Things We Forgot Were Cool

A few days ago, I was surfing about the World Wide Web as movie music soundtrack was playing in my MP3 player (go ahead, judge my nerdness; my wife does at least twice daily), when the theme to a certain movie began playing. A theme that took me back to the far away land of 1989, when I was about 10 years old. The movie to see that year, if anyone can remember, was a little film by Tim Burton called... Batman.

And oh, how I wanted to see Batman. And I did. And it was glorious. And I think now that we have been graced with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, we tend to treat Burton's movie as an afterthought; "Oh, for its time, I guess it was all right." No sir, it is still a cool movie.

Are Batman Begins and The Dark Knight better movies than Batman's first major big screen adventure? Yes, I think they are. But I think that doesn't mean we suddenly have to dismiss Burton's version of Batman. It was still cool and it introduced a world of us familiar with the campy 60s show what could really be done with the character. And without it, we wouldn't have Nolan's terrific versions of this fine hero.

And let us not forget Jack. I went in to that movie knowing Batman would be a cool dude, but was totally blown away by The Joker. It's hard for me to compare Jack's Joker with Ledger's, as to me they are two totally different characters. I tend to like both of them, but I loved the crazy energy that Jack exuded as the character. Whereas Ledger's Joker seemed like a psychotic who liked to wear makeup and cause anarchy, Nicholson's Joker truly came across as a deranged clown, which is how I tend to picture the character myself.

Once again, I understand that as movies, Nolan's movies are more mature with better characterizations, but let's not rewrite history and suddenly make Batman '89 a piece of crap. It might not be as good, but it's still pretty cool.

My Best Summer?

Well, late Spring/Summertime is amongst us and it got me to reflecting. What was the best summer of my life? I had some fun ones as a wee lad growing up. There were several trips with the grandparents.

Like the one in '89; I was 9 going on 10 and my Papaw was working as a carpenter at the Hilton Hotel in Mobile, Alabama, so we got to hang out down by the gulf for a couple of months. This summer became known by my grandparents as the summer we were in the hotel watching Jaws 3 and Papaw Don tossed his shorts at me in a perfectly timed throw just as Jaws was attacking, nearly making history by creating the youngest heart attack victim ever.

Fortunately, no 3-D glasses were involved

He still enjoys telling this story, 20 years down the road. In fact, he was kind enough to relay the story to my wife just this past Christmas, so that was an awesome summer.

Also, Batman came out.

What could be more epic?

Then there was the summer of '99, ten years later; I was 19 going on 20 without a whole lot of responsibility. I had a full time job, yet no real authority as of yet. Mainly spent the summer hanging with friends, going to the movies and whatnot. Trips to Longview, buying the crap out of DVDs and CDs. I think a new “Weird Al” Yankovich CD may have been involved.

Yeah, I looked it up, there was. And I did buy it.

And let's not forget Star Wars Mania.

Even the haters thought this was awesome.

Now, I know some were disappointed with Episode 1, but this isn't your summer, it's mine and I saw that sucker at least six times. All in all, a pretty decent summer.

Then there's the summer of '08; I was 28 going on 29. I was a married man with responsibilities. I went to the emergency room with a fun case of kidney stones. I had shoulder surgery and had to go through a couple of months of rehab, which I don't recommend unless you just like to torture yourself. Our house got flooded and we had to live with the in laws for two months until the insurance finally realized they would actually have to pay something to help us out (seeing as how we've been paying them monthly for just such and emergency and all).

And I would have to say that was the best summer of my life. No, that wasn't a misprint. Cause those paying attention will remember that was the spring/summer we became parents to a great little girl who was a loooooooong time coming. The answer to a lot of prayers and the cure for more heartache than either of us care to recount.

For all that went kooky that summer, that one event rises above and lifts that summer head and shoulders above any other. Of course, we'll see how this one plays out as we anticipate the arrival of our little boy in July, but so far, the Summer of '08 rules supreme.

Also, Batman came out.

20 years later, even epic-er.