Willing to die for Rock 'n Roll

"I have never seen anyone die for the ontological argument," states Camus in Chapter 1 of the Myth of Sisyphus as he argues for giving meaning to life through rebellion. And life, meaning and rebellion is the stuff that made me enjoy Richard Curtiss's Pirate Radio. It's a historic tale about life in England in the early 60s, when the BBC broadcast a meager 2 hours a day of Rock 'n Roll, leaving a gargantuan gap and some 25 million britons begging for their country's main export. Rock 'n Roll was delivered 24/7 by Pirate Radio stations beaming from ships right outside British territorial waters. The stations had massive audiences built around their DJs, all of whom lived permanently on the ships. The government sought to shut down stations, but the rockandrollers eluded them and continued to broadcast, facing death as the ship hit an iceberg in the Nort Atlantic Sea. With a simply amazing soundtrack -- that includes Stones, Kinks, Who, Cat Stevens and others-- the movie is rich in material: Animal House humor, with unfaithful lovers, betrayals, loss of innocence; estranged Father-son findings; Titanic-type scenes of chaos and sinking vessels, the arrival of a D-day type flotilla that saves the rockers and ushers in a happy ending -- even a Bollywood dance routine. A thoroughly enjoyable movie. Makes me wonder if Camus was exposed to Rock 'n Roll. Rebellion and Rock 'n Roll give meaning to life: make it worth living.

About Camus's L'étranger

I read it again, for the umpteenth time. And it was better this time around. Reading it made me look through my old books and I found "L'homme révolté." An amazing book that caused a big fight with Sartre. And I found this quote, "Si l'on ne croit à rien, si rien n'a de sense et si nous ne pouvons affirmer aucune valeur, tout est possible et rien n'a d'importance. Point de pour ni de contre, l'assassin n'a ni tort ni raison. On peut tisonner les crématoires comme on peut aussi se dévouer à soigner les lépreux. Malice et vertu son hassard ou caprice". I hope I can memorize those words until the day I no longer can memorize anything.