Floating on the Moon

I came across an old note I'd written back when I first started thinking about the whole Why Your Life Sucks concept. It mentions, among other BRILLIANT adolescent thoughts, that the characters would "see the beauty in the everday". That's what this post is about, albeit I had to travel to Iceland to see it.
I'd read about Iceland in a magazine and had been intrigued. Back in 2000, my family was going to London for Christmas, so I took off a few days early and did a stop-over in Reykjavik. It was absolutely wonderful. However, as everyone probably knows, Winter is not the best tourist season for Iceland. For one, it's damn cold. But most importantly to me, the tourist, it is dark most of the day. There was no light in the sky until about 11 am, and then it set insanely early, like 4 pm. So any touring had to be done quickly. Here is some poor video (I needed a tripod) I shot while I was there:



That music is from Iceland's own Sigur Ros who recently released a new EP and a live DVD that would be well worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing.
The frozen volcanic landscape made it seem like you were visiting the moon. The best part was going to this place called "Blue Lagoon" where hot thermal sea water had filled in the volcanic rock and made a natural, therapeutic spa.
Floating there amidst the snow covered rock in a warm, soothing pool with the steam rising and being backlit by the low lying sun was one of the most peaceful, beautiful moments I've known. It's just one of those moments that hit you and make you aware and you know you are in it and of it and connected to all around it. What the great Spalding Gray called a "perfect moment". I truly saw the beauty in the everyday at that moment.
There was one benefit to going to Iceland in Winter, and I always think about this as our own Southern days grow darker ever earlier and when, as we approach the holiday season, people start putting up their Christmas lights outside of their homes. Look at the picture at the beginning of this blog. That is a cemetery in Iceland. I can't tell you how many of these we past out in the vast countryside. The crazy thing was--they outlined and decorated their cemeteries with lights! The big fat bulb kind, not the small, skinny bulb kind. It was really beautiful. I asked about it, and again, it was due to the lack of daylight and was seen as a hopeful way of fighting the darkness--in this case that means a lot more than you'd think. I'll be putting up my own lights soon. I hope they'll shine through the darkness to reach you, and you too will find them beautiful.

Who Still Believes in a Place Called Hope?

Back in 1996 when Bill Clinton was President and the United States was held in higher regard around the world, I made a documentary about the Whitewater investigation/witch hunt that was being conducted in Arkansas by Kenneth Starr and his Republican cohorts. At the time, Mike Huckabee, a Republican, was Lieutenant Governor of the State of Arkansas. I admit to having been pretty skeptical about Huckabee, a former Baptist minister whom I had seen speak at Boy's State a few years earlier. He had the whole audience of high school juniors in the palm of his hands, laughing at his jokes, and buying his right-wing agenda. It was frightening and unthinkable that this man could become Governor one day.
But that was exactly what happened. The Whitewater trial (the original investigation being about business dealings with Jim McDougal, not about Whitehouse interns) brought about the removal of office of Jim Guy Tucker, thus allowing Mike Huckabee to become Governor. And there he remained for the next ten years.
I must say I'm very grateful that former Governor Huckabee agreed to sit down with my friend Stephen and I over ten years ago and let us question him for the afternoon. I found him to be very personable and generous with his time and answers. And, surprisingly, I found that much of what he said was hard to disagree with on a fundamental level. I think part of this was the fact that he is good at reading the room and saying the right thing to the right audience. The point being, he wasn't as scary as the figure I first encountered at Boy's State. Later, once he became Governor, I had other opportunities to work with him and again found him to be pleasant and down-to-earth.
Now, Huckabee is running for President as a Republican. It is a pathetic group of individuals to be sure, which no doubt has led to Huckabee's surprising underdog rise despite his paltry fundraising effort. Just last week the New York Times did a special video profile on him. So far his campaign highlights have included denying the theory of evolution and calling abortion a "holocaust" that has led to our need for immigrant workers. I don't think he has a chance of winning the Presidency. But then again, just over ten years ago, I never would have believed he would be the Governor for the following ten years.
Like President Clinton, Mike Huckabee also grew up in a town called Hope.
While we asked several serious questions, we also asked a few fun questions in between to try and catch our subjects off guard and keep them from giving boring political speeches. For example, we asked Mr. Huckabee who was his favorite Beatle. His answer, fellow bass player Paul. For this question, we asked him, "If you were to become President, and the U.S. was attacked by aliens from another planet, what would you do?" This was his answer:

So, you heard it here first, friends. If you vote for Huckabee you may end up being turned into "liquid paper" (?) and he will immediately roll over and surrender. For a Republican, that's a pretty wimpy answer, considering they like to start wars without cause or planning. But it also raises another question for me. Did he think, back in 1996, that one day he might run for President? Or was that only something he thought about later? I bet Bill Clinton knew he would run for President back when he was a little boy. I don't think you run for the presidency on a lark. Unless you're a billionaire. Or Stephen Colbert.