It’s taken me all week to put together another post. Busy, busy and more busy. But finally, something to tide you over until Scooter Sunday.

Nipplegate Over

From left to right: Tit [covered by hand], Janet, Justin — photo: REUTERS/Win McNamee

How many of you remember the half time show at Superbowl in 2004? Even people that didn’t watch it know what happened. Janet Jackson exposed her right breast to millions of viewers. Oh. My. God. Tragic as it was and the millions of children that were scarred from that exposure. And the aftermath was a $550,000 fine handed to CBS and twenty or so affiliates as the ultra conservatives claimed victory in their war against broadcast “filth”

Well, they can stop celebrating. On Monday, a judge overturned the ruling and told the FCC that they had “arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its prior policy” that exempted fleeting broadcast material from actionable indecency violations.

Finally. Someone in the court system with enough brains to tell these mindless fucks that they need to be spending more time worrying about things more important than an exposed nipple on television. Seriously, I never saw the big deal. And how many children were really “scarred for life” after seeing a 40-year-old woman’s tit? My guess is that it wasn’t the first time they saw one and it won’t be the last. And while this incident has been put to bed, there will be other uproars from those that push for everything sanitized.

The Dark Knight

“Did you see me this last week?”

One of the most anticipated movies came out last week. And it did not disappoint. The Dark Knight not only cleaned up in the box office [besting the $151 million haul that Spiderman 3 took during its opening weekend], it was a solid and action packed movie with a great script and story that the average joe or comic geek alike could follow.

Christian Bale and Heath Ledger star as Bruce Wayne/Batman and The Joker, respectfully. As Batman has kept order in Gotham City, a new villain appears on the scene to inject chaos to the populous. New D.A. Harvey Dent [played by Aaron Eckhart] takes his credit in helping to keep things running smooth, until The Joker’s antics and plots proves to be too much for both.

I cannot say enough greatness about Heath’s performance as The Joker. I really thought it was true to the original character, adding some modern-day psycho to an already deranged persona. I’d even go as far and say the late Mr. Ledger’s version of The Joker was better than Jack Nicholson’s version in the 1989 Batman movie. Jack was more suave. Heath was more erratic. Both were humorous.

Rounding out the cast with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman made for a powerful film that didn’t let up one bit. Even during those times when the story was being told, it was exciting watching it all unfold. There were no contrived moments when I normally blurt out, “What the hell?? that isn’t possible.” Everything that went into the film by director Christopher Nolan and his screenwriter partner and brother Jonathan was presented perfectly as it played out on the big screen.

I recommend this movie to anyone. A true summer blockbuster that nailed it on every level.

So who has seen The Dark Knight? Like it? Love it? Best movie ever? Not all that? Share your thoughts in the comments.

And we are back. Although it’s not technically sunday, this edition of Scooter Sunday is getting posted on Monday this week. It’s been very busy here at Banal Leakage, with a wedding, travel hell and a whole slew of other life-filling adventures. So let’s get this started.

Thanks to Karl

Much thanks to Karl from Secondhand Tryptophan for guest posting while I was off getting married. His stories always entertain me and I only wish more people would have stopped by to read his work. That’s ok. Go visit him at his blog to catch up on the latest blogger event, BrittCon.

Yard Sale

It is guaranteed that at least once a year, we have a yard sale at our house. In years past, it’s been all of our older stuff. But this year, my step-daughter Earth had a bunch of items she needed to get rid of. Most items were sold and some items went to the local thrift shop, but the one item we were betting on selling right away didn’t sell. Even at $10, no one wanted it. Not sure why.

“I may be older, but I can store a nice TV and stereo system.”
 

Yard sales are slow at times…. very slow. There are lull times waiting for people to stop by. We can just sit there and let the heat get the best of us. But instead, we chose to drink. And everyone loves mojitos.

I made at least 12 of these on Saturday
 
Scooter to the Store

Of course, there was a scooter ride this weekend. Since mojitos were requested, I had to run to get the various limes and club soda needed. No use taking the car when the seat in my scooter can hold a few items. And since the weather is now in the 90′s most of the time, it a nice ride.

 
WALL-E

I have been waiting for this movie to come out for well over a year now. First off, it’s a Pixar (which is now wholly-owned by Disney, which makes it a Disney movie) and with the exception of Cars, I’ve seen and loved them all.

WALL-E tells a very vivid story: in the year 2815, a single robot is left to clean up, (stationed in what are the remains of New York City) after humans can no longer inhabit the planet. In the process of his daily duties, he develops a personality.

The major plot of the movie [which I will not reveal here] flows well and the story stays on track, making it easy for most 16 and older to follow the movie from start to finish. Younger kids will like WALL-E and his interaction with other robots, especially one named EVE. There’s a love story here and it’s a pretty simple one. The various messages of the movie are pretty obvious and those that understand the effects of the environment on our planet will get this movie. Those that don’t, will still enjoy the animation and how all of the characters interact together.

There are all sorts of fun tidbits thrown in, including something instantly recognizable to Mac users. I really liked this film and will see it in the theater at least a couple more times before waiting for it’s release later this year on Blu-Ray.

 
Post Wedding Wrap-Up

The final two days of our wedding weekend were pretty calm. Several of us went to the beach at the lake on Sunday June 22nd and caught some rays and played in the water.

“Hey grandpa, how do I flush this?
 

Then it was back to Reno on Monday to catch a plane back home. This time, we were at least an hour early. Our flight was uneventful going home until we landed back in Utah and went to the baggage claim area. Seems someone else has a similarly-colored blue suitcase and mistakenly took mine.

We filed a baggage claim and within 24 hours, I had my bag, intact with all of my belongings [kudos to Delta's response time and baggage reclaim desk]

Back To Normalcy

Now that the fun and major events are over for a while, it’s time to meld back into daily life. Next week, Scooter Sunday is back in it’s regularly scheduled blog post slot. Stay tuned.

Getting to this quite late, but it’s been a full day.

Another short ride today, but it was still fun. Rode it to check the air in my tires at the local Sinclair gas station down the road. As you can see from the photo, I ride with a helmet, even though Utah law does not require a helmet for any two-wheeled vehicle. I prefer not to be an “organ donor”, as my friend that rides motorcycles prefers to call people that ride without one. I understand there are times when it may hinder a ride, but with the ratio of cars, trucks, diesels and SUVs much higher than scooters and motorcycles, it’s a safety issue. At least that’s how I see it.

Golf

For the last 12 years, I’ve taken up golf as my sport of choice. And even after that long, I’m still not all that good. But I enjoy it. It’s a challenge to me and one that I really like. Yes, I swear when my ball goes in the water or when I have way too many triple bogeys in a 9-hole game. But that’s all part of the challenge, or so many golfers have told me.

Today was my first game of the season. Last year at this time, I had already played five rounds of 9-holes. But this year, as you’ve seen in some of my posts, the weather has been extra shitty cold and not very golfer-friendly. Today was no wind, high 60′s – low 70′s and just a great day. And I wasn’t about to piss it away by not getting out the clubs.

So how’d I do? Not bad, for the first game of the season. Pared one hole, single bogey on two holes and multiple bogeys on the rest. But the “fucks” and “dammits” didn’t flow quite as much. It helped that my friend and I were paired up with a 50-something couple and I didn’t feel like blaring obscenities around them. Plus, I was just plain happy to be out hitting the tees, chipping on the fairway and putting the ball into the cup. What’s not to love?

IRON MAN

But that’s not all of my day. My fiance and I went to the 7:30pm showing of Iron Man. What a kick ass movie. I knew the story from the Marvel comic book series, but that didn’t matter. The movie (albeit changed somewhat from the comic book version) stood on it’s own. Robert Downey Jr. was very well cast in the role of Tony Stark. The effects were non-stop and not cheesy or over the top. I can’t say enough good things about this film. Check it out, even if you are not part of the geekdom world that read comic books as a kid. And stay to the end, past the credits.

So that’s it for today. I’ll post again this week. Thanks for reading and sticking with me.