Reviews Redux

Okay, now that that's off my chest, I must confess: I wasn't always so secure and steadfast (nor blustery) about reviews.

I just learned my lesson the hard way, and, yes, I'm going to tell you how, and most of you are familiar with it, so if any of it sounds old hat, feel free to skip.

Coming up on three years ago, I performed a one man show, A Walk In The Dark. Without getting too much into that, let's just say that this review came out.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=11446

I knew that I shouldn't let it get to me, I knew that it was just a review (again, that term is used loosely), but it just killed me. Two days later, this came out.

http://www.tabletnewspaper.com/arts/48_walkinthedark.html

Now, here's the thing: Both critics came to the show on the same night. They saw the same performance, and these two completely different opinions came out of that. Who was right?
I like to say that it was the second review (and still think so, thank you).

What was I gonna do, though? I couldn't very well send the second link to the first guy and say "fucking neener, you dumb twat!" There was nothing to gain by doing that.

And thus, a new way of thinking...