Zelig by Woody Allen – there is a note here http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/zelig-by-woody-allen-auteur-of-husbands.html on the same subject...now, on Goodreads, it is under some Arab title, for no good reason - 8 out of 10

 

Zelig by Woody Allen – there is a note here http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/zelig-by-woody-allen-auteur-of-husbands.html on the same subject...now, on Goodreads, it is under some Arab title, for no good reason

 

8 out of 10

 

 

This film is not one of the most remarkable, indeed there are quite a few that are much better, by the same (now somewhat disgraced) Woody Allen – take Hannah and Her Sisters http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/hannah-and-her-sisters-written-directed.html for instance, much better than Zelig any day – but it just happens that I may have met with the Man, at the club Downtown

 

Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/04/choose-life-you-want-by-tal-ben-shahar.html has given the most popular lectures in the history of this Ivy League Institution, and in them he has some leit motifs, such as ‘Words Create Worlds, Learn to Fail or Fail To Learn’, tells stories, such as the one about the man who sees the rabbi and then has all the animals in the house, and also argues about the benefits of having rituals, just as we wash our teeth each day, three times, we need to have rituals that center on the mind, once you establish a habit, it is set, and that happens in a few weeks of daily exercise

You get more on that in the excellent The Power of Habit http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-power-of-habit-by-charles-duhigg.html by Charles Duhigg, but now this is about the habit of introducing a regular warning, spoiler alert, disclaimer, I am thinking of getting a standard start to these lines, just as I now have a matrix for the ending, wherein I boast of my part in the revolution of 1989, then try and see if I get anyone to make a few million dollars with me, by monetizing the exercise I (only) can do, and finally, share some of my favorite quotes, but hey, do not read this would be a fair description for what follows…

 

Now let me get to Zelig, not the film, about that I have written (more or less, in the usual, frantic, convoluted, chaotic, biased, mischievous…just as the spouse says, ‘all you have ever been is just a [contemptible, as in this does not bring the pesetas she craves, and thinks she deserves] guide, wtf’) in the link posted near the title

To enter the frame, let me mention a classic of psychology, and there may be a few more till the end, Games People Play http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/09/games-people-play-by-eric-berne.html by Eric Berne, which includes Why Don’t You, but the most common appears to be If It Weren’t For You, which spouses engage in, as in ‘I would be rich, famous, radiant, felicitous, exuberant, and you get the drift

Now about this local Zelig – he is a successful businessman, a former athlete that takes care of his body and soul, exercising at the same Downtown club, engaged in some charity, curious, tolerant, engaged with clients of the outfit, where he may be close to, what, maybe over one hundred, which brings us to the problem

 

First of all, maybe there is a stop in the sentence above, but only because I probably feel some (or intense, if really not palpable, I stopped to see if I really sense it, but hey, it could well be hidden, buried in the unconscious) envy, the sentence could have continued, I guess, with some more positive traits, such as tolerance (which by the way, will be treated separately soon, given that I only have a few pages left from the essay on the matter by Andrei Plesu http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/05/despre-ingeri-by-andrei-plesu-10-out-of.html the most admirable intellectual we have)

Now that we have established that this fellow might be (very likely is?) way better than yours truly, generous, involved, responsible for the paycheck of maybe fifty, or five hundred employees, with a wide circle of friends, let us just say that he could also be (or act) like Zelig, and change his appearance, rules, depending on who comes close, for instance in the sauna, where he told me to shut up, two days ago…

 

Neo Zelig was in the sauna on Friday, with another fellow, when I came to the door, staying outside, and responding to a false claim he had made – that I have occupied seven boxes, or hinder the access to other clients, with the bike helmet and bottle of tea and compote that I placed there (by the way, if you feel like it, we could partner to sell the formula and make some millions, or billions) but that was not true, I had parked in front of only four places, and showed him that the other bottle was not mine

The guy with Neo Zelig in the sauna started shouting (so it seemed from outside, albeit it is more likely that he just gave the impression, for he had that look of a barbarian ready to jump on the way more civilized Roman[that was me] with contorted face, unlikable look, to use an euphemism) that I should shut up.

 

To my deep chagrin and massive surprise, Neo Zelig echoed the request, and furthermore, when I insisted that I am very disappointed and mean to stop talking to him due to that proof of lack of respect and camaraderie (I emphasized that we are obviously not close to each other) the man replied that…there is a law of silence at the sauna (and asked for approval from some other fella) only the reception denied the existence of such a restriction, which to be appears as the epitome of the absurd, to ask for silenzio, where you sweat like hell

However, this was surely for the better, if we listen to Ben- Shahar, and Seneca http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/on-shortness-of-life-by-seneca.html but it is still amusing and troubling to find that a man you respected, and hoped for the same in return, acts like Zelig, taking the shape, opinions of whoever, just because he is in the same room and proffers the most vile, selfish, and disgusting convictions – this is not the first time, and I do not mean this guy with the silence request, we have a common acquaintance, the latter is an admirer of Putin, and in the name of ‘tolerance’ this local Zelig is mates with him, surely I can see now that they are actually closer, and that was probably ‘the end of a friendship’, to paraphrase Rick from Casablanca…

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

Some favorite quotes-

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”