The scribbling class, the yawning ass

Always enjoy your blog, Apollinaire, and this post hit home. Sure I use the odd "wonderful" and "marvellous" (oh, you crazy Americans, with your madcap spelling), but try to avoid "boring." Though, actually, I think all of these terms are fine as long as they are a point of departure rather than an attempt (as they often are) to close or forestall argument. Yes, boring -- but why? Marvellous -- but how?

Having just seen Mark Morris' "Romeo & Juliet" and finding it, to my surprise and disappointment, pretty unengaging and, yes, boring, it has been instructive to figure out why this was so. As a critic, I guess it's ok to be bored, as long as you use the emotion constructively and don't become boring...

Hello, hello, David, my Artsjournal colleague and neighbor--I have been remiss in not giving a shout out already. Just discovered your blog (readers: artsjournal.com/performancemonkey, a click away from Foot) now, and what a treat. I look forward to more.

I agree with you: a person can use any word she likes, as long as she explains. My particular beef with "boring" lately (and with regard to Ann Liv Young, in particular) was that critics were using it passive-aggressively: they understood that being outrageous was one of this performer-creator's means of getting up and over--getting to us--and therefore that if she were "boring," the game was off. Their charge felt very teenage in its wileyness. It's okay by me to be bored, but you gotta do it like an adult.
Welcome, Apollinaire

Hey, I resemble this entry. I use the word "marvelous" frequently. Why? It is the signature adjective of Merce Cunningham, who is known to say "Marvelous, marvelous" when something delights him. And to say something is full of marvels is, just possibly, descriptive, if you go on to say what's marvelous. In my favor--I don't believe I have ever called a dance "boring, " though I confess I did in one piece give an accurate count of the number tiles in the ceiling over the work under consideration.
Keep on provoking,
Nancy

Hehe. Well, I wasn't thinking of you, Nancy. Most immediately, I was thinking of a slew of responses to Ann Liv Young. People said she was boring when they didn't want to give her any credit for being outrageous, and it seemed to me cheaper than the outrage (they thought was cheap) itself. But now that I think of it, you DO often say "marvelous" and such... And, I agree, all adjectives once were descriptive--"marvelous" reminding us of marvels and "fantastic" of the fantastical. I use them (though not "marvelous"--it's too campy for me; I'd feel like an imposter) all the time in speech, as shorthand, and when the adj. fillers are positive, I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

Always great to hear from you,
Apollinaire

I appreciate your open discovery, respect for knowledge, and disrespect for pretension. Little sad about what you might say after seeing my work, but hey. : )

Oh, I might say it drove me crazy or that I thought it was lousy, but I'd be sure to tell you why. (And this is not a cruel hint: I haven't ever seen yr work.)

In any case, thank you,
Apollinaire