animals. that's the theme of this post. have you ever noticed how obsessed humans are with animals? one of my part-time jobs is programming content for a web portal, so i spend a fair amount of time monitoring what news and images are most popular on yahoo! obviously gossip stuff about britney and brangelina is big, but one of the surprising things is that stories and images about animals do really, really well--especially cute pictures or freaky pictures of animals. (have you seen the cyclops kitten?) (or what about owen the hippopatumus who befriended a 100-year-old turtle?)

over the past month or so we watched two films about men who took the animal obsession to the extreme: "grizzly man" and "the parrots of telegraph hill." believe you me, the only thing better than animal movies, are movies about strange humans centering their lives around petting wild bears and parrots. needless to say, both of these films are recommended. both are about oddball dudes that didn't fit into mainstream society and proceeded to direct their efforts to getting in touch with nature. both take on larger themes of spirituality and finding ones calling in life. both involve grown men talking to wild animals, sometimes in baby voices.