Just a couple of points, really nothing to terribly exciting. Plus, of course, a fish from the dock here.
Inbound mail:
|> Re: Disappointed
|> On Nov 7, 2005, at 11:15 AM, shannonrl@aol.com wrote:
|> Just wanted to express my deep disappointment that you’re going fully commercial.
|> I know you gotta live, but I’m sorry that it’s at my expense. . . or not.
This one really bothered me, for some unknown reason. Hit me wrong, I guess. I was working on some upcoming stuff when this cycled through and it broke my concentration. Stopped the Monday morning good mood.
I fired back a quick, “if you’ve got a better idea, I’d love to hear it” note, then let it go. Except that it still bothered me. Fully commercial? The site’s been on a subscription basis since ’03 or so. Matter of fact, since its inception, in 1994, the purpose was to sell astrological reports. A fun (for me) business venture. Fully commercial? That’s all it’s ever been.
So, for free, this represents someone burning bandwidth – in other words, I’m paying for this person to read my site. Possibly listen to the pod-casts, a substantial portion of the bandwidth these days, for free.
It hurts.
I’m a little disappointed that the author of the email hasn’t caught onto the fact that the scopes are one week behind, in the free section. Not a very careful reader, then, and as such, maybe this isn’t a loss for me.
The cost for a subscription is $2.95. If that’s too high? Maybe the time spent reading free horoscopes would be better spent looking for a job.
This is not good customer service wherein I should approach each email like this as an opportunity for a sale. But I’m kind of tired of paying for other folks amusements.
I’ve learned what works best is to vote with one’s pocketbook. Seems to carry the loudest voice.
Good thing I’m not bitter. Or anything.
The Truth Will Out:
The Truth Will Out has a forward by Mark Rylance, the creative director of Shakespeare’s Globe, and just reading the forward, before I knew who it was written by, warmed me to the book that will follow.
“Theatre artists hide themselves to reveal themselves. We use an indirect communication in order to be direct. We speak or write through the mask of a character in an imagined situation. We, ourselves, appear to be at a remove, while actually sharing the most intimate secrets and fears and foolish behaviour imaginable. We pretend to be someone else in order to be ourselves.”
Mark Rylance, in the foreword to The Truth Will Out (London, UK: 2005. page ix)
I’ve seen Mr. Rylance prance across the stage as an ineffectual king, in Richard II. I’ve heard Rylance talk, pitching Shakespeare’s Globe (trust) on more than one occasion. He’s an enigmatic speaker, and a damn fine actor, in and of his own right. Capricorn, too. Not that it matters.
What always caught my attention, when he was speaking, or when he was acting, is that he seems to have a genuine love for the material. Hence, finding his opening comments in the foreword tickled me, and just that short paragraph? It should demonstrate that zeal.
The Shakespeare question of authorship? I’m not about to touch that one. But it’s an interesting idea, novel thesis.
Theater of the absurd?
Huh?
Cherchez le poisson:
Gaping maw of a small Large Mouth Bass, from Monday morning.
