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Michael Bay Presents: The Dark Knight

I can?t remember where I found this hilarious script by Michael Bay.. but I am pretty sure WB did not accept this.. you be the judge:

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View more here[/b]b>

That was posted many pages back.

I disagree with that last point. I think he fully well deserves the Oscar. I don't think I've seen such an absolutely spot on and convincing portrayal of any character in any movie in a very, very long time. It was perfect. Honestly. I don't see how it could have been improved in any way.

Think about it. Summer action blockbusters don't win Oscars. Now, an actor is dead so the academy actually takes a look at the movie. His acting was spot on, but there was also some other really great acting in there that will get completely ignored by receiving nothing.

Think about it. Summer action blockbusters don't win Oscars. Now, an actor is dead so the academy actually takes a look at the movie. His acting was spot on, but there was also some other really great acting in there that will get completely ignored by receiving nothing.

I thought Gary Oldman was one of the better performance's in the whole movie and I hope he gets nominated but it won't happen.

I thought Gary Oldman was one of the better performance's in the whole movie and I hope he gets nominated but it won't happen.

Oldman was spot on, and you genuinely think he is dead too, and what a bloody surprise when he turns up later on.

Good evening, Commissioner!
My other half just showed me a magazine she was reading and it including a small article on Ledgers preparation for the role as Joker...some of which I think we found out about after his death.

Clock Work Orange, Johnny Rotten for inspiration and locking himself away for a month in his apartment alone....etc...

I've heard a lot of hearsay about that's what caused the death. They say it was him getting into the character and I don't freaking think so. I'm pretty sure he did it for all of his movies as many great actors do. I honestly can't see it being anything other than accidental.
Oldman was spot on, and you genuinely think he is dead too, and what a bloody surprise when he turns up later on.

Meh. If you watch the first trailer over & over again like me, you'll know he's not dead. He has to show up in jail when the Joker gets caught. Didn't surprise me at all. I'm too smart. :p

I managed to avoid every trailer (in movie theaters somehow). I don't see how I did it because its near impossible in today's media. :p

I'm starting to realize the political aspect of the movie after reading some interviews with Christopher Nolan and how his script was driven by the current political climate in America.

I loved Michael Cain's quote when responding to questions about Nolan's politically driven scrpt. He said, "Superman is how America views itself. The Dark Knight is how the rest of the world view America."

I'm starting to realize the political aspect of the movie after reading some interviews with Christopher Nolan and how his script was driven by the current political climate in America.

I loved Michael Cain's quote when responding to questions about Nolan's politically driven scrpt. He said, "Superman is how America views itself. The Dark Knight is how the rest of the world view America."

Same with the sonar & wire tapping project

[Review] The Dark Knight

Saw the movie last night. What can I say that has not already been said?

This movie is flawless, and has been my best cinema experience in a long time. We've had some highs (Iron Man, Indy IV) and lows (Hulk, Prince Caspian, Indy IV) already this year, but TDK shoots right to the top. Now, I'm a complete Transformers nut, but I have to put TDK above even Michael Bay's awesome robot grinding spectacle. The Dark Knight set out to be better than Batman Begins (BB) and has done so in every right. It's grittier, it's darker, it's more sadisctic, and it's a bloody marvel (ahem).

I know it sounds like I'm just following suit for praise of Heath Ledger as the maniacal Joker, but he went above and beyond any character portrayal I've seen previously.

Right from his second scene (with the mob bosses and the TV) he sets a pace for the rest of the film, but I love the way the character is able to throw everyone down a different track on so many different occasions. Like lying about the locations of Harvey and Rachel, and the two ferries..

At quite a few points in the film, we were actually laughing out loud at some of the things he says and does, they had him in a dress! WTF? How awesomely random, it just bloody worked.

Harvey Dent was my second favourite character of the film, and it's simply because up until actually watching the film, I was under the impression that Harvey was appearing in this film as a setup character for a possible 2nd sequel but taking him and developing him into a full blown character has paid dividence. He was funny, but brutally honest, and the effects after his inevitable faceburn were simply fantastic.

It would be interesting if they could somewhat bring him back in the next film, but its more than likely that they will seal Two-Face's fate here, and move on.

Bale was brilliant too, but I felt that he was constantly overshadowed by the behemoth of Ledger's Joker. That's not a bad thing at all, because it puts the character in an almost constant state of uneasiness, and we now already have a rich underlying story for the 3rd film: bat on the run.

My only real gripe about this film was Bale's accent when he was wearing his Batsuit, it just seem really out of place. I know it's part of the whole secret identity persona, but it sounded a little off.

Where can we go from here? We've seen what Nolan can achieve, and just how well actors work with him, but the raw finality of the finished product makes you wonder just what else can be achieved to try and top this work of art. What character would play the primary antagonist? The Penguin? The Riddler. IMO, I think neither should be chosen, The Penguin doesn't fit into Nolan's Gotham, and I believe any portrayal of The Riddler would try and emulate Ledger's Joker too much. This one is open for debate.

The Dark Knight: 10/10.

Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman): 9/10.

Heath Ledger (The Joker): 11/10.

Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face): 10/10.

Rewatchability: 10/10.

- A very satisfied viewer.

You just saved me 20mins... Agree whole heartedly with this (Y)

I also LOL'd at the hospital scene :laugh:

The movie did depress me a bit seeing as I really don't think another comic book movie will ever be able to top this one...

You just saved me 20mins... Agree whole heartedly with this (Y)

I also LOL'd at the hospital scene :laugh:

The movie did depress me a bit seeing as I really don't think another comic book movie will ever be able to top this one...

It's not just Superhero movies, but The Dark Knight has set the bar pretty high for all blockbusters over the coming years. This will be sooo hard to best.

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
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    • I actually got to use one of those so called "backup codes" once. It was for a customer, I choose the backup code option, and by the grace of god, they actually hade them printed out. Imagine my surprise, when after using the backup code, Google then told use we had to enter a code they just sent to the gmail address we currently did not have access to. I was not amused, Google backup codes should be the end all get out of jail free card, because you had to have access to the account to even get them.
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