March Of The Penguins @ MindSay

The penguins who had their chick stolen just before Christmas have hatched another egg at a zoo in southern England, officials said Saturday.

 

Kyala and Oscar’s new chick was born Tuesday, but has yet to be named and its sex was not yet known, zoo owner Derek Curtis told reporters.

 

Three-month-old Toga disappeared mid-December from the Amazon World zoo on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast. The bird is presumed dead, as experts said it was too young to survive without its parents.

 

Zookeepers at the time said they believed someone may have stolen him to give as a Christmas gift, inspired by the popular film “March of the Penguins.”

 

There was no sign of forced entry to the pen, but a thief would have been able to climb into the compound and carry the brown-and-white bird away.

 

Despite scores of reported sightings and an on-air confession from a man who called a television station to admit to stealing the bird, Toga was not been found.

 

Zoo officials have installed closed circuit television cameras and motion sensors to make sure that Toga’s expected sibling remains safely with his parents, who are a rare breed of penguin found on the southern coast of Africa.

i got so bored today and i was starting to go crazy just staying inside the house, i decided to drive up to boulder for a while. i called erin to give her a belated birthday present, but she didn't answer, so i went to the king soopers and bought a dr. pepper. called cade, he didn't answer either, so i decided to hike a trail at chataucqua park for only an hour. it really helped to clear my mind, and i accomplished my goal to exercise today. came back home, took a shower, and picked up michael from school. traffic was hell, it took over 45 minutes to get there and back again. then, we ate at college inn with mom, where we ran into some teachers from hill middle school. it was hilarious- my former spanish teacher was pretty drunk, but we caught up and everything, so it was cool. when we got home, we watched march of the penguins. it has to be one of the most beautiful movies i have ever seen. no joke. strongly recommended!! then i watched most of remember the titans- also a movie i like a lot. now i'm watching some battlestar glactica on the scifi channel with michael. a pretty interesting show.

We rented some videos for this weekend, and while there, I snatched up the March of The Penguins as a purchase. Penguins have ALWAYS been a passion of mine, long before the rest of the world had noticed their inherent charm. Whenever there was a nature special on TV about penguins, I was all over it. I collected stuffed penguins and penguin figurines and books about penguins. When this movie hit the theaters last year, I thought it had been made just for me…I thought I was the only one in the world who had a ‘thing’ for penguins. Whoever chose Morgan Freeman as the narrator must’ve had me in mind too – I LOVE Morgan Freeman – I could listen to that man talk about absolutely NOTHING for hours on end.

The filmography in this film is incredible…especially the underwater scenes. I have to stand in awe of the team that documented this journey as much as I am in awe of the dedication of the animals to the survival of their own species. What an amazing and beautiful and moving story. It’s incredible that such a beautiful life form can be sustained in such a bitter, desolate place. GAWD, I love my penguins…and Morgan Freeman.

The Top 5 Movies of 2005 as decided by me:

1 - CRASH

Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more.

2 - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

Based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, A History of Violence is the tale of Tom Stall. Tom is a loving family man and well-respected citizen of a small Indiana town. But when two savage criminals show up at his diner, Tom is forced to take action and thwart the robbery attempt. Suddenly heralded as a hero who took the courage to stand up to crime, people look up to Tom as a man of high moral regard. But all that media attention has the likes of mobsters showing up at his doorstep, charging that Tom is someone else they've been looking for. Is it a case of mistaken identity or does Tom have a history that no one knows about? Either way, someone's about to find out if there's a history of violence.

3 - BATMAN BEGINS

As a young boy, Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his millionaire parents were slain in front of him--a trauma that leads him to become obsessed with revenge. But the opportunity to avenge his parent's deaths is cruelly taken away from him by fate. Fleeing to the East, where he seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader known as Ra's Al-Ghul, Bruce returns to his now decaying Gotham City, which is overrun by organized crime and other dangerous individuals manipulating the system. Meanwhile, Bruce is slowly being swindled out of Wayne Industries, the company he inherited. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, along with a prototype armored suit, leads him to assume a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong; he becomes Batman!!! In the new guise, and with the help of rising cop Jim Gordon, Batman sets out to take down the various nefarious schemes in motion by individuals such as mafia don Falcone, the twisted doctor/drug dealer Jonathan 'The Scarecrow' Crane, and a mysterious third party that is quite familiar with Wayne and waiting to strike when the time is right.

4 - MARCH OF THE PENGUINS

In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family. This courtship will begin with a long journey - a journey that will take them hundreds of miles across the continent by foot, in freezing cold temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on earth, all to find true love.

5 - SEVEN SWORDS

Set in China in the 1600s, Seven Swords tells the story of a country ravaged by violence.The Manchurians have taken over the sovereignty and established the Ching Dynasty. The people are rising up all over the country in attempts to overpower their new rulers, but with little success. The government has imposed a nation-wide ban on the practice of all martial arts, in an attempt to maintain law and order throughout the land. The evil general Fire Wind (Sun Hong Lei) seeks to profit from this situation by leading a squad of executioners through the country, killing anyone caught practicing martial arts, and collecting a bounty from the government for doing so. He heads directly for Martial Village, a small settlement that so far has managed to hold out against the Manchurians invading force, but has yet to encounter Fire Wind and his army. Fu Qing Zhu (Lau Ka Leung, who also serves as the film's stunt coordinator) plays a retired executioner from the previous dynasty, who warns the villagers of the impending threat. Together with two young warriors, Wu Yian Yin (Charlie Yeung) and Han Zhi Bang (Lu Yi), Fu journeys to Mount Heaven to seek help from the great master of swords, Master Shadow Glow (Ma Jing Wu). Four of the master's finest disciples, played by Leon Lai, Donnie Yen, Duncan Chow and Tai Li Wu are assigned to help the villagers, aided by awesome weapons forged by Master Shadow Glow. Together they become the Seven Swords and return to the village to confront Fire Wind.

There are times when the animal kingdom can inspire human beings and reach deep within our hearts. This documentary is voiced by (the great) Morgan Freeman, and his narrative contribution adds even more dignity to this species unique story, not like they would need him to teach us lessons on love and community.

The Emperor penguins go on a march to find love every winter for about a month, they treck in line to a region of the Antartic where no other species other than them can survive, this is to ensure a somewhat safe environment for them.

There, they will find a partner and give life to their chicks. Once this is done, the female goes hunting for food and leaves the egg behind with the father. While the mother penguin is gone, the males huddle together, with their chicks (and sometimes egg) comfortably secured between their legs. Within the harshness of the cold winds, they go on marching and gently group-swirling, so the group's frontliners don't have to always confront the cold and their precious bundle can keep up with them. Think Roman war defense technics...without wars.

When the mother finally comes back, she takes over and the male, having lost 20 to 30 pounds, or half his weight, goes on food hunting, and not before having taught the chick a particular "song" for it to remember him by, so they can meet again.

Very many don't make it back, mothers, fathers...not unlike many of us.

Now, what are the lessons we can learn out of them? In our busy lives, we fail to understand our own (negative) influence on this noble species that is threatened by global warming.

March of the Penguins official site with trailer