Into The Wild - The Movie

[SnowTigress]

Great soundtrack. Great scenery. Heavy stuff. I think they added some stuff that wasnt in book, but worth a see.

[dallread]

hopefully ill get to see it this weekend

[crstlextrm]

I really liked it. Read the book for the first time last winter and I think that while there were a few differences, they did a very good job translating it to the bigscreen, especially by hollywood standards. God knows if I wasnt such a pussy I would take off like that too, but Id prolly bring a map.

[SnowTigress]

it takes a someone borderline nutso personality to pull that off sans gps! :)

[rehabit]

Looking forward to it! not that I've seen it yet, but I was lucky enough to be at The Skywalker Ranch when Sean Penn was there finishing up the soundtrack for this. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

[jon turner]

I thought it was good, and very close to the book. Some things were missing, but it's hard to fit 2 years into a 2 hour movie. The only major addition was the poaching of the Grand Canyon, and I don't know if I remember him actually making it into Mexico.

Well done. I got a little bored in the middle, but probably only because I knew what was going to happen throughout the whole movie.

[jbach]

It's finally showing in SLC. It was a good movie; better than any I've seen in a while. I was surprised how packed the theater was for it. I could hear lots of quieted sobbing near the end.

[KIRinPNW]

I saw it the other nite and it was the first movie in a long time where the credits were rolling and the majority of people were sitting silent collecting themselves.

[Natedogg]

Sweet, psyched to see it.


I don't know if I remember him actually making it into Mexico.

Didn't he paddle into Mexico and get turned around in some swamp?

Someone I was talking to mentioned that the latest theory of his death was infection from a water-born parasite like Giardia. Anyone care to share info? I've never heard of anyone dying from Giardiasis, but I'm not sure it was necessarily Giardia...

[PassTheDutchie]

Someone I was talking to mentioned that the latest theory of his death was infection from a water-born parasite like Giardia. Anyone care to share info? I've never heard of anyone dying from Giardiasis, but I'm not sure it was necessarily Giardia...

I heard that it was a really nasty version of the clap. Someone proposed that he caught it from a moose carcass.

(sorry. i can't control my puerile impulses sometimes. carry on.)

[SnowToad]

I believe a soundtrack can make or break a movie. The soundtrack to this movie added a critical component and in my opinion made the movie great, where with other music it may have only been ok.

[Kevo]

I thought it was a really good movie. It is already in the IMDB top 250 movies ever made list, so that is saying something.

I believe he did make it to Mexico. He also didn't know he was eating poisonous plants like the movie suggests.

I give it a solid 9 out of 10

[MarsB]

I wish they'd screen this in Morganhole, dammit!!! :cussing: :cussing:

[Natedogg]

He also didn't know he was eating poisonous plants like the movie suggests.

How do they portray it? All the plants researched did not contain toxins, including seeds from the wild potato and the sweet pea. I believe it's still a mystery as to why he died.

PtD, if McCandless caught the clap from pokin' the dead moose, I think he would still be wandering around--just not producing incompetent outdoorman offspring.

[Kevo]

^They portrayed it that he wakes up one morning feeling bad and finds out in his wild edible book that he had eaten a poisonous plant that will cause paralysis starvation, and death if untreated. In the Krakauer version of things, he didn't know that he had ingested a poisonous plant because his wild edible book was misinformed and said that a certain type of plant was edible. This plant (forget which one) is only edible in the spring/early summer and then towards the end of summer it produces toxins that can kill you. So Chris thought he was eating something that was ok to eat, when really he was poisoning himself.

[PassTheDutchie]

PtD, if McCandless caught the clap from pokin' the dead moose, I think he would still be wandering around--just not producing incompetent outdoorman offspring.

Nate, be assured: I am intimately aware of the effects of the clap... Wait... Did I just type that? Never mind. Nothing to see here.

[slim]

I liked the movie alot but couldn't stand the soundtrack. Eddie Vedder is a fucking nob.

[Jer]

The cinematography was nice.

Agreed with slim on the soundtrack, although I'd add the word "self-righteous".

I think the kid died from being an idiot, kinda like Treadwell.

[Natedogg]

Not to start a debate here, but McCandless and Treadwell are completely different. I don't think there is any comparison to be made between a lunatic and a slightly overzealous idealist.

And yes, Eddie Vedder, what a self-righteous prick. He's not of the perfect mold, having grown up in a broken home, he fights for rights of his fans, and loves the environment. Damn I hate that guy, and Pearl Jam is probably one of the worst bands on the planet. :rolleyes:

[slim]

and Pearl Jam is probably one of the worst bands on the planet. :rolleyes:

I don't see why you used the :rolleyes: in that statement.

[Jer]

having grown up in a broken home

OMG!! What a tortured, artistic soul he must be!:rolleyes:

Treadwell - amusing, Peter Pan-like dead idiot.

McCandless - sad dead idiot. He does get points for not taking his girlfriend with him, tho.

Grizzly Man was funny and showed Treadwell for the guy he was. Into the Wild tries to paint a fool with no grip on reality as some kind of saint-like figure to be emulated. Wild get extra points for beautiful cinamatography, but also gets points deducted for being about an hour too long. I don't mind long movies one bit, but there just wasn't that much of a story here.

[The Kids Are Alright]

Pearl Jam owns, Eddie Vedder rules

/end post

[Natedogg]

Into the Wild tries to paint a fool with no grip on reality as some kind of saint-like figure to be emulated.

Well, I guess we just disagree. Don't worry, I won't hold you being wrong against you. ;)

[JoeStrummer]

I thought it was a good film. McCandess and I were sort of on the same path at the same time - I got out of college and spent 6 months in Alaska back in 1993, living off the land, hunting and fishing on sort of a Jack London trip. Destoyed a few rednecks in fistfights, worked on a fishing boat, had a 3 way with a couple of Swedish hitchhikers in Homer. Overall I give the experience an A-.

I respect the kid for the purity of his committment, which most of us (including shitheads in internet forums who insult him as an idiot) can't begin to appproach.

[RootSkier]

had a 3 way with a couple of Swedish hitchhikers in Homer. Overall I give the experience an A-.


A-? So they must have been uncircumsized and well hung?

[Natedogg]

I respect the kid for the purity of his committment, which most of us (including shitheads in internet forums who insult him as an idiot) can't begin to appproach.

Well put.

[Atrain505]

I gotta put my two cents in.

Great story, but shitty film.
Perhaps I'm just conceited from film school, but was for sure a first effort through and through. Like a student film with a relatively big budget.
It had moments of brillance. Some scenes were fantastic and amazingly genuine. Others were just cheeseball. A lot of experimentation that at times worked and other times took the viewer out of the world and ruined it.
For instance when characters look directly into the camera. Beautiful when done towards the edge of frames (a consistent method throughout the film of framing all shots, which is very nice for the story), but when hes eating the apple and stares and moves his head straight into camera its like a reality show. The titles and writing across the screen-terrible. The high speed (ie slow motion) probably around 500 fps of him shaking his hair and used a few other times just bad. Some of the voice over narration was as cheese as it gets. Vedder's stuff, while I love him as a muscian, he shouldn't be scoring films. A score should compliment the visuals and not override them.
Penn is a fantastic actor and that was shown with some of the simple character scenes that were great. He is a first time filmaker and that is quite clear. I think he'll look back on this film and be shaking his head in a few years.

My point is he deliberatly revealed his techniques and took the viewer out of the world numerous times. Everything a filmmaker does should have a reason, it should in some way enhance the story. I thought many of the decisions detracted from the story.
Interesting film none the less that everyone here should relate too, but I was throughly disapointed with the way it was completed. Felt to me like "Oh ya man, lets try that, no one does that, oh ya super cool." Without a real thought process behind it.

[slim]

Somebody's reading Understanding Movies a little too hard.

[Atrain505]

Haven't read anything like whatever that is in a couple years. All I do now is hands on stuff.
I guess I was trying to back up my response to the movie since everyone here sings nothing but its praises. I was throughly disapointed.

[Jer]

I respect the kid for the purity of his committment, which most of us (including shitheads in internet forums who insult him as an idiot) can't begin to appproach.

Hey - I like idealism as much as the next guy. However, if idealism isn't tempered with any kind of realism or common sense whatsoever, it turns to idiocy. Obviously you and McCandless had at least one thing not in common since you are still alive. And personally, I'd much rather be a live shithead with some grip on reality than a dead blind idealist. I have no desire to approach McCandles's "purity".

Look - I liked the cinematography and I can live with the fact that the guy was a victim of his own insane idealism (to me, that's what the book was all about). My main problem with the movie (besides Vedder) is that Penn makes him out to be someone who should be admired and emulated. It's a sad story and nothing to aspire to.

[AKPogue]

I respect the kid for the purity of his committment, which most of us (including shitheads in internet forums who insult him as an idiot) can't begin to appproach.

Purity doesn't bring you back from the dead. It has been awhile since I read the book but I remember he wanted to live off the land like Daniel Boone. Correct me if I am wrong. Well Daniel Boone didn't just go into a foreign environment and wander off. He used every tool that he had available to him at the time and definitely didn't just jump into the wilderness with absolutely no idea what he was doing!

[bklyn]

I'll wait for it to come out on cable. I don't even think I can justify putting it on my Netflix list. Sorry I just can't pony up for this film after reading the book.

I know some of you will write off my comments because of where I live, but from the lens of my personal experiences he had the good life. The good life with a little bit of spice due to his parents' indiscretions (which on the scale of things that could possibly happen in life are pretty fucking minor).

Instead of growing the balls to curse out the 'rents for their hypocrisy, he decided to screw them over by disappearing and not contacting them any more. That really 'showed them' alright. (insert rolling eyes emoticon here) I think he lost his balls right then and there when he decided to go out on the selfish path. Giving all your money to charity is not the same as helping, and if he ever got a chance to see how people with honest to goodness problems live - most trying to hang on to some dignity and obtain a better life for themselves and their families. Well, maybe he wouldn't have gone off on a multi-year pity party and would have realized what he had before it was too late. He felt like coexisting with nature was the true test of a man, but the true test would have been to tell his pop to his face that he didn't respect him for playing house with two women.

So just like every clueless "gaper" (that his defenders would tear apart in a hot minute), he goes off on his personal bastardized version of a "vision quest", mind swelled with more than a bit of "I know it all". With minimal training, a whole heap of luck, and woefully under equipped he ventured off the grid and mother nature won. Any person who truly lives off the land could tell you how precarious this balance is, and that it takes years of learning to make it work.

Like people who romanticize the ghetto or think living in poverty, without basic comforts is somehow a more pure or authentic experience... you can tell they've never been there. Most people who must do without, would change circumstances in a heartbeat.

If he lived he would have come back, shaved his beard, cut his hair and checked straight into yuppiedom, busy charming clients with stories of his wild youth. In the same way that Marilyn Monroe would have turned into a sad Courtney Love/Brittany/Farrah Fawcett washed up druggie had she lived, this kid would have been utterly disappointing if he had another 5 years. If he truly wanted to save the world, he would have gone out into it making changes instead of retreating from it.

I'm in the camp that has little sympathy for the kid and now that Atrain has come in and said the movie runs like Spike Lee at his worst... well...

[Conundrum]

If I ditched my car, burned my money, walked around for awhile and decided to go to Alaska with five pounds of rice and a 22, people would think I'm an idiot.

But, it's good story and a good lesson. Overall, I liked the book and the movie. Some stuff was cheese though.

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

I'll wait for it to come out on cable. I don't even think I can justify putting it on my Netflix list. Sorry I just can't pony up for this film after reading the book.

I know some of you will write off my comments because of where I live, but from the lens of my personal experiences he had the good life. The good life with a little bit of spice due to his parents' indiscretions (which on the scale of things that could possibly happen in life are pretty fucking minor).

Instead of growing the balls to curse out the 'rents for their hypocrisy, he decided to screw them over by disappearing and not contacting them any more. That really 'showed them' alright. (insert rolling eyes emoticon here) I think he lost his balls right then and there when he decided to go out on the selfish path. Giving all your money to charity is not the same as helping, and if he ever got a chance to see how people with honest to goodness problems live - most trying to hang on to some dignity and obtain a better life for themselves and their families. Well, maybe he wouldn't have gone off on a multi-year pity party and would have realized what he had before it was too late. He felt like coexisting with nature was the true test of a man, but the true test would have been to tell his pop to his face that he didn't respect him for playing house with two women.

So just like every clueless "gaper" (that his defenders would tear apart in a hot minute), he goes off on his personal bastardized version of a "vision quest", mind swelled with more than a bit of "I know it all". With minimal training, a whole heap of luck, and woefully under equipped he ventured off the grid and mother nature won. Any person who truly lives off the land could tell you how precarious this balance is, and that it takes years of learning to make it work.

Like people who romanticize the ghetto or think living in poverty, without basic comforts is somehow a more pure or authentic experience... you can tell they've never been there. Most people who must do without, would change circumstances in a heartbeat.

If he lived he would have come back, shaved his beard, cut his hair and checked straight into yuppiedom, busy charming clients with stories of his wild youth. In the same way that Marilyn Monroe would have turned into a sad Courtney Love/Brittany/Farrah Fawcett washed up druggie had she lived, this kid would have been utterly disappointing if he had another 5 years. If he truly wanted to save the world, he would have gone out into it making changes instead of retreating from it.

I'm in the camp that has little sympathy for the kid and now that Atrain has come in and said the movie runs like Spike Lee at his worst... well...

You did a much better job of articulating how I felt about the story than I could have. When I first read the book I was younger and could identify more with the kid(at least his motivation, not his retarded methodology) but I reread it last year when I heard the movie was being made and felt pretty much exactly the same thing you wrote above. His escapism never struck me as all that heroic or admirable.

[Natedogg]

Hey - I like idealism as much as the next guy. However, if idealism isn't tempered with any kind of realism or common sense whatsoever, it turns to idiocy.

I can't argue with you there, but to say that McCandless didn't have any kind of realism or common sense whatsoever is plainly naieve. This is not a black and white issue.


Daniel Boone didn't just go into a foreign environment and wander off. He used every tool that he had available to him at the time and definitely didn't just jump into the wilderness with absolutely no idea what he was doing!

References?

People endure trial by fire day in and day out, and they aren't dead. Some are lucky, some: not so much.


The good life with a little bit of spice due to his parents' indiscretions (which on the scale of things that could possibly happen in life are pretty fucking minor).

I know you're a smart woman, so maybe we just got different things from the book. As I understood, the fact that he lived the good life was the point. He wanted out of that. He didn't want things handed to him, he wanted to earn things on his own. That's what I pulled from that part of the story. Also, what were his parents' indiscretions? That they bickered and were unfaithful? I don't remember. But to play devil's advocate to some degree, growing up in a hostile environment (and I'm not saying his was even close to bad) is certainly not minor. It shapes who you are. A primary logic of physics seems to escape most people: your experience determines your reality.

Also, I'm not really sure what you're getting at with the charity thing. Are you really trying to say that giving $24,000 (or whatever it was) to charity is not commendable?!? He could have easily given it to his sister, his friends, or whomever. True, lending help and support may be a better alternative in some situations, but I think you sprang your argument off the deep end by saying giving that money to charity showed weakness of character. To me, that sounds absurd but maybe I am misreading you.


He felt like coexisting with nature was the true test of a man, but the true test would have been to tell his pop to his face that he didn't respect him for playing house with two women.

Again, I did not get this same feeling from the book (that feeling being that his whole quest of seeking nature was fuelled by his relationship with his old man). I also don't think he would have come back and become instant yuppie--it almost seems to me that you and I were reading different books, or at the very least, were approaching it with very different experience and mindset. In my mind, Krakauer painted someone who was molded different from most, someone who had an idea (however crazy it might be) and pursued it with vigor. To me, McCandless was definitely not a person to come back and say "I did it, now give me a BMW, a hot wifey, and cushy office so I can sit back and meld into middle America."


I'm in the camp that has little sympathy for the kid

I also do not feel sympathy for the kid. My arguments (that are largely in his defense) are more fuelled by armchair dickwavers and hypocritical angry Alaskans.

[Jer]

Nate - I think you're reading WAY too much into other's posts.

I think the book at least was an interesting and very sad story. I don't fault the kid for what he did - I was a lot like him 20 years ago. And I'm certainly no stranger to dangerous, stupid behavior like skiing questionable lines solo or windsurfing in a thunderstorm. If I ever died doing any of those things and somebody made a movie out of it I'd like it to be titled "Death of a Dumbass". My problem isn't with McCandlass - it's with Penn portraying him as some kind of hero to be emulated. I think that's probably one of the last things the kid would have wanted. What's next? Is Penn gonna make a film about that anti-war protester who burned himself in front of his daughter at the Pentagon? Penn's a phenomenal actor, not so as a director.

[bklyn]

Natedogg, I read a recent copy (with the movie poster cover) and there is a new epilogue by the author. He attributes much to the father/son relationship as to the cause of him running off and also corrects and updates some things in the Outside article.

Giving away money is commendable, of course. IMO, the thinking that giving away your savings is going to change the world is only something that Gates and Buffet could aspire to. If he felt there was something really wrong with society that energy could (IMO) be more effectively channeled by staying in society and working toward change.

As for the yuppie comment, look at all those 60's radicals that saw the light of yuppiedom in the 80's and 90's. You'll find them at the 'ski resorts', they own the huge mansions used two weeks a year. IMO, he would have ended up on a similar path, had he lived.

[RootSkier]

Interesting thread. I could only get 50 pages into the book because I find Krakauer to be a presumptuous, pompous fuckhead.

[Atrain505]

bklyn always with words of wisdom.
Yes mamm.

[Natedogg]

Nate - I think you're reading WAY too much into other's posts.

That may be true, and I apologize if anything I say comes off as a flaming asshole comment. I don't mean it, and I appreciate the chance to talk about this. I remember after reading the book thinking that it would be interesting to talk to someone who had an opposite opinion.


I was a lot like him 20 years ago. And I'm certainly no stranger to dangerous, stupid behavior
My problem isn't with McCandlass - it's with Penn portraying him as some kind of hero to be emulated.

I think we are on the same page. I read the book as feeling quite a bit like him, as well, but I am one of those weenies who can't/don't want to give up what they have to experience other aspects of life. I admire those people, and I wish I could be more proactive regarding things that I believe. In that way, the book really struck me. While he is certainly no outdoor hero to be emulated, I think the fact that he did have the sack to go out and risk things (things bigger than windsurfing in a tstorm or hurricane, or skiing a sketch line), live the way he lived, to not be afraid of the unknown, or try to do things when others just wished they could--that is the message that should be taken from his life story. Are there other people who might be better role models? I'm sure there are.

T, thanks for the info--I'll have to check out the updated epilogue. Regarding changing the world, I think that is a separate issue from him trying to "find himself" (whatever that means). I found the Outside article online after posting my last post, and there is a blurb in there about him having plans to go to Africa to volunteer, and talking with homeless people to try and better their lives. I disagree with you re: his future, and think he seemed to be the type that could have returned and tried in earnest to make changes. Maybe that's just my optimism because (like so many who have read the book) I felt a connection with him. But, I suppose it's a moot point, since he is no longer with us.


Interesting thread. I could only get 50 pages into the book because I find Krakauer to be a presumptuous, pompous fuckhead.

I thought the same when I first read him, but I got used to it. The fact that he seems to be a pretty damn smart dude and can weave an interesting story with the best of them helped me get over that feeling pretty quick.

[lax]

i still respect the lifestyle highly, but then i'm still young. i don't think the story is supposed to be "sad" i think that's the wrong word, almost cheapening it, oversimplifying. he lost, i think he accepted the possibility of death, kind of like a rite of passage sort of thing.

i almost wouldn't characterize him as disrespectfully seeking dangerous behavior, because that sort of cheapens it i think, as well. thats looking from the outside in, a headline approach. he was living in the moment, surviving, not really testing himself purposely (just not planning purposely), just trying to transcaned "normal" living. but thats probably just my youth talking. i still really buy into alot of thoreau/emerson.

again i think i definitely don't have the sack for this sort of thing, i'd need a safety net sadly, a cell phone to use when i'm curled up in a ball dying by myself in the wilderness.

[cantunamunch]

I've felt as bklyn does about Into the Wild, except that I'm also 100% done reading Krakauer. Pity party sums up pretty well the backbone of his works where's he's actually chosen a protagonist.

(For those of you who've read both Into Thin Air and Boukreev's book, this is clearest in the aftermath descriptions, remember the scene where JK just has to go off and smoke a joint and that is held to be relevant to the main story?)

I respect Sean Penn most for his outright statement that we are surrounded by people, politicians, and media that lie to us. Honesty with ourselves means we have to go out and look. I respect that Penn is attempting to show that process in McCandless.


"She said that on the pie chart of McCandless's life, there's a slice that has to do with the dark issues of his family and his life. But the biggest slice is a wanderlust that everybody can identify with. Whether that wanderlust comes from trauma, family, or from some purely positive place, it ties in with our unified desire to set out along that road."

Krakauer did not make that clear. Not even close. Nor did he show that McCandless has to keep rejecting the impulse, the temptations, the seeming lack of choice, leading him to merge into society in order to sustain his version of the wanderlust. All roads lead back to civilization and that is the danger. It seems to be a vision quest and a logical problem at the same time.

Penn professes (it was a radio interview, I haven't found the transcript yet) that the real hero of the movie is America, namely what McCandless saw when he escaped the lies as much as he could.

All right. I'll Netflix it.

[Natedogg]

Penn professes (it was a radio interview, I haven't found the transcript yet) that the real hero of the movie is America, namely what McCandless saw when he escaped the lies as much as he could.

Hmmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. I'm not sure what you mean by what he saw. It's a specific part of America to me, because to take from Jer's statement, there are things about America not to be emulated. The real heroes are the good people of America. People who recognize hard work, lust for life, and who want to help others. That is certainly a pervasive theme throughout the book.

[AKPogue]

References?

People endure trial by fire day in and day out, and they aren't dead. Some are lucky, some: not so much.

I also do not feel sympathy for the kid. My arguments (that are largely in his defense) are more fuelled by armchair dickwavers and hypocritical angry Alaskans.

I don't understand what you mean by references.

I feel what he did was go to a firefight in Iraq with a musket. He did a little research into plants but had no idea what he was getting into at all.

Hypocritical angry Alaskans? I don't think you get it. A lot of the Alaskans that I know have a deep respect for nature and how quickly it can kill. Alaska is different than a lot places because it is so extreme and changes so quickly. I feel that he showed a supreme disrespect for nature by what he did.

[cantunamunch]

Hmmm, that's an interesting viewpoint. I'm not sure what you mean by what he saw. It's a specific part of America to me, because to take from Jer's statement, there are things about America not to be emulated. The real heroes are the good people of America. People who recognize hard work, lust for life, and who want to help others. That is certainly a pervasive theme throughout the book.

What I mean, and I certainly can't ascribe any part of this to SP, is that it comes down to where you accept humility from.

Now, lets say you have someone (McC) who rejects humility forced on them by society. That forcing can be parental, employment, even cast as friendly advice. Of course, hard work justifies reward and that's OK.

Krakauer writes about mountains that humble, about climbs that humble, about wilderness that humbles, about humility forced upon the protagonist. Giving us two choices in relating to the story: overwrought pityfest or casting the protagonist as an eedjit.
Say that same someone (McC) refuses to accept humility from the environment, merely seeking to use the analytic part of his brain to prolong survival.
See how JK's writing is then a bad fit for that someone?

Anytime before 1750, a person like this could have gone off and become a religious hermit in full comfort, because the dependence of religion on the worship society wasn't fully realized. The modern McC cannot help but see religious impulse as being another part of current society forcing itself on him.

So he goes off and looks for something. Something he can't call God. Something that's in the places in America in between what people are and what people do.

What does McC then see? I doubt Penn knows. I'm half-willing to be curious as to what Penn imagines.

But only half. Writers like John Muir have already given me grandeur and wonder and awe and sympathy and inspiration. Is McC a modern John Muir? No. Too incapable of sharing, with a sprinkling of something like Aspergers.

[Kevo]

I think an overriding theme of the story is being missed here, especially on the part of people saying that he was irresponsible, overreacting etc (Bkln, Jer, ect)- that McCandless in large part rejected many aspects of society from the time he was in high school, before he knew about his parents previous lives.

He didn't want to just fall into the life that was scripted for him by his place in society- he wanted to be able to identify with people that were from different paths of life and understand who they were, how they got there, their views on the world. In high school he would go by himself to inner city DC to hang out with homeless people. Through this, he realized that in large part he didn't want the cookie cutter life that was scripted for him as an upper middle class white male. He probably didn't have the strength of will to rebel enough not to go to college, but afterwards he decided to push against it. To him, his parents were the embodiment of everything he didn't like about society and the life he was scripted to live. He couldn't trust what he had been presented with because the entire pretense of what he had experienced to indoctrinate him into his role in society- his family- was based on a huge lie.

So, he set out on his own to find out for himself what was important and what he wanted in life- something that greatly respect him for. Sure, 9 out of 10 people in his situation would not have done it that way, and of those who would have not many would go to that extent. He seriously reconsidered the way he was scripted to live in society. I do not think he would have come back and been a yuppie as others have said- he probably would have worked for a nonprofit or something like it and tried to make a difference. Krakauer would have us believe that McCandless came to some greater understanding of what he wanted in life through his travels and that had he made it out he would have probably gone back to society to start a life. In this respect, the story is very tragic. He finally realized what he wanted and what was important to him, but he died before he could live it out.

Had he lived and written a book about his life, many of his naysayers would probably feel entirely different. Everything we do has some small probability of death as an outcome. It just so happens that he took on greater risk than most, but he did so knowing all along the risks he was taking and he accepted them. It sucks that he died, but I don't believe it is right to chastise him as immature, irresponsible, over the top. The point of the story is to learn what he learned through his adventures and experiences, not so much to paint McCandless as a hero- hence the "If I could tell you what I now see" sequence at the end of the movie. I think that society as a whole has a lot to learn about what McCandless learned- why people came together and formed societies in the first place, the good and the bad of the status quo, the importance of sharing a life with somebody. The way he learned these lessons pails in comparison to the lessons themselves, and I wish more people could understand this.

[Jer]

Why hasn't anyone done a book/movie about Johnny Waterman? IMO - far more interesting than McCanlass. And I don't mean to say that Waterman was anything like McCandlass - They both died (although who knows??) in AK - that's about it.

[JoeStrummer]

Odd that nobody has ever met this kid and know him only through the pen and lens of others, yet we are happy to script out his life as someone who would've lived in a McMansion and driven a Hummer that runs on bald-eagle heads. And I'm not sure how someone who had a multitude of friendships and worked at Burger King could be seen as retreating from life, at least not permanently.

Interesting parallel to Jonny Waterman, who most view as a mad genius of some type. I doubt anyone here would toss him on the same shitpile they are tossing McCandless but he was WAY more disconnected from humanity than McCandless ever was.

[Weird_in_the_Wasatch]

Anyone know where I can find a list of showings. I have been wanting to see it for weeks, but it seems it is not playing in Utah?

[Grange]

I was afraid the McCandless character would be portrayed as a hero. When I read the book I remember feel very little sympathy for him. Rather I felt more anger and disappointment. I am very close to my family and couldn't imagine cutting them out. To do so in my opinion not only selfish, but down right cruel.

Not sure I want to see the movie if he is supposed to be considered a hero or a good guy.

[TS Quint]

I just saw the movie the other day...have not read the book. I could definitely relate to his desire to break free of society's expectations and values to a point, but felt he went way overboard on his "pity party" as bklyn put it so well...at times I really admired his adventurous spirit, but at other times, I wondered if he should have renamed himself Holden Caulfield rather than Alexander Supertramp.

[eab03e]

Fucking AMAZING movie, so inspiring to me. A must see.

[Natedogg]

So is this damn movie not going mainstream, or what? The main theatres in Boston are not playing it. The only three playing it are random and the only showtimes are at like 5:00. WTF.

[SuperChief]

Saw the movie, and it was OK the cinematography was good and the score was decent for the most part. It was just hard to watch the movie knowing what happens. It definitely played the parent relationship more than I read in the book, which angered me more...Not even a postcard... his selfishness was a direct result to his demise, he was lucky he didn't drown... That being said he shoulda went and ski bummed a season or two.

[danimal's dead]

I haven't seen the movie and I have mixed feelings about doing so.

CM was not a hero. He was just a confused kid with just enough intelligence to get him in trouble. I related the book to my own life. I watched my dad get up at 5 am every morning, put on a monkey suit and head in to the office, he'd come home at 6 pm, have dinner and fall asleep in his chair. On Saturday he might play golf with some guys he worked with, but he sucked at golf and didn't really like it. He had no hobbies, and had no idea how to have fun. It got to the point where he would make excuses to go into the office because he was bored and had too much nervous energy at home. Needless to say, I didn't want that life.

I went to college as a way out, not as a way in. I think CM felt the same way. The day I took my last college final I packed up my family's old Dodge Caravan, took out the seats, and headed West. I drove 36 hours straight without stopping for more than a 2 hr. nap. I ended up in Montana where I had some friends. After that I went to Oregon, BC, Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, and eventually back to Montana where I settled. I wondered, I slept on the ground, I hiked into the wilderness and did stupid things, I was irresponsible, thought of no one but myself and loved every minute of it. I was driven by a need to escape, just as CM was, I found what I was looking for after age and wisdom came to me, unfortunately CM never got through to the other side, simple as that.

[freshies]

I'll wait for it to come out on cable. I don't even think I can justify putting it on my Netflix list. Sorry I just can't pony up for this film after reading the book.

I know some of you will write off my comments because of where I live, but from the lens of my personal experiences he had the good life. The good life with a little bit of spice due to his parents' indiscretions (which on the scale of things that could possibly happen in life are pretty fucking minor).

Instead of growing the balls to curse out the 'rents for their hypocrisy, he decided to screw them over by disappearing and not contacting them any more. That really 'showed them' alright. (insert rolling eyes emoticon here) I think he lost his balls right then and there when he decided to go out on the selfish path. Giving all your money to charity is not the same as helping, and if he ever got a chance to see how people with honest to goodness problems live - most trying to hang on to some dignity and obtain a better life for themselves and their families. Well, maybe he wouldn't have gone off on a multi-year pity party and would have realized what he had before it was too late. He felt like coexisting with nature was the true test of a man, but the true test would have been to tell his pop to his face that he didn't respect him for playing house with two women.

So just like every clueless "gaper" (that his defenders would tear apart in a hot minute), he goes off on his personal bastardized version of a "vision quest", mind swelled with more than a bit of "I know it all". With minimal training, a whole heap of luck, and woefully under equipped he ventured off the grid and mother nature won. Any person who truly lives off the land could tell you how precarious this balance is, and that it takes years of learning to make it work.

Like people who romanticize the ghetto or think living in poverty, without basic comforts is somehow a more pure or authentic experience... you can tell they've never been there. Most people who must do without, would change circumstances in a heartbeat.

If he lived he would have come back, shaved his beard, cut his hair and checked straight into yuppiedom, busy charming clients with stories of his wild youth. In the same way that Marilyn Monroe would have turned into a sad Courtney Love/Brittany/Farrah Fawcett washed up druggie had she lived, this kid would have been utterly disappointing if he had another 5 years. If he truly wanted to save the world, he would have gone out into it making changes instead of retreating from it.

I'm in the camp that has little sympathy for the kid and now that Atrain has come in and said the movie runs like Spike Lee at his worst... well...

well put

[AsheanMT]

That was the only movie that I could say was as good if not better than the book. Kudos to Sean Penn for not turning the movie into a Hollywood bastardization Christopher McCandless' life. Very good movie.

[WILKINS]

Well, I definitely go for the Notebook than the other one since I haven't seen it the movie yet...

And besides The notebook has also a good and touching story and even its reviews was also being discuss over the radio.I can really remember the comments of it while I was Listening to my stilletto 100 satellite radio (http://www.sirius.com/freeradio)...

I personally, give my credit to "THE NOTEBOOK"!!!!:)

[Natedogg]

Finally saw Penn's movie... Book is still better, but the movie was awesome. All you Vedder haters can say all you want, but I don't think there is too much debate that he nailed the soundtrack.

Something that hit me more from the movie (as opposed to the book) was the possible incinuation that the Hippie/Nam generation had their share of new/odd problems, and as a result, GenXers dealt with this in odd ways. I'm not sure if Penn or Krakauer had that in mind, but it hit me while watching the movie. Of course, I may be biased, since I grew up hearing about how most or all of my dad's friends have not led a 'normal' life after the drugs and war of the hippie generation.

[Alioops]

I believe a majority of this has been discussed on another thread, but I will throw in my opinion, again. I loved the book (not the author), but really had no respect for McCandless, basically for the same reasons as Jer. I have yet to see the movie, but I am even more intrigued to see it for the soundtrack alone (loved it!).


I
Also, I'm not really sure what you're getting at with the charity thing. Are you really trying to say that giving $24,000 (or whatever it was) to charity is not commendable?!?

I realize this quote is directed at bklyn, but I thought that his contribution was a bit more self serving. I did not feel that he was making a generous contribution to a charity, but more so a generous contribution to his own idealism


I also don't think he would have come back and become instant yuppie--

I agree with you, I don't think he would come back as a Yuppie. I think he would have probably come back as a maggot.


I find Krakauer to be a presumptuous, pompous fuckhead.

I completely agree. He pissed me off with Into Thin Air. Anyone who has read it should read The Climb (but that is a whole different thread)

All in all, I think McCandless was just the typical youngster with the ideals that so many of us have at that age. The difference is that he acted upon those without the necessary experience. Not someone who should be made out as a "hero".

[wendigo]

"hypocritical angry Alaskan" here.

McCandless, probably had psychological issues.

A couple of points:
1. Didn't they debunk the poisonous plant theory years ago? (There really aren't that many poisonous ones up here)

2. McCandless never went looking around the area of the bus. He was there for how many months and never explored the area, I mean come on already. If he had he would have known that with a short walk up or downstream he could cross the river. This is really basic stuff for survival.

3. If he had been capable of taking care of himself in the first place he would have had company in the bus in short order. It was left behind for hunters, this is an active moose hunting area and the season started just after he died. (Note: if he really wanted to live off the land then he wouldn't have been in a BUS - he would have done it right like the hippies out on the Yukon in the 70s who wouldn't even use a piece of plywood that floated down river because it had attachments to society. Read A Place Gone Lonesome by Dan O'Neil for an example.

4. Biologists doing wildlife monitoring regularly flew over that bus during the time that he was staying there. Never once did they ever see any sign of someone. All he would have to do to save himself was set out an SOS or wave them down. People up here are really good about helping others out, particularly in the bush (or the roadside bush as the case may be).

He had no real respect for ma nature, as someone trying to escape society and be with nature McCandless = FAIL. Just enough motivation to get himself in over his head. I am not convinced that he wasn't just out to kill himself, he just took his time doing it.

edit: Haven't sen the movie but read the book years ago when I probably related to it more than I do now. Also because I can't stand Krakour these days.

Treadwell was a complete wingnut, but he managed his gig for 12 years and if he hadn't deviated from the bears he knew he probably would still be out there being a headache for the park service.

The Waterman story is really out there and very sad and has at least as much appeal as McCandless' story, though with an alpinism aspect that is difficult to portray to society as a whole (a la "extreme" skiing).

[Natedogg]

I don't mean to be a nagging douche in this thread, but I honestly enjoy debating this topic. This story--more than others for some reason--gets my mind moving above the everyday 'duhhh' level.

Alioops, I don't entirely disagree with you and Tracy on this one, but at the same time I think it's unbelievably ignorant to say that donating $24,000 to a charity is something to scoff at. Whether you mean it or not, you come across as criticizing the kid for giving the money to charity. People commend eachother all the time on this board for donating $100 to TGR folk who are in need. Do you think they do it, at least in some part, for a reason more than just helping someone out? The bottom line is that this kid gave twenty-four thousand dollars to people in need.

Wendigo, I personally know that you're a good guy and I don't want this to come across as an attack. But I'm going to try to pull apart your arguement here, for... well... arguments sake.

He probably did have psychological issues. But don't most of us, to some degree? And yeah, he probably starved to death. No Ockham's Razor/poisonous plants.

When you say that he 'never went looking around the area of the bus,' I'm going to assume that sitting in urban Massachusetts looking at an aerial of the area (having never set foot within 700 miles of AK), I don't need to remind you that the Tek is nearly 10 miles back towards Healy (ie., the way he came)? If I were out in the 'roadside' bush on my own, the last azimuth that I would point myself would be back the way I initially came. Which is not to say that he wasn't a moron for not a) having a map and b) taking time to look up and downstream before giving up on the crossing. I agree 110% with those points.

Your #3: I'm not really sure where you're going with that. You say hunting season started after he died, so why would there be people at a hunting shack before then??

#4... again, you're not helping your argument. If they were really "looking" for someone in the bus, I'm guessing they would have seen him. Unless they were blind, of course--or stupid. And how do you know that he didn't try to SOS these stupid biologists you claim were flying overhead all the time (geologists are much smarter)? ;)

And according to you, by living in a bus in Alaska 20 miles from the nearest road for four months, McCandless FAILED to "escape society", "live off the land", and "be with nature"????????????? Please tell me where I am misunderstanding your argument.

My point is that I think you guys are wayyyy overcriticizing the kid for doing something that 99.9% of the people in this world don't have the sack to do. As for not being prepared, I will cede that point to some degree, although I am shocked that none of the people on this board have ever skied a suspect line without the proper gear or training. You guys are all perfect! Way to go! :rolleyes:

[Alioops]

I don't mean to be a nagging douche in this thread, but I honestly enjoy debating this topic. This story--more than others for some reason--gets my mind moving above the everyday 'duhhh' level.

I don't think you are being a naggin douche at all. The whole point for my reply was for the debate. Different views open minds.


Alioops, I don't entirely disagree with you and Tracy on this one, but at the same time I think it's unbelievably ignorant to say that donating $24,000 to a charity is something to scoff at.

I admire those that donate time or money (large or small) to charities. I just feel that you are putting way too much emphasis on his contribution and not enough on the reasons.


My point is that I think you guys are wayyyy overcriticizing the kid for doing something that 99.9% of the people in this world don't have the sack to do

There are so many who actually DO this and they are prepared, therefore survive. Unfortunately one that did not make it has been portrayed as a hero. That is my issue with the whole thing. So....guess my issue is not with McCandless, but with those that hold him on a pedestal.

[Woodsy]

bump for oour friends from moronistan

[Jer]

My point is that I think you guys are wayyyy overcriticizing the kid for doing something that 99.9% of the people in this world don't have the sack to do.

It's not so much a lack of sack, but an overabundance of common sense.

[coreshot-tourettes]

I dislike watching people commit suicide by stuffing themselves full of angst and self-centeredness. I read the book but will not go see the movie.

McCandless should be ignored because it's what he wanted. After all, he went off into the wilderness to get away from people like us - the un-enlightened, non self-actualized, unwashed sheep masses. His story holds no lessons, his life held very little to be admired or followed. He was an angsty, depressed, self-centered brat who thought himself an enlightened superhuman, this "Alexander Supertramp" - and when no one else would listen to him he jaunted off into the wilderness to imagine himself as the star of an epic tale that we mere plebes weren't self-actualized enough to understand. Fortunately nature didn't listen to or care about his self-delusionary super-hippie hero narrative and mercifully killed him.

We should honor his wishes and let him disappear.

[Sparky]

The film portrayed C.McC as an idealist and a beautiful soul with a determination to be free and wild and not to compromise; my missus loved it. I thought it was a fucking downer, I thought the guy was on a death trip from early on, and I am not certain it was all down to naivety. The wild and free bit reminded me of some of the scrapes I got into 20 years ago. For happiness idealism needs to be tempered with realism and companionship. He seemed very poorly prepared as previous posters have pointed out and perhaps not more than a days treck from a road.

The book on the other hand is very different it goes deeper into what motivated C.McC, with references explored and some debunked to: Thoreau, Twain, Edward Abbey, Tolstoy, John Muir and other great libertarians, environmentalists and aesthetes. Oh and there's loads of psycho babble dysfunctional family blah too.

Just my £0.02 worth

Really enjoyed some of the analysis ^^^ particularly Wendigo & JoeS

RIP C.McC

[Natedogg]

It's not so much a lack of sack, but an overabundance of common sense.

Being a person who loves adventure, I'm sure glad Boone, Shackleton, Scott, Hillary, Lowe, Kopp, Simpson, etc had no common sense. Apparently it makes for better stories. And maybe even better living--for at least some.


I dislike watching people commit suicide by stuffing themselves full of angst and self-centeredness. McCandless should be ignored because it's what he wanted.

I'm surprised (maybe I shouldn't be) how many people approach this so negatively. I didn't see the self-centeredness as such a big issue. I was more impressed with the fact that he was a hard worker, seemed generous, could be a good listener (but also gave plenty of his own advice), and had a love for life. The only self-centered angst that I really saw was that he didn't talk to his family for two years.

If you want to criticize him (or Krakauer) for being set on a pedastal, fine. If you want to criticize him for being self centered, full of angst, etc, good luck in life. This world is chalk full of 'em.

[char]

And according to you, by living in a bus in Alaska 20 miles from the nearest road for four months, McCandless FAILED to "escape society", "live off the land", and "be with nature"????????????? Please tell me where I am misunderstanding your argument.



I think that the point here is that it takes less than a day to walk 20 miles. If we really wanted to "escape society" he would have kept going.

[Natedogg]

Wow. Well, maybe the misunderstanding here is a problem of experience. I grew up in the most densely populated corridor of the country--in a 20-mile radius, there could be as many as a few million people. Where I live now, the neighbors wind chimes wake me up at night because they are 20 feet from my window. When you tell me that 20 miles from the nearest road isn't away from society--and the nearest town is made up of 1,000 people, I have to be amazed. Maybe you aren't understanding from what society Chris came and was trying to get away? I think the real point is that by walking 20 miles into the AK 'bush' he did escape society (the society that he knew).

[Jer]

Natedog - lotsa people think McC was an idiot. Mostly because he was. Get over it already.

[Natedogg]

Natedog - lotsa people think McC was an idiot. Mostly because he was. Get over it already.

That's just like, your opinion, man. I mean, a lot of new shit has come to light, man. You know--a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. And uh, lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in ol' Duder's head.

[Jer]

I don't think anyone's faulting McC for being a self-absorbed, naive, idealistic young douchebag with a really warped sense of reality. Hell, a long time ago I was the same way. Not while I was in Nam, of course. Thankfully nobody wrote a book or made a film about it.

[Alioops]

I've read and posted on this thread a fee times, but not going to go back and do it again because I'll lose my patience and reading comprehesion considering the amount of alcohol I have cosumed. May also lose any writing skills I learned in grammar school.

Basics for me while reading the book: No respect for the author (not becasue of this book, but others) and pisssed that so many put McCandless on a pedestal.

After finally seeing the movie....LOVED the soundtrak. EPSkis rolled his eyes each time Veder started in, but no matter, I loved it and thought it fit well. The one thing that really pissed me off was his relationship with the old man. The book gave me the impression that Chris taught him to go and travel (see the world). The movie did not give e me that impression. That alone ruined the whole movie for me.

[skikola]

finally saw this the other day.
while a decent movie, i liked the book a whole lot better and thought they could have done a better job adapting it. but that's just my opinion.

[mojorisin]

McCandless probably had psychological issues.


That's quite the understatement: McCandless was psychologically fucked. I don't see any point in assigning blame, but parenting (or lack thereof) inherently shapes one's conception of self and others. By shaping/creating the popular culture, mass media can (and often does) take over that parental role as well. McCandless seemed to naturally rebel against synthetic forces shaping the world in unnatural ways. Tragically, he succumbed to the same forces that claimed his parents and peers. McCandless' personality was just as narcissistic as the world against which he rebelled. His inability to understand this through his quest of "finding himself" as an excuse to get back at his parents ultimately cost him his life.

Regardless of my stylistic disagreements and the veracity of either account, I liked the book as well as the movie for their potential to start thought-provoking dialogue. I wonder though, how many of those quieted sobs heard at the end of the movie were out of personal pity rather than pity for McCandless' life?

---------
But on a slightly more serious note, I googled "McCandless" to see if that was the proper spelling of his name, and the first image brought up a smoking hot mugshot of Carrie McCandless, 29, who allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male student. Sexually assaulted? Fucking for real?

[bagtagley]

I just saw this, and I have similar feelings as ATrain as to the way the movie was done. As to the story, it's been a long time since I read the book, so I appreciated this new perspective. After reading the book, I had a similar feeling as many in this thread. I had this animosity towards McCandless that I couldn't really put a finger on. I was glad to have the opportunity, through this movie, to feel some sympathy for McCandless, regardless of how selfish or wreckless his actions were.

It's easy to play the rich kid card, but regardless of your financial situation, the emotional toll of growing up in a broken household can be profound. None of us knows how abusive (emotionally or otherwise) his parents really were. Penn certainly focuses more on that aspect of his life, something Krakauer brushes over. And given Krakauer's penchant for spinning personal opinion into un-biased fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there were deeper issues.

While his journey ends in Alaska (and let's face it, had he lived we wouldn't be having this discussion), there's a lot more to this story than those final few months. Penn's version focused more on the life he lived than his impending death, which I think made for an interesting story.

Oh, has anybody seen Lamothe's documentary?

[Tuckerman]

I can't stand Pearl Jam but Eddie Vedder did a great job on this soundtrack.

[Sparky]

Fucking AMAZING movie, so inspiring to me. A must see.

Fuck, I hope it wasn't that inspiring, the guy was a pretty much a loner who basically topped himself.

[gorms]

Dude had one book with him as far as I could tell....it was all about edible plants. With that book and all the free time in the world you'd think he would have looked at the pictures before chowin down.

I had an ecology prof. that was fond of the saying-
There are old mushroom hunters, there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters

[Woodlandclown]

I can't stand Pearl Jam but Eddie Vedder did a great job on this soundtrack.

agree. i never liked his voice, but this soundtrack is really good.

[Benny Profane]

What a tedious movie. So fucking boring, I didn't miss anything during the fast fowards. How appropriate to have the great bourgeois whiner Vedder do the soundtrack.

And I read the book.

Please don't let him direct another pretentious piece of crap. please.

[Natedogg]

Well, you ARE from Jerzay, so I can see how a movie about a roadtripper who ends up in beautiful Alaska could be boring. I mean, shit, there were no guns, no gangs, no rape, no gratuitous boob shots of strippers--the movie sucked! If you want a REAL movie, xXx is where it's at!!! ;)

[Benny Profane]

Do you remember that Seinfeld episode with Elaine's "impatience" towards The English Patient? That was me. Die already, die, die!

[ml242]

bumping this old thread even if people don't have the energy to debate it anymore.

I really enjoyed Into The Wild, and thought it was painfully clear that he went to Alaska to die. Even the way he crossed the river (yes he left his hat to mark the spot) didn't really inspire that he took any precautions for safety, the lack of supplies, the lack of housing, and most importantly the lack of goals. He wouldn't have become a yuppie because on some level he knew he was going to die up there.

Sure, he might have had a change of heart at the end, but I think that he thought he was up there for good when he went in.

As far as the movie went, that was a good as Vedder can be. I'm not a fan, but usually he bothers me way more so if you like PJ, you'll like this. I think that the banjo songs complement his voice far more than the typical rock n roll sound that made them enduring if nothing else. I also thought in particular the song where he tries to get back was probably the best of the bunch.

The narration was atrocious, maybe it was a hat tip to the book or even something in McCandless' writing but it just took me out of the story rather than put me in, and I really didn't care about his relationship with his folks so to hammer that in over and over in the already obtrusive VO was just annoying.

It was still a good choice for Sean Penn, and a fine first film.

And as far as Kristen Stewart, what can I say other than "She said she was 18, officer."

[grubbers]

the film and book both struck a chord with me. to be honest, i didn't think much of how he left his family behind or how he disliked society. mistakes were made, he was selfish, blah blah blah. those are meaningless in the overall meaning of the film. while it was about mccandless, to me it was more about not letting your sense of adventure die. his story was used to convey the strength of the wanderlust within us. mccandless was almost like a human representation of impulsiveness. he didn't just talk or dream about something, he did it.

i am all too familiar with that urge to just give everything up and explore the world, but, unlike mccandless, i'm too afraid to follow it. it's funny though, because i'm going to college to learn about the world, and yet i feel as if i'm just contained within a bubble and that i'm really not learning anything about the world or myself. i spend most of my days in a classroom, at work, back at my apartment, or just somewhere but not really doing much. i do get out to go snowboarding, hiking, climbing, etc, but those times are brief relative to everything else right now. when i did a nols semester in alaska 2 summers ago, everything was reversed. i spent almost all of the time that i was in alaska in the wilderness, cut off from technology and society, and by the end of the summer i felt more connected to myself and the world around me than ever before. not to mention i was happier and felt more clear-headed than i had in a long time. over that summer there were some noticeable changes in me. i realized that if i truly want to learn, i need to experience, not read from a textbook or listen to a lecture. i need to go out into the world and live. if i ever will actually accomplish that is still up in the air...

lastly, i'd like to share one quote from the book that i like and think really illustrates what this long-winded post was all about.

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

[Alaskan Rover]

i realized that if i truly want to learn, i need to experience, not read from a textbook or listen to a lecture. i need to go out into the world and live. if i ever will actually accomplish that is still up in the air...


Who said you can't have and do BOTH?

Sounds like you might be well on your way to a initiating a geographic change in your life. Maybe this will help:

This is one of many field research stations of my alma mater: University of Alaska-Fairbanks, specifically, the Institute of Arctic Biology. This one is their main arctic research field staion at Toolik Lake, just south of the Brooks Range, about 150 miles ABOVE the arctic circle.

http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n534/SoulVoyage123/Sailing1/AnaktuvikValleyAk.jpg
This used to be my 'office'.


I have always thought of Alaska as "a place that collects the eclectic." In a weird way, it is the 'drain trap' of our continent...it collects people and saves them from going down some abyssmal drain of suburban mediocrity. It sure as hell saved me. Within that Alaskan drain trap you will find some of the most colorful people you will ever meet.

I, too, was in your described circumstance, I was going to a lower 48 college, semesters were beginning to seem like a sleep-walk of classes, beer, partying, classes, more beer, more endless classes...and I began to wonder what the hell I was doing there. I was walking in the stacks of the school library and a university catalog from University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF) literally fell out in front of me...I shit you not. I picked it up, was going to put it back on the shelf but something in it beckoned me...the pictures of the mountains, the wolves, the musk ox, the killer whales...the LACK of endless, mindless sprawl...that catalog hooked me deep, and thoughts of Alaska captivated me. I didn't put it back on the shelf...I stole it, actually...it was one of the few things, and THE best thing I ever stole. Within two weeks, I had already filled out all the paperwork I needed to transfer to the University of Alaska wildlife biology program. I moved up there for school, but that was just a good excuse...it was the land that drew me and the idea that a place exists that is more than a place. I stayed. For me, I don't think there really could have been any other choice...any other place.

Look this up:

http://www.uaf.edu/admissions/

[ml242]

^^^^ great picture.

So, I just finished the Krakauer. I don't want to echo the same comment that every movie will ever compete against, that the book was better. They are different pieces entirely, the Penn movie echoing the magical nature of McCandless' life and the book being an amazingly well researched and well rounded look at his life, nature, and human behaviour. I recommend both for what they are, but am now profoundly struck by empathy for his family, and feel like I just rolled for a +2 in constitution in D+D or something.