Keystone capers

It’s possible that a lot of people have also expressed it but Mack Sennet once said – “a review is only of any use if it’s a good review”.

I like Mack Sennett – maybe not as a person since I never met him and he may well have been quite obnoxious – but his contributions to the world of comedy are more than simply significant.

It’s difficult though to ignore any review - until you get so many it ceases to matter personally - and there is a tendency, if you only have one, to pick over it relentlessly.

I think I have written elsewhere on this blog of the first review I received as one half of the Amazing Mendezies, and which was published in Melody Maker, the music paper.

Which was strange as we were neither singers nor musicians, but jugglers.

I seem to remember that it said “with more wit than skill……..”………. and I remember being upset.

Dave, my partner (and now a man of converted and radical Buddhism) showed his innate perceptive wisdom by pointing out that I would have been more upset if they had said “more skill than wit”.

And since we were trying to be comic he was right.

And coincidentally so was the reviewer as we had in fact been working together only for five days and were pretty raw.

I received a review in the comments on my blog yesterday and I would like to put it here.

“Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!”

It’s weird how 29 words can create so many emotions.

I was instantly taken back to my performing days when people would come up after a show and say – “Great show. Much better than before.”

EEEK.

“How bad was it before – (when I thought it was ok) ?”

You see, even with Mack Sennett’s advice I instantly focus on the bad bit when there is so much that is positive in there.

Dave would say – “you would hate if it was the other way round, if they said it was better before.”

That’s the thing about radical Buddhists; they can settle you with insight even when they are absent.

So I want to thank whoever left the comment – it was filed under anonymous – because it means someone is reading, that they have read something old AND something new and they can see an improvement.

Which is really what this blog is trying to do – get better, push it’s own limits and, in case you have FORGOTTEN – GET RESPONSES TO THE 2009 Bitsnbobs Quiz of the Year.

Click here to take survey (QUIZ)

The Quiz of the Year is only ten questions, there is a grand prize of a REALLY nice bottle of red wine either sent or handed to you (depending if it is our paths or postal services that cross) and a deadline that has just been extended to TWO WEEKS!

The Questions are pretty easy – especially number 9 – require a flick through some old posts and in the case of questions 2 and 8 either a lucky guess or a bit of thinking.

Now, I wonder who anonymous is?