Forbidden Kingdom-forbade by whom?

such a disappointment. what would have been the greatest CMA movie has turned into an empired, gendered hollywoodic movie.

how i wished the fight scenes between jacky chan and jet li were more than the movie offered.

that characters:
a vengeful, orphaned girl -chinese
a bitch, evil witch-chinese
an asexual monk (jet li, as usual) -chinese
carefree-careless drunken master ( jacky chan, as usual)-chinese
a ruthless warlord-chinese
a street bully- american, trained in a korean taekwondo
a really nice boy- american, accidental hero, pure of heart, either a great messenger or a master chosen by Destiny

the chinese kingdom referred to in the film is fantasy, fictional. the boy's american neighborhood is contemporary and realistic.

the movie ends with a scene where the good american boy is practicing his monkey staff form-- kungfu in his hands. hooray.

culture and killing

culture borne out of life.. eventually kills life. --Andre Gide

much like art in the museum, dead and not moving.
static.

amazing.

how many artists have "killed" artistic evolution to please the producer
have you "killed" a friend to get that promotion
"killed" a mentor to take over an empire
"killed" a student over recognition
"killed" to preserve
to satisfy
own
it

kill desire for stagnancy. be unmoved and die eventually.

Immoralist

Halfway through this book by Andre Gide....
A phrase struck me..." in art there are no problems..."
The way it was explained, the unspoken line seems to be... "only drama."

In art there are no problems, only drama.

My brother chatting over late morning coffee adds, "contradictions..."

Oo, I thought. A woman of deep connections with me has turned enemy; a seemingly nice guy, a cunning blackmailer; and, teacher I adored for so many years, who molded my soul into light, a degrader.

I read equality and forgotten how to practise. My school a nationalist, but existing away from the mass.

Contradiction. Life is. I step forward and end up miles away from the finish line. As a friend said, we declare ownership because we do not own. We claim because we cannot possess.

Drama. Years of childhood gaiety gone, only adult sadness. In the middle of crisis, people we want leave. Those we puke at seeing, stay.

So I just look at life as art. In life, there are no problems, just contradictions.