75 replies to this topic

[David Styles]

How about Viggo Mortensen?

For those who only know him as an actor (he is also an artist, poet, and writer of prose), please consider the following comments that have been made by and/or about him:

How long would he like to live?

"Forever." Without hesitation.

Really? Wouldn't you get bored?

"There's no excuse to be bored," Mortensen says. "Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there is no excuse for boredom, ever."

Finding Viggo by Alex Kuczynski, Vanity Fair magazine, January 2004

"We each have only a limited amount of time here. We have to do more with it - pay attention, explore, be open to all of life. Because we have only one chance, we have to make life seem longer than it really is."

Viggo Mortensen
I Still Ask Why, Dotson Rader, Parade magazine, 2004

“….I must confess that I’m interested in collecting as much experience as I can from wherever I go because I don’t know what happens in the next world. I’m not counting on anything happening. That’s one of the great things about making movies – you get to explore these things.”

Viggo Mortensen
Crimes and Misdemeanours
By Phillip Berk, Filmink
October 2007


This is one helluva guy folks. Gentle - very soft spoken - and yet completely intense. He speaks with you, not at you. His obvious respect for life was refreshing. Viva le Viggo. Oops I guess that should be Danish...

Singin' in the Reigns
by Emily Blunt
The Blunt Review, Mar '04

Wherever there is a noble cause to defend, we see him, and that is not the product of my imagination but of such an obvious and truthful reality that it has a full name.

And those who stand involved in these matters of conscience know it perfectly, because he is a hero of our time in the broadest sense of the word, as well as a humanist.

Reunion with Alatriste in Uclés
Diario de León, by Miguel Ángel Nepomuceno - translated by Paddy
26 June 2005

...and yet, in his many careers, ego has no place...and if ego has no place in his career, apathy has no place in his life. Viggo Mortensen has earned a reputation for having endless energy, for being consummately curious. He drives himself hard in all aspects of his life... He is a connector, the agent who brings people and ideas and feelings together in ways that transcend customary forms of expression and measures of success. We have known Viggo Mortensen through his work on film, and we have been privileged in recent weeks to know him more fully through his photography and poetry. St. Lawrence University is honored to welcome home from the class of 1980, to share some of his poetry with us, Viggo Mortensen.

Daniel F. Sullivan
St. Lawrence University
March 1, 2003

"Viggo Mortensen is an extraordinary person...I suspect a defect somewhere. It's not possible, I have never met someone who has no defect. He has all : he is kind, he is generous, he is tender, he is a pacifist, he is tolerant -I'm also tolerant, I like that kind of people- and he helps everybody. He writes poetry, he makes photos...it's extraordinary...he is handsome, he acts well...then we say ourselves it's not possible, people like this do not exist. I did not manage to find it out but there has to be a defect somewhere. One cannot be that perfect ! (laughs)"

Omar Sharif
"Hidalgo" : en tête à tête avec Omar Sharif...
by Peggy Zejgman
allocine.com, 24 March 2004
Trans. by Casablanca

“Even though many people seem to be not interested in art or in things like nature or life itself, we must force ourselves to remember, we must force ourselves to be deep in life."

Viggo Mortensen, The Photographer Of Dreams
By Giovanni Valerio - translated by Cindalea
July 2008
Source: Panorama First

What are you still determined to learn to do?

What I haven’t.

ForWord magazine
17 January 2007

’I’m a very curious guy and I stick my nose in everything. I travel a lot because I’m interested in knowing how the rest of the world lives. I love to learn about other cultures, to submerge myself in them, to learn of points of view that are different from mine.’

Viggo Mortensen
"I’m a guy who sticks his nose in everything"
By Stuart Gollum, Gala Magazine
30 August 2006

And what's more, any mailing we send him will be read by him:

"I like to take care of my own problems, shoulder my responsibilities. I don't have a bevy of people assisting me and filtering what I hear or what I say. I'd rather be overworked and underslept and have a good idea of what's going on."

Viggo Mortensen
Q&A with Viggo Mortensen
by Neala Johnson
Herald Sun (Australia), March 8 2007

If there are no objections, I will draught a letter to him within the next few days and post it for editing in the other part of this forum.

[Evolutionary]

BILL GATES has just joined Twitter & a whole lot of people are following him, including me. Perhaps we can contact him to donate to the MFOUNDATION and/or SENS!!!

Edited by IMMORTUS, 21 January 2010 - 05:41 AM.

[clay]

Jodie Foster

[brokenportal]

Maybe Adrian Paul, the guy that played highlander. That could be classic.

[bacopa]

maybe Ricky Gervaise his new movie obviously has a focus on the brutality of death and Ricky is obviously an atheist. I vote for him and of course Bill Gates has been discussed quite a bit, and he met with Kurzweil twice.

[Evolutionary]

2057: Fountain of Youth

I think Michio Kaku would be a great guy to contact. He's a physicist & general science popularizer that teaches at CUNY, a university in New York City.

In the video above, he talks about life extension and humans in 2057.

Edited by MaxLife, 06 March 2010 - 12:41 PM.

[bcryonicist]

I would like to strongly suggest the comedian Mark Watson, on the grounds that he recently wrote this inspired article entitled 'Who wants to live forever? I'll give it a go'.

http://uk.news.yahoo...on/article/169/

[Athanasios]

Randall Munroe of XKCD. See http://www.xkcd.com/667/

Seconded. His influence with people that would be interested in unlimited lifespans is huge, he is active in supporting causes he deems worthy, and his 'contactability' is high.

[modelcadet]

Larisa Oleynik, my first crush, from the Nickelodeon show The Secret World of Alex Mack. She was also in 10 Things I Hate About You.

From her facebook page:

Larisa Oleynik Let's help fight Alzheimer's folks, join the cause invite your friends, and YES - donate! http://apps.facebook.com/causes/286464
Larisa Oleynik Hey fans! Let's fight aging diseases together! Join the Campaign for Aging Research, invite your friends and YES: Donate! http://apps.facebook.com/causes/56022

[brokenportal]

2057: Fountain of Youth

I think Michio Kaku would be a great guy to contact. He's a physicist & general science popularizer that teaches at CUNY, a university in New York City.

In the video above, he talks about life extension and humans in 2057.

He would be a great one to get a hold of. Consequently, we have already thought the same and send him a book and a letter. Good to see more people like you on the same page. Can I convince you to join this VIP Outreach team MaxLife? Or any of you viewing this topic for that matter? Please do consider joining. Im not even technically on the team, Im just helping it out, and I routinely send out a book and sometimes two each month. Fowler has been with the team doing the same Styles was here for a while, but we try to keep Directors out of team commitments. The time is right to add another recruit or two at this point.

Please keep the suggestions coming everybody. All of these are good, and most of them are really good. Im going with Randall Munroe this month. Thanks lunarsolarpower and cnorwood.

[niner]

Gary Shteyngart, a Russian immigrant to the US, has written a popular new novel called "Super Sad True Love Story". In this novel, set in the future, the main character works in a field called Indefinite Life Extension. Shteyngart might have even visited ImmInst doing research; at any rate he's aware of the concept. He might be interesting to talk to. He'll probably be busy on his book tour for a while.

[bio123]

This might be a bit off topic, but I just read this quote from Felix Dennis, one of
Britain's richest men: "Ask me what I will give you if you could wave a magic wand
and give me my youth back. The answer would be everything I own and everything I
will ever own." Sounds like a promising candidate for a hefty donation if ever there
was one (From his book 'How to Get Rich'.)

[Michael]

All:

These lists seem to be very mixed: while some are based on known statements from the celebs in question about youth, aging, and death, some just seem to be prominent people that in our dreams we wish would become advocates. May I humbly suggest that tho the extent that we have active efforts in play, we concentrate resources on the former?

I have a possible addition to that more targeted list: the former Governor of California:

http://news.yahoo.co...t-young-anymore

Ironically, the headlines of "The Terminator Wants to Live Forever" might very well have a 'sticky' effect to draw in extra attention .

[mikeinnaples]

Scarlett Johansson - Diet, lifestyle, philosophy, and her views on health might make her a candidate.

Seth MacFarlane - Atheist, has covered some life extension topics in his material, humanist (Harvard Humanist of the Year Award for 2011), large audience, large personality, and the brain to understand the subject matter.

Also, I know he has been mentioned before, but we really need to 'slay the dragon' and get through to Bill Gates. He has the brains, power, money, and influence to drastically affect things. Not only that, his deep altruistic drive to have long lasting impact on humanity makes him a no brainer. Honestly, I would think that if we could get him, it would cause paradigm shift on how people look at this.

[Mind]

I tried contacting Dr. Oz and Suzanne Sommers recently, but did not get any reponse.

As far as Bill Gates goes, I am afraid he is trapped within socially defined charity. Life extension is not viewed favorably by the politicians that currently rule the U.S. because of the perceived unfairness. Gates has to fritter away money on things that will keep him in the good graces of his social circles. Sadly, I predict his charity will continue to "give away fish instead of teaching people to fish". He will help a great number of individuals make it through the next day, but have little impact on the future of the human race as a whole.

Edited by Mind, 19 February 2013 - 05:56 PM.

[Mia K.]

I'm a long-time member (yes paid). Infrequent contributor.

Please invite David Bowie to contribute his thoughts/impressions/insights on a creative life well-lived. Whether it be long, or brief.

Best, Mia K.