I don’t think I could ever be described as a real movie buff. I enjoy a good film, of course, but I’m not a nut who obsesses over the details: the set, the nuances, the costumes, and so on. And I think of film stars in the same way. I wouldn’t bother going into town to see a famous star opening a new restaurant, for example. When I was younger, I had some favourites like Humphrey Bogart, David Niven, and, especially, Shirley Maclaine and, if their names appeared on the billboards of the Crown or the Civic in Wollongong, I’d be lined up with the other fans.
Nowadays, even though we seldom go to the movies, all the wall-to-wall publicity means I am probably more aware of the famous names who dominate the box offices, and one of those names is Ryan Reynolds, star of Free Guy, The Hitman’s Bodyguard and the Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. I haven’t seen any of those films I’ve mentioned and can only imagine what the last two are about.
However, with all his obvious talents, I’d never thought of Ryan Reynolds as a philosopher. Because he was an actor, I’d immediately written him off as a someone who had never had an intelligent thought. It seems I am as prejudiced as the next man because I came across a comment he made about disappointment. He said,
“When you have expectations, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.”
It’s not a very deep thought but it resonated with me because I am, in fact, living with that disappointment. Last week, I was able to secure a box of Nescafe Flat White sachets in our last on-line order. 26 sachets in the box and my expectation was that that should give me pleasure for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t wait to slice the top off the first sachet, pour on the boiling water and savour the rich aroma.
I took a sip, and it was awful - a bitter chemical flavour with no redeeming features. Ryan Reynolds is right: my expectations set me up for disappointment. Who would have thought that an actor could have so exactly foreseen my predicament.
No comments:
Post a Comment