If you wish to shine like the daylight, burn up the night of self-importance.
Rumi
*****************
I used to know a fellow in New York who was an actor and a friend. We did one show together and it went well. Then he would come to see my plays and I would see his plays and we would hang out and have fun. He was intelligent, friendly and had a sense of humor.
Then one day he asked me to be in a play he wanted to direct. It was a two character play. He cast the other part and scheduled a rehearsal. Immediately into the first day his personality changed. He became dark, a bully, an insulting martinet, criticizing every line reading and being generally obnoxious.
We were only doing it on speculation, there was no contract, so by the second rehearsal the other actor and I decided to drop out. The next time I saw my friend he was his usual jovial self.
I've seen that sort of Jekyll and Hyde behavior before and I don't understand it. What happens to people when they get a little bit of power or influence that they suddenly become a self-important antagonist instead of a friend. I've seen and had to work with that kind of oppressive behavior before but I never knew any of those people in any other context. This was different. This was a friend of mine who abruptly began treating us as if we didn't know what we were doing. Psychologists must have a word for that kind of temporary transformation. I don't know what it is. All I can say is that it was unexpected and unpleasant.
We eventually parted ways over a totally unrelated issue. But there was an element of the unexpected and unrealistic about that also. I finally concluded that there was a strain in his character I had missed for years. Under the right circumstances something made him change, take himself too seriously and to view himself as too important to bother with other people's rights or feelings. It's too bad because he was a nice guy and I liked him.
DB - The Vagabond
****************************
WINTER QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
What was the most significant event that happened in 2010?
dbdacoba@aol.com
Only 1 response so fa
I await your answer.
DB
******************************
Showing posts with label self-importamce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-importamce. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Getting It Right
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.
Harlan Ellison
**********************
If anyone who is not in show business, and some that are, really understood what a good actor does, they would be super impressed by the artistry of the great ones. As an actor I will go to the theatre or a film and watch actors working. That gives me a different point of view about the piece than most people have, maybe even a broader point of view. I can enjoy both the play and the players.
There are some great actors, some very good ones and some very bad ones whose careers seem endless. Sloppy work in any enterprise is bad and should not be allowed. I used to be one of those sloppy actors, I'm ashamed to say. But one day, early in my career, that changed for good.
I was playing Casio in Shakespeare's "Othello" at a theatre in New England. Casio has a speech to Desdamona asking for her help. Late in the rehearsal period, when we all knew our lines, the stage manager, who was a very benign, quiet and polite fellow, came to me with a sheet of paper. He said "I think you should know the difference between the way you are speaking this speech and the way Shakespeare wrote it." I took the paper and thanked him. Back home I looked it over and was stunned to see how much I had turned Shakespeare's golden verbiage into pedestrian muck. I immediately rememorized the speech and went through the rest of the role making sure I had the words right.
That was a greet lesson and blessing for me. From that day on I was always conscientious about getting the lines the way the author wrote them. I wish I could say the same for others.
Years later I was stage manager for a production of "Godspell." You may remember it, a musical loosely based on the Bible. I frankly wondered how some of the people in this production got cast. The actor playing the John the Baptist character was a phoney. But the one playing Jesus was worse. He was a poster boy for self-importance. He played everything facing the audience so they could see how good looking he was, he spoke over his shoulder to any character that was speaking to him and he had little respect for the script.
That character has a famous quote from the Bible about overcoming temptation, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." You've probably heard that quote often. Well, he persisted in gestating it wrong no matter how many times I corrected him. He was offended at being corrected by me and didn't think it was important. Only he was important.
And so for many performances he went on stage and said "The flesh is willing but the spirit is weak." He made it sound as if that messiah needed some viagra.
There is no reason or excuse in our lives for that kind of stupidity. Can you imagine an actor playing Hamlet who says "Not to be or to be, that's the dilemma"? Hisses would resound.
Do I wonder what ever happened to that actor? I don't. I don't wish him any harm, but he is not important. People like that take up time, space and roles that other actors could play better.
I hark back to an old saying "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well." We can't do everything there is to do, but whatever we have to do we should do correctly. If nothing else it allows us to have a good night's sleep.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?
Only 7 responses so far. Summer is about to close her gates. Get with it. Don't be left out in the heat.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
********************
Harlan Ellison
**********************
If anyone who is not in show business, and some that are, really understood what a good actor does, they would be super impressed by the artistry of the great ones. As an actor I will go to the theatre or a film and watch actors working. That gives me a different point of view about the piece than most people have, maybe even a broader point of view. I can enjoy both the play and the players.
There are some great actors, some very good ones and some very bad ones whose careers seem endless. Sloppy work in any enterprise is bad and should not be allowed. I used to be one of those sloppy actors, I'm ashamed to say. But one day, early in my career, that changed for good.
I was playing Casio in Shakespeare's "Othello" at a theatre in New England. Casio has a speech to Desdamona asking for her help. Late in the rehearsal period, when we all knew our lines, the stage manager, who was a very benign, quiet and polite fellow, came to me with a sheet of paper. He said "I think you should know the difference between the way you are speaking this speech and the way Shakespeare wrote it." I took the paper and thanked him. Back home I looked it over and was stunned to see how much I had turned Shakespeare's golden verbiage into pedestrian muck. I immediately rememorized the speech and went through the rest of the role making sure I had the words right.
That was a greet lesson and blessing for me. From that day on I was always conscientious about getting the lines the way the author wrote them. I wish I could say the same for others.
Years later I was stage manager for a production of "Godspell." You may remember it, a musical loosely based on the Bible. I frankly wondered how some of the people in this production got cast. The actor playing the John the Baptist character was a phoney. But the one playing Jesus was worse. He was a poster boy for self-importance. He played everything facing the audience so they could see how good looking he was, he spoke over his shoulder to any character that was speaking to him and he had little respect for the script.
That character has a famous quote from the Bible about overcoming temptation, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." You've probably heard that quote often. Well, he persisted in gestating it wrong no matter how many times I corrected him. He was offended at being corrected by me and didn't think it was important. Only he was important.
And so for many performances he went on stage and said "The flesh is willing but the spirit is weak." He made it sound as if that messiah needed some viagra.
There is no reason or excuse in our lives for that kind of stupidity. Can you imagine an actor playing Hamlet who says "Not to be or to be, that's the dilemma"? Hisses would resound.
Do I wonder what ever happened to that actor? I don't. I don't wish him any harm, but he is not important. People like that take up time, space and roles that other actors could play better.
I hark back to an old saying "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well." We can't do everything there is to do, but whatever we have to do we should do correctly. If nothing else it allows us to have a good night's sleep.
DB - The Vagabond
***********************
SUMMER QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
Who are the 2 (two) most important people alive today? Why?
Only 7 responses so far. Summer is about to close her gates. Get with it. Don't be left out in the heat.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
********************
Friday, August 28, 2009
Jaywalking Jive 8/28/09
Will we ever be more than fantasy? Will we ever be sweet reality?
Janita
************************
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that mean all the quotes will be from D....
_______________________________
There's a Yiddish word, chutzpah, that has become popular in some circles. It means nerve, audacity, unmitigated gall. The most graphic example of chutzpah is about the teenage boy who murders his parents, is convicted of the crime and when the moment for sentencing comes asks the judge to be lenient with him because he's an orphan.
Many years ago there was a Candid Camera episode where Woody Allen, before he was famous and recognizable, got on a bus in Manhattan and asked the bus driver to take a different route so that he could get off in front of his apartment building and the bus driver obliged. It was a set up of course. The camera showed the expressions of the other passengers on the bus. One woman kept saying "Boy, have you got one nerve."
One of the strangest quirks of humanity is the belief some people have that they can alter the world to fit their own reality. It is as if the idea of adapting to the world around is not an option or has never really occurred to them. Whenever I see it or hear it, I'm always astonished. It is as if a person is saying what I'm doing is the most important thing in the world and the world has to get out of the way and let me do it. It's an unarguable arrogance.
When I was working as a classical music announcer in New York I would get a phone call about once a month from a woman who wanted me to change the music I was playing because it didn't fit her mood. "You see" she would say "I'm a writer (which she pronounced 'right tah' and that music your playing is not helping me with my work." It was always suggested to her that she buy a record player and play the music she wanted. After that she just hung up. How dare I not understand how important her work was and that I had to change the program of a major market radio station to suit her.
I shouldn't be too judgmental about her, because who knows what kinds of similar fantasies I carry around in my head about myself and my place in the world. Self-importance is a poisonous fruit for anybody to chew upon and, I guess, everyone has it to one degree or another. Let's face it, we are all much more in sync with ourselves and our own lives, moment by moment, than with anyone else's. But there is an extreme fantasy which when entered blinds people to the reality of the rest of the world. That fantasy causes a switch in the brain to flip to the off position.
With the dedicatedly self-important it isn't a matter of not caring what other people think of them. It's worse than that. It's that they don't care about other people at all. It isn't that other people are wrong, it's that they are irrelevant. I saw an actress one day who would not relinquish the only phone in the building to any of us who were standing around waiting to use it because her calls, as she said, were "important."
It's like the person walking down the crowded sidewalk who won't give space to another pedestrian coming the other way. That's chutzpah carried to the bully level. On the highway it becomes road rage. I could site hundreds of examples, great and small, of unnecessary, unjustified, self-righteous audacity. I'm sure you can also. But I'll close with one of my favorite jokes.
A Navy ship is traveling through the ocean at night. The captain is informed that there are lights ahead. He sends a signal saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." An answer comes back saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is angry and sends another message "This is a US Naval Captain. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." But the answer that comes back says "This is an Able Bodied Seaman. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is in a rage. How dare this mere sailor disobey him? He's just about ready to blow the other ship out of the water. But he sends one more signal. "This is a United States Naval Destroyer. Steer your ship immediately 10 degrees to the east." And the answer comes back. "This is a lighthouse. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west."
DB Vagabond Journeys
______________________
Have yourself a peaceful weekend.
I plan to, if I can.
****************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
20 responses so far.
DB
Janita
************************
Hurry and get your note book ready because September is coming and that mean all the quotes will be from D....
_______________________________
There's a Yiddish word, chutzpah, that has become popular in some circles. It means nerve, audacity, unmitigated gall. The most graphic example of chutzpah is about the teenage boy who murders his parents, is convicted of the crime and when the moment for sentencing comes asks the judge to be lenient with him because he's an orphan.
Many years ago there was a Candid Camera episode where Woody Allen, before he was famous and recognizable, got on a bus in Manhattan and asked the bus driver to take a different route so that he could get off in front of his apartment building and the bus driver obliged. It was a set up of course. The camera showed the expressions of the other passengers on the bus. One woman kept saying "Boy, have you got one nerve."
One of the strangest quirks of humanity is the belief some people have that they can alter the world to fit their own reality. It is as if the idea of adapting to the world around is not an option or has never really occurred to them. Whenever I see it or hear it, I'm always astonished. It is as if a person is saying what I'm doing is the most important thing in the world and the world has to get out of the way and let me do it. It's an unarguable arrogance.
When I was working as a classical music announcer in New York I would get a phone call about once a month from a woman who wanted me to change the music I was playing because it didn't fit her mood. "You see" she would say "I'm a writer (which she pronounced 'right tah' and that music your playing is not helping me with my work." It was always suggested to her that she buy a record player and play the music she wanted. After that she just hung up. How dare I not understand how important her work was and that I had to change the program of a major market radio station to suit her.
I shouldn't be too judgmental about her, because who knows what kinds of similar fantasies I carry around in my head about myself and my place in the world. Self-importance is a poisonous fruit for anybody to chew upon and, I guess, everyone has it to one degree or another. Let's face it, we are all much more in sync with ourselves and our own lives, moment by moment, than with anyone else's. But there is an extreme fantasy which when entered blinds people to the reality of the rest of the world. That fantasy causes a switch in the brain to flip to the off position.
With the dedicatedly self-important it isn't a matter of not caring what other people think of them. It's worse than that. It's that they don't care about other people at all. It isn't that other people are wrong, it's that they are irrelevant. I saw an actress one day who would not relinquish the only phone in the building to any of us who were standing around waiting to use it because her calls, as she said, were "important."
It's like the person walking down the crowded sidewalk who won't give space to another pedestrian coming the other way. That's chutzpah carried to the bully level. On the highway it becomes road rage. I could site hundreds of examples, great and small, of unnecessary, unjustified, self-righteous audacity. I'm sure you can also. But I'll close with one of my favorite jokes.
A Navy ship is traveling through the ocean at night. The captain is informed that there are lights ahead. He sends a signal saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." An answer comes back saying "Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is angry and sends another message "This is a US Naval Captain. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west." But the answer that comes back says "This is an Able Bodied Seaman. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the east."
Now the captain is in a rage. How dare this mere sailor disobey him? He's just about ready to blow the other ship out of the water. But he sends one more signal. "This is a United States Naval Destroyer. Steer your ship immediately 10 degrees to the east." And the answer comes back. "This is a lighthouse. Steer your ship 10 degrees to the west."
DB Vagabond Journeys
______________________
Have yourself a peaceful weekend.
I plan to, if I can.
****************************
SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.
A young man out west took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.
Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?
You have all summer to answer if you wish.
20 responses so far.
DB
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