Another dry, dull day at the flea market. Box day at the book sale wasn’t a whole lot better: I’ll probably break even, at best. I did pick up some good reading material, though, and upgrade a few old favorites to hardcover status. (Fevre Dream, woot!)
All is not lost on the horse front: I do have a rather large box that’s currently sitting in my office, mostly unpacked. At the price I got it at, it’ll probably be mostly bodies. I don’t care, because the body box is looking pretty bare, too.
(BTW, I am having way too much fun with my pathetic leftover bodies. They’re still pathetic, just in more interesting ways.)
Since I’m a wee bit short on time again today, I’d like to direct you to a Very Important Discussion going on over at the Blab that you should be paying attention to, or at least driving by:
http://www.modelhorseblab.com/forums/showthread.php?138901-The-future-of-playing-with-imaginary-horses
It was a spin off of a discussion involving the Peter Stone Company’s business practices. (To which I can only say: he’s not going to change anything if you keep throwing gobs of money at him. It’s that simple, people.)
The thread’s title is self-explanatory: The future of playing with imaginary horses. It began as a discussion about the YouTube kids, and whether or not they can - or will - integrate into the greater hobby community. It’s turned into a little bit more than that: a bit of history, a bit of philosophy, some grandstanding, and (perhaps a few too many) personal anecdotes.
I know some of you have an aversion to the place, but honestly, it’s the only place where hobbyists can actually have some serious public discussion about topics like this. Facebook makes people dumb, and is populated by people who are either physically, or mentally, about 12 years old. The Breyer web site forums suffer from the same problem as the Facebook page does, and are barely moderated. The Yahoo Groups are moribund little echo chambers, and the format of blogs simply isn’t designed for it.
I try to stay away from politics here, mostly because it’s irrelevant, but the same point I make whenever I discuss politics also applies to all matters relating to the hobby: if you choose not to participate, you have little right to complain. It’s the people who participate in the process who get to make - or change - the rules.
I’ve pretty much stated my piece over there already (I’m AMG there, if that’s not immediately obvious) though I might throw a few more logs on the fire yet, if and when I can.
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2 comments:
I haven't spent one thin dime with Stone in years, ever since the "Matinee Idol" came out at Jam. I had pre-ordered 2 of them, and they were a completely different color than advertised. I remember asking Sheryl Leasure about them, and she said the same thing - they weren't the color she'd ordered.
Later, I met Mr. Stone at the hotel when he drifted into our room during room sales. He spent the entire time telling us what was wrong with all our Breyers and why we should've only bought from him. I was less than impressed.
Then there was the time at a Texas show where he threw a tantrum when nobody would bid on his overpriced auction "donations."
I sold my Matinee Idols. I now have only 1 Stone in my collection, a QH weanling I got from Sheryl at Jam.
Oh, and I'm on Facebook, and while I agree that it makes (some) people dumb, the majority are pretty normal. Then again, the only model horse-related news I subscribe to on Facebook is the Breyer one.
I agree...don't knock Facebook just yet. I have a strict policy of not friending people that I've never met (despite friend requests from numerous handles such as "SuzyBreyer CreamCheese".)
With the addition of the grouping options for friends, I can choose to hide from the model horse world if I'm tired of friends' griping. Conversely, I can post my flea-market finds to only my model horse pals, without annoying the rest of my friends.
While there are certainly pages on FB that can quickly grow tiresome, I can choose to engage as much or as little as I can socially tolerate in one day.
KW
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