That harp’s hella big. And no, I really don’t use “hella” in daily conversation.
I would dress like that every day if I could. And she’s a hair idol of mine, as a matter of fact.
I’ve always wanted to play the harp, but then I remember that they made a big deal of Elizabeth Smart’s playing of the harp when she was missing, and I can help but get skeeved out.
If I were an artist, she might be my muse.
Moving on the second part of my so-clever-it-hurts title, look at this gorgeous teapots from englishteastore.com:
I can’t help but picture myself living in a small cottage somewhere, cluttered and cozy, with a bright green teapot on the vintage wood-burning stove.
Oh God. That was so cheesy it makes me sick. But, alas, I can not control my dreams.
More on tea in a later post.
And, finally, Alaska. I just watched Into the Wild last night, after reading and loving the book to pieces. Christopher McCandless’s story just tore my heart into pieces. I wondered at how it could be brought to the big screen, but director Sean Penn achieved it with delicate precision and obviously huge concern for the story and McCandless.
Chris on the California coast, where he met up with some hippie wanderers.
Everyone knows the story by now, an idealistic young college grad, searching for something more than society can give him, wanders the earth for two years, until finally heading to Alaska for his “great adventure.” It is there that nature betrays him, and he dies of combined starvation and poisoning from mold that developed on potato roots he ate when he could find no game. Some admire his idealistic search for self, while others view him as a naïve, ignorant fool who asked for his own death. Either way you chose to see Chris, this story can’t help but affect you.
The film opens with Chris arriving at the Stampede Trail in Alaska, which he followed until he came across a bus, which he referred to as the “magic bus” in which he would live for several months, and, eventually, die. The film then cuts back and forth between Chris’s time in the bus and his travels throughout the West. Reading the book and watching the movie, it amazed how many people Chris affected in his travels, how many lives he changed and hearts he touched, and, when news of his death became known, broke. The most heartbreaking of all these people is the elderly widower Ron Franz, played by Hal Holbrook. Something you don’t learn by watching the movie is that Ron Franz isn’t the man’s real name: he asked author Jon Krakauer to keep him anonymous, because McCandless’s death so tore him apart that he didn’t want people asking him about it. Even more devastating is this: Ron was a devout Christian when he met Chris, and had been sober for many years after becoming dependant on whiskey after his wife and son were killed by a drunk driver. But after he learn of McCandless’s death, Franz became an atheist, convinced that if there were a God, Chris never would have died. He also started drinking again.
The movie is anchored by a fantastic performance by Emile Hirsch. He captures the slightly out-of-control McCandless perfectly, in my opinion. He had to lose 40 pounds throughout the shoot, and a shot towards the end, as McCandless is slowly starving away, of a skeletal Hirsch is haunting and shocking. He makes the difficult death scene oddly beautiful. It seems that, in those last few moments, Chris truly found peace.
The film is visually stunning, and I’m angry it was so ignored by the Oscars. The way it is shot is breathtaking, not only the large landscapes of a frozen Alaska, but the smaller shots in between. Penn utilized a split-screen technique in several scenes and I absolutely loved it. SO… WHERE WAS IT’S CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINATION??? How about Best Director for Penn? Or Best Adapted Screenplay? The screenplay is touching and heart-wrenching all at once. I do appreciate that it was nominated by Editing, however, considering it was tricky flashing back and forth between the time periods. The one that really irks me, however, is the last of Best Score nomination. The music is what makes many scenes—the gentle of a guitar as the undercurrent for Eddie Vedder’s raw, rumbling voice… it was absolutely robbed.
I loved this movie, obviously. Highly recommended, though it is a bit long, 2 and a half hours, so you need to leave your whole night free.
Finally, I came across an article about how the local Alaskans in the area surrounding the Stampede Trail are deeply resentful toward all the “McCandless pilgrims” who are using the bus as a tourist attraction, taking pictures there, and sitting against the bus in McCandless’s iconic pose of one leg over the other. This just seems sick to me. A man died there… it creeps me out that people use it as a tourism site, the same as Disneyland or the Grand Canyon. Maybe some people identify with Chris, and are looking to find some sense of self, but still… A replica of the bus was used in the film—both out of respect and convenience, and the locals want to move the bus to the beginning of the trail, so it is more easily accessible. They’ve had to airlift 2 couples out of the area so far, at the cost of the Alaskan government. These people, mostly young men, have carved their names into the side of the bus. This is so disrespectful to me. A bit of a morbid spot to be a tourist attraction, no?
I’ll finish with my favorite quote from Chris, scratched out in his journal as he lay dying, “Happiness only real when shared.” He realized that isolation wasn’t the answer, that we needed others.
So go share it.
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1 comment:
God, that book was amazing. I just saw the movie on like, Sunday. It was good, but the book was better. Emile is cute.
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