7 new wonders of the world

[likethebeer]

It's a big year for this sort of thing. So, 7 new wonders is looking at a pre-selected group of things, and voting.
http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php

Here's their list, and how I voted. I see that "great architecture" was one of my criteria. Plus, I picked things that were somewhat newer (between 200-2,000 years old). And I'm trying to use the word awesome in its original sense.

Here's the list:
1.) The Acropolis, Greece

Did I vote for it? No. I figured that if someone wanted to name it a 7th Wonder of the World, they would have done it last time.

2.) The Alhambra, Spain

Did I vote for it? Yes. It's really an incredible complex.

3.) Angkor, Cambodia

Did I vote for it? Yes. It's pretty awesome ('tho I've only seen the photos). Plus it looks like a big sand castle.

4.) The Pyramid at Chichen Itza

Did I vote for it? Yes. It's also awesome.

5.) the big dumb Jesus in Rio

Did I vote for it? No. You can guess why. It's big. That's all.

6.) The Coliseum in Rome

Did I vote for it? No. It's probably awesome, but I think that would be b/c of its age, not by its architecture.

7.) Easter Island

Did I vote for it? No. It's big and probably awesome, but not great architecture. Plus it's saddled with all those stories on why it's there.

8>) The Eifle Tower

Did I vote for it? No. It's cool, but. Just doesn't do it for me.

8.) The Great Wall of China

Did I vote for it? No. It's awesome but again, not great architecture. Plus, we all know you can see it from space. That's cool enough.

9.) The Hagia Sofia, Istanbul

Did I vote for it? Yes. It's awesome. And beautiful.

10.) the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto

Did I vote for it? Yes. I didn't know it at all, but it looks pretty damned awesome.

11.) Machu Picchu, Peru

Did I vote for it? No. I don't know enough to make the choice.

12.) The big dumb stupid Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany (seen on lots of posters)

Did I vote for it? No. Pretty obvious (all things that I wrote down w/the adjective "stupid" or "dumb" obviously didn't make the cut).

13.) Petra, Jordan

Did I vote for it? No. It's cool and incredible, but what's beyond the facade? I don't think it could compete with the stage sets from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

14.) THe Pyramids at Giza

Did I vote for it? No. The great pyramid made the list last time.

15.) The Statue of Liberty

Did I vote for it? No. It's awesome and maybe a 1,000 years from now, it will amaze people (when the world is ruled by apes and Charlton Heston's all confused), but it's still a big copper statue w/lots of scaffolding inside.

16.) Stonehenge

Did I vote for it? No. It's great, but I think it's overwhelmed by all those solstice parties.

17.) The stupid Sydney Opera House

Did I vote for it? No. WTF is that doing there, anyway?

18.) The Taj Mahal

Did I vote for it? Yes. It is incredible.

19.) Timbuktu, Mali.

Did I vote for it? No. Don't have enough of a feeling for it.

Edit:Oh! ANd one more: 20.) The Kremlin. I voted for it. It's quite amazing (ok, I'm overwhelmed by onion domes). It was down between that and the Coliseum, but I voted for the Kremlin b/c it's newer.

Comments

wonders of the world

[regatomic.livejournal.com]

i guess it takes a lot to make me wonder,..o.o

Re: wonders of the world

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I'm easily impressed. I had to write down the list and do selective reduction (not for the ones I labeled "stupid" and "dumb" obviously).

easily impressed

[regatomic.livejournal.com]

i guess it takes something that i don't think i could do myself to impress me, not much of that out there,.. plus i'm turned off by the obvious tourisum angle of the whole thing,..o.o

Re: easily impressed

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

can't add much to that, I'm afraid.

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

Aw! Why don't you like the German castle? It reminds me of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I LOL'ed at the Heston reference.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

The big German castle: it's too frothy. And if you want to base a piece of architecture on one person's obsession, put in San Simeon while you're at it.

I'm so glad you liked the Heston reference! I don't know if I could imagine the Statue of Liberty in the distant future without it.

[sacramentalist.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine the Statue of Liberty without hearing Homer Simpson do the PotA ending.

The CBC just did a poll to determing 7 Canadian wonders. They were natural and man-made. A few concepts, too. Like "hockey". It was pretty lame. But cool to see Canadians get excited about something.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

The 7 Wonders thing is going on all over the place. They had one for WI. The House on the Rock made the list. The place where I work? Didn't make the list.

Well, if hockey resulted in world-harmony, maybe it would make my list of world-wide wonders of the world. It's going to go head-to-head with Rugby in that arena, I'm thinking.

And, yes, I was thinking "what about Niagara Falls (the Canadian side)/the Grand Canyon/the Himalayas"?, but I guess these 7 wonders are man-made wonders, similar to the first go around.

[djymm.livejournal.com]

I was expecting their list of new wonders to be a bit more new. Seven wonders of engineering, maybe? All the nominees are well-known already, so the additional designation seems a bit trite.

Someone's thinking along your lines

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_wonders_of_the_world) has this on their 7 wonders of hte world page:

Modern wonders

The American Society of Civil Engineers compiled another list of wonders of the modern world:[9]
Channel Tunnel
Strait of Dover, between England and France
CN Tower (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Empire State Building
Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Strait, north of San Francisco
Itaipu Dam (Paraná River, between Brazil and Paraguay)
Delta Works (Netherlands, Europe)
Panama Canal

Re: Someone's thinking along your lines

[djymm.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with the Delta Works, but the Netherlands as a whole are something of a marvel of land reclamation.

[monkeypuncher.livejournal.com]

The Coliseum in Rome is totally amazing, and way bigger than I expected. It definitely deserves to be on the list.

Neuschwanstein is pretty cool, but only 5 rooms of it are finished. A wonder should at least have been completed. Even if it is falling apart.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I was back and for on the COliseum, but finally chose the Kremlin.

Oh, damn! I forgot to mention the Kremlin!