i just finished watching jordan vogt-roberts’ the kings of summer, an endearing sundance film [2013] centered around the lives of three teenage boys and their escape into the wilderness.
instead of dealing with their bizarre / overbearing families, they build a scrappy cabin of sorts in what looks to be a national park, in a pretty clearing; and then they run away to it. complete with a loft and {possibly stolen} air hockey table, the house itself is charming, but much too well-made to actually be believably constructed by fifteen year olds. despite questioning the realistic nature {pun, intended} of the film, i quite enjoyed it for what it was: a coming-of-age celebration of retreat and simplistic living.
it left me with a desire to scour the internet
for pictures of lonely, tree-house inspired homes.
– – – these are my discoveries – – –
[before continuing, please click ► on the song below]
“i like to walk about among the beautiful things that adorn the world: but private wealth i should decline, or any sort of personal possessions, because they would take away my liberty.”
“i’m just a simple guy, i live from day to day.
a ray of sunshine melts my frown and blows my blues away.”
“be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. when you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”
“any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. it takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”
“have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful
or believe to be beautiful.”
“you have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”
“we are the scientists, trying to make sense of the stars inside us.”
“please don’t wake me, no, don’t shake me, leave me where i am, i’m only sleeping.”
song: “17” by youth lagoon
photographs linked to sources
quotations by these mouths: george santayana
led zeppelin
lao tzu
e.f. schumacher
william morris
vernon howard
christopher poindexter
john lennon
roaming the campground up by the lake where we swam.
we were hunting for snakes,
but we couldn’t find them.
surrounded by nothing,
but the nothing’s surrounded by us.
but it’s just me in my room,
with my eyes shut.
when i was seventeen,
my mother said to me
“don’t stop imagining. the day that you do is the day that you die.”
now i pull a one-ton carriage,
instead of the horses, grazing along.
i was having fun.
we were all having fun.
my brain can think faster than i can,
but not fast enough.
who is there to talk to
that won’t lock me up?
at least god doesn’t judge me by the thoughts that aren’t mine,
the snakes i couldn’t find,
i don’t want to find.
when i was seventeen,
my mother said to me
“don’t stop imagining. the day that you do is the day that you die.”
now i pull a one-ton carriage,
instead of the horses, grazing along.
i was having fun.
we were all having fun.
