Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Amicable Bureaucrats

Let me share a story about an endearing quality my wife has.

So, it often happens that my wife, Jennica (bless her heart) will get excited about a new movie, TV show, restaurant, band or actor and want to share with me her excitement. The problem is, Jennica is THE WORST person I know when it comes to remembering names or titles accurately.
Coincidentally, she's also THE BEST person I know at unintentionally creating new names or titles for things through association, thinking they are the correct names. For instance:
  • She swapped the band name "Sunset Rubdown" with the name "Midnight Massagers".
  • "Tin Angel", a restaurant we frequent in Salt Lake, she remembers as "Copper Fairy".
  • The TV series "Battlestar Galactica" was mistaken for "Battleship Gattaca".
  • Roberts become Rodericks. Tylers become Travises.
You get the picture.

So, as a consequence, it also often happens that Jennica is trying to relate a story to me about something with a proper name and I have no fucking clue what she's talking about. Tonight is one such example.
After finishing up dinner, we start talking about going to a movie this weekend. Jennica brings up a movie she heard about on the radio. Here's how she described it:

"So, there's this new movie that sounds really cool. We should go see it."

"Oh yeah? Which movie?" I ask, naively thinking I'll know all about the movie she's about to mention.

"It's this movie with ghosts who hate their bosses, and they go around and...I don't know."

I'm stumped, and intrigued. Ghosts are cool. Ghosts with bosses? So I ask, "A movie about ghosts and their bosses? Is it a comedy? Is it animated?"

"I'm not sure. I just know it sounds good," she declares.

Silence.

"I have no fucking clue what you're talking about."

"It's called..."The...Amicable...Bureaucrats". Look it up on your iPad," Jennica challenges.

Confused, I do. I pull up movie listings and start moving down the list. Eventually I see "The Adjustment Bureau".

"You mean the Adjustment Bureau?" I tease.

"Yeah! That one!" Jennica is excited that I found the movie she was talking about."Sorry. It wasn't Amicable Bureaucrats."

"This isn't about Ghosts." I state.

"Watch the trailer." She challenges again.

So, we watch the trailer. During the first 15 seconds, while watching Matt Damon looking heroic on the screen, Jennica confidently states, "I love Marky Mark. He's such a good actor."

3 comments:

  1. Kellll.....she comes by it honestly!!!! :) And the title sound very realistic to me! Marky Mark/Matt Damon....close in looks!! :)

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  2. lol...that's awesome.

    I'm bad with actors names and I frequently forget titles. But when I forget, I usually forget entirely and don't even have a mixed up name to go with it.

    As for the Adjustment Bureau, that does look pretty good. Looking forward to seeing it. :)

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  3. haha. Funny stuff Murph. My wife is tone deaf and tries to remind me of songs.
    "You know, the one that goes - deet,deet,deet,deeet,deet."
    Oh yeah. That one.

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