Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with playing

Tips and Tricks for playing concerts?

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:08:12 -0800

I have a big important concert that I'm playing coming up sort of soon. I'm not even sure what to ask... but here goes. I have a big important concert that I'm playing coming up sort of soon. I'm not even sure what to ask... but here goes - what happens during soundcheck? Between soundcheck and playing, especially when it's hours between? Do places ever let you go over your allotted time slot if you are the headliner? Is there anything I should do with regard to the venue management or anything? What's the best practice for selling things like CDs and posters outside after the show? What's an acceptable price per song for a demo EP? What about bracelets? 8x11 posters? How can I put on the best show (I have things down musically) possible, sell things outside the best possible, make the best impression on the crowd and the venue? What should I bring that I might forget - capos, cords, wires, water, picks, what else? As my last question, what's the best way to attempt to get good video and audio of this show on one singular device - i.e. no boom mics will be happening. Like camera, videocamera, iSomething. Help please? Thank you much.

It's like cake on a fork!

mon-ma-tron — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:52:26 -0800

Hivemind, please help me come up with weird sayings for the RPG I'm in. So, I'm playing Burning Wheel with a group of friends. The GM assigned my character the "folksy wisdom" trait.

Since my character is the only one in this game from her particular "cultural background," and since people from her culture are known (in our game's context) for being "mysterious" and "opaque," I've been scoring artha for spouting semi-nonsensical sayings during roleplay. I like ones that are (kind of) easy to understand in the game context, but that also make little (or no) sense when taken at face value.

Some I've used already:

It's like cake on a fork! Meaning: Hey, this is easy/good!

Why not just start a fire in your hat? You're wasting your time on something potentially dangerous.

You're like a dog with shoes! general exasperation

Frogs, then apples. just straight-up nonsense

Help me come up with others? Meanings totally optional. The only limitation I can think of is that this game is set in a medieval-type time frame, so references to more advanced technology would be odd. But possibly workable, if they're truly funny/baffling.

Bees of the webs, lend me your oars!

Reflections and the single-minded kitten

ChuraChura — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:29:41 -0800

How do I distract my kitten when she refuses to stop trying to catch the reflections of light off of computer screens and ipads? My really awesome kitten Triceratops (now slightly bigger, but even more endearing) loves playing with pretty much everything. Especially the reflections of light off computer screens, television screens, ipads, passing cars, etc. Once she notices that there is a reflection somewhere, she MUST attack it. If it's on the ceiling, she attempts to climb the wall, launches herself from bookcases, etc. If it happens to be reflecting on somebody's body, they get a similar treatment. Nothing will distract or dissuade her from the staring/mournful meow combination - not toys, not food, not launching the adult cat in her direction - and she works herself up into a frenzy of wall attacking and sad noises for a good half-hour to an hour.

I'm afraid it's become like a laser pointer, but there's no way to get rid of the reflections and leave a pile of kitty treats in its place. How do I go about distracting her and keeping her from developing kitty OCD?

Help me play with my balls.

dfriedman — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:26:54 -0800

So I need to move some balls So, I've been playing around with LEGO (see my previous question) and now I want to move balls. See this video, for example. Does anyone know anything about these systems? They seem to be called "great ball contraptions" which is as good a name as any, but clearly they're custom-designed.

But my question is this: every video of this type that I see on Youtube has the same basketballs and soccer balls, but they are different people. Where do they get these balls? Is their a LEGO-approved mini ball supplier? Anyone have any ideas here?

How to make your own Bank Note?

flexiverse — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:31:18 -0800

What are those cool swirly whirly patterns called on the back of playing cards and on Bank Notes? I want to create some, how do I go about finding how these are made? Is there source materials/tutorials for vector programs to get started? I've searched everywhere on the web and can't find how to make your own back of playing card patterns or designing your own banknote!
I'd use an vector app like illustrator but I'd prefer to use the open source ink scape.

He just wants to play. All the damn time.

Netzapper — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:43:54 -0800

How do I convince my puppy to stop trying to play with the cats? Our 13 week old puppy is well on his way to becoming a good dog. He walks well, is housebreaking nicely, and mostly minds us.

But he will not stop trying to play with the cats. It's clearly not aggression. Ears forward, tail down. Play bows. Little "play with me" arfs. When they express their displeasure, he lies down. He's clearly submissive to them.

But the cats are not amused. They swipe at him, and sometimes connect. We've been letting it go, because we figured that the cats would teach the dog that they weren't interested. But, the dog interprets the cats' defense as play. To the point where he actually sometimes imitates it.

The problem here is that it's impossible to get the dog to calm down for any significant period of time. Even after I've taken him for a bike ride, and he's been panting ragged and just wants to sack out, if a cat trots by, he's immediately alert and tracking them. It's crazy. Even if he's run for miles in a day, he always has more energy to go after the cats.

I've tried every type of correction I can think of. Redirection with food works only as long as the food's in his mouth--once he swallows, back to the cats. Redirection with toys doesn't work at all. Offers to play tug of war are ignored; so is fetch. Keeping him in a leash and snapping it only serves to stir him up more, until he's bounding around playing with the leash. Cesar Milan-style neck and butt pokes are totally ignored (although he usually heeds them at other times); unless we poke him especially hard, at which point we become the targets of play.

I just want to be able to watch an episode of Lie to Me without having to put the dog in his pen, or fight with him the whole time.

[Answers involving making a "cat zone" and a "dog zone" of the house are neither feasible nor welcome.]

What outdoor toys do your kids like?

The corpse in the library — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:45:55 -0800

Scooters, skateboards, tricycles... what else could we be playing with? My kids and I spend a lot of time playing in our driveway, rain or shine. Any suggestions for good active toys?

Already covered:
scooters
skateboard
bike
tricycle
pogo stick
can stilts
mini-trampoline
bouncy ball
Rody horse

What else could we be riding, pushing, wheeling, peddling? One kid is almost four years old, the other is seven.

Game on!

timpollard — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:30:57 -0800

Does anyone know where in the UK I can buy sheets of blank (on both sides) printable playing cards, similar to the ones from the US site 'www.plaincards.com'? I want to print out a home-designed card wargame and perforated card sheets would make life so much easier! Thanks in advance...

3 guys, one chick.

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:44:26 -0800

How does one ethically play the field? I need advice on dating and being intimate with more than one person. I'm a early-thirties female in a large coastal city. I was a late-late-bloomer, and for various reasons really didn't have a boyfriend or sex until after college. Since then I have had a couple of 2+ year relationships, both of which started and remained exclusive, with a couple of flings in between.

Since the end of my relationship this last summer, my attitude about diving into relationships has changed...and I'm interested in taking things much slower in terms of exclusiveness. Lately I've been feeling pretty awesome, and have been missing some of the funner aspects of dating...so I put myself out there.

I've met three very nice fellows online in the short amount of time that I've had a profile up on a popular dating site. I corresponded with each of them for awhile, and eventually each of them asked me to dinner/coffee within the same week or so. So, I made plans to meet them all. Because of schedules and whatnot, I met one of them earlier than the others, but now I've met all of them and want to continue to hang out/see all three, and it seems for each of them, the feeling is mutual.

To complicate matters, I ended up hooking up with one of them a couple of times. (The first dude) It was great fun, but I'm not feeling serious about this person yet, if I ever will. I still, however, wouldn't mind continuing that aspect of our friendship.

I also want to see what develops with the other two guys, as I had a great time with both.

Seriously, I have never had to deal with this kind of situation before, and feel completely out of my element. On one hand, I want to be honest and respectful to all three. On the other, I don't want to come off as some kind of crazy maneater. I want to enjoy myself and my crazy good luck of having so many options, but I have this nagging feeling that I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too.

I plan on coming clear the next time I see dude number 1 that I'm seeing other people, but do I need to go beyond that? I don't really plan on sleeping with all of them in the same time frame or anything, but I'm worried about that aspect. I know there's a good chance that one or two of them will quickly fall to the wayside by my doing or theirs.. I just don't want to rush into any kind of relationship, as this is a mistake I've made in the past. How do I go about this in a way that is not deceptive or hurtful, but still allows me to get to know each of them?

Lord of the Rings Playing Card Game

spiderskull — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:07:19 -0800

We're trying to find the rules for a Lord of the Rings themed playing card game, and we can remember about 90% of the rules. We've searched online to no avail (including Card Games Website). Hopefully someone here knows.

So far, this is what we can remember:

You use a regular deck of playing cards. Ace is high, order of suits is spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs (highest-to-lowest)

The objective is to collect an ace, a queen, and a king which will allow you to "visit Mordor" and try to destroy the ring. If the suit of the queen matches the suit of a randomly selected, but hidden (to everyone except the person trying to destroy the ring) Mordor card, then you win

There's a small pile in the center, where the players are competing for the top card that's face up, with the basic rules of War. We'll call this the target card.

Every player has a small pile of soldier cards, with the top card face up. This is the player's soldier that competes against other soldiers to win the target card. The player with the highest soldier card at the end of the turn gets to take the target card, unless someone plays one of their character cards (described below).

Everyone initially starts with 5 cards and you put them into a diamond formation (face down), where each of these character cards serves a specific purpose when played:
- An archer, which can shoot an opponent's soldier card if it is a higher number than the soldier
- A hobbit, which can steal the target card if it has a lower number
- A mage, which forces another player to put their current soldier card at the bottom of their pile, and reveal a new soldier, providing that the suit of the mage is different from the soldier it's attacking
- A hero, which we forgot the details of, but we think can take out all face-up cards that it is higher than
Order of play each turn is determined by the order of the soldier cards, from lowest to highest. So, if there's three players, the one with the lowest soldier card goes first

Players can immediately retaliate if their soldier is attacked

The round is over once all of the target cards are claimed, and a new round begins
- To start a new round, all of the players can choose which cards take the roles of archer, hobbit, mage, and hero. The remainder of the cards become the soldier pile (which need to be shuffled).
- At this point, if anyone has the queen-king-ace combo and wants to go to Mordor, they can test their chances
- The new target card pile is taken from a central unused deck, and has N cards, where N is the highest number of soldier cards any player has, plus one.

Each player has a separate discard pile. All attacked soldiers, target cards acquired, and character cards go here.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Are there other card games with this name?

A small warning: we tried playing with these rules, but the game seemed unbalanced, and we were filling in the gaps as went along. Any small rule change to the hero's role seemed to have a drastic impact on gameplay.

I can haz amateur historiez writingz?

sully75 — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:42:17 -0800

I'm interested in writing one history book in my life, over a long period of time. I'm not, and most likely will not be getting, any sort of degree in history. I'm currently pursuing another career, and would like to research this over a long period, on the side. What would I be doing now to make this happen? I'm interested in writing a history of fiddle music. My interest is how the violin evolved in Italy and then through cheaper reproductions from Germany, and local makers, was copied and adapted for music all over the world.

I'm a fiddle player and I have some fairly minor experience in journalism. I've written a fair amount of fiction and non-fiction in the past. I'm not that worried about my writing ability.

However, this would obviously involve vast quantities of research, something that I've never really done a lot of. I know a lot about the subject just from reading and being around fiddle players and doing my own sort of interviewing, but have never really written anything down. And never done any kind of historical research.

I'm going to nursing school currently because, well...I wanted a stable job.

So can you humor me here? Say I was interested in working on this project for 10 or 15 years. What would I be reading and doing in the meantime? Would there be classes that it would be beneficial for me to take? (I live in Boston for the time being) What kind of records and notes would I keep? What do you call this process? Where would I meet people who were interested in doing this kind of work?

I have had this idea in my head for a long time so I appreciate any input you have.

Thanks!

Beautiful guitar pieces

gwpcasey — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:45:33 -0800

Help me identify some beautiful ear-pleasing guitar pieces to learn and play at random. I play acoustic guitar, have never really learned my scales or paid much attention to learning solos. Mostly I just strum or pick to accompany singing but I can also play a couple of pretty little tunes like Song 3 by Ben Harper, Bron-Yr-Aur by Led Zeppelin (on the rare occasion when I have the energy to retune the guitar), the opening bit from Nothing Else Matters by Metallica (I know, I know...) and that's about it these days.

I would love to learn a few more 'bits' like this: quite melodious, not very long or complicated and suited to an acoustic guitar. I would love to hear what some of your favourites are. I tend to play these things between practising other stuff, to check if the guitar's in tune between songs and for sound checks etc, so they don't need to be major performance pieces, just ear-pleasing little sound-snacks.

Bonus thanks if you can also point me in the direction of the relevant sheet music or tab, but certainly not required.

Gracias.

Help Me Play the Piano

wittgenstein — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:26:18 -0800

Can anyone help me navigate this web site? I am looking for piano pieces that a beginning to intermediate pianist can play. Unfortunately, you cannot search this site by difficulty level (or, if you can, I haven't figured out how to do it.) So, I figure the next best thing would be to let people already familiar with the music recommend stuff.

I am already familiar with these pieces and am trying to learn this piece a little at a time. This will give you an idea of what level I am playing at.

Online guitar instruction?

daisyace — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:26:50 -0800

Is there a great, free website where a child with no prior experience can learn to tune and play her new guitar? The girl who I mentor was just given a new acoustic guitar for her 9th birthday. (This Hannah Montana 3/4-size one, I think.) She can read at or above grade level, she's comfortable using a computer, and she's enthusiastic about the guitar. On the flip side, she has no guitar experience at all, she doesn't like things that are difficult for her, and she only has a long attention span for things that are pretty fun and active. She can't afford instruction, not even a low-cost option like learning from a music student. So, is there any fun, free, guitar instruction website out there?

investing on losers

SirStan — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:44:32 -0800

Investing/Day Trading -Why is it bad to pick stocks off the losers of the day assuming they will rebound? I have been casually watching stocks on Google's daily losers list, and playing with $1000 of pretend money and Excel.. and so far I am up 50% on three weeks (not counting $9/trade fees).

So -- Why doesn't this system work? Bonus points for any investing research that shows its a bad idea (tm).

Naturally there are some mega losers.. but even back when Fannie May tanked.. there would have been money to be made by buying at the crest of the loss, and selling the next day.

For example... If I had invested $1000 in Fannie May at the end of trading on September 8th, and sold it at the end of the day on September 9th I would have netted $356 (minus trade execution fees). I caught Foundry Networks as they started to go up a second time on the 24th of October @ $10.85 and now they are at $12.39.

Naturally there are really bad examlpes of this (like the drug company Savient, but even that might go up tomorrow! It seems like people overreact on large percentage sales.. and then it rebounds.

Am I playing with fire that will burn me? Is this how day trader junkies get hooked?

Not so Easy as Pie Reich

wittgenstein — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:02:33 -0800

Inspired by this question: I have the sheet music to Steve Reich's MUSIC FOR 18 INSTRUMENTS. I bought it to understand the piece better. But, the individual parts played by themselves sound nothing like the actual piece. I am not a good enough pianist to create a full piano transcription of the piece. Does anyone have any advice as to how to play excerpts from this score but still have it sound like Reich? ( Maybe someone who knows the piece better than I do.)

role playing as sexy sheriff

turkishLola — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:54:45 -0800

I am dressing up as a sexy sheriff to role play with my husband and I would like to get suggestions on what naughty things to say as a sheriff or something a sheriff would say to someone he pulled over for speeding?

Ripping and listening to my CD collection

GernBlandston — Wed, 23 May 2007 10:14:51 -0800

I'd like to rip my CD collection and be able to listen to them when I'm not at my computer. I want to be able to listen to them in the living room or kitchen. I've got several hundred CDs. And I don't want to spend a ton of money. So I've got a couple questions:
1. Does Windows Media Player, set to (WAV) lossless do a decent job? I like how it catalogs the CDs on my computer at the same time, and I don't know if it's worth going with FLAC, EAC, etc

2. Is there a better way to store them than on my harddrive? Are there inexpensive players for this kind of thing?

3. If I store on my computer, how can I setup speakers off of my computer so that I can wire them around the house? Can I buy some kind of card or amp or whatever a regular stereo uses?

Thanks!

Man can't get a few dimes?

koshka — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:38:36 -0800

I was just musically abused without my consent. Can you identify the perpetrator? I was surfing the internet and listening to my winamp playlist today. Suddenly I heard some other music playing on my computer, so I stopped my winamp and this music continued on... and on. Programs I closed: all firefox windows (none of the sites I was on had music to play anyway), winamp, icq. Music still kept on going. It was a song that played all the way through and I managed to grab the mic and record the last minute of it. I googled one line I could understand, "Man can't get a few dimes," and I think it's a song by a group named "Garfunkel Art."

Question! What the hell just happened? Has anyone else experienced this?

Some facts that might help: I'm not schizophrenic (I managed to record part of it). I did have a lastfm app running, but does an entire song I've never heard of just randomly play through that?

recording/playing a tv show

Noodles — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:04:03 -0800

Is it possible to record a tv show on to a pc and then later replay the recorded show on to my regular tv set, not my computer monitor but my actual tv. I know its possible to record a tv show on to a pc hard drive but I don't know for sure if its possible to replay that same show with out making a dvd.

Stop my kitten or my cat will have no ears

scazza — Mon, 01 May 2006 13:10:28 -0800

How do I get my cat to stop biting my other cat's ears? All the info I get from google is about cats biting people and to smack them on the ear.

As some of you might know from a past question, I have a newish cat. She just turned 1 in February, and my other cat, a male, is just turning 5 (I think), both indoor cats. They have a good if aloof relationship; he's used to being alone, he lets her take over everything. They don't sleep together, all they want to do is bite each other (they try to adorably clean each other but it just becomes furious and biting ensues).

They chase each other and play fight, but she has been drawing blood on his beautiful head, and her teeth have come dangerously close to his eyes. He's taking all the damage in these fights probably because he often doesn't let up--though doesn't ever hurt her, not a scratch. But, the thing that has me concerned are his ears.

We came back from 5 days away and his beloved petal-like soft ears are covered in scabs, 2 tiny tiny pieces of his ear are hanging off, and if you look closely the color is a bit patchy. They seem to be better since we've been back, but I can't have this. I can't have him have the ears of a stray, meaning no ears. It's both their fault: he won't let up and she's too eager to go for blood.

They enjoy chasing each other and scaring each other so I don't want to stop the play altogether. Does stopping the ear biting require stopping the playing?
I thought of putting something on his ears to discourage it (orange oil, ointment) but he'd just try to clean it and wouldn't it be torture for him too?
Is this her only weapon against a bigger foe? He's bigger in size, longer and taller, she's compact, but only 1 lb difference in weight.
Is this just because we went away for 5 days?
Will she just grow out of it?

I haven't called my vet yet. I thought I'd ask here first. Your help is always so helpful.

impressive-sounding piano songs

chronic sublime — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 02:44:16 -0800

Impressing people with piano music. I have recently gained possession of a piano, but being out of practice for over 10 years has made me a little rusty. I want to impress people, and quickly. I am looking for recommendations for songs that will knock people's socks off when they inevitably ask "can you play us a song?" Essentially, I am looking for the crowd-pleasers.

I have preferences for well-known, popular/jazzy style music, preferably with an upbeat tempo. I prefer minor key, but that's a minor issue. I have more than a mountain of classical works to impress people with, but those styles were what bored me ten years ago. I am up for a challenge, so stuff like Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata and Heart and Soul are Right Out.

FWIW, Tori Amos and Radiohead are the current pop repertoire. I investigated Coldplay as my boyfriend goes ga-ga over their simple yet effective piano riffs, but indeed, found them too simplistic.

If you can point me to a free copy of the score online, you can have bonus points, and the waitress at the bar will shout you a free drink.

Boys will be boys.....

davehat — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 04:50:50 -0800

Does anyone have any advice for calming squabbling infants? I have a 17 month old boy and he spends 3 days a week being looked after by a friend. She has a boy exactly the same age and the two of them have grown up spending a lot of time together, mainly at our friends' house, but also at ours and on daytrips and activities. They both have a full and varied social life and my son loves being with them.

Recently, the boys have started to have issues playing together. If one of them has a toy, then the other will want it, no matter what it is, or what he was doing beforehand. When this happens, attempts to get them to play together founder, as even if the playing could be co-operative or shared (lego, blocks, reading, etc) it causes distress to one or other child.

One of the children is very easily distracted, so he can be given something else to play with. However, the other child can't be. To make matters worse, he will instantly desire whatever has been used to distract or entertain the other.

To put it succinctly, one child nearly always wants what the other is playing with, not necessarily because its interesting, just that the other child has it. The other child would happily play with just about anything and is only possesive of two or three specific objects.

The issue arises at both children's homes and is not necessarily related to "ownership" of the toys.

The question is, how can we help them play together given this little stumbling block?

There's a lot of advice out there in childcare books and any tips or recommended authors will be gladly received. However, I am hoping we've got a super mom/dad/guardian/carer here who have some hands on experience and tips.

I'm being purposefully vague (I hope) as to which kid has the problem sharing/being distracted, but if knowledge of this is important to resolving the problem, I'll think about divulging.

DVD burner issues

ontic — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 09:58:26 -0800

I have a Pioneer DVD-ROM drive and it was quite good at playing DVDs. I didn't use it for playing movies for a long while and eventually installed a DVD-burner (Pioneer too, actually). Now I can't play movies on my original DVD-ROM drive. It just spits them back out with an unceremonious "No Disc Detected". Data discs, even burned DVD-Rs work fine, as I use the drive for my main drive. Playing them on the burner works fine. Is this copy protection at work or just a strange coincidence? [MI] Oddly, I don't even want to use the burner to copy DVDs. My old DVD player burned out and this forces me to play all of my DVDs on the burner, to which I'd like to give less of a workload. I've looked around the net and have seen a number of people with this problem, but it's never given a real answer, nor can I find any reference to a copy-protection scheme that works this way. But it's just a little convenient, y'know?

Why does my wrist get tired from barre chords?

weston — Sat, 27 Dec 2003 12:20:30 -0800

I've played the regularly guitar for eight years now and find that bar chords tire my hand/wrist/forearm *very* quickly. If the ratio between them and other chords is more than 50%, I just can't get through a whole song. This isn't terribly limiting overall, but it does make certain styles inaccessible. So I need some help. [more inside] My question is twofold: (1) is there a way I can improve overall strength, flexibility, and health for my left hand, wrist, and forearm? (2) Is there, perhaps, a technique issue that I'm missing?

My hands are, I think, smaller than the average mans, and I've got skinny wrists and probably weak forearms overall. But I would think that with the amount of practice that I do, my left hand would have gotten gradually stronger, even for bar chords. I'm puzzled about why it doesn't seem to have.

I've tried lowering action on my steel string, which helps, but it's still a problem on that and my classical guitars (which generally aren't all that tense). I've tried lighter gauge strings, too... so the only thing I can think to change is my body or how I use it. : )