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Post by Zi on Apr 27, 2023 11:53:37 GMT
I find the philosophical questions quite interesting but I'm not sure I have an opinion about them. I agree with you theoretically especially where everyone else is concerned. I'd have no problems at all with their being described as 'musicians' but I baulk at describing myself like that. I'm always concerned someone might overrate my expertise and have expectations of me! It's like I don't say 'retired computer scientist' lest they hand me their printer...  Quantz is seriously opinionated BTW. But I really admire his determination and in the face of his ability to attract disaster. He reminds me of the 'losers' in Sims (I think you play some computer games so maybe you know what I mean?) except he seems to manage to dodge the asteroid. His father died when he was young. He was 'saved' from being a blacksmith by a relative who very quickly died and then when he went on a walkabout the town he arrived at got struck by lightening and caught fire which meant there was a food and water shortage and nowhere to stay... I'm assuming, like me, he had the ability to reframe and see the positives. The alternative is that he didn't realise he was some kind of Jonah! But his writing really is about people who earn their living as musicians. He doesn't really rate 'amateurs' much though graciously he allows them their existence and even some kind of purpose... |
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Post by Misty on Apr 27, 2023 20:56:44 GMT
Your re-framing idea really interests me, Zi, because it isn't something I automatically do. I'm wondering if it is something I might find helpful. Do you happen to have any book titles etc you could recommend?
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Post by Zi on Apr 28, 2023 8:47:31 GMT
If you have anything to do with mindfulness they'll likely throw in re-framing. If I had to recommend just one book everyone might look at to help with the life thing then it would be Richard Wiseman's The Luck Factor. Apparently, he has condensed this into The Little Book of Luck which I haven't read! I've probably mentioned ad nauseum that my husband trained as a clinical hypnotherapist and he says the book is Reframing by Bandler and Grinder (I've just borrowed a copy of it from him). But he says it can be hard going and agrees the Wiseman book is a much better introduction and like all of Wiseman it's a fun read and I bet you can pick it up cheaply on ebay! If you want to start yourself off on re-framing before the arrival of a book then do The Three Gifts. Get yourself a nice notebook, or an ordinary one and decorate it - make it really yours. And then each day right down three things that have made a positive impact, have made you happy, grateful or raised a smile. They don't have to be big things - a flower, a sunset, a nice meal, a telephone call... anything at all as long as it was positive. On bleak days you may have to work hard to find them but on those days it's most important to find them. Just three... so if there are more you'll need to decide which had the most positive impact. And they have to be written down. The act of writing them is part of why this will work. And it will set you on the road to re-framing.  edit - I think Quantz may have been a re-framer! |
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Post by pavane on Apr 28, 2023 9:40:09 GMT
I'd have no problems at all with their being described as 'musicians' but I baulk at describing myself like that. I'm always concerned someone might overrate my expertise and have expectations of me! It's like I don't say 'retired computer scientist' lest they hand me their printer...
I could have written that!
Also, the re-framing thing does look interesting and I think I will try the Little Book of Luck. Some people do seem to be able to overcome amazingly difficult pasts. I saw a thing the other day about some sort of remake of Frasier and as I always think things like that basically mean the lead actors are having trouble with their mortgage payments (why did Patrick Stewart do Picard? Why???) I idly looked up Kelsey Grammar on wikipedia. His early years were just appalling. I seldom look back on childhood and think "it couldn't have been better" but compared to his, mine was idyllic.
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Post by Zi on Apr 29, 2023 7:57:17 GMT
Re-framing is extremely useful. It got me through cancer but by then I re-framed as naturally as I breath. I don't realize I'm doing it. Wiseman is helpful, sensible and extremely compassionate. He does his experimentation in an interesting way and then uses the science - just as a good scientist should. His style (of writing) is extremely accessible but he doesn't want you to just read, he wants you to do things, think for yourself. He started off as a magician (like Randi) and his attitude reminds me of Randi.
Re Patrick Stewart as Picard - he drives me loopy. I'm not convinced he knows where he is or who he is.
Re printers... why the general public think computer scientists can fix their printer I do not know. I feel like wearing a badge saying: My printer is a mystery to me too... With the latest update of Ubuntu to Lunar Lobster, I've had to add a new printer profile... so I have now have two - one I got to work my fiddling about and the other Ubuntu thinks it has done which saves paper by 'printing' to some VR copy in the ether somewhere...
Back to music and musicians - Quantz really faced some serious stick but seems to have learned something useful from it and seems also to want other people to have a much easier time. There's a generosity and kindness there. He ended up playing the flute because the first instrument he wanted to concentrate on, there was no 'room' for - the older musicians refused to make a space for a newbie. The flute had no such competition so he went down that route... Pragmatic or what?
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Post by keff on Apr 29, 2023 19:38:50 GMT
Re Patrick Stewart as Picard - he drives me loopy. I'm not convinced he knows where he is or who he is. At one time, perhaps he still is, Stewart was the chancellor of Huddersfield University, an institution with a very strong music department. Make the music so. |
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Post by pavane on Apr 30, 2023 21:45:51 GMT
I like Patrick Stewart in the sense that he always seems nice in interviews and I liked him in ST TNG. But after saying for many years that he would never do another Star Trek, he dished out some nonsense about how the script for Picard just had so much relevance and meaning for the modern world that he really had to do it. Maybe he has some insight into the modern world that I lack, maybe he's talking nonsense. Who am I to say? We watched Picard series 1 around about the beginning of lockdown and it seemed to work ok in that environment; I don't remember it well enough to say why that might have been. We recently started watching series 2 and couldn't bear it at all so have bailed out, despite paying to watch it. He'd probably be a good chancellor though.
Printers - I think you could do well selling your badges. I have 2 printers and one gets printed to ok. The other one always fails, but if you kill the print queue off after failing to print at least one thing, it creates some sort of virtual printer that's a bit like the problem printer and sends the jobs to that, and they come out fine. Hmm...
Maybe I will go back to the Quantz, he sounds very interesting. Seems a bit sad that he couldn't play what he wanted to but certainly very pragmatic to take up the flute under the circumstances. Good for him!
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Post by Zi on May 1, 2023 7:29:24 GMT
We haven't watched Picard. I know for sure that I'd have never obeyed his orders and when he got kidnapped by an alien I'd have left him there for his lack of compassion I don't see any charisma at all in TNG - my favourite is probably Voyager (after the original) and/or Enterprise. Archer is an interesting character. He knows what being in space has done to him and could do to him. Take away the rule book from Picard and he's lost. He's have never have coped with the earlier scenarios which Kirk and Archer deal with and he would never have outwitted the Borg - as Janeway does. TNG seriously annoys me. Mr Z can't stand Rieker. Data and that daft Doctor Crusher drive me to despair both with their acting and their 'characters'... But I adore Troy's mother... she's wonderful! And Worf is interesting. We watch the whole series every year - starting with Enterprise and skipping all the episodes of TNG which seriously annoy us. We finish on a high with Voyager. But we've never 'done' Deep Space 9 and Picard. I doubt I could bear what they'll probably do to Seven... I've never seen Stewart in interview - I tend not to be interested in those kinds of things. However, he made a good job at the Emperor in Oblivion. I still think Terence Stamp and Sean Bean were in a different league... but Stewart worked well there because of his voice - it works well in narration. And the piece was short. Any longer and it would be obvious that once again he had no idea what it was all about... Incidentally, the music to the original Star Trek is interesting in that they had very little of it and kept reusing it. The opening theme to Enterprise is appalling! It must have the lamest lyrics possible. So - back on topic... Quantz is interesting. The reason I think he was a re-framer is that he doesn't mind how it turned out. He's managed to flip it so how it turned out is for the best. A non-reframer would harbour regrets. Reframing acts very quickly - it's one of the ways you know it's worked. And it's without regret. edited to add that Quantz played a number of instruments and says that when you admire someone's playing you need to take into consideration the skills involved - what sounds good on one instrument might be down to the fact that it's easier to do on that instrument. He played a number of instruments but seems to be best known for his work with the flute - he also made flutes. |
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