tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11779531.post112433349106629543..comments2023-08-04T04:41:39.813-07:00Comments on Of Looking At A Blackbird: Beauty by MistakeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11779531.post-1124474563746868802005-08-19T11:02:00.000-07:002005-08-19T11:02:00.000-07:00I'm thinking of that term "beauty by mistake" and ...I'm thinking of that term "beauty by mistake" and I'm not sure I get it. The beauty of flowers, trees, all natural occurences can, arguably be termed "beauty by mistake," or in any case by accident. If we're talking the beauty of architectural creations or even the grand vistas of landscape, that is, undoubtably, on purpose.<BR/><BR/>I don't know New York any more (and do not remember much I would call beautiful--NYers, forgive me), but, for instance here in the Bay Area, if you climb the Marin Headlands and view the bridge and bay, you have done it intentionally, so even if you have not created the view with the fog and sailboats and so forth, it's not by accident or mistake.<BR/><BR/>Getting back to music--a sticky subject--I don't think jazz or blues--or rock, in its moments--is less beautiful than classical. Different, not less. And improvisation is not accident or mistake.<BR/><BR/>I really like Kundera--perhaps I would have to better understand the context his character says this in.Diane K. Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03204316534769002428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11779531.post-1124374995600516272005-08-18T07:23:00.000-07:002005-08-18T07:23:00.000-07:00Fathers and pot roasts have definitely ruined a lo...Fathers and pot roasts have definitely ruined a lot of things for a lot of people. It reminds me of a terrible, boring organ recital I went to years ago. All I remember is even from the balcony I seemed to see flakes of dandruff drifting from the organist's balding head onto his tuxedo.<BR/><BR/>Looking back on my original post, I see I left out that Kundera's whole point was that "beauty by mistake" is the characteristically American, New York style of beauty.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13471547669854013234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11779531.post-1124341783532080662005-08-17T22:09:00.000-07:002005-08-17T22:09:00.000-07:00And I am very sad, because I want to understand, b...And I am very sad, because I want to understand, but I don't. I don't know how to listen to classical music. John says it's all because of my father who put on music and forced us to listen to it. Classical music always has overtones to me of infinitely long Sunday afternoons after a greasy roast and the paternal authority of my dad and the snobby radio announcers.<BR/><BR/>I enjoy <I>playing</I> in an orchestra, though it's been decades since I have, and hearing the thread of my flute weave in and out of the fabric of a larger sound, but mostly I don't know how to listen to classical music or know how to hear it.Diane K. Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03204316534769002428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11779531.post-1124340609595975112005-08-17T21:50:00.000-07:002005-08-17T21:50:00.000-07:00I completely understand. Music is a great Art. I...I completely understand. Music is a great Art. I have even, at times, argued it is the greatest Art. I cannot imagine a world without Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms, Rachmaninov, etc.C. Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17270640200393742125noreply@blogger.com