Why I Am So Wise

La Misma happened upon a neighborhood film set where a George Clooney movie is being shot, just a few blocks from her apartment, when she walked over to the intersection where a Daily News she read the day before said that George Clooney would be the next day.

La Misma stood watching with other Brooklynites and is indebted to one sharp-eyed one who immediately identified George Clooney -- the salt-and-pepper beard, a gray shirt, those warm slanted eyes. He is so darling. But some were disappointed. "He looks so short!" said my helpful crowdmate. "I want to get closer, because from what I can see, I'm not impressed."

Ouch. La Misma thought that was a bit harsh, and also the peanut-crunching crowd seemed hard for a film star to have to do his daily work in front of but cry me a river, as a woman said near me.

George Clooney ran up to the camera and then back into what looked like an alley next to a house. Then he did it again. The shot was lit up, in broad daylight, with a brilliant spotlight that blasted from behind a screen. Yet it was a sunny day. La Misma would not have used the big light and she would not have employed the large boom mic that hovered above everything. George Clooney is quite welcome to appear in professional, competently made films, or he has the chance to appear in a poorly lit one and be barely audible. The choice is his.