One

I know my musical tastes are kind of all over the place. And I know that this seems to be the place where I swear to everyone that this book/song/video/movie/recipe is the bestest thing ever and OH MY GOD it changed my life. But everyone has certain moments and things in their life that change the way they see the world or think about life, and things are never the same after that. No matter how small and insignificant it seems. I will never forget the night I first saw this Metallica video. I was staying at my aunt and uncle's house and my cousins and I were sprawled out on the living room floor with blankets and pillows. It was very late, and everyone else had fallen asleep. The TV was on, and naturally I was watching MTV. This video came on, and watching it in complete darkness, my heart raced and I had goosebumps. The movie clips in the video are from the movie "Johnny Got His Gun." The movie, from 1971, is based on the Dalton Trumbo book of the same name from 1938.

Not too long after that I was in my high school English class when I happened to see the book on a rack of books belonging to the classroom. I snatched it up, and being the book slut that I am, I never returned it. I meant to, I really did. But I ended up crossing out the name of my high school where it was stamped on the side of the book. I still have it in my bookcase, but it is pretty much falling apart.

Never have I read anything so powerful, and I doubt that I ever will. The book is different and hard to read at times, as there is little or no puncutation and more run-on sentences than can be counted. But the style of the writing makes it flow like a person's thoughts, which is exactly what the words are. This man, Joe Bonham, was injured in WWI and after the doctors were finished with him, he had no arms, no legs, and no face. All he has are his thoughts, his memories and his desires to make contact with someone. The theme is extrememly anti-war, and smashes down the idea of glorifying the death of soldiers who "fought with honor and died for our freedom." Trumbo recognizes the fact that life, beautiful life, is much more honorable than death. It's bitter, angry, sad, and in the end, shocking and haunting. After finishing the book and realizing that I had been holding my breath, I was in a daze for days, unable to concentrate on anything else. It just couldn't be, I thought over and over. It's not possible. I preceded to lend the book to everyone I knew. They just had to experience this.

Years later, when I first discovered ebay, the first thing I bought was a VHS copy of the movie, which I still had not seen. I spent too much money on it, all caught up in the competitive bidding and everything. It's a worn out old library copy, but that's okay. The movie was great too, but of course, nothing like the book. During WWII this book was banned because of the serious anti-war, anti-patriotism themes. Obviously I am not the only person to have been touched by the story. It's radical ideas and brutal statements about war and death are just as relevant today.