Up in the Air...

Have you seen it?

This movie is perhaps the clearest study of an attempt to find meaning within uninterrupted meaninglessness.

If you haven't seen it, catch it.

The end of days?

Do you think the appearance of baby changing tables in men's rooms is a sign of the coming apocalyse?

Jack Rabbits

"People who claim to know jackrabbits will tell you they are primarily motivated by Fear, Stupidity and Craziness. But I have spent enough time in jackrabbit country to know that most of them lead pretty dull lives: they are bored with their daily routines: eat, fuck, sleep, hop around a bush now & then.... No wonder some of them drift over the line into cheap thrills once in a while; there has to be a powerful adrenalin rush in crouching by the side of a road, waiting for the next set of headlights to come along, then streaking out of the bushes with split-second timing and making it across to the other side just inches in front of the speeding front wheels."

Hunter S. Thompson
"Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72"
(Warner Books Inc., 1973, page 17)

As a young man I discovered Hunter S, Thompson and became enamored by his craziness, writing and profundity. Not only was I awestruck by the soldier like toughness with which he explored the fringes of mind altering mania, but I dug his super questioning of the whole world around him. His fearless cynicism had no bounds and was an inspiration that blasted the given assumptions and the cool-aid drinking buy-ins of the Sixty's crowd. He was the lone baby boomer who didn't buy the fact that as a generation they were changing the world, but were as full of shit as any that had come before.

The above quote comes from one of his most interesting books, his crazed cover of Nixon's re-election amid the peak of the hipster, free love hippee claim to "nothing would ever be the same".

This simple excerpt from the first few pages begs a wicked question. Was Hunter S. a jack rabbit bored out of his mind? Was Jimi Hendricks? Was Pig Pen of the Grateful Dead? Did John Belushi kill himself running out into traffic 'cuz he was bored with eveything else? Are we all, more or less jack rabbits?

Clearly Thompson's own demise followed the pattern he articulated above.

He and many others leave us with a staggering question. Confronted with a world full of staggeringly pervasive meaninglessness complicated by a profound personal perception of meaning, how do we handle ourselves?

Do we run out into to traffic?

Or do we find another way....

What do you all think?

It's really interesting.

Weird...

I was driving home the other day and it was pouring. Cloudy, nasty, wet and gloomy, definitely gloomy. But as I got closer to my house the cloud cover lightened, the rain kept falling but it was getting brighter. As I turned to head up the hill to the house is was actually sunny, bright, glistening and the rain still falling amid beautiful early spring sunshine. It was exquisite, almost jewel-like.

Weird, huh? Sure it happens once in a while, but its still weird.

It's almost spring...

Today it rained, yesterday it was very windy but both days were warm, way over 40 degrees. The snow is still a foot deep on the hill but its melting almost non-stop. Soon it will be spring and the frost heaves will swell and the mud will invite us all to disaster.

But among all that will be the promise of warmth, grass growing, leaves sprouting and flowers blooming - the absolutely best time to be in Vermont.

Journalism is worth it...

Journalism is worth supporting. If you have a favorite newspaper, magazine or even online pay to view site you should support them if you can afford it.

I like the Economist, NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, the Sporting News, VPR, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Seven Days and a whole lot of a bunch more.

If I could afford it I'd stay home every day and read these and more all day...

Yesterday...

Yesterday I was sitting in my recliner watching a little TV. Actually I was watching the second half of a movie I fell asleep during the night before, 2012. Not bad, kinda cool idea, effects and some dialog gems.

My dog, who is a black lab mut rescue dog was lying on the end of the couch nearest to me. His head was resting comfortably on the couch's bolster, his gaze lazily aimed in my direction. In general he's my wife's dog and couldn't care less about me. So his looking in my direction made me feel like I was a window or that he was looking beyond me. Not that my dog makes me feel insecure but I don't aspire to be the person my dog thinks I am.

What really struck me was that he looked completely, absolutely relaxed. Saturday afternoon was transpiring and he didn't exhibit any concern whatsoever. I realized that, with a very marginal bit of help from me and my wife, he was totally set. So set that he couldn't care less.

Should we all be worried that dogs can figure out life easier than we do?