Homage to the Ultra Green Pot

Comments

10 responses to “Homage to the Ultra Green Pot”

1. 

   critic-naysayer

   July 6, 2007

   What a relief to know I am not the only one questioning NIM’s intentions and longevity!I heard him interviewed on NPR–he was asked what he used to scoop up his dogs poop. “I just get plastic bags from my friends.”

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2. 

   Idyllopus

   July 6, 2007

   I think what NIM is doing is a great publicity stunt. I’ve no problems with a publicity stunt. But it’s not heroic and he’s not Super Green Man, despite it all. I’d several problems from the beginning down the No Man Is An Island vein and that he needed to acknowledge that for the stunt to succeed he needed the assistance of others who were not living as he is living. Had he acknowledged that and even used it for humor, again, I’d have had no problem. But then he started pleading “I have no money” very soon into it, with the plea for a volunteer assistant with computer etc. and getting the free loan of the solar panel which again he said he couldn’t pay for. Which was a clear signal that he didn’t quite get himself what he was touting. I wrote him suggesting he use some of the money he said he was saving on his former order-out breakfasts to pay the personal assistant just a nominal something but got no response. Which is when I decided NIM was an OK target for humor.

   Indeed I am usually the target of my humor. And I remain the target of my humor even in these videos.

   All I wanted was a little more honesty about the gross shebang.

   NIM could still come clean on the stunt and some problematic inherent classisms and I’d say OK, GOOD FOR YOU for acknowledging how you needed still a major shift in perspective as regards class and the old value system. Yes, I’d probably still sit over here on my little blog making not-good-enough-for-public-access-television-videos poking some fun, but what’s the harm in that?

   I loved the comment on his blog from the individual who said if he’d just ignore me I’d have no “traction”. Who does she think I am? I’m about as LITTLE OLD ME as it gets, frolicking on my little old odds and ends, backwater blog. It’s not like I was paying for ads on Google to go after NIM.

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3. 

   lavonne

   July 6, 2007

   Sorry I didn’t leave a comment yesterday, a day or so after finding [and rss-subscribing] you on NIM. I meant to but I was up ’till 2:30 TRYING [not succeeding] to read every word of your Hanford Declassification Project. First let me say that I didn’t even know about the Hanford thing; I was just a fan of your hilarious videoblogs. You and h.o.p. make a great comedy team. But then to learn of your art, your writing and your experience growing up in Richland — well, I bow to you. You are truly a multipurpose person.

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4. 

   Jennifer

   July 6, 2007

   Oh man!!! You can use a pot as an instrument! I fully expected H.o.p. to go marching around banging his pot.

   I do like the protector against potshots. Who knew it was that simple.

   Love the vlogs! I’m guessing Ron Popeil will be knocking down your door soon. He’ll not only want to market the fantastic tomato puree-er… he’ll want you to be his spokeswoman.

   I think you need to put up a warning sign on your blog… “Beware of my traction!!!” 🙂

   I hope NIM and his followers see that you are not out to thwart him, but are merely offering up some good points. It’s not too late NIM!! Pay your assistant!!!

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5. 

   Jennifer

   July 6, 2007

   This just popped into my head… I wonder if NIM could save all of the hair shed from his body, his family’s bodies and that of his dog, then spin it, weave it and knit a nice hair shirt! Voila! Recycled hair that also reminds you of place in the universe!

   I know some people think hair shirts are so yesterday, but I think they’re going to make a comeback…

   I have to leave now… this blog is really not positive or inspiring enough. I need to go back to a blog where the person’s intent is 100% pure and not based on selling a book or a film. 🙂

   FYI- I got up on the smart ass side of the bed this morning… it’s recycled smart ass though.

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6. 

   Idyllopus

   July 6, 2007

   Lavonne, thank you for your kind remarks. You’re added to my RSS reader so I can keep up with you.

   Jennifer…what’s wrong with us not thinking of the musical properties of the pot, and we’re a household of musicians! Shameful!

   I like that. BEWARE MY TRACTION! I may just do that.

   Hair shirt. Marrying NIM’s sensibility and approach with Ingmar Bergman, now that’s a fun thought.

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7. 

   Brian M.

   July 6, 2007

   I know I’m on the pro NIM side of things, but I just don’t get some criticisms. Has he ever denied that its a publicity stunt? Not that I’ve seen. You say you’d like him to acknowledge that he needs a major shift in perspective as regards class and value system. Would he deny that? It doesn’t seem so. He finds he can’t pay an assistant, and he doesn’t have as much left over disposable income as he’d like, and WOW its a bit painful to adjust. Is it gross to see someone in the process of trying to change? It seems like his whole point was to jump into trying, despite the fact that he didn’t really know how to do what he was trying to to and see what happens. Is one of the results of his experiment slowly discovering that No Man Is an Island? Suppose, for the sake of arguement, that he hasn’t got that yet, as he hasn’t got so many other aspects of what he is touting. What’s the problem with that? That’s what an experiment IS. Actually trying something, and slowly getting the various aspects of it as your doing it. OF COURSE he doesn’t get all the subtle ramifications of what he’s doing yet, such as how it relies on others and impinges on others. That’s why he’s doing it, to get those things, to see what all is involved in genuinely trying to change. Does he come across a little greener-than-thou? Probably, and your right to poke fun of that. Sanctimony needs fun, and goodness knows environmentalism needs humor. But, how many other people have you watched, get holier-than-thou during the first year of a major lifestyle change driven by their values? (Be it a conversion of religion, or a new political ideology, or whatever; we’ve got a card game called Gother-than-thou, it’s really a very common and broad problem). I’ve seen it a bunch, often it mellows after a while, sometimes not. Laugh, poke gentle fun, express annoyance, but I don’t see what is dishonest or gross yet. Or do you maybe think that it is JUST a publicity stunt, with no ideological goals behind it? Or maybe your grossed out by how others react to him? Lastly, I’m conflicted on the heroism charge, ’cause I kinda do think he’s a hero. Not a green hero, Super Green Man, there are far greener folk out there, he’s a beginner at being green, and has said so several times. But integrity, trying to get one’s lifestyle and values to synch up, I know very few people who are serious or good at that, and I admire greatly the one’s I do know. And reform. I had a student once, answer short writing on what fictional character they admired most, say Ebeneezer Scrooge, because he turned his whole life around by reforming even very ingrained habits. Colin, as non-fiction, isn’t in the same league with the fictious, but he impresses me on that score too. I’ve got a DVD about the life of Fred Rogers (now there’s a hero) where one of the commenters said of Eddie Murphy’s satire of Mr. Rogers “We never satirize what isn’t important.” Rats, now even I have lost the thread of whatever I was trying to ramble about. He, like you, uses self-depreciating humor all the time, maybe he just missed one topic you’d like him to make fun of himself on, or he tried to and it just wasn’t funny enough. In a lot of ways those are his two main problems, he’s a beginner trying to change fast, rather than an old hand super green man who understands, and he’s not quite funny enough to cut his streak of earnestness. Unless, of course, he’s a total fake just out for a buck and some free publicity by pretending for a year. Anyway, that’s my 2 cents on your little old blog.
   Brian M.

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8. 

   Idyllopus

   July 6, 2007

   Brian, you’re quite right that new converts tend towards holier-than-thou. You’re quite right on a number of points. And perhaps our differences in willingness to accept at face value has to do with perspective flavored by personal experience. You seem to accept certain aspects of this as exemplary of nothing more than simple heroic naivety that will transform into self-knowledge through the alembic of the experiment. You have faith in this and thus my brand of criticism may seem inappropriate and nonconstructive. I can understand how this would be so from your standpoint. Your fundamental basis of judgment is to view him as an individual who is undergoing a process of awakening and adjustment. It’s a noble outlook, Brian, one that is very giving. And I’m glad you’re pro NIM. I’m not being patronizing when I say there isn’t a person in this world who doesn’t need someone like you in their corner.

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9. 

   Mary Jane

   July 7, 2007

   Yes- He died a horrible death.. pennance for the hot pink massacre!! As for NIM… unless he is Amish… He isn’t fooling me… Rock on into reality…
   MJ

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10. 

    Idyllopus

    July 7, 2007

    Mary Jane is referring to a pink Galaxie XL 500 that her boyfriend accidentally set afire. I wondered if she had killed him for this.

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