La Princess - A Giant Spider in Liverpool

[BiscuitDegaro]

No. Hell no. That is freaking cool but just....no.

[slats22]

Absolutely lovely....absolutely!!!!!!!!

[huatonelson]

This is really cool. I love projects like these, that both work off of and expand the imagination. Does anyone know why the band is broken up onto those different lifts instead of just all being on one big flatbed?

[LilyKitx]

So with all the poverty in the world, we could help so much and you build a giant spider. I can't say anymore than that

[ingottoe]

@LilyKitx Perhaps lost in the debate over the value of art and creative work is that it has value AND there are people paid to plan, build, provide the materials to build, and run an installation like this. Given that the vast majority of the funds had already been set aside by the city of Liverpool to support the arts (specifically, says wiki, 1.5M of the 1.8-.9M used to build this) what would you recommend have been done instead? From a US perspective, the UK has a robust social safety net.

[pietzeekoe]

gay that ist not supported by its own legs

[ingottoe]

@pietzeekoe I hear you (though I'm not such a fan of that form of expressing disappointment) - It would have been truly amazing if it were capable of supporting itself and moving about so quickly, but I don't think we are at that level of materials science and robotics yet. Or, if we are, the materials able to support such weight and programing to move with such balance and grace would come at a very large price tag, one Liverpool would not have been willing to support.

[Necrodius]

Cool

[KiriouSs]

oooh lol i thought it can mmove by itself.. yea ofcourse it cant iu mean it could hurt some ppl that way lol

[KiriouSs]

wow.. simehow reminds me of that movie wid wild west this is perfect... its tottally worthr the money whever sposore it or whatever becouse its really cool and something new.. well in japan they have real robot fights

[seanster17]

the english are awesome with the theatrical

[jupitorman]

david bowie the spider from mars is back

[theFkey]

it reminds me of shelob...

[ingottoe]

I can see what you mean, but La Princess is much more music and happiness, inspiring good thoughts and positive energy and much less "bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her feasts, weaving webs of shadow; for all living things were her food, and her vomit darkness."

[theFkey]

thats a pretty good point but i didn't say

'hay look it's shelob!' it was 'it reminds me of shelob'

[ingottoe]

Heh, fair enough. I was mostly just trying to show I knew what you were talking about. I hope you enjoyed seeing and hearing La Princess/Shelob look-alike!

[ingottoe]

Hughesa12, from what it looked like, La Princess (the spider) was mounted on a vehicle with a crane of some sort supporting it. I am not certain if the leg operators ever had the feet touch the ground.

kaytronika - I'd be interested to know if you find yourself!

F3R90, I've actually been living in Liverpool for over a year. Not a tourist, I just don't disguise my accent. Capital of Culture has certainly evoked mixed feelings among our neighbors and friends here.

[F3R90]

ingottoe, I appriciate your views, it is just very frustrating when investment in my eyes is wasted.. yes in in the long term it brings in visitors, who in turn bring money- i'm not to sure about employment!? maybe you would like to expand? but the whole point is that people of the city need help now not in 5 years time! I am very cynical about the whole 08 thing after all of the problems at the top of the 08 company.

[ingottoe]

As I said, mixed feelings from people for many reasons.

I do think it's worth pointing out that to support 08, money has been spent on city improvements (which will last after Dec 31 2008) but, this makes you realize how much MORE of the money could have been focused towards city development.

However, if my life here was spent seeing only construction, and no incredible cultural events, the positive things I will share w/ friends would be less than they are. Surely that is of some value?

[F3R90]

Im afraid funding and investment in my opinion stretches a little further than CONSTRUCTION and CULTURAL EVENTS.. there is a massive need for investment in many other areas within MY city - eduction - main stream & cultural/social, policing, housing..the list goes on. I am happy that you and others have had a good experience, but in my opinion a giant spider - no matter how popular is a waste of MY MONEY!

[078691]

I agree, liverpool 08 has been a huge and enjoyable success in my opinion, the city is alot better place than 1.5year ago

[078691]

COMPLETELY DISAGREE WITH U F3R90.we hav been given support for along time from UK gov and EU - although nothing like what we seen on this scale. What we need to take the city back to its old hieghts is not handouts but private investment and that is exactly what 08 has achieved. All the redevelopement over the last year has been the most ground breaking overhaul of Liverpool in my life time (31). The L1 and albert dock work are world class

[F3R90]

listen mate, you dont have to tell me what is world class.. Liverpool is bigger than L1 and the Albert Dock and its people who live in the suberbs are here to stay.. private investment is great until the private sector decides to pull out and leave us.. so going back to my original point.. a dirty big spider and a load of fireworks ,which I pay for, is unacceptable when poeple in Liverpool are living in sub standard conditions with untold economic and social problems.

[hughesa12]

i don't understand. Does the spider actually crawl on its feet or is it just moving along on a crane and its legs move and they don't actually touch the ground?

[iKilledKennyXD]

is really doin it

[ingottoe]

I just want to repeat that La Princess is not actually walking on it's own legs. It's supported from below. The operators do a good job of making it look like it's moving on its own, but at the point where the little girl is dancing on the man's shoulders, you can see the support rather clearly coming out of the base of the spider. It looked like the arm of a crane on wheels (which is how the whole thing moved forward - on wheels). Also when the camera is behind the spider, you can see it.

[kaytronika]

We were stood literally a few feet away from the spider and probably only 10 yards away from you filming this. A great night out and a fantastic event for the city! Now to rewatch it to see if I can see myself. Heh.

[takethatismylife]

amazin i wannid to go see it

my mum got picss of it wen she was on her way bk frm werk

[redfootiechick]

i miss her oh my god i wish i would have gone n seen her cos she looked fab. but i bet it was chokker man......

[F3R90]

I suppose it is great and memorable if you live in a dream world or if you are a tourist in liverpool..but when you pay your taxes and the council wastes your hard earned money on sh*! like this when it could be re-investing it into the 'people of the city' then you have got to ask yourself - whats in it for me?

[kaytronika]

The event promoted the city as a whole on news channels all over the world. Promotion like that brings in visitors, investment, employment... Your point of view is the equivalent of me saying 'I haven't been to the doctors in 10 years, why should I pay for the NHS?'

[Gerrys99]

this was truly memorable. Something I will never forget as Long as I live

[sylkev]

I think its GREAT!!!!!! Would like to have seen it!

[vampiregt600]

WTF????

[Anus2Mouth]

I dated a french girl once.

It appeared she had some big black spiders emerging from her armpits

(not to mention the angry tarantula in her pants... with an afro)

[ArgotMay]

Should give it away to the town that proves it needs this spider and band the most. I know it is our town. Please?! We NEEEEED you here. I am serious. HEEEELLLLPPP!!!

[ingottoe]

One/Two of their previous productions, The Sultan's Elephant and the Little Girl Giant, did a bit of traveling (Antwerp, various cities in France, Chile, others). If you or someone you know has some clout with your city council, or regional council, perhaps you could work on a campaign to bring La Princess to your area?

[coolestpyro]

im high and that is the trippiest thing i ever fricken seen

[ingottoe]

I might suggest to you Koyanasqatsi. I can't speak to watching it in an altered mental state, but perfectly sober it is quite a trippy (but excellently made) film. Something about La Princesses legs made me think of some of the footage of machines from that movie.

[howedelamitri]

What a strange, bizarre spectacle. I love it!

[CoyoteBuddy]

And people say the CERN large hadron collider is a waste of time and money?

[ingottoe]

Heh, well La Princess WAS a grand performance art piece. Sometimes those cost money, even if they are in some ways ephemeral. As for the LHC, I really feel that is awesome in the true sense as well.

[rick11345]

Bring your arachnophobic friend to the show.

[mastervaderm16]

that looks cool

[mastervaderm16]

stereotypical person

[ingottoe]

Thanks for the backup against that fairly rude poster, mastervaderm16. As you probably know, YouTube offers tools to deal with that sort of thing.

La Princess was very cool and it really was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen (and brilliant as the woman near the ends stated). People in the moving crowd continued to comment to one another "Isn't this amazing?" "This is incredible!" and the like. And it was very much those things.

[mastervaderm16]

stop spamming fool

[francocurt]

q carajosss????

[superlirics]

ma spidurz.

[trojianmaru18]

did it actually get in the water or was that just the story of why it was meant to be there? (and honestly it might be the biggest but I've seen a lot of real giant spider mechs and that's nowhere near the best. seen one that climbs all over oil tanks to look for a leak then repais it, and seen one that can keep up with a car

[ingottoe]

I don't think it actually went in the water. Instead it was hoisted by another crane and had water cannons fire very short bursts at it in time to the music. I didn't see it actually IN the Mersey at any point in time.

As for "best", perhaps it doesn't serve a life-saving function or move incredibly quickly, but then Van Gogh's Starry Night never stopped a bullet or cured cancer, but that's still considered to be pretty great. Art is what you make of it. For me, this was truly great.

[chunkdafunk]

we were right in front then underneath it, it was beautiful and the people moving the tape were very polite! You were hardly aware of them. It was awesome

[ingottoe]

Yep, for the most part - there was a point when I was up close and fellow started waving his arms and trying to get people to move. I just left that part out, since as you say, on the whole you were hardly aware of them and the whole performance was awesome.

Not in the "Oh, I'm hungry. A sandwich would be awesome" but in the real sense of awesome : "A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by ... genius, great beauty, sublimity..."