Sunday, July 08, 2007

Seven Wonders -- hah!

So there was this online poll that some clown came up with to select a new septet of "wonders" around the world. And now the votes are in and the results announced.

Can you take it?

1. The Great Wall of China;

2. The ancient city of Petra in Jordan;

3. The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro;

4. Machu Picchu in Peru;

5. The Maya ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico;

6. The Colosseum in Rome;

7. India's Taj Mahal.


Ummmm...yeah...right on.

Okay, I've actually seen one of the Magnificent Seven -- the Colosseum -- and would dig to see most of the others. The statue of Christ, while a big sonuvagun in a photogenic location, doesn't move me and seeing the Taj Mahal means going to India, which is pretty low on my dream-travel list.

What about the Mall of America? What about Disney World?

What about Faye Dunaway for God's sake? You think the work of a bunch of peasants putting big stones in piles can compare to her?

Fuggedaboutit.

Not that the original list -- still the "official" one -- of Seven Wonders was all that hot. The Colossus of Rhodes made that one, as I recall, and no one who worked on the list ever even saw it. No one in the last two millenia saw it. It was a freekin' legend. Might as well have put Noah's Ark on there.

Years ago, there was a huge statue of Bullwinkle on Sunset Boulevard here in L.A. I'd put that on the list in a heartbeat. Stonehenge, too; a place where a bunch of loons wear antlers and howl during hot-button days on the pagan calendar has to be there.

Of course if we make howling loons a criterion, we could include Paris, which has the Eiffel Tower which actually is a wonder. Or Washington, D.C.

Supposedly, the remains of Atlantis are now believed to be somewhere near the Bahamas; divers have reported seeing (and have photographed) what appears to be a huge man-made highway or wall in the depths. If so, that ought to have been a shoo-in.

Not sure what all the fuss about the new Seven Wonders list is all about. It's been reported that the Great Wall gathered maximum votes because a billion Chinese logged into the voting site. Wonder how many write-in votes that monstro Chinese dam completed a few years ago picked up?

I don't care, I guess. I'll never see Petra, and most likely not Machu Picchu.

So, selfishly, I want to see a list of wonders I might actually get to, that aren't being held together by spit and baling wire or in constant danger of being swallowed up by encroaching jungle.

And any list that doesn't recognize Faye as a major-league, boffo-at-the-box-office, capital-W Wonder simply ain't complete.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tend to agree. Some of those "wonders" are to me just a big yawn. But then, no one's ever accused me of being the classiest guy in town.

Doug said...

The Mall of America is fairly small compared to the West Edmonton Mall, 2.5 M sq ft to 3.8 M sq ft, and tiny compared to the reported sizes of two in China--up to 8 M sq ft.

As far as any Disney properties, maybe the original Disneyland, when it was first built, but they don't have anything that can't be replicated by any firm with enough money. Lots of money, true.

This post is more or less on the level of celebrity bashing, Scribbs. None of them, or these "wonders" are of any import.

Faye Dunaway was hot at one time...

MrScribbler said...

What's this, dal? I seem to upset people when I'm serious and now you're irritated because I'm trivial?

I give up.

At some point all of us will have been "hot at one time." Or at least lukewarm.

Anonymous said...

I thought those were strange wonders, too. I only liked one of them: The Mayan Ruins. The whole Mayan civilization and their accomplishments are a wonder in itself.

Anonymous said...

The original Faye I love...the one whose sexiness is unrecognizable due to overuse of modern miralcle methods for antiaging, not so sure.

becomingkate said...

I'm facinated by Stonehenge!

Doug said...

It isn't that you are being trivial, it's that your tone suggests you are just generally fed up with the world at large, no matter what the relative importance of any subject, aside from cars or cats.

Maybe that's a false impression. If it is, I apologize.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I have the wrong idea about "wonders," it was my opinion for the majority they were to be natural. If not natural then unexplainable or curious...ex., the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The pyramids weren't even on the list, while not naturally made they still are a wonder in construction.

Now I'm babling...thanx, lol.

Dorrie said...

interested....

there are TWO lists actually... one is the natural wonders (Grand Canyon, etc.) and the other is the man-made wonders. The pyramids are already on it... the others don't exist any more (giant statue of Rhodos, etc.) and that's why they wanted a new list.

I'm glad the Eifel towe, Stonehenge and Neuschwanstein didn't make it.. the statue in Rio shouldn't have, and perhaps not the Taj Mahal... just not old enough I'd say.

Kimmywoo said...

Hey, if we're going to be... erm, what's the word... ethnocentric(?), how about Sydney's Opera House?!!! ;P

Anonymous said...

My sis just told me she recognizes my comments because of my typos...and because she can't understand them???

:)
:(

John0 Juanderlust said...

If they left out my friend Carla when she was twenty, then the list is wrong.

John0 Juanderlust said...

She could qualify for natural or made made, depending on your you look at it.