Comments on: Video of a river rock balancer

By: ahrmand

ahrmand — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:48:00 +0000

We all come into this life with a gift; each of those gifts are different (kinda like finger prints and DNA).
Many never discover thier particular gift due to distractions or lack of encouragement from family members or mentors.
Instead of shipping our tots of to a Public Schools system that exists only to Homogenize are our Kids into a cookie cutter system that fails completely to deal with the creative gift that will go undiscovered for lack perceptive, enlightened and caring teachers,
Creative minds are gifts that need nurturing..Stacking rocks in a stream is art. ahrmand

By: newe1344

newe1344 — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:52:00 +0000

Mike lives in my apt. complex. Talented to say the least, I’ve heard he does it to relax. You should see our back yard.

By: newe1344

newe1344 — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:51:00 +0000

cool

By: Crystal Love

Crystal Love — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:17:00 +0000

Loooooove! The others on your flickr account are also fairly awesome :D thanks for sharing

By: Christian Collins

Christian Collins — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:23:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluespectralmonkey/2993388265/in/set-72157608573076066 this took an hour to make over 5 or 6 attempts with the waves completely sucking the rocks back into the giant undercurrent of other rocks out in the ocean and me just having the time of my life . it lasted as long as it took for me to get back to the camera and take a couple pictures.

oooh so disturbing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluespectralmonkey/2994222856/in/set-72157608573076066

enjoy

By: Christian Collins

Christian Collins — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:14:00 +0000

oh and thanks for the lol, for real

By: Christian Collins

Christian Collins — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:13:00 +0000

you so totally rock btw

By: Christian Collins

Christian Collins — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:07:00 +0000

well i am all for that. i was just trying to be as snarky as i thought he was.
i like neat things. i think balancing rocks is a neat thing ibet if you tried it you would think it was neat too
and thats basically the argument for why peiople dont understand each other.
i like =/= you like but we can all work to find a common ground
ill stop cutting on nascar and watching tv then

By: JustWatching

JustWatching — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:48:00 +0000

apologies, good sir. Rereading with a fresh mind, with a sharp rap to the side of the sarcasm meter, makes me think a refresher course in stale memes might be in order.

By: bobk

bobk — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:38:00 +0000

I’ve been disappointed when I’ve seen stacked rocks on the Maine shore.
I can understand the appeal of rocks stacked in a parking lot or by a ranger shelter or even a lean-to. But when there are stacks on the shore in plain sight, I think it’s a form of unwelcome exhibitionism. I didn’t go there to see someone’s erections, I want to see unspoiled views and natural beauty. The tide pools and woods don’t need any help from rock stackers or people who scratch their messages on rocks and trees.

By: Spriggan_Prime

Spriggan_Prime — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:04:00 +0000

I think your sarcasm meter is broken or perhaps your subscription to “popular internet memes of days gone by” needs to be renewed

By: Crystal Love

Crystal Love — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:47:00 +0000

All he wanted to do was avoid a sunburned neck and scalp. Perhaps cowboy hats just aren’t his style for such a task?

By: Crystal Love

Crystal Love — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:39:00 +0000

Really? Calm yourself.
It’s just like kids playing in the ocean or someone trimming a bush to look like an animal.

By: JustWatching

JustWatching — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:18:00 +0000

they were created to preserve for eternity.— Lighten thou up. A few stacked rocks for a couple of months, tops, is nothing. You should see that creek during spring runoff. Guarantee those little rocks will be distributed back with the rest of the creek bottom.

See the big rocks on the bottom, the river moved them into place, too. Little ricks don’t have a change in this world.

By: Jarom Mills

Jarom Mills — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:18:00 +0000

People who dislike it are entitled to their own opinion. You don’t need to insult us by implying that we can’t stack rocks. It isn’t because we aren’t grounded or a downer. It is because we dislike how they look. I’m sure there are things out there that you dislike how they look but someone else really likes it. That’s part of being human: our differences make us stronger while our similarities unite us.

By: JustWatching

JustWatching — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:11:00 +0000

I saw these rock stacks last Thursday. Funny, I couldn’t see the bad pixels in real life. Maybe your pshop detection algorithm needs a touch up.

By: EricHammer

EricHammer — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:40:00 +0000

Can you seriously not picture what will happen if he tries doing this with the hat on forward?

By: Christian Collins

Christian Collins — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:28:00 +0000

doing it without the wedge stones is the real challenge. of course they have thier time and place…

and to those who dislike it… its just cause you cant do it. too much coffee? not enough grounded presence ? generally just a downer kind of guy? enjoy!

By: skeletoncityrepeater

skeletoncityrepeater — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:53:00 +0000

This is way better than that riduculous ‘urban foraging’ which is basically stealing public plant life. This is just moving rocks around, and they will fall down easily. Why would this upset anyone? The rocks are gonna be ok!

By: malcreant

malcreant — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:31:00 +0000

The point you are missing, Antinous, is that those of us looking for natural beauty end up having to look at goofy attempts at self-expression until the flood waters wipe it out. As you mention, that could be a year or more. The “sculptures” in this particular video may not last very long but it encourages other people to do the same. I have seen river beds trashed by well meaning but clueless “artists” in NH and VT.

Let sleeping rocks lie.

By: soundofrafa

soundofrafa — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:20:00 +0000

This is actually quite easy. Find some small (like 0.5cm pea size gravel) and wedge it at the base of the rock. It’s too small to see so it looks like it’s balancing when it’s really just propped up by the small chunks. With a little patience, you can build a fairly strong foundation. Check it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carafa/sets/72157627404080558/

By: Daren_Gray

Daren_Gray — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:29:00 +0000

The backwards baseball cap immediately and irrefutably invalidates this person as both an artist and a human.

By: Jarom Mills

Jarom Mills — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:22:00 +0000

Stacked rocks have a place and time as art. That place and time exists on private property. Not everyone likes to see stacked rocks (myself included) in nature. I see them everywhere in the pacific northwest of the United States of America and it spoils the landscape. I understand that they are temporary but they can also be hazardous. For example: at the Newberry Caldera in Central Oregon, there is a very large obsidian flow. The obsidian is gorgeous and how it ripples and peaks just blows my mind. Along the trail there was a large group of stacked obsidian. If that were to fall, it would shatter a lot of the rocks and send shards flying in every direction. I safely dismantled the stack because I didn’t want some kid to come by and accidentally knock it over and get diced.

JBarnes01: All the more reason to not make them out of “fun.” If an area has them as trail markers, then it would be bad to have “fun” ones built up slightly off the trail. It would make more trails as well.

By: JBarnes01

JBarnes01 — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:52:00 +0000

I too hike around N. California, and I’ve come across the “unnatural constructs”. Are you sure they aren’t cairns? Knocking down a trail marker could have the unintended effect of creating wider and more trails through our precious nature. Better to have a few stacked rocks and a single trail than no artificially stacked rocks and multiple trails.

By: McMonahan

McMonahan — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:41:00 +0000

For peeps living in Seattle there are similarly balanced rocks along the Elliott Bay bike trail in Centennial Park.

By: wylkyn

wylkyn — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:17:00 +0000

I have to admit, the guy’s pretentious website is a bit of a turn-off. I’m all for transitory art. Balanced rock sculptures and dribble sand castles are some of my favorite art to create because I know it won’t last. But I do it in the hope that someone might see it, get a little surprised joy, and perhaps add to it or even knock it down before the elements destroy it. Part of the fun (in my opinion) is the anonymity – making such things in places where it will catch someone by surprise after I have gone. But I guess that’s my own feeling about it. My wife and I made a little stone henge on the shores of Loch Ness once…called it “Squirrel Henge” for some reason. When we came back the next day, Squirrel Henge was still there surrounded by a lot of other artistic rock piles. That was a good feeling…to help inspire a little artistic joy in strangers.

Anyway, I guess I shouldn’t judge this guy so harshly. Just because that’s my take on the art form doesn’t mean his take is wrong.

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:47:00 +0000

Apparently, hanoitrollz live under hanoirockz.

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:37:00 +0000

I think hanoirockz is referring to the fact that I deleted some of his/her more hateful comments. For those who crave more of a free-for-all comment thread, YouTube is always open.

By: Gulliver

Gulliver — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Censorship is the silencing of opposition, not the rebuking of it.

Criticism of critisicm =/= censorship.

As with morons who misspell “morons” on a placard, your understanding of the English language is quite imaginative.

If you want to discuss the pros and cons of rock stacking, I’d be happy to listen. I would probably even join in asking rock stackers to dismantle their creations after a few days in which those of us who appreciate them could enjoy them. But when you come in swinging with slurs and calls to kick them over, you won’t catch too many bees. When you insult this artform and those who appreciate it, then cry foul at being rebuffed, it does not further your argument.

By: Felton / Moderator

Felton / Moderator — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:09:00 +0000

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