June 4, 2007
11:31 AM   Subscribe

Mentioned in the blue 5 years ago, new7wonders.com has been counting down until 07/07/07 when voting will close for the internet-and-phone-elected New Seven Wonders of the World. Check out the 21 finalists, see them on a [maptrot] map, or a goodlooking slideshow and vote. Only thirtyish days left! In the meantime, have a look at the old (latest: 140 BC) list, the American Society of Civil Engineering's list of the seven wonders of the modern world, or (for more obscurity) Wikipedia's list of Things Sometimes Labeled as the Eighth Wonder of the World. And if you want it all in one link, the complete listing of world wonders.
posted by milestogo (35 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
what, no experience music project?
posted by andywolf at 11:38 AM on June 4, 2007


You know, I tend to think of the wonders as feats of human ingenuity and engineering. Unless I'm totally missing the point, some of those top 21 don't really seem to me to belong. The Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, the Brasilian Jesus Statue, they're all very spiffy, and took some doing to put up, but do they really compare with the construction of the pyramids or Petra in Jordan? eh, maybe I'm just a grouch.

that said: I still think Andre the Giant should be in there somewhere.
posted by shmegegge at 11:39 AM on June 4, 2007


Oh but he is, shmegegge.

I think the ISS or one of the Voyager probes should be on that world-wonders list (or is it exempt because it's not actually in/on Earth?).
posted by porpoise at 11:46 AM on June 4, 2007


I prefer Womens Suffrage because it gives you a police station in ever City (CivIV filter)
posted by Megafly at 11:52 AM on June 4, 2007 [5 favorites]


The Panama Canal and Hoover Dam seem more appropriate than the Eiffel Tower or The Statue of Liberty.

Also, your favorite Wonder of the World sucks.
posted by wabashbdw at 11:54 AM on June 4, 2007


The Wonders of Marketing
posted by stbalbach at 12:16 PM on June 4, 2007


Where's the SETI Program? Christ Redeemer is neat and all, but how's it going to help me win the space race against the Persians?
posted by Skwirl at 12:54 PM on June 4, 2007


Given that it was a phone poll I'm surprised "Family Guy" didn't make the cut.

God that show sucks.
posted by watsondog at 1:00 PM on June 4, 2007


I thought we learned from the first time humanity made a list of the seven greatest wonders in the world. Only one of them still exists (the pyramids) and it's not all that wonderful anymore. You're basically setting yourselves up for a fall, making lists like this.

The TV series Heroes is the 9th wonder of the world, which I still don't get, but to each his own.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:04 PM on June 4, 2007


From the list of the 8th Wonders of the World

People
* André the Giant, professional wrestler

If only for his monstrous drinking habit. The OBEY tagline doesn't do him justice, it should be changed to "Drink up, Shriner".
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:21 PM on June 4, 2007


I'd like to see the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Three Gorges Dam on the list.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:30 PM on June 4, 2007


Without Scarlett Johansson on the list, I just can't take it seriously.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:37 PM on June 4, 2007


Canuckfilter: Seven Wonders of Canada.
posted by Zinger at 1:58 PM on June 4, 2007




Burhanistan: Just "hoi polloi." The hoi polloi is redundant.
posted by Slap Factory at 2:43 PM on June 4, 2007


I was recently in Machu Picchu where I saw signs for this all over the place. At the time I thought it was pretty clearly a scheme to get a bunch of tourist attractions to pay for marketing a website. It seemed obviously a scam, but I wasn't clear on how they were actually making money. Apparently they're selling votes, which in retrospect should have been obvious.
posted by scottreynen at 2:54 PM on June 4, 2007


Already mentioned by wabashbdw, the Panama Canal and Hoover Dam seem more appropriate; also the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Kennedy and even in a different way the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. The Empire State Building, while no longer the tallest, is the tallest masonry building of its type and the most ambitious ever attempted beyond the previous state of the arts used. How about the Chunnel?

I suppose they didn't want to load the list up with tall buildings, bridges, and dams, but if you want impressive those are where our talents as a species seem to lie this century.
posted by localroger at 3:35 PM on June 4, 2007


Hmmm...I've visited 3 of the top 21 & I have to agree with wabashbdw, et al.
posted by taosbat at 5:07 PM on June 4, 2007


I'm voting for Angkor, Chichen Itza, the Eiffel Tower, Hagia Sofia, Neuschwanstein Castle, the Pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, the Sydney Opera House & the Taj Mahal.

(That way, I can say "meh - I've seen 'em all...")

(Am a bit surpised by Timbuktu, though. I was only about a day away from it, but chose not to go, because apparently it pales in comparison with Djenne)

Slap Factory: good point, but remember not to drink too much cohol before your big gebra exam.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:32 PM on June 4, 2007


(and why The Hambra is in the list is beyond me...)
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:34 PM on June 4, 2007


tube
posted by taosbat at 6:40 PM on June 4, 2007


Oopsie! I was just checking something and hit the wrong button.
posted by taosbat at 6:42 PM on June 4, 2007


(That's ok. I forgot the Colosseum)
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:47 PM on June 4, 2007


Brought to you by them ¯|¯00bz: wonder.
posted by taosbat at 6:47 PM on June 4, 2007


Second Borobodur -- and no Bagan?
posted by dreamsign at 6:58 PM on June 4, 2007


appears to be ending up as a popularity contest for iconic touristic sites.

Borobudur is definitely impressive, and might have only just missed the cut. It might have suffered because I'm not sure that too many tourists make it to Java, and a significant proportion of the voting probably depends on people ticking the places they've visited.

For that reason, Bagan is even further out of the running, as Myanmar is probably even less touristed than (non-Bali) Indonesia.

I'm still surprised by Timbuktu, though. It's not as if all that many people visit Mali (the travel is really quite tough & uncomfortable, and the food is probably the worst I've ever encountered) and many of those who do might make the same decision as I did - if overlanding, it's apparently just not worth the effort of a day in each direction to & from Mopti. It seems to trade on its name, more than anything else.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:23 PM on June 4, 2007


No terracotta army? This is by far my personal favorite.
posted by scodger at 11:26 PM on June 4, 2007


appears to be ending up as a popularity contest for iconic touristic sites.

Ugh. That's unfortunate.

Then I just read this:

The military junta (SPDC) has haphazardly restored ancient stupas, temples and buildings, ignoring original architectural styles and using modern materials that bear no resemblance to the original designs. Likewise, the junta has established a golf course, a paved highway, and is about to open a 61-metre (200-ft) watchtower in the southeastern suburb of Minnanthu.

I realize it's probably because I'm short on sleep, but that makes me want to cry.
posted by dreamsign at 1:40 AM on June 5, 2007


ah, dreamsign, that sort of shit happens everywhere. Hatshepsut's temple in Egypt is a particularly nasty piece of reconstruction, where it all looks great from a distance, but get up close & only about 10% is original. It's all for the tourists.

Palmyra, in Syria is similar. It has a famous corridor of Roman columns, about the only things standing, and it turns out that most of the blocks are painted concrete. I've seen some pretty appalling Greek sites in Turkey, and the Indians are starting to go crazy "restoring" sites all over the country.

The best interpretation I can put on it is that sometime down the track, the historical record will show that "this site was nearly in ruins until it was restored under the regime of the SPDC...a 61-metre watchtower, in typical 21st Century Myanmar style was also added to the complex, but this has since fallen into disrepair..."
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:04 AM on June 5, 2007


Have to agree, all the modern wonders are iconic but not exactly amazing feats of human ingenuity and engineering. Go with the classics.
posted by absalom at 7:11 AM on June 5, 2007


If the Hagia Sophia doesn't win I'll make it my number 1 priority to destroy all the others.
posted by vbfg at 5:48 AM on June 6, 2007


(and then Sultan Ahmet will finally achieve his dream: the Blue Mosque will, at long last, be the most awesome building above the Golden Horn)
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:16 AM on June 7, 2007


The monument built for my vindictiveness will be pretty cool though.
posted by vbfg at 5:08 AM on June 7, 2007


the Chernobyl sarcophogus is wonderful in a sterile for 1000 years kind of way.
posted by Megafly at 4:07 PM on June 11, 2007


Wow. Ok, went to Kiyomizu on the weekend and the pictures don't do it justice. Still, so many of these don't fit what I would have originally thought as a "wonder".

That being said, I happened to just catch the "Seven Wonders of Canada" on the CBC after it finished, and man... "Prairie Skies"????
posted by dreamsign at 5:42 AM on June 12, 2007


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