Thinking that the book and the movie are a glorification of a foolish individual. Liking the music nonetheless.

I'm not a big Pearl Jam lover...
But this is very good!
Even as the album and the movie!

I'm not a big Pearl Jam lover...
But this is very good!
Even as the album and the movie!

Having been to and through the very magnetic fields where the man that is the inspiration for this song met his power-down and switch-through, it floors me how now the words of this song poke through it all and link to a flood of synchronicity in my research and thoughts and all I can do is catch my breath as I hear the cascade of lovely chords that mark the start of Nick Drake's trippy Hazy Jane...

The kid was a romantic idealist, and had some unrealistic notions of what he was getting into, but he actually did a lot of research on how to feed himself.  He got trapped by a late spring thaw, and it was an obscure chemical property of the plants he had to eat that ended up getting him.  Back in the day, there were a lot of us who had similar notions of escape to nature.  I wish there were more kids like him; have to say I fear that young folk today have very little real experience and understanding of the natural world.

Deadliest Catch trumps Into The Wild.

I liked how the song was used to promote the show this year.

While Krakauer's book was very good, that kid was an idiot an the movie did a poor job showing that and glorified him too much.

Isn't this the theme song for Deadliest Catch or something?  I watched a marathon of that show.  It was the first TV I've watched in several years.  I guess "Morons Work Hard for Insane Captains at Crazy Shitty Job" was way too long.

Very nice song.  Stupid,  yet strangely addictive show.

P.S. I'm glad that Vedder finally got around to swallowing that damned pickle.

I will never get sick of this song or this sentiment. I'd love to see Eddie play Telluride Bluegrass Festival as a front man for Punch Brothers... make it happen!

I usually just don't care for Pearl Jam, but I'm liking everything I hear from this album.

In a quick reading, I count the word "character" three times.  That's a different discussion from the one I thought I was having, which was in reference to the actual person.  Not the same (hence Penn's license to fiddle so strangely with the river scene).

And if we want to talk about the movie character's pathology, if it weren't for a long series of folks with some degree of that pathology, a whole lotta good in the world would never have gotten done. . . .

I feel like a teenage girl admitting this, but I turn to mush when I hear Eddie Vedder sing

I didn't read the book but I did see the movie.  I have to take issue with your assertion that the movie character wasn't driven by ignorance.  I remember feeling much like the character when I was that age - I still do feel that way.  I can say for certain that a lot of my feelings were based on pure ignorance.  The character's fatal flaw was, above everything, self-righteousness, not ignorance. But this driving desire for a world exactly as you want it, not as it is, and not being able to accept it for what it is, is nothing other than a pathology.  I don't think we are required to paint a rosy picutre and sing out from the mountiantop how great the world is.  But we do have to adapt, and perhaps even try to make it better, which this character was too self-absorbed to even bother with.

Until you've at least read the book, and perhaps also seen the movie, you and anybody else who thinks McCandless's issues were as simple as "retardation" are grossly oversimplifying a complex and driven character.

Were his choices poor?  Yep.  Driven by stupidity or ignorance?  Not in the least.

It's a fine book, M.  Wait, I owe you one, don't I?  OK, now I know what it'll be!

Like the album, liked the movie, but it made me sad for misguided idealism, and made me shake my head for all the intense and absolutist thinkers whom I have known. Made me fear for my sons as they reach this age and grapple with the uncertainties and inconsistencies of our world. So far, so good, hope they come to terms ok, and have their adventures without so recklessly and naively losing touch.

I guess I missed the part where anyone said he was retarded. Troubled, yes, but retarded, no.

I was going to rate the song, but I didn't see an option for "meh". I go hot and cold with Eddie Vedder...this one's on the cold side.