I wrote this last night

[clevermanka]

The fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is one of my favorite pieces of music, ever, and probably my favorite classical piece (clichéd as that might be). Here is a flash mob in France doing a beautiful job of performing it.

Thank you, pennswoods for putting this on your Tumblr.

TRUTH:

Click image for full size and Tumblr location

The Tumblr OMG That Dress has been posting a whole bunch of dresses from the late Belle Époque. All considerations of functionality and modern wear-ability aside, this is my favorite era of fashion. I've so much appreciated seeing the blog give such attention to a fashion style that is usually overlooked--seeing as how it's pretty much bookended by Victorians and Flappers. *sigh* I just...ah. So so so beautiful. Here are some of my favorites they've posted. Search around on the Tumblr for more.

Dress One
Dress Two
Dress Three
Dress Four

Comments

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

dress two is amazing!!! I want to see the fron:(

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Style-wise (with modifications for color, etc.) it's probably similar to this one (http://omgthatdress.tumblr.com/post/26512246887/dinner-dress-redfern-1909-1911-the-metropolitan), which I should have included in my favorites. The necklines and sleeves are very close. Just put a drape across the front instead of the long scarf-like things hanging down the front in the purplish one.

God, those are gorgeous.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm gonna have to KICK myself off that tumblr after lunch. That's gorgeous! ALL OF THEM!

I would hate having to squish myself into a corset, but I love those fancy dresses!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Yay! Happy browsing!

[annamatic.livejournal.com]

The peacock dress on page four!!!! OH

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

YES YES



Putting it here because why not.

[kira-snugz.livejournal.com]

ALSO YES!!

[tessagratton.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's cliche to love one of the greatest pieces of music ever written! :D

I laughed so hard when I saw that card, and want it on a tee shirt.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

We could arrange for matching tee shirts.

[radiantmephit.livejournal.com]

That flash mob was perfection. In my next paper on flash mobs I want to talk about how classical musicians can and do use them like a form of advertising - that I would imagine (and someone should pay me to investigate this further) generates alot of follow-up revenue. After I listen to professional musicians perform incredibly beautiful music, I am reminded of the value of their talents. That's just one angle on the thing. I have a million more, but that one is really interesting.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Is one of your million other angles the story about the guy who charged some crazy price for his tickets at Madison Square Garden, then played the day after (or before or something like that) in the subway and nobody stopped to listen or put money in his case?

[radiantmephit.livejournal.com]

Nope! Do you know where I could find out more about him?

[skyflame.livejournal.com]

Are you thinking of Joshua Bell, who performed in the DC Metro during morning rush hour?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

(Gene Weingarten, the author of this piece, won the Pulitzer for this. Nevermind that he arranged the stunt with Bell as a sociological experiment.)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

That's not the one I was thinking of...the video I remember is most definitely at the bottom of the stairs in an NYC subway. But it's the same idea. Thanks!

[skyflame.livejournal.com]

Also, this article by Snopes lists a similar stunt occurring in Chicago, 1930 (it's right at the very end of the article).

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bell.asp

[radiantmephit.livejournal.com]

Nice! Thanks!

[skyflame.livejournal.com]

This is the follow-up from Weingarten in 2008 discussing the 1930 event, which he was unaware of when he and Bell did the DC Metro thing in 2007.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401153.html

[radiantmephit.livejournal.com]

Very cool. The research on flash mobs I have done thus far defines the term as approximately a spontaneous group event or performance organized via digital media. So some of the variables that get tested in the Weingarten story are group vs. individual, and the manner of organization, newspaper experiment vs. social network participation. Useful in stimulating thoughts about effects.

[skyflame.livejournal.com]

A lot of this is timing, too. Flash mobs are coordinated by Twitter and Facebook, which didn't exist in any meaningful form in 2007. Also, the mass flood of relatively cheap smartphones in recent years to run Tweetdeck and FB is an underrated piece. (I work in telecom and know more about the technology piece than I should, frankly.)

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

okay the last paragraph gave me a shiver.

Have any of you missed The Soloist (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821642/)? I rec it highly if you haven't seen it.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh...I'll look for it tomorrow if I have time. If not then, Monday!

[nottygypsy.livejournal.com]

Made me cry. I keep thinking of the little girl that put the money in the hat at the begining, best money spent EVER.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I hope it doesn't spoil it for you, but I kind of think she was a plant.

[nottygypsy.livejournal.com]

Naw, plant or not, it was still just as awesome for her. And me.

[kira-snugz.livejournal.com]

can't stop looking at dresses!!!
and some of the boots!!! OMG THE BOOTS!!!

and they have a sister tumblr OMG that artifact!

i see that i shall be busy in the near future looking at awesome things!!!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

[tama-grey.livejournal.com]

That video brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Me, too! First when the chorus starts in...nngngngn. So beautiful. And then the moment at 3:57 when the guy in the audience is so into it, he's conducting to himself. Beautiful in a very different way, but no less beautiful.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

Oh! To have been an artist of some sort during that era when artists actually had patrons to provide for their living.
*sigh*
And that Flash Mob moved me to tears.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

To have been an artist of some sort during that era when artists actually had patrons to provide for their living

I hear the parties were pretty great, too.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

You bet! From the folks who brought us the Folies Bergere and the Moulin Rouge, ooh-la-la!

[radiantmephit.livejournal.com]

Oh! And! Pics of Gaultier's Fall 2012 show might be up your alley fashion-wise:

http://fashionbombdaily.com/2012/07/05/show-review-jean-paul-gaultier-fall-2012-couture/

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

This is not my favorite of his collections, but I can always count on Gaultier to have at least one piece in his couture show that I would wear. In this case, I found three.

One (http://fashionbombdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/jean-paul-gaultier-couture-fall-2012-45.png)
Two (http://fashionbombdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/jean-paul-gaultier-couture-fall-2012-17.png)
Three (http://fashionbombdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/jean-paul-gaultier-couture-fall-2012-60.png) (without that horrible, ill-fitting hat)

[pennswoods.livejournal.com]

Isn't that the most amazing thing. I love that so much. But I can't take credit for it - I just reblogged it from a million other people.

Oh, I would love to have been present during that flash mob!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Take some credit for the fact that I wouldn't have seen it without your reblog!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

aww...I don't know if the kids were planted or not but I really liked the shots of the kids excitedly jumping around and waving their arms with the music.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I think the little girl who dropped the coin was a plant, but I think the others were just happy kids. =)

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

guh, those dresses. @_@

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I want one. Or several. And somewhere to wear them.

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

I love those dresses!! Esp the white one.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

There's something about that era's design aesthetic that appeals to me.