rtureck said:
ITA with the description of "not well versed in music", I am not entirely sure I 100% agree with the reason as stated. Of course no one here IMHO is as well versed in music as Realtorgal, the resident musician of GS, she has the degree, and a wealth of personal and teaching experience.
RT,
You are SO right about Realtorgal. She has the musical education, professional performing experience, and teaching experience on a variety of levels. Actually, there are a lot of posters on GS who have master's degrees or above in their fields and/or high level professional experience. Also, a lot of their expertise relates to skating and, as Rgal does on occasion, they will use their knowledge if they feel it will add to the topic(s) of the thread.
Occasionally we get a poster or two who will flaunt his/her knowledge just to try to "show off" how much they know. Actually, I find it to be kind of like how you describe Sasha's "bravura" skating--"Look at me! Look at me!" Although in the right threads and to a point, I often find this information very interesting and valuable. But some of them--well, one poster in particular who no longer posts here, or at least I don't know if she does--used to get so carried away with minutia about her area, which also happened to be classical music--though like you, she too was just a passionate fan--going on and on and ON about things that had nothing to do with anything, that although I used to copy her lists of music recommendations so I could check them out, eventually it seemed she got carried away with I don't know what, but her posts became all "Look at me!" and no substance. She would also copy out whole chapters of textbooks, which I found very odd.
Anyway, it was really a shame. A lot of people loved hearing about her music info and I actually liked her. But she was one of those posters who needed to hate certain posters and skaters and for some reason seemed to have this need to endlessly badger them. It seemed like once she got a fixed negative idea about a poster or skater in her head, even if it was based on false information, nothing could change it. Don't get me wrong, to the people she liked, she was super nice. But for the posters who were on her s**t list, she seemed obsessed with picking apart and tearing down everything they said. A very unfortunate waste of what could have been at best an opportunity for further positive interaction and at worst peaceful coexistence, but she would have none of it with the posters she hated. Very sad. Don't know whatever happened to her.
But back to Realtorgal and other posters who are experts in certain or even several fields. I guess people like Rgal are secure enough in their own self-esteem that they don't feel the need to "show off" every day how much they know about whatever. OTOH, I love it when posters such as Rgal, Mathman, Yazmeen, Tharttell, Sk8m8, Show, and many others--I'm sure I'm leaving many names out, please forgive!--contribute their expertise to a thread where it applies to the topic, or start a topic in Le Cafe about it, whether it be a "brain teaser" thread or just sharing information. I know I've sure learned a lot from these people and I know others have too. For example, the music experts on the "American Idol" threads in Le Cafe are so great to have. And at least right now, with people such as Rgal, Mike79, Guinevere, Show, JohhnyCoop, Tonichelle, and others I can't think of off-hand, I can miss a show like I did last night and feel I get a great range of well-informed if not expert opinions on how things went.
Well, off topic again, lol. But speaking of music and "worst programs," I think poor music choices often ruin what could have been an excellent program and just drive it into the ground. One of my pet peeves is the use of movie soundtracks that are mediocre at best. Of course there have been some great scores written for film; some, IMO, stand on their own as music and some are appropriate for skating. The other night I was watching "The English Patient" and because a lot of the score reflects flight, I wondered if it would work for figure skating. BTW, I thought the music for "Catch Me if You Can," like "The English Patient" also captured that feeling of flight, though in a very different way. Both are rare, IMO, among film scores in being stand-alone good. Plus, in "The English Patient" there's the use of Bach overlaid with Hungarian folk music, which I thought was especially interesting. Finally, although I wouldn't want the skater to "play" a character from "TEP," the female lead is a very passionate and sensuous woman. If the right skater just used passion, sensuousness, and the idea from the film that our bodies are the true maps of the world and skated a well choreographed program to a well edited version of music from "TEP," I think it just might work. However, speaking of experience, I had enough as a choreographer and dancer to know that what seems like a great idea in your head often tanks when you actually try it. So somebody skating to music from "TEP" might be a future "worst program" lol.
Rgirl
PS--HockeyFan, ITA re Wagner, dance, and judicious editing--like with chainsaw, lol. Or rather, to pay homage to "Parsifal," a certain Roman soldier's spear. I once choreographed a dance using the Cambridge Buskers playing "Ride of the Valkyries" (they play recorders and kazoos) and it was received very well, but then it was only about four minutes long
of seeing that, but it was an absolute travesty. As if the music weren't bad enough on its own, Victor's program was even worse. It was so horrible that I've blocked most of it out of my memory, but I do remember that it involved him using a handpuppet of a dog, which he "barked" at himself every time the music said "Woof, woof, woof, woof." He didn't really do very much real skating at all in the program, just a lot of posing around with his stupid puppet. Gah! It was horrible!!
