Posts Tagged ‘funny ‘strange’’

Promising Young Woman is a rollercoaster ride disguised as a thriller-dark comedy-revenge flick? As someone who used to be a Promising Young Woman I related, though Cassie’s situation is wayyyy different from mine — with a different ending, hopefully;)  But, we were both on the road to success before WHAM! Something happened to change everything.

Enough on my situation — let’s get to why this film affected me so profoundly. Like life, it never goes the way you expect it to. Like an old Hitchcock film, it keeps you on the tip of your toes from the beginning to the end. And like any really good film, it makes you think about it for a long time after.

It’s not what you think —

I thought I’d be watching a woman’s revenge vigilante pic, but it’s not exactly that. You’re never quite sure what Cassie (played by the mega-talented Carey Mulligan) is up to — maybe it’s because she’s not sure how far she’ll go herself. Read the rest of this entry »

At my hospital ER Volunteers are still on “Pause” for Covid, but this week we all got emails saying it’s time to come in for Flu Shots. It’s a mandatory situation for anyone working in our hospital, so we always get them.

Gotta be honest, going back to the hospital after 6 months forced leave felt a little eerie, like walking into a black-and-white Twilight Zone episode where things seem normal but not. Fewer, quieter people walked through the lobby. Hardly anyone was sitting. No Volunteers behind the Information Desk. Just a guard.

Masks are mandatory in the hospital, even on outside bridges. I avoided elevators, wore rubber gloves to open doors and skipped using the restroom.

A nurse whisked me through the vaccination process – I barely had time to fill out my form. Probably was there eight minutes tops, and that included a short, socially-distanced wait in line.

Thinking about everyone in the ER…

I took the outside stairs down to the ER and hung out by the automatic glass doors just long enough to wave to Anthony Chan, wearing a face shield over his mask, triaging a patient.  It didn’t feel right to walk in, yet…

Dr. A’s car was the parking lot, so I left him a cute note on his windshield. I wonder when he’ll find it…

I miss all my friends/co-workers — Dr. A, Anthony Chan, Mira, Tyrell, Miguel — even Charlayne.  I miss the patients and their families, the EVS workers, the paramedics, the doctors, the nurses. I miss helping. I miss giving hugs. I miss being in on the action. I even miss the bad coffee in the employee lounge. I especially miss the non-paranoid, non-mask-wearing me.

Who knows about Covid, but at least I won’t get the flu…

I’m glad I got my flu shot at the hospital because I’ve definitely built up a lot of anxiety about the place. It felt less scary than I’d anticipated. But not going-back-to-work comfortable yet.

So strange, these times. Fears get magnified. The known feels unknown. Normal feels like an unattainable dream…

Frontline Workers will be among the first to get the Covid vaccine. Is an ER Volunteer a Frontline Worker? Google doesn’t have the answer. If Google doesn’t have the answer, what’s the world coming to?

I sometimes wonder… a lot actually…

(I wonder how he liked the note…)

Otis and Maeve – mixed messages

SEX EDUCATION, a bawdy, bold and big-hearted British comedy series on NETFLIX, is about a 16-year old boy (Otis) with a Sex Therapist Mom (Jean) who gets talked into going into business with a badass cool girl (Maeve.) Maeve spreads the word that Otis is a sex therapist for high-schoolers. BUT Otis is totally inexperienced and in fact can’t deal with his own sexuality… yet he’s surprisingly intuitive when it comes to dealing with the problems of other teens.

awkward and awesome!

Otis and his Mom – love/hate

It’s a little bit of a parallel universe for me, since I’m someone who hates hospitals (especially the one my Mom frequented when she was dying)… yet now I’ve ironically extended my community service sentence voluntarily because (spoiler alert) I’m actually pretty good at helping others deal with being at the hospital. Go figure.

SEX EDUCATION’s outstanding cast is led by Asa Butterfield, as the nerdy inexperienced sex-pert. Gillian Anderson plays his frank, ff-ingly free and boundary-less mother.  Emma Mackey is brilliantly tender and tough in a break-out role that I would’ve loved to have gone out for before I aged-out of hottie-in-high-school parts. So sad…

I laughed and cringed as I binge-watched all eight episodes. It definitely left me wanting more… much more.

scene from a sex manual

nothing’s gonna stop them now

During my Amazing Mom’s much-too-short life she managed to find the funny during the darkest of times, so unsurprisingly I raced out to see THE SKELETON TWINS opening weekend after learning that it’s about family members (Maggie and Milo) who use humor to cope.

It certainly didn’t hurt that it was a Sundance Best Screenplay winner — and then when I read that that Writer/Director Craig Johnson and stars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader would be doing Q&As after some of the weekend screenings, the deal was sealed. Win/Win for me as I managed to score a ticket (to what would be a sold-out performance) at the Landmark in West L.A. where Johnson and Hader were planning to appear.  Big YAY!

SMART COMEDY

To me Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader are the “best of” modern-day SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. I’m devastated that now they only guest on the show.  But it’s awesome seeing them on the big screen where they shine even brighter. In THE SKELETON TWINS they take talent to a whole new level tackling layered, complex roles and dramatic situations (like suicide, career failures and adultery) with creativity and expertise.

People say that comedy actors are really smart (Lisa Kudrow/Vassar, Jenny Slate/Columbia, Sasha Baron Cohen/Cambridge) because their brains are so creatively quick. Watch any Robin Williams interview to see how his train-of-thought is light-years ahead of the rest of us. It’s not a skill one can acquire, COMEDY is part of the DNA for the lucky ones.  Lemme tell you after seeing Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig seamlessly dance back-and-forth from drama to dramedy — hitting every mark in every frame — I’m guessing that both of them are off-the-charts smart! Read the rest of this entry »

Nana Jane is a NIGHTMARE!

Notice lately that we’re laughing more at MEAN?  When did TV comedy go from teasing to sarcastic to caustic to down-and-out-demeaning?

Try finding any famous lines from Phoebe, Chandler, Ross or Rachel that are worse than teasing. I couldn’t.

Fraiser and Niles Crane were sarcastic, but had heart. Alan Harper is uncomplimentary — but he’s talking about himself.

Alex and Hayley Dunphy are sibling-and-age-appropriate-mean-girls, but they usually learn some loving lesson by the end the episode.

Hateful Ha-Ha – Is it the Current TV Trend?

Sue Sylvester may have started the trend, but somehow we don’t cringe when she says —

I’m going to ask you to smell your armpits. That’s the smell of failure, and it’s stinking up my office.” Read the rest of this entry »

Inhaling a bunch of BS

Hospital Employees say the craziest things when they think no one’s listening —  in the Halls, in the Elevators, on the Stairs, in the Restrooms, in the Parking Lot — need I go on?

The thing is —

In the Hospital EVERYONE’s Listening!

Can’t use names of course (Hospital Policy) — but there’s no law against using initials. So here’s the first post (of MANY, I’m sure) called: “Doctors Say The Dummest Things.” Read the rest of this entry »

As a Comedy Actress (???) my question on this sunny (at least in L.A.) #findthefunnyMonday is:

What is funny?

feel good funny

According to the Free Dictionary online:

Funny [ˈfʌnɪ]

adj -nier, -niest

1. causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical

2. peculiar; odd

3. suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business)

4. Informal faint or ill to feel funny

But when you think about it, there are so many kinds of “funny” and what’s funny to one person might not be funny to someone else. Obvi. When I’m auditioning for a comedy, if a CD reports back: “She wasn’t funny” is because I’m not funny or the material isn’t funny or the person watching the tape doesn’t get the writer’s idea of funny? A conundrum, that’s for sure.

I can see FUNNY in — Read the rest of this entry »