Hobbies - Do You Have Any?

[GRH]

I'm not sure if movies or music would qualify as a "hobby," even though I have a huge collection of both. In some senses, I've made it a hobby to collect movies. I take pride in my DVD collection as I have many hundred (maybe a thousand for all I know).

Other things that I like to do...I'm an artist by training, so I enjoy painting and drawing, and fiber arts. I don't do any of the above with regularity, and as far as fiber arts goes, some of what I do is mindnumbingly redundant (like doing latch hooks or weaving plain weave fabrics or tapestry). I like the meditative aspect of doing arts.

If I'm really inspired, I sometimes write. I've got my share of poetry, which I've considered compiling into a volume for publication, but I'm a long way from that. I also want to write some fiction/autobiography as well.

I also love photography and videography. I used to dream of being a cinematographer, so I love pouring over the light and detail of a shot's composition. I especially love taking nature photos...

And in that respect, I love working in nature. Probably my single most favorite hobby is gardening. I get to use a bit of my art degree and couple it with a bit of my horticulture degree. Nothing quite like digging in the soil, planting a plant, and watching it bring forth fruit (either in the form of fruit/foliage you can eat or in the form of flowers that you can appreciate). Gosh, I love gardening!

[smc]

Originally Posted by GRH

I'm not sure if movies or music would qualify as a "hobby," even though I have a huge collection of both.

Absolutely! I have thousands of LPs and CDs, too. What kind of music do you enjoy?

[GRH]

Music...Let's think...A lot of old-school, classic rock such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, etc.

Then, I also like a LOT of alternative-90's stuff. Some favorite groups include The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, Vast, etc.

And if you can't tell from the groups I previously listed, I like some of the traditional goth-rock and goth-traditional types of music-- stuff like Type O Negative, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Dead Can Dance, etc.

[smc]

Originally Posted by GRH

Music...Let's think...A lot of old-school, classic rock such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, etc.

Then, I also like a LOT of alternative-90's stuff. Some favorite groups include The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, Vast, etc.

And if you can't tell from the groups I previously listed, I like some of the traditional goth-rock and goth-traditional types of music-- stuff like Type O Negative, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Dead Can Dance, etc.

Wow, our collections are very different. I came to rock rather late, and have lots of the classic late 1960s-early 1970s stuff, and some 1980s. But the bulk of my collection is bluegrass and old-timey, jazz vocalists (especially females), and classical. I have a particularly large collection of German lieder from the 1800s by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, et al.

As my local Boston friends might say about the jazz vocalists and classical singers stuff: "That's sounds wicked gay, dude!" But I know what I like.

[GRH]

Well, you mention classical, and that's one area that I often forget of my musical collection. I don't consider myself "well-versed" in classical, but I have a decent collection nonetheless. Quite a bit of Mozart and Beethoven, as well as some of the composers you mentioned among others.

I can't forget, classical music laid the roots for EVERY form of modern music that we enjoy today. So with that in mind, I enjoy classical.

[smc]

Originally Posted by GRH

Well, you mention classical, and that's one area that I often forget of my musical collection. I don't consider myself "well-versed" in classical, but I have a decent collection nonetheless. Quite a bit of Mozart and Beethoven, as well as some of the composers you mentioned among others.

I can't forget, classical music laid the roots for EVERY form of modern music that we enjoy today. So with that in mind, I enjoy classical.

Your last point made me think of the scene in the film "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (which is a really funny movie!) where Beethoven is let loose at the San Dimas Mall in California, finds himself in a store that sells electric organs, and begins improvising some crazy "modern" music through which some of his late piano sonatas come through, at least to the iniated ear.

Originally Posted by GRH

I can't forget, classical music laid the roots for EVERY form of modern music that we enjoy today. So with that in mind, I enjoy classical.

Not sure I'd entirely agree with that. I doubt there's much classical influence on blues and jazz (or not, in the case of jazz, until after WW2) and it's probably difficult to say how much classical and european folk music influenced each other as they more or less come from the same source. Not that I've got anything against classical - I just don't listen to it very much.

[smc]

Originally Posted by Natalie_J

Not sure I'd entirely agree with that. I doubt there's much classical influence on blues and jazz (or not, in the case of jazz, until after WW2) and it's probably difficult to say how much classical and european folk music influenced each other as they more or less come from the same source. Not that I've got anything against classical - I just don't listen to it very much.

Natalie, if we had some time together and I could get past drooling over how sexy you look (how's that for a nice cross-thread reference to your pics elsewhere?), I could play things for you that would show you precisely where classical music influenced jazz. For instance, the late Beethoven piano sonatas introduce new rhythmic structures that later show up in ragtime. W.C. Handy's blues from St. Louis have the structures of the minuets from Haydn's middle-period symphonies. Duke Ellington wrote big suites of jazz that follow classical forms in many respects.

American blues come primarily from Mali, in Africa, with little classical influence.

As for the European folk music and classical music, one need only listen to the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok to hear how they are intertwined. Or listen to Mahler's symphonies; he used l?ndler (folk dances) from Bohemia and Germany throughout his symphonies. These are but a few of dozens and dozens of examples.

What do you say? Is it a date?

[shadows]

Originally Posted by GRH

Music...Let's think...A lot of old-school, classic rock such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, etc.

Then, I also like a LOT of alternative-90's stuff. Some favorite groups include The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, Vast, etc.

And if you can't tell from the groups I previously listed, I like some of the traditional goth-rock and goth-traditional types of music-- stuff like Type O Negative, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Dead Can Dance, etc.

Wow! There is only one possible reaction to that list of music!

bowing.gif bowing.gif bowing.gif

Seriously, that is a kick-ass list for sure!

I also think that your hobbies are really nice. I have a little flower garden in my back yard. Last year a plant started shooting up that I hadn't even planted! My mom had visited and was thinking about taking it out, but I suggested keeping it around for a little while longer as it looked like it was going to flower. It turned out to be a good idea! The mystery plant was a butterfly bush and it is a very lovely plant. It grew to about 6'! A lovely looking flower on it that smelled nice as well. And when the butterflies start coming around(hence the name) it raises it's beauty even more!

With the nice Spring we've had so far, the bush is already starting to have leaves growning on it(you leave the stalks alone, and just cut the seed pods(formerly the flowers) off. If you don't, it won't flower again. It turns out the neighbours forgot to prune their butterfly bush down last year and that was the reason it started to grow in my garden. If they had pruned it like the previous years I would not have had the pleasure of having it grow in my garden.

If you ever get your book(s) published, maybe I could get an autographed copy?

[GRH]

Originally Posted by shadows

If you ever get your book(s) published, maybe I could get an autographed copy?

Certainly my friend!

[shadows]

Originally Posted by GRH

Certainly my friend!

Thank you. I look forward to it someday in the future.