Interesting article about how we percieve things, or take the time to appreciate things.
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Interesting article about how we percieve things, or take the time to appreciate things.
What a fantastic read! Thank you for sharing. Perhaps if Livi made a razor and put the words "Double Arrow" or even "Paksitan" on it...how many of would say more than "yeah, it's pretty good?" I am a straight razor shaver. I enjoy it, and I'm probably pretty good at it. I am not, yet, a master. Same with wine....if I had an Opus One in a $6 bottle....would I know more than "hey, that's a pretty good buy?" Now, make it a Scotch, a cigar, or a brandy, and I can probably tell that SOMETHING is up, more than meets the eye.
But GREATNESS? GENIUS? How likely am I to recognize it in areas that I don't consider myself expert? (including music...would I have stopped? I like to think so. Would I have recognized this greatness...I think it is hubris for me to pretend that I would.)
As an old philosphy major, I loved being reminded of some of those great discussions of beauty and art that I have read...I took a class in it, actually in undergrad, and I wish I knew then how much I would love to remember it all now...perhaps I would have kept my notes!
For those of you who have never closed your eyes and listend to Joshua Bell play...even if you are not a fan of classical music...give it a try. maybe ESPECIALLY if you are not a fan of classical music. You will be...at least for a while.
I'll be seeing him again in Boston November 27, and I can not wait. He is one of very, very few artists who have ever made me cry through music's beauty.
A local TV station did the same test here in Ottawa two years ago, one of the greatest musicians in the world playing her Strad on the street with the same results more or less.
Or vice versa, in regards to the GD/DAs?Quote:
Originally Posted by smokelaw1
If someone took a DA, and laser etched "Filly" on there, would the perception be of what a great shaver it was? But as a $10 razor, "it couldn't possibly be any good..."
As far as Albert Bell goes, I'm not shelling out $100 to see him. I'm waiting for the next time he plays the subway, caue I'm cheap like that!:)
Indeed. A cruel joke that has been played on new members of another community I used to be heavily invovled in (cigars) was to put the band of a VERY nice (Limited Edition Cuban, etc) cigar on a similalry sized/shaped/colored cheap-o, and watch them be WOWED by the "beast cigar they've EVER smoked!"Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraphim
I wouldn't pay that either!! For JOSHUA Bell, however, I'd pay considerably more(sorry, just being a bit of a jerk.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraphim
I've been had!:(Quote:
Originally Posted by smokelaw1
Sorry, I didn't pay attention to the first name, as I'm no music afficianado.
The title, "Pearls Before Breakfast" comes from this I think:
Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
I'm not sure that's being fair to these worker stiffs. They can't just stop and smell the roses you know.
I'm familiar with the Chaconne. Very emotional J.S.Bach solo piece. Segovia played it on guitar.
YouTube - Andres Segovia Plays Bach Chaconne (Part 1)
Yeah, the Pearls Before Swine reference is a little unfair, I think. I imaigne if he was placed on a street corner surrounding where "upper crust" folks hang out, he wouldn't have done much better. Indeed...they very well might have called the cops. The vagrant hanging about playing his $3.5Million violin!Quote:
Originally Posted by matt321
I'm a big fan of classical guitar. Segovia was one of the all time best.
Thats really good reading and brings an interesting point that I learned early with straights. I tell new shavers, it doesn't matter what the name is, only how it shaves.
I had a roommate in college who played the Chaconne piece once for me on his electronic classical guitar. I have never searched for others who played it.
Thanks for posting this, it was very educational. The world would be better if more people knew of Bach, Bethoven, Brahms or Mozart.
Very interesting read indeed, not only a demonstration of how we sometimes don't slow down to appreciate beauty, but an example of how value is objective.
Take the most valued razor in all the world and hand it to an orthodox Jewish man that believes it is against scripture to put a blade to your face. To this man our treasure would most likely be nothing more than a fancy letter opener.
I'm sure a number of those people would have stopped if they knew better or had time, but a number of them probably wouldn't have cared either way.
I only have one real issue with this entire expiriment...
Pennies? REALLY? someone tipped him with f%#&ing PENNIES? What the hell is wrong with people? how bout you just throw your empty Starbucks cup at him when you're done with it.
It's one thing to not care for the art someone is trying to share with you, even if you choose to completely ignore it. But to actually stop and take the time to dig in your pockets to toss an insult in their hat. That's not just rude, that is going out of your way to be rude.
This is interesting. I read once, that it is not illegal to sell a high brow product as a low brow product, but it is to sell it the other way round.
I read that duracell had one production line making one battery, and that they were sold for what they were but also as the cheaper alternative.
We buy into what we're sold.
heck, people have been paying through the nose for Rolex watches for years convinced of their magical powers.
Can't speak about the DAs because I never had any of those, but the 9$ wapienicas were (are) amazing, and according to Iwan, they shaved better than his Livi Takeda and other big buck expensive blades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraphim
In related news:
Many years back, my brother went through a phase where he wanted to learn how to play a bunch of different kinds of musical instruments: guitar, saxaphone, I don't remember what else....and then he remembered that our father had a pair of violins up in the attic from when our Dad had taken violin lessons on back when he was a kid out in Ohio. So, my brother asks our Dad if he can get them tuned up, and whatnot to get them back in useable condition. They had not been played in ages upon ages, unless you want to count when my brother and I played with them a couple of times when we were like 10 years old pretending to be backwoods fiddlers, the Charlie Daniels band or something.
So, my brother takes the two violins down to some music place in Harvard Square, asking to get them re-strung or whatever needed to get back in playing shape.
Well, it turns out, that one of the violin bows was a Smarmikov (OK, not the real name), but it was of some sort of make of reknown, and turned out to be worth $7,000!:eek: