There was a time when having talent meant more than looking good. There are lots of examples: Freddie Mercury, George Thoroughgood, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kid Rock.

I'm kidding about that last one. He doesn't have talent either.

Surely no one wants to dispute with me about the fact that in recent times talent has taken a back seat to being attractive. I'm not saying that this is true for every performer who is trying to make a name for themselves in every genre out there. This is a generality. Generalities are nice. They let you say anything you want without having to prove it.

So last night I saw "The Dark Knight" the newest Batman movie. First off, I think that it was a great movie and that almost every person should see it. Secondly, I am further convinced that I correct in two of my beliefs: that this was Heath Ledger's finest performance, and that he should not be looked down upon for cracking under the pressure of this character.

I promise, this is the last time I am going to beat this dead horse. It's just that this topic is one of psychology, fear, and a bit of mysticism. I can't let all three of those things slip away from me so easily. Besides, I like beating dead horses. They don't kick as hard as live ones.

Anyway, I think this was Mr. Ledger's finest hour, I commend him for a great job, and I say that anyone who viewed him at all as an actor and not just an attractive guy should see this movie, out of respect.

Secondly, I think now, after seeing this movie, that I might very well have suffered under the strains of playing this character, had I any acting talent warranting my performance as such. When the Joker appeared on that screen, I did not see a shred of the actor playing him; the Joker had complete control at that moment. Perhaps it was merely superb acting, but I don't think so. This was too...creepy. My friend, who was sitting next to me during the show, kept saying how she was trying to see the Heath Ledger in the character and was having a hard time doing it. All the while I kept thinking, "That's because he's not Heath Ledger anymore. He's the Joker now."

I am blowing this way out of proportion? Probably; but I like to blow things out of proportion, it makes things so much more fun. On a side note, I think I can accurately guess as to what led to Mr. Ledger's death, the actions that made him afraid of himself, as it were.

And I think I was correct in one other fact, as well: the Joker really is the epitome of bad guys. Watch the movie; he explains why.

So, right now the accepted cause of Heath Ledger's death was an overdose on prescription pills and other such things. And it is becoming more widely known that this incredible increase in the use of these drugs was due to his part as playing the Joker in the newest Batman movie.

My question is, how much of a BA does a character have to be to kill someone without having to be real?

I've heard that this was the cause of the late Mr. Ledger's untimely passing quite a while back, almost immediately after the incident. A friend of mine used him as the subject of one of her research papers that we had to do this past year in English, so I had the "pleasure" of hearing nearly his entire life story. Luckily it wasn't too long of a story.

Okay, that was mean, a bit below the belt even. So sue me. It's not that I didn't like the guy, in fact I thought he had a lot of talent as an actor, and think that it is a shame that be broke down so early, but I didn't cry about his death, and I really don't care.

So anyway, when I first heard about Mr. Ledger going a little bonkers after only playing the Joker in a movie, I had my doubts about him. I mean, the Joker isn't Hitler he's not Satan, and many actors have playing both of these characters and survived quite nicely.

Then I heard that Jack Nicholson gave Heath a call. Apparently Jack wanted to warn the young actor and convince him not to play the part. He said that it was a part that got inside of your head and was hard to walk away from. I think we can all agree that Mr. Nicholson has been around the block for a very long time, and he has played some pretty mean characters in his time.

After learning about his phone call I started thinking: maybe the Joker IS like Hitler and Satan. We as Americans have been trained and taught to despise the latter two, to fear them, loathe them, and distrust anything similar to them. I think that the Joker is much the same. I even go so far as to bet that Heath Ledger read a few comic books in his day. I think that the Joker retains his power in our world because he is the manifesation of everything that we ever fear or mistrusted or thought was wrong when we were children. As we grew up we tried to forget about those "childish misgivings", but some things can't be forgotten so easily. So I understand that Heath Ledger may have been overcome by the task of representing a character that is absolutely insane. I think I would have caved as well.