Valentines Day, rated PG-13

Odd title for my first blog, but who cares. I had a long week, and since I was on my own, not doing anything particular, decided to go see Valentines Day this evening. Full disclosure: I have a ton to do this weekend, but was simply not going to be doing anything useful tonight, so wanted to have fun anyway.
I had a romantic dinner by myself in a very crowded Chipotle, looking at the all of the people hectically eating their dinners; guessing who were college students, and who were not. Remarkably, as I was pulling in, I looked up and saw a group of teenagers bowing their heads. A boy looked as if he was praying, and then they all put their heads back up and started eating. All I could think was, wow, who says religion is private now?
I got back in the car, drove around and around until I found a parking place, silently cursing those silly Cineplex people and mall designers who seem to think everyone has an inborn sense of direction to movie theater doors. I finally made it in and sat down to watch the Miley Cyrus trailer again. I'm not sure how many times I have now seen this trailer, but every time, I smile, and wonder if I have the guts to sit through a nicholas sparks novel with greg kinnear and miley cyrus leading on the silver screen? The verdict is still out, but if my brother is around, he might drag me in.
So, if you haven't seen Valentines Day, I don't know what to say. I'm sure it's rather obvious that most of the characters end up with someone because it is a valentines day movie and if that didn't happen, it wouldn't be america: the movie. Yes, the ending is a surprise, and wow, did Emma Roberts and Taylor Swift show restraint in not staying in the back of the delivery truck and the elevator, respectively. The last three words of the radio announcer, (I know Gary Marshall likes media announcers, he used them a lot in Runaway Bride,) and the last three words of the movie were "Let's get naked". There, I just ruined the plot for you. Not exactly. Most of the movie was pretty tasteful, in a "push the limit Anne Hathaway needing to prove to herself that she is not still in the Princess Diaries" kind of way. Anyone silly enough to date an Italian white collar criminal is not in Disney land anymore, though she remains in Wonderland, at least until the end of March.
For the past week, I have been sacrificing by eating a lot of Dove Promise Dark Chocolate for the sole purpose of unwrapping them and finding out what secrets are printed on the foil. The chocolate and the movie are research; research in what we expect and what we want in Love. The promises stamped on foil are just that - food safe ink that tries to make an important and poignant statement, but results in hitting my sardonic button. So far, I'm pretty sure my favorite crunched up foil is "You go, girl! You deserve this!" second only to "Sometimes breaking the rules is more fun". The thing is, people, (me excluded, of course,) actually read these things and believe them. In fact, my bag of chocolate sports aphorisms by real people, towns included. It saddens me to think that Teresa in KY sincerely sent this wish in, for others to believe.
When we leave out the depth and empty our beliefs of truth, we leave room for cheap images and chocolate. When "let's get naked" is the last thought of the night, we have missed out on the meaning of love.

I have no intention of profound depth in this blog. And I know it's cliched to say stuff like, "I'd like you to ponder this," but I would like to throw some things out, hopefully in a humorous and readable way, that might get you to start thinking about some of the truths in life. Because contrary to popular opinion, there is some truth left. Perhaps its not to be found in a bag of chocolates or in a A-list B movie, but they are still to be found, if you unwrap enough stuff.