Defend the indefensible - "...before you die"

"Creator of the eponymous travel guide '100 things to do before you die', Dave Freeman, died this week. Click the image to the right to see his definitive list of life-changing experiences in pictures."

http://www.google.co.uk/search?um=1&hl=en&q=%22before%20you%20die%22&ndsp=18&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw

http://i17.tinypic.com/6xawp4m.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/53585921_0d22e87c5b.jpg

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200805/r250507_1029022.jpg

"100 guitars to play BEFORE YOU DIE"

"1000 Movies to see BEFORE YOU DIE"

"10,000,000 Records to listen to BEFORE YOU DIE"

"1000 FHM magazine cover totty to whack off over BEFORE YOU DIE"

"100 restaurants to dine at before you die AND YOU'RE GOING TO DIE TOMORROW"

Why the fuck did this lazy-ass bollocks catch on, like? Have at it.

Because the " . . . After You Die" series were very poor sellers?

Phrase exerts subtle pressure to conform to aspirational social circle whilst at the same time reassuring the reader they don't have to do anything about it until some nebulous point in the future.

This is why the "100 Classic Albums to Listen To Before We Come Round Your House and Kick Your Fucking Teeth In" meme failed.

At least it's not as cutesy pootsie as a "Bucket List."

There is some inspiring tenor in some of them, this kind of exhortation that life is short and precious and you should (ahem) spend it fixating on some coffee-table book while reminding yourself that life is short and precious and you've always wanted to see Angkor Watt.

But that last one has freaking UNESCO telling me I must see their historic sites before I die, which ... screw you, UNESCO, I'll decide what I "must" do before I die, you big freaking bully.

"you can not truly say you have lived until you've visited these 1001 historic sites"

He was "serious" about checking off the book's list, Teplica said, and was about halfway through.

...so even Freeman couldn't complete his own list of tasks. What hope do the rest of us have?

These lists just make you realise how many experiences you are likely to miss out on. It's totally disheartening.

Is it REALLY?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/33/53585921_0d22e87c5b.jpg

I hope one of the things on this list is "Discover a cure for aging."

100 ilx threads to read before you die

yeah, i'm gonna be on the internet, pretty much, until i die, what's wrong with that if it makes me happy?

a thousand and one things to ignore before you die, easy really!

Aren't these books just 2008/2009 shovelware for Barnes & Noble's checkout line shelves? Like how 2007 was all about "How to defend against a robot/zombie/pod people uprising"

http://www.1000recordings.com/images/site/masthead.jpg

http://www.jr.lv/objs/shop/9781844033485.jpg

http://www.hnabooks.com/images/products/9/6736-23.jpg

The 30 Ties You Must Wear Before You Die

http://dyn.ifilm.com/resize/image/stills/films/resize/istd/2965551.jpg

Is that actually a dangling great cave-painted wang on the Unesco one??

"1001 Wangs to Because Of Before You Die"

"1001 Crappy Books of Lists to Read Before You Die"

I love when people say this bcz the things they say they want to do before they are things they could really do right now. For example, my father-in-law took us to a fancy grocery store when we visited him in Texas. (Texas ;_;) He said, "Before I die, I want to buy a whole wheel of cheese." Well, given his income and proximity to the grocery store, he could buy that wheel of cheese anytime! Why not now? Or get some ambitious tasks like "drink the entire ocean" or "take a bite out of the sun."

I think what annoys me about it is that it's some lazy flack telling me how to live my life! The guy who wrote the '100 things to do before you die' book wasn't even writing from experience, he hadn't even done a bunch of the things in his book, what bullshit!

I, on the other hand, HAVE drank the entire ocean & I can't really recommend it.

I could understand if someone told me 10 things I should do before I die. I could find a window for 10 things. Maybe even 100. But 1000 places to see? That's one every fortnight for 50 years. The Guardian's recent 1000 books to read before you die ended up seeming like homework - years and years of prescribed reading that nobody in their right mind is going to take seriously. Even the people writing this stuff don't believe the phrase has any meaning but I guess it's more impactful than 1000 Places You Might Like To See If And When You Have The Time (No Pressure, Though).

Someone kindly bought me '1001 Movies to See Before You Die' for Xmas, a bk I'd never even looked at before, for most of the reasons already mentioned on this thread - but actually, it's not so bad, some of the entries are well-written, it's pretty well-balanced between classics and more obscure/unpredictable choices, and as a 'film course' or whatevs you could a lot worse than follow the selections - I was especially impressed and informed by the entries on silent movies and 1930s classic Hollywood cinema. Of course there's some right old shit in there too - MOONSTRUCK, TITANIC, NATURAL BORN KILLERS etc etc

But 1000 places to see? That's one every fortnight for 50 years.

Not to mention that in that amount of time many of them will go to pot and no longer be worth seeing.

Ha I contributed to a book that was gonna be called 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, but they changed the title to just: Books.

Ok, there was a subtitle but still: Books.

503 Books That I Wouldn't Trip Over Yourself To Read Or Anything, But If You Get Through The First 1001 Without Dying And You're Bored...

Ok, there was a subtitle but still: Books.

― Safe Boating is No Accident (G00blar), Friday, January 30, 2009 3:12 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

My amazon.com advanced title search for "Books" returned The Twilight Saga

o_O

I share your contempt...I hate those kinds of books on general principle
(even when the things they are suggesting to do/see are spot-on :) ).

The number (esp. for 'places to see') is kind of smartly calibrated - if it was only ten things, it would actually seem achievable but then the book would be too thin. At a hundred, you can imagine a human being going to all these places, but only some rich, jet-setting adventurer person, certainly not you, you loser. At a thousand it's so absurd that it collapses into a catalog from which you might cherry-pick a few that sound really nice.

Every so often I have very intense daydreams about buying a car and starting to go around and see all the US national parks, as nearly every one of them seems pretty fantastic from what I've checked out.

why do i need to buy a whole book that's just a list ?

Yeah srly I already have ILX.

Defend the Indefensible Before You Die.

1001 Indefensible Things To Defend Before You Die pretty much sums up the contents of the ILX search function.