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Hamlet (Olivier) leaping to kill his uncle
Time for G.O.A.T. nominations, guys! . . .
. . . let's share our thoughts regarding the greatest all-time performer in any field you can imagine. The Count de Monet posted a slam-dunk G.O.A.T. on TimeOut last week tabbing Muhammed Ali as the greatest boxer in history. (I kinda doubt anyone will disagree with our Count on that count.) So, leaving Muhammed aside as a courtesy to the Count, who do you feel deserving of G.O.A.T. honors? Three nominations tops, please.
I'll start off with another slam dunk: John Wooden . . .
. . . who in my estimation is the greatest coach in any team sport ever. Ten NCAA championships in twelve years, seven consecutive. No coach I know of has ever had that kind of success over a limited period. And if you're unfamiliar with Wooden or basketball, he was revered as much for his character-building as for basketball smarts.
My next call is David Lean . . .
. . . as the greatest film director ever. So many contenders, including Robert Altman and Quentin Tarentino as well as a host of others, but none have directed as many compelling films as Lean. He was a heavyweight in his field, to use a boxing metaphor. His epics - Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ghandi - aren't just movies, they're history on film, figurative or literal. I can watch them repeatedly; Lawrence in particular, which I've seen at least twenty times.
My last G.O.A.T. is more conditional: pool legend Efren Reyes . . .
. . . as the greatest shot-maker ever. Notice I didn't say pool player, as there are other candidates for best overall, notably Mosconi and Worst(!). But Efren's ability to use the cue ball as a guided cruise missile can't be matched by any player I know of, much less surpassed.
Now it's your turn to name up to three choices in any field, excepting politics and religion, of course.
The watch on my wrist today?
Ω Homage.
I was early to the party already today,
I'll still go with Al Michaels. "Do you believe in miracles"?
Al Michaels it is for your G.O.A.T.! . . .
. . . and the watch on your wrist today is? . . .
Michael Mann.
To choose a person linked with Ali through his masterful cinematic oeuvre. In my mind, and this being inherently subjective, he is the greatest traditional filmmaker of all time. Traditional in the context of the form of film, his execution was always on the cutting-edge, whether film stock, digital or hybrid.... There are other filmmakers whom I would select in a different context such as Terrence Malick for pure philosophical experimentalism and Clint Eastwood as the overall most impressive creator, but Mann's idiosyncratic sensibility and perspective is the one which left the most profound psychological and emotional mark on me since I first lay eyes on a screen as an impressionable child finding myself completely consumed by the decade-defining spectacle that was (and is) Miami Vice .... His aesthetic choices were also the ones which affected my sensibilities indelibly, from costumography to the camera work by the likes of Dion Beebe, Dante Spinotti and Emmanuel Lubezki. I will leave this quote here, along with an excellent tribute video from YouTube....
.... His aesthetic choices were also the ones which affected my sensibilities indelibly, from costumography to the camera work by the likes of Dion Beebe, Dante Spinotti and Emmanuel Lubezki. I will leave this quote here, along with an excellent tribute video from YouTube....Mann's . . .
. . . Thief might be the most realistic action film of all time. Good call!
And your watch du jour?
You can witness....
my level of Miami Vice obsession by a few random belongings strewn across my shelf.... Even more intensively by the childhood image provided below courtesy of my mother .... As far as the 'montre du jour', I consider the PPro ABR the GOAT of this website without a trace of doubt 
........
.... As far as the 'montre du jour', I consider the PPro ABR the GOAT of this website without a trace of doubt ........Oh.... Thief....
I caught a 35mm print showing at the New Beverly Cinema (the one bought out and currently run by Quentin Tarantino) last November. The theater is crap, the film print was patchy, but the film itself as glorious as the day it came out in 1981. I also purchased the 4K restoration of the film which was overseen by Mann and released by The Criterion Collection. Worth every penny.
I lived in that neighborhood in the '80s and saw a few films there . . .
. . . including Black Narcissus, my all-time favorite.
Talk about great cinematographers, Jack Cardiff's work on BN . . .
. . . is beyond superlatives. I can watch that film 'til my dying day and not tire of it.
Art
Never seen it
Adding to my must-watch list right now, as well as some of David Lean's selected works which I remember seeing as a kid, but for some reason didn't stick in my mind nearly as much as Mann's offerings. There is the fact that I'm 'just' middle-aged at 37 . Cheers, Filip
. Cheers, Filip
Hey Art, good call. Thief is my favorite movie of all time
Saw it when I was 10 and have watched it every year since. It seemed to be James Caan's favorite movie too as I heard him mentioned it many times in interviews when asked.
. . . and I watched . . .
. . . Thief because you recommended it.
You must've forgotten.
Indeed,
Here's a brief excerpt from one of the most recent interviews he did for the re-release of Thief in 4K by The Criterion Collection:
I feel the same....
one of those rare, totally blunt actors, without a hint of anything remotely contrived or insidiously malevolent. Says it and does it like it is. Comes across equally authentically in his roles. Cheers, Filip
....Encore stills and footage....
Just to add a few.... By the way, Mann has always been quite the horology enthusiast, from what I understand he particularly loves Vacheron Constantin whose timepieces he has used in multiple films including for the Sonny Crockett character in Miami Vice where he wears a VC Malte Chronograph Perpetual Calendar in platinum (see this link: https://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&th=675106&rid=0).
At the Miami Vice premiere in Westwood, Los Angeles, 2006....
At the Miami Vice premiere in Westwood, Los Angeles, 2006....
I’ve seen Heat dozens of times. A great director. And who wasn’t influenced by Miami Vice in the 80s?
Ok! Rebecca Struthers, PhD . . .
. . . it shall be.
Let me guess: you're wearing one of her creations today.
🙂
No, but I'm a fan!
I wrote for one of the 5 first people to get their in-house movement, but the slots were taken. Much respect to the Struthers.
3 GOATs from a history buff 🍻
1. Themistokles of Athens, general and statesman often at odds with the aristocratic ruling class during the dawn of democracy. Preserved the course of Western civilization. In 483 BC, he convinced Athens to build a sprawling fleet. 3 years later, that fleet, led by him, lured an invading Persian navy into a narrow strait and overcame it at the Battle of Salamis, effectively ending the campaign to absorb Ancient Greece into the then-massive Persian Empire. Like many politicians, he was eventually ostracized by his peers from Athens, and, in a fascinating turn of events, sought hospitality in Persia, which welcomed him. He lived out the rest of his life as governor of a Perso-Greek city-state.
There have been many great statesman, generals, and some individuals who preserved a civilization. But the realm of those who were all 3 belongs to him.
I imagine this Mediterranean warrior would have had a soft spot for Panerai.
2. Shakespeare, Renaissance humanist, greatest storyteller and poet to ever live (who only once in his career split an infinitive like I just did/often do). Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear, Othello, Romeo & Juliet, 30 other dramas, histories, comedies and 150+ sonnets. His works showed the heart as enlightened, petty, hypocritical, witty, drunken, violent, loving, desperate, cunning and outrageous, all at once. Invented 1700 words. As well as expressions like “puking,” “swagger,” “vanish into thin air,” “break the ice,” “love is blind,” “good riddance,” and “the world is my oyster.”
Shakespeare has no peer. Continues to be the most read and performed writer in the world.
I imagine him as a Pasha du Cartier fan.
Hamlet (Olivier) leaping to kill his uncle
3. Siddhartha Gautama, seeker, philosopher. Purely apolitical and non-religious praise. Renounced aristocratic life to wander the world, confronting his physical and metaphysical limits on the way to becoming the Buddha. Inspired a zillion Zen Haikus by making simple statements repeated 2500 years later by Morpheus in the Matrix, like: “No one saves us but ourselves…. We ourselves must walk the path.” Inspired George Lucas to create Yoda and the Jedi.
I associate his philosophy with the Calatrava, and its empty, endless dial… through which one can hear the sound of one hand clapping. Even the Dalai Lama values a Patek….
Static or wrist shot?
Presumably Cincinnatus was Themistokles' also-ran . . .
. . . and also likely to have worn a Panerai.
I think this will be a fun one: A.L. Breguet as the greatest watchmaker of all time!
Breguet overcoil, tourbillon, popularizing Breguet numerals, popularizing the use of enamel dials (check out his watches for Turkish collectors), popularizing guilloche for watch dials, popularizing blued steel hands, his natural escapement which led to movements by Daniels, Journe, Voutilainen, Ferrier and more, his movement on the dial side souscription watches which directly inspired watches by Greubel Forsey, Romain Gauthier, etc., some of the very first shock protection, chronograph, and the first wristwatch (on the wrist of a princess). And that's just off the top of my head.