Happy Batmanniversary!

This morning I checked my email to find the following poem from Yanaj:

It takes two special people,
To make a loving pair.
There’s a joy just being there with you,
A feeling I love to share.

So best Batmanniversary wishes to you,
Bringing years of joy and fun.
May each film keep getting better,
I think the drooling has just begun.

HAPPY BATMANNIVERSARY

That's right. Today is the day I look forward to all year long: The Batmanniversary / Celebration of All Things Christian Bale.

The Batmanniversary marks the day that we fell in love with Batman Begins - it's cinematic release date of June 14, 2005. I remember it like it was just two years ago.

Yanaj and I were living in Seattle that summer. I had the two issues of Entertainment Weekly from that year with Christian Bale on the cover (I still do) in anticipation of the new Batman, and we'd been counting down the days to it's release. Lit'rally. This movie was such a big deal that I passed on going to the Phillies / Mariners game. That makes it a pretty big deal.

Tuesday night, we went to the midnight show, and I literally sat through the movie with a huge grin on my face. I specifically remember this night because when we got home at 3 AM, I heard a gutteral moan coming from Yanaj's room and I knew she'd seen a spider. I ran into her room, screamed when I saw the spider on the wall, wrapped a blanket around her and helped her flee the scene, slamming the door on our way out. That's what a good friend I am.

So how much did we love the movie?

We got up and went to work the next morning and after work, rather than going home to catch up on sleep or eat dinner or something logical like that, we went straight back to the movie theater and caught the next showing of Batman Begins. That's how much we loved it.

I saw it in the theaters a total of seven times, which currently holds the record for me - and never in the dollar theater, either. What can I say - I'm single and I only have myself to support.
Some people might call this obsession. I call it I'm going to name my first child after Christian Bale. And Rocky.

Celebrating The Batmanniversary really only consists of watching Batman Begins, breaking my diet to eat ice cream sundaes bigger than my head, and talk about how excited we are for The Dark Knight (July 2008).

I realize that I'm opening myself up for ridicule by confessing what a Geek-with-a-capital-G I am when it comes to Christian Bale / Bruce Wayne / Christopher Nolan / the new Batman movies - but check out Heath Ledger as the Joker. Some people think it's too dark, but it just gets me that much more excited for the next installment.

If that picture disturbed you, please to enjoy my favorite ode to Batman: