You're right. I have about 15 or so that are floating around in my favorites list. My top movies are not neccesarily the best ones I've seen. Like you said, they are the ones that I have an emotional connection to.

Wes Anderson is awesome but I haven't seen all of his films yet. My favorite so far is also The Life Aquatic. I love those covers. The Mark Mothersbaugh numbers are awesome, too. The scene where Steve introduces his boat and crew, accompanied by Mothersbaugh's "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" is one of my favorite scenes. I also really liked The Royal Tenenbaums.

Oh, underappreciated and overrated actors. It is relatively easy for me to rattle off some of my favorite actors. Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, and Ingrid Bergman are definitely in the top 5. Other actors I love off of the top of my head: Gary Oldman, Anjelica Huston, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, Bruce Willis (most people love him for the wrong reasons), Bill Murray, Charlie Chaplin, Helena Bonham Carter (I love how much her older stuff contrasts with her more recent roles. She's great.), John Goodman (I have always had a thing for this guy. He is a pleasure to watch.), James Stewart, Topol (I've only seen him in Fiddler but it is one of my favorite performances EVAR), Henry Fonda, Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Oliver Reed. This list was about 5 times as long before I cut it down. You're welcome.

I'm sure you're the same way that I am with actors. Sometimes I love them because they are truly great actors and sometimes I love them because they are good actors and you just enjoy watching them for whatever reason. I admit that one of the reasons that I love Newman, Brando, and Bergman is because they are all incredibly sexy. They also happen to be exceptional actors. Who are your favorites?

Severely overrated: Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton (used to be okay, now I can't stand her), Nicolas Cage (liked him in Matchstick Men...which reminds me that I love Sam Rockwell), Keira Knightly, and there is something about Mel Gibson's acting that seems...is it insincere? Affected? All I know is that something is off with him and I'm not a fan.

I'll rent The Big Lebowski one of these days.

In reply to this comment by poolcleaner:
You probably already know your top movies, you just haven't declared so boldly what they are. Like I said though, most of my tops are in contention, I just happen to have an emotional connection to two films which may always reign supreme.

If there's anyone to be jealous of it's Wes Anderson and his siblings. Must be awesome to make films with your family and best friends. Loved and own every one of their movies. I think Life Aquatic is my favorite... yeah, definitely Steve Zissou. I mean, you can't go wrong: a movie starring Bill Murray, filled with brilliant sets and costumes, and a soundtrack comprised of David Bowie cover songs by Seu Jorge? Is it wrong that I'm salivating right now? I also really enjoyed Darjeeling Unlimited, despite it's lack of closure. I was hoping Murray would tie in at some point.

As far as people and their movie tastes... You didn't feel the gripping suspense of Armageddon?! Didn't it make you weep when -- I honestly, cannot remember a thing about that piece of trash, except Liv Tyler. (Typical.) I have a friend who once told me The Marine was his favorite film of all time. It was really obnoxious because he was interrupting my first viewing of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; kept complaining that he needed an explosive hook.

Now, Big Lebowski... is one of those movies you either love or hate. I've only known people who are one or the other. Probably due to over 200 f-bombs. If you can get over that, you'll realize it's a brilliant homage to Philip Marlowe and old screwball comedy. (And the soundtrack is amazing.)

(I completely agree about Goodman. Thank god for the Cohen Brothers. At least they recognize talent and put him in most of their films.)

In reply to this comment by thepinky
In reply to this comment by poolcleaner
In reply to this comment by thepinky

You probably already know your top movies, you just haven't declared so boldly what they are. Like I said though, most of my tops are in contention, I just happen to have an emotional connection to two films which may always reign supreme.

If there's anyone to be jealous of it's Wes Anderson and his siblings. Must be awesome to make films with your family and best friends. Loved and own every one of their movies. I think Life Aquatic is my favorite... yeah, definitely Steve Zissou. I mean, you can't go wrong: a movie starring Bill Murray, filled with brilliant sets and costumes, and a soundtrack comprised of David Bowie cover songs by Seu Jorge? Is it wrong that I'm salivating right now? I also really enjoyed Darjeeling Unlimited, despite it's lack of closure. I was hoping Murray would tie in at some point.

As far as people and their movie tastes... You didn't feel the gripping suspense of Armageddon?! Didn't it make you weep when -- I honestly, cannot remember a thing about that piece of trash, except Liv Tyler. (Typical.) I have a friend who once told me The Marine was his favorite film of all time. It was really obnoxious because he was interrupting my first viewing of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; kept complaining that he needed an explosive hook.

Now, Big Lebowski... is one of those movies you either love or hate. I've only known people who are one or the other. Probably due to over 200 f-bombs. If you can get over that, you'll realize it's a brilliant homage to Philip Marlowe and old screwball comedy. (And the soundtrack is amazing.)

(I completely agree about Goodman. Thank god for the Cohen Brothers. At least they recognize talent and put him in most of their films.)

In reply to this comment by thepinky:
I've seen North by Northwest and It Happened One Night and loved both of them, but I've never seen The Big Lebowski. I love John Goodman (underappreciated, in my opinion) and I really love Jeff Bridges, and I don't know why I haven't seen it. I watch lots and lots of movies and I think that I have above-average taste, although that is easy when the average person loves Armageddon and similar crap. You seem to have good taste. I'm sort of jealous that you have your top movies all figured out like that. I have a very vague idea of which movies are my favorites.

I love Hitchcock, too. And good old sweety-pie Frank Capra won my heart many, many years ago. Do you like Wes Anderson movies?

In reply to this comment by poolcleaner:
The Big Lebowski. I'm a bigger Cohen Brothers fan than I am Kubrick -- though, I am an even bigger Hitchcock fan, despite Hitchcock taking fourth with North By Northwest. (My third pick being Capra's It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable.)

In reply to this comment by thepinky:
What is your first favorite?

Yes, still no takers..
There are still, at least two sifters, who do not have a channel..maybe they have an affinity with *dance/non-verbal communication?

My current list of channels to be created:

90s, 00s, africa, aquatic, architecture/design, boats, comics, conspiracies, crime, dance (non-verbal communication), debates/discussions, economics, electronica, europe, fan (mashup), fashion, health, homme (man), interviews, latin(o), law, lectures (presentations), poetry/spoken word, pranks, registrations

When I watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and saw that Seu Jorge was doing Bowie covers, I almost peed myself.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'David Bowie, Seu Jorge, Changes' to 'David Bowie, Seu Jorge, Changes, The Life Aquatic' - edited by schmawy

Instant upvote for opening with "Glosoli" =D

It amazes me how since I first discovered Sigur Ros, they seem to be everywhere now--kind of like getting a green car and suddenly everyone seems to have a green car.

They've managed to have a measurable influence in media and yet stay relatively anonymous. So often I hear their music in a video and people will ask,"I love that music, who are they???"

So far I've heard "Saeglopur" in both a PSA for anorexia and the new Prince of Persia trailer.

"Hoppipolla" in the Penelope trailer

"Von" and another song in CSI.

And an unkown song in the Dead Space trailer.

Oh, and lets not forget “Staralfur” in The life aquatic.

Looking them up in Wikipedia, it looks like their music has been used dozens more times in movies, commercials, etc. And most people still don't know who they are. Kinda funny.

*aquatic channel
*nautical channel

*beauty channel (all things cosmetic)
*drinks channel (all things drinky)

*assgravy (limited and probably consisting of only Blankfist submissions)

*europe (it's a good one!)



just suggestions...

don't forget Behemoth's aquatic counterpart: Leviathan

"The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" was a good movie, but it weirded me out a bit. Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe are always golden.

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it's good to be
ALIVE
and I'm a famous rapper
even when the paths're all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud to be an American"
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it's good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won't stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let'em all die in exasperation
Have'em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have'em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don't like'em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

The following dissertation on the eye is lifted from Chapter VI, Volume 2 of The Quest for Right, a 7-book series on origins based on physical science:

Difficulties of the Theory. Although the eye is chosen as the category to be entertained, the investigation could have chosen any one of a hundred other theories promoted in On the Origin of Species. The relative point is that, if the eye had evolved through fine graduations or modifications, the proof must lie with numerous intermediate fossilized specimens which could be laid down in a gradual continuum so as to show the development of the eye from its first appearance as a tiny break or opening in the bones of the skull to the development of a full blown socket or orbit. Nothing else will suffice, as the fossil record is all inclusive.

Darwin penned: “LONG before having arrived at this part of my work, a crowd of difficulties will have occurred to the reader. Some of them are so grave that to this day I can never reflect on them without being staggered; but, to the best of my judgment, the greater number are only apparent, and those that are real are not, I think, fatal to my theory.” In other words, if one is to believe in evolution, he/she has to disregard the facts; specifically, the indisputable assertion that all species are well defined in the fossil record.

Darwin continued: “These difficulties and objections may be classed under the following heads [that is, distinct topics or categories]: …why, if species have descended from other species by insensibly fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms [in the fossil record]? Why is not all nature in confusion instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined? …In looking for the gradations by which an organ in any species has been perfected [for example, the eye], we ought to look exclusively to its lineal ancestors [found only in the fossil record]; but this is scarcely ever possible, and we are forced in each case to look to species of the same group, that is to the collateral [parallel] descendants from the same original parent-form, in order to see what gradations are possible, and for the chance of some gradations having been transmitted from the earlier stages of descent, in an unaltered or little altered condition.”

Unable to find a transitional species; for instance, discovering a tiny break in the skull of any one of the several thousand species, which transitioned through minute variations to a full blown socket for the eye, Darwin looked to parallel descendents: a horse descending from a tapir, etc.

By Darwin’s own admission, geologists had not been unable to uncover a transitional species: “Amongst existing Vertebrata, we find but a small amount of gradation in the structure of the eye, and from fossil species we can learn nothing on this head [the subject of the evolution of the eye]. In this great class we should probably have to descend far beneath the lowest known fossiliferous [containing fossils] stratum to discover the earlier stages, by which the eye has been perfected…

He [the reader] who will go thus far, if he find on finishing this treatise that large bodies of facts, otherwise inexplicable, can be explained by the theory of descent, ought not to hesitate to go further, and to admit that a structure even as perfect as the eye of an eagle might be formed by natural selection, although in this case he does not know any of the transitional grades [as supported by the fossil record]. His reason ought to conquer his imagination [that is, belief in a Creator]; though I have felt the difficulty far too keenly to be surprised at any degree of hesitation in extending the principle of natural selection to such startling lengths.

If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case...”

It is a fact that Darwin attempted to overcome legitimate objections to his theory by doing a song and dance; that is, an elaborate explanation intended to mislead the reader and throw him/her off the path of the truth. For instance, instead of Darwin elaborating on how the eye could have been perfected while leaving no trace in the fossil record, he immediately began rambling about: the larva of the dragon-fly, the fish Cobites, fish with gills, swimbladder in fishes, branchiae and dorsal scales of Annelids, wings and wing-covers of insects, Pedunculated cirripedes, Balanidae or sessile cirripedes, neuter insects, rays, electric organs in fish, tail of the giraffe, the tail as the organ of locomotion in most aquatic animals, green woodpeckers, trailing bamboo, naked head on the skin of a vulture, savages, webbed feet of the upland goose, seal, sting of the bee, etc. The introduction of trivia, thrown up to block a difficult question, was a familiar song and dance routine throughout The Origin.

Darwin depended on the fact that, after taking two dozen or so detours of unrelated, yet, interesting tidbits of information the reader will have forgotten the head or category at hand. Said tidbits were also introduced in an attempt to prove that his wisdom could be trusted even above that of the Creator. And lest you have forgotten the head category at hand, it is mainly this: numerous intermediate fossil specimens must be discovered and laid down in a gradual continuum so as to show the development of the eye from its first appearance as a tiny break or opening in the bones of the skull to the development of a full blown socket or orbit. Anything less would be unacceptable.

In Chapter X: On The Geological Succession of Organic Beings, Darwin attempted to justify the lack of “numberless transitional links” found in the “same great formation.” The naturalist lamented that the lack of missing links to prove his theory was owing to an “extremely imperfect” fossil record:

1. that only a small portion of the globe has been geologically explored with care;
2. that only certain classes of organic beings have been largely preserved in a fossil state;
3. that the number both of specimens and of species, preserved in our museums, is absolutely as nothing compared with the incalculable number of generations which must have passed away even during a single formation.”

Not desiring to be outmaneuvered by the Creator, Darwin attempted to interplay other theories to shore up his theory of evolution. For example, he called upon the important part that migration must have played as the various species escaped supposedly "oscillating continents" which arose from the depths of the sea only to sink again. In Darwin’s mind, vast continents bobbed up in down in the oceans, sinking and, thus, causing mass migrations and covering any transitional links with sediment. The drowned continents then bobbed back to the top to start the process all over again. In a final attempt at one-upmanship, Darwin supposed that the damaging missing links, which must number in the billions, may "lie buried under the ocean." Why else could they not be found in the fossil record to support his theory?

An arrogant Darwin showed his true colors when he suggested that the reader ought to strive to cast down a belief in a Creator and accept his theory even if there was no proof. Darwin had done just that; he had cast God and religion from his mind, stating that “it was as difficult to cast down as "for a monkey to throw off its instinctive fear and hatred of a snake."

In summary, Darwin conceded that the fossil record of the time, the ultimate guide by which the theory of protracted graduation was to be judged, was adverse to his concept, but not without just cause: it was simply the result of an "imperfect," or incomplete, record. Darwin used the term “imperfect” as a crutch over a dozen times—one grows weary of reading it. Darwin's only hope of vindication was that one day intermediate links would be discovered.

Note: Every fossilized skull that has ever been unearthed possessed sockets for the eyes; there is no exception. Any trip to a museum proves the point.

>> ^dag:
Fascinating stuff. Did Darwin himself really predict that whales evolved from land animals?


Difficulties on Theory, Chapter VI of Dawin's "On The Origin Of Species"

"In North America the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country, I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more and more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale."

This creature is a threat to the unique adorability and dexterity of otters everywhere! He MUST be stopped if Otteria is to retain its privileged status among aquatic mammaldom!

ping

( @ aquatic origin of )