Tuesday, June 7, 2011

127 Hours

Every one seems to be talking about the movie 127 Hours these days. (Which I haven't seen.) You know the movie about the hiker who gets trapped between rocks and has to hack his arm off to get free? I don't think I'm giving anything away by telling you that. It might be a Titanic kind of thing where you know something going in but it is about so much more than just that one incident. It's a metaphor! It's an allegory! It's a cautionary tale! It's a comedy! It's a love story! It's a story about good and evil, it's about man against nature, it's about the indomitable spirit of man! It is about the ultimate triumph of the human spirit! You can't keep a good man down! When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade dammit! (Like I said I haven't seen the movie yet.)

Although it does bring back memories of a time when I was drinking and I was so drunk that one time I somehow got myself lodged between the toilet and the wall. Which as any experienced drunk will tell you is really not that hard to do. (As I write this there are at least twenty drunks stuck behind a toilet in the Louisville Metro area alone.) I did black out for a while, so for all I know, I could've actually been there for 127 hours. I was trapped and I was trapped good. I was, if you will, stuck between a rock and a hard place. (You heard me.) How the hell am I going to get out of this? I'm stuck against the wall, one of my arms is over my head and I can't really move. I will tell you the idea of hacking off my arm did not occur to me at the time, besides the only thing within reach was a toilet brush and even in my drunken state it did not appear to be a truly effective amputation tool. In the annals of drunken battleground surgery, I don't think that the toilet brush has ever come up. The idea of chewing my arm off didn't seem real workable either, although it would be a lot more doable than trying to chew through the toilet. Exhausted, I finally gave in to a fitful sleep with a vague willingness to live and a distant hope that someone was out there looking for me.

I am happy to tell you that I eventually freed myself from the toilet trap and I am writing this with both of my arms intact. I am also proud to tell you it's been years since I've lost a battle with a toilet. But whenever it rains my right shoulder still hurts.

It does sound like a really exciting movie.


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Plus One

Sorry I missed the "Jacket" at the Palace last night. (My Morning Jacket, to the uninitiated) But thanks to the the steady flow of live facebook status updates that showed up in my news feed this morning I really felt like I was there! (Apparently it was also streamed live online but that seems like cheating.) I want, no I need, Nay, I REQUIRE, someone to separate themselves completely from the moment and just give me short one line snappy updates and song titles! They don't even need to be whole words, just a jumble of letters that make a sound will do! I get it! And cell phone videos are the next best thing to almost being there, Zapruder anyone?!! I need a set list and seating arrangements! But please and this is not a criticism, in the future, if you could also include parking and bathroom information I would be forever in your debt. If I am going to take the time not to go somewhere, I need to know exactly what I am missing. You my friend, and make no mistake about it you are a true friend, are always there when I need you. Except of course when you are updating your status.

I can wait.