tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post4294399741367009202..comments2023-09-20T14:34:21.102+02:00Comments on Postcards from the Gods: The Wolf is just crazy for representations of himself...*Andrew Haydonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-16592128425029336112007-09-10T05:56:00.000+02:002007-09-10T05:56:00.000+02:00Re: the astonishing Ms Wilson - Yes, Jon, that had...Re: the astonishing Ms Wilson - Yes, Jon, that hadn't escaped my attention either. I can assure all concerned parties that it was merely a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the useage in question and that my feelings toward the lady are strictly critical.Andrew Haydonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05568061302451610140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-53292730583035932202007-09-09T22:37:00.000+02:002007-09-09T22:37:00.000+02:00Slightly concerned that you're concerned about "na...Slightly concerned that you're concerned about "name-dropping" your friendship/acquaintance/whatever with any of us at Unlimited. You need to get some more 'famous' mates. Slightly tragic that your name dropping amounts to a couple of people that no-one else has heard of.....<BR/><BR/>Spurred by your tangential musings on programmes, we at the world famous Unlimited have often included a section in our programmes (always beautifully designed and printed on recycled paper of course with no stupid adverts for stupid stuff you'll never buy from organisations you'll never remember and given like party bags at kids parties for free yes FREE to anyone that wants one) titled "How To Watch The Show". Sometimes for new work that seems like it might be helpful. Example: for our 2004 show Zero Degrees & Drifting....<BR/><BR/>"...So here you are sitting in (semi) darkness waiting for our show to begin. Hello. Thanks for coming. There's no interval so you might want to put ice cream or beer out of your head straight away. And the theatre you're in is very well thought of, so hopefully your seat's comfortable and you have a good view of us. And if you're on a date, relax, you look great.<BR/><BR/>How to watch Zero Degrees and Drifting? Well we made it for you. Think of it like: a good book / a drive through a snow storm / a new job / a brisk walk / a home made greeting card /or looking into someone else's brain and realising its not that dissimilar to yours (delete as appropriate after 90 minutes).<BR/><BR/>Enjoy."<BR/><BR/>Of course, some people might well just think that's quite pretentious.<BR/><BR/>p.s. apparently Melanie Wilson is "simply astonishing" according to a review on Culture Wars....Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06615675805645892263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-77898656999576606912007-09-09T19:05:00.000+02:002007-09-09T19:05:00.000+02:00This is why I'm inherently distrustful of any crit...This is why I'm inherently distrustful of any critical opinion I read or write. So instead, if there's something that I think I might like I'll briefly scan a variety of reviews whilst trying not to take too much in, go and see whatever it may be, and then read the critical views after to see if we all agree. Too many times have I watched something and constantly been looking for the same things that the critic noticed and I've found it's been a major distraction from the piece. <BR/><BR/>It's why the simple star rating system is such a blessing and a curse....https://www.blogger.com/profile/08384106613259471125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-88999942709545258072007-09-09T01:07:00.000+02:002007-09-09T01:07:00.000+02:00...and of course the fact that in my earlier comme......and of course the fact that in my earlier comment I refer to Messrs Mendes and Hari by their first names is an implicit claim to familiarity, even as I vent my spleen upon the latter with some force. I suppose that makes me more pretentious, in the literal sense, than most shows to which the name is applied... I mean, what do the name-callers think the shows are pretending TO?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-13771204686172369672007-09-08T20:36:00.000+02:002007-09-08T20:36:00.000+02:00Plenty to think about there, although my immediate...Plenty to think about there, although my immediate reaction was to do a search of "View From The Stalls" for 'pretentious' which thankfully produced no hits. However I'm more than a little concerned to discover that my only use of 'astonishing' was in relation to "An Audience with Sir Alex Ferguson".Statlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05983866226623322962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4481691725314537521.post-37006278589248583592007-09-08T20:20:00.000+02:002007-09-08T20:20:00.000+02:00To combine the topics of people one knows, hostage...To combine the topics of people one knows, hostages to fortune, journo-authorial persona AND a couple of the names you mention:<BR/><BR/>Sam Mendes thought for some time in the early 1990s that, as theatre editor of the now-long-defunct London listings magazine <I>City Limits</I> (Lord, how deep-historical is that now, that I have to explain it!), I was waging a vendetta against him by running consistently negative reviews of his productions. <BR/><BR/>In fact, I was trying to do precisely the opposite: after my own review of <I>Troilus And Cressida</I> which you linked to, I made a point of assigning the next Mendes show to another reviewer, who happened not to like that one, and so on; I was always looking for someone without "form" for disliking Sam's direction, and what happened was an unlikely but nevertheless true chain of coincidence. <BR/><BR/>We made it up (or he forgave me) after I raved about his <I>Glass Menagerie</I> on its transfer to the Comedy Theatre. Then Johann Hari fucked it up for me, destroying my relationship with the single most prestigious name in my contacts book.<BR/><BR/>Johann contacted me, knowing that I had been a Cambridge contemporary of Sam's, looking for comments about his reputation there for inclusion in a newspaper profile piece. I gave him a couple of quotes, in positive contexts. Johann then spun them in a diametrically opposite direction in the piece as published. In a magnificent piece of double-standards, he fully attributed the quotations to me, whereas the profile piece itself was published without any author credit. <BR/><BR/>I immediately mailed Sam (who was in his final days at the Donmar Warehouse) explaining what had happened, but have had no response then or since. I believe that to this day Johann has no conception that his conduct may have consequences for other people. I fervently believe that he needs to acquire some.<BR/><BR/>As for giving me that last word... a nice touch (y'bastard!) for an entry that begins by decrying the double standards of a particular outlet :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com