Vielä asiaa lukeista
A little bit more about spiders
Siivosin kuvatiedostoja ja ruudulle sattui takahuoneen (täten kutsumme monitoimitilaa, jossa etupäässä sävelletään mutta myös majoitetaan vieraita, luetaan lehtiä ja soitetaan) seinältä ikuistettu suurikokoinen huntsman-hämähäkki. Jostain syystä huntsmanit tulevat usein sisätiloihin, josta niitä sitten pyydystetään hysteerisesti hihitellen roskakoriin ja kiikutetaan takaisin pihalle. Kauniitahan ne ovat eivätkä kauhean myrkyllisiäkään, mutta ei niiden kanssa tahtoisi samoissa sängyissä nukkua kuitenkaan.
Viikko sitten tuli yleisradiokanavalta upea Attenboroughin ohjelma hämähäkeistä osana isompaa sarjaa Life in the Undergrowth. Huomiota kiinnittivät tietysti kuvaus, uskomattomat suurennokset ja kaikki sellainen, mutta tällä kertaa ihastutti musiikin käyttö. Musiikkitoimittaja oli etsinyt verkkojaan kutovien hämähäkkien taustaksi erityisesti kitara- ja harppumusiikkia: ei mitään itsestään selviä klassikkosovituksia vaan ajatuksella valittuja oikeita sävellyksiä. Resursseistahan siinä on kysymys, tietenkin, musiikki on aina huokeahkosti tehtyjen dokumenttien heikko lenkki, tai yksi niistä. Patenttiratkaisu tuntuu olevan käyttää esimerkiksi historiallisten dokumenttien taustalla kuorohuohotusta à la Carl Orffin Carmina Burana. Puoli minuuttia sellaista kestää, sitten ei voi enää katsoa. BBC:llä näyttää kuitenkin olevan vielä varaa panna ammattilaisia asialle.
Opin hämähäkkiohjelmasta mm. sen, miten suuria verkkoja virittelevät hämähäkit oikein toimivat, kun pitäisi saada aikaan ensimmäiset tukiverkot suurta rakennelmaa varten. Kävi ilmi, että hämähäkki suoltaa ilmoille kevyttä seittiä pitkät pätkät ja odottaa, että tuuli vie sen toisen pään sopivaan paikkaan. Ne eivät toisin sanoen kävelekään metrikaupalla etsimään sopivaa parrunpäätä tai oksaa, niin kuin olin lapsellisuuksissani kuvitellut.
Kuvavalintani on siinäkin mielessä epäonnistunut, että Huntsmanit eivät kudo noita ohjelmassa käsiteltyjä käsittämättömän hienoja verkkorakennelmia, toisin kuin aiemmin takapihalla valokuvaamani hämähäkit.
***
A week or so ago I was glued to the tv screen, watching an episode of the latest David Attenborough tv series. This episode of Life in the Undergrowth dealt with spiders and especially their extraordinary spinning skills. The quality of the photography and the research was of course fantastic, but it was the use of music that, for me, was possibly the most impressive bit of it all. Skillfully chosen pieces of especially guitar and harp music to go with the spiders busy spinning their webs - not just arrangements of the top ten classical evergreens but real compositions, most of which I didn't even recognise.
It is quite often that you sit down to watch a documentary that looks interesting or at least tolerable based on the information in the tv-guide. But two minutes or less into the program you know that you have to stop watching. Why? Because the soundscape consists of repetitive, dramatic, choral 'panting' influenced by and copied from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. It is such a cliché, and still they keep doing it.
Did you know how spiders get started with one of those huge webs that span from one end of the veranda to the other? I didn't. I guess I thought they'd take a long hike around the building to reach the desired bits from which to drop down. Well, that is not how it happens. It turns out they simply let out a long stretch of silk and wait for the wind to carry it to a suitable place. Clever!
Today's picture is not particularly fitting, since I don't think Huntsman spiders really spin complicated webs. Unlike these spiders that I photographed earlier. The huntsman pictured had found its way indoors, as they do quite often. I tend to capture them in a waste bin and take back outside - I find them very pretty and interesting animals, but would not necessarily want to share a bed with them.
Comments - Kommentit
Nice use of the hand, for scale, on your Huntsman story. They have really good eyes, and stalk their prey, so they do not make webs for trapping insects. Hence their name. Silk is mostly used for making a nest, usually under bark, and for their egg capsule.
They have a wonderful ability to walk on ceilings, on vertical panes of glass, in windows, etc. Consequently, it is their unexpected presence which mostly seems to freak us out.
Have you noticed that they are not "mind readers", though. They move very quickly, when they realise you are after them - even if you are trying to do the "catch and release" trick.
Posted by: Denis | March 4, 2006 10:38 PM
Yes, and it's not Anni's hand, Denis, but mine (ie. a larger male hand). That otherwise dull piece of information is just to provide a sense of proportion for those readers of Anni's blog who don't live in Australia and so don't have the pleasure of visiting huntsmen in their homes.
One night a few years ago we were watching tv (not Attenborough on that occasion) and Anni realised that sitting next to her on the arm of the sofa - and also (apparently) watching tv - was a particularly large huntsman spider. Now that you have told us about their good eyesight, I realise that it was genuinely watching. I thought at the time I heard it laugh at a joke, too, so perhaps it was even listening. Of course, that was just before Anni saw the poor creature, shot out of her seat and frightened it under the sofa.
Posted by: Andy | March 4, 2006 11:41 PM
Andy, I thought I recognised the hand of the composer!
I wonder - what was the Spider watching on TV? Perhaps an earlier Attenborough series? Or a program on Nursery Rhymes - "Miss Muffett - the early years"?
Anni, to complement your "clean" photo of a Huntsman, I have posted a "messy action shot" on my blog (follow the links in the side bar, folks). I have included something about their ability to walk on window panes and smooth wall surfaces.
Posted by: Denis | March 5, 2006 03:37 AM
Koko kroppani valtasi yökötyksenpuistatus,rhhhh...
Tähänkö loppui blogisi seuraaminen? Eihän viatonta suomalaista sielua saisi shokeerata tällaisilla kuvilla. Liekö reaktioni syynä pohjimmiltaan viha/katkeruus äitiäni kohtaan vaiko joku muu selkeästi psykologinen seikka?? Huh, oma maa mansikka: vaarallisia käärmeitä vain 1 rotu ja hämähäkkejä vähänlaisesti! Paniikkini rauhoittuu... Palaan blogillesi, kun SE kuva on jo menneisyydessä.
Posted by: Rebekka | March 5, 2006 07:13 PM
Anni, for huntsman-related-jumps you cannot possibly hope to match the response of the multitudes of girls surprised into unfounded shrieks by Bruce, our resident school spider. He mainly inhabited the English and History rooms, but was upon occasion seen as far away as the Language block. A well-rounded arachnid! I wonder if he enjoyed our renditions of "Angeln angeln angeln angeln angeln" or "In Muenchen steht ein Hofbrauhaus" as much as yours was enjoying the television?
Posted by: Angharad | March 5, 2006 11:15 PM
No voi hyvänen aika... viaton australialainen maalaishämähäkki sai aikaan paniikkia Imatralla!
If I was a huntsman, I think I'd prefer German drinking songs.
Posted by: Anni | March 6, 2006 08:25 PM
In which case I'll bet he was a fan of 'Bier hier', the chorus of which translated as 'Bring the beer here, or I will fall over, arrgh.' (No, not kidding)
Posted by: Angharad | March 7, 2006 10:50 AM
Your snippet about the music in Life in the Undergrowth sparked a slow fuse of despair in me. Every second assistant apprentice lighting technician gets a mention in TV series credits (and why not - more power to them). But the composers?
Two recent examples: the SBS series on the Holocaust, and the just-finished "Bomber Crew" on ABC. The Holocaust program included a fair amount of Gorecki and Arvo Part, but neither were credited. "Bomber Crew" had some very affecting use of Mahler and Rimsky Korsakov. Neither were credited. The composer of the music specially written for "Bomber Crew" was credited, but some of the most potent moments were anonymously supplied by the other two composers.
Funny isn't it - its OK to use the music, but not acknowledge it - it's too contemptible to mention.
Posted by: Colin | March 18, 2006 10:58 PM
You are right of course, Colin. I haven't been paying attention to this much, but I have a feeling I am going to from now on.
Regarding the spider episode: I am not sure any more if the episode that I talked about used existing pieces of music. Maybe they were all composed for that particular program.
Posted by: Anni | March 23, 2006 07:15 PM