Scattered thoughts 3/6/09

-As I've stated here previously, I'm sort of fascinated with survival and suicide and people giving in to death versus fighting to live and all that sort of thing. A couple of weeks ago I posted an interview with Ben Sherwood from The Charlie Rose Show. Sherwood is the author of a book on survivors titled, appropriately, The Survivors Club. In the book Sherwood profiles various people who have survived extraordinary circumstances and how certain people among us are able to rise up when faced with incredible situations, while others crumble under duress. All of us are sort of genetically inclined and molded by our social ecosystems to react in certain ways and the results seem to be at times surprising. People who, on paper, appear as though they'd be better prepared to think clearly during moments of great stress often fail, while others who, on paper, seem most unlikely to think clearly and persevere, wind up rallying and rising to the challenge, no matter what that challenge may be.

So it probably goes without saying that I've been fascinated with the story of the four guys, two of them professional football players, who went out on a fishing trip last Saturday off the coast of Florida. As you may know, their boat was capsized by choppy seas that night and wasn't found until the third day of a massive search by the Coast Guard. When the search and rescue team finally reached the boat, they found one man, former college football player Nick Schuyler, still clinging to it.



When he was asked about the others, Schuyler told his rescuers that the NFLers, Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, had both succumbed to death, that at one point all four of them were floating along with the boat wearing their life vests, but at various points on the preceding days they had simply given up. They removed their life jackets and allowed themselves to be swallowed up by the ocean. Schuyler said that William Bleakley, a former college athlete and the fourth member of the fishing crew, became convinced at one point the previous day that he'd seen a light on the horizon and tried to swim to it. He never came back. They are all presumed to be dead.

But not Nick Schuyler. He stubbornly refused to die. Despite suffering from extreme hypothermia, which can cause all sorts of mental dysfunction to set in, including extreme delusion, he clung to the boat and just waited it out. Family members of the lost men have had a difficult time coming to grips with Schuyler's version of events. They can't seem to rectify in their minds that the young, strong, athletic freaks that they knew would simply give up. But all of this gets back to the things Ben Sherwood talks about in the interview with Rose and in his book...that some of us rise up and keep our heads while others lose control. Nick Schuyler is one of those people, one of the one's who rise up to the occasion. And I'm completely, almost morbidly, fascinated by it. I can't help but wonder if I'd be the guy to hold onto the boat or one who'd give up and let go.

Either way, I can't wait to see or read an interview with this Schuyler guy to get his whole story. It's a sick obsession of mine I suppose.

-One thing I've noticed in the wake of the Wall Street meltdown and the government bailouts is that it hasn't seemed to curtail the chauffeured car rides that people in the banking industry love to take. If you stroll around the financial district at just about any time during the day you'll see scores of black Lincolns lined up along the street waiting to take someone for a ride on the company's dime. I mean, I understand that by using private car services that the banker set is infusing more money into the economy and are helping to support another small industry, but come on! Can they not take the subway, or even a regular fucking cab, to save a few bucks?

-Has there ever been a bigger clash of the douchebag titans than the Brody Jenner vs. Joe Francis throwdown at an LA club the other night? I think not! The only thing that I can think of that even comes close is the epic Jeremy Piven vs. Stephen Dorff bitchfight in the bathroom line at Bungalow 8 a couple of years ago. But it even falls short. I'd pay to see Francis and Jenner fight to the death. And by "to the death" I mean where both of them die. Oh yes. Very sweet that would be.

-Today I achieved a first in my life...I locked myself inside my building. Well, actually I didn't do it...a faulty deadbolt on the door did, but it was a pain in the dick nonetheless. I waited almost an hour to be set free so that I could finally get a much-needed cup of coffee. And to top it all off I've been struck with some sort of Montezuma's revenge sort of thing. I suppose these omens point to one kickass weekend ahead of me. Anyway...have a good one.