Do you ever think about what lies outside of our beautiful planet? I love all that astronomical and cosmological stuff (Many thanks to @ProfBrianCox and his wonderful TV programmes for that!) and I do think that sometimes looking outside of the world around us can help to give a better perspective on some of the small stuff that we all worry about in our lives.

“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened”.  ~Michel de Montaigne

So here are 10 things about our amazing Universe to remind you of where fit in the grand scheme of things. Even if they don’t make your day feel any better I hope you learn something new to give you pause for thought.

There are estimated to be 10 billion, billion stars in the observable Universe, that’s just the bit we have been able to see so far! If you would like to see that in real numbers it’s 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. Our nearest star is the Sun so the number of planets and moons is even larger than that. Kind of makes you feel small and insignificant really.

Our Solar System is located in the Milky Way galaxy, which has a diameter of about 100,000 light-years and contains about 200 billion stars. To put that distance into some sort of perspective a light year is the distance that light would travel in a vacuum in a year or approximately 6 Trillion miles so 100,000 light years is a long, long way.

You may feel quite still at the moment but depending where you are on Earth you could be travelling at anything up to 1,230 kilometers per hour with the rotation of the Earth, add on the 107,000 kilometers per hour as the Earth revolves around the Sun and you are fair whizzing along, hope I haven’t made you feel dizzy.

Imagine for a moment that the history of the Universe were squeezed into just one year. The first humans would have appeared at 11:39pm on the 31st of December, the Greek philosophers would have arrived 5 seconds before midnight and everything since the discovery of America by Columbus in the last second before midnight.

You could theoretically fit all of the human race in the volume of a sugar cube. That apparently is due to the fact that an atom has a lot of empty space into it so if all that was squeezed out there wouldn’t be much left. We are all just a load of fresh air really :-)

There could (again theoretically) be somewhere in the Universe where there is a copy of me writing this post and you reading it! I couldn’t begin to start explaining the quantum theory behind this but I recommend you read this excellent and entertaining article from Marcus Chown if you would like to learn more.

Recent research has shown that there about 10 billion stars with planets in our galaxy alone in the “habitable zone” – the distance from the star where solid planets can be found – many of which could in theory be capable of supporting life.

The farthest man made object in space is Voyager 1 which was launched in 1977 with a mission to study the outer Solar System. It’s flown past Jupiter and Saturn and is still going strong. Voyager 1 has so far travelled the equivalent of 119 journeys between the Earth and the Sun and is still sending back information to earth. It will need to fly for another 40,000 years before it reaches the nearest star system to our own.

Each Voyager space probe carries a gold-plated audio-visual disc in the event that either spacecraft is ever found by intelligent life-forms from other planetary systems. The discs carry photos of the Earth and its lifeforms, a range of scientific information, spoken greetings  and a medley, “Sounds of Earth”, that includes the sounds of whales, a baby crying, waves breaking on a shore, and a collection of Earth music, including works by Mozart and Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode.

The disc also contains pictorial and mathematical instructions as to how to play it – that could be really handy if any of the ‘youth of today’ find it and wonder what to do with it in this digital age!

If an alien ever visits earth the respective strength of our gravity compared to their own planet might mean that they could leap amazing distances and heights, keep that in mind when you are watching the Olympics!

I know that all of this won’t pay the bills but I hope that sometimes thinking on a grander scale will make you smile at yourself when you are sweating on some of the trivial stuff that we concern ourselves with – it works for me!

“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow”.  ~Swedish Proverb

Perhaps the world would be a better place with less conflict, aggression and greed if the Human Race could take a look outside of our own small world and remember how lucky we are to exist in this vast Universe and in this brief moment in time.

Please do let me know what you think, are we sometimes just too insular and should we think on the larger scale sometimes?

Many thanks for visiting the Top 10 Blog, I hope you will share this post with the Universe if you have enjoyed it :-)

*Image credits

Earth man – Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sounds of earth Disc – Wikipedia

What a delight to be able to welcome back the lovely Steph Spiro as a guest on the blog with her compilation of the best films about films.

If you love your movies be sure to pay a visit to Steph’s first guest post Top 10 Dream Films: Reality? Never!. You can find out more about Steph and connect with her on Twitter by way of the bio at the end of the post.

 I’m Ready For My Close-up: The Top 10 Films About Film

This season we’ve been lucky enough to experience an influx of beautiful films about films, from Hugo to The Artist to My Week With Marilyn, and beyond.  Not to mention the otherworldly film special effect of kids acting with humanity and grace in Super 8 (newly out on DVD).  

Hugo and The Artist are two of the very best. Hugo is Scorsese’s story of a young boy running the inner mechanism of a clock tower in a Parisian train station.  The lonely boy with the big blue eyes finds a message in an automaton that leads him on a path to fix a broken film director.  It’s utterly magical and immersive (best use of natural 3D ever) and it brings you inside the feeling of love: love of Paris, love of memory, love of movies, love of love. 

The cinematic world constructed in Hugo is astoundingly detailed and painstakingly crafted by master film-enthusiast Martin Scorsese.  You don’t just watch it; you fall in.  It becomes an entire world in depth, a realer than real labyrinth winding through the back walls of a train station the way celluloid winds through a projector.  The audience is bathed in projector light, — lit like moonlight, like magic.  Together, we dream.  

The Artist is a film about the Hollywood transition from silent to sound.  The entire film is silent and it’s absolutely bewitching. In one scene a girl mimics an embrace, snuggling up to an empty dinner jacket in one of the loveliest moments I’ve seen in contemporary film.  

Remember this feeling?  Sitting in the dark, totally enraptured?  

Considering the recent (and extraordinary) filmic love letters to film out now, I’ve started to think of my Top 10 films about films, and I’ve created my own personal list (in no particular order).  Let’s go to the movies!

1. Singin’ in the Rain

No film-about-film list is ever complete without Singin’ in the Rain.  It’s a classic.  And if you haven’t seen it, then log in to Netflix now and move it to the top of your queue immediately.  You’re missing out on a grand musical about the film industry shift from silent to sound (just like The Artist), with some of the most insanely choreographed numbers of all time.

2. Sunset Boulevard

We mustn’t underestimate faded old silent film actress Norma Desmond, or we may end up face down in a pool.  Sunset Boulevard begins with the voice-over of a dead screenwriter.  It’s a classic noir-meets-Hollywood film about an actress who is resolutely and undeniably ready for her close-up.

3. The Player

The Player is Robert Altman’s genius (and noir-ish/comedy) film about a sleazy Hollywood executive, stalked by an unidentified and perturbed screenwriter.

4. Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso is a swoony film about film and a child’s love affair with the movies… sans cinematic kisses.

5. Fellini’s 8 ½

8 ½ is a spectacular film about a director stepping through reality into dream and back again.  It’s one of the most amazing films about film because it turns the camera inward and projects, sending streams of light deep inside the movie house abyss of the human soul.

6. Sullivan’s Travels

Sullivan’s Travels is an ode to comedy, a film about a director of screwball gems like Hey Hey in the Hayloft, determined to make a serious, socially conscious film.  He goes on a quest to discover what it’s really like on the streets, and in the process he meets-cute with Veronica Lake and uncovers the real meaning of loss… and laughter (with a little sex in it).

7. The Stuntman

Peter O’Toole is Eli, the mysterious omniscient director.  After the death of his original stunt guy, Eli catches a fleeing convict, takes him through Alice’s magic mirror via “Eli’s killer crane,” and turns the skittish jailbird into a very confused stuntman.

8. Adaptation/Barton Fink

Ah, films about screenwriters!  Adaptation follows Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother into the world of book-to-film adaptation, as Charlie struggles to adapt a “sprawling New Yorker” novel, The Orchid Thief, and instead writes himself and the author of the book (Susan Orlean) into the story.  Very meta-mesmerizing.  Barton Fink follows a playwright into an abandoned hotel as he attempts to write a Hollywood screenplay.  Arguably the best film ever by the Coen Brothers.

 9. Boogie Nights/Ed Wood

I grouped Boogie Nights and Ed Wood together because they’re both about B movies. They range from the glittery roller-clad depths of a 70s porn industry disco lair to the black-and-white backlit world of the maniacal Depp grin.  Both films are essential and beautifully shot (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and Tim Burton, respectively) about darker niche filmmaking, using richly interwoven narrative, and in the case of Ed Wood, a heartbreakingly faded Bela Lugosi.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

10. The Five Obstructions

I suppose this last pick is a bit of a dark horse, but anyone who loves the creative process will thoroughly enjoy this beautiful documentary.  Director Lars Von Trier challenges his mentor, Jorgen Leth (suffering from a creative block), to remake his 1967 film, The Perfect Human, five different times, each time with newly introduced “rules” for recreating the film.  The result is unexpectedly touching and wildly innovative.

Click here to view the embedded video.

**Honorable Mention:

Afterlife

Afterlife seems like an unlikely pick, but it’s actually one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen about the lasting visual power of a memory.  Our chosen stories are very cinematic.  We’re all stars of our own movies, and our life narrative is the strongest and most affective film of all.  In Afterlife, when people die, they’re allowed to pick one memory to take with them to the afterlife.  That memory is reconstructed and acted out in a theatrical setting and immortalized on film, strapped to the soul of the dying person as the last bit of their life that is extracted and kept forever.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chaplin

Chaplin is a moving and underrated biopic about Charlie Chaplin, featuring a masterful performance by Robert Downey Jr. as the silent film star.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Get Shorty

It’s impossible not to fall in love with this sharp mobster-meets-Hollywood hybrid!  In Get Shorty, Travolta’s mobster, Chili Palmer, decides he’d rather be in the movie ‘biz when he finds himself in La La Land to collect a debt.   

Click here to view the embedded video.

Venice/Venice & Day for Night

Venice/Venice is a classic and shamefully little-seen film about “love, romance… and the movies.”  Enough said.  Day for Night is Truffaut’s love letter to film, about a director finishing a film.  Both are excellent, Netflix-worthy queue-toppers.    

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mulholland Drive

Mulholland drive is tough to pin down as specifically ‘a film about film’ (which is why it didn’t make the actual list).  It’s a film that kind of writhes wildly in a Hollywood setting, and who can forget the Naomi Watts audition scene?  It’s epic and that scene alone is worth the honorable mention.  This film transports the viewer to a dark place of pure feeling the way only the best films can.  

Click here to view the embedded video.

Living In Oblivion

The only reason Living In Oblivion is listed as an honorable mention is because I listed it in my last Top10 blog as one of the 10 best dream films.  In fact, this is one of the most versatile and extraordinary films about independent cinema ever.  It unfolds in three parts: the first two episodes/acts are anxiety dreams about the making of a film, and the third and final act is a film about an anxiety dream.  Just watching Katherine Keener read her lines repeatedly, slightly tweaking them every time, take after take, is worth the add to your Netflix queue.  

Click here to view the embedded video.

Bowfinger

Alright, I know.  But give Bowfinger another shot.  Steve Martin’s film about the making of an alien invasion movie called Chubby Rain (that’s right… aliens invade the atmosphere disguised as chubby raindrops) starring a ragtag crew of misfits is terribly clever and wildly underrated.  And Eddie Murphy’s performance(s) are comic genius.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Inside Daisy Clover

Inside Daisy Clover, about a waif-turned-Hollywood sensation  (played expertly and with such precocity and sadness by young Natalie Wood) is strangely beguiling.  It’s also the first time we see Natalie Wood and Robert Redford together onscreen.  


Click here to view the embedded video.

And lastly, a finale: a couple of magnificent movie scenes (about movies):

The Purple Rose of Cairo 

Click here to view the embedded video.

And Sherlock Jr

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many thanks go to Steph for such an amazingly comprehensive post. Do you have any favourites of your own that you think should be included? If you would like to connect with Steph please click on the bio below.

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I am grateful to Josh Lucht aka ‘Resident Film Snob‘ for his seasonal compilation of movies to watch on Halloween.

You can find out more about Josh, previously a guest with Top 10 Movie Bad Guys You Root For, by connecting on Twitter @resfilmsnob.

Yes, I know everybody watches “Halloween” on Halloween, (or maybe another modern-day slasher) but here are 10 films, most of which are a bit off the beaten path that will give you the scares and the fun of my favorite holiday.

Just click on the heading to learn more at IMDb.

1. Rosemary’s Baby

This is the ultimate Satanic thriller.  The story envelops you so deeply that you’re genuinely shocked along with Rosemary as she learns who her child is.  This is not just one of the greatest, chilliest final scenes in horror film history.  It ranks among the best film endings period.

2. The Devil’s Rejects

Yes, it’s a sequel that’s superior to its original in every way.  When you find yourself rooting for people who are this sadistic and evil, you end up frightening yourself.

3. Evil Dead 2

This is slapstick comedy and gratuitous gore.  One of my favorite horror films.

4. In the Mouth of Madness

Most people agree “The Thing” or “Halloween” are John Carpenter’s best films.  But for my money, it doesn’t get any better than this unpredictable psychological thriller where the scares come at you from everywhere you’re not looking from them.

5. 2,000 Maniacs

There are no more gleefully sadistic killers on celluloid than these Southern gentlemen and belles.  The unapologetically bloody update, “2001 Maniacs,” is also very much worth checking out.

6. Nightmare Before Christmas

Hey, this is a children’s holiday after all.  Who says everything you watch has to be scary?  This is a celebration of the Halloween spirit at its finest.

7. Inside

This film is simply terrifying.  A woman covets a pregnant woman’s child and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.  She picks off person after person who would come to her victim’s aid and every kill is wonderfully memorable.

8. May

This is an update of Frankenstein.  A lonely girl decides to make her own perfect friend out of the perfect parts of people she meets.  Quirky and genuinely menacing in places.

9. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

For the fun, campy Halloween parties.  Everybody can sing along.

10. Funny Games

People who say a film has to be grounded in reality to be genuinely frightening have no imagination.  Discuss. At any rate, for those of you who need “true-to-life” scares, I give you this one.  Psychotic rich kids are terrifying.

P.S. – For those of you who have your heart set on zombies, (they seem to be very fashionable these days) may I recommend George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” or “Day of the Dead?”
They have both been remade very effectively, but these classics are required viewing for aficionados of the undead.

Many thanks to Josh for his compilation – please let us know of any of your favourites which you think should be a Halloween must watch movie!

For more great Halloween tips try 30 Top Halloween Songs, Party Games and Make-up Tips.

Thanks for visiting The Top 10 Blog. If you have enjoyed this post please share it with the world. If you would like to see more like this you can Subscribe, Follow, Like and Add to your Circles using the options in the Sidebar.

*Image Credits

Halloween Bat – nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I am delighted to welcome back as a guest Shirley Osei-Mensah with her collection of pictures to inspire and motivate you.

You can find out more about Shirley, who has previously brought us Top 10 Places To Get Motivational And Inspirational Quotes on Twitter and Top 10 People To Follow On Twitter For Your Personal Development on Facebook at Shirleyzone and on Twitter at ShirleyOM.

This is a top 10 compilation of some of the pictures I find most inspiring. Hope you enjoy and love them all. Thanks!! :))

A peacock taking a flight through the trees.

Another peacock taking a flight through the great and beautiful yellowish-green bushes.

A family of monkeys sharing a great emotional moment with each other. Very very great and so so beautiful.

Two monkeys sharing a great emotional moment together. A very very great picture.

Dewy flowers. Very very beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Two wonderful and great dolphins taking a very wonderful dive. Very very great and beautiful scenery to behold.

A bird taking a drink with great gymnastic skills. This shows great perseverance and determination to achieve.

A very great and cute cardinal fauna cooling off in a water fountain.

Another cardinal fauna having its very own pass time in his own private space :).

An aerial view of rice terraces in China. A very very great view and picture as a whole :).

And a bonus for you all, is this video featuring very very beautiful roses with music from the Backstreet Boys playing alongside. The music playing alongside is called “The Perfect Fan”. It’s a song on the great jobs that mothers do and for mothers. Enjoy!! And hope you love it just like I did :)).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many thanks to Shirley for her inspiring collection – I hope the images have put a smile on your face and a spring in your step!

Thank you for visiting the Top 10 Blog. If you have enjoyed this post I hope you will share it with the world. If you would like to see more like this you can Subscribe, Follow, Like and Add to your Circles using the options in the sidebar.

*All image supplied by Shirley Osei-Mensah – please click on the images to view the source.

Flat screen televisions are becoming more and more common in households as they come to more thoroughly dominate the market in electronics stores. Many people are simply waiting for the right reason or time to go out to the Marks & Spencer electronics section and upgrade for themselves, at which point they will never turn back to smaller or lower quality televisions.

Odds are, if you are considering getting a flat screen television, you have had your eyes on movies and programming that you like to watch on your new screen. With that in mind ‚ before you go out and purchase movies to watch on your new TV here is a brief rundown of the top 10 film disappointments of 2011 so far.

10. Cowboys & Aliens

This movie can be bashed too much because it provided exactly what it said it would. However, despite a good bit of fun and some humor here and there, it just didn’t have a lot to offer in the end.

9. Contagion

Contagion is a good film. But with its dynamite cast and intriguing/haunting subject matter, most people expected great. In the end it opens up more storylines than it can handle, and it suffers a bit for it.

8. Kung Fu Panda 2

This one is painful to admit, because the original was just so fresh and lovable. But the sequel simply lacked the novelty and charm, no more than a worse version of the original.

7. Unknown

Many got excited for this film because it looked like Liam Neeson would be bringing back the fury he had in Taken. However, Unknown was largely uninteresting, and not as fast or clever as it seemed to try to be.

6. Drive

If you’re interested in films in which the protagonist has about twenty lines and can fall in love with a woman without speaking to her, this one’s for you. But the intentionally lifeless performance of Ryan Gosling just didn’t hold the appeal it needed to. It’s not altogether bad, but you’ll wish for more.

5. Apollo 18

This is the worst film on this list, but because less was expected of it to begin with, it comes in at 5. If nothing else fans expected some fun from this one, and it delivered nothing but raw stupidity. It’s hard to watch.

4. Jack & Jill

Much like Apollo 18, this is one of the worst films of the year, but didn’t have high expectations anyway. Once a comedian starts doing the man-and-woman-in-the-same-movie gig, it’s time to stop. Sorry, Adam Sandler.

3. Your Highness

This movie looked stupid, but many expected James Franco and company to deliver. Unfortunately it was hard to laugh at this movie even if you tried to.

2. Larry Crowne

How can two of Hollywood’s best and brightest stars deliver a lifeless, inexplicably uninteresting performance? Watch this film if you want to find out. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are the best in the business but they still have to try, and it’s not clear that they did this time.

1. Super 8

The first 45 minutes of this movie are spectacular, and build a good deal of intrigue. The rest, however is bland and expected and totally lacks any originality. If Spielberg’s name weren’t on this project it would have been hammered by reviewers. As it is it was just a letdown.

Have you had any major movie disappointments this year? Please do let us know!

This post has been brought to you by Marks and Spencer.

Many thanks for visiting The Top 10 Blog today. If you would like to see more posts like this you can Subscribe, Follow, Like and Add to your Circles using the options at the top of the the sidebar.

*Image Credits

Movie Frame – Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hit Miss Maybe – Sean MacEntee Flickr

Dislike – Sean MacEntee Flickr