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View Full Version : What's On Your 'Manhattan' List?


Lumenskir
05-26-2011, 10:21 PM
I figure this is about as good a time as any.

So, what is a Manhattan List? The first instance of the list in fiction (that I know of) comes from, of course, Woody Allen's film, Manhattan.

Here is the scene where it is incepted. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTQ4a3BR5c)

In case you might not like that nervous fella that always seems to be in his movies, here's the transcript of the scene.

Why is life worth living? It's a very good question. Um... Well, There are certain things I guess that make it worthwhile. uh... Like what... okay... um... For me, uh... ooh... I would say... what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing... uh... um... and Wilie Mays... and um... the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony... and um... Louis Armstrong, recording of Potato Head Blues... um... Swedish movies, naturally... Sentimental Education by Flaubert... uh... Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra... um... those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne... uh... the crabs at Sam Wo's... uh... Tracy's face...

Basically, life can get shitty sometimes. That's why I find the idea of just listing out those things that personally make life worth living for you so remarkably...I don't know, necessary at times.

Now, the point of such lists isn't really to be exhaustive, and I'm pretty sure an implied requirement is that it can never be exhaustive. It's just to be there.

In pretty random, what pops to mind first, 'order', mine looks something like-

-The Room: Dubstep Remix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOejs9DhBCc)
-The second blowjob monologue in Deadwood
-Going to a baseball game with my dad where the Rays suck ass for seven and a half innings and then pull it together right when we had planned on leaving
-Oskar's stream of consciousness that leads to the invention of skyscraper elevators that move the building vertically in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
-4:45-8:27 of "Memorial"
-The pre-snort giggle my girlfriend lets out whenever we watch "Pier Pressure" and she realizes that GOB is about to claim that it is cold out
-Winning in a Mario Party 4 2v.2 minigame, and then faux jacking off onto my losing friend's face after he talked shit the entire time
-Louis C.K.'s bit on why people who make a half-hearted jack off motion should be required to mime the entire act
-"You are the AT&T of people!"
-Kanye West's "All of the Lights" music video
-Being able to correctly guess a movie based solely on the year and category while listening to the Leonard Maltin game
-Beating Alex Trebek in reading the name of the clue categories before he or any of my friends can, or alternatively, failing to beat Trebek and claiming that he cheated
-Clicking on the random button on Dinosaur Comics and then spending an hour laughing at all of the jokes I had forgotten about
-The "Bass Battle" screen
-The perfectly mixed Wild Turkey and Diet Coke
-The fact that there is a sequel to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sgj78QG9Bg)
-The fact that a human was capable of writing the "How does my hair look?" scene
-The knowledge that anything in the past can be topped at any point in the future

mauve
05-26-2011, 10:36 PM
-Buster Keaton.
-OkGo's music videos.
-Playing New Super Mario Bros Wii with my sister and inevitably ending up just rage-yelling at the screen in bad Mario voices.
-Johnny Depp and Hugh Jackman, if only because they are hot.
-Cupcakes.
-Half-Life 2
-Agatha Christie novels
-Alcott, Dumas, the Bronte sisters, and Rafael Sabatini
-The Marx Brothers
-Sour apple Laffy Taffy
-The smell of rain.

Amake
05-26-2011, 10:39 PM
The sun on my face at 4:30 in the morning.
Simon and Garfunkel.
Man's infinite potential for good.
Ernst Junger's observations on the origin of inebriation. (An elemental urge to tread outside of time, if you were wondering.)
The Mercy Seat.
Making something that was not in the world before.
Yotsuba playing in the rain.
Forgiving and being forgiven.
Breasts.You know how sometimes you see a sunset or a forest-covered mountainside or a flower or something with just the right curves and forms and colors and shapes that take your breath away? That's so painfully, unfathomably beautiful that it physically shocks you? Breasts are like that but on people. Breasts are a touch of miracle applied to the mundane wonder of the human body.

Gravity, the speed of light, absolute zero temperature and breasts. Those are the things I believe in, things in this mad world I trust to always be constant and true.

Well, gravity, the speed of light, absolute zero, breasts and Stephen Fry.

The Sevenshot Kid
05-26-2011, 10:48 PM
Music.

BitVyper
05-26-2011, 10:55 PM
-The open steppe
-A fleet horse
-Falcons at your wrist
-The wind in your hair

Kyanbu The Legend
05-27-2011, 12:18 AM
- Your stories and artwork

-The thrill of knowing that your art or story has entertained and made someone happy

-The advancement of technology

- Talking with other human beings

- The thrill of competitive play

- Women

- Sex

... What? I'm serious about that last one. It's a strong reason despite how bluntly I just posted it.

A Zarkin' Frood
05-27-2011, 04:27 AM
- Thoughts

- Forrest Gump

- Knowing that no matter how much flak my music gets there's at least one guy somewhere who enjoys it.

- Freddie Mercury

- My ability to be high without drugs.

- Bohemian Rhapsody, Circle of Life, Big Balls and Invincible.

Si Civa
05-27-2011, 07:44 AM
- Freddie Mercury

Yes. This. And David Bowie. Man, if there only were a song, where both of them would sing together!

Magus
05-27-2011, 08:38 PM
-The open steppe
-A fleet horse
-Falcons at your wrist
-The wind in your hair

WRONG!

Intern Nin
05-27-2011, 10:59 PM
Yes. This. And David Bowie. Man, if there only were a song, where both of them would sing together!

I can't tell if you're for real or if you're just baiting for someone to link to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I).

The Sevenshot Kid
05-27-2011, 11:36 PM
I can't tell if you're for real or if you're just baiting for someone to link to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I).

Lame. That's a total rip-off of a Vanilla Ice song.

Si Civa
05-28-2011, 12:56 AM
I can't tell if you're for real or if you're just baiting for someone to link to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I).

I was trying to fool somebody to think that I wouldn't know that mostly!