Holy Bad Acting!

I mentioned last week that I'd agreed to be Batman in a video for our work conference. We filmed it today.

I was hoping the costume would be a cool Batman Begins style one. Something that I could wonder around in and pretend to be a crime fighting creature of the night. Instead it was a 60s style one. But not even sixties TV series - it was more 60s comic book style (or at least how I imagine that to look). All primary colours - bright blue cape and boots, yellow belt etc.

We were doing the scenes against a green screen. The script (such as it was) was straightforward (since they'd stupidly let me write it myself in a spare five minutes I had last week). I put in lots of swearing because I liked the idea of a sweary Batman, but they made me take that out and so I replaced the swearwords with "Bats". It's actually a good word - you can replace f**k with it in pretty any situation.

We also had to lose my first image which was of Batman and Robin, fully costumed up, lying in bed together. Like Morecombe and Wise or the cast of Rainbow. I thought it would have been funny but getting hold of a duvet and a bed (or even a green screen bed) defeated us. I just liked the image and it's a shame we couldn't do it. The replacement shot was of us sitting around in costume reading books instead.

I think I played the part well. I could generally remember up to three of the lines I had at a time and I only cracked up laughing once. I've no idea what the finished thing will be like - I suspect it will have been extensively edited. I can guarantee it will be embarrassing to watch. I'll try and get hold of it and post it somewhere.

Just don't tell anyone that I'm not in Equity. Or that I wrote the script last week during the writers' strike.

I'm not Batman either

In a fit of what now I can only describe as idiocy, I seem to have agreed to dress as Batman for a video to be played at our work Christmas conference. I will also have to act as Batman. It's going to make Batman and Robin look like Citizen Kane.

In-Race Entertainment

Since I'm running alone in the Great North Run this year (apart from 50,000 others), I have planned some in-race entertainment. I'm loading it onto my iPod now.

It's the 1994 radio-drama, Batman: Knightfall. Based on the comic of the same name. It was originally on Mark Goodier's Radio 1 show in daily three minute chunks and I used to have it on cassette tape (remember them?). A friend borrowed (stole) my tape years ago so I haven't heard the thing for years, but I remember it being great - much better than the Batman movies of yesteryear, despite the lack of visuals.

I recently bought it again on CD (remember them?) and have been saving it for the race. I hope it's still good. If not, I'll have to make do with tunes or race-noises instead.

On the case it says "Running Time: 3 hours". I hope that's not a prediction. That'd be rubbish.

MoonBats

Yesterday evening there was a lunar eclipse in the sky. I don't recall ever having seen one before. It was interesting but not hugely spectacular. First the moon went a bit grey, then it went a bit red. Later on it went back to normal. In the meanwhile, I drank some red wine.

I also tried to take a few photos but since I only had my phone camera, and it was dark, they didn't come out well. Like a big black thing with a white blob in the middle.

It struck me that it's a shame Earth isn't shaped like a bat. Because if it was, it would make a bat shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse and it would be like when they turn the bat-signal on. That would be cool.