Manor (HQ)

Sometimes my mind wanders and I muse about things. Recently, it was about manors. Probably because Wolfie asked me questions about Batman and I ended up talking a lot about Wayne Manor. Wolfie seemed greatly interested in it. When I was a child (albeit a bit older than he is now), I had a similar fascination about manors in general, even though I only had a vague notion of what manors were. They seemed to be the absolutely coolest dwelling places and in our make belief games, it was often the headquarters of our heroes and villains. Of course they were full of secret doors and passages, sometimes they were even haunted, in any case they were places of adventures. Or at least the starting points of many imaginary ones. This country is pretty rich in manors, so every time I pass by one or visit one, I remember our old childhood games and wonder if this particular manor has everything it takes to be a proper HQ for a self-respecting hero or a sinister villain.

Batman and Wolfie

I cannot remember when I first read a Batman comics, but I do remember looking at a Batman figure in a catalogue when I was a very young child, and already knowing he was great. He pretty much became my favourite superhero right then. I think something similar happened to little Wolfie. We recently bought him the Fisher-Price DC Batman Ride On and it is now is favourite toy ever. Like his own Batmobile. It might be the toy more than the character, but I do think little boys are instinctively attracted to the Dark Knight. Anyway, I have a feeling Batman will be Wolfie's favourite superhero.

Dark (K)night music

I uploaded music from the Batman trilogy before. Nolan's Batman movies are my favorite superhero movies. Tonight is a dark night, I watched, well The Dark Knight, so I thought about putting here the main theme, just for the sheer pleasure of it.

Catwoman's theme

I thought about uploading some more music here, for the heck of it. I am a huge fan of Batman, he is my favourite superhero. I love the Batman trilogy Christopher Nolan made, the movies are my favourite superhero movies, bare none. I like The Dark Knight Rises a bit less than the previous two, mainly because it is the ending of the story, but there are a thing or two that I enjoy less than the movies that came before.That said, it is still a quality movie. And I LOVE the score by Hans Zimmer, by far the best superhero movie score, again bare none.

So this leads me to Catwoman. The character is great, a morally ambiguous antihero, cat burglar and femme fatale. And she is a cat-lover like me. I even sometimes prefer her spin-off comic books series to the Batman ones. I really loved the take Nolan had on Catwoman, and Anne Hathaway is so natural in the role she seems to have just burst out of the comic books' pages. Catwoman is never referred to by her nickname in the movie. So the title of my post should be "Selina Kyle's theme". All the same, we know who the character is. The theme is a beautiful, subtle piece that is full of feline attitude, first aloof and mysterious, with a bit of menace, then becomes nervous and agressive.

Reflection on masks

This is is a mask I received as a gift a few years ago, a decorative mask in papier-mâché, a strange mix of Venetian and primitive masks, made by a local artist in Chicoutimi. It is on the wall of my bedroom there.

I have blogged about masks before. It is a fascinating object: used to conceal identity, to create a character, for more prosaic, functional reasons, to decorate or a mix of many functions. Even the prosaic masks, say a surgeon mask or a gas mask, can be quite sinister in the proper circumstances. A mask is an artificial layer of skin that deforms or recreates features, or erases them. When a mask is worn, as I said in my previous blog, it reveals just as much as it hides. One of my favourite comic book characters, Batman, does not wear a mask to conceal his identity: it reveals it, it shows his true nature. Batman is the real persona, Bruce Wayne is the disguise. Of course, masks have been used in fiction to play this ambiguity between hiding and revealing. Think about Eyes Wide Shut (a criminally underrated movie). Masks should be used more often in fiction, they have such an evocative power.

The bats are back!

Well, maybe they never left, to be honest, but I hadn't seen them in a while, since yesterday that is. By seeing them, I mean of course getting a glimpse of their movement at sundown. They are elusive creatures, too fast when they fly for our camera, very small and barely perceptible. They are just shadows.

There was Batman Begins on television that night, fittingly enough, so I thought I would blog a bit about our nocturnal neighbours. It is also an excuse to put here those pictures of fruit bats, taken at the Vancouver Aquarium. What were they doing in an aquarium I have no idea, but there were a number of non-aquatic animals there, including the bats. I didn't complaint, the more animals the better, especially those you can barely see in normal times. Since they were in an enclosed environment, I could successfully take a few pictures of them.

Bats are basically flying rodents, so I don't know why I love them. I think it is partially due to their somewhat sinister reputation, their associations with vampires (I am a big fan of the original Dracula novel and of old horror stories in general), Halloween, horror in general and their mysteriousness. Batman is probably my favourite superhero, maybe it is a reason for me liking bats or my liking of bats a reason for this preference. Anyway, I also see bats as shy creatures, frail looking and vulnerable. I don't feel the same for mice and other rodents. And the bats we have here are most likely insect eaters, so they keep the flies level low during those hot summer days. But overall, I love them because they are so cool.

The Scarecrow

"...and the spectacle of a scarecrow in a field late on a winter afternoon has cost him more than one sleepless night."

M.R. James, "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"

A blogging friend put yesterday a song of Pink Floyd on her blog. Being in a psychedelic mood and since any reason is good to listen to Pink Floyd, I decided to put here a song from their earliest album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It was back when they still had Syd Barrett as the leader. Sure, it's no Dark Side of the Moon, but it was a promising debut nevertheless. I decided to put The Scarecrow here,for many reasons. The wikipedia entry says that the song has existentialist themes, which is true of maybe any good Pink Floyd song, and you know how into existentialism I am. Scarecrows are also autumnal creatures, that I associate with Halloween. There is something just unsettling and threatening about them, these still, ghostly watchers. Of course, there is also the Batman villain of the same name that popularises the scarecrow as a malevolent entity. His scenes in Batman Begins are among my favourite (have a look here and here).

Anyway, the scarecrow of Pink Floyd is not a dangerous fellow, he is actually a sympathetic figure. Nevertheless, even the rare video clip I will show has something a bit spooky, even if the background is summery. Maybe it is the look of the scarecrow itself, maybe it is the strange (meant to be drug induced?) trance of Roger Water and Nick Mason at the end of the clip. Maybe it is because English summers can have autumnal undertones, maybe because the scarecrow looks mummified and skeletal. Anyway,enjoy the music and shine on.

The Dark Knight

I don't want my blog to be about recent movies, especially those that are as successful as this one, I'll rather make the few readership I have discover the unknown/lesser known/forgotten gems. That said, I saw The Dark Knight yesterday evening, finally. It was long but worth it. A lot of things happen and it all goes a bit fast, but the script is strong and the acting flawless. Heath Ledger was great as the Joker. To be honest, I never cared that much about him until he got cast as the Joker. But what a haunting performance he gave. Anyway, it isn't my intention to blog too much about something that big, so I will just write that quick entry about it.

Waiting for The Dark Knight

I am really looking forward to see The Dark Knight, which hasn't been released in the UK yet. I am feeling a bit restless about it. I am reading Batman comics at the moment to get myself in the mood (and some Catwoman comics as well, which are quite good and on which I might blog about).

Here's the last trailer, which I watch often to keep myself waiting: