Sometimes What's My Line? wasn't able to come up with really special, far out of the ordinary public figure as their Mystery Guest. As a result, they had to go for the ordinary, everyday kind of household celebrity you normally get, hawking their latest American classic fine-art edifice. And so, with apparently no one else to go to, they dragged out legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. No doubt he was available because they'd finished shooting his appearances on Stop the Clock and The Price is Right.
0 Comments
One of my big bugaoo's is the apology. The half-hearted, meaningless, "If I offended anyone..." or "Hey, sorry about that." Every once in a while, I like to take apart some pseudo-apology that a public figure makes for an egregious offense and analyze it sentence-by-sentence in a BobSeminar™, as I did here.
(Or an apology like, "Hey, there are too many typos in the book, and if you bought a Kindle edition, I'll send you a free one...) Well, now comes a terrific article by my friend, the wonderful Nell Minow, on the concept of mistakes. At its core, it's somewhat from a business perspective, but she widens it a bit to take in the subject more universally. Nell deals with a lot of issues connected to them -- how to avoid them, as much as possible, and listening to what your mistakes are telling you about yourself, among other things -- but also how to apologize for them. Nell is a kindred spirit on the subject, and she and I have discussed such things. So, it was not a surprise, but a complete pleasure when she wrote, "Take full responsibility for mistakes with a sincere and gracious apology and whatever steps are necessary to repair or clean up the mess. Full accountability for a mistake is the best way to reprogram yourself to avoid that mistake in the future. It is necessary not just for your relationship to the affected parties but for your sense of yourself as a capable and worthy person. You don't need to grovel. But do not try to qualify it." The whole piece is wonderful, and for a subject that could come across like a moralistic lecture in lesser hands, never does here. Rather, she deals with the subject of making mistakes from a perspective she often uses in her world-class business analysis -- from the real-world standard of being a parent. For instance, when she writes about giving incentives to people for their actions, she says, "Give a 1-year-old spaghetti and there will be an adorable mess. Give the same 1-year-old ice cream and there will be less mess. Even a baby will be more careful if the payoff is more sugary, creamy deliciousness." (Related side note: one of my favorite Nell Minow Stories™ is the time she -- as a corporate governance expert -- attended a stockholders convention and got up to ask a question of the Board. When the chairman saw who it was, he rolled his eyes. Uncowed (Nell is never coved), she shot right back at him -- "Rolling your eyes at me has no effect. I raised two teenagers." You can read the whole thing here. This is the official "Ack" report.
After noticing a few typos in my novel "The Wild Roses," I decided to read through it again myself, despite having paid for a professional editor. I’m mortified by the number of missed typos I’ve come across thus far, so I’m going to put out a corrected draft. The novel as a novel is still fine -- but it's not fair to pe Therefore, if you haven’t bought it yet -- don't. The corrected version will be up next week. If you did buy it and got the Kindle ebook version, feel free to write me, and I'll send you a corrected .MOBI file when I have it ready. I've contacted reviewers who've already received them and am holding off sending out review paperbacks to those waiting to receive them As I said, I’m embarrassed. But I’m at least glad that have caught it early, and know to not rely on the results of a proofreader only. Okay, I admit it. I'm a sucker of those videos that show dogs getting all excited when their owners come home from a long absence. This is one of the best. As the graphic at the beginning says, the owner, Lt. Gary Daugherty, has just returned from a six-month tour of duty in Iraq, when his dog Bugaboo discovers his return. Well, he discovers it after a brief commercial. The Federal Elections Commission yesterday put out an advisory that it plans to change its rules, allowing donations from same-sex couple to be treated just like donations for any couple.
In explaining this change in position, Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub noted recent Supreme Court rulings and her desire to see DOMA struck down, reported saying, "Sometimes the law's an ass." I would like to point out, in case any in the public get up in arms over her comment -- or even if they find it amusing -- that the literate Ms. Weintraub was, in fact, quoting Charles Dickens. The line comes from Oliver Twist, and specifically out of the mouth of the beadle, Mr. Bumble, when told that he is to be held responsible for the actions of his wife (a far more forceful person of the couple), for in the eye of the law, he is the more guilty of the two, for the law supposes that his wife acts under his direction. "'If the law supposes that,' said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, 'the law is a ass- a idiot. If that's the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience - by experience.'" I would further like to note, as would be expected on this website, that in the movie musical, Oliver! -- which retained the line -- the role of Mr. Bumble was played by Harry Secombe. Continuing our tour around the world with Fiddler on the Roof, we come to the renown Ivan Rebroff. Rebroff is a highly-regarded Russian basso, yet he starred as Tevye in the Paris production of Fiddler on the Roof. In fact, he starred in it for 3-1/2 years. This 9-1/2 minute clip isn't from a stage production of the show, but it's the next best thing, one of his concerts. And that's because he just throws himself into the performance and wrings every single moment out of it, with great joie de vivre, including being his own fiddler. There is some lovely subtlety here -- but for the most part, subtlety is a secondary thought. The first number is performed in French, "Ah, Si J'etais Riche." For the second, he sings "To Life" in English in all its exuberant glory. Would that there was more of his performance in the show on video. It was probably quite an experience. If he doesn't actually love what he's doing -- then he's an even better actor than he appears. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|