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Thread: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

  1. #1
    Stegodon
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    Default I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Zipping around in some pseudo-jet humming Beethoven's 9th does NOT equal Art Appreciation.

    Heathens.


    Why is it so impossible to teach anything about art? I swear 3/4 of the adults in this country think the point of a painting is to represent reality and the best replica wins -- they Do Not Get It!

    And the well-intended nitwits who give docent lectures don't get it, either. Sure, facts and stories can add color. Sometimes. But they're superfluous to the endeavor.

    Just like with football - knowing someone's mother recently overcame cancer (or was a prostitute) doesn't necessarily have anything to do with interceptions. Or good paintings.

    Why can't we artists, not Great Artists, just ordinary artists, why can't we explain to people what it is about SEEING.

    Music - memorizing a few notes. Big effing deal. Let them bang on pots and pans and find out for themselves what rhythm FEELS like.

    That's my beef - the arts need more experiential learning, and fewer superficial facts.



    pffff


    and I need more coffee

  2. #2
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    I don't get it.

  3. #3
    Yes, I'm a cat. What's it to you? Muffin's avatar
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Disco-dancing-body-painting it is then.

  4. #4

    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    maybe art cannot be taught, just technique.

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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    I...I...I don't know if I should go in the direction of talking about the limitations of art and art appreciation as they're taught, or that of talking about kids' TV shows I don't like.

    Fuck it.

    Caillou is a little pussy. There. I said it.

  6. #6
    Elephant
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Caillou is, in fact, a whiny little pussy. I want to slap the taste out of his mouth every time I see him.

    I can't get behind the hate for Little Einsteins, though. The sprog liked to watch it when he was younger, and the show introduced him to a lot of music that he still enjoys. Even though he only got a snippet of the Blue Danube Waltz from the show, we've listened to the whole piece and he liked it. He couldn't care less about the art; I tried to use Andy Warhol's "Fish" as a springboard to Warhol's other work, but the sprog would have none of that. He enjoys art class at school, and he does get art appreciation in art class, so I know he's not a philistine. I think the writers of Little Einsteins have problems fitting the paintings they use in with the plot. The paintings are there to make the parents happy, that's all.
    There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. -- Ray Bradbury's "Coda"

  7. #7
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by bookbuster
    maybe art cannot be taught, just technique.

    I kind of agree -- I've taken "Painting 101" many times, from different teachers, and will continue to do so, there's just SO MUCH to the basics.


    But in terms of learning to SEE, that was a process for me.
    I had a couple of good teachers.
    I don't know how to distill what they did - maybe because teaching is a process, too.

  8. #8
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by fessie
    Music - memorizing a few notes. Big effing deal. Let them bang on pots and pans and find out for themselves what rhythm FEELS like.
    Um, this is wrong. Music is much more than "memorizing a few notes". If you believe this is all that playing music is, then you're missing all the artistry that goes into it.

  9. #9
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by MsPurlMcKnittington
    Quote Originally posted by fessie
    Music - memorizing a few notes. Big effing deal. Let them bang on pots and pans and find out for themselves what rhythm FEELS like.
    Um, this is wrong. Music is much more than "memorizing a few notes". If you believe this is all that playing music is, then you're missing all the artistry that goes into it.
    Nah, you misunderstood. I'm also a musician, albeit not a very good one.

    The show Little Einsteins sells itself (to parents) as the path to Genius, and demonstrates that it's highbrow by having the little animated characters hum the opening bars of a well-known piece, such as Beethoven's 9th, about 400 times.

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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    I don't know anything about art, but I know I hate Caillou.
    fka Sublata

  11. #11
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    I liked Little Einsteins at first, but quickly got tired of its never-changing formula. And yeah, hearing the same 10 notes over and over got pretty tiresome. The Beethoven's Wig CDs were a better introduction to classical music for my kids.

    Now, The Backyardigans--that's a great kids' show with music. And imagination. And humor. Things that Little Einsteins knows nothing about.

    And, yeah, Caillou's a whiny little schmuck.

  12. #12
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by lorene
    I...I...I don't know if I should go in the direction of talking about the limitations of art and art appreciation as they're taught, or that of talking about kids' TV shows I don't like.

    Fuck it.

    Caillou is a little pussy. There. I said it.
    Even before I saw any of the replies, my post was going to be, "They might be annoying, but at least they're not Caillou!"
    Whatever became of the moment when one first knew about death? There must have been one. A moment. In childhood. When it first occurred to you that you don't go on forever. Must have been shattering. Stamped into one's memory. And yet, I can't remember it.

  13. #13
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by fessie
    Why is it so impossible to teach anything about art? I swear 3/4 of the adults in this country think the point of a painting is to represent reality and the best replica wins -- they Do Not Get It!
    Presumably you are among the rarified 1/4 of the adults in this country who Does Get the "point of a painting." Assuming that is the case, one can only imagine how frustrated you must be.

  14. #14
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by hopesperson
    Quote Originally posted by fessie
    Why is it so impossible to teach anything about art? I swear 3/4 of the adults in this country think the point of a painting is to represent reality and the best replica wins -- they Do Not Get It!
    Presumably you are among the rarified 1/4 of the adults in this country who Does Get the "point of a painting." Assuming that is the case, one can only imagine how frustrated you must be.
    Hey, at least I'm honest about the things I don't get - poetry, fashion, High School Musical. I don't go barging into those topics blaring "I may not know anything, but I know what I like."

  15. #15
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by fessie
    The show Little Einsteins sells itself (to parents) as the path to Genius, and demonstrates that it's highbrow by having the little animated characters hum the opening bars of a well-known piece, such as Beethoven's 9th, about 400 times.
    Well, according to this article, watching TV to get smarter is up there with fighting for peace and fucking for virginity in its effectiveness.

  16. #16
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Quote Originally posted by lorene
    Quote Originally posted by fessie
    The show Little Einsteins sells itself (to parents) as the path to Genius, and demonstrates that it's highbrow by having the little animated characters hum the opening bars of a well-known piece, such as Beethoven's 9th, about 400 times.
    Well, according to this article, watching TV to get smarter is up there with fighting for peace and fucking for virginity in its effectiveness.
    I don't have a fancy link to support this, but I've what I've read suggests that basically everything that's purported to stimulate babies' brain development is useless. Of course the stuff will sell, because what parent wouldn't be willing to spend the money, even on the off chance. But nothing has been shown to have any effect.

    Conversely, parents who don't buy all that stuff can let themselves off the hook, because your kid won't necessarily end up in the slow reading group just because they didn't do Baby Sign and buy the latest brain-enlarging toys.

  17. #17
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: I hate those freakin "Little Einsteins"

    Freakonomics. That's your cite.

    Works on the "How to identify criminals" aspect too, as far as such predictions can be made.

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