Heath Ledger dead

Maybe drugs. Maybe suicide. What a goddamned waste. The Times city desk has the latest, but it's a whole bunch of nothing at this point. He was 28.

This was a guy who was growing further and further into himself as an actor. His performance in "Brokeback Mountain" trumped anything he had done up to that time -- it remains one of the most daringly internalized things I've ever seen. The trailers alone of his turn as The Joker had me excited about the prospect of seeing another "Batman" movie, something I didn't think was possible.

All the things he could have done, and now we'll never see them. Stupid, stupid, stupid. My deepest condolences to his family.