Human Planet
 

It's on Discovery right now.

I loved Planet Earth and Life. I've been looking forward to this.

However, it's narrated by Mike Rowe.

http://trollcats.com/wp-content/uplo...t_trollcat.jpg

I'm doing the Hoarding: Buried Alive thing followed by Sister Wives.

<----just felt like sharing

I try not to miss these events. In HD they're probably the most gorgeous tv shows on right now (actually, not even in HD but HD is incredible).

ETA: This one was controversial because of some of the narration - something about why some of these communities chose to remain insular?

Haven't seen it yet, but often in the process of showing insular communities you expose them to "western" or "modern" ways. It's like a mix between the rule that you can't study something without changing it and the Prime Directive in Star Trek.

Is that perhaps the controversy here? A quick Google doesn't show me anything..

I'm watching it now.

:eek: A whale pulling a boat instantly beats Hoarding and Sister Wives. Bam.

I'm watching the Kennedys, so I'll have to catch Human Planet later.

(I like Mike Rowe.)

I think it was more something about the narrative itself.

Also, I didn't think I'd be so upset about a community hunting whales when they need them to survive.

My guide says there are two new episodes until 10:00 and then they re-aire at 11:00 after Deadliest Catch.

You were upset by that? You Western "civilization" folks sure are judgmental. :p

When I turned to Discovery, I initially thought the boat was riding the whale. I was like WTF. Then I realized they were hunting the whale. Yeah, I know.

I don't know - I'm more upset that these communities need to hunt potentially endangered species to survive and more established communities that don't necessarily need them have hunted them darn near into oblivion for very little gain. Like, this community gets one every few months or so and they survive - they're not the reason some whales are endangered.

However, this community got a sperm whale which is categorized as "vulnerable."

He can hold his breath for up to 5 minutes. I tried the challenge that the narrator proposed. I lost because, even if I could hold my breath for more than 1 minute if absolutely necessary, I'm terrified of uncontrolled large bodies of water and the mere thought damn near gives me a panic attack.

OMG. Holding his breath five minutes at a time.

Well and if you see cetaceans as having some form of sentience it's concerning as well. Privileged to be able to make such distinctions but concerning nonetheless.

Also holy crap waterfall fishing.

The Brothers have arrived. :D It's about to be a big ol' fish fry.

Victoria Falls is terrifying. Yikes.

This is crazy incredible, though. BBC always wins.

It is really interesting seeing the different cultures and practices around the world.

This father taking his children to school is really interesting. It goes to show that most of what we believe in, experience, and how we assess what we consider to be trials and tribulations are relative and in comparison to what we expect and are accustomed to.

Can you even imagine people around here walking for 4 days in order to get their children to school?

I actually can. :)

If that was necessary.

It's not the 4 days, it's the 4 days down the river of death. Although my biggest question after was how the father gets back, if the ice is so thin. And then what happens if the climate warms and the thaw is earlier.

Okay I now feel like I'm watching a movie. That's not necessarily good which goes back to what Drolefille was alluding to earlier.

The eagle being trained to catch the fox is very intriguing. I wonder how they train that eagle to do that. That's a bigass eagle anyway but for it to kick a fox's ass like that is amazing.

As if I needed another reason to be terrified of monkeys (or even chimpanzees, apes, and gorillas).

Those damn monkeys are terrifying. It reminded me of the monkeys that've been terrorizing humans by breaking into houses, getting drunk, etc.

I'm scurred.

Oh my gosh I was thinking the same thing. Those monkeys were so scary!!!

That little boy and his siblings were very brave.

Can't watch this one atm due to the parents' DVR recording but it doesn't take a lot to teach a raptor to capture/kill and hold off on feeding for the hunter to get the prey. Eagles have just been less common historically due to size I believe. (But I think the Mongols have used them pretty regularly, is that who was featured?)

http://www.mongoliatoday.com/eagle.html

http://www.advantour.com/kyrgyzstan/...ing-eagles.htm

^^ Yay I was right.

LOL. Right about what?

The people featured were who I thought they were, although I suppose Kazakh/Kyrgyz would be the appropriate modern terms.

ZOMG next Sunday = IGLOOS I am so excited I'm setting an alarm to watch it now.

Dear Show Producers,

I don't want to hear from you all about how difficult filming is. Save that for a behind the scenes footage that is not part of the main show. Let's pretend this is a relatively authentic show and not just a Discovery Channel version of Real World.

Please and thank you.
DrPhil

I can't lie though that eagle cam was cool.

My whale tasting/eating experience came from a community where it was 100% cultural but also survival. To refuse would have been a huge insult, even though my personal opinions on whale hunting were in juxtaposition to eating it.

When I traveled in Japan I visited a place on Kyushu, the southern most island, where the locals decided it was cheaper to feed the monkeys than let the monkeys destroy the crops. It was a tourist attraction and you paid money to feed the monkeys. Totally different than in the north where it is colder and the monkeys hang out in hot springs, which was actually a result of human intervention, they don't naturally do that. It was forbidden to feed the monkeys or even eat in their presence when I was there since it gets them all riled up.

Baboons freak me out as far as primates go, they look so cute with their babies riding like jockeys but I've seen their teeth and some scary chimpanzee interactions on video that make me not want to meet one in a jungle. I really like smaller monkeys that are found in the New World and pro-simians that look all kinds of strange. I do have a special place in my heart for Mandrills because they have the flashiest faces and asses in the primate world.

Bump for Igloos!

I'm recording. Game of Thrones starts tonight. I'm SO excited.

OMG UNICORNS!

Also, cold puppies. :(

Kiviak = fermented auk = do not want.

I think this is the episode that was so controversial.