I’ll Have What She’s Having

“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” ~ John Lennon

“I’ll have what she’s having.” We’ve all heard this famous and famously funny line from When Harry Met Sally. Obviously the woman in Katz’s Delicatessen says the quip, one allegedly improvised by Estelle Reiner (Carl Reiner’s wife and director, Rob Reiner’s Mom), if is was actually an improv, then, wow, that family has more than their share of the funny. She says, “I’ll have what she’s having”, not because she hoping for a delicious pastrami on rye or turkey sandwich, which would be pleasurable, to be sure. No, she wants whatever made Ryan’s character, Sally give a very public, very convincing, and very expressive portrayal of La petite mort, real or not. Yup, that sums up the world, real or not, we want what we want when we want it.

“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.” ~ George Orwell

What is real anyway? Really, even if it’s real, how do we know? Do we even care what’s really real?

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” ~ Albert Einstein

Sally fakes it and Harry can’t tell (well, not right away), but can any of us tell what’s real and what’s not anymore? We’re surrounded by fakeness. Deep fake images shared via social media are more and more common. Too many believe anything as long as someone says the word, “freedom” in front of it which is ironic because they’re slaves to a word. Fake smiles, fake body parts, fake resumes, fake diseases, fake credentials, fake “facts”, fake fun, shallow to deep fakes abound. How can we trust? Who can we trust?

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”
~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Scams. Scams abound. Scams exist because people fall for them. Why do people fall for scams? Because we believe things are real. Whether we understand, or know the whole truth, for whatever reasons, we believe.

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” ~Robertson Davies

We jump from cause to cause, never pausing to look below. We think it’s impossible that someone would lie about having cancer, or raise money for those suffering in places like the Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, etc. and keep all or most of it for themselves, or using children to further their agenda…But they do all that and more.

“There is no point in using the word ‘impossible’ to describe something that has clearly happened.” ~Douglas Adams

It makes us feel good to think we “helped”, so we don’t look too deeply at the darkness of this world. To see what’s real or not real. After all, first and foremost, we’re social animals, we want, no, need to connect. We want to be a part of things. We want to believe.

“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” ~T. S. Eliot

Speaking of T.S. Eliot (were we?), I made the mistake of watching 2019’s adaptation of, Cats. I like Cats, the purring felines and the play. I’ve seen it live and owned the VHS tape (remember when those were a thing?). But adaptation was appalling. Dame Judi Dench is a woman of many talents, singing is not one of them. Jennifer Hudson (usually soooo amazing) sounded like she needed an inhaler to get through, “Memory”. I give Taylor Swift kudos, she gave 110%. And I feel like Idris Elba knew what was happening and decided to have fun with it (Me-OOOOW!). I don’t know what was in T.S. Eliot’s mind when he wrote, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939), but I doubt anyone could have imagined this classic becoming a litter box filled with badly done songs, weird costumes, and bizarre casting choices. Cats is a tad confusing to begin with, cause, let’s see, a Jellicle Cat is magical, musical cat. Ok, got it. They all want to go to the Jellicle Ball, ok, makes sense. So they can be chosen to go to Heaviside Layer. Wait, their lives are so awful that they want to be chosen to die? This movie was very bad indeed, but I don’t want to be chosen myself.

“You don’t get explanations in real life. You just get moments that are absolutely, utterly, inexplicably odd.” ~ Neil Gaiman

I sincerely enjoyed the delightful onion of the AppleTV+ movie, CODA; so many layers. Makes you uncomfortable and joyful and wondering and well, so much more. Oh and I finally watched Foundation, please tell me there’s more seasons on the way. I love anything by Isaac Asimov and I got 13 weeks of AppleTV+ for free, so, guess I’m playing catch-up, including the mind-hurting, The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Billy Crudup, Steve Carrell, Mark Duplass, etc.

“To really be a nerd, she’d decided, you had to prefer fictional worlds to the real one.”
~ Rainbow Rowell

Always wanted to know about Emily Dickinson’s life? I doubt this 3 season series of Dickinson will help, but it will give you some laughs and some amazing poetry too (“I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too?“). I looooove anachronistic stuff (speaking of, new season of Bridgerton, Netflix, today, March 25th) and this is filled with laughter, undertones, and deeper meanings. “Because I could not stop for Death –He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.” Oh yeah, Ms. Dickinson sure knew how to roll. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/07/11/tomorrow-tomorrow-i-love-ya-tomorrow/

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.”
~ Mark Twain

I don’t understand the fuss about Netflix’s The Power of the Dog. Usually I love Benedict Cumberbatch, but his accent in this movie is more Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber as he’s pretending to be an American hostage to fool John McClane in Die Hard. https://yadadarcyyada.com/2015/03/30/old-habits-die-harder/ I see where the movie was trying to go, but lackluster performances, muddled plot points, bad pacing, and odd directing/editing choices take it from best picture to disappointing picture, for me. Oh, I’ve no doubt it will sweep The Oscars, they’ve been pay-for-play for a long time and I’m sure all that extra money Netflix gets from increasing already-high subscription rates went a long way to helping this film along on the road to getting the golden guy. I say take the millions and millions spent on award shows like The Oscars, The Golden Globes, The Emmys, etc. and donate it to people in need. I bet some Ukrainians and many many others in the world could use some help right now. I say dump the red carpet and buy some blankets. Dump the designer gowns and tuxes and buy some clothes for those in need. Dump the fancy foods and buy some food for the starving. Buy vaccines for countries who want them. Buy medicine for those who are suffering. Awards are dumb. You either like a movie, or TV show, or book or you don’t. You don’t need someone to validate or nullify your likes or dislikes.

“Reality is one of the possibilities I cannot afford to ignore” ~ Leonard Cohen

If you love silly, silly, absurdly silly pirate shows based loosely on a bizarre tale of a British aristocrat who leaves his comfy life to become a Captain on a pirate ship, well, you might like, Our Flag Means Death. Stede Bonnet is masterfully portrayed by the delightful Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows, Yes Man, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Simpsons, The X-Files, etc.), Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Jojo Rabbit, The Suicide Squad, etc.) as Blackbeard, as well as Rory Kinnear, Kristen Schaal and more…In between laughing, I kept thinking, more please, more.

“Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” ~ Adam Young

I’ve been seriously rethinking my year of chronic change project. I keep asking myself, how can I change my life for the better when the whole world seems to be floating away from any reality I understood – unreal and surreal? I guess I just somehow have to deal. Instead of running through the streets screaming, I guess I’ll just sit in a deli saying, “I’ll have what she’s having”. And I hope what she’s having is kindness. A double serving of kindness…

“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.”~ Maya Angelou

“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm – I’ve heard it in the chillest land – And on the strangest Sea – Yet – never – in Extremity, It asked a crumb – of me. ~ Emily Dickinson