http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/87/a-very-special-sedaris-christmas
This isn't exactly a story, it's just me rambling about this topic, because I find it an interesting topic and wanted to write a bit about it.
I don't know what it is, but I seriously enjoy it when a professional at any thing, goes to the amateur level and puts on their big kid pants and brings their A game to a casual job. Having a professional theater critic going to a children's nativity play? Amazing. Having a professional basketball player go to a grade school recess pick up game and commenting on it like a pro? Even better. Taking a neurosurgeon and a theoretical physicists to a science fair at your local elementary school and having them discuss the scientific reasoning behind the volcano model? My life just got better.
Having professionals do critiques, and know that what they're critiquing should never ever be taken seriously leads to one, amazing thing - the professionals talking about their field that they love in a very boring way becomes entertaining. The only problem with this is that you have to make sure that the subject of the critique that the person that is saying all of those things is just being silly and not doing anything that they need to pay attention to.
The problem comes when the subject of the critique realizes what is going on and becomes offended about what was said about them. As soon as that children's nativity is done and Mary (or whoever was playing Mary) hears what a professional reviewer has to say about them, tears might be shed, parents get defensive, and suddenly all of the fun is lost.
To have a professional really stare at something that an armature has done, not only makes fun of the novice that has no clue what is going on, but also starts to really shine a light at the professional level that we might be accustomed to, and just how ridiculous it actually is. Having an artist analyze a toddler's scribbles starts to shine a light at some really creative interpretations that can happen in the medium. It's just a child's scribbles when they grabbed a crayon, but the professional can see shape, form, line, design, emotion, and meaning from a glob of those scribbles. We might see uncoordinated team work, horrible fouls, and one of the lowest shot percentages possible on the playground basketball court, but to a professional, they see it differently. They see children who are working towards advanced ideas and grasping fundamentals that sometimes their professional peers still struggle with.
Having a pro really stare and comment about something that is anything but professional is entertaining because of just how weird the situation is, but it also puts together something more than just a horribly unbalanced relationship between creator and critic.
In something completely unrelated - WE'RE FINALLY DONE WITH TAL 1997! 1998, here we come!
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