They Broke the Mold

The Jeanners and I just got back from seeing "Into the Wild," the movie about the kid who bummed around for awhile and then went to Alaska and starved to death. It's a good movie. About 3/4 of the way through the film, I was thinking, "this movie is too long and it's missing the fucking point," but then it kinda redeemed itself in the end. J-Dog and I had both read the book recently, and we were both interested in seeing the movie, because it's a pretty damned compelling story. I don't usually get too worked up about such things, but I'm kinda torn about the way I feel about this kid. He seemed to have everything worked out so right and so completely wrong at the same time. And I've been pretty fascinated with the whole "get rid of everything and just walk around" for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid my favorite daydeam was, "What would I do if my parents and family disappeared and I had to fend for myself? What would I take with me? Where would I go?" And there's still a bit of that left in me, although at the moment it's buried under some other shit -- some important shit and some unimportant shit. I wonder if it will come out later or if it will go away? I guess either option is ok...

So the two thoughts in my head about Chris McCandless are: "You're an idiot for not listening to people and thinking you could do what others could not." and "I really admire what you did and why you did it and the way in which you went about it." And my guess is that those are the two thoughts that go through everybody's mind who reads the book or sees the movie. Too much damned Eddie Vedder music in the movie, though.

Also: the hidden track on the the Springsteen album is pretty damned good. "When they built you, brother, they broke the mold."

Also: When we got home from the movie, I took a pretty huge shit. The bathroom is pretty rank. Jeannie's in there now brushing her teeth and I'm a little surprised she's not puking from the smell. Perhaps she's built up an immunity?