Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Re-piphany

So on my way from Portland to San Antonio, the wife and I visited Yellowstone Park. As we were driving from one scenic point to the next, I realized again to myself, "***k, there are a lot of trees." Like billions. All in this grand place, most tall, stretching for the sun.

Now, I'm sure these damn trees don't give two acorns about whether or not passerbys stop and stare at them, but seeing all these trees blurring past the window, all I could think about was  publishing, and the odds of becoming that tree that stands out that everyone wants to visit. On a slightly less depressing note, if you're a geyser, you've got a better chance.

Another re-piphany occurred as my wife dictated that we stop at place 238 to snap more touristy pictures. Pictures that upwards of 10^6 people have already taken (half of which exist on the net). No new stories, right? Yep, another uplifting analogy. But at least there's something to be done about this one (well, technically, we could chop down all our competition, but that would lead to jail time) -- instead of doing the normal stuff, take that rugged (perhaps even dangerous) hike to a place where few dare go... get a slanted picture... could end up a ruin, but at least you've got something more unique (though, to end as a cynic, unique ain't always better).

Anybody know how to be a geyser?

11 comments:

Laura Martone said...

Man, if I knew how to be a geyser, I'd be spewing my blessed head off instead of hiding behind my travel guides... know what I'm sayin'?

L. T. Host said...

Just yell a lot. That'll get you noticed :)

Or... hmm.

Good analogy, sounds like a great drive! Depressing, though... sigh.

Laura Martone said...

Then again, it's so easy to feel jaded these days. While bouncing around on Facebook the other day, I noticed that a friend of one of my friends described INCEPTION as this: "Except once we burrow into dreams within dreams within dreams we get a standard issue action movie. Interesting premise, technical tour de force, but ultimately disappointing. IMHO." And I wanted to bloody scream! (But, you may or may not be proud to know that I did not in fact scream at him...) Dan and I loved Chris Nolan's latest mind-f*** so much that we saw it twice, and the comment above only made me realize that we could say that about ANY story... strip it to its bare essentials and stomp all over it. And, suddenly, I wasn't mad anymore... I was sad, sad to think that we've become so jaded as a culture. I mean, really, what's so wrong with a story (in book or movie form) being similar to something else. So, what if lots of people have taken those very same Yellowstone shots before. It's still about YOUR journey - and who knows, perhaps you'll be able to put your own "spin" on it - just slightly enough to make it stand out. Oh, have faith, my cynical friend!

Joshua McCune said...

LT - yes, it was beautiful, though a few too many pics for my taste :)

Laura, so very true. I'm one of those who boils it down a bit too much sometimes. I do think Chris Nolan gets a bit too much love from the Hollywood crowd, but I've definitely enjoyed his last two movies thoroughly (though I think I liked Total Recall a skosh more than Inception).

"Have faith," says one atheist to the other... I'm laughing on the inside :)

Unknown said...

Re-epihhany is a great word. (Ha! I commented on the tittle so you get to wonder if I even read the post.)

Joshua McCune said...

Taryn, too funny (and title fishing's fine by me :)

Nate Wilson said...

If you want to be that geyser, you can either come up with something completely original -- a task which gets harder by the day -- or you can take something that's already out there and present it in a brand new way, like with your slanted photo analogy.

Then, once you've got that, you spew. Every hour on the hour. And hope people come back for more.

Joshua McCune said...

Nate, originality's definitely hard (particularly good originality... what, but my monkey serial killer idea is completely, totally new). Spewing's easier, but figuring out how to spew crack instead of ass is the difficulty. Slanted spewage, anyone?

Laura Martone said...

Monkey serial killers?! Hahaha! But the real question is... are they atheists?

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

Bane, you are original. A geyser, too. That you don't see this makes me just laugh (knowingly) inside.

Sounds like a beautiful trip, though. My last drive was between nowhere Illinois to Columbus, OH. See, now don't you feel better?

Joshua McCune said...

Thanks, Susan, you are too kind. As far as the Illi to OH trip, I kind of liked it when we reached Nebraska b/c it meant no more pull outs to stop at... though, admittedly, by Oklahoma I was missing all the pretty.