I don't want to add any spoilers for the all those folks who haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, but just to confirm:

Yep, it's fantastic.
Yep, it feels like some crazy 70's crime drama.
Yep, Heath Ledger is that good and deserves an Oscar nom.
Yep, the Imax shots are utterly breathtaking.

And Yep, we've NEVER EVER seen a comic book movie like this that takes such a deep look into a superhero mythology and delivers a complex, existential take on order and chaos while at the same time offering shot after shot of gritty, crime drama with a plot loaded with unexpected turns.

Yep, we're overloaded with superhero movies this summer, but trust me, this one's DIFFERENT.

"Well, I know it was The New Yorker's attempt at satire. I don't think they were entirely successful with it. But you know what? It's a cartoon, Larry, and that's why we've got the 1st Amendment.

"And I think the American people are probably spending a little more time worrying about what's happening with the banking system and the housing market, and what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, than a cartoon. So I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about it."

(From the LA Times Blogs )

Well said, let's move on....

Has it occurred to anyone else that the reason for the bleak independent/specialty box office and shaky state of independent film in general might be in part due to all the amazing television that is now available?

"The Wire" alone did a great job of keeping numerous indie films bumped down on my Netflix cue for months as I immersed myself in the amazing Baltimore drama of cops, drug dealers, politicians, and everyone else connected to David Simon's masterpiece, and I can't help wonder if other quality shows are keeping folks glued to their laptops and televisions and out of the movie theaters.

And would any film from last year generate a whopping cover story in the New York Times Magazine like Mad Men did this Sunday? With the brilliant Season 1 about to hit DVD and Season 2 starting next month, this show will definitely garner many new fans as it keeps its already loyal base stuck to AMC this summer.

I feel like when I talk to indie biz insiders and just regular film fans alike I hear much more buzz about "The Wire," "Battlestar Galactica," "Weeds," "Big Love," "Dexter," and "Lost," than I would have heard about practically any film in release last year (aside from "There Will Be Blood.")

And with the entire series of Twin Peaks now out of DVD, (the show that started it all, with its polished cinematography, complex storyline, and riveting score), anyone under the age of 30 (who has probably never seen the show) has 29 episodes of that classic to dive into as well.

And don't even get me started on "The Sopranos," which just realized a gigantic box set of the entire six season series on DVD, of which I've never seen. I'm saving that one for retirement.

On another note, it's a wonder folks are shunning movie theaters given the crappy experience one can have... I recently saw "Iron Man" in Spartanburg, SC with my family at a Regal multiplex and the volume was too low and surround sound not even working properly. And the first time I saw the film at the UA in Battery Park in Manhattan there was some sort of digital garbage on the print for the first 10 minutes.

If Hollywood blockbusters are projected in a such a crappy way, than it's no surprise that "The Puffy Chair" screening I went to last summer at the Angelika Center had some sort of high pitched whine during the entire screening.

All of this for $10-$12? It's no wonder people wait for it on DVD. (After they finish watching "Heroes.")

An opera based on Oscar-winning movie Brokeback Mountain is heading for the New York City stage.

Ang Lee's movie adaptation scooped three Academy Awards in 2006, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as two gay ranch hands.

Okay here we go:

I wisssshhhheeddd I kneeewwww how to quitttttttt youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

OMG, this is 2 much. More from the folks @ Current TV on txt msg relationships.

ROTFL!

Brilliant. (Thanks for the tip, Luci..)

M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel (She & Him) perform "Change is Hard" on The Late Late Show with Craig's Ferguson.

(Wait for her smile at the end.)

After the dark waters of "No Country for Old Men" it looks like the Coens are returning to "Big Lebowski" territory... Looks promising.

The flight over offered this nice shot of the receding sun as we crossed the Atlantic.

Arriving at the indieWIRE apartment, we discovered that it was equipped with these cool electric shutters that all close in unison at the push of a button.

The first 8 days was very busy as I served as Managing Editor for the indieWIRE News section of Cannes Market News, where we provided four pages of content to a print daily produced by Le Film Francais and the Marche du Film. There's something very pleasing about good 'ole ink and paper.

After a very busy first day, the team took a break and enjoyed a glass of wine on the Croisette... (L to R: Assistant Editor Peter Knegt, Senior Editor Brian Brooks, Editorial Assistant Jenny Sung, and Editor in Chief Eugene Hernandez.)

Here's me having a nighttime ponder later on at one of the many evening parties that take place on the beach.

And for more sights around Cannes:. Marilyn and Audrey.

I also like this poster of Charlize Theron being sexy.

I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Here's some gawkers at the Palais.

This guy at a party to celebrate Korean cinema knew how to get a fire going.

Speaking of Korean film, here's a shot from "The Good, The Bad, and The Weird."

After we wrapped on the Print, we took a evening trip to Antibes.. where we walked around and enjoyed the gorgeous day.

As we had dinner, this nice accordion man entertained us in Antibes, France.

Anyway, that's a wrap. See you next year, Cannes!

I have no idea why I posted this either.

While I'm on the post-Cannes french kick, here's another video by Mr. Gainsbourg himself, featuring his daughter, twelve-year old Charlotte. The song caused the typical controversy that Serge always seemed to attract...

Wednesday night kicked off with a outdoor party on Main Street which featured jumpers from Helen Hood Scheer's documentary, "Jump!"

A lot of cool filmmakers were in attendance, including Mark Brecke and Jason Mitchell, whose Darfur doc "They Turned Our Desert Into Fire" screened at the fest.

Mark Brecke, a well known photographer of genocide around the globe, was nice enough to give me a copy of this gorgeous book, "Darfur Darfur Life/War" that features his work as well as others in documenting this tragedy.

You can buy a copy of "Darfur Darfur" here.

A fun trolley shuttled folks over to the Siesta Keys for a beach party. Here, we have Jury members David Nugent (middle) and AJ Schnack (right) along with Austin McKinley (left), whose short "The Last Word" screened at the fest.

On the beach after we exchanged our shoes for flipflops we were greeted with this bevy of shrimp, a literal boatload full!

Melissa also tried out her hula hooping skillz on the pretty, powdery sand.

Afterwards, a gorgeous Sarasota sunset closed out the evening.

The next day while walking around town we discovered this fellow crossing the road. There's a joke in here somewhere. Can anyone identify this particular type of bird?

With birds in mind, Director Alex Karpovsky and Jon Hyrns represented their film, "Woodpecker" at the festival after premiering at SXSW.

Along with shrimp, another of Sarasota's decadent parties featured a table full of candy, which brought out the kid in all of us.

At the closing night party, Sarasota honoree Charlize Theron walked the red carpet and greeted numerous fans and photographers.

As the festival wrapped, Joshua Safdie gave an amusing, discombobulated speech after accepting two awards for his film, "The Pleasure of Being Robbed." Congrats!

That's me rocking the blue tie (at a black tie event, nonetheless) in the background.

From In Style's coverage of the Sarasota Film Festival.

At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, "the grid" will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

Read the entire article at the Times Online here.