How much escapism is too much escapism?

On 2009-11-06 19:48, JOHN-O wrote:
Hmmm.... You know I actually pray to my Tikis. When I can afford it I sacrifice small animals to them. (I have to be careful, the pet shop lady is becoming suspicious). Do you think maybe this is taking Tiki escapism too far? Please tell me this is OK.

It's OK, if you eat 'lil beasts after wards.
In a cream sauce....
I recommend a nice Chianti....thp thp thiiiiiiiip!
What?
too much?
I told you I "acted out"!
Some of us are out on an "outpatient weekend pass" ALL the time!

On 2009-11-06 20:01, palapala wrote:

On 2009-11-06 19:48, JOHN-O wrote:
When I can afford it I sacrifice small animals to them. ... Please tell me this is OK.

It's OK, if you eat 'lil beasts after wards.
In a cream sauce....

No, a cream sauce is not OK. At least not all the time. Not all the lil beasties are good in a cream sauce. The flavors of some are too delicate and the finer nuances will be overpowered by the richness of the sauce.

Sometimes a little bit of butter, salt, and pepper is all you really need.

Your mileage may vary.

If you are capable of supporting your own escapism , and it in no way takes from someone Else's life, then go for it, escape away in what ever form makes you bliss out.
Then there is the concept of ALL THINGS IN MODERATION, which is a safe bet.
Id say push your escapism quantity to the edge of what you are capable of maintaining.

Then I guess I'd better zip up.

On 2005-12-12 11:28, Matt Reese wrote:
A great man is one who in adulthood retains the heart of a child. At least that's the excuse I use.

I concur. I keep the heart of a small child in a jar on my desk.

The only example of too much escapism that I can think of is when collecting gets out of hand, and you spend so much on your collection that you don't have enough dough left to go out and have a good time, or to pay your bills. That can happen to any diehard collector in any hobby. My life's been like that at times, but now I try to keep collecting in perspective more, and try not to let my more expensive collecting habits take away from the quality of my lifestyle any.

Re: escapists vs. conformists. There is a tv commercial currently airing here in the Southeast that really bugs me, for 'Rooms to Go', a furniture company. It makes a snide comment about replacing your lava lamp with something more 'adult', and the tone of the commercial is condescending and insulting to all lava lamp owners. I'd rather keep my lava lamp than have any of their boring, unimaginative furniture! I'm proud of my 4 ft. tall lava lamp, and all the drunk women visitors I have seem to love it, and that's all I really care about - so here's a big 'F U' to Rooms to Go!

[ Edited by: Megalodon 2009-11-09 09:25 ]

I don't look at things as escapist, conformist, etc but for myself rather simply 'what is'. Your time, life and home must be filled with something whether it's common or unique to you and in the end all that matters is that it's what you want and/or need. So it might as well be tiki, or in my case a physical manifestation of my love of history, aviation and islands with palm trees.

We tikiphiles should question if we are too much into escapism when many-millionaires and even billionaires spend much more effort and resources on their varied escapes, from Jackson's estate to 300 ft yachts.

'Think this might have become unnecesarily serious. we are escapist ultra-lightweights.

Not that I'm a big fan of separatist movements, but...
I truly believe there is an "us" and a "them": as a long-ago poster mentioned The Prisoner, many are guards, the few of us are looking over the walls trying to figure a way out. Where I work, I'm forced daily to co-mingle with 'them': I used to bring up topics that interest all of us here and was always met with a sudden blank look, then all the heads look at each other, then a communal smile and it's all "hey that was a great goal last night!", or talk about the newest iPod innovation and everyone gets back in the comfort zone again. I'd always like to say, "You are all the reason why there was a Hunter S. Thompson.", but their lethargy gets contagious. So I just back away out the door slowly, trying to block out the third go-around of the same Shania Twain song that day from the soulless piped-in radio with a Cramps tune in my head and mentally ask myself, "Do these people think they have another life ahead of them after they die where they can actually explore being alive?!".

After eight hours of crushing sameness has its fun blindly chipping away at my soul, I once again join the ranks of - as Greg Graffin of Bad Religion put it rather perfectly - the Confederacy of the Wrong.

Glad to see this topic resurrected, too.

On 2010-06-26 22:56, twitch wrote:
"Do these people think they have another life ahead of them after they die where they can actually explore being alive?!".

Sad to say I think a lot of folks do....

I had a girlfriend once that asked me "why do you have to be different than everyone else?"

Great vintage posts here, and some good new ones!

Yesterday I was picking up some friends from LAX airport and went through that really long tunnel under the runway. For a split second I was mentally transported to the caves and tunnels of Tom Sawyers island at Disneyland when I was a little kid. It was a carefree time, when I felt like a monkey jumping and running around those rocks. I had a wood pirate gun wedged in my belt, and a straw hat. That split second of relief from reality changed my whole outlook for the rest of the time finding parking, finding them, etc.

Not enough escape is probably more prominent that too much escape.

One thing I've noticed with Tiki friends and Tiki people I meet, we are all creative people, with the desire to create an environment worthy of our visions, either from the past, or an alternative where we live an exotic island life.

With each purchase of a vintage item, or a new Tiki mug, its like a ticket in a time machine to go where ever you want.

How often can you buy a plane ticket to where ever you want for the price and time it takes for a Tiki mug, or tourist tiki from Ebay or an exotic cocktail from the Tiki Ti, Tonga Hut, etc?

Thankfully I can't really comprehend what many here talk about their soulkilling jobs with "them". The people I work with are in no-wave bands, make art (and Art), fight the establishment, collect Princess Diana anything, live in 1956, surpass hedonists in lust for life, read classics and obscure texts, spontaneously burst into opera, study the Free Masons, fight over what the meaning of "is" is, organize filmfests (on their off time), and dissect the ramifications of Lindsey Lohan's latest arrest. Oh, and gather 'round whenever I get a new box o' tiki delivered (I guess my hobby's on the normal side).
I don't mean to rub it in, but I made a choice a long time ago to not suffer "them".
I'm very thankful for all this.
Oh, did I mention I work at The Warhol Museum?

I've had several awesome experiences in Pittsburgh esp. along E. Carson Street, the long gone West View Park and of course! Kennywood (Kennywood...one of America's greatest escapism centers in my opinion.)

Oh! and Pauly - I'm just a wee-bit jealous of your job :) G