CHUD.com Community › Forums › CULTURE, HUMOR, & FREE FORM › Misc. Culture › The Best That We Can Do
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

The Best That We Can Do - Page 2

post #51 of 98
1/28/08 at 6:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
I like how there's an implied notion of taking credit for shit you didn't do in this thread title. Just because you are the same species as DaVinci, don't act like you helped with the Mona Lisa.
The way I see it is that everything was created by somebody. I had no hand in it, so I realize I didn't help. But someone created the Mona Lisa, and someone also created the vaccination for polio. Two very different things, both important, but both ultimately created by a person or people.
Reply
post #52 of 98
1/28/08 at 6:52pm
Who's taking credit? To me, it implies the best that we, as a species, can do (or have done if you will, perhaps that's the intended meaning) and I doubt any one of us here honestly thinks we're high and mighty because of it.
Reply
post #53 of 98
1/28/08 at 6:54pm
I understood this as an appreciation for great accomplishments in human civilization. I am in no way taking credit for anything, yet.
Reply
post #54 of 98
1/28/08 at 6:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
I like how there's an implied notion of taking credit for shit you didn't do in this thread title. Just because you are the same species as DaVinci, don't act like you helped with the Mona Lisa.
That's a ridiculously literal interpretation of the thread title. first, it's not as though Da Vinci was working in a vacuum. Without the teachers who developed him and Lisa Gherardini to pose for him, the painting wouldn't exist. So, he can't take full credit for it, either.

More importantly, nobody is taking credit. The point is that the Mona Lisa is such a work of artistic perfection that it is to be admired as a pinnacle of human creation. In other words, the Mona Lisa is the best that we, as a species, can hope to produce. Nothing more.
Reply
post #55 of 98
1/28/08 at 7:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
I like how there's an implied notion of taking credit for shit you didn't do in this thread title. Just because you are the same species as DaVinci, don't act like you helped with the Mona Lisa.
Seriously? Come on, man. Even if Frank's intent isn't clear to you, he deserves so much more of the benefit of the doubt than you're giving him here!
Reply
post #56 of 98
1/28/08 at 7:07pm
There's no way that Frank's intent wasn't clear, or that anyone could think that he meant what Ripoll was saying with his post. Take that bottled up juvenile aggression elsewhere.
Reply
post #57 of 98
1/28/08 at 7:16pm
Death Race 2000 speaks for itself.

Ice cream. It's the good things in life given glorious, gelatinous form.

Physical Graffiti. I don't care what classic rock radio has done to it, it's bloody magnificient.
Reply
post #58 of 98
1/28/08 at 7:18pm
I thought Ripoll was just joking around.
Reply
post #59 of 98
1/28/08 at 8:02pm
a.

b. Writing
Reply
post #60 of 98
1/28/08 at 8:08pm
Winner.
Reply
post #61 of 98
1/28/08 at 9:41pm
Lcd

Edit: Really? I can't do anything in all caps? Really? Fine. Acid.
Reply
post #62 of 98
1/28/08 at 10:03pm
LSD (maybe ALLCAPS don't work if UR doing it wrong)
Reply
post #63 of 98
1/28/08 at 10:53pm
JAMES MURPHY

-did it work?-
Reply
post #64 of 98
1/28/08 at 11:01pm
Great Acheivements:

• All the cool shit I ever saw on TV and learnt in school.
• Random crap that exists regardless of whether humans have quantified it.
• The books on my university English curriculum.
• Well-known and populist works of music, visual art, architecture, and so on.
(• Humorous entendre pertaining to sexual discovery.)
• Recent scientific acheivements.
• Moderately interesting choices for celluloid mediums, followed by a brief discussion bemoaning the proles' artistic retardation — such cultural blindness, why do the idiots in meatspace not recognize this geniousness!?!?
Reply
post #65 of 98
1/28/08 at 11:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianM View Post
LSD (maybe ALLCAPS don't work if UR doing it wrong)
I'LL KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!
Reply
post #66 of 98
1/28/08 at 11:13pm
Enlightment.
Though still in progress and hopefully ever will this period sparked half of the artistic and intellectual achievements mentioned in this thread.
Reply
post #67 of 98
1/29/08 at 12:21am
The guy who was smart enough to put cannabis in a pipe and smoke it. That was a good guy.
Reply
post #68 of 98
1/29/08 at 12:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
Guinness beer.
Guinness is a stout, goddamnit.

Everyday, by Buddy Holly

The video for Knights of Cydonia

Singin' In the Rain

The 1937 Cord coupe

Audrey Hepburn (brunette)
Virginia Madsen (blonde)
Misty Regan (redhead)

Lego

maple syrup
Reply
post #69 of 98
1/29/08 at 12:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
I like how there's an implied notion of taking credit for shit you didn't do in this thread title. Just because you are the same species as DaVinci, don't act like you helped with the Mona Lisa.
Come on Ripoll, are you fucking kidding me? What does this even mean? The thread title does nothing of the sort, and you know it. It has to do with the best the human beings can achieve, creatively, scientifically, etc. This would include all human beings. DaVinci was, despite his second penis, a human being. So is Frank. So am I. So are you (though, having seen your nipples, there may be a counter-argument).

By your logic, the title The Best Human Beings Can Do would suffer from the same fault, even though your argument would suggest it would do away with it.

You should quit the empty sassafrass and instead take part in one of the more interesting thread ideas going.
Reply
post #70 of 98
1/29/08 at 1:27am
"da Vinci" isn't the man's name-- it's where he's from. And according to Star Trek, Leonardo wasn't human anyway.

More bests:

The last episode of Newhart

Chocolate mousse

Barcelona's Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (assuming it ever gets finished)

The Age of Reason
Reply
post #71 of 98
1/29/08 at 2:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Banks is my hero View Post
You should quit the empty sassafrass and instead take part in one of the more interesting thread ideas going.
The thread — which was promising — has evolved into a frankly dumb list stuff humans are responsible for. At this point, he's hardly detracting from a heady discussion.
Reply
post #72 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:18am
To be fair, humans are responsible for far more dumb stuff than smart stuff.

Whimiscal nominees are out, then? I stand by Age of Reason and Sagrada Familia. Seconding the Apollo program and Magna Carta.

The Transcontinental Railroad.
Don Quixote.
Bach's Saint Matthew Passion.
Reply
post #73 of 98
1/29/08 at 11:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Warren View Post
The thread — which was promising — has evolved into a frankly dumb list stuff humans are responsible for. At this point, he's hardly detracting from a heady discussion.
Note that I said interesting thread ideas, not interesting threads. I chose that word for a reason.
Reply
post #74 of 98
1/29/08 at 2:44pm
The Gettysburg Address.
And I second/third the Apollo program.
Reply
post #75 of 98
1/29/08 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Warren View Post
The thread — which was promising — has evolved into a frankly dumb list stuff humans are responsible for. At this point, he's hardly detracting from a heady discussion.

I'm not sure it ever started out as a heady discussion. But you are free to elaborate on any contributions, if any you make to this thread.
Reply
post #76 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by billylove View Post
But you are free to elaborate on any contributions, if any you make to this thread.
I suppose by "contributions" you mean identifying the monuments of human acheivement — like "Scuba Gear," "Plastic Surgery," and "Glue."

Why should I bother? A groundbreaking invention, such as concrete, can be crafted into a monument of human acheivement; the Parthenon, the National Assembly of Dacca, the bridges of Robert Maillart. But who cares; this is a place for bon mots about breast enhancement and chocolate mousse, with, perhaps, the occasional serious suggestion, such as one badwidth on the electromagnetic spectrum (what an acheivement!).
Reply
post #77 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Banks is my hero View Post
Note that I said interesting thread ideas, not interesting threads. I chose that word for a reason.
Noted.
Reply
post #78 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Warren View Post
I suppose by "contributions" you mean identifying the monuments of human acheivement — like "Scuba Gear," "Plastic Surgery," and "Glue."

Why should I bother? A groundbreaking invention, such as concrete, can be crafted into a monument of human acheivement; the Parthenon, the National Assembly of Dacca, the bridges of Robert Maillart. But who cares; this is a place for bon mots about breast enhancement and chocolate mousse, with, perhaps, the occasional serious suggestion, such as one badwidth on the electromagnetic spectrum (what an acheivement!).
You're a grouch.
Reply
post #79 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Warren View Post
I suppose by "contributions" you mean identifying the monuments of human acheivement — like "Scuba Gear," "Plastic Surgery," and "Glue."

Why should I bother? A groundbreaking invention, such as concrete, can be crafted into a monument of human acheivement; the Parthenon, the National Assembly of Dacca, the bridges of Robert Maillart. But who cares; this is a place for bon mots about breast enhancement and chocolate mousse, with, perhaps, the occasional serious suggestion, such as one badwidth on the electromagnetic spectrum (what an acheivement!).
Your avatar is so perfect for this kind of post.
Reply
post #80 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:31pm
He's also more or less right. I mean, I'm not sure how much the people who post on this site would have to say about the relative brilliance of Guernica, but it would at least be a recognition of something truly inspiring that humanity ultimately created.

To offer up something like "the MRI" or "Calculus" or "the wheel" is to entirely miss the point. It's awfully frustrating when this thread had the seed of something genuinely interesting within.
Reply
post #81 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Warren View Post
Great Acheivements:

• All the cool shit I ever saw on TV and learnt in school.
• Random crap that exists regardless of whether humans have quantified it.
• The books on my university English curriculum.
• Well-known and populist works of music, visual art, architecture, and so on.
(• Humorous entendre pertaining to sexual discovery.)
• Recent scientific acheivements.
• Moderately interesting choices for celluloid mediums, followed by a brief discussion bemoaning the proles' artistic retardation — such cultural blindness, why do the idiots in meatspace not recognize this geniousness!?!?
The end.
Reply
post #82 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Warren View Post
The thread — which was promising — has evolved into a frankly dumb list stuff humans are responsible for. At this point, he's hardly detracting from a heady discussion.
Sorry, but the parameters of the thread are so vague and inspire no discussion, I have to disagree with you, the was no hope for this thread.
Reply
post #83 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by innsmouthlook81 View Post
The end.
Hardly. That's the easiest kind of criticism. Move high enough up on the ladder of generality, and you can criticize anything. There's a legitimate discussion to be had here.
Reply
post #84 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by innsmouthlook81 View Post
Sorry, but the parameters of the thread are so vague and inspire no discussion, I have to disagree with you, the was no hope for this thread.
Defining the parameters are what make the discussion worth having.
Reply
post #85 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The LD View Post
Defining the parameters are what make the discussion worth having.
Yeah, but if you titled a thread "Things you like", you'd get roughly the same results. The first post could have done a better job of setting the tone of conversation instead of giving a random list of "best" things. Explain why its on there and encourage others to do the same, or we'll just be subjected to jokes and quick flavorless posts.
Reply
post #86 of 98
1/29/08 at 5:47pm
I think that's probably pretty fair, actually.
Reply
post #87 of 98
1/29/08 at 6:01pm
Alright then, I'll stand by my assertion that Casablanca is one of the best that we can do. Why? It is the pinnacle of solid film-making; even though originally designed as a quick, yet moderately high profile Warners film, there's a magic to it. Often imitated, but never surpassed, I can think of no other movie that everyone at least knows about. The script is deceptively simple; it's a very quiet movie and the actors are tested to the very limits of their abilities and bring out something wonderful.

Not all popular movies are great, nor are all great movies popular, but holy hell, Casablanca deserves every ounce of praise it receives. Sixty plus years later and we are still trying to match it.

Better? Yes? No?
Reply
post #88 of 98
1/29/08 at 6:08pm
Jesus Christ, some of you people really need to lighten up.
Reply
post #89 of 98
1/29/08 at 6:08pm
Abraham Lincoln

And, in addition, The Gettysburg Address (oops, Jackstar beat me).
Reply
post #90 of 98
1/29/08 at 6:26pm
Best that we can do? I'll add Ave Maria.
Reply
post #91 of 98
1/29/08 at 11:45pm
For starters:

Pet Sounds
The Wire
"Layla" (the song, not the album)
Benny Goodman Orchestra's Carnegie Hall Concert
"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg
"Easter 1916", Yeats
"Richard III" and "Henry V"
Goodfellas
Citizen Kane
Reply
post #92 of 98
1/30/08 at 12:22am
Jessica Biel's ass
Reply
post #93 of 98
1/30/08 at 2:56am
Thread = finito.
Reply
post #94 of 98
1/31/08 at 4:21pm
Monica B. (just beaten with the Biel reference)

Mayan architecture; some good reading.

On the Origin of the Species.
Reply
post #95 of 98
1/31/08 at 5:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_oats View Post
My god...so many posts with no Paradise Lost!
I have read it and I just didn't like it.
Reply
post #96 of 98
2/4/08 at 1:37pm
Just want to add that I'm listening to Ave Maria right now, a song that I've heard god knows how many times over my life and it still wrenches every nerve in my body. Simply beautiful.
Reply
post #97 of 98
2/4/08 at 5:01pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jared Melton View Post
Thread = finito.
It's my own damned fault, really. I threw out a half-formed idea, then didn't stick around to try and move the discussion toward fleshing out that idea.

But I'm still interested in this concept of the epitome of human achievement, this idea that there are some things out there that really do represent our very best as a species. It doesn't surprise me that many of those achievements have already been canonized, as previous generations have recognized already done a lot of thinking about this.

I'm pleased, however, that we're not necessarily confined to the established classics when considering human achievement, nor are we confined to individual works. I included the Apollo program because I thought it represented the best of our species: audacious, hopeful, and legitimately heroic. I included The Sopranos because it's a magnificent, long form contemplation of who we are that manages to embrace both beauty and ugliness. It was my hope that this thread might introduce me to some achievements or works of which I had been unaware, but things don't always work out as we hope.

I'll know to stick around next time.
Reply
post #98 of 98
2/4/08 at 7:14pm
The release of "I'm Not There" and "Sweeney Todd" have had me revisiting Bob Dylan and Stephen Sondheim. I would posit that "Like A Rolling Stone" (and really, the whole of Highway 61 Revisited) and Sunday in the Park With George represent a little of the best that we can do.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Misc. Culture
CHUD.com Community › Forums › CULTURE, HUMOR, & FREE FORM › Misc. Culture › The Best That We Can Do