Jafo takes Crae out behind the shelter sheds and beats the living crap out of him for attempting to be clever....

On art, music, and sport

Craeonics: It seems as though you are now offering two different opinions on what the Olympics should be, rather than just your single previous one? I rather prefer to say that it is both a medal-and-points race AND a showcase for various different types of sport. Yeah. that sounds about right. On judges in Olympic events: doesn't boxing require a jury?

Jafo: I never said anything about not liking rock music, nor have I made any blanket dismissals of all rock being simplistic or terrible compared to all classical. (One can cite the obvious cases of RATT and Motorhead, however). In fact, I quite like Dream Theater because I find their music is a nice distillation of the best of Rush, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Extreme and Metallica. I also have a soft spot for Judas Priest and Rob Halford; also Bruce Dickinson (but not so much Iron Maiden). Finally, in a tribute to Australia, I have no Kylie Minogue recordings, but my AC/DC Back In Black CD has an honored spot on my shelf.

Aye, I'd have Kylie over Angus any day.

And I switch opinion every second, let's call it job deformation. A designer should look at things from all angles and postpone decisions. I've been pushing that practice over the edge a bit.

As for boxing... the only thing the judges do is count hits. And still they mess up! They should automate that and ditch the judges.

...which is good, for I haven't seen it, so it wouldn't make sense to me anyway.

Aggg, fercrissake, WTF _are_ the right tags for HTML here!?

Here is the link again:

http://www.dimsum.co.uk/culture/planets.shtml

ac4000...i read that...
I tend to enjoy the 'rock-fusion' rendition of classical...call me an inverted snob, but I find it ludicrous that 'classical' music must seem to be played by stuffed shirts in penguin suits in velvet-lined concert hall auditoriums...cheered on by the patting of white gloves in subjegated defference to a composer who 'must' be decomposing to be worthy of an audience.
I grew up with the music of the likes of The Pink Floyd [their correct name] even before Darkside, and being 47 now, have been around listening to, and enjoying the likes of Joplin and Hendrix while they were still alive....
This gives them more social/emotional relevance to me than any amount of Beethoven or Bach.
In the same way, the 'masters' of graphic art...all long-since dead, although admittedly 'talented and capable' have more social relevance to their period than to the youth of today.
As a student of Architecture [been designing the stuff since '72] I have a similar problem with the anal-retentiveness of 'heritage'...as if it is the be-all and end-all of urban culture.
'Heritage' or 'historical significance' finally lost the plot for me a few years ago when it was decided that a 'six-pack' block of flats built in the '50s was 'significant' and was classified [unable to be altered or demolished in ANY way]. This was the equivalent of declaring that the Gas chambers in Auschwitz were 'significant' and must continue to be fed Jews...[OK, so I exaggerated a tad].

Although it's true to say that 'he who forgets the mistakes of the past is bound to repeat them', it is also important to remember that the past is our PAST, and our grand children's 'distant past'.
It's all about perspective...
A few hundred years from know, I can guarantee the likes of Clapton and Hendrix..[and Floyd] will be referred to as perhaps 'Late Classical', and Beethoven will simply be 'Early Classical'.

I acknowledge the classical musicians have [had] sheer talent and ability, but I see exactly the same traits in 'modern' musicians too [Britney Spears excluded]...

When it comes to our own immediate circle of 'colleagues' in this community, I can see true artistic quality and talent in some which can very easily withstand the scrutiny of comparison with the 'masters'.

And..then there are Bryce Dolphins...the MacDonalds of Art...

Hmm, I think it's probably a generation gap thing.