14,000 miles worth of late winter thoughts...

Recently, I've become interested in people's sailing videos on YouTube. The last couple of years I've had a burgeoning interest in the ocean overall, its vastness and depth and the creatures inhabiting it. Where before I was always kind of repelled by it, or bored at the very least (always the least interesting of nature shows), now I'm held fast by many of the vlogs people post of their adventures in the Keys or crossing the Pacific or Indian oceans. Sailing's not something I'd have the patience for; I don't want to work that hard to have a good time. But it's fascinating to watch nevertheless, and it occurred to me that these videos, some of them quite well produced, wouldn't be available were it not for the technology, and attendant mindset driving it, I complain about. Since last week's post, I've taken a long, hard look at all that noise, and admittedly, a legitimate question has come to the fore: for all my indignation over what I see as the completely fabricated need to treat our lives like a reality show, the need to believe that all eyes are on us and something monumental hangs in the balance of what we say or do next and that it must be captured on camera for posterity, to what degree might I nevertheless get thinking that way on 1/48/50, and employ the very technology I find so objectionable?

The answer (still): not at all.

Er, okay, maybe: it's complicated.

Unless I make the decision to 'disconnect' during the trip (a separate discussion), yes, I will likely blog about my travels on a semi-daily basis, and a camera will almost certainly come out now and then.  But I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will never, ever walk around with a recording device installed on my person. It will never be pinned to my hat, or clinging to my glasses. I will hold my camera at arm's length (like any good annoying tourist) and never videotape anyone without their knowledge, nor fail to hide their identity should they happen to breeze through a shot.

So to be clear: it's WEARABLE technology, hidden in plain sight, that I find objectionable, its overly vigilant application to the most uninteresting moments of our lives that I find depressing, and a little absurd, and frankly, the beginning of a slippery slope into a dystopian future once found only in the pages of pulp science fiction.

But ultimately, I think I can say in good faith there won't be a lot of videotaping on 1/48/50, for a couple of reasons. Fact is, nobody wants to see what are essentially my vacation videos any more than they may have wanted to see their grandparents' vacation slides back in the day. Yes, if I come across something interesting, I will start taking pictures, and maybe some video, and if any of it turns out worth a smidge, I might post it on this page. I'm only human, certainly not 'above' anything (including wanting to regard my life as a reality show...;-). And in last week's post, I conceded that there's nothing wrong with 'logging' your life if you're doing something worth logging. I cited crossing the equator on your way to the Marquesas as worthy. The Grand Canyon too. And yes, a few personal moments perhaps, the odd marriage proposal, or birth, or graduation. These are the things that punctuate our lives.

But philosophically speaking, discovering a new restaurant or lying in a hammock (as presented by the Lifelogger corporate video) and other like banalities no more deserve to be 'logged' than 99% of what goes on in our daily lives deserves to be 'posted'. And therefore, it just doesn't warrant so potentially sketchy a practice as wearing one's camera.

Driving 14,000 miles across the country is worth 'logging', I'd say. And I would hope to encounter moments that prompt me to start videotaping. But I'm a writer; that's what I do. I'm not a movie maker wannabe or makeshift cinematographer; I have a face for radio and a voice for newsprint. If I do anything in the way of sharing the trip, especially once its over, it will be largely by writing about it. Truth be told, I want it that way. Posting photos and video is too easy. Anybody can do that. Everybody is.

Of course, on another of my blogs, Northbound Thoughts, I've frequently said I might consider a 'hat-cam' while I fish.  But fish don't mind. They like to be filmed.

Er, maybe they don't...but I know for a fact people don't. Unless they are the ones holding the camera.

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Celebrating my 100th nebulous post! Time for ice cream!

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There are many others, but I found this film posted on YouTube. Before GPS, before GoPro, before any means by which to share it with anyone (least not like is done today), this British couple, Erin and Susan Hiscock, filmed their three-year sailing trip around the world in the mid-1950s.

Erin was a noted sailor in his day, and this film is truly extraordinary. Narrating with bone dry wit, a sharp knowledge of what he's talking about, and keen appreciation for the lush color that certain details add (though perhaps not as much cultural sensitivity as might - and should - be employed today), he makes the trip (this 'vlog') interesting - fascinating - from beginning to end.

Now, of course, I'd say it's historically significant as well.

It's got nothing to do with my road trip, or anyone's road trip, but it makes me want to go, just the same....go anywhere.