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Wednesday 28 May 2014

The Snark Knight

Ah, the time suck that is the interwebs!
And those Youtubes!
One good outcome of the Evil Misogynistic Critic fracas, is the dredging up of memories of my opera FanGirling....

Really? Zo you common little men sink you're expert on vaht vee vomen vould find attractiff?

My word Rosenkavalier is heavenly music.... seriously, why did no one take this jackass to task for daring to call the opera an irritating farce, a far more egregious opinion than saying that Tara Erraught, a singer and actress playing a man who disguises himself as a scullery maid has the demeanor of a scullery maid...

But anyway, there are many complete  videos of  Strauss's gem available, and I am gradually watching and finding something to love in all of them.

I'm also remembering  odd and/or ugly reviews I have received. One reviewer referred to my character in a musical as "the homely daughter."
Since there was nothing in the script about my looks, and indeed, other characters found my character attractive, I took this to be a description of my own self.
(Other actors found me attractive as well, but I was corsetted and in a peasant blouse, and rare for musicals in that market, it had been cast with straight men, so this is not to be wondered at...)
It didn't really bother me at the time, I can't say why... 
Terrific review otherwise, maybe that's it...
Met that writer shortly thereafter at a party and called him out, jokingly, and he was utterly dumbfounded that anyone would take objection to such a descriptor. As he apologized with a slight British accent, I realized that I had indeed mistaken his intention, my shayna maidel character was a simple, loving homebody.

On the other hand...
The critic who referred to a group of us 20-something actresses in another piece as a "herd of heifers" most emphatically did mean to be insulting, but as it was a gay paper, well...
Grammar Guy - #notalloperacritics I called the ladies chorus a herd of heifers as a compliment



And it's not only men who can be that way about women, the world is full of meangirls...
A Female TV presenter in New Zealand has drawn the ire of women all over the world after she was heard calling them a ' bunch of lardos' and 'heifers' who weighed in at 72kg.
Newstalk ZB presenter Rachel Smalley apologised to women saying that her offensive comments were not meant to be heard because her microphone was supposed to be switched off

Oh, well, then, that's all right.... NOT.

But, really? 154 pounds puts you into "lardo" territory?

It really HAS been dangerous for me having a pastry chef house-guest the past month....

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