Bravo?

Okay, world. Or at least Americans that have crossed through my orbit at any point. We have got to figure out this applause thing.

For example, at a division meeting this week, we had a series of updates, all of which were approximately 2 minutes and were primarily reading slides. And at the end of each one, we gave a round of applause. Why? Not to belittle your achievements, you're doing a fabulous job, but the presentation wasn't out of this world and the updates weren't really unheralded, either. The applause itself was the socially-obligated kind of applause, so I don't think anyone was really feeling it. So, I'm not entirely sure why we were clapping. And I have been in other meetings and events like this, where the whole production could have ended much earlier if we had just done one big round of applause at the end. Maybe I'm just a party pooper?

Also, we need to talk about the standing ovation. Methinks this should not be happening at every performance. I can't think of a time I went to something and it didn't get a standing ovation. Really, people? Really? A standing ovation is kind of an A++ of performances. There is no way every performance is achieving that level. Is it just because we're not that discerning anymore? I mean, I think if it were a movie, or a podcast, or TV show, I could probably distinguish an A++ from a C much better. But I'll probably only ever see Wicked the one time. And I probably won't listen to dozens of symphonies playing Copland, so I don't know how I can really tell whether they've knocked it out of the park. I'll probably never hear dozens of symphonies, period. Welcome to the 21st century, friends.

Whether that's the reason or not, we definitely need to discuss the use of the standing ovation. And the clapping thing in general. All in favor?