Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Just curious. Don't everyone reply that they're only watching the beach volley matches!
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Yes I find the sports that don't get much coverage over here interesting for a few weeks. i.e. Rugby, Handball, Table Tennis, Archery and other random stuff. I actually avoid watching Basketball or other things which are the norm.
Posts: 1743
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Sport, when it is not too exiting, is wonderful to read, or to practice your technic skills on the guitar with.
Oh.....and the olymic games are wonderful to explore new sports......in winter i am hooked on curling......never heard or see that sport in my country....
And at last, the Egypte girls with their Jihab at beachvolleybal made my day!
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Can't answer your original question Piwin cause there's no "No because I've no TV and haven't found a good free streaming site yet" sort of answer.
I did find it funny the other day when I googled "olympic highlights" I came across some video of nothing but French glory moments with zero mention of other team's putting in great performances.
How can someone object to doping in sport and still tolerate doping in music?
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Dudnote)
Yeah I screwed up the poll. Should've just done a yes or no option. Live and learn I guess. French glory moments? That had to be a short video Especially if it was for this year's olympics. So far we've not been doing so good...
@Paul Magnussen
It's funny how the importance of certain sports varies from country to country. Fencing is always a pretty big deal in France. They usually show ample footage of it during the olympics.
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Definitely. I was a gymnast when I was younger and I watched the VHS tapes that my parents' friends had made of the '96 games over and over again. Mostly gymnastics and track and field which I still love watching. I find that almost anything competitive can captivate me, except for team sports oddly enough.
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
I watch certain individual sports such as gymnastics, fencing, and archery.
One sport that I wish were included in the olympics is squash. Squash has a long history beginning in England in the mid-nineteenth century and is played pretty much all over the world. I have played squash for more than 40 years and still play it, though my knees are shot as a result. It is a great conditioner and requires a lot of strategy to play well.
There have been two or three attempts to include squash as an olympic sport. Unfortunately, they have all failed.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Posts: 215
Joined: Mar. 17 2015
From: Virginia USA
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
I love watching many Olympic sports while holding my guitar and practicing during the breaks. I would run scales, picados, rasguedo, play a few falsetas here and there, etc. while switching my channels of stream.nbcolympics.com on the PC back and forth between swimming, table tennis, soccer, gymnastics, and basketball. Basically I try to maximize my time. Without the guitar I'd fall asleep unless the USA is playing.
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Goldwinghai)
quote:
I love watching many Olympic sports while holding my guitar and practicing during the breaks.
I used to do that while listening to cricket on the radio. I'm not even that interested in cricket. But their radio coverage is absolutely amazing for practicing the guitar!
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Besides the usual thrillers like gymnastics, swimming, and track, I like show jumping and dressage. My family has a connection with horses that stretches back generation upon generation, into the mists of history.
My daughter was Central Texas Junior Champion in show jumping when she was 14, Centrel Texas Champion at 18, State Champion on her third try at 20, on a big thoroughbred she trained. That horse loved her, for a variety of good reasons. More than once I saw him risk injuring himself rather than endanger her when they went down among flying timber balks. The parents' training was not to dash out onto the course when their six-year old went down.....
Rationally I liked my son's soccer (football) better. Instead of saying, "A, B and C went around with no faults, now we'll discuss who looked better doing it," you just counted the number of times the ball went into the goal. But I had an equal number of thrills watching each.
Dressage just sends chills down my spine, watching those magnificent athletes--the horses, not the riders--though the riders are usually the trainers of their mounts. The horses mature at age four. It's another six to eight years of working together before horse and rider are ready for world class competition.
For many the excitement of Charles and Diana's wedding might have been the impressive ceremony in St. Paul's, or the royal pageantry, the bride's gown or the striking beauty of the young Princess. All these were nice for me, but the high point was watching the Colonel of the Life Guards regiment, mounted on a magnificent black, at times accompanying the royal brougham on the way from St. Paul's Church to Buckingham Palace at a slow cantering half-pass. Astonishing: a prolonged and graceful equine ballet.
The above is a pacing half pass, the most common form of the movement. The left legs move in unison, the right legs move in unison. The cantering half pass is more rarely seen. The principle of the half pass is applied to the more complicated sequence of the canter. The horse is not as sharply bent as in the previous video (nor as I remember the Colonel's mount), but it shows the sequence of the cantering pace and the leg crossings.
When I was six I was given a quarter horse, a two-year old. We learned to "cut cows" together: maneuver individual animals out of a herd. When I was 30 he died of old age. For many years afterward I had a dream, once or twice a year. I would be standing at the fence of the remuda early in the morning when the horses were turned in. I would look and look for mine, to catch him and put on his rig, but I would be unable to find him.
Then I would awake with a lump in my throat, knowing I no longer had a horse. All these years later I still miss him.
So I like show jumping and dressage...the Olympics are among the few chances I get to see them these days.
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Heard today that dressage goes back to Greek times and war horses. Showcasing how well trained their war horses were. The stomping in place was what the horses were taught to do in order to stomp on enemy soldiers. Really changed how I looked at the sport.
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Michael Phelps- Animal. In Japan all the events get a fair showing on TV with mainly Judo as the star. They try to feature one or two Japanese athletes in each event. And the Swimming and the other super medal sports like Track get a lot of air.
Japan beat NZ in rugby, and made a lot of Aussies gleeful.
Phelps is an animal. He owns the title for the modern and ancient games for most gold. He passed Leonidies of Rhodes who in 156 BC earned 12 golds in individual events. Winning the 200 IM he broke a 2000 year old record.
And he's not done, he's just about to swim the 100 M Butterfly and will probably set a world record. Phelps may retire, but if not he can dominate the 2020 games if he decides to train the next four years. I would not wish that on him, but if he decides to do it the stats and technology for swimmers training in their mid to late thirties shows they can potentially go faster even with an older body.
I would not blame him if he says he is done this time, but you never know. I would love to see him go out one more time.
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
When I was on the swim team in high school the fastest sprinter was a big stoner. Go figure.
Yeah, and I like to brag about being thrown into the pool by two football jocks who thought they could mess with one of the pussy swimmers. They made the mistake of humiliating me on the pool deck then swing me back and forth then lobbing me into the pool. The mistake was jumping in after me and laughing about it. I just grabbed one guy and held him under water for a real long time. When I let him up he looked at me like ok I get it know. He was scared poopless
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
The captain of the football team was a really smart and fair guy. e was wise beyond high school years, he made friends and said don't take those clowns seriously. I was never bothered again.
Posts: 1871
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
My wife trains in dressage riding. She rode well as a kid but gave it up. After three back surgeries she thought it was over, but she now spends most of her time at a nearby ranch training horses and riding. I loved your story Richard-thanks for posting. I've been watching on and off. Phelps is indeed a phenomenal figure. I like most of the events, including fencing. My daughter came in while I was watching fencing and commented that fencing seemed a useless art. I pointed out that short of a gun, it was the best weapon one could have. She said yes, if you have it with you-how many people walk around with swords? I love seeing beautiful women in skimpy bikinis but for the life of me I don't understand how beach volleyball is an olympic sport. Mentioned it to a friend and he said it was his absolute favorite sport. He thought the girls should wear loincloths. I might like it more if they did. Like you other guitar nerds, I always have a guitar in my hands while watching.
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Mark2)
quote:
My daughter came in while I was watching fencing and commented that fencing seemed a useless art. I pointed out that short of a gun, it was the best weapon one could have. She said yes, if you have it with you-how many people walk around with swords? I love seeing beautiful women in skimpy bikinis but for the life of me I don't understand how beach volleyball is an olympic sport.
Your daughter's question, "How many people walk around with swords?," reminds me that many years ago, while on a four-month assignment at our Embassy in Bangkok for the State Department, a Thai woman who was (and who remains) a very good friend had a walking stick made with the carved head of a cobra as a handle attached to a sword blade that can be withdrawn from the stick. She gave it to me upon my departure as a parting gift, and I keep this sword-stick (or sword-cane, as they are sometimes called) by the side of our fireplace. In my case it is more an ornamental curiosity than an actual weapon. Nevertheless, I have occasionally found myself in areas where I would have felt more comfortable with it in hand.
Regarding beach volleyball and beautiful women in bikinis, in the 2020 olympics it will seem like a real sport given that the IOC has determined that rock climbing (rock climbing!!!) will be included as an olympic "sport." Apparently participants will climb up so-called "climbing walls" that now are found in some gyms. I suppose it is a sop to try and gain younger viewers, but I can't imagine a more boring so-called "sport" than watching some guy grunting his way up a climbing wall.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Leñador)
quote:
Guns without the satisfying bang! That's gotta be as boring as olympics get.....
It has its uses. I learned to shoot with an air gun when I was a kid in the UK and did pretty well on the NRA range in Fairfax, VA (after safety training).
S&W .44 Magnum (half-load), S&W 9mm with 'illegal' 14-round magazine + 1, Luger P.08, .357 Magnum. I shot them all in close combat simulations. Still have the targets somewhere.
.44 gave the best bang, smoke and sparks for the buck :-)
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Piwin)
Don't get me wrong, nothing against it. When I was a kid my neighbour would give me $5 a gopher I could nail. I got pretty good. It's just.....Olympic sport? Lol
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to BarkellWH)
quote:
I suppose it is a sop to try and gain younger viewers, but I can't imagine a more boring so-called "sport" than watching some guy grunting his way up a climbing wall.
It seems very similar to most "sprinting" events to me. But, to be fair, I'm not all that interested in watching people run or swim from point A to point B either, even if the physical prowess is in fact impressive.
(race starts at 0:45)
_____________________________
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Leñador)
quote:
Don't get me wrong, nothing against it. When I was a kid my neighbour would give me $5 a gopher I could nail. I got pretty good. It's just.....Olympic sport? Lol
I guess it can motivate someone but if they can include ping-pong and golf, who are we to judge :-) What is significant is the GB performance over the last decade as the lottery funding kicks in for 'elite' sports. As for the legacy, it's not really registering with the public in terms of taking up sports.
Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: Do you watch the Olympic Games? (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
quote:
Looking at the historical record, apart from the well documented academies in South America where the guitar was definitely on an equal if not GREATER social footing than the violin or piano, its clear that the guitar in Spain also was already in formal institutions of higher learning as illustrated by these attachments.
This submission appears to have nothing to do with watching Olympic games. I assume it was meant to be included in the thread entitled, "Flamenco in Music Conservatories." I think Richard Brune, in his statement cited above, is referring to what we have been referring to as "Conservatories," i.e. formal institutions of higher learning.
He makes the point that he made in his excellent piece on the development of the guitar, that there was crossover with tocaors playing both classical and flamenco, and that apparently both were taught by professors in these conservatories, in both Latin America and Spain. He mentions the 1932 "La Epoca" review of Pedro Moreno's concert featuring Soleares, Siguiriyas, Fandanguillos, and Tarantas. It is an interesting piece and complements his earlier study.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread