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Chris,
I just read this book called Careers for Artistic and Creative People and it was very affirming. Not so much that I found my dream job, but just a lot of what it said about the different kind of path that creative people take in their lives. It made me feel good.

Good movies...well, I just saw Mary Poppins for the first time. I guess they didn't re-release it during my childhood and by the time video came around I was too old. So I watched it with my daughter and it is such a yoga movie. I was surprised. It's utterly delightful. "Practically Perfect in Every Way."

Lianne,
Yeah, in one section of the deleted scenes, they show all the oxygen bottles littering the summit. I think if I knew more about the whole climbing scene, I'd probably be disgusted by it. I know one thing I felt, after watching all the additional footage, was that this was a rich man's sport. I think that Wethers paid $70k to go up Everest. Clearly even the hard core mountain climbers are wealthy. There is a real sense of entitlement in their attitude. Can you imagine how much it cost to have 100 sherpas bringing in all the supplies to base camp? I'm sure the IMAX crew had extra stuff, but figure half that for a regular expedition and it seems like big big bucks.

I had lots of mixed feelings about the commercialization of the sherpa culture. The people are so beautiful, but I could tell that now Everest is big business. I guess that their having money now is a good thing and a bad thing. I don't know how I feel about stuff like that. I'm sure in one view they are whoring out this sacred mountain, and if I were more knowledgeable, I'd have an opinion about that. Being ignorant, I could simply enjoy the beautiful scenery and the people on the screen.

When they showed the scene where Rob Hall, who is a friend of the leader of the IMAX team, is making his final call by walkie-talker to his wife who is 7 months pregnant (patched in through the IMAX team's radio) I turned to my husband and said, "What kind of idiot climbs Mt. Everest when their wife is 7 months pregnant?" Sorry. I'm sorry he died, but I had to wonder about his priorities. He didn't have to be on Everest then.

So, yeah, I can definitely see your point of view. Still, for me, going through a rough time, I really liked the positive spirit of the climbers. Watching it with my husband, we both agreed that it looked like a ridiculous thing to do (he, completely scared of heights, was freaking at the ladders going over the crevices). It's not something I'd be compelled to do. But, I did have respect for what it takes to do it. Seeing how steep the mountain is, what it takes to cross the ice-crevices, and especially seeing the effect on the lack of oxygen on the climbers physically as they climbed the summit, I was in awe of their physical prowess and can-do spirit.

Oh, and one other thing about Beck Wethers that was really cool point was that he said (I'm paraphrasing), "I was the kind of person who had all these things I had to do. Climb Mt. Everest, have a big house, etc. But when it came down to it, I didn't think about all I accomplished or all I had yet to accomplish. I thought about the ones I loved. What was I doing on that mountain, spending time away from my family?" I gathered that he and his family were not all that close before the disaster and this changed his whole outlook.

It is a neat interview, Lianne, because he really is looking at that aspect of himself and seeing it. He has a book out, too, though it hasn't gotten great reviews.

I'm definitely gonna get Into Thin Air. Sounds great.