Random Thought Theater

[monchan]

14 minutes ago, TallyT said:

 

Oh congrats! You must have done a good job

I've tried my best. I've been really worried for him but it turned out well. He'll go in September, hope the pandemic can alr get better then 

[monchan]

14 minutes ago, TallyT said:

 

Oh congrats! You must have done a good job

I've tried my best. I've been really worried for him but it turned out well. He'll go in September, hope the pandemic can alr get better then 

[Figure_Frenzy]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:01 AM, rockstaryuzu said:

So this pandemic and all the sports cancellations, and all the videos of skaters and other athletes going mildly crazy on social media and posting what is in effect comedy acts and/or workout videos, has got me pondering:

 

What is the meaning and significance of a life in sports? There are so many talented, excellent, hardworking people the world over who are devoting themselves to the pursuit of what amounts to complicated forms of child's play, and so many more who are lamenting the temporary suspension of public displays of same...why? If there's one thing the pandemic has deeply underlined, it's that none of this is essential for survival, so why do we, as a species, do this? (And we've always done it since prehistoric times as far as I know)

 

Like art or music, sport seems to make the human animal tick...but what for?

 

 

 

 

....well, if it were only for keeping your body fit then wouldn't regular exercise at a personal level (which can still be done to an extent during this time) be just enough? Why is it that we humans do the extra push to exercise to the point that we compete at it against each other (and derive pleasure from it, either from participating or just watching it)? What is it that makes it pleasurable, this watching other people compete in sports?

 

I have mulled a bit over this question as well, and I think the answer to that is partly because the sports (and in particular the competitions — a football match, a boxing game, what have you) is a form of communication of sorts.

 

We humans are social creature, we need to communicate, and we communicate in many ways. Arts and music are the most obvious examples of this refined form of communication that humanity developed over the course of history, but as I thought about it, it seems that sports too is a form of communication the way arts and music are. Unlike the arts or music, sports communicate something in a simpler yet more visceral level — emotions. When a striker scores a goal, when a gymnast executes the floor routine perfectly, the spectators feel the joy of witnessing another human being demonstrates their physical capability in the highest level. But is the joy only caused by the fact that the spectators care about the rules (ie. only care about whether their favored team/athlete wins or not)?

 

Remember why human exercises at the personal level — at the most basic level, it's to keep the body healthy. Not only that it is good to maintain your physical condition so that you can function normally, it is also a sign of vitality, of life at the highest point (and when you are so alive, you feel like you can do anything you want). One can feel at their most alive when their physically fit through exercising — and when the athletes compete, it is this vitality that they communicate to the spectators through their feats of athleticism. The athletes show that they are capable of peak athletic feats → they are full of life → capable of anything they'd like to do → "it's great to be alive". The last sentiment is probably why the spectators of a sport can light up with such euphoria when they watch their favorite sport.

 

A sport match is a celebration of life itself — or one form thereof.

 

 

Well that got really lengthy 😅😂😂, but isn't what this thread is for?

 

 

PS: and when I say football, I say FOOTball (soccer), not the one with the funny-looking ball ;þ

[rockstaryuzu]

4 hours ago, Figure_Frenzy said:

One can feel at their most alive when their physically fit through exercising — and when the athletes compete, it is this vitality that they communicate to the spectators through their feats of athleticism. The athletes show that they are capable of peak athletic feats → they are full of life → capable of anything they'd like to do → "it's great to be alive". The last sentiment is probably why the spectators of a sport can light up with such euphoria when they watch their favorite sport.

 

A sport match is a celebration of life itself — or one form thereof.

I like this idea!!!

[mercedes]

9 hours ago, monchan said:

THE STUDENT THAT I TUTORED GOT ACCEPTED INTO WASEDA I'M SO HAPPPPY 

He will even study the major I taught him 

YAY well done!be proud both of you!!

[rockstaryuzu]

12 hours ago, monchan said:

THE STUDENT THAT I TUTORED GOT ACCEPTED INTO WASEDA I'M SO HAPPPPY 

He will even study the major I taught him 

Congratulations!!!

[BWOZWaltz]

My YT recommendations since the lockdown are Yuzu, cats & dogs, sweets & food cooking and gaming.

That's pretty much sums up my mood. I occasionally watch music videos and house renovation videos but mostly Yuzu.

Oh and movie version of Neo Genesis Evangelion (official has uploaded it for a limited time until 29/Apr).

I think I have to watch that now....

 

[FlyingCamel]

Watched the free youtube shows for POTO and Love Never Dies! And remembered Yuzu’s POTO program haha I wonder if he was skating as the Phantom in that program?

[rockstaryuzu]

Hey satellites, if you're not watching Open Ice, get over there! Gabrielle Papdakis just sang for us and WOW what a voice! 

 

Lots of interesting chats with people from every part of the skating world. 

 

Kaitlyn Weaver is knocking it out of the park as a host.

 

[monchan]

I'm listening to Ballade and suddenly have a very random thought: Why are all classical composers men? 

Conductors too, I've never seen a female conductor before

[SitTwizzle]

1 hour ago, monchan said:

I'm listening to Ballade and suddenly have a very random thought: Why are all classical composers men? 

Conductors too, I've never seen a female conductor before

There would have been Chopin's contemporary Clara Schumann (Wieck), but she married (knowingly, and sad) an egoistic, uncaring, inconsiderate man (and great composer, I have to admit it). When Brahms arrived in their lives, during a few months she composed a little again, but that was all.

Also Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix's sister. Had she been a man, I tend to think she would have composed more, and been more celebrated.

Lili Boulanger died very young and was very ill during most of her 24 years of life.

I think there is a real difference between men an women's brains, but it is a mere average. In fact, in medieval times in Europe there was no "gender assumption" as to music and women make an "honourable" proportion of the known composers, but many composers remain anonymous and we know few works from the others, plus they are not to contemporary taste.

Renaissance was very hard for women in general, though not yet hampering too much their education itself, rather their capacity to compose music.

The worse was in a "broad XIXth Century", when even a decent education was unattainable to most women even in wealthy families. For people who see humour in Mozart's work and particularly, an irony echoing Jane Austen's (both had started at 12 by writing parodies of "bucolics"), the Queen of the Night in his Magic Flute can be shown to victims of parental estrangement on one hand, but also be taken as a denunciation of such sexism on the other hand (it can be said that his own sister "Nannerl" had been a victim of it, though not as gifted as him).

I really think Chopin was not sexist at all. His preferred pupils (rather for interpretation than for composition) were women as well as men but Marcelina Czartoryska was a great lady with all her duties and she could not even give concerts, and Pauline Viardot was an opera singer with a full career and she could not either.

[sallycinnamon]

Women were excluded from most professionals for a very long time so that may be the reason. They stayed home and raised children which was the norm. Clara Schumann was an exception as she was a prodigy but before she went touring all over Europe, she also married and had eight children, and her husband died after a not so long marriage. 

Nannerl Mozart career was cut short when she reached 18, as her father decided it was time for her to marry and settle down (she then married much later though because she wasn't allowed to marry the man she loved at 18).

 

There are quite a few famous female conductors from the 19th century onwards though not as many as men.

[Paskud]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:19th-century_women_musicians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:18th-century_women_musicians

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:17th-century_women_musicians

[monchan]

44 minutes ago, SitTwizzle said:

There would have been Chopin's contemporary Clara Schumann (Wieck), but she married (knowingly, and sad) an egoistic, uncaring, inconsiderate man (and great composer, I have to admit it). When Brahms arrived in their lives, during a few months she composed a little again, but that was all.

Also Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix's sister. Had she been a man, I tend to think she would have composed more, and been more celebrated.

Lili Boulanger died very young and was very ill during most of her 24 years of life.

I think there is a real difference between men an women's brains, but it is a mere average. In fact, in medieval times in Europe there was no "gender assumption" as to music and women make an "honourable" proportion of the known composers, but many composers remain anonymous and we know few works from the others, plus they are not to contemporary taste.

Renaissance was very hard for women in general, though not yet hampering too much their education itself, rather their capacity to compose music.

The worse was in a "broad XIXth Century", when even a decent education was unattainable to most women even in wealthy families. For people who see humour in Mozart's work and particularly, an irony echoing Jane Austen's (both had started at 12 by writing parodies of "bucolics"), the Queen of the Night in his Magic Flute can be shown to victims of parental estrangement on one hand, but also be taken as a denunciation of such sexism on the other hand (it can be said that his own sister "Nannerl" had been a victim of it, though not as gifted as him).

I really think Chopin was not sexist at all. His preferred pupils (rather for interpretation than for composition) were women as well as men but Marcelina Czartoryska was a great lady with all her duties and she could not even give concerts, and Pauline Viardot was an opera singer with a full career and she could not either.

Oh thanks, I just know Mozart had a sister which pursued music at the beginning.

Yeah I think some women did get musical education at early age but their career unfortunately all ended with marriage that they couldn't leave great legacies for future generations like their male counterpart. I suppose only if someone could refuse marriage and determined to commit her life fully to composing that she might get recognition like a men composer, huhm which is kinda unthinkable at that time, while most male composers got married, even many times and wrote music til they died.

[SitTwizzle]

1 hour ago, monchan said:

Oh thanks, I just know Mozart had a sister which pursued music at the beginning.

Yeah I think some women did get musical education at early age but their career unfortunately all ended with marriage that they couldn't leave great legacies for future generations like their male counterpart. I suppose only if someone could refuse marriage and determined to commit her life fully to composing that she might get recognition like a men composer, huhm which is kinda unthinkable at that time, while most male composers got married, even many times and wrote music til they died.

I really think if Clara Schumann could not compose, it was because of her husband's particular (bad) character. She tried to change him before their marriage, she married him in spite of her father's will (they even had to go to Court to be allowed to), knowing he just wanted her as a prize and a commodity at hand, and probably not even really care about their children, and there the XIXth Century education intervened : she felt compelled to a "fate" of marrying him and stopping any musical pursuit. When she became a widow, Brahms always remained a faithful support — yet never proposed her, out of respect.

In medieval times, of course nuns could compose and play just as monks, and both were the larger number of composers, but it was not "improper" for a married woman to be a composer, or a ruler, or even to go to war. Just less practical. What would have been considered improper would have been real public exhibitions. Women were not considered "inferior by nature".

With Renaissance and later, there was more prejudice against women, and less freedom. It was worse of course in England where, from XVth-XVIth Century, a married woman had not even the management of her own dowry (as a reference, Saint Louis king of France, edicted in May 1246 that girls could manage their estates from 14, and men only from 20; acknowledging a difference but not pretending to a general superiority of any); it was settled with Reformation but the trend was there before. In France it took way longer but culminated with the Code Napoléon in 1804, reflecting much its finaliser's misogyny but also the general mindset.