James Cameron has reached bottom of the Ocean

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46850002/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T2-puNU0WSo

Using his special submersible, James Cameron is now seven miles underwater, exploring the deepest point in the Mariana Trench - the Challenger Deep. Cameron hopes to collect samples for geologists and biologists to study. I'm pretty eager to find out what Cameron finds - there's some amazing things down there, all new to science.

I'm just impressed that he is willing to take this risk - I know that James Cameron loves the ocean and is a professional oceanographer, but if the submersible takes on even a pinprick sized leak, it will be instantly crushed. Pretty brave for a movie director to take such risks, but then again, life is all about taking these kind of risks.

I wonder if James Cameron has visited the Titanic. I mean it would make sense to visit the wreck of the vessel that you based one of your most popular movies on.

The thread title reads like an Onion headline

edited 25th Mar '12 5:34:18 PM by DirectorCannon

All i got from this is "you can update your twitter feed from the bottom of the ocean..."

edited 25th Mar '12 5:46:10 PM by Wicked223

Oh, I guess that's cool.

I forgive him for the plot and characters of Avatar now.

Avatar was cool. This I maintain. I don't mind seeing a familiar story as long as it's told well.

Anyway, I hope he finds some of those huge Precambrian fish or something. I like those.

As a fan of both Cameron and Titanic, I feel the need to answer that.

Cameron had indeed seen with his own eyes the wreck of the Titanic long before he started planning the film. In fact, he got the idea to make the film from his expeditions to that wreck.

Some of the clips of the ship and of the drone subs you saw in Titanic were actually real footage. In between the real shots were shots of carefully made miniatures shot in a room full of smoke, enhanced with primitive CGI.

In the DVD commentary, Cameron mentions that the cameras in the remote-controlled subs, as well as parts of the subs themselves, were invented by people whom Cameron had hired precisely for that purpose; that he wanted to be able to film the wreck while simultaneously looking at it from the window of a submersible.

I can easily imagine that once you've filmed something that it wasn't possible to film a few months before, it is easy to go on to imagine what it would be like to make a movie about that subject, especially if you're already a hugely successful director.

edited 25th Mar '12 6:53:04 PM by BestOf

Huh, this is certainly an impressive feat. My hat's off to James Cameron.

I wonder what kind of crazy creatures he's found. Wait, no, I don't want to - extremely deep sea creatures terrify me.

Well, it'll certainly be interesting if this guy ever writes a memoir. He's a little bit of a Rennaisance man, considering this and his directorial career.

Can we leave him there?

(rim shot)

Did he bring his concrete shoes?

I just don't want him to die down there, because he would be martyred and no one could say anything bad about his movie especially the anvilious and pretentious Avatar.

He could live forever in a furnished submarine like Captain Nemo.

This seems to be part of a trend.

The head of Virgin did the ballon trip, Cicurs Solei went to space and now Cameron went to the ocean bottom.

Are these the new modern age Gentleman Adventurer?

edited 26th Mar '12 12:29:11 AM by Natasel

Yup.

He is a brave man. Going that deep solo is an open invitation for Father Neptune to fuck his shit up but good. One small breach in the hull and boom.

Yeah, but as far as deaths go, "crushed by overwhelming water pressure at the bottom of the ocean" is all kinds of badass.

Definitely beats "passed out among ridiculous amounts of booze and cocaine", which seems to be the typical way for actors and filmmaker to finish their lives...

Actually....why DOESN'T he do the whole Hookers and Blow thing???

Risking life and limb in your spare time, and paying for it out of your own pocket sounds insane.

These Gentle Adventurers are beyond my understanding.

Some people just have a high threshold for adventure. At least this way he doesn't have to go through the court scandal and rehab routine. And he's helping to advance science! I welcome this new age of Gentlemen Adventurers; it sounds like it'll produce many more interesting people.

Well, the simple fact is that it's hard to get grants to explore things that are both nearly impossible to reach and unlikely to immediately benefit us (remember NASA? Yeah...). So "gentleman adventurers" are naturally the most plausible candidates for these kind of things. Who else would be doing it, given the huge costs?

edited 26th Mar '12 3:00:40 PM by Clarste

All of the elements of my psyche are being pulled by the topic of this thread to do something. The sense of a need to do that thing is so strong that I would hardly hesitate to say that it defines me; yet I can't do it.

I can't think of a joke about Abyss that I could make here without spoiling the film at least a bit.

So those of you who don't want that film spoiled, be very grateful that I'm not letting this failure of my imagination get the better of my basic adherence to the notions of courtesy and decency.

@Best Of: If Cameron did happen to die down there, Ed Harris would likely call it poetic justice.

Oh dear, now I'm thinking of a horrible mix of James Cameron and Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer!

Not sure whether want.

edited 27th Mar '12 12:54:16 PM by Yej

@natsteal- Call me old fashioned, but I think it's cooler when famous people do stuff like this instead of getting high and being whores.

I mean, the very bottom of the ocean? theres only 3 people that can claim that!

I think he can instead be James Cameron, Director Adventurer

edited 28th Mar '12 9:22:48 AM by Cassie