a banshee, by definition, is a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose appearance or wailing warns a family that one of them will soon die...I went to the movies today...to my happy place...the lights dimming...the previews appearing...the M&M's disappearing...and then darkness, and the movie...today's choice...The Banshees of Inisherin...or maybe should be subtitled...the quiet desperation of ordinary lives...we were about 5 minutes into the movie when I heard it...at the end of my row to the right...we were only 10 souls in that theater...but I hit the jackpot...a couple sitting there...talking back and forth...like how should I put this...oh, as Colin Farrell would say in the movie...like they were in their own feckin' living room...I tried to ignore it...concentrated on the plot...and how amazingly good Colin looked in what could be described as 1923 Irish schmattas...but it was distracting...and I thought...I'm gonna lose it...wail like a...like a banshee...but I didn't...sadly realizing that this happens...this lack of courtesy...on a daily basis...it happened before covid...it is worse now...it happens in movie theaters...and in Broadway theaters...and then your seat costs a kidney...it is everywhere...and the saddest part...most people don't realize they are intruding on your experience...they have forgotten how to truly appreciate theirs...so when the movie was over...and they left...talking the whole time...I stayed...let the credits roll and the haunting music wash over me...the writer's vision wash over me...before leaving the theater...into the quiet desperation of ordinary life...
