Por fin. Pilar González, como Secretaria General del Partido Andalucista (PA), y José Antonio Pino, como Portavoz Nacional del Partido Socialista de Andalucía (PSA), han anunciado hoy oficialmente un acuerdo entre ambas formaciones para trabajar a partir de ahora en común y presentarse bajo una misma candidatura en las próximas elecciones.

Para que esta labor en común sea efectiva, se crearán ‘Comités de Enlace’ a nivel nacional, provincial, comarcal y local. En la práctica, esta coalición funcionará como un único partido que se pasará a llamar provisionalmente ‘PA+PSA‘. Después de las municipales se realizará el congreso de unificación.

Lo mejor de todo y es, además, algo que debería quedar claro es que este acuerdo sólo es la primera fase de algo más grande. El fin al que se aspira es la configuración de un gran espacio andaluz en el que tenga cabida la unidad total del andalucismo, el ecologismo político y la izquierda ‘no autoritaria’. De hecho, el documento firmado está pensado para facilitar que esto se produzca.

En el caso del PSA, este acuerdo fue presentado y aprobado por unanimidad (100%) el pasado fin de semana en una Convención Nacional que se celebró en Carmona. Algo lógico, pues el documento sigue la ruta marcada por el III Congreso Nacional del PSA que se celebró hace un año en Chiclana, por la Convención Nacional en Torrox y, en general, es coherente con la línea de trabajo e ideológica que el partido sigue desde hace años.

En mi opinión, es un buen acuerdo. Supongo (seguro que sí) que es mejorable, pero se trata de un buen punto de partida para crear la confluencia del andalucismo, el ecologismo y la izquierda.

Toyota green

Toyota este cel mai eco producator auto din lume, iar cel mai putin prietenos cu mediul este General Motors, potrivit unui studiu realizat recent de Universitatea Queen din Belfast, informeaza fleetnews.co.uk.

Autorii studiului au analizat costurile energetice, sociale si de mediu ale productiei de masini la nivel mondial raportat la fiecare constructor auto in parte. Potrivit datelor culese de cercetatori, General Motors a cheltuit 9,87 miliarde de euro in forma costurilor ecologice si sociale in perioada 1999-2007, in timp ce Toyota a economisit 5 miliarde de euro in raport cu media industriei.

Potrivit raportului industria producatoare de masini din Asia (Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi si Suzuki) depaseste cu mult performantele celei nord-americane. Dintre producatorii europeni, Daimler sta cel mai bine, fiind urmat indeaproape de Mercedes, Volkswagen, PSA Peugeor-Citroen si Renault.

“Producatorii auto consuma resursele si acest lucru ne costa. Risipa energiei scumpe nu este o idee buna”, a declarat Frank Figge, profesor la Universitatea Queen si coordonator al studiului care a adaugat ca producatorii auto si-ar putea reduce costurile prin investitii ecologice.

sursa : Ziare ro

Recmandari :

Despre  Sfantul Ierarh Nicolae

Focurile de artificii ale anului 2009

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FT notes the lack of activity going on at Keppel harbour, in “Vulnerable Singapore reflects a picture of inactivity”

From the palm-fringed beaches of Singapore’s east coast, it is possible to see the islands of Indonesia across the narrow strait that separates the two countries.

These days, though, the view is obscured by hundreds of ships lying at anchor, some of them part of the estimated 10 per cent of the world container fleet idled due to lack of business. At the ultra-modern Pasir Panjang container terminal, stacks of empty containers piled up behind protective fencing tell a similar story.

Singapore, the world’s largest container port by throughput, looks likely to suffer a bigger fall in traffic than many other ports this year, in spite of a slight uptick in traffic in provisional figures for October.

The port’s two terminal operators suffered a 16.5 per cent fall in throughput to 21,255,900 twenty-foot equivalent units (teu) in the 10 months to the end of October. Throughput moved up considerably in October to 2,314,300 teu from 2,145,400 in September, potentially signalling a recovery, but remained well below last October’s total of 2,522,000 teu.

As a global transshipment hub for traffic between Asia, Europe and the US west coast, Singapore is highly vulnerable to a decline in world trade on the scale caused by the global financial crisis – 85 per cent of the port’s container throughput is transshipment traffic. [Comment: That's because transships count both inward and outward flows, which means the impact of economic ups and downs are amplified - REALLY good in good times, and really sucky in the bad]

You can see it for yourself. Just take a drive on the AYE/ECP, and note the number of crane “birds” that are standing up. If they are up, it means they are idle. Of course, FT notes that the silence is not just confined to Singapore. All other ports are suffering too. From “Ports face crisis as volumes fall”

The world’s container ports industry is facing a sharp reversal in its fortunes as the sector’s first ever year-on-year fall in volumes forces an abrupt change from breakneck expansion to retrenchment.

The four biggest operators – Hong Kong’s Hutchison Ports, Singapore’s PSA, Denmark’s APM Terminals and Dubai’s DP World – have cut costs, including laying off staff, and delayed or cancelled new construction projects.

London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants forecasts a year-on-year fall of 10.3 per cent in containers moved this year, compared with 4.6 per cent growth in 1982, the previous worst year since 1956, when container shipping started.

“Before October 2008, our industry was used to 10 to 15 per cent annual growth in global trade volumes,” said Kim Fejfer, chief executive of APM Terminals.

“Not only are we in the middle of a volume crisis but our customers, the container carriers, are in an even more difficult situation because of the overcapacity in that particular sector,” he added.

Actually, the overcapacity is not limited to carriers – the main problem is that everyone is vying to be a transshipment hub. Take Busan’s new bleeding edge facility, for example, or even YangShan (near Shanghai). In such an environment, you can expect discounting and undercutting to continue, as governments everywhere try to justify the massive investments in what has turned out to be lots of idle capacity. From “Cranes idle in Busan’s state-of-the-art facility”

At Busan’s new port on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, a huge blue crane is loading containers on to a large ship docked at the waterfront while big yellow cranes are sitting nearby, ready to offload and stack containers as soon as new ships arrive.

Port officials boast the state-of-the-art facilities have slashed labour costs and boosted efficiency by 30 per cent with the driverless cranes able to stack containers in empty slots automatically.

But many of the cranes are sitting idle at this spacious new terminal. Few ships are calling here and mountains of empty containers are stacked all over the place. South Korea built the new port three years ago as Busan’s old terminal, the world’s fifth-largest container port, became congested.

But the new port, at the heart of Seoul’s ambition to make Busan a logistics hub of north-east Asia, has been suffering from chronic overcapacity since its opening in 2006. The port has seen 14 new berths open as part of the $8.6bn project, which originally planned to have 30 berths operating by 2015. The fall in cargo volumes has prompted the authorities to delay the expansion.

Busan is already a large transshipment port, with 45 per cent of its business made up of this type of traffic. But those volumes are falling as it loses out to the the new port of Yangshan, near Shanghai in China.

Port officials hope that all these efforts, together with an economic recovery, will help lift cargo volumes. But they admit that unless there is a strong economic recovery, the problems will not go away.

Right. Which means that yet again, the entire shipping world is waiting for the American consumer to break out of its credit funk, and start spending like there’s no tomorrow. But as a previous posting has pointed out, Xmas in US is going to be really bleak this year. As FT points out, “Outlook grim for ports in southern California”

From his perch at the Marine Exchange control centre high up on the hill overlooking the San Pedro bay in southern California, Dick McKenna has seen first hand this year the effects of the slowdown in global trade.

Captain McKenna is executive director of the Marine Exchange, which manages the flow of ships entering and leaving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, a vast port system that is the biggest in the western hemisphere and a crucial entry point into the US for cargo from Asia.

But after more than a decade of expansion and uninterrupted growth Los Angeles and Long Beach has hit a fallow patch. The global recession has left terminal operators suffering from a capacity glut: many of the cranes and top-loading equipment used to unload containers from ships are idle while the number of vessels coming into the San Pedro bay is sharply down on a year ago.

“Usually you would see the containers and boxes stacked high,” says Captain McKenna, peering at the Los Angeles port through a pair of binoculars. He is looking at the APM Terminals Pier 400 operation, the largest proprietary container terminal facility in the world. “But there are so many grounded containers today.”

The slowdown has forced operators at Los Angeles and Long Beach to cut costs as volumes have declined. The slowdown and the growth of rival ports in the Pacific north-west in Seattle and the Prince Rupert operation in Canada have also switched the balance of power to shipping lines bringing cargo into the US.

If shipping lines are unhappy with prices charged by the terminal operators they can take their business elsewhere to get a better deal – an option that was not available to them 18 months ago when Los Angeles and Long Beach were full to capacity.

“Volumes in the past year have been 10 to 30 per cent off,” says Alan McCorkle, managing director of APM Terminals Pier 400, which is part of the Danish Møller-Maersk group. “This has always been a capacity constraint market and shipping lines have always had to go with whatever the terminal operators were offering.”

But the recession has changed all that. “Now, they can go across the water next door [to Long Beach], they can go to the Pacific north west or they can go to the east coast.”

Click the URL and review John Hopkins hospital. Be informed.

http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/alerts/prostate_disorders/JohnsHopkinsHealthAlertsProstateDisorders_3261-1.html?ET=johnshopkins_blog:e33877:725447a:&st=email&st=email&s=EPH_091126_013“

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!  I thought that a public service announcement about something warm and fuzzy would be appropriate for Thanksgiving, but sadly, I only had one in my pile of ads and it’s not even a real PSA!  But it is funny, so I decided that maybe it was a good thing to post for a holiday anyway.

This is an ad for the Save the Murlocs Foundation, which is fictional (since murlocs aren’t real except in World of Warcraft) and was created by Jinx, a clothing retailer.  There are products (including a cute stuffed murloc) and a foundation website that tie in with the campaign.

Well, I don’t like killing murlocs anyway (they’re such drama queens!), but that certainly convinced me that they would take over Azeroth if their numbers weren’t kept down by all the very self-less adventurers who take time out of their busy lives to cull the massive hordes of murlocs that swarm the shores of nearly every beach known to humans, trolls, dwarves, tauren and everyone else!

Our entry to the December PSA club competition.

Ok, so first off, holy fuck! Secondly, this is really not very subtle. I’m not sure when polar bears became the sole animal mascot for global warming (I get it, ice caps melting and all, they’re relatively close to panda bears, but still…) Thirdly, the connection between the carbon footprint of your flight equating to the weight of a polar bear is a little tenuous for me and the message isn’t insightful, just shocking and heavy-handed. But, back to my original thought, which was… holy fuck! It affected me enough to post it, so there must be something going on. Or maybe I’m just stressed out now. Holy fuck.

No holds barred work for the Plane Stupid campaign from Mother London, directed by Daniel Kleinman and produced by Rattling Stick.

Via Feed

Two excellent new PSAs to add to a growing collection of videos on the BC arts cuts issue. Please pass them around! The whole community, artists and arts supporters, appreciates the colossal amount of work that was put into these productions.

(Paris/Bonn)

PSA Peugeot Citroën meddelar att man kommer öka produktionsvolymen i Poissy-anläggningen där man f.n. monterar Peugeot 207. Idag tillverkas c:a 800 vagnar per dag, men inom kort tillkommer nya C3 och DS3 introduceras, varför man ökar takten så att man till februari månad nästa år skall nå en nivå på 1200 fordon/dag. C3 kommer även fortsättningsvis att tillverkas i Aulnay-fabriken. Men skulle den bli en större hit än väntat kan man höja produktionstakten i Poissy till 1800 fordon/dag.

Samtidigt gör chefen för Continental AG, tysken Manfred Wennemer, ett uttalande som skall uppfattas som ett varnande finger. Han påpekar att den europieska bilindustrin blivit politiserad, inte minst genom de statsfinansierade subventioner som införts under finanskrisen. Wennemer hävdar att stöden tillkommit av sysselsättningspolitiska skäl, och på så sätt skapat en artificiell efterfrågan på småbilar. Efter andra kvartalet 2010 menar han att efterfrågan kommer minska dramatiskt.

Samtidigt menar han också att de mer välmående biltillverkarna inom EU (som t.ex. PSA Peugeot Citroën, Volkswagen och Ford) kommer att få betala för “räddningsplanerna” av Opel som General Motors överraskande meddelar att man behåller. GM har signalerat att man vill ha ekonomiskt stöd från EU för att kunna behålla flertalet av sina europeiska fabriker. Wennemer menar att detta snedvrider konkurrensen eftersom den europeiska bilindustrin totalt sett behöver skära ned. Wennemer talar om att var fjärde bilarbetare skulle behöva gå för att arbetsstyrkan skall motsvara efterfrågan på bilmarknaden.

//Peter H Svensson

So, tomorrow my winter break begins. I’ll be in Mound (aka suburban hell) for a week, then back here to work as an office assistant for the Cinema & Media Studies department. Exciting! And just before I leave, I want to write a short post following up on some topics I’ve delved into recently, namely Jack Chick’s The Gay Blade and public service announcements.

So, speaking of Chick, I glanced around WordPress and learned that there are, in fact, several whole blogs devoted to analyzing/attacking his work. These include “Our Lady’s Blog: Why is Mary Crying?,” which mainly goes after Chick’s anti-Catholicism, as well as “Investigating Jack T. Chick,” which I consider a worthy cause. Chick’s reclusiveness, coupled with his wackiness, really makes him prime material for wondering, “Who is he really, anyway?”

Like me, “Investigating Jack T. Chick” saw fit to tear apart The Gay Blade; however, they did it more from a Christian, scriptural point of view, observing how Chick’s claims don’t even stick to actual Christian beliefs – and, for all his obsession with biblical fidelity, Chick doesn’t even really quote the Bible correctly (inserting, unsurprisingly, extra homophobia). I don’t agree with the entire article, but multiple points of view on evangelical comic book craziness are always better; also, they link to this great little humorous take on The Gay Blade. My favorite part: “In the drawing here, we can be sure that these men are not gay! NOBODY IS WEARING BIG TINTED GLASSES!”

So, if anyone out there is, in fact, interested in my perspectives on Jack Chick’s viewpoints and artistry, I’m sure there will be plenty more to come. And so, about PSAs: Ashley and I recently watched the Nostalgia Critic’s “Top 11 Drug PSAs,” and it got us thinking about all the exaggerations and insinuations that branches of the U.S. government tried to shove down our throats alongside mid-afternoon cartoons back in the 1990s. For a sample, we turned to the Nostalgia Critic’s source, and looked at Retrojunk.com’s list of ’90s PSAs.

This is by no means a comprehensive catalogue, but it’s a start, and I’d love to explore the content and storytelling of these ads in the future. Some are just surreal and disorienting; others are patronizing and laughable; and yet others are starkly nightmarish. I’d also like to learn more about how they came to be written and filmed – who determined which ideologies they’d be expressing? PSAs are especially interesting to me because they’re like a covert intrusion into children’s culture: amidst all the hyperkinetic cartoons and commercials for toys or sugary cereal, we’ve got these little government-sanctioned voices going, “Don’t do drugs!” or “Exercise!” in all kinds of creative, often unexpected ways.

I’ll probably post more on PSAs another time (I just have the oddest obsessions, don’t I?), but for now, here’s one of my favorites among those we uncovered. It’s not from the ’90s – rather, it was released in 1969 – but it’s so catchy and upbeat. It sounds like the kind of song they’d play in ’70s movies when they wanted to evoke the ’30s. It speaks to a younger, more innocent time in our nation’s history. A time when we all had VD.

That’s right! Kids practicing violin! Librarians, pregnant women, butchers! Ballerinas, old businessmen, babies, joggers! They all have VD! The PSA is one of the few art forms that could turn venereal disease into a loving ballad. The message is definitely a good one, and one which carries over to the present (even if the term “VD,” sadly, does not): e.g., not just gay men and junkies get AIDS. But the way it’s being communicated – it’s so whimsical, so fancy free, just makes you want to dance while carrying a parasol!

So that’s my two bits for the day, digging up some more information about my strange, strange hobbies. Finally, a little note: tonight, Ashley embroiled herself in what we might as well call Squirtgate. Basically, a sex blogger called the Kinky Jew posted this “sarcastic humorous post” about why female ejaculation is “EW.” It’s kind of bullshit. And commenters were not happy, and Ashley was one of them. Definitely go read it for yourself. And now I bid adieu to blogging from Northfield for the next week.

Posted by Buellboy

Dallas Cowboys' DeMarcus Ware, President Barack Obama, Saints quarterback Drew Brees and Pittsburgh Steelers' Troy Polamalu with Washington, D.C.-area children at the White House. Brees said it was the only time he had thrown a pass to someone wearing a Chicago Bears jacket.

Times-Picayune—In support of his United We Serve initiative, President Barack Obama and NFL stars Drew Brees, DeMarcus Ware and Troy Polamalu team up to highlight the importance of fitness for America’s children.

Obama joins Saints quarterback Brees, Steelers safety Polamalu and Cowboys linebacker Ware in a special public service announcement debuting during each of the three NFL games played on Thanksgiving.

The 90-second PSA is a joint effort of the NFL’s PLAY 60 campaign, a league-wide effort to fight childhood obesity by getting kids active for 60 minutes a day, and United We Serve, the president’s initiative encouraging all Americans to participate in community service.

The spot will continue airing throughout the rest of the season in a shorter format.

“Through United We Serve, I have challenged all Americans to roll up their sleeves and engage in sustained service to strengthen our communities,” the president said. “For some of us that means volunteering at a soup kitchen or cleaning up a local park. For others, it means taking time to build a playground or volunteering your time to improve the life of a child.“

Quarterback Drew Brees

“No matter how we serve, we find common purpose when we dedicate ourselves to helping others. This holiday season, I am asking all Americans to find their own way to give back to their communities.”

The Saints’ Brees, who has been a national spokesman for the PLAY 60 campaign for the past two years, said, “We had about 25 minutes and did three different takes. I threw him a couple of passes. He was wearing his Chicago Bears jacket, so there was some ribbing about that.“

“Thanksgiving is a time when families come together, and it is also a perfect time to focus on the importance of keeping kids healthy and active,” Brees said. “I was honored to spend time with the president on an issue that is clearly important to him. I was also impressed by his wide receiver skills.”

More

Well, holy crap, guys! I don’t know if it’s coincidence or there are darker forces at work, but the very day I bring up karmaloop in this journal, touting their freaking awesome Tripp NYC Catwoman hoodie, I get a bulk email from the dude who runs it. The email notes that I and whoever the other recipients are on his mailing list have not bought anything in awhile and contains a pretty good discount code.

I am broke as a joke, no Black Friday or anything for me these days because I got a squeaky-tight budget right now that cannot handle impulse buys no matter how sweet the retailer makes the pot, so I see no harm in passing the coupon code on to you. I have included random pictures of cool stuff from the site to entice you to give it a whirl, because I seriously have zero use for this coupon and I hate to see a) a chance to save money go to waste, and b) a cool site have to drum up business like this, meaning they might go under. So please, go for it.

Happy Commencement of the Commercial Holidays, y’all! Enjoy — and if you use it, send me pictures of your shit!

Karmaloop Fam,

I wanted to hit you up because I see that you haven’t shopped at Karmaloop.com in a while. I know the economy has been messed up and that may be one of the reasons you haven’t shopped recently.

USE THE CODE: BACKON
and BAM 20% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER + $20 Gift code for next purchase when you check out!!!

$20 Gift code will be emailed to you within a week of purchase

But if there are any other reasons I want to know! We pride ourselves on our connection to our customers and if you had any problems, issues, or aren’t seeing what you like hit me up my email and cell # is below. Actually, hit for any reason if you have ideas or just want to chop it up.

I get back to everyone but I get tons of emails so if you don’t hear back that means either 1. I didn’t get the email for some reason or 2. I will be getting back soon…but feel free to hit me again if you thing I might have missed your email.

We have literally thousands of berserk new styles that have dropped on the site in the last week for both men and women…it is never too early to do a little holiday shopping or buy yourself something nice…you deserve it!!!! Everyone deserves to look fresh…but no one more than you!

NEW ARRIVALS GUY’s:
http://www.karmaloop-updates.com/eqtbszdkybtfdblqftsjpfjhhkfrqlllqjltlddsztpqyd_zwswddbfmbrd.html

NEW ARRIVALS GIRL’s:
http://www.karmaloop-updates.com/gmrrylwhgrkdwrqmdkysndstthdcmqqqmsqkqwwylknmgc_zwswddbfmbrd.html

Greg Selkoe, Founder, Kung Fu Master, member of the Golden Horde, & Dog Trainer
Karmaloop.com, Karmaloop TV, & Junglelife.com
W: 617.695.0689
C: 617.216.1013
F: 617.249.1952
T: twitter.com/selkoe
F: facebook.com/selkoe

or send a postal mail to:
Karmaloop.com
131 Tremont St, Fl 2
Boston,MA
02111

It’s cute when he says “chop it up,” but honestly, I’m not totally sure what that means. Just shoot the breeze or is there something more definitively involved? Let me know. Keep me young.

This is What We Want to Avoid

Has it been a month already? My extreme laziness knows no bounds!  Okay, so don’t worry, I’ll be updating quite often now, a bit more since my New Years Resolutions are being mocked by some. Bump ya’ll. Oh, and I’m going to have my Phil Ade interview up in about the next 3-5 so keep tuned in for that.

Okay, so today’s post is on that Love/Relationship Thing. Nothing too spicy, because that’s for twitter.

I’ve been in a ton of bad relationships.

Ergh. Whether it was his fault, or mine, it just never panned out for whatever reason. Just the other night I found myself saying “Fuck It”. I resolved I wasn’t going to give a goddamn anymore, and let the chips fall where they may. After my last epic fail (insert dramatic face) I decided that I wasn’t E V E R going to trust another penis again. They only have one eye, so that makes them especially sketchy.

Until, of course, I cooled down and realized the only person that was going to suffer was me, since [Whoever] would just find someone else to be with. You know, someone without the crippling trust issues. And being bitter and angry only shows how deeply hurt I am, despite all my extremely loud claims to be otherwise. And no one deserves to suffer because I am.

At least, that’s the motto for today.

And then I got to thinking about what an amazing friend of  mine once told me. He said that by shutting off the entire world, you lose it. And I think of his words especially now, when giving up hope seems like the easiest route. Yes, it’s quite easy to never give anyone another chance, except for the eternal perscription of loneliness and bitterness.

Besides, Hope is a mighty force.

And it’s the hope of finding True Love, That One Special Person Who Understands You, that keeps you trying after the epic fails, and the lonely nights, and the tears. And eventually, the struggle becomes worth the pain, because not only do you find that someone to love, but you figure out what you’re about.

So. Don’t give up hope.

This has been a PSA.

Ciao Bella!

El prototipo eléctrico de Peugeot PSA, BB1, es una opción ideal para entornos urbanos: mitad coche mitad moto. Tiene una autonomía de 120 kilómetros, handicap común a todos los eléctricos. El ministro de industria dijo que era la muestra de que la solución eléctrica, no es una entelequia sino una realidad, además de sostenible

Fuente: http://es.cars.yahoo.com

One of my favorite films of the new millennium, Kingdom of Heaven is an under-appreciated classic, a treasure of a film that was shunned in many circles at the time of its release because of its incongruity and certain character flaws. It faded quickly into the realms of the forgotten, but I always held a flame aloft for the historical epic. I admitted to most of the flaws, albeit begrudgingly, but I still had a weird attraction to it, and until about a year ago, I couldn’t really explain it. Now, before about a year ago, I would have bowed to conventional wisdom that if I could not put my pro-KoH argument in words, than it obviously was not that good of an argument. But, last April or so, I discovered the reason that the movie seemed so off to me, and the source of a lot of anti-KoH arguments, is that the studio edited almost an HOUR out of the theatrical cut! AN HOUR! That’s a lot of info to leave out! Now, with a lot more backing this time compared to March of last year, I can safely say that Kingdom of Heaven IS a good movie, a great movie even. It’s not a perfect movie, but it skirts very flirtatiously with immortality, something I admire in a work of art.

We’re taken to the 12th century, between the Second and Third Crusades. Balian, a lonely blacksmith in France, grieving over the suicide of his wife, finds no solace in his work or his life doomed to obscurity. As fate would have it, however, a knight traveling through the area pops into his life. He claims to be his father, and offers him a choice; he can stay in the sad, empty husk of France during the Middle Ages and continue his life as if nothing had happened, or he can come with him to Jerusalem, where the knight holds court with King Baldwin IV. At first hesitant, Balian joins the group of Crusaders after hearing that perhaps his wife’s soul can be saved from Hell if he absolves her sins in the Holy Land (people believed that suicides were instant fodder for Hell back then, although some STILL do). Thus begins a journey of the self through the world of the Dark Ages as Balian travels from his tiny, myopic Medieval world all the way to the center of the world’s tumult, Jerusalem, where a new dispute is broiling beneath the surface of the Second Crusade’s short-lived peace. King Baldwin IV is dying painfully from his crippling leprosy, the Knights Templar are restlessly itching for a battle with the Muslims, their sworn enemy, and on the other side of the wall, a new Muslim assault is being only barely kept at bay by the efforts of their sultan, Saladin. The truce will not last much longer, and Balian’s part in this is larger than he yet knows. It will be a long, unforgiving road ahead for him, but with his wife’s eternal soul in the balance, he is willing to do anything to unchain her from the fiery pits below.

Let me start with the big flaw before I start gushing. Before it gets any farther, I have to comment on the fact that Balian is a total Harry Stu. In internet lingo, for those not in on the jive, that means that his character is just a LITTLE too perfect. He just happens to know a lot of things about a lot of things that would be helpful in the Holy Land, including the construction of siege engines, leading large groups of men, and considering he’s played by Orlando Bloom, professional heart-throb, he looks damn good while he does it. It all gets to be a little much sometimes, and by the end, I felt more than a little tinge of disgust for him and his implausible perfection. You know how awesome and perfect Balian is? During a boat trip to Jerusalem, his boat capsizes and sinks in a storm; he wakes up the next morning on the beach with no fellow survivors and a saddled horse ready to give him a lift! How serendipitous!

But when I say that that’s really the only thing I think is wrong with it, I mean it. Director Ridley Scott is so good he can make any subject come alive, and it just so happens that he also found one of my favorite historical periods fascinating. Every detail, with the exception of ultra-perfect Balian, is down to the T. Scott has recreated the Middle Ages with such a realism that they speak to us through the ages in the very subtext of his work. From the weaponry, the architecture, the interactions between people, to even the battle formations and times of day that Muslims and Christians fought during the 12th century, this is all genuine. there are so many stories to be told here, during the reconstruction of Europe from its massive, tragic downfall in the 6th century, I’m so glad someone used this period. And not only that, but I really appreciate the use of the different faiths fighting it out as sort of an allegory for today. It’s the same fight going on with different weapons and words, which Scott cleverly alludes to at one point, making the emotional ties to this ancient era all the more indelible.

The main cast is equally proportionate to the supporting cast here. Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Sheen, David Thewlis, and other power players make short but memorable appearances that resonate throughout the movie. My favorite of these is Ghassan Massoud, who plays Saladin. While we never see hm that often, his character is similar to Baldwin in that he doesn’t want war, but political and religious pressures are pushing him into a battle that will cost many, many lives. He is excellent, and most importantly he’s a Muslim character that doesn’t give way into stereotypes that so many other films would have. As for the main cast, I’ve said my peace on Balian, but it must be noted that not everyone’s like that. There are some real winners, like Eva Green, who plays Sibylla, Baldwin’s sister. Her scenes suffer the most cutting, and it felt so vindicating to see the Special Director’s Cut edition and piece together what happens to her. She is a force to be reckoned with for me, especially now that the cut has been restored. She is given whole new sets of scenes that add to the emotional complexities, especially the ones involving her son. Without these scenes, her character is very confusing and inconsistent, and it is a definite boon to the film that she not go from one emotional state to the next without any coercing. Jeremy Irons electrifies as Tiberius, the Marshall of Jerusalem and Balian’s moral compass in the Holy Land. His scenes are few, but they are key, and Irons shows his expertise in authoritative but sympathetic words of wisdom as he tries to keep Christian Jerusalem from going into all-out war with the Muslims and Balian from falling off the righteous path. Edward Norton is the emotional heart of the first half of the film as King Baldwin IV. Underneath a silver mask to hide the hideous deformities left by his leprosy, he is trying extremely hard to keep peace in his time by keeping both the Templars at bay and his court satisfied with the truce. But his frail condition has many worried that the Muslims will attack and he will be unable to lead, or, worse, that he is lying down and making too many concessions to their heathen demands. He has so much weight on his slender shoulders, and watching Norton valiantly struggle to keep lives from being lost is heartbreaking and wondrously inspiring.

Sweeping cinematography, an immersive score by Harry-Gregson Williams, an extremely able cast, and a rich realistic tone make Kingdom of Heaven a sweeping film that should be remembered with the ranks of Spartacus and Gladiator in the realm of great historical epics. It’s a whopping three hours for the director’s cut, the only cut there should be, as far as I’m concerned, so there’s a lot going on. Luckily, it’s all great, and with the exception of one or two faults, I would be extremely tempted to call this a perfect film. To get swept away in this historical fervor is a joy and a pleasure that I plan to relish more and more often. Ridley Scott strikes gold again, and the Holy Land is done justice by his beautiful eye and his great cast. I give Kingdom of Heaven 9 1/2 leper kings out of 10. A high recommendation!

Tomorrow’s Sunday, so I don’t know what I’ll watch! It’ll make for a good review, though, I think! Until then!

Congratulations to Noel on his results in the PSA Annual Exhibition 2009, receiving 5 acceptances in the CPID Division.

Open Category: Bad Day at Black Rock and Lone Bothy

Creative Category: Tulips, Enchanted Castle and Farewell, Cheerio, Goodbye, the latter received a Bronze Medal.