The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

 

Yesterday was "girls day out" where I joined a couple of friends for lunch and a movie in Monterey. We went to see "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," and it was even more charming than the first one ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel").  If you haven't seen these movies, I recommend them! The first one is on pay-per-view on TV, the second one is in the theaters.

Here is the trailor:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O96og_f-Omk

I love movies that not only provide good laughs throughout, but also provide substance and words to more serious thoughts circuluating in my subconscious mind. Here are some of the quotes from these movies that stuck in my heart:

Evelyn: The only real failure is the failure to try. And the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. As we always must. We came here, and we tried. All of us, in our different ways. Can we be blamed for feeling we're too old to change? Too scared of disappointment to start it all again? We get up every morning, we do our best. Nothing else matters.

Evelyn: But it's also true that the person who risks nothing, does nothing; has nothing. All we know about the future is that it will be different. But, perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same. So, we must celebrate the changes. Because, as someone once said "Everything will be all right in the end. And if it's not all right, then trust me, it's not yet the end."

Evelyn: [about their new environment] Initially you're overwhelmed. But gradually you realize it's like a wave. Resist, and you'll be knocked over. Dive into it, and you'll swim out the other side.

Sonny: Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end. 

Evelyn:  How many new lives can we have? As many as we like!

Enjoy your weekend! Enjoy your life!

It's a Girl Thing!

 

What could be better than a girls' day out weekend with my daughters!  They drove home Friday night and we watched TV and indulged in Ben and Jerry's ice cream and talked and laughed and talked some more!  There is nothing like waking up lazily on Saturday, spending the morning in our pj's -- catching up on laundry and House Hunter's International and savoring Ash's delicious French Toast.  Then it was off to Monterey -- first stop Target for practical things like light bulbs and a computer mouse, until Ash squealed, "Hey, those are my favorite kind of gloves," and Lys started trying on hats.  Not so practical, but their Christmas wish lists have been started. Lunch at Island Burger at Del Monte Center was next - their Hawaiian burgers, dripping with teriyaki sauce and loaded with pineapple, are fabulous!  (As you can see, food seemed to have a big part in our weekend.)

Then it was time for Bath and Body Works so we could stock up on all the delicious winter hand soaps and moisturizers.  It's a girl thing, but we love those pump soap dispensers and they smell so pretty.

Macy's was the next stop where our intention was simply window-shopping and getting ideas for Christmas.  But then we discovered they were having a fantastic sale on handbags --  we had a contest for whose bag looked the rattiest and decided that all three of us really needed new ones!  So each one of us walked out with a new purse.  We were so happy with our choices -- a red (looks pink here but it's a dark red) leather bag with a leather ruffle on it for Ash, a black hobo bag with a studded bow on it for Lys, and a sleek black bag with just the right combo of pockets and right length strap for me!


Evening rolled in and we ended up at the movie theater to watch the suspenseful "Argo" movie -- very good -- and then drove home to 70's rock and roll blaring through the car speakers.

They had to go back home Sunday morning -- and I miss them already!  Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

On the Movie Set

The weekend held a surprising adventure as Lys and I received a confirmation email Saturday night that we would be needed as "background artists" (more commonly and realistically known as "extras") on the set of a movie being filmed in Carmel. The initial call time was 6:30 a.m. Sunday, but thankfully I checked my email just before going to bed and it had been changed to 9:30 a.m. The wind howled and the rain pounded all night Saturday night, even causing one of the trees in my backyard to blow over against the fence, so it was a restless night.

Sunday morning arrived, we showered and washed our hair, did our makeup and donned our outfits. We were told to wear something with color (I guess at the last casting call all the extras showed up in black and it looked like a funeral instead of a spring day in Carmel). We were also instructed to bring three additional options with us. We would be hotel patrons, walking through the lobby, checking in and out of our rooms, etc.

The Cypress Inn (above) with three truckloads of film equipment.

Despite the wind and rain, we arrived at the Cypress Inn promptly at 9:15 and were escorted to the holding room where the other 10-12 extras were waiting. The casting coordinator introduced the Costume Director who gave us each a once over. Some of us were asked to change into different colors than we originally wore. Then the waiting began. One of the producer's assistants came in and said the actors were rehearsing and described the scene they were rehearsing. In the scene were Alfred Molina (Spiderman, Pink Panther 2, and numerous other films and TV shows) and Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia and Journey to the Center of the Earth). The film synoposis is:

"Carmel the Movie", starring Lauren Bacall, Alfred Molina, Hayden Panettiere, Billy Boyd, Dina Eastwood, and Scott Eastwood focuses on a troubled 16-year-old boy, who wanders into Carmel, falls into the wrong crowd and becomes involved in art forgery.

Okay, I confess, I had to look some people up on the internet as I wasn't sure who they were. Hayden Panettiere plays Claire on the TV show Heroes, Billy Boyd was one of the hobbits in Lord of the Rings. Dina Eastwood we knew as we had met her and Clint Eastwood in a restaurant a few years ago. Scott Eastwood is Clint's son. And everyone knows Lauren Bacall.

We had been forewarned that there is a lot of hurry up and wait in making a film, so we all settled in with newspapers, crossword puzzles, and conversations on everything from the housing market to pets. The Cypress Inn is owned by Doris Day, an animal lover, so it is a pet-friendly hotel. They wanted to make this point in the film, so had asked for a few people to bring their dogs with them. Lys and I considered Chaucer (Frosty would have been much too squirrely), but decided we didn't want to be encumbered with a dog all day.

The producer's assistant came back in and told two people with dogs to go to the lobby (where the scene was being shot), then awhile later took one more person. After awhile the casting coordinator said that the director decided to shoot the scene at a totally different angle than anticipated -- into the room instead of with the lobby in the background -- and that they only needed the first two extras (with their dogs) and the rest of us weren't needed but could go up on the set and watch.

The crew was on their way to taking a break just as we arrived, and Alfred Molina smiled and squeezed past me in the hallway. Then Lys and I found a table between the bar and the foyer, next to Josh Hutcherson, who was writing in his journal until makeup came to touch up his makeup. Billy Boyd stood by us, chatting. So while we weren't in the movie, we had the fun, different experience of being on the set. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2010.