Don Jon

My husband and I recently went out on a date night, because we haven't spent enough quality time together AND my inlaws felt like Ducia should spend more time with his cousins, but that is a story for another day.

After a whole bunch of debate on what exactly we were going to see, he watched to see Gravity and I wanted to see Insidious 2 (as I'm always down for any horror movie), we settled on Don Jon. Joseph Gordon-Levitte's first film. If you guys don't know, he started up a company called hitRECord, which is an amazing art community - so many new and young artists uploading their art, music, stories, poems, everything. Its just down right cool. On top of having a very cool production company, there will also now be a hitRECord show - basically a variety of show, where anyone and everyone can contribute. Anyway, if you're interested, link is up there.

Lets just jump right into the movie though, below is the trailer.

The one thing that first comes to mind after watching the movie and rewatching the trailer, is that they try to sell the movie as more of a comedy that it actually is. I mean, its a funny film that I really liked - but it wasn't a total comedy. The base of this movie is really focused around on a guy (Jon) who is a total play boy, but is also addicted to porn. My husband and I disagreed on this for the better part of the movie, because as he thought, 'the guy just enjoys porn' I quickly saw a problem when Jon said he preferred porn to the  real thing AND he would watch porn after he had sex and a "release." At any rate, Jon finally finds a girl he thinks he can commit to, but alas his porn still takes priority and once his girlfriend finds out he watches porn (several times a day, I might add), he lies, tells her it was a one time thing, and swears he will never look at it again. That, of course - is a lie. His relationship progresses, he takes Barbra to meet his family, who are thrilled because they think he has found the one, he stops hanging out with his buddies in favor of pleasing his new girlfriend, she even convinces him to take night classes so he can get a new "better" job. And as we see, from his side this amazing relationship is being built off of the lie that he doesn't watch porn, which is what Barbra expects, and from her side its being built solely on her expectations which are slightly unrealistic. In one scene Jon is helping Barbra pick out curtain rods and tells Barbra he's going to go get some swiffer pads, to which she cops an attitude asking why he cleans and how embarrassing it is for a grown man to clean his own house and insists he gets a maid. This is clearly NOT a match made in heaven, but since a relationship is a new thing for Jon, its quite clear he doesn't know any better. Julianna Moore (Esther) plays a pretty small - but crucial role in the film, Jon meets her at school. At first he isn't very interested in her, she is a mess and very forward. But as it usually always happens, the truth about Jons frequent porn use comes out, Barbra looks at his Internet history and sees he often looks at porn (46 times in one day!) and breaks up with him over his lying. Jon, of course doesn't see it that way. What he sees is that Barbra doesn't like porn and because he watches it - thats why she is leaving. And nursing his broken heart - he locks himself up at home and watches porn continuously for days. When his friends finally step in, he discloses why Barbra broke up with him and his friends are supportive that she's the bitch and she wasn't worth it anyway. They encourage him to keep taking the night classes, and he now shows an interest in Esther, who he immediately lays. She asks why Barbra broke up with him, and starts questioning him on his porn usage (throughout the film we see Jon struggle to give it up a couple of times, but he just can't), to which he confides in her that he prefers it to the real thing and can stop "when ever he wants to." Esther asks him when the last time he masturbated without using a video or pictures, to which Jon replies that he hasn't since he was a little boy and back then it was to pictures. Anyway, upon trying to do it without the porn, Jon realizes that he can't and that he may have a problem, he tries to give up the porn for good. After a week, he goes to see Esther and she takes him back to his place, where we find out why she's a mess and she psychoanalyzes Jon and why he doesn't have that feeling of loosing himself in real sex as he does when he watches porn. She basically opens him up to what a relationship is really like, to try new things and with his giving up his porn and his routine - he finds new things in life that he enjoys and finds that sex can be just as, if not more gratifying with the right person.

ANYWAY, the film was really good and if you don't mind having a ton of porn clips pop up throughout the film, its one I recommend you see. I think that is very much based on stuff people have experienced, and its very relatable I feel for both men and women.  On one hand we see this young guy who is replacing something he isnt finding in the real world, with fiction that he perceives to be true, on the other we have this young girl who bases her expectations on romantic films. When these two meet up, its one expectation against another and when finding either meets the standard - one turns back to porn, and the other moves on to a different relationship. And its only through opening himself actually up, to new things that Jon experiences what he has been missing and replacing with porn. Which I think happens to all of us in some point in life, I know that for a really long time when I was younger, movies played a big role in how I expected my relationships to be, and I would constantly draw parallels between my partner and Buffy's love interests. And as I got older, I would realize how unrealistic some of those expectations were, and although some of those expectations have stuck with me for now, although the reasoning had changed, I found someone who filled mine.

I keep telling myself that I will upkeep this journal as much as I can, but then find myself doing other things and just plum forgetting. I'm really excited its fall though, the weather has been great (although my house for some reason is freezing) and I have stocked up on ALL THINGS PUMPKIN! Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin bagels, pumpkin seeds - you name it, I've probably got it. Along with all things pumpkin, comes Halloween. And this year I've decided to try my hand at making homemade costumes for me and Hubby. Last year we went as Lucy and Ricky from I love Lucy, and the costumes turned out pretty excellent

 

Party at the Central West End - it was super cold

 

Party we threw at the house

 So this year, I've decide to try and make my hand at making the Roger Rabbit costume, and Jessica. If I can make them before times up, I'll try to make Wilma and Fred Flintsone so we can wear that to go ToTing with Ducia in costume.
Ducia will be going as what he was last year, a dinosaur. In the middle of last year his love for them was somewhat subdued. But this year it has picked up in full force and he decided he wanted to be a raptor.

 

Raptor Ducia

So wish me luck!

PS. We're recently welcomed a new member into our ever growing family. My youngest SIL just recently had her first baby - Nathan. She is one lovely mommy.