This past October, I posted some of my reflections on the story of Chris McCandless…the twenty-four year old American who left his life in society and died in deep wilderness of Alaska. After reading the book and seeing the movie, Into the Wild, I felt pulled and repelled all at the same time.

This blog site has received more hits from that one post than from any other piece that I’ve ever written. Even now, cyber visitors from all over the world come by through links directly to that post. I think that it goes to show the impact that one person’s life can have on our moral foundation and the questions that may arise from someone else’s extreme choices.

From my own personal experience, my views on this matter varied from most. Perhaps I brought more perspective from the angle of being left behind than from the view of seeking liberty and freedom. Either way, it’s a compelling story and there’s always something wonderful to be said from anything that makes you stop and think.

I still think about this story often and despite my views, I’m still fascinated and torn by the spectrum of emotion that arose from this stranger’s life. The irony of it is that, while McCandless despised materialism and consumerism, his life ultimately reached the very essence of the “American Dream”…the big screen. The rich and famous joined forces to tell his story and now, those rich and famous are being recognized for their artistic vision.

Regardless of what McCandless might think of such principles, I was so pleased to hear that Into the Wild had been nominated for two Golden Globe awards. While neither of the awards are for acting or writing, the nominations reflect the final string that the brought the entire story together.

Eddie Vedder, the lead voice of the group Pearl Jam, sang the entire soundtrack of the movie and to be honest, I can’t hear the songs without seeing McCandless’ face at the same time. Vedder brought so much emotion to an already overwhelming story and clearly, I’m not the only one that thinks so.

During the 2008 Golden Globe Awards, Into the Wild will compete for the award of Best Sound Score and Best Original Song. Furthermore, Vedder’s contributions to Into the Wild are now among the 59 songs being shortlisted for eligibility in the category of Best Original Song for the 2008 Academy Awards. I’m crossing my fingers that Vedder will make it to the final stage of being nominated for this prestigious award.

I don’t normally hold a big place in my heart for the musical categories among these awards but, this year, I fell in love with the song Hard Sun. My heart skips a beat every time I hear it and at the same time, I feels tears for a person that I didn’t know and I person that I know all too well. It moves me. Combined with the visuals from the movie, I believe that this song can literally inspire change in even the most frightened of souls. It takes a special combination of talent and vision to put something like that into the world. I hope to do the same thing one day, in my own creative way (likely through the written word as opposed to anything else) but, until I do, I am grateful for art like this that continues to inspire me to make something important of my life.

I’m interested in knowing that you think of the song and video. Knowing what you know…how does this make you feel..?? If you didn’t know…would it make a difference..?? I know that all of you bring different experience and views to this cyber table, hence I’m fascinated to know what our own collective emotional spectrum would look like…

Please let me know what you think! And most of all...enjoy! I do...time and time again...

"I read somewhere how important it is in life not to necessarily be strong but to feel strong; To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions..."