Sue, talks at 27 Dinners have been great. Not all of them, but some have been. If the standard is raised and speakers are required to really present something good, the talks about turn a social dinner thing into something easily worth the time and Primi cost.

Sue, talks at 27 Dinners have been great. Not all of them, but some have been. If the standard is raised and speakers are required to really present something good, the talks about turn a social dinner thing into something easily worth the time and Primi cost.

Perhaps it should just be about DINNER and a fun, social atmosphere …?

It seems to me that all these “talks” everyone goes to means everyone feels obliged to always wear their “I’m such a friggin’ genius” mask.

I may way off base here but I would really love to go to a “do” that’s just about meeting real people.

Perhaps it should just be about DINNER and a fun, social atmosphere …?

It seems to me that all these “talks” everyone goes to means everyone feels obliged to always wear their “I'm such a friggin' genius” mask.

I may way off base here but I would really love to go to a “do” that's just about meeting real people.

Oooo! I absolutely have NOT retracted a single thing I said in the original comment/critique! As Vince said, my apology was an adjustment. I have apologised for my offensive tone. Which I think is an appropriate thing to apologise for.

Re the 27 Dinner talks… my critique holds. But there ARE ways to approach offering criticism. And I don’t think it will be easy for people to TAKE my criticique the way it was presented by me.

My aim in MAKING the critique in the first place was to offer my insight, and to make it useful, so that improvements could take place. What use is criticism if all it does is stir anger?

As for bloggers being up their own butts… the tone of my comment revealed to me that I was up my own butt too. The apology is my attempt at yanking myself out of my butt by my own bootstraps. Buttstraps.

Blue skies
love
Roy

Oooo! I absolutely have NOT retracted a single thing I said in the original comment/critique! As Vince said, my apology was an adjustment. I have apologised for my offensive tone. Which I think is an appropriate thing to apologise for.

Re the 27 Dinner talks… my critique holds. But there ARE ways to approach offering criticism. And I don't think it will be easy for people to TAKE my criticique the way it was presented by me.

My aim in MAKING the critique in the first place was to offer my insight, and to make it useful, so that improvements could take place. What use is criticism if all it does is stir anger?

As for bloggers being up their own butts… the tone of my comment revealed to me that I was up my own butt too. The apology is my attempt at yanking myself out of my butt by my own bootstraps. Buttstraps.

Blue skies
love
Roy

No comment about moi? How sad! To the point of Roy’s Retraction, I think it isn’t so much a retraction as it is an adjustment; Mike and Roy know one another and I think that the internet isn’t always the easiest space in which to build upon positive criticism as it is a communicative space sans tone / voice / gesticulation etc. etc.

Your point on the fear of “authenticity” is a juicy topic you should have explored more thoroughly, I’m inclined to agree with you for the most part the South African blogosphere is littered with masks laying disused after they’ve become redundant. I make the point of using Masks as I’m reminded of Fanon’s writings in “black skins white masks”, it is a covering which protects and serves the wearer in a society which looks upon that particular individual with suspicion. I’m sure loads of bloggers are saying, “fuck thats me, no one understands me”. Tears, snot, self-love etc. I think what is most likely happening is that the blogging space is so competitive that individuals are putting on fronts, creating online personas which are far more glorious than their real-life symbiotic counterparts.

Take for instance those bloggers entitled “thought-leaders” who are precariously perched on the top of the blogosphere, imagine one of them saying “wait a moment this high horse is making my arse numb, I think I’d prefer to walk” unbloody likely right? So now imagine the group of bloggers in attendance at the 27 dinner turning to one another and saying, “who are you, really?”..perhaps even less likely.

Its a long comment so perhaps you should continue in a real blog, because now you’ve got my attention, and I’m famous…in margate..Whats that? I think I hear my high-horse calling, the ivory tower calls .

No comment about moi? How sad! To the point of Roy's Retraction, I think it isn't so much a retraction as it is an adjustment; Mike and Roy know one another and I think that the internet isn't always the easiest space in which to build upon positive criticism as it is a communicative space sans tone / voice / gesticulation etc. etc.

Your point on the fear of “authenticity” is a juicy topic you should have explored more thoroughly, I'm inclined to agree with you for the most part the South African blogosphere is littered with masks laying disused after they've become redundant. I make the point of using Masks as I'm reminded of Fanon's writings in “black skins white masks”, it is a covering which protects and serves the wearer in a society which looks upon that particular individual with suspicion. I'm sure loads of bloggers are saying, “fuck thats me, no one understands me”. Tears, snot, self-love etc. I think what is most likely happening is that the blogging space is so competitive that individuals are putting on fronts, creating online personas which are far more glorious than their real-life symbiotic counterparts.

Take for instance those bloggers entitled “thought-leaders” who are precariously perched on the top of the blogosphere, imagine one of them saying “wait a moment this high horse is making my arse numb, I think I'd prefer to walk” unbloody likely right? So now imagine the group of bloggers in attendance at the 27 dinner turning to one another and saying, “who are you, really?”..perhaps even less likely.

Its a long comment so perhaps you should continue in a real blog, because now you've got my attention, and I'm famous…in margate..Whats that? I think I hear my high-horse calling, the ivory tower calls .