96. The Viennese Waltz

The first appearance of dance on the list! Am I biased in favor of some art media over others? Absolutely I am. (Not that there's anything wrong with dance.)

95. The Pergamon Altar

You know how Westerners robbed all of the Mediterranean's treasures and carried them back home? Here's an extreme example: The Pergamon Altar, stolen in toto from the coast of Asia Minor and recreated from the original pieces inside a museum in Berlin. The altar itself is impressive, too, of course.

94. A Prayer for Owen Meany

Perhaps the only John Irving book that doesn't go on for 200 pages too long.

93. The Canterbury Tales

The first piece of literature to be written in the vernacular English rather than French or Latin. I've often seen it cited as the most influential work of English literature. That said, I've only ever read some of the naughty bits.

"In wifehood I will use my instrument

As freely as the Lord it hath me sent.
If I hurt anyone, Lord give me sorrow,
My husband will have it both eve and morrow."

92. The story of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

I had never heard this until now, but apparently the legend of Paul Bunyan is younger than you think. Some advertising executive came up with it in 1916, which means Paul Bunyan falls into the category of fakelore. Still, I love the story, and what does it matter that some guy made it up as ad copy for a logging company?

91. The Sagrada Família

90. Kill Bill

89. Michelangelo's Moses

The one with the horns.

88. Daedalus and Icarus

87. Sumer Is Icumen In

Another round of works of art without filler text. Details will come tomorrow.

86. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Response part three:

Here's what I suspect was the real problem with the choice of "Carthago delenda est." It seems to be a phrase that is purely utilitarian. It only exists to serve one purpose, and that purpose is not to be beautiful, but to convince the Roman senate to destroy Carthage. And although that's true, I would argue that the purpose of art is to evoke emotion. Any emotion.

Here's what I would like to present as art, and it's a somewhat strange story. The US has a lot of nuclear waste, and it's expected to stay radioactive and dangerous for the next 10,000 years at least. The Department of Energy decided it would be a good idea to design a method of marking for future generations that our nuclear waste disposal sites are dangerous and people should stay away from them. They commissioned a study on how best to scare future people away to be carried out by a diverse group of physicists, historians, linguists, and anthropologists. And the results are remarkable.

Among other suggestions for what to include at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant:

-A forbidding landscape of giant concrete thorns (pictured)
-Earthwork berms in the shape of lightning bolts radiating out from the waste location
-Granite message kiosks with a warning text written in the UN's official languages and Navajo (the local language). The text reads, in part, "This place is a message and part of a system of messages. Pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here."

Is it beautiful? Absolutely not. And it was designed to fulfil a very specific purpose. But I would unequivocally call it art.

85. "So it goes" from Slaughterhouse-Five

Response part two:

Was it the shortness of the phrase that made it unacceptable? Because "So it goes" from Slaughterhouse-Five always gets me. Kurt Vonnegut sure knows how to get the most out of his language.

84. The Gettysburg Address

This post is part one of a three-part response to Aaron:

Aaron didn't like the inclusion of "Carthago delenda est" as a work of art. I would like to try to pinpoint where exactly that phrase goes wrong. Was it that it was overtly political? Here is an expressly political statement that certainly seems to qualify as art. And good art, too, judging by its popularity. (Fun fact: Even the modification "Four score and seven beers ago" gets more Google hits than something like "Holst's first suite".)

83. Carthago delenda est

Here's one that may need a little explanation. You see, Cato the Elder, the famed Roman orator, didn't like Carthage. I mean, he really disliked the place. Unsurprisingly, that meant that he supported the Romans in the Punic Wars against Carthage. More noteworthy, to me, is the artfulness of his propaganda campaign against Carthage. Every speech the man made, regardless of topic, ended with what must have been a rousing declaration of Carthago delenda est! (Carthage must be destroyed.) And so it was, and they salted the earth so that nothing could ever grow again.

Now, Aaron may protest that an ancient political slogan isn't really art. And to that I reply Aaron delenda est!

82. Danny Boy

I totally would have guessed that Danny Boy was an old traditional song. But it's not. It was written in 1910 by an Englishman(!) named Frederic Weatherly. Still, I'm crediting this one to Ireland, because as far as I'm concerned that's where it's from.

Also, a link to my favorite version of Danny Boy.

81. Million Dollar Baby

One of those movies that I'm pretty sure I first saw on a bus in Ecuador. This one stood out in that it was actually good despite being viewed in a foreign language and on a bus. Others, such as this movie, did not fare so well.

80. O Canada

Canada's national anthem is everything an anthem should be: stirring, easy to sing, and not too long. If you're reading this, you almost certainly know the lyrics in English, but check out the lyrics in Inuktitut. They're pretty sweet.

79. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

You know, despite having read this, I can't remember why the caged bird sings. I do remember that it made me want to punch Maya Angelou right in the face. (Not because she's black or because she's a woman, but because I didn't like her writing style. Just so we're clear.)

78. The Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an

Can't go into the afterlife without an enormous army of stone warriors.

77. Kubla Khan

Crazy old Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Did you know Kubla Khan was explicitly inspired by an opium-fueled dream he had? Also, because of the opening lines -- In Xanadu did Kubla Khan // A stately pleasure dome decree -- I was this close to mistakenly referring to this poem as Xanadu. Which is something different entirely, and features substantially more Olivia Newton John.

76. The Ponte Vecchio

Wikipedia informs me that it is Europe's oldest wholly-stone, closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge. And if that's not an impressive achievement, I don't know what is.

75. The Metamorphosis

It's not easy being a monstrous insect.

74. Jurassic Bark (the Futurama episode)

What do we want?

Fry's dog!

When do we want it?
Fry's dog!

73. The soundtrack to Flash Gordon

Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!

Link

72. Don't Eat the Pictures

Sesame Street visits the Met. I always loved Oscar the Grouch's song about how beautiful the broken statues were. And the little Egyptian kid is seriously creepy. I don't know if that was on purpose.

Watch it on YouTube

71. The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus

Apparently making a deal with the devil doesn't end well. Who knew? Also, Christopher Marlowe isn't just a poor man's Shakespeare, apparently.

70. Alien

You know what's great about this movie? It has the most detailed hallways of any movie, ever. Getting that science fiction atmosphere right is really all about hallway design, and Alien nails it. That's what happens when H. R. Giger does your art design.

69. Respect (the Aretha Franklin cover)

Originally an Otis Redding song, but Aretha really owns it. Figuratively. Boy, it has a totally different meaning when it's sung by a man.

Listen here...

68. The Flammarion Engraving

I love this engraving, so perhaps the less I say about it the better.

67. The Plague

The reason I've had to do my updating in spurts recently.

Also, I get complaints about The Old Man and the Sea, but not about The Plague? Perhaps you haven't read The Plague. Typical French existentialist nonsense about the meaninglessness of life. It's certainly art, but it's a good thing it doesn't have to be more entertaining than that scene in Ferris Bueller.

66. Cars

Finally resolving that ambiguity for Benj; I meant the Pixar movie.