It’s too quiet here.
Hey, I have a smashing idea. Let’s engage ourselves in snobbish dinner discussion.
The standing ovation has turned from a rare and special form of praise to a routine custom. Discuss.
I’ll fetch the Port.
All the crazies, none of the calories
But, really, though… Is it necessary to reward every Fringe production, community musical, godawful dinner theatre performance, and night of stand-up comedy by standing while clapping? And don’t even get me started on political addresses.
I totally agree. Warren and I used to have tickets to the citadel and regardless of how good or horrifically bad the play was everyone would stand and applaud – ok, not everyone – Warren and I refused to applaud bad performances.
The worst part is that its not just performances that require that kind of attention. I find people actually EXPECT praise and recognition for everything they do today and complain when they don’t receive it. It drives me nuts at work – you get paid for showing up and doing a job stop expecting golden stars or happy faces for every report you run in a day.
Yes! Another freakin’ example of how we’re all expected to celebrate mediocrity nowadays. Adequate is the new superior!
One of the dumbest things I’ve ever witnessed was my anthropology 101 class giving our professor a standing ovation on the last day of school. Fellas: he’s a teacher. Not even an unusually good teacher, just a teacher. He failed a third of us and hates the rest of us and there is absolutely no good reason to clap for him just because he made a little flourishing bow at the end of his last class.
Seriously. It was almost pavlovian.
Though that reminds me of the time I didn’t stand for Anton Kuerti’s standing ovation when I saw him in Calgary. I was in the front row and he gave me the dirtiest. look. ever.
P.S. It is too quiet around here. Give me a couple of days and I’ll be part of the solution instead of part of the problem!
At least they look bored in the photo.