what is it with the BBC and bears? it seems that they just can't get enough. well neither can I.

have you ever gotten the feeling like your possessions are starting to own you rather than the other way around? luckily for me, I escaped this feeling when I moved out of Chicago by cravenly abandoning many of my things for someone else to clean out rather than take care of them myself. the second move around, however, is troubling me a bit. there is a large part of me that wishes I could just fly to CA with the contents of a duffel bag and a suitcase and make do. because honestly, there isn't anything that I truly need that couldn't be moved that way. and yet I find myself kicking around ideas like driving a UHaul 10 kajillion miles or hiring the pod people to move my stuff for me (for the low, low cost of $8,000,000!!) so that I can have a television and PS2 and some other assorted stuff. is this just laziness talking? maybe. but then again, it just might be that I've hit on something here. like drugs.

and now, some comments on the movie Hero:

I liked this movie when they made it and called it Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. but it was good this time around, too. even if it is somewhat more confusing.

the weird undertones of Chinese nationalism in this movie sort of bothered me. there's a lot of yammering on and on about this and that, but the subtext of the movie rings loud and clear: Brutal and murderous dictators are fine, just so long as they unite the warring kingdoms into a larger Chinese whole.

there is a little too much wailing for me right around the end of Hero. but don't let that detract from the fact that Jet Li just spent almost two hours flying around on wires. just between you and me, I'm getting damn tired of the whole wire-fighting business. all of the best parts of Hero were the parts when someone wasn't flying 50 feet straight in the air and changing direction by leaping off of a falling leaf.

it has been said that if you hear something 30 times (or is it twenty?) that regardless of how ridiculous it is, you will come to believe it as fact. proof positive of this somewhat dubious claim: after seeing Hero I now believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that calligraphy and swordsmanship share the same principle.

this movie is colorful.