#the life aquatic

[tomcat-radio]

Getting into Wes Anderson and don’t know what to watch? Refer to this handy dandy flow chart I made.

[wolfpup026]

the life aquatic 🐬

[illiana-mystery]

What a handsome cameraman.

[johnschneiderblog]

The life aquatic

Ninety-five degrees here Wednesday, north of the 45th parallel ... One day shy of summer! It was damn near freakish.

Too hot to do much of anything.

"So, go jump in the lake," you might say, but Lake Huron is slow to warm up to summer. The gauge on my boat registered a forbidding 60 degrees at the surface. In terms of a chilling effect, that's a little too much of a good thing.

However, even 95 isn't too hot to sit in the and shade and watch life float by; the life aquatic, that is. These photos show some of what a spectator can witness on a Wednesday afternoon.

By the way, late in the day somebody threw the cosmic switch. The wind reversed course, the heat broke, the earth sighed. By 6 p.m. we were scrambling for long sleeves and back to our regularly scheduled program.

[hugh-lauries-bald-spot]

tag game: post images of some of your “they’re just like me” characters

tagged by: @the-hopeless-fanboy and @venuslovesfrogs

nightmare blunt rotation

tagging: @beetle-goth @devourerofcheesecake @its-kinda-snowy @grand-taire @oddlittlestories @coop-of-coffee and anyone else who wants to :))

[pseudonode]

[optimismoptimism]

[d1gnan]

found this drawing of a bunch of wes anderson characters i did after moonrise kingdom came out in 2012 (i was 10)

[schlock-luster-video]

Wishing a happy birthday to film icon Bill Murray!

[drmonkeysetroscans]

A cruise.

[laurastudarus]

At the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, Wes Anderson premiered Bottle Rocket, a scrappy short film about two petty criminals planning the ultimate heist, only to walk away with a hundred dollars each. The black-and-white short contained hints of what would later become the director’s hallmarks: ragged emotional exploration couched in off-hand humor, stylized camera movements, self-aggrandizing characters, and the Wilson brothers. But no one could predict the legacy he’d craft out of these extremely purposeful building blocks nine more films and a handful of shorts later. 

(via From “Bottle Rocket” to “The French Dispatch”: A Brief Tribute to Wes Anderson’s Visual Storytelling - sundance.org)

[tomcat-radio]

Wes Anderson's kill count, a result of having too much time on my hands, spoiler: it's complicated.

Firstly, referencing the title, Wes Anderson himself has never killed anyone (at least I hope), but people sure do die in his films sometimes. The question is, exactly how many?

ALSO WARNING!! SPOILERS FOR ALL MOVIES AHEAD! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

The Conditions -

This is a low estimate, meaning only characters who are confirmed to have died are counted. However, if a character is stated to have died and later been resuscitated, they will also be counted. Animal deaths will only be counted if the animal is a character or their death plays a role in the story (for example hunting, or a character eating meat does not count). I will only add to the kill count if I have an exact number, so saying for example, "a lot of people died" means zero for these purposes.

Bottle Rocket

No one died in this one.

Death toll: 0

Rushmore

Eloise Fischer - cancer - 47

Edward Appleby - drowning - age unknown

The Royal Tenenbaums

Helen Tenenbaum - unknown - 55

Rachel Tenenbaum - Plane crash - 35

Royal Tenenbaum - heart attack - 68

Buckley - Hit by car - age unknown

Mrs Sherman - stomach cancer - age unknown 

Death toll: 5

The Life Aquatic

Esteban Du Plantier - eaten by shark - age unknown

Ms Plimpton - overdose - age unknown 

Ned Plimpton - blood loss due to injuries in helicopter crash, likely impaled by helicopter parts - 30

Filipino pirate - bullet to neck - age unknown 

Alastair Hennessey's crew (at least 12 individuals) - cause of death unknown - ages differ

Pirates in hotel (at least 12 individuals) - explosion - ages differ

Death toll: 28

The Darjeeling Limited

Jimmy Whitman - hit by taxi - age unknown

Francis Whitman - motorcycle crash - 39-40

Child crossing river #3 - drowning - age unknown

“One of the sister’s brothers” - eaten by tiger - age unknown

Death toll: 4

Fantastic Mr Fox 

Rat - electrocution - age unknown

Fantastic mr Fox’s father - cause of death unknown - 7 ½ non fox years old 

Death toll: 2

Moonrise Kingdom:

Snoopy - shot by bow and arrow - age unknown 

Sam Shakusky’s mother - cause of death unknown - age unknown 

Sam Shakusky’s father - cause of death unknown - age unknown

Death Toll: 3

The Grand Budapest Hotel: 

Madame D-U-T - poisoned - 84

Jopling - pushed off cliff - age unknown

The author - cause of death unknown - age unknown 

Agatha - illness - age unknown

Agatha and Zero’s child - cause of death unknown - age unknown

M Gustave - shot - somewhere in his forties 

Kovacs - murdered by Jopling - age unknown

Serge X - murdered by Jopling - age unknown 

Headless girl - murdered by Jopling - age unknown 

Kovacs’s cat - murdered by Jopling - age unknown 

Death Toll: 10

Isle of Dogs

Dog in Spots’s kennel - starvation - age unknown

Dog referenced - hung by own leash - age unknown 

Professor Watanabe - poisoned - age unknown 

Atari’s mother - train crash- age unkown 

Atari’s father - train crash - age unknown 

Indigenous dog leader - cannibalised - age unknown

Death Toll: a shockingly low 6, because this operates off of confirmed deaths only. If speculated deaths were counted, Isle of Dogs would likely be the highest by far.

The French Dispatch:

Moses Rosenthaler victim #1 - murder - age unknown

Moses Rosethnaler victim #2 - murder - age unknown

Arthur Howitzer Junior - heart attack - 75

Zeferelli - Electrocuted - 19 

The 8.25 bodies pulled from the Blasé river each week, The French Dispatch definitely takes place over at least three months (evidenced by the riot storyline) , so we’ll multiply this by four and minus one for Zeffirelli, making it 98 - causes of death unknown - ages vary 

72 prisoners - riot - ages vary

6 members of The French Splatter School - riot - ages vary

2 men - shot by Clampette - ages unknown. 

Morisot - jumping from a building - age unknown

Police cadet/nanny - gunshot wound to head - age unknown

7 kidnappers - poisoning - ages vary 

Death toll: 201

Asteroid City

Mrs Steenbeck - illness - age unknown

Conrad Earp - car crash - 50 

Death toll: 2

-

So, without further ado, the lowest possible estimate of the overall kill count from all 11 of Wes Anderson's films is 253, and if you read all of this, I don't know whether to thank you or be concerned.

[the-golden-vanity]

Favorite Wes Anderson movie?

Thank you for asking! It's probably The Darjeeling Limited—beautiful soundtrack, beautiful setting, chaotic sibling antics.

Seu Jorge's David Bowie covers for The Life Aquatic soundtrack are worth an honorable mention, too.

Thanks, @merit-rose!

Ask me a question!

[illiana-mystery]

Out there on the ocean...

[judging-by-its-cover]

I love the whimsy of these illustrations. They remind me of children books, or The Mysterious Benedict Society covers

Wes Anderson posters by Natalie Andrewson

[greensparty]

This Month In History - December Part 3

This is quite a month for pop culture anniversaries. For Part 1 read here and Part 2 here. Here now is Part 3:

Dec. 20, 1974: The Godfather Part II opens

In Dec. 1974 one of the greatest sequels of all time was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019. Happy 50th TGP2!

Dec. 20, 2019: Star Wars Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker opens

I know this is a controversial one to celebrate, but in Dec. 2019, the final installment of the Skywalker saga was released. For some reason this is the Star Wars movie that is raked over the coals the most. It's not the lowest rated on Rotten Tomatoes (that would be the 2008 Clone Wars movie) or the lowest grossing (that would also be Clone Wars), but for many this ends the Skywalker saga on a letdown. I didn't think it was bad, it just had a lot to live up to in terms of finding a satisfying resolve for the entire series. If I was to rank all of the SW movies, this would likely be on the upper half. Here is my review from 2019. Happy 5 ST9!

Dec. 25, 2004: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou opens

In Dec. 2004, one of Wes Anderson's best movies was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019. Happy 20th TLA!