bump

Two nights into the GOP convention, and my guess is that Terry McAuliffe is having kittens by the litter. Really ill-tempered hairless little yowlers, too.

Apologies for the lack of posts. I've got lots to write about, some of it even a distraction from nonstop politics. But the job search hasn't been so much shiny as soul-suckingly dreadful—not really the thing to get the creative juices flowing.

The only redeeming aspect this time around is the number of applications that I can do online. Among other things that means no one will see me banging my head into my desk.

Anyways.

One recommendation before I turn out the lights tonight: Jeff Percifield is doing yeoman's work over at Beautiful Atrocities, most recently this post on the none-too-subtle fascist overtones of Hero. (Real fascism, not the puerile ohmigod-PatriotAct-canyoubelievetheyresearchinglibraries hysteria.)

Sam and I saw the movie last weekend. Unlike Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—a film that is superficially similar—for me it is well worth another look. Nonetheless, Jeff is quite correct: for Beijing's totalitarian apparatchiks, Ying xiong is a stunningly beautiful work of nationalistic propaganda.

MORE: Gerard Van der Leun is back. Takes just a bit of the sting out of the good Captain's retirement.

Hey, thanx for the link. I agree, it's an amazing film that stands on its own artistically, altho I could have used a little less slo-mo. I just think it's interesting that so few reviewers are hitting the authoritarian angle. I think that's what the decadent style attempts to distract from (& I mean decadent in a neutral, ornamental sense, as Paglia would say).

I saw it on DVD last year & can't wait to see it on a big screen.

But Tony Leung was great. Maggie Cheung too, altho the director really held her in. Interesting that Zhang Ziyi took a supporting role after CTHD, & steals all her scenes!