Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Spotlight
Batman returns to the big screens today with the release of Batman Begins, the fifth in the series of films about the Caped Crusader. Christian Bale stars in the title role. The film tells the story of Bruce Wayne's metamorphosis into Batman. Having witnessed the murder of his parents by a mugger when he was a child, young Bruce vowed to protect others from criminals.

Quote
"The fundament of a superhero is the guy in tights saving innocent people from bad things. It's amazing how infrequently that seems to happen in superhero comics these days." — Frank Miller

Today in History

• Magna Carta: King John put his seal on the cornerstone of British democracy (1215)
• Charles Goodyear: patented the vulcanization of rubber (1844)
• Dan Quayle: US vice president tells schoolchildren in Trenton, NJ, that potato is spelled "potatoe" (1992)

Today's Birthdays

• Erik Erikson: psychoanalyst who coined the term "identity crisis" (1902-1994)
• Waylon Jennings: country music star (1937-2002)
• actors: Helen Hunt (42), Courteney Cox Arquette (41)

Word of the Day
 backstory: a prequel; Batman Begins tells Batman's backstory, relating how he became Batman.   (© )