Which country is growing the fastest? And Slowest? Ranking The World's Economies by GDP

Rank	Country	GDP (real) growth rate (%)	Year.
1	Azerbaijan	31.00	2007 est.
2	Timor-Leste	24.00	2007 est.
3	Macau	16.60	2005
4	Angola	16.30	2007 est.
5	Armenia	13.70	2007 est.
6	Sudan	12.80	2007 est.
7	Equatorial Guinea	12.70	2007 est.
8	Georgia	12.00	2007 est.
9	People's Republic of China	11.40	2007 est.
10	Liechtenstein	11.00	1999 est.
11	Cyprus	10.60	2007 est.
12	Slovakia	10.40 [1]	2007
13	Latvia	10.30	2007
14	Anguilla	10.20	2004 est.
15	Ethiopia	9.80	2007 est.
16	India	9.60 [2]	2007 est.
17	Kazakhstan	9.50	2007 est.
18	Cambodia	9.10	2007 est.
19	Bhutan	8.80	2005 est.
20	Argentina	8.70 [3]	2007
21	Liberia	8.50	2007 est.
22	Vietnam	8.50	2007 est.
23	United Arab Emirates	8.50	2007 est
24	Mongolia	8.40	2006 est.
25	Venezuela	8.40	2007 est.
26	Russia	8.10	2007 est.
27	Uzbekistan	8.10	2007 est.
28	Lithuania	8.00	2007 est.
29	Panama	7.80	2007 est.
30	Qatar	7.80	2007 est.
31	Afghanistan	7.50	2007 est.
32	Mozambique	7.50	2007 est
33	Peru	7.50	2007 est.
34	Singapore	7.40	2007 est.
35	Estonia	7.30	2007 est.
36	Philippines	7.30	2007 est.
37	Dominican Republic	7.20	2007 est.
38	Egypt	7.20	2007 est.
39	Tajikistan	7.20	2007 est.
40	Uruguay	7.20	2007 est.
41	Ukraine	7.10 [4]	2007
42	Cape Verde	7.00	2007 est.
43	Democratic Republic of the Congo	7.00	2007 est.
44	Gambia	7.00	2007 est.
45	Gibraltar	7.00	2007 est.
46	Laos	7.00	2007 est.
47	Turkmenistan	7.00	2007 est.
48	Belarus	6.90	2007 est.
49	Tanzania	6.90	2007 est.
50	Sierra Leone	6.80	2007 est.
51	Vanuatu	6.80	2005 est.
52	Bahrain	6.60	2007 est.
53	Colombia	6.50	2007 est.
54	Cuba	6.50 [5]	2007
55	Poland	6.50	2007 est.
56	Kyrgyzstan	6.50	2007 est.
57	São Tomé and Príncipe	6.50	2007 est.
58	Sri Lanka	6.50 [6]	2007
59	Kenya	6.30	2007 est.
60	Madagascar	6.30	2007 est.
61	Pakistan	6.30	2007 est.
62	Tunisia	6.30	2007 est.
63	Niue	6.20	2003 est.
64	Bulgaria	6.10	2007 est.
65	Costa Rica	6.10	2007 est.
66	Indonesia	6.10	2007 est.
67	Nigeria	6.10	2007 est.
68	Bangladesh	6.00	2007 est.
69	Czech Republic	6.00 [7]	2007
70	Honduras	6.00	2007 est.
71	Moldova	6.00	2007 est.
72	Montenegro	6.00	2007 est.
73	Rwanda	6.00	2007 est.
74	Saint Kitts and Nevis	6.00	2007 est.
75	Uganda	6.00	2007 est.
76	Romania	5.90	2007 est.
77	Serbia	5.90	2007 est.
78	Ghana	5.80	2007 est.
79	Hong Kong	5.80	2007 est.
80	Seychelles	5.80	2007 est.
81	Trinidad and Tobago	5.80	2007 est.
82	Jordan	5.70	2007 est.
83	Malaysia	5.70	2007 est.
84	Malawi	5.70	2007 est.
85	Croatia	5.60	2007 est.
86	Guatemala	5.60	2007 est.
87	Kuwait	5.60	2007 est.
88	Slovenia	5.60	2007 est.
89	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5.50	2007 est.
90	Burundi	5.50	2007 est.
91	Maldives	5.50	2007 est.
92	Mauritius	5.50	2007 est.
93	Palau	5.50	2005 est.
94	Samoa	5.50	2005 est.
95	Brazil	5.40 [8]	2007 est.
96	Iran	5.40 [9]	2007 est.
97	Libya	5.40	2007 est.
98	Oman	5.30	2007 est.
99	Ireland	5.30	2007 est.
100	Zambia	5.30	2007 est.
101	Chile	5.20	2007 est.
102	Isle of Man	5.20	2005
103	French Polynesia	5.10	2002
104	Israel	5.10	2007 est.
105	Saint Lucia	5.10	2005 est.
106	Suriname	5.10	2007 est.
107	Turkey	5.10	2007 est.
108	Albania	5.00	2007 est.
109	Iraq	5.00	2007 est.
110	Luxembourg	5.00	2007 est.
111	South Africa	5.00	2007 est.
112	Turks and Caicos Islands	4.90	2000 est.
113	Lesotho	4.80	2007 est.
114	South Korea	4.80	2007 est.
115	Botswana	4.70	2007 est.
116	Algeria	4.60	2007 est.
117	Bermuda	4.60	2004 est.
118	Macedonia	5.10 [10]	2007 est.
119	San Marino	4.60	2004 est.
120	Senegal	4.60	2007 est.
121	Taiwan	4.60	2007 est.
122	Benin	4.50	2007 est.
123	Gabon	4.50	2007 est.
124	Guyana	4.50	2007 est.
125	Namibia	4.50	2007 est.
126	Niger	4.50	2007 est.
127	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	4.40	2007 est.
128	Solomon Islands	4.40	2005 est.
129	Mali	4.30	2007 est.
130	Thailand	4.30	2007 est.
131	Burkina Faso	4.20	2007 est.
132	Australia	4.00	2007 est.
133	Barbados	4.00	2007 est.
134	Bolivia	4.00	2007 est.
135	Central African Republic	4.00	2007 est.
136	Paraguay	4.00	2007 est.
137	Papua New Guinea	4.00	2007 est.
138	Finland	3.90	2007 est.
139	Antigua and Barbuda	3.80	2007 est.
140	Spain	3.80	2007 est.
141	Greece	3.70	2007 est.
142	Guinea-Bissau	3.70	2007 est.
143	Andorra	3.50	2007 est.
144	Burma	3.50	2007 est.
145	Haiti	3.50	2007 est.
146	Marshall Islands	3.50	2007 est.
147	Netherlands	3.50 [11]	2007
148	Saudi Arabia	3.50 [12]	2007
149	Syria	3.50	2007 est.
150	El Salvador	3.40	2007 est.
151	Malta	3.40	2007 est.
152	Sweden	3.40	2007 est.
153	Austria	3.30	2007 est.
154	Cameroon	3.20	2007 est.
155	Djibouti	3.20	2005 est.
156	Dominica	3.20	2007 est.
157	Yemen	3.20	2007 est.
158	Norway	3.10 [13]	2007 est.
159	American Samoa	3.00	2003
160	Belize	3.00	2007 est.
161	European Union	3.00	2007 est.
162	Guernsey	3.00	2005 est.
163	Mexico	3.00	2007 est.
164	New Zealand	3.00	2007 est.
165	Nicaragua	2.90	2007 est.
166	United Kingdom	2.90	2007
167	Bahamas	2.80	2007 est.
168	Republic of the Congo	2.80	2007 est.
169	Belgium	2.70	2007 est.
170	Canada	2.70	2007 est.
171	Germany	2.60	2007 est.
172	Somalia	2.60	2007 est.
173	Switzerland	2.60	2007 est.
174	Nepal	2.50	2007 est.
175	Togo	2.50	2007 est.
176	Aruba	2.40	2005 est.
177	Faroe Islands	2.40	2005 est..
178	Tonga	2.40	2005 est.
179	United States	2.20	2007 est.
180	Morocco	2.10	2007 est.
181	Eritrea	2.00	2007 est.
182	Greenland	2.00	2005 est.
183	United States Virgin Islands	2.00	2002 est.
184	Italy	1.90	2007 est.
185	Japan	1.90	2007 est.
186	Ecuador	1.80	2007 est.
187	France	1.80	2007 est.
188	Iceland	1.80	2007 est.
189	Denmark	1.70	2007 est.
190	Hungary	1.70 [14]	2007 est.
191	Portugal	1.70	2007 est.
192	North Korea	1.60	2006 est.
193	Swaziland	1.60	2007 est.
194	Guinea	1.50	2007 est.
195	Jamaica	1.50	2007 est.
196	Mauritania	1.50	2007 est.
197	Côte d'Ivoire	1.40	2007 est.
198	Tuvalu	1.20	2002 est.
199	British Virgin Islands	1.00	2002 est.
200	Netherlands Antilles	1.00	2004 est.
201	Cayman Islands	0.90	2004 est.
202	Grenada	0.90	2005 est.
203	Monaco	0.90	2000 est.
204	Brunei	0.40	2005 est.
205	Federated States of Micronesia	0.30	2005 est.
206	Kiribati	0.30	2005
207	Lebanon	0.30	2007 est.
208	Cook Islands	0.10	2005 est.
209	Comoros	-1.00	2007 est.
210	Montserrat	-1.00	2002 est.
211	Puerto Rico	-1.20	2007 est.
212	Chad	-1.30	2007 est.
213	Fiji	-3.10	2007 est.
214	Zimbabwe	-6.00	2007 est.

From Wiki

Land Of Confusion

I must've dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
I can hear the marching feet
They're moving into the street.

Now did you read the news today
They say the danger's gone away
But I can see the fire's still alight
Burning into the night.

Too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see
This is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in.

Superman where are you now
Everything's gone wrong somehow
The men of steel, men of power
Are losing control by the hour.

This is the time
This is the place
So we look for the future
But there's not much love to go round
Tell me why, this is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth living in.

I remember long ago -
When the sun was shining
The stars were bright
All through the night
And the sound of your laughter
As I held you tight
So long ago -

I won't be coming home tonight
My generation will put it right
We're not just making promises
That we know, we'll never keep.

Too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see
This is a land of confusion.

This is the world we live in
And these are the hands we're given
Use them and let's start trying
To make it a place worth fighting for.

This is the world we live in
And these are the names we're given
Stand up and let's start showing
Just where our lives are going to.

South Africa's Future is 'Doom and Gloom', and that's a matter of logic and fact

The fact is, tonight's oil price is not the last, not for a while.
The fact is, crime is spreading to areas that have been relatively safe in the past.
The logic is that this making it harder for vast swathes of this country's population to simply survive.
The logic is that higher prices encourage and increase criminal behaviours.

We will probably see these hikes go on for the next 6 months, and if oil prices at Christmas haven't smashed through $150, we might experience a reprieve (meaning, a period where prices don't go up). Personally I think $150 by Christmas is a tame road for oil prices, and $200 is a matter of when, not if.

The implications are ominous. Even the current squeeze has not been completely absorbed into either the SA economy or the global economy. And there's the rub - it's happening simultaneously everywhere infecting everything. When I say everything I mean entire industries: like the entire airline industry, entire auto industry, entire agri--industry, supplyu chain based supermarkets and warehousing, courier services, tourism, banks, property markets. That's what I mean by everything. And everything aggreagtes into the economies of entire countries, and spreads around the world, which is why I say everywhere. Everything everywhere is affected by energy prices that are no longer cheap. It's the beginning of trouble and disorder locally and internationally. Did I say this is just the beginning? I think I did. I'll say it again: all this is just the beginning, Chapter One, of The Long Emergency.
[What is The Long Emergency? Read the article in Rolling Stone.]

Meanwhile car makers like Chrysler (the link represents a 2005 response to high fuel prices, but a similar response has been implemented in 2008 too, with immediate effect) and BMW - are offering 'fuel free driving deals' (for a full year of driving without paying to fill up) to postpone the impact of this assault on disposable income. This is absolute insanity of course, but junky consumers don't care...and of course, it will all end in tears.

GM touches near 54-year low
Ford US Sales Slid 28% In June; SUV Sales Plunge 55%

The critical impact of these price increases (for fuel and thus transport and food, even basic foodstuffs, electricity, and unaffordable cost of debt) is crime. I am not surprised to hear that crime in SA is up year on year, but I am surprised - and you will be too - when you see the extent of crime right now.

Pretoria one of SA's most dangerous

• KwaZulu-Natal recorded a 92,9 percent increase in business robberies (robberies increased from 997 to 1 923 in KwaZulu-Natal)

• Free State, Limpopo and the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape, although having relatively few attacks, recorded dramatic increases of 380,6 percent (62 to 298), 278,3 percent (83 to 314), 237,5 percent (16 to 54), 222,3 percent (197 to 635) and 102,5 percent (241 to 488) respectively

National Crime Stats
Car hijackings: 13 599; 14 201
House robberies: 12 761; 14 481 (up 13.5%)
Business robberies: 6 689; 9 862 (up 47.4%)
Bank robberies: 129; 144
4 children are murdered every day in SA, a 22.4% increase, and a 13.7% increase in the attempted murder of children.

In itself, the statistics for crimes against children ought to be ominous (and illuminating), because it is the youth that will inherit this country, and as such, will be a criminalised, abused, bruised and dysfunctional population - more than the current one anyway. The fact that children are being murdered shows the extent to which South Africans have lost their own humanity, humanity to their own blood (forget racism!)

And who were the common perpetrators behind the 'Xenophobic' attacks? That's right, teenagers, and in many cases, probably orphaned youngsters. It is with grim conviction then that I make the following prediction for the next six months to twenty-four months in South Africa:

- a resurgence in 'xenophobic/mob' violence, which will escalate over time, and spread to middle class (that is to say also white) neighborhoods.
In euphemistic speech, the impact of the high oil prices, bad weather and food crisis will come knocking on our doors, we will see it [them] standing on our driveways. This trend will intensify in lockstep with energy's drag effect on our economy. High fuel prices = higher likelihoods of being attacked in your own home. The real gloomy news is the energy spiral is permanent. This evening on the news I heard an analyst saying it's cyclical. Depressions, stuff like this, aren't cyclical in the sense that we ought to expect these conditions to be over in 5 or 10 years, perhaps even 20 years. Imagine a world with depleted energy. With the lights not working? How do you develop anything when you can't turn on the TV, or fire up your computer? It's a scenario that's increasingly likely because it's turning out that despite the obvious signals the media and the masses still haven't snapped to attention and altered working, living and consumption patterns. Governments are still making up their minds what the 'cause' is.

- There will be no demand destruction. The world will go to war over oil, and will remain at war probably beyond this generation. That war has already started, and a US foray in Iran is between 6-12 months away. We will certainly experience a nuclear exchange in our lifetimes.
As such:

- I have communicated with James Kunstler about what the best places may be to survive The Long Emergency. He feels the prospects in America, even though it is by far the world's thirstiest economy, are way better than South Africa. It has taken me a while to accept his view, and reading WORLD MADE BY HAND has helped. It is now abundantly clear that South Africa will probably provide the western world with an example of how a democracy caves in on itself when the economic strain reaches a critical point. I believe we are already at that point, the effect is still being absorbed through the strata of society, like steam under the lid of volcano.

- There have many many many signals that South Africa's miracle democracy is a sham. That may seem a very stern view. I think South Africa might have pulled it (democracy) off if we had had a longer period of economic growth. I'm saying we had a chance, maybe a 20-30% chance...but you know, even at our best, when we grew at 5%, unemployment remained at 40-50%, and it has worsened since. The other thing is the situation in Zimbabwe now makes it obvious that our leadership silently endorses land invasions, corruption, violent militarism and dictatorial power grabbing. It is obvious from the slurs ('We will kill for Zuma') that murderous plots (en masse) have been hatched behind closed doors.
- What has been unacceptable in South Africa is that both wealthy whites and blacks have tolerated the presence of their poor and suffering brothers and neighbours for a long period, and not bothered to engage with them (in a meaningful way). South Africa will continue to pay the heaviest price for this lack of engagement. It is what we deserve - how many South Africans unaffected by AIDS ever did anything about it? Over 5 million people in this country will die of this disease. That's the entire population of Cape Town. We operate - citizens and politicians - as though it is all in a day's work, no big deal. It ought to be number one on our agenda, every day, beating those stats down, taking these people by the hand and helping them.

It is difficult right now to overemphasise the tinderbox situation South Africa is in. We are not far from a violent revolution in many respects - in terms of crime, in terms of politics wrestling with justice, in terms of disease (and its impacts) wrecking the entire social fabric, and widespread economic destruction wiping out suburbia and cities.

- We will see, in the coming months, a crime wave, violence, mayhem and slaughter the likes of which we have never seen, sweep across this country. All that rainbow nation wishwash is going to regurgitate sickly in our mouths as bitter and hatefilled citizens (many who have recently lost their jobs) let go of their inner demons. South Africans will associate in groups based on race, and to some extent religion, and one group will attack another with impunity. This is not a uniquely South African thing. Tribalism will spread around the world, the the new God will be called BLAME. Oil companies, the government, the rich, will all be targeted, and of course no amount of fighting will make life any easier or any better, in fact it will exacerbate an already desperate situation.

- The government (ours and others) will unsuccessfully attempt to crush these uprisings, and the end result will be massive loss of life, and protracted austerity. I predict that South Africa will lead the world into the Long Emergency, but the good news is it may well emerge from this dismal period first. If some of our infrastructure remains intact (municipal services, SASOL), we may do okay at the end of it all.

- Oh and one more thing, no 2010 Fifa World Cup. That much should be obvious for a whole bunch of reasons, starting with an defunct airline industry, and including incredible scenes of mass violence and criminality (looting, burning, massacres etc).

My landlady confessed to me that a few months ago my utterances on oil left her with the impression I am a nutter. Tonight she said, "It turns out you're pretty perceptive." I hope, once again, that I am wrong in the assessment I've made here. But I said the same thing when I predicted the interminable rise in energy prices in 2005/6. It's not an unlikely assessment simply because fundamentally, what's obvious, is that we're facing chronic resource shortages, at a time when we're:
Too many men
Too many people
Making too many problems
And not much love to go round
Can't you see
This is a land of confusion.

So if you believe all this, what can we do about it?
Learn to lower your standard of living.
Make friends, improve relationships with family, visit a nearby church (whatever you believe), reach out and embrace your community - whether on facebook, next door, or from your phone. Be kind to the poor. Start to imagine life without your car. Invest in your health. Buy a bicycle. Read spiritually uplifting books, and start to wean yourself off junk food, movies and shopping. Try going vegetarian. Talk to people around you. Don't try to convince them you are right, simply say: "This is what I see, what do you see?" Be alert. Enjoy your life. And start building up the resolve to face the marathons to come.

Study: World Gets Happier - Yahoo! News

Study: World Gets Happier - Yahoo! News

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Oil passes $143 on Middle East tensions: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Oil passes $143 on Middle East tensions: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

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Will Smith Makes 'Hancock' Fly - OhmyNews International

Hancock (Will Smith) is a superman who can fly, is impervious to bullets and has staggering strength. He's also an alcoholic and a social misfit, leaving a trail of wreckage behind every crime-stopping spree.Will Smith Makes 'Hancock' Fly - OhmyNews International

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t r u t h o u t | High Gas Prices Threaten to Drain Small Towns' Populations

"I know we got people here who are buying gas instead of paying bills. t r u t h o u t | High Gas Prices Threaten to Drain Small Towns' Populations

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Enabling Mr. Mugabe

Enabling Mr. Mugabe

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Heath Ledger's role in new Batman movie The Dark Knight tipped for Oscar glory - Telegraph

Heath Ledger's role in new Batman movie The Dark Knight tipped for Oscar glory - Telegraph

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Heath Ledger's 'Dark Knight' Co-Star: 'He's Out-Villained Hannibal Lecter'

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Heath Ledger passed away five months ago, but according to his co-stars in the latest Batman movie, his performance as the Joker could live on forever.

"The Dark Knight" will debut in theaters in two weeks, and stars of the film sat down with Access Hollywood's Tony Potts to talk about the film's performance that is already sparking Oscar buzz.Heath Ledger's 'Dark Knight' Co-Star: 'He's Out-Villained Hannibal Lecter' - omg! on Yahoo!

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Alaska race: Young cyclist fights for life after grizzly bear attack | World news | The Guardian

Alaska race: Young cyclist fights for life after grizzly bear attack | World news | The Guardian

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Promise of Biofuel Clouded by Weather Risks

Promise of Biofuel Clouded by Weather Risks

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Upfront Man: How Badass is Badassed Enough?

What happens when Nice Guys reform themselves…

Bad Ass is the road Nice Guys who’ve finished last choose to take once they’ve dusted themselves off. Question is, do they graduate to the low road, the medium road, or the high road?

Alvy Singer (Woody Allan): Hey listen, gimme a kiss.
Annie Hall (Diane Keaton): Really?
Alvy Singer: Yeah, why not, because we're just gonna go home later, right, and then there's gonna be all that tension, we've never kissed before and I'll never know when to make the right move or anything. So we'll kiss now and get it over with, and then we'll go eat. We'll digest our food better.

That’s the Woody Allan version of being a badass. Take it from me, Woody gets laid a lot. Woody of course couches the badass stuff in a seemingly weakassed approach, but that’s how he left foots his prey. It’s intellectual sex followed by the real thing.

Guys are very conscious that by approaching a woman in the first place, they may be seen to be ‘conceding’ power, and power for guys is paramount. One way we offset the Nice Guy Power Shed is by introducing our power negatively. So we might say, “Those shoes look great; it’s just a pity about the color.” Power distribution is important to keep a relationship healthy. And power distribution always starts by knowing what we want. Do we want a series of shallow encounters, or something halfway serious, or the big tomalley: a serious relationship?

And within these commitment dynamics, are other dynamics. Let me explain. For me, I prefer a relationship where the girl loves me more than I love her. It’s the best way for me to more easily maintain the power dynamic in the relationship. And power is real. Guys want it, and girls want guys to have it. Most guys who were once ‘Nice Guys’ have learnt this lesson.
The converse is of course the guy who gushes, who can’t wait to give his power away. Needy is a turnoff and Needy begets needy. I’ve been there and it’s not pretty. In its worst form it becomes attraction to flawed individuals to give ourselves a better chance, and better control. So if you're Woody Allen, be Woody Allen. If you're Vin Diesel, be Vin Diesel. What doesn’t work is Woody trying to be Vin, me trying to be someone I’m not. It’s simple: When I want to hook up I’m not afraid to go for it, I say what I want, and I rarely get rejected.
Trouble is, it’s easier to win women over with manipulative behaviour that amounts to deceit and callousness. It’s because women are attracted to men who are socially talented, men who know who they are, and know what they want. It’s a confidence thing. In some ways women encourage deceit by seeking a strong independent man who isn’t fawning over her constantly. Men aren’t always that, and don’t always want to be that, but they’re clear that that’s what women want. I’ve gone through phases – most men have – where I’ve had to learn to pay less attention to someone I’m attracted to, and I did this by paying attention to other women, first by flirting then by actively ‘playing the field’. It’s scary how the narcissism of being involved in several relationships simultaneously can provide women with the amount of attention from a man that they need, but at the same time, the man, seeing several women, also gets the sort of attention he wants. But this is where badassed behaviour backfires. Even if I am practising George Clooney styled serial monogamy (rather than cheating), once I get the girl I want, it’s still hard to be happy, it’s hard to turn down those opportunities that drift into view…and when the time comes for commitment it is especially hard to put those ‘bad habits’ to bed, so to speak.
I’m not alone in gauging how bad assed is bad assed enough. I recently had breakfast with two hunky friends, PJ a wealthy, well-groomed lawyer and Mike, a handsome engineer and guitarist, both professional lady’s men. While chatting to them on a Sunday in Rosebank over steaming bacon, eggs and toast I had something of an epiphany. The conversation started off as typical male posturing: congratulatory tales of conquest, occasionally pointing out hot babes sauntering by our table, but then I discovered our rapacious appetites for seduction have a common thread. Both PJ and Mike had been the original Nice Guys, idolising their wives, gushing with compliments, both paid painful prices in their marriages for being such doting husbands. Their wives first walked all over them, then dumped them. Mike says, “If I knew then, what I know now, I would still be married.” PJ, mouth full, waves his knife: him too. I’d also fallen heavily, deeply in love with a girlfriend once upon a time, and likewise, my scars ran deep.
I say, “So we’ve fallen off the horse called Big Love, we’ve been riding out the bruises on a few donkeys ever since. Now isn’t the lesson here to apply what we’ve learnt since then and try again, get back on the horse?” PJ says it isn’t worth the risk, that ‘You can control everything, but you can’t control someone else’s emotions’. Duh! PJ’s response to his Nice Guy phase is that he now refuses to give up his power; he’s a control freak. Mike has gone further, but not much: he has one foot in a relationship, but is finding it hard to commit.
Between the three of us, we represent the three levels of bad ass. We’ve dusted ourselves off and found a new road for ourselves. For PJ it is the low road: swearing off long term relationships altogether. For Mike it is a mixture of freedom and commitment, and for me (granted I never crashed and burned in a marriage), it is being who I am in a committed relationship. I’ve discovered that the most bad assed I can be, is by being myself, without all the issues and crap my parents taught me, just me loving the way I am meant to love. There is nothing more liberating than being utterly oneself, and finding that someone loves me completely for that. That my attentions are enough, and so are hers, and that both people being genuine provides enough sexual fire and fun and excitement. Love, real love, is a bad assed bucking bronco sometimes, it’s the ride of a lifetime, and always worth the risk.

Why the world needs Batman

And why The Dark Knight will be the best selling and spookiest movie ever!

Batman Begins ends with the warning that the crime war in Gotham is escalating.
Jim Gordon: We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds. And you're wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card.
Gordon presents Batman with an evidence bag, and through the clear plastic it’s obvious what’s inside: a playing card. When Batman turns it over the "Joker" is revealed.

The Joker in Dark Knight is the late Heath Ledger, whose death at 28 imbues director Christopher Nolan’s second gritty instalment with even more ominous realism. Dark Knight was designed by Nolan in the style of art noir, to be the sort of ‘hyper-real’ flick that wins prestigious awards. And Nolan has worked hard with his crew, even sparring with the Chinese government in order to gain maximum use of airspace for a Hong Kong skyscraper scene and choosing reality (and real stunts) above special effects wherever possible. Why stop there? Nolan has ambitiously shot the entire flick using cumbersome but rewarding 35 mm celluloid, in the heady and powerful IMAX format. This means the attention to detail ought to be riveting, both on the big and giant screens. Imagine those massive cityscapes, the galaxy of lights, swimming around the caped crusader who stands darkly, silently, looking down at our world.

When you think about it, it’s bizarre that Batman became a cinema hero at all. After all, isn’t Batman all about darkness, gloom and brooding melodrama? Where’s the fun in that? And worse, how do you shoot a Dark Knight in darkness?

Part of the reason there is so much hype around this flick, it has to be said, is thanks to Batman Begins. But there’s more, a lot more on offer here. Film critic Peter Travers describes Dark Knight as, ‘a thunderbolt…about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies’. The Dark Knight is the perfect remedy for what one commentator describes as the western world’s ‘vacuous solipsism’ (which is the belief in self as the only reality). Think Pop Idol and The X Factor. The state of the world today is another obvious reason superheroes are fashionable today, especially flawed superheroes. All these are part of the recipe in Dark Knight, but Batman goes further, to become so much more thanks to the introduction of an archnemesis: the crazy-happy, white-faced, purple- suited, green-haired homicidal villain. The Joker is of course everything that Batman isn’t – loud, extroverted, undisciplined, a creature that deals with reality by, well, not dealing with it. Not taking it seriously. In Dark Knight the tagline is from the Joker himself: “Why…so…serious?” It’s a fascinating and disturbing rhetorical question, because we know – and so does Batman – that there is much to be serious about in the contemporary real world.

While the first instalment was humourless, the clown villain ought to bring a twisted maniacal wit to Dark Knight. There are already murmurs of a posthumous Oscar for Ledger. This may be a ghoulish touch, but the entire flick is somehow ghoulishly appropriate for our time.
"The way the superheroes of today are presented is darker and more complex than it was in the past," says Paul Simpson author of the Rough Guide to Superheroes
Right now, for example, the escalating war in Gotham mirrors the escalating condition in the real world, both in military theatres where American ‘vigilante’ forces operate (think Iran), and in many other strata (think about the escalating impact on oil prices on ordinary economics, and the crime threat that that entails). The chilling realisation we get from Dark Knight is this: whatever you fight you strengthen. Whatever is resisted, persists. This is true of batman fighting crime, but, interestingly, it is also true of crime fighting Batman.
The $180 million Dark Knight Returns opens at a time that keys in perfectly with the reigning zeitgeist. There is tremendous unspoken, even unacknowledged fear and uncertainty in the world today. There is a darkness that is growing in the world, and somehow the popularity of this flick reveals this to us. Already dozens of midnight openers have sold out in America. Joker action figures are already selling north of $20 on eBay. Online ticket retailer Fandango reports that Dark Knight’s unprecedented popularity has caused many cinema houses to slot in additional 3am shows. The vice president of marketing for Fandango, Ted Hong said that it “…makes sense that there's a rush for tickets -- it looks action-packed and film fans are anxious to see Heath Ledger." March polls by Fandango saw customers choose Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as the number one summer blockbuster, with Dark Knight second. Right now advance Dark Knight ticket sales are leaving Indianna Jones in the dark, and without a whip.
The record for best opening weekend ever is held by Spider-Man 3, Directed by Sam Raimi. So far Dark Knight advance sales are tracking much stronger than Spider-Man 3. It won’t be easy to top $151 million, although pundits are expecting Dark Knight to blow by $100 million at a minimum (Iron Man made $102.1 million in its opening weekend, just ahead of Indianna Jones at $100.1 million). Affirmative advance reviews, such as from Peter Travers in Rolling Stone, are also setting up Dark Knight to be perhaps one of the biggest box office successes ever. Travers describes Dark Knight as ‘raw and elemental’, he calls it an ‘absolute stunner… [that talks] to the essentials of the human condition.’
Well, what are the essentials of the Batman mythos?
The collective subconscious is a giant black heaving ocean. The jagged shape that bounces around the night sky comes from a family known as Chiroptera. The name derives from a Greek word meaning “hand” and “wing”. Bats are the only mammals naturally capable of flight, which accounts for their extraordinary success. The bat has associations that run deep in the human psyche. Native Americans saw bats as trickster spirits. The Chinese associate bats with harmony and longevity. Western culture associates bats with fear, darkness and immortality, with Dracula and vampires.

Then there’s The Dark. The dark that symbolizes fear, and death, and the dysfunction that festers within. Batman is a man who masters his fear, and uses the dark to beat back death itself. For Bruce Wayne, Batman is a drug, a fiery being that consumes him, as Monica Hafer explains. “The pressure to take action against the social chaos is unbearable. [Bruce] says of his Batman identity, ‘He tricks me . . . when the night is long and my will is weak. He struggles, relentlessly, hatefully, to be free". And Bruce is addressed directly in the comic by his Batman persona, who says to him, "You are nothing—a hollow shell, a rusty trap that cannot hold me—smoldering, I burn you—burning you, I flare, hot and bright and beautiful—you cannot stop me—not with wine or vows or the weight of age—you cannot stop me but still you try—still you run”. …Only an adult mind could truly appreciate those feelings of age and of the longing that is expressed here for the vigor of youth.

Beyond the dark is The Cave, that place all men go to find their power. Bruce and the Batman dwell there more than most men do, and attain dizzying strength, incorruptible power, and interestingly, fantastic intelligence. In The Cave Bruce Wayne’s super computers whirr with the world’s best intel. It is this resource, technology, perhaps more than any other that is behind Batman’s success. This is what allows an ordinary man to match the likes of Superman. Beyond the mask and the fear factor, Batman gains his advantage by utilizing a suitably armored costume (something that reflects our society’s penchant for hi-tech state of the art gadgets).

Bat-Tech amounts to sophisticated weapons systems based on Bruce Wayne’s scientific intellect and access to the world’s most secret military weapons (Wayne Industries sells armaments to the US Department of Defence).
Batman’s weaponry – gas capsules, a rebreather, monofilament cord jumplines, batarangs and grapnels – are docked in his utility harness. His points-weighted cape and the suit are lined with triple-weave Kevlar, and both are covered in fire-resistant Nomex. He has a radio link to the Batcave and night vision inserted in his cowl. Once prepped and in uniform, Batman seamlessly merges with the bleak and menacing backdrop of Gotham, with its dark labyrinths and its cathedrals.
In common with Superman, Bruce Wayne shares the experience – and the rage – of being an orphan, and his response to orphanhood is revenge, unleashed as an unremitting war on legions of criminals…in order to prevent other innocents from ever experiencing the pain and suffering he did.
There is also the Absurdity of a world gone mad. It is this recognition most of all, of the Absurd, and the Absurd world we live in, that makes Batman someone that makes sense, and someone heroic we can identify with. . The world has gone stark raving mad. When we intuit the world’s psychosis, the strands of the humorless Dark Knight coalesce into a form we recognize. It is the only sensible apparition to stalk the disturbing dystopia. Gotham embodies this disturbing dystopia: the stink, the pollution that hangs over us, infests and infects the alleyways of our cities, staining our skyscrapers, bringing twilight to our world. The shadowy murk of Gotham is the perfect substrate for the cultivation of criminal mobs. They plunder and rape, they burn men, and turn buildings to dust. It takes a special creature to deal with this level of contempt for human life. And that creature is the dark terrifying force we know as Batman.
The post-modern mindset is characterised by disassociation and fragmentation. Increasingly we create separate personas to deal with the complexities of life. In this sense, Batman reflects not just our absurdities, but our common Schizophrenia, and even the reigning cultural schizophrenia (a modern condition based on the disconnection between attitudes and behaviours, between the world we see on TV and in the media and the world we intuit). Batman – as a sort’ve eye in the sky – is also watching a world beneath the world most people see. And here the alternate reality is exposed as delusion, manipulation, madness, criminal insanity. Batman’s creators saw fit to add Arkham Asylum into the mythos, a place where not only the insane but the criminally insane end up (and often escape). Arkham Asylum’s alter ego, of course, is Wayne Manor. The manor itself is built on dark and hollow foundations; the site is condemned by the municipal authorities for its chronic sinkhole problems. And Bruce Wayne spends inordinate amounts of time down there, in his cave sunk below ground, below what we can see, and this disconnectedness transforms him.
Revenge (for the death of his parents, and the childhood that was stolen from him) has taken over his whole life. It cannot be healthy when dark obsessions consume a man. Bruce Wayne never learnt to let go of the pain of losing his parents. And his childish response: to dedicate his life to protecting others from experiencing the same pain, is, while admirable, let’s face it, tragically misguided. This doesn’t convey heroism, but a mental disorder.
Yes, it is entirely possible that Batman’s angry response to fear, to the extent that it mirrors and even to some extent co-creates the villains he opposes, may make no sense at all. The Joker in The Dark Knight says as much: "I don't want to kill you. You complete me."

We know that uncontrolled anger is unhealthy; it adversely impacts on one’s personal well-being, and it can destabilise the social order. It is possible that Batman’s father, Thomas Wayne, was on the right track from the beginning, in his fight against crime and terror in Gotham. Not to fight fire with fire, or to fight fear by scaring the bejesus out of criminals, but by a more Christ-like benevolence. Thomas Wayne used philanthropy to uplift the poor. The question now is whether society has the capacity to remain stable and incorruptible in order to respond effectively to acts of contemporary altruism. The caveat is that it is entirely possible that the social order is collapsing, and Gotham is simply a site where various groups and factions are locked in a zero-sum game called Us versus Them. If this is true, then Batman’s vigilantism may be entirely justified.
Nolan describes Batman as "the most real of all the superheroes, who has no superpowers." Batman is deeper and more complex than other superheroes; his intelligence has imbued him with a consistent sense of purpose. He pursues socially just outcomes, and in this sense, stands alone among superheroes.
Batman assures us that we will not perish without a fight, and we will not go gently into the night. He also addresses the difficult question all men face each day. What should I do with my power, and my anger? Bury it? Suppress it? When it is stirred up, we resist, we push it back. Men can use anger to mobilize important psychological resources. Anger is what drives our determination to seek justice in society, to make known our rejection of the status quo, to avenge injustice. In this sense, anger is vital. But what is there to caution, to control the passion of a raging heart? Fear. And Batman has mastered that too.

See, Batman has guts. He has no obvious weaknesses. He’s a battle scarred, lantern-jawed war horse. Here is a man that has distilled the vital qualities of masculinity: strength, cave dwelling, aggression and erratic womanizing – and made them respectable. His darkness is stark, powerful and mean, but not depressing. He’s the smartest and most rational of all the superheroes. What else but the brains of a billionaire playboy, and the brawn of a stoic, super sleuth – armed to the teeth with high tech – could bully back the shadows of this complex world we live in?

It is his lonely secrecy, his warring vigilantism, and his brilliance and strength, that fascinates young boys and resonates with real men. Batman asks us to stand up against human tragedies, and break the forces of destruction that weigh in on us.

The world needs Batman because it shares the deep black bruises of a painful past. We are voyeurs in his violent vigilantism. We dwell in dark fantasies where fears of the future are bullied into the shadows. Batman epitomizes the fear we fear to face in ourselves. When we cannot let go the dark of our hearts bursts into black flame. These flames are the shadows that haunt and burn the streets of our own dark hearts. The world needs Batman because he is real, he is us, and darkness is coming. And if he can go alone into the dark with strength that is real, and make a difference, perhaps we can too.
Dark Knight Returns opens worldwide on July 17

Movie Review: The Dark Knight

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. "I don't want to kill you," Heath Ledger's psycho Joker tells Christian Bale's stalwart Batman. "You complete me." Don't buy the tease. He means it.

The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. playboy Bruce Wayne, has had it up to here with being the white knight. He's pissed that the public sees him as a vigilante. He'll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes (feisty Maggie Gyllenhaal, in for sweetie Katie Holmes), the lady love who is Batman's only hope for a normal life.

Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City (cinematographer Wally Pfister shot on location in Chicago, bringing a gritty reality to a cartoon fantasy). And the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. Take the Joker, who treats a stunningly staged bank robbery like his private video game with accomplices in Joker masks, blood spurting and only one winner. Nolan shot this sequence, and three others, for the IMAX screen and with a finesse for choreographing action that rivals Michael Mann's Heat. But it's what's going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.

I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to "savor the moment."

The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger."

The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up. Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale's Bruce (she knows he's Batman) and Eckhart's DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. "Hello, beautiful," says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He's right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker's sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. "I choose chaos," says the Joker, and those words sum up what's at stake in The Dark Knight.

The Joker wants Batman to choose chaos as well. He knows humanity is what you lose while you're busy making plans to gain power. Every actor brings his A game to show the lure of the dark side. Michael Caine purrs with sarcastic wit as Bruce's butler, Alfred, who harbors a secret that could crush his boss's spirit. Morgan Freeman radiates tough wisdom as Lucius Fox, the scientist who designs those wonderful toys — wait till you get a load of the Batpod — but who finds his own standards being compromised. Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. As Harvey tells the Caped Crusader, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face, an event sparked by the brutal murder of a major character.

No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It's enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It's enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It's enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, bitch about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn't). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.

By Peter Travers for Rolling Stone

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