The wonderful world of David Attenborough

BBC Nature Presenter and documentary legend David Attenborough is one of my personal heroes. My nature-loving son's too. So it was sad to hear that the aged voice of nature will probably not make another show.

The BBC paid tribute to one of its legends with this compilation of breathtaking footage from some of his shows to that voice giving us a spoken-word rendition of jazz standard "What a Wonderful World":



Mr. Attenborough just recently wound up his last series, Frozen Planet. You may know it from this amazing video that is making the viral rounds:



What a wonderful world. And it's all the more wonderful when described by someone who loves it so much.

A fishy tribute?

Something fishy is going on here.

This hilarious spot for Britain's John West Tuna:



Is a note-for-note parody of this famous sequence from BBC's Nature's Great Events:



A tribute? Perhaps. But if you're going to channel the great Sir David Attenborough, you'd better respect nature.

According to John West's site, they do:

At John West, we recognise our responsibility to protect the environment. That’s why we are committed to sourcing tuna from sustainable fish stocks. Our reputable suppliers comply with our strict guidelines and ensure the fishing methods used to catch our tuna abide by international standards.

John West only sources its tuna from fishing vessels that have been certified Dolphin Friendly by the Earth Island Institute. We use the Purse Seine fishing method to catch tuna for our canned products and have full traceability of the fish used. Our tuna products are labelled in accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Foods Standards Code.

We use Skipjack for more than 90% of our tuna products, with the remaining products using Tongal. We do not use Yellowfin, Bigeye or Southern Blue Fin. All of our tuna is sourced from the Indian and Western and Central Pacific oceans.

We also work with independent organisations and suppliers to raise awareness of our sustainability protocol. John West encourages responsible fishing practices globally and is supportive of initiatives that encourage sound management of tuna resources now and into the future.

Good. You don't want to piss Sir David off.

The man has powerful friends.

Fantastic Plastic Mockumentary

Fellow Osocio blogger Armando posted this epic "mockumentary" by DDB LA, about the secret life of discarded plastic bags:



It's long, but worth watching all the way through. That's because it has the three things that make a smart parody great:

1) Love of the subject matter — Just as Spinal Tap reveals the writers' and actors' obsession with rock music, this video betrays the Creatives behind it as nature documentary geeks like me. For every four minutes of hilarity, imagine a lifetime of Wild Kingdom, Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, and especially BBC's David Attenborough.

2) Attention to detail — This follows naturally from #1. To make it work, you're got to remain true to form throughout. The voiceover's British accent and over-dramatic delivery, the lovingly-filmed beauty shots, and especially the night vision are absolutely bang-on.

3) Playing it straight — This seems like the hardest thing for many advertisers and comedians to do. There's always the temptation to either let the audience know you're in on the joke, or to laugh at your own wit. But as soon as you break that fourth wall, all is lost. This video keeps a straight face to the bitter end.