Here’s a tale that was “ripped out from the headlines” from yours truly. No, nothing earth shattering or anything like that. It’s a story taken from the personal life and times of this writer a.k.a. “me”.
A friend of mine who suggested that we do not review its name or its gender as this person will be referred to as an “it”, informed me recently that “they” (also as part of the pronoun “it”) will be finally getting rid of the TV device that they have had for the past few seasons..
The reason? “There are too many TV shows to watch. It’s taking up too much of my time. So the best way to get my time back is to get rid of my TV set” so says our genderless person who desire to break way from its TV habit.
“So what are you going to do once you get rid of your set” I asked our dissatisfied person.
“I’m going to get out more and live my life spending more time outdoors!” says our person soon without the TV set.
“That’s nice!” I replied. “Enjoy your day in the great outdoors!”
This little episode, extracted from the life and times of yours truly, is part of many other tales and fables that people are taking part of to get back with their own lives.
It’s been some two years since the thing called The Pandemic started to take its toll. And many of those that have gone from hunkering down, getting a vaccine made by one of these companies, quitting their low paying job with bosses that are either bitches or the sons of them for greener pastures, and overall seeing that they too can live a life for the better, it’s no surprise that this so-called “new beginning” is taking its mark.
And one of the things that people are doing is to live by their own rules. These living through different strokes are not to be confused with becoming a rebel. It’s just a phase where folks are grating themselves permission to do what’s best for them. They realized that after all of this time they felt they had to bow before some type of higher power, not necessarily a higher power in the form of a person, but a higher power based upon an idea. a protocol or method, or just because they did it so long its reason(s) had been long forgotten. They can just do what they wish because they can!
There are a lot of reasons for this big shift. Perhaps one reason toward this short was based upon how one feels mentally. Folks have been experiencing what’s called “burnout” from what they were going to get a salary. Workers had been working longer hours for their superior with the notion of being respected from their work. Perhaps they can move up the ladder from rising from being a lowly peon to becoming a higher level team member. And going through this, their salary wasn’t meeting their expectations.
These notions were causing havoc in their well being. They were becoming stressed out. This stress was affecting their own personal lives. People became frustrated, angry, or in some cases, having a form of a nervous breakdown where they went through crying jags.
The latter case are at times expressed as a subplot in a sitcom, especial a sitcom that revolved around a place of employment where its characters become so racked up in what they are doing, they go around crying just become their bosses said and/or did something, or another character did something to that effect. (Most sitcoms that are work related consist of an ensemble of players, rather than a lead star whose attention is focused upon.)
This form of episode actually happens to yours truly. I was once working in an office-type setting where my boss at the time named Sarah was going through a meeting in her office. Although the office door was closed, one can hear what was going on outside of the door. From what was heard, there was a lot of shouting between Sarah and another woman whose name is not long forgotten.
To make a long story short, the unnamed woman stormed out of the office in some kind of huff, making a very quick and hasty exit. Sarah then broke down and started to say something to the effect of “Nobody tells me what to do!”
When I experienced, I felt a mix of feeling sorry for Sarah while at the same time, almost holding back a laugh. Although the situation wasn’t funny per se, just the way Sarah reacted to what went on brought some macabre humor to it all!
And for the record, this episode occurred a little over thirty five year ago, so I feel that the statute of limitations to report this episode to the public at large has long passed!
So perhaps out genderless friend who desires to quit TV to live in the great means can be set as a modifier in what one can do for their 2.0 version of their style of life to get rid of what’s passive, fake (for the most part) and perhaps part of the old, and to see to it that the reality of things in general work out then. Moderating mental health is just as important as staying free from and virus that may be coming around or not. It’s not acceptable in this domestic society to bring this out in the open in the same sense where people with alternative lifestyles are doing at the moment that isn’t as “queer” as it was once perceived.
And what because of that TV set that they didn’t want? They gave it to me! So now I have yet another TV set that’s cluttering up my living place. (For the record, its a 60” Samsung “smart TV”). One of these days, I just might use the thing. Then again, with zillions of TV shows to view, not one appeals to me. Call this another version of 57 channels and nothing’s on…
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Theatre West presents Lloyd J. Schwartz’s CLASSIC COUPLE COUNSELING, a comic play about a psychotherapist whose clients are characters extracted from one of the world’s greatest playwrights, and how these said characters had issues of their own.
Constance Melloers is Dr. Patricia Cataldo, a couples counselor who settles the details on how male and female couples, married to one another or otherwise, are facing each other with their emotional differences or lack thereof. However, her clients are not the run of the mill couples that only bicker and fight, but are characters found in William Shakespeare tragedies. Some of the couples Dr. Patrica takes to analyze is Katharine “Kate” and Petruchio (Anne Leyden and Bill Sehres), Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (Joe Nassi and Barbara Mallory), Romeo and Juliet (Cicil Jennings and Amelia Vargas), Othello and Desdemona (Brandon Foxworth and Mary Elisabeth Somers) and Hamlet and Ophelia. (Rick Simone-Friedland and Deanna Gandy). During their sessions, both as a one-on-two as well as group therapy, Dr. Patrica hears about how these couples have their trials and tribulations. Some are in love, some are out of love, and the rest desire to take upon a death to the other or to themselves. Even Dr. Patricia has issues of her own. Not in the same scope as The Bard’s members of the rogues gallery, but they do come close. It’s more than just a hour’s worth of therapy sessions consisting of a set of soliloquies that’s much ado about nothing!
This comedy of errors written by Lloyd J. Schwartz takes upon how tragic these coupled characters as drawn from the pen of Willie Shakespeare, and sets them all with a therapist to discover if these folks can be “cured” from what ills them, even though they are all established within their ways. Much of the humor extracted is not as a series of jokes and one-liners, but how they all go through their motions that are just as dysfunctional as any other couple would be as they are facing with ghosts, floating daggers, or excessive hand washing of damned spots! Each cast member is in their period costumes, while Dr. Patrica is set in contemporary gear, meaning that no one is out of their place physically as it’s all in their minds and all of their world’s a stage! Mylette Nora designs the costumes that are just as Shakespearian as one can get!
Nick McDow Musleh directs this show that for its ninety minute running time, it proves that one can be just as screwed up as depicted in the early 17th century as it fits for the early 21st! And if one does brush up their Shakespeare, one can also discover how these characters of the stage can relate to one another where their lives deal with love, hate, betrayal, and of course, death! All of these traits are fair game as Willy would place them. This time around, there’s laughs to be held! That is the to be or not to be. (And that’s a question!)
CLASSIC COUPLES COUNSELING, presented by and performs at Theater West, 3333 Caguenga Blvd., West Los Angeles (Universal City adjacent), until May 8th. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 PM.
For more information and for ticket reservations, call (323) 851-7977, or via online at http:www.TheaterWest.org
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The TCM Film Festival is back! After a two year leave of absences, the event will return to Hollywood live and in person in good ol’ Hollywood. (Where else?)
The event, with its subtitle All Together Now: Back to the Big Screen will take place from April 21st through the 24th, at the Chinese Theater complex, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, The El Capitan Theater (all on Hollywood Blvd.) and the The Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43 on Highland Avenue up the street.
A collection of movies will be screened. Kicking off the ceremony will be the 40th anniversary of the release of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Universal-1982) featuring a discussion with stars Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, Kathleen Turner, and Director Steven Spielberg, The Sting (Universal-1973) with Tony Bill, Michael Phillips, and screenwriter David S. Ward in attendance, Annie (Columbia-1982) with star Aileen Quinn in attendance, Diner (MGM/UA-1982) with a discussion by Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Steven Gutenberg, and Paul Reiser, well as special events such as a screening of the 1927 silent feature Seventh Heaven from William Fox Films with a live music score by the The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, as well as appearances by Bruce Dern (along with a screening of his 2013 “comeback” film from Paramount, Nebraska), Piper Laurie with a screening of the 1961 release from 20th Century Fox, The Hustler , Warren Betty with a screening of the 1978 Paramount release Heaven Can Wait, a ceremony handprint on the Chinese Theater’s cement foyer celebrating Lily Tomlin, and lots, lots more!!
For more details on the TCM Film Festival and how to obtain festival passes, visit their website at https://filmfestival.tcm.com
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