All Still

Took the camera with me into town today to try and make up for yesterday’s blunder. But of course there was no sign of any Living Statue in the town square today. It was all empty and dull, nothing special going on at all. So we had to settle for other things, camera and I. Like colourful autumn leaves…

Although… wait a moment, what is that… On the other side of the river, under the tree, to the left? Could you zoom in, please? …

No costume, but keeping as still as that guy yesterday!

There was a sign of some kind on the grass beside him. I could not read it from that distance. Curiosity took over and I went back across the bridge to the park and walked by on the path there, closer to him. Falun Dafa, the sign said. Same thing as Falun Gong, as I understand it (not that I claim to understand it).

Suddenly seems to have become very popular to stand or sit very still, in public!

Myself, I went home and practiced my own variety after lunch: Lying very still, in private…

Never Leave The Camera Behind

I really should know better by now. Going into town today, I left my camera at home. It was a gray day, bad light for photography, an ordinary Friday morning, no special events day or market day, and I wasn’t going anywhere interesting (or so I thought), just to the pharmacy and the grocery store, and then the bus straight back home…

I really should know better by now. I really should.

As I crossed the town square on my way to the grocery store, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. A new statue? But oddly placed. And the summer’s sculpture festival is over. It was a figure of a man… natural size… silver coloured… but a very odd face? Sort of lion-like… no, not really lion… Wait. Wasn’t the whole thing swaying a little??? Yes, definitely… In a flash I realized that what I was looking at was a “living statue” (a mime artist posing like a statue, wearing realistic statue-like makeup).

I’ve never seen one of those before – not “live”. Only on TV. And I hadn’t brought my camera!!! (And I don’t have one in my mobile.)

20-30 minutes later, walking across the square again on my way back to my bus stop, he seemed still to be standing in the exact same position. On the ground beside him was a little golden bowl. I was in a bit of a hurry to catch my bus now, and didn’t stop to watch how long he could keep it up, or how other people reacted. I didn’t see anyone put money in the bowl.

This evening I took a look at some living statue clips on Youtube. It seems sometimes they move when you give money, and some make random moves to scare people…

 

A Statue Revisited

I revisited a "friend" of mine today.
Some of you may remember him from before:



PS. This is my third post today, so please scroll down for more reading...

Walking - Far, Long and High!

Yesterday, I went too far. Or walked too far. Or too long... Whatever. It got a bit too much, anyway. It's still a delicate balance between exercise and over-exertion, with my neck problems...

Today I've tried to make up for it by staying in, and even on top of my bed a good part of the day. Heavy rain outside seemed to support an indoors day, too... However, I did go out for a very short walk to a shoe shop nearby - to buy myself a pair of expensive, but hopefully better walking shoes... (The very ones in the picture above.)




Both GB and Scriptor recently posted pictures of a statue called Dream, which I gather is 20 metres high. That beats the biggest one I have to offer with more than 100%. It's still kind of impressive, though, this 9 m high statue by American artist Jim Dine. It's called Walking to...  (google and thou shalt find) There was more debate about him before his arrival, than there is now. Both the size of him and his lack of any connection whatsoever with the place where he stands were much discussed. Why Pinocchio? Why Jim Dine? Why Disney? But he's been there a while now and we're kind of getting used to him...

Quotation Of The Week (30/09)

One of the striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives. - Mark Twain (1835-1910)

The picture is a statue of a lynx, so it's neither cat nor alive.
But it's doing a pretty good job of pretending.

Finding The Right Perspective

This is another one of those sculptures that may work as a magic door, if you dare look through it instead of just circling around it. (Compare this post from yesterday.)

A Doorway From Nowhere Into Nowhere

I fell in love with this sculpture, walking round and round it, taking lots of shots from different angles. It reminded me of "doors to other worlds" in fantasy literature and Celtic mythology.

Of all the pictures I took, I chose the one above for the Soaring Through The World photo blog, because of the double effect with the birdhouse on the tree - which also has a door, through which not everybody can enter!

The title, A Doorway From Nowhere Into Nowhere, is a quote from Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis:

"At the end of the glade Aslan had caused to be set up two stakes of wood, higher than a man's head and about three feet apart. A third, and lighter, piece of wood was bound across them at the top, uniting them, so that the whole thing looked like a doorway from nowhere into nowhere."

Some of the people whom Aslan gives a choice to pass through the door say: "We don't see any other world through those sticks."
But those who do trust Aslan go; and they do find another world waiting...

Below you find more pictures of the same sculpture, from different angles - and what you can see through it! I have also been experimenting using different frames in Jasc Paint Shop Pro.

The Weather Makes A Difference

This is one statue that people love to give nicknames. "The drain-pipe" is one of them, which may seem especially suitable on a rainy day. (It is not hollow, though.) A friend of mine calls it "that ugly yellow thing". Whatever we think of it, it is frequently used as a meeting place, since no one is likely to miss it.

In The Rain

This is one of the pictures I took in the rain yesterday. The name of this statue is "Ute", which means "out" or "outside"; but it also sounds like it could be the name of a person (although I don't think I've ever heard it used as such). She has become rather popular since her first appearance on the street a few years ago. I say she, because for some reason, most people see her as a girl. There are probably a lot more people than I who have sometimes seen her and at first thought "why is that child standing there all by itself" - until we realize or remember that it's just a statue.