I swear, these guys could play marshmallows next, and it would make me curl up on the floor and flail around at the utter unfathomability of their Divine Awesome.
It actually makes for truly fabulous Internet-surfing background music. I have listened to nothing else for 3 whole days. If you're curious, this clip was taken off the band's 2007 tour film Heima, which everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime. Here's the trailer. Geographical landscape pornography set to majestic glaciery post-rock, dudes.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Underneath My Being Is A Road That Disappeared
I am not a very outdoorsy person, but watching this movie made me want to kayak down a river, or shoot a moose, or hike through a forest while Eddie Vedder's voice howls over the mountains. But not really, because I don't like dirt. Or moose. Mooses. Meese.
Into The Wild, written and directed by Sean Penn, is based on the book of the same title by Jon Krakauer. It is a non-fictional account of the life and premature death of one Christopher J. McCandless, a fresh graduate of Emory University who ditches a privileged lifestyle and bright prospects (Harvard Law, y'all) in favour of his Great Alaskan Adventure. He abandons all his possessions, gives his life savings away to charity, and hitchhikes across America under the alias "Alexander Supertramp" to live in the Alaskan wilderness, where he eventually dies of starvation. It's a pre-quarter-life existential crisis of Epic Proportions, as Chris struggles to escape 20th century society and the ills he perceives within it; blind conformity, hypocrisy, an irrational obsession with wealth and status, all of which he sees embodied in his own parents.
So Chris ventures into the big bad world armed with nothing more than a healthy dose of misanthropy, a bunch of quotes from famous Russian novelists, an unshakable conviction in his beliefs and a touching faith that nature will provide for his every need. His general cynicism about human relationships is somewhat ironic considering the fact that it is people and their innate goodness that help him get where he needs to go, literally and metaphorically. A kooky, lovely hippie couple and an ex-military man, among others, are the ones (with some help from Tolstoy and Pasternak) who teach him his most valuable lessons, even if Chris takes a tragically long time to comprehend them; that nature is meant to be loved and feared in equal measure, that no man is an island, that "happiness is only real when shared".
Chris's story will not touch everyone who sees and hears it. There are those who will regard it as pathetic as opposed to tragic, pointless rather than profound. My own mother found his conduct baffling. Perhaps being a a parent herself, his actions in disappearing for well over 2 years without ever truly attempting to tell his family where he was seemed to her unbelievably selfish and more than a little insensitive. And I can't entirely disagree with her; his parents were never intentionally cruel despite their huge flaws. They were not portrayed as monstrous villains. On the other hand, Chris's quest to find his place in the world wasn't over-romanticized or loaded with gaudy sentiment. As his sister Carine narrates, there "was something more than anger or rebellion" that drove her brother to do what he did. His Holden Caulfield complex was a product of something beyond plain angst. Sadly, whatever that "something" was, is now known to Chris alone.
Ramblings aside, Into The Wild is a pretty terrific movie. The acting is first-rate (oh Emile), the scenery is breathtaking, and the original soundtrack, largely contributed by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, is a thing of pure unadulterated auditory awesomeness. I'm not exactly sure how much or what kind of research went into the making of the book and film. So there's no telling how much of Chris' story, especially on the road and in the wilderness, is truth, how much is unavoidable extrapolation, and how much had to be filled in with mere speculation. And then there's the matter of how you choose to see him. Chris McCandless may have been a ridiculously brave, true young man, an exemplary torch-bearer of individual humanity. He may have been nothing more than a deeply sensitive, troubled kid who decided to run away from issues he couldn't deal with. Others may see him as a pretentious crackpot who died of starvation in a minibus in the middle of Alaska when help was readily available two miles away at a park ranger's station. At the very least, we are given the room to create our own opinions on Chris and his life and death, and for that the filmmakers deserve all sorts of mad props. And heck, I loved it. I had never been more enthralled in my life (actually I probably have, but for the purposes of the present lets pretend I haven't).
I also take this opportunity to induct Emile Hirsch and his Innate Awesomeness as Honorary Members of July's Husband of the Month sidebar thingie. I'm sure Spongebob won't mind sharing. He's all about the love, after all.
Into The Wild, written and directed by Sean Penn, is based on the book of the same title by Jon Krakauer. It is a non-fictional account of the life and premature death of one Christopher J. McCandless, a fresh graduate of Emory University who ditches a privileged lifestyle and bright prospects (Harvard Law, y'all) in favour of his Great Alaskan Adventure. He abandons all his possessions, gives his life savings away to charity, and hitchhikes across America under the alias "Alexander Supertramp" to live in the Alaskan wilderness, where he eventually dies of starvation. It's a pre-quarter-life existential crisis of Epic Proportions, as Chris struggles to escape 20th century society and the ills he perceives within it; blind conformity, hypocrisy, an irrational obsession with wealth and status, all of which he sees embodied in his own parents.
So Chris ventures into the big bad world armed with nothing more than a healthy dose of misanthropy, a bunch of quotes from famous Russian novelists, an unshakable conviction in his beliefs and a touching faith that nature will provide for his every need. His general cynicism about human relationships is somewhat ironic considering the fact that it is people and their innate goodness that help him get where he needs to go, literally and metaphorically. A kooky, lovely hippie couple and an ex-military man, among others, are the ones (with some help from Tolstoy and Pasternak) who teach him his most valuable lessons, even if Chris takes a tragically long time to comprehend them; that nature is meant to be loved and feared in equal measure, that no man is an island, that "happiness is only real when shared".
Chris's story will not touch everyone who sees and hears it. There are those who will regard it as pathetic as opposed to tragic, pointless rather than profound. My own mother found his conduct baffling. Perhaps being a a parent herself, his actions in disappearing for well over 2 years without ever truly attempting to tell his family where he was seemed to her unbelievably selfish and more than a little insensitive. And I can't entirely disagree with her; his parents were never intentionally cruel despite their huge flaws. They were not portrayed as monstrous villains. On the other hand, Chris's quest to find his place in the world wasn't over-romanticized or loaded with gaudy sentiment. As his sister Carine narrates, there "was something more than anger or rebellion" that drove her brother to do what he did. His Holden Caulfield complex was a product of something beyond plain angst. Sadly, whatever that "something" was, is now known to Chris alone.
Ramblings aside, Into The Wild is a pretty terrific movie. The acting is first-rate (oh Emile), the scenery is breathtaking, and the original soundtrack, largely contributed by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, is a thing of pure unadulterated auditory awesomeness. I'm not exactly sure how much or what kind of research went into the making of the book and film. So there's no telling how much of Chris' story, especially on the road and in the wilderness, is truth, how much is unavoidable extrapolation, and how much had to be filled in with mere speculation. And then there's the matter of how you choose to see him. Chris McCandless may have been a ridiculously brave, true young man, an exemplary torch-bearer of individual humanity. He may have been nothing more than a deeply sensitive, troubled kid who decided to run away from issues he couldn't deal with. Others may see him as a pretentious crackpot who died of starvation in a minibus in the middle of Alaska when help was readily available two miles away at a park ranger's station. At the very least, we are given the room to create our own opinions on Chris and his life and death, and for that the filmmakers deserve all sorts of mad props. And heck, I loved it. I had never been more enthralled in my life (actually I probably have, but for the purposes of the present lets pretend I haven't).
I also take this opportunity to induct Emile Hirsch and his Innate Awesomeness as Honorary Members of July's Husband of the Month sidebar thingie. I'm sure Spongebob won't mind sharing. He's all about the love, after all.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
I Iz Bad Bad Blogger
That is even if you guys have noticed that I have been missing from the Internets for quite a protracted period of time, you self-absorbed peasants.
What I Was Up To All That Time I Wasn't Blogging
1. Re-falling in love with The History Boys, which everybody must watch. Although it would be nice if someone would make a female counterpart to it. Like the Geography Gals or the Chemistry Chicks or the Physics Feminists. Something.
2. Eating chilled watermelon chunks drizzled with condensed milk. It's a heavenly dessert my mom invented when she was a kid, and it is fabulous, especially with the weather being what it is. You all should try it. But don't come running to me when you've all slipped into diabetic comas.
3. Being interviewed. That's right. I'm in high demand now. Brave Chickens sent me a bunch of questions to answer, and it will be featured on her blog soon once she's feeling better and stuff and I shall be drowning the Internet in waves of shameless self-promotion once it's up.
4. Watching Wimbledon and trying to decide whether or not I like Roger Federer. I mean, everyone goes around saying he's the greatest of all time but the guy leaves me sort of cold, to be honest.
5. Kicking ass in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) thingie, where I achieved the awesomest grade it is humanly possible to achieve . I impress even myself sometimes. Unfortunately this does not mean that no university in the country can refuse me, or not yet anyway.
6. Listening to this guy. He's folksy and breathy and minimalisty and almost all his songs are under 3 minutes, so it won't demand too much of your attention span. Most importantly, he is Scottish. Also, he's giving away two of his EPs entirely free of charge on his myspace. All you have to do is click on a few links, so there's really no excuse here.
And what were you lot up to while I wasn't being a good blogger?
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