love words are itchy to my ears.

spent all of yesterday cooped up in my room trying to write papers and just hating it. too sunny to be indoors. by dinnertime, i was super grumpy so i decided to see another film-fest movie. went to see pai gu, a documentary about a bootleg dvd seller in shenzhen. on the way there, we were all talking so much that we almost got off the train at the wrong spot, and ended up being just late enough to make a scene. yay gwailo!
the movie was pretty good - pai gu, the dvd entrepreneur was really funny. after the movie, the director and main character came up to the front for a discussion. the rest of the audience really seemed to enjoy it, but i didn't understand a thing. ah, well. you win some, you lose some.
it really made me think about my life and shopping habits. i was feeling really self-conscious, sitting there with my fake designer goods, my good fortune to have been born in canada and my carefree lifestyle in hk. watching the guy in the movie move to the big city to try to eke out an existence, earning in a month what i spend in a day made was a sobering experience, especially all the scenes in his shop, with people trying to bargain to get the best price. i guess it all comes back to what our profs say about intellectual property laws not being applicable in poor countries. most of his customers were mainland chinese who would never be able to afford the buy or go the the theatre to see the movies that he sells. but again, i realize the globalization has created a problem market....me and my compatriots. we have the money to go to the movies. we have the money to travel to other continents. yet, when we hit shenzhen, all of our danimal-inspired negotiation tactics come out and we bargain as hard as possible to get the price down another $5HK (.75CAD). i'm not sure how satisfying that's gonna be for me from now on. dammit. i think i'm just gonna have to try to feel satisfied that i'm contributing to their lives when market vendors rip me off. and i did think about giving up shopping in china, but then i wouldn't be contributing... shopping. it's public service.