone calls… We have a plan B and C up our sleeves which we will start to execute soon, I just pray that we find a tenant soonish, I don’t think my head could take the stress :(

Games playing:
Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories
Still ploughing through this game at the moment. It’s starting to get really tough now, with some serious planning needed for some of the missions, however I shall persevere.

Playing this made me want to take a second look at San Andreas. Just been playing this for 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing but driving around. It’s easy to forget just how huge the map is in this game. It would take you forever to explore every last inch of the place, time that I simply do not have.

Oh also taken a look at a couple of game to film trailers, namely for Dead or Alive and Bloodrayne. Hmm, well Dead or Alive looks like a poor imitation of Charlie’s Angels (that’s right a poor imitation). While Bloodrayne looks like a “Z” grade fantasy flick. Why oh why make a film out of a game that nobody bought and nobody liked?

Oh well, until next time…

Advent Children

Films watched:
Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children
I think that I first should comment about Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within. This to me, was a Final Fantasy film in name only. Okay yes, it was CGI and yes it was created by Square, but it had no elements whatsoever which identified it to the Final Fantasy series. Almost all the Final Fantasy games are set in different worlds, but they each share similar themes, creatures (chocobos, moogles etc), spells and numerous other elements which identify them to the Final Fantasy series. Spirits Within had none of this.

Advent Children is a true Final Fantasy film and follows on 2 years following the end of Final Fantasy VII, and boy is it good. However, saying that, for anyone who hasn’t actually played Final Fantasy VII, the film is totally wasted on them. They likely wouldn’t have a clue what was going on and to be fair, even I found it hard to follow at times. It was great to see familiar characters back on the screen, even if some of the minor characters like Yuffie and Barrat, had less screen time.

My only complaint would be that the film barely stops for a breath. It’s far more action packed than I had anticipated, so much so that beautiful CGI characters and backgrounds flash by at an alarming rate. Also, I said above, even for a Final Fantasy veteran, it was difficult to follow the story, which to be fair, is quite common with Japanese animation, be it anime or CGI.

7/10

Watching Final Fantasy brought home again how long it’s been since I played a decent RPG on any system. The last great Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy IX for the PS1. The Final Fantasy games for the PS2, while okay, just don’t cut the mustard when compared to the older games in the series.

I’m hoping that Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII are as good as they appear upon their release (in 2006 hopefully). It feels like an age since I’ve played

Continuing on a gaming note, it is only 3 days now until the release of Mario Kart DS. I’m not getting this on the release date, instead it is at the very top of my Christmas list. Although it pains me not to play such a great game on its release, it just means that I have something really special to look forward to for Christmas Day.

Eurogamer have a great review of Mario Kart on their site (look here). I’m really quite fund on Eurogamer as a gaming site, if only because they tend to add a little humour into their reviews.

Also since getting hooked on the comic strips on Penny Arcade and also CTRL +ALT+DEL as linked on my friends blog, stevestreeting.com, I have also found another highly amusing online gaming comic strip. This is at vgcats.com. The latest Mario Kart comic amused me…

here

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=173

Sick...

Okay - last night wasn't too good.

I seem to have picked up a stomach bug and as a result my night was filled with the splendor of a mix of vomiting and diariah... All very pleasant. To make matters worse Roz also seems to have been hit by the same bug and joined me in a resounding corus of vomiting. It really is surprising that Elliot didn't wake up.

Roz always is very good to me when I'm sick, knowing how much I hate it... So a big thank you to her, even though she was sick herself.

Okay, hope tonight goes better.

It's back!

Yep that’s right, it’s back… What you may ask? The damn mouse!

Just as I thought it had gone away, following reports from the flat downstairs that they had seen a mouse, it appears that it has decided to return to our portion of the property. So once again, the traps have gone down (almost taking off my fingers in the process) and so has the poison.

I cannot explain how much I want to see a dead mouse caught in one of those traps… Does that make me sick? Well at this stage I don’t care…

In other matters the advert for our flat to be went in the paper yesterday and we have a couple of people coming to view it this afternoon. I can only pray that we get a tenant agreed and signed soon. The main stress that I’m suffering with at the moment is that we will struggle to get a tenants.

I’m sure that the rash on my arms is stress related, what with the property, work and other family issues as of late, I’m surprised that I haven’t ripped my arms from my sockets…

Just realised that this blog entry has turned into a little rant, but what the hell. It’s early in the morning and if I want to rant I will rant.

I guess I could talk about films and games. After all I have just recently watch The Gift and Final Fantasy VII : Advent Children, but I think I may save that for another day.

I will say on a film related note that the teaser trailer for Superman Returns was posted on the net yesterday and it sure does look very promising. I was a little dubious about the choice of actor for Superman. Not because he was an unknown, just that he didn’t look as if he had the charisma for the role (can anyone replace Christopher Reeve after all)? But watching the trailer, rather than just looking a still set photo’s, I can see that he has potential in the role.

I think that’s me for now.

Sayonara.

Birthday films and games

Well I haven’t written on my blog for a while, so I thought I’d add something.

It was my birthday the other day (Monday) and I received (amongst other things), Batman Begins and Star Wars Episode 3 on DVD and GUN and GTA:Liberty City Stories.

Unfortunately following a couple of days off around my birthday I returned to work to find that my one up-to-date and tidy desk had become a war zone. Things seem to have gone from bad to worse at work and I must admit that I’m dreading slugging through the crap that has piled up when I return back to work on Monday. Not only is it all rather complex work, it’s also all very urgent work… This is the most behind I have been behind since I started my current position and it bugs me somewhat!

I have also been remembering my dreams a lot recently. This normally happens when I’m feeling under the weather, but at present, fingers crossed, I’ve been feeling fine. I always find it remarkable how REAL dreams seem when you’re asleep, even if they are completely bizarre. Then when you awake, it takes a moment or two for you to reconcile the difference between reality and your dreams.

Anyway… back to games and films…

Films Watched:
(in brief)

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
This like Episodes 1 and 2 also has a lot wrong with it when compared to the original trilogy. However, it also does a lot right and is a much more satisfying film overall.
7.5/10

Batman Begins
The best Batman film so far (probably even better than Mask of the Phantasm). It gets almost everything spot on. The cast is excellent (could you possibly find a better cast for the film? I think not). Warner Bros also was wise to choose an excellent director and this pays off no end.
My only complaints would be that the costume is STILL too bulky and reminiscent of the previous 4 Batman movies… They should have gone with something more lightweight and similar too the comics. Also at times that action is not directed very well, choose fast MTV style editing making everything while fast, a little difficult to follow. This is especially evident towards the end of the film.
Otherwise… Absolutely great.
8.5/10

Games played:
GTA: Liberty City Stories
At first I felt a little disappointed with the game – after all the initial impressions are exactly the same as GTA3. However, as I’ve progressed I’m enjoying it more and more. A worthy (if slightly unoriginal) addition to the GTA series.
One point worth mentioning, is that that this game really highlights the slow response rate of the PSP screen. A blurring of the screen is very evident though out the game. I have never noticed any problems of this kind with the DS, but then again this could be because the PSP screen is that bit larger than the DS!

GUN
Have only just got this today… Seems very good so far. A good mixture of missions and objectives. Very much like a western GTA, but that’s no bad thing.
I have read reviews which have complained about the length of the game (i.e. that it’s too short), but then again ICO was a very short game, and that hasn’t stopped it from becoming one of the most critically acclaimed games on the PS2!

Dark Tower, Mouse Wars and 480p

Marvel have just recently announced that they will be producing a series of comics based on the Dark Tower books written by Stephen King. This will be a six part story about the origin of Roland, the gunslinger from the stories. This is great news. I’m a huge fan of the Dark Tower novels and any additional material which may add to this saga would be most welcome.

Also the artwork looks stunning:

It’s been several days now since my last sighting of the mouse. I now have traps (both lethal and non-lethal) and poison in which to try and deal with the problem. However, the last time I saw the little blighter, he casually scuttered out from beneath the fridge, took a brief look at the poison and the traps, promptly ignored them, and then scuttered happily behind the oven. I have now laced the poison with scrapings of chocolate in order to tempt it further, but have seen no sign that this has been touched at all! What does it expect? Cooked meals?

Now Roz has informed me that our fridgefreezer seems to have stopped working. I know that mice are prone to chewing electricity cables and if I find out that it’s mice related I’ll be less than pleased (we really don’t need the expense right now).

The other day I happened to read on a Gamecube forum that the UK Gamecube is capable of outputting progressive scan (480p). Now it was prior belief that only US Gamecubes were capable of this, but if you own freeloader and a US version of a progressive scan game, then you can still activate progressive scan mode by holding down the B button as this loads up.

I tried this on the 2 US games which I own which support progressive scan, namely Animal Crossing and Mario Golf. The effect really was quite stunning. The picture was sharper, the effect of any blurring on a LCD was significantly reduced (very noticeable on Animal Crossing) and overall the picture quality was improved considerably. This makes me wonder why on earth a progressive scan mode isn’t included in PAL games? After all, the Gamecube is capable of this, and the same can be applied to the PS2, where US copies of games support progressive scan (and even HD is some cases) and the PAL games only support standard 480i. It really is no wonder why people import consoles. I can only assume that this is because High Definition sets have been out for some time in the US and have only recently started coming out in Europe, but still if this is incorporated in a US version of a game, surely it isn’t too difficult to retain this for the PAL version.

I think I’ll keep my eyes peeled to see if The Legend of Zelda : Twiglight Princess supports progressive scan. If so, I may import rather than buying a PAL copy. The only down side of this, is that it’s highly unlikely that freeloader will work with the Revolution idc, so I’ll have several US games that I will be able to play on the Revolution, however, I’ll still keep my Gamecube, so I’ll always still have this to play them on if needs be. It also occurs to me that I’ll have to keep an eye out to see whether the Revolution supports progressive scan, and if so, whether this is the same for all regions.

The PS2 version of GUN should be supporting 480p, which I should hopefully be getting a few days after my birthday. It’ll be interesting to see how this looks on my LCD.

Halloween Special

First of all, it’s Halloween right, so what do I do first thing this morning whilst driving into work? Kill a bird naturally.

It wasn’t my fault, it flew straight into my car, then I’m reasonably certain, went under my tire. I couldn’t really stop to check on it as I was on a busy road at the time, but to be honest, I really do think it was a goner… I couldn’t tell exactly what type of bird it was, it look white-ish and medium sized to me. Probably a pigeon, but possibly a dove (hope not, as I’m sure that would be a bad omen). At least it wasn’t a magpie, then I’d really be panicking!

Strangely enough Roz and I also signed conditions of sale today for “the flat below”. What a bizarre day in which to sign away such a huge sum of money!

Films Watched:
As it is Halloween today and I’m out tonight, I thought I’d take the opportunity to watch a couple of horror films over the weekend instead. Both of which I’d probably consider as “light” Halloween movies, i.e. neither to gory or too scary. Not chosen for this, it just happens that I hadn’t seen these two movies for a little while.

Sleepy Hollow
Another enjoyable Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaboration. This time based on the famous Irving Welsh novel.

What is quite unusual about this film is that the character of Icabar Crane is portrayed as someone who is more liable to faint, then take action, when faced with anything slightly perilous.

As usual for a Tim Burton film this is a grant treat to the eyes. Every single frame is a glorious gothic postcard. Also for once, Tim Burton also manages to handle action better than he has in the past. Overall a good “light” horror, with many, many decapitations.

7/10

Poltergeist
Directed by Tobe Hopper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and written and produced by Steven Spielberg (you may have heard of him).

This was a big favourite film when I was younger, probably one of my top ten films. Time has not been too kind on the special effects, some of which seem very hokey now. This is also a film that ignores the horror rule that says that if things are hidden they are much scarier, instead, it throws everything and anything at the screen, therefore lessening any possible scare factor.

I remember reading the Spielberg was not very happy with the way that Hopper was directing this and therefore directed part of the movie himself (although this is not credited). Certain scenes do tend to seem very “Spielberg” to me, so this seems highly probably.

A very engaging story which brings back so many memories.

7.5/10

I also thought I’d take this opportunity, seeing how it’s Halloween, to mention that there have only ever been 2 movies ever to truly creep me out. These are “The Changeling” and “The Ring – Original Japanese version (Rungu)”. Both of these stories are abut ghosts (or vengeful spirits) and also involve dead bodies down wells. Now I have absolutely no idea why I have a fear of wells, maybe it’s something subconscious going back to my childhood? Ghosts, however, I can definitely explain. I’m 99% certain that when I was a child (probably about 7 or 8) I saw the ghost. So more than movie monsters, psycho’s or aliens, the idea of ghosts in films (if handled subtly and realistically) really creeps me out.

When I first watched The Changeling I was so freaked out that I had to stop the film roughly half way through (as the tape is being played of the séance). It’s only after I managed to find the guts to play the rest of the film that I found out that following this scene the film isn’t quite as damn scary as it was up top that point. The Changeling really is an undiscovered (by many) horror classic, which far outdoes better known films like The Exorcist and The Omen.

The Ring, is just on of the most disturbing and unnatural films I’ve ever seen. The video sequence just seems so unearthly, so eerie and bizarre. Then there’s that ending… Enough to give you nightmares for years to come...

Revolution in 06 - worldwide?

Here are some comments made by Nintendo President Satoru Iwata recently...

"I can only say that it's coming out during 2006, but it will be after the current fiscal year. We hope to make it a simultaneous worldwide release as much as it's possible."

It looks like Nintendo might be following Microsofts lead and aiming for a simultaneous worldwide launch. I've also heard rumours that this may be June 2006... But hey, I don't care, just so long as I can get hold of it by Christmas 2006 I'll be a happy man :)

Now does this mean that Sony might also aim for a simultaneous worldwide launch for the PS3? I'd say doubtful when you consider how poorly handled the PSP launch was.

I'd also like to add that it's currently October... Thats right OCTOBER! So why is it that I'm seeing so many damn Christmas adverts at the moment? Why is it that they are selling advent calendars? Why is it that shops in the high street ALREADY have Christmas trees in their windows?

It isn't even Halloween yet... Or Guy Fawkes Night... Or even the evnt of the year (namely my birthday).

Christmas is in DECEMBER... Can't the shops wait even a little bit?????

Games played:
Advance Wars: Dual Strike.
I finished campaign mode the other day, but I'm still playing this (just not quite as frantically). There's plenty more to keep me busy as well as a hard campaign mode (which really is a challenge).

Have I mentioned how much I like this game? Thought so... I'll mention it again, one more time. What a fantastic game.

Lolita and Poem Collection

I have just recently added a new collection of poems on my website, this can be found here:

Poem Collection volume 2

This comprises of several poems written over the last few years… Some of which really are a little surreal, and also a couple from my not yet finished short story, Cry of Xenotaph.

Films Watched:
Lolita
A Stanley Kubrick film that I had not until just now, watched.
Considering that this film was made in the early sixties, it treads around the subject matter very carefully, never really fully explaining the “relationship” between James Mason’s character and his step daughter. Although the issue of paedophilia is not to be taken lightly, this film is handles with both great tact and genuine emotion.

I must admit, I’m intrigued to know now whether the 2000 remake treated the subject matter any differently, or remained as ambiguous.

This, Just like Dr Strangelove, really shows how versatile and actor Peter Sellers really was. It’s almost a shame that he became eventually typecast as Inspector Clouseau, as he really was an outstanding dramatic as well as comic actor.

7.5/10

On writing

It occurred to me the other day that it has been some time since I last added anything to the latest story that I’m writing, namely Cry of Xenotaph. The reason that this came to light was that my fees to keep my website voiceoftheocean.org have just come up and I need to spend some of my now limited funds to keep this going.

Part of me felt that this was a little futile as I doubt that I have many visitor to my site (to be honest I haven’t checked the number of visitors for some time now), however, it has never really been the number of visitors to my site which has motivated this. I tried and failed to get “World on Fire”, my only completed novel, published, as such I just wanted my body of work to be available in the public domain in some form, hence the website. It’s just nice to know that my stories are available for anyone to read on the internet should they wish to, even if these are seen by a small scattering of people.

My last completed story was “Dance ‘til Dawn”, which I finished earlier this year. It’s a story which I’m rather pleased with. It deviated a little from the original intent of the story, but overall the story simply is what it is, and is as complete and satisfying as I had intended it to be. Since then I have been writing Cry of Xenotaph in very short bursts, more often than not at work during my lunch hour (or should that be three quarters of an hour). I’m also aware that since starting my blog, I’ve probably written even less of Cry of Xenotaph, but hey, at least I’m writing in some form or another.

The problem really boils down to time. When I’m not working, I’m usually spending time with Roz and Elliot (which I don’t mind), this means that when I do get my own free time I usually want to do something less taxing (pun intended), namely either watching a film or playing a console game. Writing, it seems, comes further down the agenda. It just take quite a lot of effort, and by the end of the day I just don’t feel in the mood to be creative.

The funny thing is I have so many ideas for more stories, be they short stories or novels. I could give you a huge list of possible titles for ideas that I’ve had, to name a few:

The Marilyn Project
Swinging Dead
Children of Lazarus
The Love of a Stranger
First Dawn
Uriel: Genesis

For some of these I have even written a short outline, and a few I have even written the first couple of pages. There are many more that are just idea’s waiting to float to the surface. The funny thing is that to me at least, these stories have already been told, it’s just a case of putting words of the page to fully flesh them out. It’s almost as if the job of creating these stories has already been done and it’s only the laborious task of putting them on paper that awaits. To some degree this puts me offs starting to write, as it lacks excitement, but often or not the joy is weaving the extra details into these stories, the type of details that don’t occur to me until I’m writing a particular scene. Heck, I just wish I could plug my mind direct into a PC and download the stories into word, it would save one hell of a lot of time!

I very much doubt that I’ll finish Cry of Xenotaph this year, it is after all quite an ambitious and strikingly different tale when compared to my other work. I’ll likely make it a New Years resolution come December the 31st.

One other thing which I have been meaning to do for some time, is to see if I could find some sort of online forum, or links page for various writers who have published online.

On a different matter, I've seen that damn mouse (I presume it's a mouse - and not mice, i.e. multiple) on two occasions this evening. Still no luck with the traps either... Grrr...

Of Mice and Me

Just before heading to bed last night I spotted a mouse scuttle across my kitchen and disappear under the fridge.

I set traps last night, but had no luck catching the little blighter. About a year ago I thought I saw a mouse, but was not 100% convinced… Now I am certain that it was a rodent this time around. I guess this is just one disadvantage of living so close to a field (along with the gigantic spiders which have on occasion have sought refuge in our house).

I shall lay the traps over the next few days to see if I have any luck.

Films Watched:
The Virgin Suicides
The Debut film by Sophia Coppola (Lost in Translation).

It’s obvious from watching this that Sophia has the potential to become as talented a director as her father. Both films made by her have been slightly offbeat and yet intriguing. I preferred this film over Lost in Translation, but neither has been exactly spectacular.

The Virgin Suicides started off very well, but seemed to lose direction two thirds of the way through the film. The ending also, whilst expected, did not feel particularly conclusive. Good performance by a younger Kirsten Dunst as Lux the most rebellious of the five suicidal sisters.

6.5/10

Once Upon a Time in the West

Films watched:
Once Upon a Time in the West
It has been many years now since I last watched this film. I brought this copy in a sale in HMV in Canada earlier this year and had not got around to watching it until now. To my surprise, I think that I much prefer it now than I did several years ago.

This really is an epic western from Sergio Leone in every sense. The surroundings are gorgeous, the music (from Ennio Morricone) is haunting and the four lead actors mesmerising. I would say that it is probably my favourite western, although I am yet to see For a Few Dollars More and The Good the Bad and the Ugly (these films are on my Birthday/Christmas list as part of the Spaghetti Western boxset, so hopefully I’ll be able to watch these soonish).

This is also a film that runs at it’s own pace, at close to three hours long this is quite a length for a western and at times it does drag a little, but generally you’re too taken in by the absolute beauty of the film to notice. It really has to be one of the most cinematic films out there, every scene is a picture postcard which is only enhanced by the fantastic score.

I could go on endlessly about how amazing Charles Bronson (yes that’s right), Peter Fonda, Jason Robards and Claudia Cardinale are in the film, but I won’t. I will however, mention that Claudia Cardinale is simply drop dead gorgeous as Mrs McBain. A sexy and strong woman, something rarely seen in westerns.

8.5/10

I must also add that one of my absolute favourite films of all time Once Upon a Time in America was the last film directed by Sergio Leone and style wise follows this film very closely (hence the similar title). Also the music whilst different is very similar o Once Upon a Time in the West. Together they form a beautiful picture of two strikingly different periods of American history and complement each other perfectly.

On thing that I did notice during the film was that the lip synching was slightly out at certain times. This is something that I notice on a few other occasions whilst watching films or even occasionally TV. At first I thought that this was a problem with my plasma screen. I have since come to the conclusion that this isn’t my plasma, it’s just that this is significantly more noticeable on a 50” screen than it would be on a 28” or 32” set.

Just one of the minor downsides of owning a bloody big TV. It make all the imperfections of a film, be they audio or visual, that more apparent.

Smith and Half Life Completed...

Films Watched:
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
I ordered this from Amazon a few weeks back as A) I'm a big fan of James Steawart, B) It's also happens to be a "classic" movie that I've never gotten round to watching.

I think to fully appreciate this film, you really need to be American. The patriotic angle and love for ones country is really is lost to anyone outside the US. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the film it's just that I think that some of it's charm was lost on me. It certainly didn't have the sparkle and appeal of It's a Wonderful Life (another classic Stewart and Capra collaboration).

The best thing about this film really has to be a young James Stewart in such a fish out of water role.

7/10

Games Played:
Half Life 2
Well I've just completed this game.

It's interesting that I was reading an article in Edge the other day about games adapted into movies (an how often or not how utter rubbish they automatically become). If any producer had an ounce of sense, he'd look at Half Life 2 and just film it, taking the set pieces, storyline and everything that is in the games and translating it perfectly for the cinema. What a film that would make.

This is definately the best PC game I've played in countless years, and also one of my favourite games of this year. I just hope that Half Life 2: Aftermath (and the Lost Coast) won't need a more powerful PC to run them... We'll see idc.

Just need to work on Killer 7 now...

The names Craig, Daniel Craig and the ULTIMATE JOKER?

Well Daniel Craig has been official been announced by Sony as the next James Bond (the 6th to take on the role). What amused me most is that shortly before the official announcement, this was common knowledge anyway, the reason… Daniel Craigs Mum, God bless her…

From Empireonline.com:

Daniel Craig's mother appears to have confirmed that he is the next James Bond today, amid feverish speculation that the actor is the sixth official 007.

""We are thrilled to bits. He could bring something very interesting to the part. It will be life-changing," she told the Liverpool Daily Post.

My thoughts on the matter? I would have still have preferred Clive Owen in the role, but what I have seen of Daniel Craig, he seems like a fine actor. His appearance is a tad more rugged than I would expect for Bond, not to mention a tad blonder than I would expect. However, if they are aiming for a grittier more hard hitting Bond, reminiscent od the early Connery years, I think that Daniel Craig could very well cary that off.

Another rumour surfaced on the internet yesterday suggesting that Michael Keaton is being considered for the role of the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins. Now, other than the fact that it would bee cool to have the ex-Batman in the new Batman movies, I think that this is a fantastic idea. Now ignore your current perception of Michael Keaton and cast your mind back to Beetlejuice … this is practically as close to the Joker as you could possibly get and Michael Keaton total blew me away as Beetlejuice! Please, please let this rumour come to fruition, I honestly can’t think of anyone better suited to the role (although I have always thought that Dennis Quaid has the Joker smile).