Michael Keaton is recognized by child as Batman #happybirthday

To honor Michael Keaton on his 73rd birthday, I found this cute clip of him telling the story of his newfound mega-stardom on the heels of the first Batman movie.

I was in Japan when the 1989 Batman was released, so I missed a lot of the hyper. But I did notice that the Batman symbol seemed to be everywhere. I idolized Batman growing up, most of my younger writings and drawings were loosely or firmly connected to my love of Batman.

So when, at 23, it finally exploded, I was thrilled to death! I didn't see the movie 'till December 2, 1989 when it came to Tokyo. By then, it had been out for so long that the movie was shown on Japanese television on December 1st the day before it's theatrical release in Japan!

My friend Paul was watching television in the dayroom and he ran to get me. I watched about five minutes and said, "Yep, that's the movie, but I'm seeing it tomorrow!" He was never good at picking up obvious clues--I was going to see the movie for the first time with my girlfriend the next day---why would I want to watch it before? Tickets had been purchased, I wanted the full experience.

I thought it had a lot of dead spots, even when I saw it the first time. Batman went out, beat up some thugs, and then returned home to Alfred complaining that he didn't have a girlfriend. How annoying--and then Alfred let Vicky Vale into the Batcave???? He should've been out on the streets! Why is it that in these sitcoms, a dude doesn't date for a few months and his friends are all over him? That's how bad marriages are created--desperation.

I haven't been in a serious relationship in 21 years, mostly because in this horrible, horrible dating culture, there's not much out there but scrapings from the bottom of the bucket.

That's not to say I haven't encountered some remarkable women--it's just that the remarkable women don't want to be with me :(

Sad to think about it. I still miss Runee so much, but that's life, and I'm good at isolating.

Okay, TMI, back on my head.