I recently talked about how my famous crush of the moment are the Hillstrand brothers of the Deadliest Catch fame. When I have my yearly man faves, I tend to go a tad obsessive. In my spare time I'll do some googling, some YouTube-ing and the like. Although that being said, I never try to "make contact" with these people despite the various social media vehicles that actually enable one to get "as close as possible" to your idols (for lack of a better way to describe it) :) - I like my crush/obsession to remain secret.
For one I feel like I'm at that age where really I should not have crushes on TV personalities/movie stars/rock stars/sportsmen but hell, I'm a commitment-phobic romantic, I have to channel the energy somewhere. Hence, why I choose to crush on the unattainable. They are so beyond my reality that there's no chance of disappointment. Wow, that was a revealing insight into my psyche :D
Secondly, truly, these people deal with enough crazy fans, I don't want to be lumped as "one-of-the-many". I have far too much dignity for that. If ever I were to cross paths with any of the peeps I've crushed on, I most likely wouldn't acknowledge them openly - I'm just that type. History is on my side on this. Way back when in my teeny bopper days, I was a massive Ronan Keating devotee. I was able to see him perform LIVE thrice in my life. The first time was during the height of his Boyzone days at this intimate showcase and as the large congregation of excited teenage girls were waiting in antsy anticipation to enter the club they were performing in, the entire band walked right behind us causing quite a frenzy. I just looked on star-struck as I literally walked alongside them. My sister, who was acting as chaperone du jour to me and 3 of the other girls who were all equally as nuts about Boyzone, and who wasn't even a fan went straight up to Ronan and was talking to him as I watched with my mouth hanging open. Ok, in this case, perhaps I was really stunned to see my pop idol in the flesh but I have met other celebs before (like the group All For One who made the "I Swear" ditty so famous at one point I thought that I would barf if I heard it on the airwaves - so overplayed back then), I just smiled and waved and walked in the other direction. I tend to employ a "too cool for school" attitude.
Ok, really this post has gone waaaaaaay of track. The point I was trying to make was that I tend to try to fact-find as much as I can on my crushes so I can have an accurate depiction if they are actually crush-worthy or I should just not waste my time with them. So in the spirit of this, when I found out the Hillstrand brothers had released a book, I was intrigued but at that point my crush was just developing, it didn't warrant spending money on, lol. But now that I have established that I do think they are all that and more - how can you not like people who are as real as they come - I decided to see what the book was about.
Of course, my first thought was to google and see if anyone had put the book up in my myriad of ebook sites so I wouldn't actually have to spend money on it - I am averse to spending money on biographies of crushes cos sometimes the prose is total crap, it does not make me feel good to have given them money for rubbish writing. I searched for quite a while, on and off for what would probably amount to a month and a half but didn't find one place that had it. And around about 2 weeks ago as I was reading some article, the book was mentioned and the info they talked about had me practically foaming to get my hands on the book. So I finally decided to get it. I figured I wanted the paper version cos I might as well get something physical for my money. Plus, the difference between the paperback and the kindle version wasn't that different. I bought it off of The Book Depository along with another biography, paralympian Josh Sundquist's Just Don't Fall cos Ingrid of MissGlamorazzi YouTube fame and Fleur of FleurdeForce kept plugging his book. Anyways, that was about 3 weeks ago and apparently the book has not arrived in Homeland - I check everyday :P
God, this post is long-winded. Anyways, yesterday evening I was just doing my usual trawl on my fave ebook site to see if there were any good books uploaded and I was on page 12 of the list when I suddenly caught sight of the post title "Time Bandit: Two brothers, The Bering Sea And One Of The World's Deadliest Jobs". LOL, you can't imagine how intensely I freaked on the inside. Lol again cos I have intense internal freak-outs. Outwardly, I was talking to no one in particular since I was in my place alone, I was just saying OMG, I can't believe that someone has finally put this book up. Then I thought, if I had only waited, I wouldn't have shelled out 13 dollars for the paperback. Then I thought further, it's alright, I like them enough that I don't mind giving them my 13 bucks, hehehe. I promptly downloaded it, hells if I was not gonna. I figure I could get this as well as the physical copy cos I definitely wasn't going to wait another 3 weeks to read the book when I go to Homeland at the end of this month. Plus, the book hadn't even arrived yet.
Longgggggg story short, I downloaded it and I read it and I finished it! In 6 hours, dude! Now, one of the things I was afraid of when I was trying to get my hands on the book was that I wouldn't like what I found out from it. Like it might change how I see them. But really, how they portray themselves in the book is so unapologetically them that I can honestly say I loved it. By no measure is this a life-changing book but it does give you insight into the lives of the Hillstrand brothers and the Alaskan fishing industry as a whole. I found it to be personal yet professionally informative. Now there was a ghost writer involved and unlike, apparently a lot of people, I was not too sure which parts came directly from the Hillstrands and which were put together by the writer, Malcolm. I have an idea - like when there was a Latin phrase in the middle of Johnathan's part of the story where I thought, "Hmmmm, I dunno if Johnathan would actually say this" but then again, I try not to underestimate Johnathan Hillstrand. Ok, I admit, I'm quite snooty when it comes to writing. I have a preconceived notion that you have to be well-educated or at the very least, be extremely well-read which does not strike me someone who's a fisherman would be, to come up with really beautiful writing or else the prose comes across as.....simplistic. And though I had the wrong idea that all these fishermen are barely high-school graduates if at all and their lives are stuck in a cycle of generational fishing - as in all they know how to do is fish and they wouldn't be interested in reading and the like - I am soooooo glad to have my ill-informed, completely condescending impression proven wrong with a vengeance through watching DC. I call myself out on my totally uncalled for condescension of people who work in the fishing industry. I mean, c'mon, where do I get off thinking that they are not as good as I am just because I'm a university grad and call myself an engineer? The fishing industry is a billion dollar machine - these crabbers make more money than I'll ever see, lol. You're such a douche, Zlena!
So to bring this on track, let's refocus on my thoughts on the book. The writing in itself is good. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions - some of the things they shared are truly funny. Others were brutally honest and I cringed at the really personal stuff they revealed cos god knows, I would NEVER put certain stuff about myself out there for public consumption. I found out some really surprising things about them and their lives. Some that made me uncomfortable to know even :) I admire them for their courage to have their lives opened up to scrutiny like that but I do wonder if somewhere down the line there'll be a moment of reflection where they think that a lil bit more editing would have been nice.
Anyways, I really think this is gonna go on too long if I don't nip it right now - I'm typing this up on Pages on the iPad and I'm on the third page already so i have no idea how long that translates to on blogger :) All I wanna say is that I thank them for sharing their story, it was enlightening and had lessons to learn from and damn well entertaining. Thank you, Capts Andy & Johnathan, didn't think it was possible for me to like you a lil more :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
For one I feel like I'm at that age where really I should not have crushes on TV personalities/movie stars/rock stars/sportsmen but hell, I'm a commitment-phobic romantic, I have to channel the energy somewhere. Hence, why I choose to crush on the unattainable. They are so beyond my reality that there's no chance of disappointment. Wow, that was a revealing insight into my psyche :D
Secondly, truly, these people deal with enough crazy fans, I don't want to be lumped as "one-of-the-many". I have far too much dignity for that. If ever I were to cross paths with any of the peeps I've crushed on, I most likely wouldn't acknowledge them openly - I'm just that type. History is on my side on this. Way back when in my teeny bopper days, I was a massive Ronan Keating devotee. I was able to see him perform LIVE thrice in my life. The first time was during the height of his Boyzone days at this intimate showcase and as the large congregation of excited teenage girls were waiting in antsy anticipation to enter the club they were performing in, the entire band walked right behind us causing quite a frenzy. I just looked on star-struck as I literally walked alongside them. My sister, who was acting as chaperone du jour to me and 3 of the other girls who were all equally as nuts about Boyzone, and who wasn't even a fan went straight up to Ronan and was talking to him as I watched with my mouth hanging open. Ok, in this case, perhaps I was really stunned to see my pop idol in the flesh but I have met other celebs before (like the group All For One who made the "I Swear" ditty so famous at one point I thought that I would barf if I heard it on the airwaves - so overplayed back then), I just smiled and waved and walked in the other direction. I tend to employ a "too cool for school" attitude.
Ok, really this post has gone waaaaaaay of track. The point I was trying to make was that I tend to try to fact-find as much as I can on my crushes so I can have an accurate depiction if they are actually crush-worthy or I should just not waste my time with them. So in the spirit of this, when I found out the Hillstrand brothers had released a book, I was intrigued but at that point my crush was just developing, it didn't warrant spending money on, lol. But now that I have established that I do think they are all that and more - how can you not like people who are as real as they come - I decided to see what the book was about.
Of course, my first thought was to google and see if anyone had put the book up in my myriad of ebook sites so I wouldn't actually have to spend money on it - I am averse to spending money on biographies of crushes cos sometimes the prose is total crap, it does not make me feel good to have given them money for rubbish writing. I searched for quite a while, on and off for what would probably amount to a month and a half but didn't find one place that had it. And around about 2 weeks ago as I was reading some article, the book was mentioned and the info they talked about had me practically foaming to get my hands on the book. So I finally decided to get it. I figured I wanted the paper version cos I might as well get something physical for my money. Plus, the difference between the paperback and the kindle version wasn't that different. I bought it off of The Book Depository along with another biography, paralympian Josh Sundquist's Just Don't Fall cos Ingrid of MissGlamorazzi YouTube fame and Fleur of FleurdeForce kept plugging his book. Anyways, that was about 3 weeks ago and apparently the book has not arrived in Homeland - I check everyday :P
God, this post is long-winded. Anyways, yesterday evening I was just doing my usual trawl on my fave ebook site to see if there were any good books uploaded and I was on page 12 of the list when I suddenly caught sight of the post title "Time Bandit: Two brothers, The Bering Sea And One Of The World's Deadliest Jobs". LOL, you can't imagine how intensely I freaked on the inside. Lol again cos I have intense internal freak-outs. Outwardly, I was talking to no one in particular since I was in my place alone, I was just saying OMG, I can't believe that someone has finally put this book up. Then I thought, if I had only waited, I wouldn't have shelled out 13 dollars for the paperback. Then I thought further, it's alright, I like them enough that I don't mind giving them my 13 bucks, hehehe. I promptly downloaded it, hells if I was not gonna. I figure I could get this as well as the physical copy cos I definitely wasn't going to wait another 3 weeks to read the book when I go to Homeland at the end of this month. Plus, the book hadn't even arrived yet.
So to bring this on track, let's refocus on my thoughts on the book. The writing in itself is good. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions - some of the things they shared are truly funny. Others were brutally honest and I cringed at the really personal stuff they revealed cos god knows, I would NEVER put certain stuff about myself out there for public consumption. I found out some really surprising things about them and their lives. Some that made me uncomfortable to know even :) I admire them for their courage to have their lives opened up to scrutiny like that but I do wonder if somewhere down the line there'll be a moment of reflection where they think that a lil bit more editing would have been nice.
Anyways, I really think this is gonna go on too long if I don't nip it right now - I'm typing this up on Pages on the iPad and I'm on the third page already so i have no idea how long that translates to on blogger :) All I wanna say is that I thank them for sharing their story, it was enlightening and had lessons to learn from and damn well entertaining. Thank you, Capts Andy & Johnathan, didn't think it was possible for me to like you a lil more :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
