A trip to Gotham

Ever since the early days of my childhood superheroes have been part of my life. Two classic heroes have been with me the longest: Superman and Batman. The moving image was the first medium that acquainted me with these pillars of the DC Comics universe. The campy Batman series of the 1960s starring Adam West and Burt Ward started my love of the Caped Crusader, whereas the 70s Superman film and the 40s tv serial gave the Man of Steel a place in my heart. Of course the other heroes of the DC and Marvel universes, such as Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Flash, Thor, Iron Man, Green Lantern, the Hulk, Aqua Man, Daredevil and the X-men are no strangers to me, thanks to spending a year in America and having friends at school that collected comics. However, the alter egos of Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent remain firm favourites. As such one cannot miss the new Batman flic, The Dark Knight. Tonight I'll be experiencing the grittiness of Gotham and the tourtured soul and split-personality of the playboy-billionaire in IMAX glory: 164 m2 of screen and 14,000 watts of digital sound. A review will follow.....

A summer's flu

For some strange reason the summer often sees an upsurge in the traditional winter illness that is flu. Despite the nice weather at the moment, many people, myself included, have been snottering along or are confined to bed with light fevers. This week it was my turn to be stuck with a blocked nose and sleep deprived nights. Not usually one to rush to the pharmacy to get an assortment of pills, I succumed to my state of malaise and bought some anti flu tablets. Having taken two when I arrived at work, I am feeling slighty less bad...although that most iriitating of symptoms, the blocked nose, persists!

Crappy summer

The Dutch spring wasn't that bad this year. The summer, however, is not looking that good so far. The last week in particular has been quite bad. Grey skies, chilly temperatures and the raining of cats and dogs have been the norm. The summer seem to get worse year by year, despite global warming!

Young player

My nephew Boaz is half latino and eventhough he is not even three years old, he is showing all the signs of becoming a latin charmer: he has a laidback swagger, a killer smile and tonnes of coolness. Ay Caramba!

The end of birthday hope

For the last 10 years my friend Nicole has had the hope that she could celebrate her birthday in the park with a picnic. Every year without fail the weather on that fateful day has been too bad. This year hopes were high as we have had a couple of very nice summery days. The morning started out well and Nicole decided to shift her celebration from the same cafe as last year to the park near her house. However, after two hours the skies opened to spoil the fun. despite the rainbow, she has now decided to no longer hope for nice weather and schedule the next birthdays in a local pub.