'statues' in town

anplaya

anyone seen the 'statues' in town?theres two lads standing on boxes in different areas of town wearing bedsheets with their faces painted silver,handing out lollypops.looks piss poor,people are just walking past them with bewilderment written all over their faces.all i could think was wtf when i saw them.any 1 else see them?

jimbojazz

Jesus, Mary............... and Joseph is around the corner

abouttobebanned

Give em a break ffs. Probably the only bit of culture in the city centre during the day as it is... At least they're trying...

anplaya

hah, you wouldnt call that culture. and yeah ive seen acts that do the same thing that are actually very good and professional.thats an insult to them.

it looks more weird than anything,have ya seen them?

stick-dan

anplaya wrote: »

hah, you wouldnt call that culture. and yeah ive seen acts that do the same thing that are actually very good and professional.thats an insult to them.

it looks more weird than anything,have ya seen them?

I actually agree with this, if you see grafton street you would see proper professionals doing this,even lads with pet pigeons that land of them and increase the illusion of a statue. I'm afraid the posers in waterford are just that posers. They don't really deserve our time or money and as for culture, well you couldn't really call it culture now could you?

Junior

stick-dan wrote: »

I actually agree with this, if you see grafton street you would see proper professionals doing this,even lads with pet pigeons that land of them and increase the illusion of a statue. I'm afraid the posers in waterford are just that posers. They don't really deserve our time or money and as for culture, well you couldn't really call it culture now could you?

A culture, that's something that grows on you after time ?

dazftw

Has anyone been to Barcelona.. thats were the proper performers are!

The whole thing doesn't suit Waterford, that market though thats there every week is very good!

anplaya

ye,the market is very good,walking through with all the different smells in the air,yum yum.

stick-dan

Junior wrote: »

A culture, that's something that grows on you after time ?

are you suggesting the "can't even stay still" statues in town will grow on you. I should make greater clarity of my point, The culture of living statues is very cool, i try to photograph them in dublin from time to time, i find them extremely interesting and i have a lot of time for the people that do it correctly. But the ones in waterford, they seem to be taking the mick.

Oh also the market is bang on, thumbs up here.

Sully

Better with them then without tbh. Might not be great but its better then nothing.

JohnC.

I saw one and assumed it was just a glorified beggar.

meldrew

Waterford is too much of a working class town for anything like this to be appreciated imo , no matter how much we talk about culture and such people like this will always be thought of as odd

Asmodean

Yeah I was a bit dissapointed to read this thread myself. It has always been a problem with Waterford alright. If it doesnt come in a pint glass people aren't bothered around here!

anplaya

ye need to see them before commenting,as someone said it looks like a glorified begger,nothing cultural about that,if they were good and realistic,then they would be appreciated,believe me.

lynnemc

Aw I thought this was a thread about the holy Mary statue's moving in the Ursuline again LOL !
Must by the white nun and her friend !

Asmodean

Ah fair enough. Apologies, I thought they were the proper type of street performers.

stick-dan

Asmodean wrote: »

Yeah I was a bit dissapointed to read this thread myself. It has always been a problem with Waterford alright. If it doesnt come in a pint glass people aren't bothered around here!

Please don't be so hasty to tar waterford citizens with your over generalising brush. People take great interest in the market from what i witnessed the times i was there, so your assumption is incorrect. Also i'd like to add it's been said above that people would warm to these performing artists if they could perhaps put a bit more effort in. They are always fidgetting...

This guy here is a proper performer, provides massive entertainment to the crowd with his shenanigans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaRr7IBdC6o

Asmodean

Please don't be so hasty to tar waterford citizens with your over generalising brush

Well seeing as I was born and bred here I'm not that far off to be honest now.

stick-dan

I think its a fair presumption that if that guy above was in waterford he would be adored, he's fair funny.

gscully

stick-dan wrote: »

I actually agree with this, if you see grafton street you would see proper professionals doing this,even lads with pet pigeons that land of them and increase the illusion of a statue. I'm afraid the posers in waterford are just that posers. They don't really deserve our time or money and as for culture, well you couldn't really call it culture now could you?

FFS, we don't need these idiots. If we're in need of culture, we just look to Howdo...and he entertains us for free!

merlante

meldrew wrote: »

Waterford is too much of a working class town for anything like this to be appreciated imo , no matter how much we talk about culture and such people like this will always be thought of as odd

I think Waterford is split in two, a middle and upper middle class enclave on the Dunmore rd. that never go into town and the rest, which is top heavy (bottom heavy?) with working class people, and in the case of the inner city, pensioners. A pretty dysfunctional place by all accounts, inhabited by a dismal and begrudging population, that was very successful 200 years ago and has long since begun to feed on itself.

Only for the WIT and the influx of workers for the WRH and other large businesses like SunLife, etc., it would be worthy of study in an Irish context as a completely failed city.

anplaya

merlante wrote: »

I think Waterford is split in two, a middle and upper middle class enclave on the Dunmore rd. that never go into town and the rest, which is top heavy (bottom heavy?) with working class people, and in the case of the inner city, pensioners. A pretty dysfunctional place by all accounts, inhabited by a dismal and begrudging population, that was very successful 200 years ago and has long since begun to feed on itself.

Only for the WIT and the influx of workers for the WRH and other large businesses like SunLife, etc., it would be worthy of study in an Irish context as a completely failed city.

thats rubbish,ya saying working class people cant appreciate a bit of culture?those skobies that live out on the dunmore road are just as bad if not worse than people that live in working class areas,just theyve got more money.

i wouldnt call what was in town culture ,if ya havent seen them yourself dont comment until ya do.then youll understand theres nothing cultural or begrudgery about it.

RoyMcC

merlante wrote: »

I think Waterford is split in two, a middle and upper middle class enclave on the Dunmore rd. that never go into town and the rest, which is top heavy (bottom heavy?) with working class people, and in the case of the inner city, pensioners. A pretty dysfunctional place by all accounts, inhabited by a dismal and begrudging population, that was very successful 200 years ago and has long since begun to feed on itself.

Only for the WIT and the influx of workers for the WRH and other large businesses like SunLife, etc., it would be worthy of study in an Irish context as a completely failed city.

As a newcomer to the city that's certainly not my first impression. I find a pretty friendly and bustling sort of place that I feel immediately at home in. Probably not surprising having spent 18 months in Dublin though.

But yes, the 'statues' are pretty unimpressive compared to the one in Henry Street

(PS - your link to 051.ie seems to be broken)

Asmodean

Ah it's not a completely failed city. It's just that the powers that be need to try and inject a bit of life into the place. Waterford as a whole resents change IMO and that's why things have gotten so stagnant. While the rest of Ireland's cities have moved head-on into the 21st century, Waterford is quite content to stay the way it is.
A lot of people either have the 'Ah sure it's grand' attitude or the 'The place is a ****hole' attitude. We need to strike a new balance leaning toward something other than these two. If Waterford people put as much effort into the place as they do when we were in the 'Hurling' 'Final' it'd be a step in the right direction. We only give a **** about our home-city when it's an opportunity to gloat or begrude it in others faces.
Just my opinion.

merlante

anplaya wrote: »

thats rubbish,ya saying working class people cant appreciate a bit of culture?those skobies that live out on the dunmore road are just as bad if not worse than people that live in working class areas,just theyve got more money.

i wouldnt call what was in town culture ,if ya havent seen them yourself dont comment until ya do.then youll understand theres nothing cultural or begrudgery about it.

Well I definitely think that ignorance and lack of education doesn't help, and like it or not, working class people are less well educated. That is not a slur on working class people that's just the way it is. Without an educated population, the 'can't do' mentality predominates and the everything gets blamed on the 'powers that be' (not that these powers have helped matters).

I think everything would be fine if everyone just mixed together, but the fact that the educated and the wealthy choose to live on the Dunmore rd. or out the country has the effect of making Waterford feel like a working class town.

I have actually seem them myself. So what if they're bad, there are plenty of bad buskers around as well, but I don't think they should be driven from the streets. Even a bad busker adds a bit of life to things.

merlante

RoyMcC wrote: »

As a newcomer to the city that's certainly not my first impression. I find a pretty friendly and bustling sort of place that I feel immediately at home in. Probably not surprising having spent 18 months in Dublin though.

But yes, the 'statues' are pretty unimpressive compared to the one in Henry Street

(PS - your link to 051.ie seems to be broken)

Give it time!

As someone who was born and raised in Waterford, moved away for 10 years, and came back, you can see all of the things that the city has going for it and how close it is to being one of the best places in Ireland to live. But then you see the sniveling attitudes to it from its inhabitants, and the dismal, negative, begrudging outlook of so much of the population, and you dispair.

(Thanks re the link)

well butty

I have to agree with Merlantes posts. I can remember talking to an Engineer in Waterford City Council over ten years ago. I asked them why Waterford had no second bridge while Cork, Limerick etc had a number of bridges. Their answer was that Waterford people were too busy arguing with each other and complaining than coming together as a coherent group like the people of Cork.

anplaya

merlante wrote: »

Well I definitely think that ignorance and lack of education doesn't help, and like it or not, working class people are less well educated. That is not a slur on working class people that's just the way it is. Without an educated population, the 'can't do' mentality predominates and the everything gets blamed on the 'powers that be' (not that these powers have helped matters).

I think everything would be fine if everyone just mixed together, but the fact that the educated and the wealthy choose to live on the Dunmore rd. or out the country has the effect of making Waterford feel like a working class town.

I have actually seem them myself. So what if they're bad, there are plenty of bad buskers around as well, but I don't think they should be driven from the streets. Even a bad busker adds a bit of life to things.

eh thats bull****,lack of education?this aint the 3rd world.plenty of working class people are educated,probably to the same standard or to an even higher degree as those people living in their over mortaged houses on the dunmore road,up to their eyeballs in debt. whos the stupid one then?

plenty of working class people i know have very good educations,been to college etc.im from a working class background,and all my brothers and sisters have been to university/college and got degrees ,masters as do plenty of my mates,bar the ones that went on to be tradesmen etc.feck all to do with your background.

plenty of people on the dunmore road hang around with working class people.ya know why?cause those wealthy people as you call them are originally from the working class areas,whove moved out that way.know plenty of people myself who live up that way who are originally from kilcohan,johnspark etc.what point does that prove?

anplaya

and what does it have to do with the state of the "statues" in town.theyre ****e,end of.feck all to do with culture or education or background.

stick-dan

merlante wrote: »

Well I definitely think that ignorance and lack of education doesn't help, and like it or not, working class people are less well educated. That is not a slur on working class people that's just the way it is. Without an educated population, the 'can't do' mentality predominates and the everything gets blamed on the 'powers that be' (not that these powers have helped matters).

I think everything would be fine if everyone just mixed together, but the fact that the educated and the wealthy choose to live on the Dunmore rd. or out the country has the effect of making Waterford feel like a working class town.

I have actually seem them myself. So what if they're bad, there are plenty of bad buskers around as well, but I don't think they should be driven from the streets. Even a bad busker adds a bit of life to things.

Awe would you ever shut up with stupid arguements about you need to be educated to appreciate the culture that is a living statue. You must be stupid to think that. What worldly knowledge must we need to decide whether a person who stays still like a normal statue is better than a person who half assed tries to stay still? Come off your educated pedestal. Jaysus you must be living in dunmore i'd say with all the upper class :P

Sure look at the statue man himself he's a complex being the one in the town, highly educated and i'd say must have a good number of degrees behind him or perhaps this is part of his phd? That must be why the common lower class folk dont liken themselves in this culture.

If ya wanna talk ****e, after hours is thataway --->

ec18

stick-dan wrote: »

If ya wanna talk ****e, after hours is thataway --->

after hours is the other way actually :P

merlante

I knew I'd get this whole 'how dare you slam the working class, I'm working class' thing. And 'you don't need a degree to be this, that or the other thing, etc.'

I don't think you need a degree to be smart or successful or to be able to enjoy cultural exhibits or whatever. BUT, the fact remains that the less well educated your population, the lower the prospects of your society, the lower the sense of civic responsibility and the more begrudgers you have shooting people down who are trying to set up a business or start up a creative group. (It is common in Waterford to sneer at people who try to change things or do something new.)

I know we're wandering off topic, so I'll just say this. Waterford badly needs more people who are educated in areas like politics, philosophy, economics, the social sciences, and so on, so that we can organise ourselves better, both internally in our own society and externally when Waterford members go to the Dail to make cogent arguments on our behalf. That's what people say when they call Waterford a factory town, and Galway is referred to as a university city. What is the difference? Not just tax breaks and government intervention. Where is our Michael D Higgins? What we really need is a university but all people care about is the door charge in Harvey's.

And it's not just about having a degree. Lots of stupid people have degrees and lots of people have technical degrees, which don't touch on societal issues. Incidentally, working class/middle class is basically a choice in Irish society. Most people come from very modest backgrounds and what they have they built up in the past 20 years. There is plenty of mobility in our society where people can do more or less what they want in college, and as a career, while there is also plenty of scope to have a laugh in school and get a bog standard job, or live on the dole as well.

Okay, I'm done now, back on topic.

Those statue guys annoy me in general anyway, whether they're good or not. They were interesting when I first saw them in Dublin 10-15 years ago. But I wouldn't be bothered starting a thread to have a go at them, and I do think that it says something about us that these sorts of threads appear on the Waterford board.

anplaya

merlante wrote: »

I knew I'd get this whole 'how dare you slam the working class, I'm working class' thing. And 'you don't need a degree to be this, that or the other thing, etc.'

I don't think you need a degree to be smart or successful or to be able to enjoy cultural exhibits or whatever. BUT, the fact remains that the less well educated your population, the lower the prospects of your society, the lower the sense of civic responsibility and the more begrudgers you have shooting people down who are trying to set up a business or start up a creative group. (It is common in Waterford to sneer at people who try to change things or do something new.)

I know we're wandering off topic, so I'll just say this. Waterford badly needs more people who are educated in areas like politics, philosophy, economics, the social sciences, and so on, so that we can organise ourselves better, both internally in our own society and externally when Waterford members go to the Dail to make cogent arguments on our behalf. That's what people say when they call Waterford a factory town, and Galway is referred to as a university city. What is the difference? Not just tax breaks and government intervention. Where is our Michael D Higgins? What we really need is a university but all people care about is the door charge in Harvey's.

And it's not just about having a degree. Lots of stupid people have degrees and lots of people have technical degrees, which don't touch on societal issues. Incidentally, working class/middle class is basically a choice in Irish society. Most people come from very modest backgrounds and what they have they built up in the past 20 years. There is plenty of mobility in our society where people can do more or less what they want in college, and as a career, while there is also plenty of scope to have a laugh in school and get a bog standard job, or live on the dole as well.

Okay, I'm done now, back on topic.

Those statue guys annoy me in general anyway, whether they're good or not. They were interesting when I first saw them in Dublin 10-15 years ago. But I wouldn't be bothered starting a thread to have a go at them, and I do think that it says something about us that these sorts of threads appear on the Waterford board.

lol if ya really didnt care you wouldnt be bringing up things such as working class,backgrounds,education and culture.

all i posted was did any1 else see them?looks weird.what do ye think.

yet all ya did was go on a rant.typical waterford begrudgery etc.cant sort things out for themselves without arguing.so you sound like a typical waterforder there.ya wouldnt start a thread about that as ya said,but yet ya hijack it.hmm.

well butty

anplaya wrote: »

lol if ya really didnt care you wouldnt be bringing up things such as working class,backgrounds,education and culture.

all i posted was did any1 else see them?looks weird.what do ye think.

yet all ya did was go on a rant.typical waterford begrudgery etc.cant sort things out for themselves without arguing.so you sound like a typical waterforder there.ya wouldnt start a thread about that as ya said,but yet ya hijack it.hmm.[/quote]

I think Merlante should start a new thread about a very relevant topic!

Asmodean

I don't know if Working class etc has anything to do with it really. Plenty of Cities/Large towns have large working class areas and can still have bucketloads of culture. I think the problem with Waterford is that the higher-class people who have the capacity to move things along for all of us (working class included) just don't give a damn.
There's not enough new initiatives being proposed for Waterford too. You culd argue that the recession is making this very difficult at the moment but even with the boom I can't think of one decent piece of infrastructure that was developed in the city, with the exception of the Plaza maybe and John roberts Sq.

anplaya

well butty wrote: »

anplaya wrote: »

lol if ya really didnt care you wouldnt be bringing up things such as working class,backgrounds,education and culture.

all i posted was did any1 else see them?looks weird.what do ye think.

yet all ya did was go on a rant.typical waterford begrudgery etc.cant sort things out for themselves without arguing.so you sound like a typical waterforder there.ya wouldnt start a thread about that as ya said,but yet ya hijack it.hmm.[/quote]

I think Merlante should start a new thread about a very relevant topic!

ye maybe he/she should.

anplaya

Asmodean wrote: »

I don't know if Working class etc has anything to do with it really. Plenty of Cities/Large towns have large working class areas and can still have bucketloads of culture. I think the problem with Waterford is that the higher-class people who have the capacity to move things along for all of us (working class included) just don't give a damn.
There's not enough new initiatives being proposed for Waterford too. You culd argue that the recession is making this very difficult at the moment but even with the boom I can't think of one decent piece of infrastructure that was developed in the city, with the exception of the Plaza maybe and John roberts Sq.

probably too busy lining their own pockets.

merlante

anplaya wrote: »

lol if ya really didnt care you wouldnt be bringing up things such as working class,backgrounds,education and culture.

all i posted was did any1 else see them?looks weird.what do ye think.

yet all ya did was go on a rant.typical waterford begrudgery etc.cant sort things out for themselves without arguing.so you sound like a typical waterforder there.ya wouldnt start a thread about that as ya said,but yet ya hijack it.hmm.

I was responding to the following comment: "Waterford is too much of a working class town for anything like this to be appreciated imo , no matter how much we talk about culture and such people like this will always be thought of as odd"

So I didn't bring these things up, just agreed with a lot of the sentiment. Why don't you read the posts rather than whining about people ranting.

gscully

merlante wrote: »

What we really need is a university but all people care about is the door charge in Harvey's.

Hey, I started that thread out of genuine concern!

merlante wrote: »

Those statue guys annoy me in general anyway, whether they're good or not. They were interesting when I first saw them in Dublin 10-15 years ago. But I wouldn't be bothered starting a thread to have a go at them, and I do think that it says something about us that these sorts of threads appear on the Waterford board.

It says nothing. It's a open forum and anyone can post what they want as long as it's relevant and within the rules. The topic may not interest you, but may raise enough interest in others to make them go into town out of morbid curiosity. Isn't that what you want, people in town? These performers may be sub-standard or whatever, but they are new to Waterford and the OP was within his rights to start a thread asking for opinions. That says nothing about his character, so don't judge a book by its cover. If this forum turned into something where the only threads were about class and society in Waterford, or the need for a university and involved multi-quoted pages of debate, I would stop visiting the site. Let's just enjoy the weird and wonderful concoction of posts for what they are and not cast aspersions on those who make them.

anplaya

merlante wrote: »

I was responding to the following comment: "Waterford is too much of a working class town for anything like this to be appreciated imo , no matter how much we talk about culture and such people like this will always be thought of as odd"

So I didn't bring these things up, just agreed with a lot of the sentiment. Why don't you read the posts rather than whining about people ranting.

why dont ya start a different topic on this rather than whining about it in a thread that was started on something totally different?

merlante

gscully wrote: »

It says nothing. It's a open forum and anyone can post what they want as long as it's relevant and within the rules. The topic may not interest you, but may raise enough interest in others to make them go into town out of morbid curiosity. Isn't that what you want, people in town? These performers may be sub-standard or whatever, but they are new to Waterford and the OP was within his rights to start a thread asking for opinions. That says nothing about his character, so don't judge a book by its cover. If this forum turned into something where the only threads were about class and society in Waterford, or the need for a university and involved multi-quoted pages of debate, I would stop visiting the site. Let's just enjoy the weird and wonderful concoction of posts for what they are and not cast aspersions on those who make them.

I wasn't making any comments about anybody's character, I just agreed with another poster that we in Waterford tend to have a strange attitude to things such as these statue guys, that quite often doesn't say very good things about us. They were general comments and not targeted at anyone in particular. Fair point about not everything needing to be about high class and culture on here, I fully agree. I ran off topic, and am quite happy to let things to go back on topic again!