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more about “The Hours – Ali in the jungle“, posted with vodpod

When Carlo I and decided to get married, I got scared. Not because I was unsure of our relationship, but because it dawned on me that we’re going to get old, and then we’re going to die. Please don’t ask me how I made that leap (apologies to my parents, who are my marriage template– you’re not old yet!).

On the other hand, I was excited. My dad told me (and I paraphrase, because I don’t know who said it first, or even really what he said) that a marriage is two people who know they can do more good together than they could apart. When we’re not bickering about the evolution of internet social networking sites (which, by the way, I still don’t think necessarily reflect the age and changing needs of their primary users) I know that’s what Carlo and I are. We’re a great team.

But we’re still going to die. That’s why I like this song by UK band The Hours so much. First, there’s the positive message, the stick-to-it, pick-yourself-up, it’s-okay-to-fail message. And the cultural references–you’ve got to like a song that mashes up Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela and Beethoven, not to mention the star of the song, Muhammad Ali. I also love that the “Jungle” of the title refers to Ali’s historic fight against George Foreman, who went on to sell us the grill Carlo bemoans in an earlier post.

What brings this all together for me, though, is Jonas Odell’s great steampunky collage video. First, it’s just really cool. Like Carlo said, inspirational music is all right as long as it’s got skulls and fighting. But those skulls remind me of the tradition of the memento mori, a Latin phrase that translates loosely as “remember you’re going to die.” When I think about it, knowing that I’m going to die isn’t such a bad thing. If we’re all going to die anyway, why shouldn’t we do the things we dream about, like getting married and writing about food and music, and actually cooking all those recipes we think up? So that’s what we’re doing.