I just want to noted for the record that I confessed a newfound affection for James Marsden before reading this week's Advocate, where he has an interview talking about his upcoming gay role in Heights and manages to avoid every pitfall that other straight actors have fallen afoul of when speaking to the press about such roles. Also, Marsden reveals that he will have a makeout scene with Jesse Bradford in that movie (it's like they're filming my fantasies now!) and that Hugh Jackman was interested in having him play Peter Allen's boyfriend in The Boy from Oz.

Just saw Kingdom of Heaven. Pretty, but I had some issues. Like, why is it only noble to kill the obviously evil madman after he has caused the deaths of hundreds of people, but bad to kill him before he does the stupid evil thing he inevitably will do? If Bailion (sp?) had let the King execute the evil traitor and marry the good guy to the future queen, none of those people would have died. Saladin would never have attacked if all the tropps had remained in the city they were meant to defend. And why wasn't the King making the decision about succession on his own? Were I King, I would'a just done it. Then any evil would have been on my head, and Noble Hero wouldn't have had to make a grey-area decision. I prefer the Mal Reynolds School of Noble Combat: Shoot first. Kill the bad guy before he screws up your life.

I had other issues, but I think that's the most important one.

Zenkitty, from what I know about history, Baldwin was VERY young (only 15 years old or so). And since he was stricken with leprosy, he relied on his advisors--his tutor being one of them. Not to mention, Sybilla had some say in the matter. Historically (I think) she chose Guy and Baldwin at that point said yes. I haven't seen the film and I only have a little bit of reading on this matter, so I can't rightly say about the rest. Also, politics were very complicated in Jerusalem at the time. You weren't just executing a lord--each lord ruled other men and every man and sword were needed to defend the Holy Seplucher. The men in power did a lot of manuvering to try to get what they wanted--greed ruled some of them much more than their love of Christ and the desire to keep the holy city in their power. Now I really need to go see it. Maybe we can get a sitter for tomorrow night.

Cashmere, you clearly know much more about the history than I do. The movie made it clear that Baldwin was young; he mentioned going into combat when he was 16, and said that he would now not live to see 30. I assumed he was in his early twenties. It was also made clear - though it might not have been historically true - that Guy was chosen for Sybilla by her mother, and that she preferred Bailion. I just think that the choice Bailion made out of his noble conscience doomed a lot of people, and everyone there including him knew it. Even Sybilla, who later blamed herself, which I couldn't understand. You must see the movie now, and tell me what you thought. Perhaps your point of view can clarify some of the things that I didn't understand.

The Narnia trailer.

Hmm. On the plus side, I have hopes that they'll get the right kind of creepy-fairytale vibe in the Narnia part. On the minus side, THAT IS NOT LUCY. LUCY IS BLONDE. (Isn't she?)

I always thought Lucy was brunette. But maybe I'm mixing her up with Lucy van Pelt.

No, Katie, I think Lucy is a brunette. Although I'm far too lazy to find any of my copies of the books to prove it.

Susan is blonde. Lucy is a brunette.

I don't know why I remember that, but I'm very close to 100% certain.

Huh. Well, if that's the case, I had them exactly opposite in my mind. How weird.

Katie, which one is older? Maybe you just have the names backwards.