Just saw this last night---WOW what a great movie (never read the book)!!!  It's about a kid that graduates from Emory College and is fed-up with his parents and society.  He decides to leave everything behind to live off the land in Alaska.  It's kind of 'On the Road' meets 'Call of the Wild'.  Great flick!!

it is a very good movie. I saw this about a year ago.

I've not seen the movie, but the book was outstanding.

Great movie?   :-?

It's the story of a slacker.  The dummy got what he deserved.

^LMAO

On the same theme - anyone ever catch this on PBS ?

I've probably seen it three times, it never gets old for me:

http://www.dickproenneke.com/

On the same theme - anyone ever catch this on PBS ?

I've probably seen it three times, it never gets old for me:

http://www.dickproenneke.com/

YES! I own all 3 of the Dick Proenneke DVDs. Simply amazing what one man can accomplish.

Excluding all the hippie stuff, I thought it was good.  I would kind of like to do the same thing one day to some degree.  I wouldn't cut my self off or anything, but it would be cool to travel from coast to coast experiencing everything in between.

Bigger dumbarse:

Tim Treadwell or Chris McCandless?

Bigger dumbarse:

Tim Treadwell or Chris McCandless?

They were both equally insane.

I disagree, Burley. Anyone who goes out to live with bears and tries to make friends with them is clearly at the top of the crazy class.

As for the movie, I thought it was pretty cool but I don't agree with his philosophies. I firmly believe that sometimes people think themselves out of happiness and personally I think he was an example of that.

I think it would be a lot of fun to travel the country and then live somewhere secluded to see if I could sustain myself from nature but I wouldn't do it by myself.

I think it would be a lot of fun to travel the country and then live somewhere excluded to see if I could sustain myself from nature but I wouldn't do it by myself.

Excluded or Secluded?  

Excluding all the hippie stuff, I thought it was good. I would kind of like to do the same thing one day to some degree. I wouldn't cut my self off or anything, but it would be cool to travel from coast to coast experiencing everything in between.

I agree. It would be amazing to go see what you could do with your skills and see if you could make it with minimal resources.

Someday I would love to move to a remote cabin and see if I could make it with nothing more than a couple of exotic dancers, beer, and an XBOX.

I think it would be a lot of fun to travel the country and then live somewhere excluded to see if I could sustain myself from nature but I wouldn't do it by myself.

Excluded or Secluded?

oh shut up. I have too much schoolwork this week to be able to choose the right words for my forum posts. ;D

Someday I would love to move to a remote cabin and see if I could make it with nothing more than a couple of exotic dancers, beer, and an XBOX.

I'd need a lake too, oh, and some hard liquor. I wouldn't be able to black-out and beat one of the strippers with just beer.

On topic, I'm a big Pearl Jam fan, so it was cool to see Eddie Vedder do the soundtrack.

As much as I don't like Eddie Vedder, I agree with you Gone_Phishin, it was a really good soundtrack he made. I thought it fit with the movie very well.

Great movie? :-?

It's the story of a slacker. The dummy got what he deserved.

I think he was far from being a slacker. He worked for everything he had!!! He didn't have a typical "job", as his job was to keep living. Not many slackers would go searching for answers the way he did. He actually took action and didn't just sit and talk his philosophies, he lived them.

He was also far from being a dummy. Trying to find some sort of meaning in life and having the "onions" to go after it, does not make you a dummy. Also, graduating from Emory College is no easy task.

That's like saying Jack Karouac was a slacker and a dummy.

Someday I would love to move to a remote cabin and see if I could make it with nothing more than a couple of exotic dancers, beer, and an XBOX.

The three necessities of life + the great outdoors.... what else could one want  :-/

Great movie? :-?

It's the story of a slacker. The dummy got what he deserved.

I think he was far from being a slacker. He worked for everything he had!!! He didn't have a typical "job", as his job was to keep living. Not many slackers would go searching for answers the way he did. He actually took action and didn't just sit and talk his philosophies, he lived them.

He was also far from being a dummy. Trying to find some sort of meaning in life and having the "onions" to go after it, does not make you a dummy. Also, graduating from Emory College is no easy task.

That's like saying Jack Karouac was a slacker and a dummy.

The kid had it made and threw it all away. In my book that makes him a slacker and a dummy.

And as for Kerouac, he too was a slacker. Don't know enough about him to comment on his level of asshattery.

Or was he true to himself, we all deep down wish we could be this way. I personally want to fish everyday.

we all deep down wish we could be this way.

Speak for yourself.

Great movie? :-?

It's the story of a slacker. The dummy got what he deserved.

I think he was far from being a slacker. He worked for everything he had!!! He didn't have a typical "job", as his job was to keep living. Not many slackers would go searching for answers the way he did. He actually took action and didn't just sit and talk his philosophies, he lived them.

He was also far from being a dummy. Trying to find some sort of meaning in life and having the "onions" to go after it, does not make you a dummy. Also, graduating from Emory College is no easy task.

That's like saying Jack Karouac was a slacker and a dummy.

Well, apparently he was pretty chitty at his job, since he died from starvation. Also, book sense (emory degree) and common sense are not two and the same.

[quote author

The kid had it made and threw it all away. In my book that makes him a slacker and a dummy.

And as for Kerouac, he too was a slacker. Don't know enough about him to comment on his level of asshattery.

I once spent two February weeks by myself in a cabin off a pond in New Hampshire. I was snowed in just about the entire time and had to get around on skis and snowshoes. The cabin had electricity & running well-water & a wood stove for heat. It was an amazing experience, but what I had the most trouble with at first was how loud the silence was. I know that sounds odd, but we are so used to ambient sound that when there is no sound at all for an extended period, you can actually feel it in your ears. I started talking to myself to break it up. This is nothing compared to Into the Wild, of course, but it was stranger than I expected.

I also got to spend a week once in the weather station on top of Mt. Washington in NH, also in February. That was a blast. The crew up there was great. We had to go out every hour or so and rap the ice off the anemometer so the crew could get accurate windspeed  readings. Once we did this when the wind was just over 100 mph; any exposed flesh would be instantly frostbitten. Another guy and I would go off for short hikes during the day. You had to have an ice ax with you at all times because you regularly got blown over and you needed the ax to arrest your fall. The sunsets alone made it worthwhile, though.

Once, at winter mountaineering school, I met and hiked with Guy Waterman, who with his wife, Laura, was kind of a legend in the NH White Mountains. They lived off the grid and did more to maintain the trails up there than anyone. When he as about 70 or so, he was diagnosed with a fatal diseaseI don't remember which, but I think it was cancerand he discussed with his wife how he wanted to die. One winter morning, he said good-bye to her and set off to hike up Mt. Lafayette, his favorite mountain. His wife knew what he was going to do up there, and she knew she couldn't stop him. When he got to the top of Lafayette, he found a comfortable spot in the snow and ice and he lay down, went to sleep, and died. His wife called some friends, and they went up and got his body. Not a bad way to die.

A writer named Chip Brown wrote about about Guy's life and death in a book called Good Morning Midnight. Here's a link to it: http://www.chipbrown.net/midnight/reviews/newyorktimes.html