Daily Prompt: Companionable

Head to one of your favourite blogs. Write a companion piece to their penultimate post.

I have chosen Nobody’s Reading Me for this and his post “Mime Artists“. I may agree with what Duncan has said, but for the sake of this post, I am going to be arguing the complete opposite on everything which is my “companion piece”. Everything has a positive and negative which is why my companion is the opposite of all that Duncan is saying. Please take this in the light-hearted way it is supposed to be. For the record – Terry Pratchett is a great author.

Duncan’s post refers to mime artists, mimics, human statues et al.

Mime artists are not dull. They can cause hilarity in all ages and can, and will, have children giggling like little giggly things. The way they are in a box, or carrying glass, pulling themselves up .. working with nothing takes skill and dedication. Marcel Marceau was the best of the best. He is what all Mimes aspire to become. Pratchett is just a nobody with no skill who thinks he is an author because he has had a couple of books published. Mimes don’t need to learn words as it takes more skill to perform without words than it does to speak them.

There are no women human statues because they don’t have the stamina that men have. They are great. the way that they just move and scare the living crap out of someone is a skill unto itself. To be able to stand for long periods and not even waver; not sweat; not blink. That takes dedication, skill and a lot of bottle.

One man bands. Brilliant. Totally awesome. The way that they play all of their instruments and make that beautiful sound is … it’s bordering on magnificent. Harmonica, drums, cymbals, spoons, singing, tambourine, sometimes guitar or violin, and to make it sound like beauty is something I have always wished I could do. I feel they should make a comeback and be on every street corner.

Birdcall imitators. Their skill of copying a bird so perfectly that they manage to have them come to them. Look at the late Percy Edwards. His ability was second to none. He could imitate seagulls, pigeons, blackbirds, even lions and tigers. To be able to form your voice into such a way to copy something so perfectly that even a machine can’t tell the difference – now that is an ability that should be taught in schools.

Winifred Atwell and Joe Henderson, they should be knighted for what they have given our entertainment business. People who hated these two should be sat down so that they can listen to them and see what skill really is. Their wartime songs should be permanently in the charts in all countries across the world. They should also headline the Royal Variety Performance every year. Admittedly, they may be dead, but their recordings can be played. I am sure that the majority of people will be grateful to listen these two and their fantastic songs.

Ventriloquists. Now these … these are totally awesome. With the exception of Jeff Dunham – he’s crap. I think that all people should watch – or practice – ventriloquism every day. With skills like those, then you will be able to get a job anywhere, doing anything. Well, with the exception of some of the fast food places I’ve visited. The ventriloquist dummies are brilliantly put together and you can never tell which is the dummy and which is the ventriloquist.

The youth of today should learn all of this.

*These are not necessarily my opinions. These were written to be an oppositional companion to Duncan’s post on Nobody’s Reading Me. Thank you.

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