Notes On A Scene From "13 Going On 30" That My Family Is Watching Downstairs

So there's this romantic scene where Jennifer Garner and some dude are smooching on a playground in New York City, and I think I can provide you with some personal insight into it.

In this scene, you can see Manhattan in the background. Jennifer Garner and the dude are lying on the ground, and apparently not worried about there being nasty stuff on the ground, even though this is a playground in New York at night. Also there is an inexplicable lack of winos and weird dudes watching them.

Now, it so happens that I walked past that exact spot earlier this year. The view of the bridge and the way the ground curves along the river are very distinctive. There's no playground there; it's a little park in Greenpoint. You wouldn't want to make out with somebody late at night there. Not even Jennifer Garner.

When I walked past, for example, there was a big fat guy lying on his back in a little Speedo on the grass. He looked dead. It was not at all romantic. There were several people lounging around who were not at all concerned about the nearly-naked possibly-dead guy, or much of anything else. I imagine these people had to be removed so that Jennifer Garner could make out with the guy there, and I also imagine that they cleaned the ground for her.

My friend and I walked past the little park, and then turned so that I could take a picture of my friend with the bridge in the background. As I was taking her picture, I realized that the bush a few feet behind her was not uninhabited. There was a head popping out of it. This also was not romantic.

It was the head of a rather disturbed-looking man who seemed not to have any clothes on. I took the picture quickly and we moved on. The man in the bush retracted his head. I still have a picture of the head in the bush.

I wonder if they noticed that guy when they cleaned the sketchy characters out of the park for the playground scene. If not, it'd be fun to go back and ask him what he thought of Jennifer Garner's performance. Maybe we could get him into a debate with the fat possibly-dead guy.

Well, the theme of "13 Going On 30" seems to have something to do with sudden life lessons in maturity. I imagine that if they ever release a "making of" DVD extra, and it includes the real story of the shooting of the playground make-out scene, we'll see that everyone involved learned some interesting lessons. Especially the dude in the bush.