Heath Ledger wins an Oscar

Heath Ledger posthumously gets a most deserved Academy Award for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight:

Why so serious?

The Joker practices his origin story about his scars… Only the NostalgiaCritic could do that!



"My father… was Rick James. That's right: I'm half black. I covered it up with a white make-up because I have identity issues. Just like Michael Jackson! You know what? My father was Michael Jackson."

"My father… was my mother."

"I fell into a bath of chemicals and I just came out this way. No, nobody would buy that."

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

2008: an summary

So today's New Year's Eve, which means it's time for looking back at what happened in 2008, don't you think? To help me remember all that I rely on the Wikipedia entry on 2008. I just highlight some events, or else this blog post would be filled by reports on suicide bombings and other wars, coups and mass killings…

2008 was designated as:

• International Year of Planet Earth.
• International Year of Languages.
• International Year of the Potato.
• International Year of Sanitation.
• International Year of the Frog.
• European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
• The Year of the Rat (by the Chinese calendar)

I hadn't even noticed all that. I even think that the "International Year of the Frog" deserves being mentioned for its lack of concern from the media.

• January 1 - Cyprus, Malta, adopt the euro.
• January 21 - Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U.S. recession, fueled by the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis. [SL: "Premonitions? Premonitions?"]
• February 19 - Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, effective February 24.
• February 24 - Raúl Castro is unanimously elected as President of Cuba by the National Assembly.
• March 29 - Presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Zimbabwe.
• April 8 - Privy Council of Sark dismantles its feudal system to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. and the first elections under the new law will be held in December 2008 and the new chamber will first convene in January 2009. [SL: WTF?]
• June 12 - Ireland votes to reject the Treaty of Lisbon, in the only referendum to be held by a European Union member state on the treaty.
• June 27 - President Robert Mugabe is reelected with 85.5% of the vote in the second round of the controversial Zimbabwean presidential election. [SL: Come on…]
• June 27 - After 3 decades as the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates steps down from daily duties to concentrate on philanthropy.
• July 2 - Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces. [SL: Hearing non-stop news reports about the rescue and so on completely drove me crazy!]
• August 8–24 - The 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing, China.
• August 17 - Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a single Olympics, winning 8.
• September 10 - The proton beam is circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located at CERN, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border.
• September 15 - Following negotiations, President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara sign a power-sharing deal, making Tsvangirai the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
• October 3 - Global financial crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets. [SL: The beginning of the end for the world economy…]
• October 9 - Global financial crisis: Following a major banking and financial crisis in Iceland, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of the 3 largest banks in the country: Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, and Glitnir.
• November 4 - United States presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States and Joe Biden is elected the 47th Vice President. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President-elect.
• November 22 - Frozen water is found on Mars. [SL: Useful when the Americans bring their Coke or Pepsi on the red planet…]
• December 6 - Riots spread across Greece after a 15-year-old boy is shot dead by a special guard of the Greek Police.
• December 10 - The Channel Island of Sark, a British crown dependency, holds its first fully democratic elections under a new constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to abolish feudalism.
• December 16 - Ruins of an ancient Wari city are discovered in northern Peru. [SL: And what about the crystal skulls?]
• December 31 - An extra leap second (23:59:60) is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in 2005.

These people passed away:

• January 11 - Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist, conqueror of Mount Everest (b. 1919)
• January 22 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor (b. 1979) [SL: a dreadful loss.]
• February 10 - Roy Scheider, American actor (b. 1932) [SL: "We're gonna need a bigger boat."]
• February 13 - Henri Salvador, French singer (b. 1917)
• March 19 - Arthur C. Clarke, English author, inventor, and futurist (b. 1917) & Hugo Claus, Flemish writer, painter and film director (b. 1929)
• April 5 - Charlton Heston, American actor (b. 1923)
• May 26 - Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1934)
• June 15 - Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist (b. 1946)
• August 9 - Bernie Mac, African-American actor and comedian (b. 1957)
• September 1 - Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (b. 1940) [SL: he was the voice you could hear in many trailers]
• September 26 - Paul Newman, American actor (b. 1925)
• October 20 - Sœur Emmanuelle, Belgian-born French nun (b. 1908)
• December 13 - Horst Tappert, German actor (b. 1923)
• December 24 - Harold Pinter, English playwright (b. 1930)

That's it. Join me on 31 December 2009 for a summary of the year!

"This is the most wretched hive of scum and villainy" (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)

Lego Batman and Robin are up to kick some ass, so a lot of villains gathered for an epic struggle in Gotham City:



"Heath Ledger's Joker, Jack Nicholson's Joker, Mr. Freeze, Irina Spalko, Evil Monkey, Darth Vader, Penguin, SpongeBob Squarepants, Bane, the Riddler, my ex-girlfriend, Stewie Griffin, Patrick Star, Skeleton, Kit Fisto… Wait, wait: he's not a villain; he's a jerk… He died, he died of the Emperor. Two-Face, Mr. Krabs, Guy on the Skateboard and Dr Octopus."

The Dark Jones

What happens when the audio of the Dark Knight trailer gets mixed up with Indiana Jones shots?

Who are you?

The Joker can't understand what Batman is asking him… (Spoof on the interrogation scene from The Dark Knight.)

"I think you may have a very severe case of throat cancer…"

If you liked this sketch, maybe you'll be interested in watching the outtakes:

The Dark Knight in Lego

The title says it all!

First trailer (original version here):



Second trailer (original version here):



Opening scene (original version here):

The Joker's magic trick

Assuredly one of the best scenes from The Dark Knight:

"What about a magic trick? I'm going to make this pencil… disappear… … Ta-daaah! It's… gone."

Heath Ledger is simply great.

When a Joker meets another…

What if the Joker faces the Joker? I mean, Jack Nicholson (Batman, 1989) v Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, 2008)? Let's watch the trailer:



"This town needs an enema!"

Jack Nicholson himself talks about playing the Joker:



The 1989 Joker had some very good lines, like these:

"What do you want?"
"My face on the one-dollar bill."
"You must be joking."
"Do I look like I'm joking?"

The Dark Knight

Today I went to the cinema to see The Dark Knight. This is truly the best film I've seen in years, not only for the brilliant script, dramatic scenes, perfect photography, but also for Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. It wasn't Ledger on the screen, but just the Joker. Jack Nicholson's performance in Batman was already fantastic, but here Ledger gives the character a new dimension, namely that of a psychotic villain killing just to satisfy himself, and enjoying creating chaos in Gotham City. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if Ledger is awarded a posthumous Academy Award in March 2009, and if the film is nominated for Best Picture as well: Christopher Nolan did a marvellous job — just like in Batman Begins, being the mastermind behind both the script and the camera. I'm definitely going to see this movie a couple of extra times! I highly recommend it to you, even if you don't give a shit about the Batman franchise; go and watch it for the sake of it. Maybe this scene featuring Ledger will further convince you:



"This town deserves a better class of criminals. And I'm gonna give it to 'em. Tell all your men they work for me now."
"They won't work for a freak!"
"Frrrreak?"

And here's just another excellent trailer:



"Dent! Jesus! I thought you was dead…"
"Half." --> Brilliant. Harvey Dent / Two-Face's make up was terrific!

As a bonus, I even found the complete opening scene of the movie, a clever bank robbery by the Joker. If you never watch the videos I feature, please watch at least this one!!!

Batman returns (I mean he's back)

Remember the first Batman: The Dark Knight trailer?



A very gifted film editor on YouTube came up with this re-cut trailer: shots from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman with the audio from The Dark Knight.



Wasn't that brilliant? According to me, the best bits is "Why so serious?" and "I like that": Jack Nicholson's facial expression is perfectly tuned with the audio.

The second trailer has eventually been released, so enjoy it!



The Joker (Heath Ledger) kicks ass! (but not for the Lord…) There's also a hint about district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) becoming Two-Face… Did you spot that as well?

Leap Day (aka 'bissextile day')

Since today is 29 February, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a few words about this day that only occurs once every four years (except on century years that aren't divisible by 400, e.g. 1700 and 2100). Here's the explanation found on Wikipedia:

Although the modern calendar counts a year as 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, an extra twenty-four hours have accumulated, so one extra day is added to that calendar to keep the count coordinated with the sun's apparent position. (…) A leap day is more likely to fall on a Monday than on a Sunday. This is because the Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20871 weeks including 97 leap days. Over this period February 29 falls thirteen times on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday; fourteen times on a Friday or Saturday; and fifteen times on a Monday or Wednesday.

Here's the most notable fact that happened exactly four years ago (from Wikipedia):

76th Academy Awards: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King wins Best Picture and Director awards and nine others for a total of 11 Academy Awards, a tie for the most ever won by a single film, and the largest sweep ever for a single film, having received 11 nominations. Acting honors were as follows: Best Actor: Sean Penn for Mystic River, Best Actress: Charlize Theron for Monster, Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins for Mystic River, Best Supporting Actress: Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain. Sources: (Newsday) (Box Office Mojo) (IMDB)

Fours years have passed! Time flies, as you can see. I can remember this ceremony perfectly, for it was the last one I saw on telly, because after that BeTV refused to broadcast it… (F*ckers.) Anyway, I was very happy for Peter Jackson and his crew, because all of them had done a terrific job with this marvelous The Lord of the Rings trilogy. About one year ago, I posted the introductory spot of the ceremony, which is basically a spoof on all the successful movies of 2003:

I spotted references to (in order of appearance) Last Action Hero, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Terminator, Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mystic River, Seabiscuit, Finding Nemo, Cold Mountain, Monster, Something's Gotta Give, Lost in Translation and The Last Samurai. Could you find more?

While looking up for this video, I found one more fine example of Brokeback Mountain-inspired trailer, this time focusing on the "love relationship" bewteen Billy Crystal and the late Jack Palance. Most bits come from City Slickers and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold.

Notice that the boy you see at 01:03 and at the end is actually the eleven-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in Brokeback Mountain with the late Heath Ledger!

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

This quote comes from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman:



This version, which I find extremelly good, opposed Michael Keaton to Jack Nicholson as the Joker. This year, though, a new version of the struggle between Batman and the Joker is to be released, namely The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins, with Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Heath Ledger as the Joker. Also returning: Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. Here's the most awaited trailer:



That will be the last film Heath Ledger stars in, for he died on 22 January. That's a shame, because he was a very talented actor, as we all saw his performance in Brokeback Mountain, that film that gave rise to so many parodies.



Today's Uncyclopedia featured article: WTC.