10:31 PM or so, writing as I watch the Original Highlander on DVD. I’m a fan of the first movie first and foremost. Never got into the TV series (I’m sorry but the TV series Highlander was too Fabio for me), though I’ve come to appreciate it after watching the DVD of “Highlander Endgame” (the TV series Highlander was a much better swordsman, I’ll give him that).
The original Highlander was one of those early to mid-80’s movies like the original “Terminator” where just about any scruffy looking guy could find himself to be the sole savior of the world. All you needed was jeans, sneakers and a leather jacket. Ta-da! You could be anyone from Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-man to Highlander to the guy who fought the Terminator but no one remembers his name.
SPOILER WARNING — SKIP TO /END SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS MOVIE: The first Highlander really got a hold on me for the music. Queen’s “Who wants to live forever” set to the aging and death of the main character’s first wife was touching. A very beautiful little series of scenes set as she grew old and died while he stayed the same. /END SPOILER
I know immortality is a dream for most men. From Vampires to Highlanders to Time Lords, in a lot of our hearts, we’d like nothing more to stay the same forever. Went through that phase in my mid-20’s, wishing I could stay the same and dreaming of not having to face death. To be around this reality forever or until god or entropy took time on a course to where it goes when time can’t go on.
Right now I don’t know if I want to live forever. I mean sure it would be nice, but you know, I think of a problem my barber is going through now. His mom is 88 and all her friends have either passed on or are in conditions where they don’t remember her. She just faced having her last good friend have a stroke and forgetting all their years together. Now they’re strangers, and while the memories live on, for the able minded one seeing friends in those conditions and having those people die and leave you all alone must be quite painful.
My mom’s father is 88 as well, but he keeps alive through family. We have so many second or third cousins and so many things for “Uncle Al” to do (he’s always gardening or working in the yard — no matter what house he’s at), he keeps himself refreshed and living. That’s how I’d like to live out the last years of my life if or when I get that far. The last thing I’d want to do is be stuck in some nursing home with no power over the last years of my life.
For a long time part of me wished that if I died that I could come back as a ghost. Immortality through death is an ironic concept. I tend to spook myself out with thoughts of that sort of thing, but in the end I ruled that out as an option I’d like as well. I mean think about it. Let’s say you die and you’re a ghost. You’re essentially stuck in one place for the rest of time unless someone or something brings you along to whatever you believe in for the afterlife. I always thought about haunting a mall or some place people come — but it hit me, even buildings die.
Oh sure if you were to haunt a popular spot at a mall you could get a few years in, but buildings aren’t immortal. Malls fail, buildings get torn down, and you’d end up haunting an abandoned spot. Maybe not in the first 10 or 20 or even 50 years, but sometime the place will fail, the world will change and you’ll be haunting in silence. Alone forever in the spot you chose.
Even ancient cities like Troy must have had haunted houses. Now where are they? If ghosts are real there’s some strange cold spot where a city deemed “immortal” stood where some poor fool stands around wondering where all the people went.
Oh I’m in a weird mood tonight, forgive me. This movie always gets me going.
Ironically enough, Freddie Mercury, Queen’s lead singer, died not many years after the end of this film. I hope his spirit or essence or what have you has found happiness where ever it went when it headed for the big gig in the sky.
Another night down, getting ready for bed.
k9