popsjumper 2 #26 January 26, 2009 I stopped to smell the roses one day and a bee flew up my nose. My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Baksteen 84 #27 January 26, 2009 QuoteDoes your decision change if he's really bad? No. Whenever I see a (group of) buskers I think, "ah, no..not again!" I hunch my shoulders, get irritated and prepare to rush by as quickly as possible. I refuse to make eye contact because of what your average busker DOES to a perfectly fine piece of music. I'd be expecting yet another clueless person (I refuse to use the term musician) playing recognisable sequences of notes (in the best case almost but never exactly quite as the composer originally intended) on a cheap, badly tuned, poorly maintained piece of crap of an instrument. This goes doubly for the violin, I'm just not a big fan of the violin when it's solo. Additionally, the violin is hard to play and even in the best of circumstances hard to play well. My opinion might change if a busker is exceptionally good. This has happened exactly once. I groaned as this guy with a guitar came walking into the metro. Usually buskers play exactly long enough for their kid to make a round with a paper cup and then immediately and abruptly stop playing before heading to the next car. This guy however got into the car, played a few pieces, sang or played the harmonica all the while accompanying himself on his guitar, with his eyes closed and with a big grin on his face he leaned slightly backwards into the music, moving in place on the rythm of the music. My irritated frown slowly relaxed and I smiled and sat back to listen - this guy was not only a musician, as proven by the fact that he actually kept playing past several stops completely ignoring those who entered or exited the metro in the mean time - he was actually good! Only after perhaps five or so songs did he finish and only then did he make a round with a paper cup. I only gave him two euros, but it was the first time I gave a busker money since I was a kid."That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #28 January 26, 2009 When I lived in D.C. I always had someplace to be if I was going to the metro during work hours. There wasn't any flexibility. That's why I left."I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DJL 235 #29 January 26, 2009 Here's the rant on this that I sent to my friends, titled "This is one of those things that could only happen in D.C." This is well worth reading through. To say that this can be boiled down to a cliche about smelling flowers is like actually fullfiling that cliche through a lack of mental aptitude; that a multiple choice quality answer is adequate and you need not think any further. They include the dissenting opinion, that people at the top of an escalator probably can't take a musical appreciation break or may not even like this music. This is a circumstance that makes the case more firm because it forces you to ask yourself when you would or would not be able to recognize what you were hearing and stop to listen. So to keep it broad, what does this tell you about how you spend your time, how your employers treat your time, or how you mandate your employees to spend their time? Here's an experiment that's set up in a way that could have such potential success or failure for any given theory; set up in the worst possible conditions with a city and set of people who acknowledge culture almost entirely on the academic level and are not used to seeing it without a frame and billboard. Next, what does it say about how art, beauty, life, and anything that we can appreciate is presented to us and not only how we live and interact with artistic expression but how we compartmentalize our lives and refuse to see one thing while busy with another? Does a record label or publishing contract and their associated promotion make something legitimate? Are we so used to seeing those things delivered on a platter with an explanation that we're not longer capable of coming to our own conclusions?"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
regulator 0 #30 January 26, 2009 You can always pass life in a hurry if you're in a really fast car. To me thats just as exciting as for you to stop and smell the roses. If I drop it down to 4th gear and floor it, I'll bet I can rip up some of those roses on the side of the road and who knows...maybe it'll land in the passenger seat of the car behind me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #31 January 26, 2009 I'd have to agree with what some of the others have said... I'm not sure this is a clear cut case of "stopping to smell the roses" Personally I wouldn't know Josh Bell from Adam both of them were standing in front of me... (although Adam would probably just be wearing a fig leaf and that might help... ) I do appreciate music (just about every genre... just ask my fiancee) and I have stopped to listen to the occasional street musician and frankly I'm more apt to give them money over someone just there begging which I'm likely not to do as musician is at least performing. I may however comment about it to coworkers and such when I arrive in the office... But anyone that would accuse me of not stopping to smell the roses or at least take a picture... doesn't know me very well...Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boinky 0 #32 January 26, 2009 Never been near a live armadillo. But I've been near possums. Both live and dead. When I was a teenager, my sister had a grudge against someone. My brother, sister and I went out for a ride one night. They found a dead possum. Scraped it up on a plastic bag with a coat hanger. Drove to the girls house and shoved it in their mailbox. I couldn't get near the thing, but I'm guilty of some heavy snickering. I feel guilty now because you KNOW it wasn't the girl that opened that mailbox. It was her parents. And THEY didn't do anything to offend my sister. And another time, my brother managed to catch a live one in our back yard. Somehow, he managed to get it into the house. Needless to say, you could hear my mother scream for miles when she went down to that basement (it was a finished playroom) and that possum "smiled" at her with all of those wicked, pointed teeth! Nina Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz) Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boinky 0 #33 January 26, 2009 Maybe you should've humped it instead! Nina Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz) Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boinky 0 #34 January 26, 2009 Large rant, there! But I obviously get the point, seeing as I posted the item in the first place.It will be interesting to see how your friends respond. Nina Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz) Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boinky 0 #35 January 26, 2009 I agree that violin music in such a place might have been a good bit distorted. But just the mere concept and unusual opportunity SHOULD have made more stop and listen for at LEAST a minute or so. Nina Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz) Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boinky 0 #36 January 26, 2009 The rose picture is gorgeous. Was it for fun or for some sort or "work," though? Nina Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz) Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SSHusky 0 #37 January 26, 2009 QuoteThe rose picture is gorgeous. Was it for fun or for some sort or "work," though? it was for fun... he is always taking pictures of random things... spoons, ribbons, watches... Every moment he is not with me or at work he spends with the camera. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #38 January 26, 2009 Quote The rose picture is gorgeous. Was it for fun or for some sort or "work," though? It was entirely for fun... I consctructed makeshift lightbox in the front room of my house Lightbox photo I then spent some of my saturday and sunday finding random things to take pictures of... On Sunday I raided one of the roses that I got for Beth last week and took this (as well as a few others) and it was taken specifically because I like taking pictures of flowers for her... Here are a couple more other things from the weekend... My 24-105 Lens Hood... Spent 22mm Anti-Aircraft round I didn't really like how the black paper looked (due to the reflections...) so in the future I'm going to experiment with other materials (such as felt)...Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boinky 0 #39 January 26, 2009 That's a pretty interesting concept. Would you mind sharing where you got the "plans" for the lightbox? (a pm would be great if you don't want to the idea with the world) These are of a lizard that I "saved" from my cat. Most people would have just tossed it outside and been done with it. But I had it in a cup and decided to take some pictures of it. It reminds me of the lightbox idea you had and would love to make one for myself. Nina Are we called "DAWGs" because we stick our noses up people's butts? (RIP Buzz) Yep, you're a postwhore-billyvance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gonzalesna 1 #40 January 26, 2009 Quote I stopped to smell the roses one day and a bee flew up my nose. At least you didn't stop to poo on them...Some people refrain from beating a dead horse. Personally, I find a myriad of entertainment value when beating it until it becomes a horse-smoothie. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airathanas 0 #41 January 26, 2009 Ok I'm going to comment on the original subject of this thread--- I played the flute for ten years. I no longer play anymore. When I was in DC once, I heard this street musician playing the flute. I stopped and listened a little bit. I could tell that he was good- much better than I ever played. I gave him all of my cash, which was about $6, and I would have given him more if I had more cash. And this was at a time when I was quite poor myself. But I KNEW from listening to him that he was an excellent flutist.http://3ringnecklace.com/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #42 January 26, 2009 Quote That's a pretty interesting concept. Would you mind sharing where you got the "plans" for the lightbox? (a pm would be great if you don't want to the idea with the world) It's not like it's a secret... I built it based on some of the ideas in a thread at the POTN forum:DIY lightbox thread. my box is not like the one in the first post... to make it I used some Foam from a local art store (but you can find it at Michael's too), a roll of white paper so there is no seam in the back corner (less to photoshop out), a few sheets of velum as diffusers for the sides of the box, a sheet of glass for a 11-14 picture frame, and my "lighting" is done by a pair of garage lamps with 100 watt CF "daylight" equivlant (because it's the closest to the flashes light balance), clamped and tied (using pullup cords ) to a pair of light stands. The pain of glass creates a "line" across the back of the frame but it isn't too much trouble clone it out... The color balance and expsure are an interesting challenge... (you want the white to look white but you don't want the photograph to be over exposed...) Have fun... if you make it definitely post pictures... Edited to add: Sorry for the Thread Hijack... I thought about posting the pictures in a new thread but opted to see if anyone would smell my "rose" if it was posted here... Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pirana 0 #43 January 26, 2009 Quote Actually, not all of them. One was a dead armadillo. You can learn a lot from the roadside LDT's (Little Dead Things. A naturalist's first and easiest assay of the local fauna is LDT's." . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ravenhk 0 #44 January 31, 2009 hmmm, you better not let Granny with the beverly hillbillies see that. She will be fixing road kill for supper pain is weakness leaving the body Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites