A friend of mine reminded me of this quote from Ratatouille this week:
“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends.”
There isn’t a single creative endeavor, of any sort, on the face of the Earth, that doesn’t have the artist’s heart and soul poured into it. Each and every one is a lock that we all come to with different keys, all of which open different ways. Each one is someone’s favorite thing and someone’s nemesis. Each one is new, to someone, all the time.
We can all use someone with a different key, or at times, a lockpick, on standby to tell you if the door’s worth going through and what you might find on the other side.
Hi, I’m Alasdair. I can help with that.
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