If you didn’t know, The Dark Knight releases next Thursday in the U.S.  It’s supposed to be the movie event of the year and we’re sure as hell not missing out on it.  Realizing how big of a deal this movie is and how stoked we are to check it out, we’re assuming you’re just as ready to see it too.

So, we’re doing a bit of a meetup type thing for the opening.  While we’re not going to the official first showing for the film due to some scheduling conflicts, we’ll be hitting up a showing on Friday, July 18th at 9:55pm at NCG Trillium in Grand Blanc, MI.  We’re doing the IMAX showing, so it’s definitely going to be an experience.

For those who have been wanting to check this out, this will definitely be a great time to do so.  You’ll get to see a great movie and hang out and talk about movies with us in person.

If you’re at all interested in attending, post a comment here or send me an email (mike@iheartmovies.org) and I’ll get you some more details.  If you’re wanting to see how close you are to the theater, here’s a google map with info.  You’ll probably want to grab tickets ahead of time so that you don’t miss out too.

Always wanted to link to your collection on IHM or your IHM profile but didn’t know how?  Well, now we’ve simplified that for you.  If you’ve got a myspace account, blog, website or you want something in your forum signature, we’ve created a tool that allows you to choose an image (we’re calling them flare) and it gives you the code to put it wherever.  You can choose your flare image, where you want to link and even the text that shows up when someone hovers over the image.  If you’re interested in putting some buttons around, check out our Flare page.

Also, as a small side note, we’re wrapping up the last bits of collection as we speak.  We’re hoping to have it finished with bug testing and final features by the end of May for an early June release.  If you’re interested in helping test, please let us know.

We’re going to be splitting out the movie reviews and lists and whatever else that’s unrelated to IHM from this blog into a new blog that we’ve created called the IHM Movieblog (we’re so creative). So, if you’re looking for a blog about movies (which coincidentally will be completely published and written by your fellow IHMers), you should check it out. We’ll be posting news, articles, reviews, lists and whatever else pops into our heads.

Also, if you’ve bookmarked or saved a post from this blog that’s non-IHM related, it will be stripped from this blog in the next few days. You can head over to the new blog to find it and rebookmark it or whatever you trendy kids do.

Also (part II: the awakening of a new beginning), if you’re looking to write about movies or would like to join in on the fun, let me know and we’ll see about getting you in as a writer on the new blog.

Well, we had a little downtime tonight caused by me romping too heavily in the database. Luckily, we were able to smash our heads together and find the solution without losing anything but some time. We apologize for the downtime and anyone who came to our site wishing to rate some movies.

And even though the cat said it, we didn’t lose anything :).

-Mike