My favorite is the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. (It’s funny, but as a public speaker I wonder how many times I’ve done about the same thing. Mind in gear; body slightly delayed.)
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Thanks to David U. for this link. Do you know beauty in this wicked world?
They missed the one where he said, “We have to keep putting food on our families.”
I mean Iraq.
mike - thanks so much for linking to that washington post article. it’s so sad, but so terribly accurate.
Can you imagine being followed around by cameras for 6 years straight? I laughed hard at “looking presidential” because he looks around to see if he is clear before he quickly spits. Poor guy was looking over his shoulder and missed the camera beside him!
Great stuff on both videos. The second one reminds me that children sometimes “get” the world better than us grownups do!
“The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother’s heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music, too.”
I pray that life will never choke the poetry out of me!!! May we never be too busy to see or hear the beauty around us, for that is the work of the Master.
I wonder what we would be saying about Peter today if camera’s had followed him around. Seems like Peter’s heart was good but he made statements that may of showed Jesus that it had to be explained further. Yet he was a disciple of the Lord most high and brought the Good News to many.
I also remember the camera’s following President Ford around and making a big deal if he tripped.
Or the first President Bush when he got ill.
Maybe the problem is the News networks who are trying to push their agenda.
I am certainly glad I don’t have cameras trained on me all the time. I wonder what President Clinton’s top ten moments would have been? Ya’ll have a nice day. Weldon
Look the president is not an apostle, he is a man and a quite funny one at that. Clinton had is fair share of media exposure as well if I am correct…
But please do not let these comments result in a running commentary on which president is dumber because the second article is one of the most amazing pieces of writing my wife and I have seen in a while. It would be a sad irony if the subject of the article was missed yet again.
Looks like they’re on to you now, Mike.
Hilarious stuff. I like fishing, too.
JM:
Perhaps your own blog would be the more appropriate place for that sort of thing.
Oh my goodness. I was laughing so hard at Letterman and then wanting to cry over that article.
Mike -
The David Letterman Top 10 was funny. I’d sure hate to have a camera on me constantly because I’m always bumbling and fumbling around and say some really (Tom thinks) stupid, but very funny, things. I’m terrible about mixed metaphors and never get get phrases quite right (as in me saying that “you can’t teach an old dog to change his spots,” on that Tom thinks is a classic).
The Joshua Bell article (and videos) was really sad, I think. I’d like to think that I would stop to listen, but if on my way to work and pressed for time I don’t know. Our 14 year old grandson, Julian Nguyen (Tom’s daughter’s son), has played violin since he was 3 years old (Suzuki method) and is really, really good. (He also plays piano, guitar, saxophone and has written music on his computer.)
He’s played on a street corner in New Orleans (the corner of St. Charles Ave. and Union St.) in years past during Mardi Gras week when the family was down for a family visit and to go to Mardi Gras (where families congregate uptown) where he would practice and play. People would stop to listen and to put money in his open violin case lying at his feet. It was interesting to watch.
Of course, New Orleans has a lot of street musicians and is a much more laid back city than places like Washington, D. C. and New York City. Thankfully.
As for Joshua Bell - Tom and I LOVE his work and want to get his music on CDs from the movies “The Red Violin” (which we have in queue to get on DVD to see yet again) and a charming small British movie we saw very recently, “Ladies in Lavender.” Bell performed all of the violin music in both movies.
One reason I would like to think that I’d stop to listen to him is because I really love two of the pieces of music mentioned in the article, “Chaconne” and “Ave Maria.” I’ll have to see if I can find those on CDs by Bell.
Thanks for both links. One was funny and the other very interesting and moving. It was very good journalism, which I really appreciate.
The article and accompanying video of the world-class violinist playing to a less than appreciative crowd was stunning. I was struck by the column’s observation on the children’s response:
“But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.”
I was reminded of Jesus words from the gospel of Matthew:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
We overlook worldclass people everyday. The reason we overlook them is age, gender, education level, economic status, etc…
More than likely the people passing by the vilionist have spent a lifetime of being overlooked. Maybe it caught on.
Oh man, I miss the Washington Post…my favorite newspaper.
Perhaps my sense of humor might come more into play were Letterman more dedicated to clarity of truth. But since that is not the case, I was unable to get past either the second instance in the video [an incomplete quote, thereby giving a totally erroneous impression of the President's intent] and I finally quit looking at the video after the third, which was a very poorly done and obvious editing job.
Imo, all Letterman and crew managed to convey was their extreme bias and lack of grace when it comes to the President. What a shame.
The article is, again imo, an expression of the former. We are so involved with our own little piece of the world, there is no time to stop, look around and appreciate beauty around us. We have become a crass, busy for busy’s sake people, often taking time only to tear down another or just ignore the others around us. Again, what a shame.
The dude that wrote the article on Josh Bell knows how to spin a yarn, doesn’t he? Great writing. qb
Big GWB fan here…and I am ROTFLOL. My guess is that, because Bush doesn’t take himself too seriously, he thought that list was a riot. No worries. qb
I’m NOT a Bush fan, but on watching Letterman’s collage, I found GWB a little more endearing. I don’t think he needs defending from this kind of thing. He was sitting in the audience at the dinner where this clip was shown; I have no doubt he was laughing along.
I think it is worthy of note that most people involved in the dinner where the Letterman bit aired were fully aware of the comedy to come, including President Bush. It is an annual tradition of that press dinner for the President to be a little funny and self-depracating. Bush chose to take a more serious tack this year because of recent events, and left the comedy to the professionals in that industry. I like to think he enjoyed it, too. He seems to be a pretty down-to-earth, funny guy sometimes, and I don’t think he would ask supporters to defend him in the face of comedians.
The piece about the violinist was incredible (well-written, also). Thanks for sharing that interesting story, David U. and Mike. It’s definitely something to think about. . .if a great musician plays out of context, is he still great. . .hhmmm?
Everyone I talk to loves the Joshua Bell piece, so clearly I’m out of touch, but the whole thing just struck me as condescending. “Hey, we got a world-class violinist to play in a subway station and the plebes didn’t even notice!” I wonder how many Joshua Bell fans would stop and listen to someone like Earl Scruggs if he were playing near a busy thoroughfare as they were rushing to work. But no one will do that experiment because Scruggs is a virtuoso in the “wrong” style of music.