Dang y'all... This blogging every day in January is gonna be rough.
It's almost midnight on DAY TWO and I'm strugglin!
So, tonight Jon and I went on a mini date to the movies and saw "This is 40". We both have a secret love for Judd Apatow and I have a not so secret love for Paul Rudd. We'd been wanting to see it as it appeared to hit the nail on the head with some marital nuances and had that... realistic-funny thing going on, which we like.
We both enjoyed it well enough and I'd watch it on Netflix again someday but it reminded me a bit of some wisdom Donald Miller imparted into my life. Normal life is kind of boring.
Well, that's KIND of the point he made. In his book " A Million Miles in a Thousand Years", Don talks about how his other book " Blue Like Jazz" was being made into a film. "Blue.." was a memoir that jumped through vignettes of Don's life, mostly centered around his faith and the majority of the charm in the book is how it makes you feel normal as you read it. What I mean is, as you read it you mostly swim around in Don's doubts, his fears and insecurities and you end up recognizing that there's beauty and life and God in all those things and that you might not be so crazy and blasphemous afterall. It makes you feel human.
Whoa! Side tracked. Anyhow, in preparation to make "Blue Like Jazz" the movie, Don spent time with some writers and producers who were working on how to take the memoir and make it something people actually wanted to watch. This was offensive to Don at first but then he realized, most of our normal day-to-day lives don't make for good films. Nobody wants to watch you sit on the ipad while "Real Housewives" plays in the background or have a mundane bicker fest with your husband over leaving the seat up etc. People want the highlights and they want a good story.
I would say that "This is 40", while nailing a lot about what its like to be married and to want to be better versions of ourselves and how frustrating normal crap is- but in a funny way- I'd say it was kind of too much like real life. Its strength was its weakness for me.
It felt drawn out in spots because it honestly felt so much like watching normal things happen... and it was weird to feel like that wasn't interesting enough. I guess I'm a sucker for stimulation just like the rest of the world!
In other news... if you've been to Disneyland in the past few years you've probably heard or noticed that there are some distinct smells. They do that on purpose. They PUMP smells into the air! A few signature scents at the parks are the gingerbread at Christmas time ( after the fireworks show the BLAST it into the air), and the citrus and pine used on "Soarin Over California".
WELL, my friend Cleve lives nextdoor to the folks behind these scents and for Christmas he got me ( drumroll please) a scent distrubutor and the actual scent packets from Disney. I shit you not, my living room smells like the pine on "Soarin" at this very moment!!!
Anyhow, that's all for today. Rent "This is 40" if you're married ( I think the married folks were the only ones laughing during SEVERAL parts) and beware of a lot of Leslie Mann boob, F bombs, and Megan Fox being her annoying overrated self ( did I say that out loud?). Oh, and read Donald Miller books!
Until tomorrow,
Carly Escoto Calmes the First