SmileOnADog wrote: 
You can have it all today—without oil, coal, Steorn, or Blacklight Power.    All you need to do is say:  "I agree to pay fifteen cents for a kilowatt hour for electricity," and all your problems are solved.    But you're too cheap to say that.    Well, not you personally, of course.  You are obviously an enlightened and generous soul.   I mean: "you" the statistical consumer.    You cheap bastard.

People know perfectly-well how to harvest energy—as much as you could ever want, forever.   The problem is:  It's cheaper to dig black rocks out of the ground and burn them.   Good job...ya buncha cheapskates.

What would a world with fifteen cent electricity look like?  It would look like the world today, except Civilization would be sustainable, the atmosphere would be stable, there would be less black goop in the water, and various West Virginia mountains would continue to be mountains.   And your electricity bill would be higher.   Boo freakin' hoo.  You cheap bastard. 

Eddie Vedder should write a song called "Boo Freakin' Hoo, You Cheap Bastard."  That would be awesome! 

 fevertree wrote: 
The book is better simply because it's YOUR imagination and the references to your life, your experiences that help to paint this picture of finding oneself in the wilderness.

I lived in the west as a child, and although I never hitchhiked across this country, I did ride across it in the back of a Volkswagen Squareback 4 times (and we did not take the highways but rode the backroads of this great country). Images that will forever change a soul. Better than today with our kids glued to the DVD player attached to the ceiling of the minivan!

As a teenager, I lived in Northern New York. Cold winters. Images of being truly lost in the woods. Night is falling. It's 20 below zero. And your five miles from home. Soaking wet from falling through the ice on your cross country skis. Life is getting short. Cold is getting closer to your bones. Not going to succumb. Don't lay down on the snow. Keep fighting. Go see your mother. She's worried. Standing by the window waiting for her son.

I am lucky. This poor kid was not. But he made alot of wrong choices. You don't escape mankind by sleeping in an abandoned schoolbus. But the author paints a very good story. Jon Krakauer wrote a very, very good book. Books are meant to be read. Not watched on TV or in the movies by others that read the book. Read first, watch later, make your own interpretation.

Take the Bourne Identity Series. Very good movies. But even better books. Much better books.

Read people. Read books. Let's not lose our literary heritage.

 psychicparrot wrote: 
I think you are making too much out of that.

I've read the book "Into the Wild".
It gives more of the story than a movie can,
And yes, the movie adjusts the story a little.
But movies almost always have to do that in order to tell the story in a short period of time.

The film still does the real life story justice.

The book is better because you don't get the 'songs' of Vedder.

 Bosami wrote: 

Vedder's incessant yowling damn near ruined this decent movie.

 soulcollision wrote: 
This album was given to me by the friend who told me about RP!  Funny her name is Mary.

9 (for the lyrics)

Pearl Jam 2 by ~RisingMoon

June 28, Comcast Center, Mansfield MA

Beyond stellar.

 peter_james_bond wrote: 
Damn straight, once the easy oil dries up and it will within a few decades, we might get a sad little lesson in "the least available resource constrains carrying capacity of an ecosystem".  Whether it turns out to be food sans oil inputs to the food chain (reducing yields dramatically) or whatever else, we're gonna wish Eddie and all the other rich leftie rock stars had hit us over the head with musical 2x4's when there was still time to get our collective act together.  You aren't going to see any reasonable adjustment to the other side of the Hubbert Curve that doesn't involve major wars and chaos, I don't care how many Farm Aids we throw together.  Several billion deaths will not be a pretty sight.  So whine/growl away Eddie, give it your best shot.  All bets off if an energy solution from outside the current physics paradigm emerges (Blacklight Power, Steorn, whatever).

I finally got around to seeing this movie after hearing so much of the music from it, what a good movie and and a really interesting story.

The song is an 8, as is the entire record.

 FlatCat wrote: 

agreed

-3 for the dreary emo music; -3 for the warbling.

 Marley wrote: Maybe I'm just in a bad mood today, but every time I hear Mr. Rich Rockstar sing about the evils of greed, society and "less is more" I can't help but think of all the money he's making off of this soundtrack. Is he giving money back to society at all or is it going right in his pocket? yeah....that's what I thought. Cry me a river, Eddie. I won't make the money in a lifetime what you make in a year. 

Not sure where this quote came from as I can't find it in the comments (was it deleted?)

Anyway, before spouting off about Mr. Rick Rockstar, "do some research". Eddie and Pearl Jam have given loads of money to nonprofit orgs trying to make the world a better place. I'm guessing in the multiple 6 figures, maybe more over the years. I'm not even a PJ fan, but I have been impressed with his acoustic work lately. Not all wealthy people are souless a-holes (though most are).

Awesome.
The movie is great - the book as well. (The book is actually better but you don't get the songs of Vedder.)

Stellar song and album!

I hope Vedder does more projects like this.

 Jonas_the_Bold wrote: 
I apologize if I offended you. I do hope your reply wasn't simply an attack on the messenger rather than the message. Your initial post equated progress with unchecked growth, but greed and unsustainable growth is going to be our undoing. I really urge everybody to research sustainability.

Yes, it's a good song.

 peter_james_bond wrote: 

I read that and I got a strong feeling I wouldn't have to read further. Then I read the rest of your post and I was right.

But aside from the rest of that babble, (I'm not really here to get into a discussion about overarching political viewpoints with people who the only thing I have in common with is a similar taste in music), what I think I would like to talk about is form. When you open with a small minded condescending nonsense like "do a little research", let me explain how you make yourself look.

It makes you look like you think the only possible opinion is yours and the only reason someone might hold another is because they haven't read anything. This is not the way serious people think, and makes people think your opinion has no value.

When you add the acronym after whatever group you're pushing it makes it look like you're trying to legitimize some advocacy organization posing a serious research group. It's funny how accurate impressions can be, I invite anyone else to double check that one.


Anyway the song is pretty good, don't you think fellas?

 Jonas_the_Bold wrote: 
Jonas,  do a little research. Wanting more everything for everyone is the reason we are headed for a cliff. "It would take more than five Earths to be able to sustain the world population if everyone consumed resources at the same rate as the United States, according to the New Economics Foundation (NEF)."

Yes, to stave off the disaster we do have to reduce our expectations, but we don't have to live in a cave. We can buy a lot of time by simply doing things smarter and more efficiently.

Everyone thinks they need their own mud hut these days, back in my great grandfather's day we were perfectly happy living 20 to a hide tent. And what's with this agriculture thing, how much food do we seriously need? I prefered the hunter gatherer way, sure you were likely to starve and all.

And don't get me started on everyone wanting to heat their own huts. In my great grandfather's day we were perfectly happy huddling together for warmth under some pelts all winter, eating the scraps of meat that hadn't frozen yet. You should see how happy the surviving children were every spring. These days the spoiled brats running around in their own personal clothing and eating warm food in the winter take not freezing to death completely for granted.

...what we want more of may be misplaced at times, but wanting more everything for everyone is the reason for all progress, so while I like this song I think Eddie Vedder's completely and totally wrong.

Great song.  Stupid movie. 

 susafina wrote: 
I still don't like him much, but I agree he was a perfect fit for the movie.  This song especially.  Great movie.

 Marley wrote: 

The basic suggestion in your comment, if I read it right, is that no successful singer/songwriter/performer has the right to comment on the ills of society unless they give up everything they've worked to achieve. I think that's a rather stifling attitude personally. In this day and age it seems to take someone with fame and money to make themselves heard in any significant manner and potentially to defend themselves against the incursions of the government or society that they criticize. Look at what happened to the Dixie Chicks as one small example.
By your metric only poor musicians should ever criticize the evils of society. And lord knows we'd listen to the lyrics that poor guitar playing busker was playing with his case open for donations so that he can eat that night.
And have you honestly checked into what Vedder has given back to society or did you just assume?
All things considered I really hope you were just in a bad mood when you wrote that.

The best song that I have ever heard on this topic is "It's The Life" by Grant Lee Buffalo on Mighty Joe Moon.  That song is very beautiful and moving.  This is not bad either.  It's easy to call rockers hypocrites, but someone needs to say it.