"Wake up, it's time to die."
Rutger Hauer, "Blade Runner."
I seem to be gradually turning into a cross between the Kevin Spacey character in 'American Beauty' and the Anthony Hopkins character in 'The Remains of the Day.'
I felt 'American Beauty' was an over-rated film. 'The Remains of the Day' I liked much better, but the film is not as good as the book (a cliche, but true in this case). The novel by Kazuo Ishiguro is laced with dry humour that the movie doesn't covey as well.
I've also noticed that I've become attracted to Condoleezza Rice. I like the gap in her teeth. Did you know she's a musician?
Saturday, August 17, 2002
Monday, August 12, 2002
I saw a couple of movies recently on video. One was called ‘Shackleton,’ and starred Kenneth Branagh. It a was about the British explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton, and his disastrous expedition to the Antarctic in 1914. Shackleton and his crew of 28 had set out to cross Antarctica (the big prize of being the first to reach the South Pole was taken by Norwegian Roald Amundsen in December of 1911). As they were heading south in their ship, the ice closed in, and they got stuck.
The ship was broken up, and the the crew were stranded in Antarctica at a time when no communication with the outside was possible. Antarctica is a big place, maybe the size of the continental U.S. When you include all the ice that surrounds it, it’s actually much bigger. Through incredible perseverence and deft leadership, Shackleton got the whole gang out alive, and notched one of the greatest survival stories in history.
A couple of things struck me. First of all, after spending from December 1914 to August 1916 stranded in an icy netherworld, many members of his crew then promptly enlisted in the army and served in the trenches in the First World War. I mean, holy glutton for punishment, Batman. Truly a different generation.
Secondly, what is the fucking point of crossing the South Pole? Shackleton had a notable history of Antarctic exploration, and was part of Robert Scott’s first assault on the pole in 1907. Nonetheless, it’s still kind of a manufactured exploration. But it came at the tail end of an era when exploration was an exalted profession, and explorers were rock-star-like celebrities. People like Shackleton would wander off somewhere, plant a Union Jack on some ice flow or on some mountain, then come home. At that point, they would begin a lecture tour, maybe write a book. Sell the story to the newspapers. They were celebrities, and would make their living this way.
Men like James Frazer, David Livingston and Henry Stanley spent the 1800’s romping through Africa, perhaps the last unknown (at least to Europeans and Americans) part of the world. By the turn of the 20th Century, explorers were running out of unknown places, and they turned to Antarctica. Their expeditions were in many cases privately financed. Your average industrialist, getting rich off of weapons manufacturing during the arms race that lead to World War One, would get some sweet talk from a guy like Shackleton.
“You know, Sir So-and-So, if I happen to come across some island in the Antarctic circle that no one has found yet, I can always name it after you.”
And exploration really captures the imagination. Whenever I’m over at Gabriola Island, and I climb through some expanse of bush to reach some neat little beach I didn’t know existed, or row the boat to some inaccessible piece of shoreline, I am filled with a sense of satisfaction.
I’m pleased to be one of only a few who would have made the effort to get that far. To be the only one would be an even greater feeling. It’s a neat concept to be the only one on Earth to have taken a particular path.
Now, take geography, and replace it with your own life. You are the only person who has taken the route you’re on. Feel good about it?
As often as not, we don’t, because it is drummed into our heads from all sides that there is a basic plan that we should follow. And yet many great people in history, many artists and leaders, have followed oddball paths, and it is exactly this that has put them in the position to create something unique when they needed to.
The best thing about Shackleton's fame is that it partly rests on how he made something out of a total screw-up. If things had gone perfectly--if he had simply hiked across Antarctica as he planned--he would likely have been a lesser historical figure.
Luckily for him, things got all fucked up.
The ship was broken up, and the the crew were stranded in Antarctica at a time when no communication with the outside was possible. Antarctica is a big place, maybe the size of the continental U.S. When you include all the ice that surrounds it, it’s actually much bigger. Through incredible perseverence and deft leadership, Shackleton got the whole gang out alive, and notched one of the greatest survival stories in history.
A couple of things struck me. First of all, after spending from December 1914 to August 1916 stranded in an icy netherworld, many members of his crew then promptly enlisted in the army and served in the trenches in the First World War. I mean, holy glutton for punishment, Batman. Truly a different generation.
Secondly, what is the fucking point of crossing the South Pole? Shackleton had a notable history of Antarctic exploration, and was part of Robert Scott’s first assault on the pole in 1907. Nonetheless, it’s still kind of a manufactured exploration. But it came at the tail end of an era when exploration was an exalted profession, and explorers were rock-star-like celebrities. People like Shackleton would wander off somewhere, plant a Union Jack on some ice flow or on some mountain, then come home. At that point, they would begin a lecture tour, maybe write a book. Sell the story to the newspapers. They were celebrities, and would make their living this way.
Men like James Frazer, David Livingston and Henry Stanley spent the 1800’s romping through Africa, perhaps the last unknown (at least to Europeans and Americans) part of the world. By the turn of the 20th Century, explorers were running out of unknown places, and they turned to Antarctica. Their expeditions were in many cases privately financed. Your average industrialist, getting rich off of weapons manufacturing during the arms race that lead to World War One, would get some sweet talk from a guy like Shackleton.
“You know, Sir So-and-So, if I happen to come across some island in the Antarctic circle that no one has found yet, I can always name it after you.”
And exploration really captures the imagination. Whenever I’m over at Gabriola Island, and I climb through some expanse of bush to reach some neat little beach I didn’t know existed, or row the boat to some inaccessible piece of shoreline, I am filled with a sense of satisfaction.
I’m pleased to be one of only a few who would have made the effort to get that far. To be the only one would be an even greater feeling. It’s a neat concept to be the only one on Earth to have taken a particular path.
Now, take geography, and replace it with your own life. You are the only person who has taken the route you’re on. Feel good about it?
As often as not, we don’t, because it is drummed into our heads from all sides that there is a basic plan that we should follow. And yet many great people in history, many artists and leaders, have followed oddball paths, and it is exactly this that has put them in the position to create something unique when they needed to.
The best thing about Shackleton's fame is that it partly rests on how he made something out of a total screw-up. If things had gone perfectly--if he had simply hiked across Antarctica as he planned--he would likely have been a lesser historical figure.
Luckily for him, things got all fucked up.
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