So it's the 2009 Fringe Festival in Adelaide at the moment, which means stacks of very random performances by some even more random international artists.

Normally, it's just one big party, but I witnessed the ugly side of it all yesterday.

Walking up Rundle Mall, a woman was doing one of those human statue acts, standing perfectly still, on a box & covered completely with copper paint. Even with kids running up & making faces & the occasional adult attempting to throw her off her game, she was steadfast & actually quite impressive. The result of her act meant a crowd of around fifty surrounded the area, waiting & watching for as long as it took for her to interact with the audience.

I was on a mission, so I kept walking past & twenty metres further along was another busker dressed like a magician. He was taking out a sword from a suitcase for the next part of his act when I heard him announce to his massive crowd of five;

"I can't believe so many stupid people would actually stand around & watch someone do nothing, rather than watch someone do something that is actually entertaining!"

Hmmm, well, maybe because he was going to stick the sword down his throat like countless other buskers is the reason no one could be bothered watching. Basically, his act was shit. People get bored with the same old stuff, whereas with the statue, you just don't know what you're going to get next.

I'm also not sure if it's appropriate to heckle your own audience!?! He said it loud enough for some of the patrons of the other act to hear as well, so it wouldn't have improved his chances of getting more viewers.

I don't know how the sword swallowing went but maybe if he used a real serrated edge sword & had it poke out his stomach.... that would be entertainment!!