A podcast about books, art & life — not necessarily in that order
Are you a fan of the films of Hal Hartley? Well, Hal’s a fan of Paul West’s The Immensity of the Here and Now: a novel of 9.11 (which I recently published)! Here’s what Hal had to say about the book:
“It’s a beautiful and penetrating evocation of the confused emotions and intellectual turmoil the whole 9.11 event brought into being, a mood I had no name for.”
So do me (and yourself) a favor and buy the darn book.
Home at last: 10,000 miles in 24 hours, with 19 hours of flight time.
I landed with a busted filling and terrible weather, and when I walked in the door I discovered that the furnace had shut off days ago. This meant the house was around 40-45 degrees (5-7 degrees C to my metric buddies). I’ve spent the last two days trying to get it up and running. I think it’s working now, but even the repair guys who showed up today (responding to my “emergency” call Saturday night) were befuddled by the inability of the pilot light to stay lit.
I’ve been optimizing images from the trip, and hope to have a slideshow set up by this weekend.
I’m sitting in LAX right now, waiting about 90 minutes for my flight back to Newark. This follows 2 hours from Queenstown to Auckland, and 12 hours from Auckland to LA. I’m one tired little zombie, I tellsya.
Moreover, after all my macho adventures of the past two weeks, I busted a tooth eating a muffin during breakfast on the Auckland flight. I mean, seriously: helicopters, bungee-jumps, mountain hikes, drunken Australians, and I get my ass kicked by a blueberry muffin?
Good thing I’m a new man…
Sure, I’ve taken a helicopter ride up the side of a glacier, climbed a mile-high mountain, jetboated the Shotover canyon, and bungee-jumped off a 155-foot platform, but nothing prepared me for the experience of my last night in New Zealand: drinking with a bunch of Australian guys.
I have a newfound respect (and fear) for that country…
(My New Zealand pix via Flickr)
Just finished the Ben Lomond Summit hike: about 11km, going up a peak over a mile high.
In the last hour, the wind was ferocious. The gusts blew me sideways on the rocks. It was like the whispers of the creator.
I’ve never felt so drained nor so filled.
(My New Zealand pix via Flickr)
The tour wrapped up last night. Now I have two days in Queenstown, during which time I’ll take a lengthy hike, sit out by the water (Lake Wakatipu), and not drink. I’ve consumed more beer in the last 10 days than I have in the previous two years. That’s what you get for hanging out with Australian guys…
(My New Zealand pix via Flickr)
I survived bungee-jumping 155 feet off The Ledge! My head’s still buzzing, and it’s an hour later! There’s a video AND photos to come! I’ll never do this again!
(My New Zealand pix via Flickr)
T minus one hour and two G&Ts…
Took my first helicopter trip today. We took it to Fox Glacier, which is situated above a rainforest, for a morning hike, which was gorgeous. The geography of this place is insane. The helicopter ride was smooth. The pilot banked kinda severely to show us a waterfall, and I had a little lurch from the g-force. But I got used to it and rode out the next few banks.
But I actually had two separate sessions of aerial activity today. The first was the round trip to Fox Glacier. The second was when our bus driver drove (a little quickly) over a little bridge that was recently paved. The bus (38 people and all their luggage) went airborne as we hit the joint of the pavement. Did the same thing when we reached the other side, two seconds later. That’s an adventure tour for you.
Now I’m down in Queenstown. Tomorrow, I take the Shotover jetboat in the morning for 20 minutes of zooming around. In the evening (5:10pm), I leap off of The Ledge for a 47m (155 ft.) bungy jump. I’m scared, but I think it’s more fear of embarrassment, rather than life-and-limb. I spend too much time inside myself, making cosmic explanations for things that are really just childhood neuroses. Spending two weeks without talking to a single person who knows me, I’ve come to realize that some dumb aspects of my behavior are just contingent on my need to please present company. That’s not happening as much here.
So I’m going to jump off The Ledge tomorrow, and if I don’t do a beautiful swan-dive, it’ll still be a great experience. I’ll have a video of it, and a bunch of pix that’ll make their way into the Big Slideshow.
Speaking of which, the camera is well and truly shot. I’ve been using disposable ones here, and I’ll have to grab a new Minolta when I get home. Grr.
(My New Zealand pix via Flickr)