Wednesday, February 21, 2001
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Wednesday, February 21, 2001 |
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Stranded on a deserted island By MICHAEL BOYLAN If you were shipwrecked or stranded on a deserted island, which books, albums, movies or famous person, living or dead, would you bring with you and why? This is assuming that you have a CD player and television and VCR and the power to run all three devices and that if you bring a famous person who has passed on they are alive and not decomposing. I'm sure you have been asked this question many times in your life and your answer is constantly changing. For instance, when you were little all of your answers may have revolved around "Sesame Street," but how would you answer the question now? Well, no one has asked me this question recently, so I have asked myself. I guess all the hype and hoo-hah surounding "Cast Away," "Survivor II" and "Temptation Island" have influenced me. I would also like it to be known that I would not like to be stranded on a deserted island and that I would want people to search for me day and night because I hate camping and I hate seafood. As for which books I would bring with me, I would choose James Michener's "The Drifters," Stephen King's "The Stand" and Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree." "The Drifters" follows a bunch of 20-somethings around Europe and Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I would enjoy reading about their travels while stranded. "The Stand" is exceptionally long and talks of a plague sweeping Earth. That would make me feel good a million miles from civilization and germ-free. "The Giving Tree" is a great book about a boy and his relationship with a tree over the years of their lives and it always makes me misty. It would be a great reminder to commune with nature and to give back to the world. The albums I would bring would be "The White Album" by The Beatles, because it's two albums and very varied, "Pretty Hate Machine" by Nine Inch Nails, because I have already proven to myself that I can listen to it over and over again and not get tired of it, and "U2's Greatest Hits," because I could never choose just one album by them. The movies I would bring with me would be (and I realize I'm probably cheating here) the "Godfather" trilogy, the "Star Wars" trilogy and the "Nightmare on Elm Street" box set. It has been years since I've seen "Godfather" I or II, the "Star Wars" trilogy is always lots of fun and I can't deny myslef bad horror movies, especially a series that rapidly detiriorates after the third installment. Now for the toughest question. Which famous person, living or dead, would I bring with me on a deserted island? I could choose Marilyn Monroe for obvious reasons, but I've never been that big of a fan. Ultimately, I think I would want somebody interesting to talk to. I would want to look forward to each day's conversation and so I would choose Del Close, founder of Second City and an expert on the nature of comedy and improv. There would be no need to get existential and more depressed on an island, so why not have somebody there to lighten the mood? I want to know what you think. Please give some thought to these questions and e-mail them to me at mikeboylanrules@hotmail.com. When I get enough responses I will do a column discussing some of the answers I have received. And about my e-mail address, there area lot of Mike Boylans out there and I had to make my address different.
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