Anyone here, apart from me, who can't see the appeal of fireworks?

It's the evening of November 5th as I type, which in the UK is an occasion for letting off fireworks. (For some reason, the failure of a plot to blow up Parliament in 1605 is commemorated by blowing stuff up.)

So my windows are being rattling by explosions. Coloured burning stuff is intermittently visible in the night sky. What's all that about?

Grant Hutchison

Remember, remember?

I think they're pretty, personally, though I don't generally go out of my way for them. Most of the ones people shoot of for Independence Day aren't pretty, though; they're just noise. We are not scaring away demons and evil spirits, though.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I agree with Gillian on all accounts here. They (can) look nice. I don't make plans to specifically see them. And I don't care fore the DIY displays.

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Most of the times they´re annoying [ask my dog].

But I can see there´s some beauty to them on December the 31st, midnight, at the beach, with a champagne flute in my hand.

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That may well work for you.
At 56.5 degrees north latitude, it's a glass of whisky, and indoors.

Grant Hutchison

there haven't been many here tonight....saw a public display from on top a hill, the other week though..


We used to have a couple of boxes in the garden, when I was a kid.
I miss the sulphur etc smells

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Fireworks, what's not to like?

ETA: We cut through the state fair gounds last Sunday as we were taking our daughter back to school, and just as we got there, the grand finale fireworks were commencing. Awesome.

Actually, I don't get it either. I am seriously unimpressed by the charming British habit of the accompanying ceremonial burning at the stake of a catholic, especially at a time of year when the probability of rain in England is about 0.99.

Far worse than this is the Spanish obsession with fireworks, which are fired off at any opportunity on any occasion, with no expense spared. Various fiestas which involve fixing fireworks to bulls' horns and probably frightening the poor things to death are bad enough, but every village has their own firework celebration, including mine, where everybody is expected to chip in a phenomenal amount of money just to see it go up in smoke, usually in the middle of the night after I've gone to bed, or more insanely, in the middle of the day when they are invisible but not inaudible.

What was the question? Ah - no, I don't like them.

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γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Well, the whole [politics + religion] thing about burning Guy Fawkes in effigy was something I was deliberately avoiding.

But four hundred years is a remarkably long time to bear a grudge. And I say that as a Scotsman.

Grant Hutchison

For many years (probaly into my mid 20s) I thought we were celebrating Guy Fawles, rather than celebrating his failure...

I like fireworks. But even the big public displays, are pretty unimpressive here, compared with other places I have been.

Without them we'd be missing one very beautiful piece of music by Georg Friedrich Händel, so I'm not complaining.

I enjoy a welll done show of fireworks, but I usually get in trouble with the people around me for mocklingly imitating their "oooooh"s and "aaaaah"s.

A fireworks show is always a good opportunity to explain the speed of sound to kids and, sorry to say, to a large percentage of adults.

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Yes, very quiet this year compared to past
years. Less money to burn or something. But
they were the thing 50 years ago. Fortunately
no accidents in my family but I got to know
that many were injured each year. Let the
professionals do the things with organised
shows. Much better.

But New Years eve when hundreds go off in
two or three minutes is something that did
not happen 50 years ago. Thats OK.

Just got back from a Firework Party in the Beer Garden at the Anchor. Some seriously big booms and real ale. What's not to like?

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I like them, as do my cats.

At New Year's eve they're sitting in the window all evening looking at all the interesting movement on the sky

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I have just taken a few pictures of a smallish display I went to tonight. I'm not the worlds best photographer but I gave it a go.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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I don't understand you people!

Fireworks are inspirational and exhilarating! Like being shot at, only fun! The colored lights dazzling the eyes, the low frequency harmonics thumping your sternum.

Ahhh, good times.

Private, public, it doesn't matter.

Gillian, just because you're not using them to frighten off evil spirits doesn't mean that somebody else isn't using them to frighten off evil spirits.

Around here they put a fireworks ban in place and it actually turned out better for the fireworks fans. The stipulation was you had to have a license to shoot fireworks and for about a year afterward things were dead and then somebody found out found out it wasn't difficult at all to get said license. He put on a show one year in his backyard and everybody said "What the heck?" and then they read the fine print on the law.

Even better, the licensing process required a bit of education on the subject so now during the Fourth and New Years Eve we get really nice shows, about 100 times the size of a good sized private lawn display, at almost the same density, about two or three per block. All over town. Sky rockets, rapidfire skyrockets, noise makers (A skyrocket type, the one that thumps your sternum at pro fireworks shows.)

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Hey, it's how rocketry began. Show some respect.

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If there were just a few professionalish displays on Guy Fawkes night and News Year's Eve it wouldn't be so bad, but for the last week at least we've had random bangs and whistles going off all over the place. Very annoying and totally pointless as far as I can see.

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If logic doesn't work, then surely it does.

Fireworks are one of the things that make life worth living. The others can't be mentioned, as this is a family-friendly forum.

If I were in charge, old battleships would be retrofitted to shoot giant firework shells. Nukes would be detonated in orbit on New Year's Eve.

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You're right, that is a beautiful piece of music. I am not familiar with names so I had hoped it was something else but hey, thanks for expanding my horizon a bit more.

With that in mind, every time Grucci did a fireworks show on Long Island, I am pretty sure it was always the finale song. It was a symphonic piece and I hate to sound so simple but the only other place I know it was from is the "Beef, it's what's for dinner!" commercials. Does anyone know what I am talking about?

I've always found fireworks beautiful and romantic and this Independence Day was the first in my entire life, that I was not only with someone during the display but he actually got the urge to throw his arm around me, without me asked. Oh it was perfect!

Indeed yes! The piece in question is, if I remember correctly, from Rodeo, by a vegetarian from Brooklyn, one Aaron Copland. (I know it's Copland; I don't remember if it's Rodeo, but I'm pretty sure.) In my opinion, Copland is arguably one of the greatest of all American composers, and certainly the first to develop a genuine American style of classical music. He's worth looking into, if you've an interested in classical music.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Depends on your point of view, really. Celebrate whatever aspect of it you like!

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Hoedown From Rodeo
That's it! Thanks again Gillian. You have no idea how long I've wanted to know that one but had no idea how to start. Every year, when there was the big fireworks Grucci fireworks shows, they would be syncronized to music. The finale was always this song and it was just spectacular!

So, essentially a repeat of the Starfish Prime test, which created an electromagnetic pulse that crippled satellites and knocked out telephone service and some streetlights over 800 miles away?

I like Copland a lot. As mentioned already, the piece in question is from the "Hoe-Down" section of Copland's ballet Rodeo.

One thing I noticed over the years is that some classical radio station announcers (or whatever they call their DJs, since I'm pretty sure they're not actually called DJs) seem to have an affectation for pronouncing Copland's Rodeo as "ro-DAY-o,' when it's actually "ROE-dee-o."

Getting back to Guy Fawkes Day, one bit of language trivia is that the term "guy," meaning, "fellow, or person," is actually derived from Guy Fawkes. So when someone asks, "Who was that guy?" now you know.

Nick

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Nick Theodorakis

Well, I have mixed feelings about Music For The Royal Fireworks. It only just occurs to me that the bits I dislike are (predictably!) the bits that evoke fireworks. But there's a nice bourée and minuet in there, IIRC.

If I had to choose between a world without Music For The Royal Fireworks and a world without fireworks, I'd certainly go for the latter. I'm sure George Frideric would have used the time productively. Perhaps we could have another concerto grosso instead: Music For The Royal Quiet Contemplation.

Grant Hutchison

Even though that should logically be the case, Agnes DeMille herself pronounced it "ro-DAY-oh."

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Eventually that was composed by John Cage.

Nick

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Nick Theodorakis

Is "composed" the right word for that particular piece?

Grant Hutchison

But Copland himself pronounced it "ROE-dee-o." (see also this thread)

Nick

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Nick Theodorakis

Wouldn't that have some adverse effects? How about just some nice Iridium flares?

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Rovers forever! - ToSeek