http://www.hostessblog.com

This web site is completely addictive- you’ll be looking to throw a party for no other reason then throwing a party.  I found myself filling a bookmark folder with ideas.  So thank you Kimi!  and here’s the link, you’ve been warned (if you’re a Twilight nut like rest of us- make sure to check out her Twilight themed party).

There’s a press release on Stephenie Meyer’s site that announced the New Moon werewolf gang.  I was so mad that they didn’t have pictures that I went and found some.  I am so excited.  I haven’t been this excited since Twilight the movie was being made.  I’m totally giddy and cannot wait to see these guys in action.  I didn’t bother to gets everyone’s stats or past experience for you but here’s some pictures to get you thinking.  I couldn’t figure out who is supposed to play which cast member so if you know holler and I’ll update the post.  I would love to know.

Chaske Spencer

Bronson Pelletier

Alex Meraz

Kiowa Gordon

Tyson Houseman

And to top it all off is a picture with Lautner, our very own Jacob Black.

The only one that I’m skeptical about is Houseman.  He doesn’t look American Indian to me.  He looks like he could play Harry Potter but what do I know he’s in the picture with Lautner so it seems official.  

Oh my gosh.  Every once in a while I just get Twilight Fever all over again.  Oh baby, have I got it.  What with the release of the movie and now this.  I might be on my way to reading those darn books over again.  How about you?  Got Twilight Fever?

I’ve been meaning to post this link my sister sent me a while ago.  I think this actress would be an amazing pick for Jane, especially if the budget can stretch that far.  I’m so curious to know what the other Twilight fans think.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20256177,00.html

Did you guys see that they announced the release date for the Twilight dvd? It’s March 21st(Happy Birthday to me!). Ok this is the funny part, we’ve come to an agreement over here at blogthedayaway that Kristen Stewart has zero personality, none, zip, zero, zilch. Sorry if you don’t agree, but there it is. Now I was checking out the special edition disc when I noticed that they’re going to have audio commentary, and I love audio commentary- but get this- as much as we would all love to hear Stephenie Meyers opinions on the movie, she’s not one of the commentators- but Kristen Stewart is! Yeah- What the? Right? Have a good chuckle over that one, because I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of bleeping out (she needs a little orbit to clean up that dirty mouth), and a lot of awkward pauses. What do you guys think? Anyone actually want to hear what Kristen Stewart has to say?

In case you haven’t already heard the news Taylor Lautner will be playing Jacob Black again.  I’m really happy about this.  I love the way he looks and I personally could care less if he doesn’t grow as tall as Jacob does in the books.  How many people are that tall anyways?  They could do tricks like they did in LOTR or they could just leave him as is and I would be happy.  He was the one actor that I fell in love with from the moment they announced him so I am tickled pink that he’s sticking around for New Moon.

Now I know you guys have an opinion on this so make sure you share it.

So I’m online today shopping for sweaters and I thought I’d try Hot Topic.  So I click on the site and I’m checking out their home page when I see this, “Discover Everything Twilight.”  I think to myself, it’s some band right?  There not talking about my Twilight are they?  So I click on it and lo and  behold it asks me if I’m Team Edward or Team Jacob.  Team Edward of course.  That takes me to a page full of t-shirts and keychains.  This is the coolest discovery of the week by far.  Hot Topic totally selling Twilight paraphernalia.  Now I already have my two shirts so I’m not in the market but holy crap this is sweet.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve found Twilight merchandise?

This probably isn’t news to most of you but for those few of you like me who weren’t on their computers this weekend Summit has announced the new director for New Moon.  Chris Weitz directed American Pie, About a Boy, and The Golden Compass.  I’ve seen About a Boy but honestly it was so long ago that I don’t remember anything about it.  I’ll probably check it out to remind myself.  The commercials for The Golden Compass looked amazing but I didn’t see it because I’ve read the books and know how the series ends and it royally pissed me off.  I didn’t want to get into the movies knowing full well where they would take me.  So basically what I’m saying is that I don’t have any feelings about Weitz.  Good or bad.  I enjoyed Hardwicke’s work but there was so much room for improvement.  Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

There’s a message from Stephenie and a note from Weitz to check out for more information.  Have you seen his work?  How do you think he’s going to do?

Good news today from Summit.  There will be a new director for the film version of New Moon.  As you know I get most of my film info from Stephenie’s site so I was really excited to see this.  I thought the movie was fun and I loved it for that but I think these movies can be great and I’m hoping we’re taking a step in that direction (no pun intended).  Every time they switch up the Harry Potter directors we get a fun new take on the books and I hope that’s what happens here.  Looks like a late 2009 early 2010 release date.  Should I start the countdown now?

So yes, Julianne and Laura and I went to see the movie again today.  To quote a friend “We’re single handedly trying to keep the movie in the theaters.”  I am at least.  You remember going into this I didn’t think the movie would be good but then I was pleasantly surprised after the first viewing.  I went back again with my husband because he wanted to know what the heck all of this was about and liked it even more.  It was nice knowing what was coming up so I could focus my attention in the right places at the right times.  I focused more on the supporting characters this time.  I really love them.  Rosalie, Esme, Jasper, Carlisle, Emmett and Alice.  The friends at school.  Charlie.  The bad vamps. Love them all.  

Especially Jasper.  He’s my guy.  I’ve read several blogs where people are making fun of him and to them I say, you just don’t know him well enough.  When he looks pained it’s because he is in pain.  The man wants to butcher every single person around him.  Cut the guy some slack.  He’s probably holding his breath the whole time too.  He’s very troubled and I guess that would come out in his expression.  Totally plausible to me that his face would show the anguish he was in.  Say what you will, I love him.

He’s not the only one I love.  I love Victoria.  She’s so dangerously beautiful.  I don’t know if I’m the only one who feels this way but I think she looks a lot like Stephenie Meyer.  Every time she comes on screen I think of Stephenie.  It’s like a little reminder of how this all started.  I’m so glad she’ll be in the next two movies.  Well maybe not the next one so much but for sure Eclipse.

It’s official.  I love this movie.  If anyone wants to see it again let me know and I’ll try to sneak out of the house.  I’ll make up some excuse like helping the poor or spreading Christmas joy to the needy.  I think Scott would kill me if I actually planned a trip to see this again.

Did you like the movie better or worse the more you saw it?

Did you go see Twilight?  Have you read the books?  Then you should be our Twilight Sister.  We started this group because we didn’t feel like a Twilighter and we didn’t know anyone who was a Twilight Mom.  So, we thought, why not start our own group of our friends, who we obviously know, and can discuss Twilight with.  There are no strings attached.  We want to be here to discuss new happenings with you.  It’s super easy, just send us an email with a picture at go at blogthedayaway dot com and tell us why you love Twilight.  Then check out our Twilight Sister page on the right to see your debut.  Right now there’s just the three of us so you could actually be our first Sister.  Just know that this is a safe place to express your love for Twilight.  There will be no mocking here.  If we get enough people to join maybe we’ll even make t-shirts or start a forum.  You never know where this could lead.  Come join us.

We went to the first Saturday morning show of Twilight. We got there an hour early to make sure we were in line and it turned out that we didn’t need to. The theater was almost empty. It was great and we were able to get Jamba Juice before we went in so it worked out perfectly.

I’ll be honest, the first 1/4 of the movie I really disliked it. The set, the sub characters were awesome I just couldn’t stand Kristen Stewart as Bella. I really felt like even the simplest of phrases were overacted. Not at all how I pictured Bella. As the movie went on though I guess I kind of grew numb to her because in the end I really enjoyed the movie. I still didn’t buy her as Bella but I bought everything else.

My favorite part of the movie is when Bella is on the phone with her mother and she turns around and Edward is standing there. The reason I love it is because they play music and just show them in bed talking and I feel like you don’t get that from the book. The quiet moments. The ones where they are really getting to know each other and falling in love. In that instance I felt the movie was better than the book.

I loved the cameo of Stephenie Meyer at the diner. I’m so glad she got to be a part of the movie. I love seeing her. I love it because she created not only Twilight but The Host as well and I am a huge fan almost turned stalker when I first finished the series. Seriously you guys, I almost got on a plane and went to AZ just so I could talk to her and tell her that I love her work. It’s funny that I should feel this way when I feel no attachment to JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien is dead so I didn’t have the option with him at all.

Anyway, back to the movie. I have no problems with the story line. I think the movie moved well. I love the entire cast especially Charlie (except of course Kirsten). Bella’s friends at school are so well cast. They look and act so well. My only beef is with Jacob’s hair. I hate it long and I can’t wait for him to turn into a werewolf so we can see his cute face. I’m nit picking there so obviously I liked the movie. I’m definitely going to go experience it again and I think I’ll come away from that loving it. I can’t wait for New Moon!

And yes, I was wearing my I am Switzerland T-shirt. I wore it to Forks, I wore it to the Breaking Dawn Concert. Of course, I was going to wear it.

Alisa

REVIEW #2

I liked the movie more than I’d expected to. Based on what I’d seen in the trailers, I was a little nervous… so overall I was happily surprised. The previews had shown so much of Edward and the vampire action that I figured a lot of Bella would be lost in the movie, but I actually thought they developed her story pretty well for a movie adaptation. Unlike Alisa and Laura, I thought the actress did a decent job. She definitely had a few moments (that hospital bed scene was so overacted I cringed) that made me wonder. Overall, however, I thought she did a good job of balancing Bella’s awkward reserve and perceptive wit/opinions. Her inner conflict definitely came across as well. Maybe a little too much in some parts…

So I was most surprised by just how dramatic and intense the movie made the relationship between Bella and Edward. Not that they’re not passionate in the book, but their falling in love and being together seemed so HEAVY and dark in the movie that it was kind of hard to enjoy. I realize there’s absolutely no way to include all the Bella-Edward dialogue from the book, but couldn’t they have put in even a little light banter or happy conversation? Even a few more good kisses would’ve made them seem like more of a couple in love.

That said, I enjoyed how the movie script infused humor in parts of the story that didn’t have so much in the book. Like the school friends: I don’t remember Eric or Mike being that funny in the book. I loved them along with all the other minor characters in the movie. The Cullens were super fun to watch. Loved the making-dinner-for-the-human kitchen scene and REALLY loved the baseball scene! Oh man, that was great. Mentioning that scene reminds me of how much I liked the music, too–maybe I’ll get the soundtrack.

All this writing about it has me ready to see the movie again, and it hasn’t even been twelve hours. So fun.

Julianne

Review #3

Ok sorry guys- it’s my fault this review is taking so long to get published, I’m totally slacking for some reason.  I really liked the movie- not loved, but I thought it was decent.  Edward and Bella were not MY Edward and Bella, but I sort of expected that.  I did think the movie was filled with a little too much teenage angst for my liking- although I know they only had an hour and a half to pull in “the many moods of Edward.”  I thought the rest of the cast was spot on- I especially loved the Rosalie character.  In my head I always pictured her as Head Cheerleader pretty, with the attitude to match, and I was really happy they went in that direction for her.  I was really afraid they would turn her into a stick figure supermodel, but Rosalie had some curves on her!  The movie cinematography was also a little random for me- I have extreme motion sickness, and there were a few scenes where the camera angles just kept turning and turning.  I had to put my head down for a minute to clear it.  I just thought some of the direction was a little unnecessary-  do we really need to see every Edward and Bella from every angle in every scene?  Especially in some of the kissing scenes, but maybe I’m just getting a little old?  All that being said, I thought it was great to watch the book come to life.  I wasn’t at all disappointed in any of the direction they took the movie away from the book- except for the meadow scene (and the CGI didn’t do Edward any favors- he just looked freakish in this scene).  So yes, I will be seeing the movie again, and I may bring my husband this time since they clearly didn’t take it in the direction of a chick flick.

Laura

So it’s official.  I’ve caught the Twilight bug again.  I didn’t think it was going to happen but when I went to Stephenie Meyer’s site and saw the counter with only 10 days left my heart skipped a beat.  This is bad news because now I run the huge risk of being devastated by the movie.  Oh well, it couldn’t be worse than Harry Potter, right?  Right?  I need some reassurance here.

Laura, Julianne and I are planning to see the matinee Saturday, Nov 22nd if you’re in the area and would like to join us.  Just drop us a line and we’ll let you know which theater and showing we’re hitting.  We’re trying to avoid the screaming girls.  We got enough of that at the Breaking Dawn Concert.  Enough for a lifetime.  Believe me, it was loud.

Thanks Collette for the heads up on the trailer.  Obviously I found it on YouTube.  Sometimes I can be so dense.  It was sitting in front of me the whole time.

I found this while I was surfing yesterday.  You all know that I love the Twilight Series but I’m very skeptical about the movie.  I think the special effects look great but the acting seems stiff.  Anyway.  This little clip cracked me up.  Give it a look and let me know what you think.

You guys, I’m still not that excited about this movie but you know I’ll go and see it.  It looks like the vampire special effects are well done so that gives me some hope.  So far though the dialogue is flat to me but that could just be short format of the trailer. “Your skin is pale white and ice cold.”  I don’t know.  It just feels like she’s reading her lines.  I am going to do my best to keep an open mind and hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

Are you guys excited about the movie?  Tell me why so I can catch the Twilight movie bug too.

Stephenie Meyer posted her Breaking Dawn Q&A.  It’s really fun to read.  She explains why she chose the name Renesmee and why vampires can/cannot get pregnant, etc.  I loved reading it.  It gave me some great insight into her thinking.  Did you take anything away from it?

I wont give the full story but it looks like Midnight Sun (the book from Edward’s perspective) has been indefinitely put on hold because copies of it were leaked prematurely.  Stephenie Meyer has released a partial manuscript for Midnight Sun on her sight.  I haven’t seen it yet.  My computer wont open the file.  I need Scott’s help on this one so it may be a few days.  If you read it let me know what you think.  I’m really sad that this is happening.  I was really looking forward to the book.  Whine, whine, whine.  If I don’t get the file to open though with Scott’s help someone is going to have to let me camp out at their house and read it.  It’s a long one too.  So who wants a house guest?

I’ve gotten several inquiries as to why I haven’t posted about this yet.  Sorry.  I know it’s seems very unlike me not to be posting about this and squealing with joy but it’s kind of bittersweet.  The story goes that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was bumped back six months leaving an opening which Twilight picked up on Nov. 12th.  So we get Twilight earlier but no Harry.  It makes me sad to be honest with you.  As far as the movies go I’m into Harry Potter more just because I’ve seen what they have to offer.  I’m still really skeptical about Twilight just because I don’t know what they’re going to do with it.  At the concert Stephenie did say she saw a rough cut of the movie and loved it enough that if she were at a theater she would have bought another ticket and watched it again.  That’s pretty high praise so it makes me feel a little more confident in the movie.

Bottom line, I’m really excited to see Twilight.  Sad not to see Harry Potter.   We will definitely have to make sure to get together to see the movie though.  I’m not sure I’m up for a midnight showing with all the screaming girls but I definitely want to see it right away.  If everyone else wants midnight though I’m sure I can talk myself into it.  I just want to make sure to see it with friends.  What are your plans?  Do you even have any yet?

Well you know the story. A long, problem riddled drive just to get to the desert. A frustrating drive to get to UCLA including running a red light and almost getting into an accident. All the screaming. A great but much shorter than I thought it was going to be concert. All for this. Meeting Stephenie Meyer and professing my love for her and her books. I went over it a million times in my head what I would say to her in the two seconds that it takes to sign a book. It went something like this in the end, “Thank you for the incredible journey.” Simple. Tasteful. To the point. No gushing, no crying, no blubbering. Just a simple statement. Of course I had a million questions I wanted to ask but I didn’t think I’d have the time. So I stuck to my statement.

Here’s how it actually went down. After the concert ended 1800 people gradually got in line to get autographs. There were strict rules. You had to turn your book open to the first white page. Only one book per person would be signed. The line needed to move quickly so that Stephenie could eventually get to bed. All doable. So we get in the line and there are only about 50 people behind us. We stayed in our seats until the line was manageable because Laura could barely stand. The whole process, after the concert, took about 2 hours.

So we get to the table and Laura gives the helper her book who slides it over to Stephenie. Stephenie looks at Laura and says hi. Laura is trying not to vomit at this point so she says hi and then just stands there. Stephenie keeps looking at her so I’m thinking, wow, there’s tons of time to ask a question. I put my book down and lean down and quietly say, “Did you model the vampires bodies after celestial bodies?” She said no. That she’s heard that theory before but it’s not like that for her. I then said, “It’s like that for me.” She looked at me and said, “Really?” And I said, “Yeah.” Then I turned and left.

As I was walking away I realized I asked my question wrong!!!!! I didn’t mean the vampires bodies. I had meant like their acute senses and the ability to run without tiring. Not that they were hard and cold. Argh. Now (not that she even thought of me a second later) she’s going to think that I think I’ll be hard and cold like marble in the afterlife. What a disaster. The worst part of all was that my question took so much time that Julianne didn’t even get a chance to talk to her about the Merchant of Venice. What a loser I am. I don’t plan on ever having the opportunity to talk to her again. That was it. Oh well. I knew it would happen like that if I didn’t stick to my prepared statement.

It’s so funny. This is the only time in my life that I have been star struck. Seriously. I made it through the preteens and teens without ever once freaking out about a movie star or singer. Sure, I loved LL Cool J, but who didn’t. I never went to a concert though or hung a poster in my bedroom to make out with. So now I’m 31 and I’m goo goo for Stephenie Meyer. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to give her a hug and a kiss. You guys know by now how much these books mean to me. I wanted her to understand that. But I reigned myself in. Mostly because I knew security would probably take my book away and throw me out. But also because the poor woman needs her privacy and personal space.

So anyways. Has anyone else ever lost it in front of the person they’re star struck by? Ever had a chance to meet them even?

So after another day of our comedy of errors which included me running a red light and almost getting in an accident we made it to the theater. Unfortunately when we got to the theater Laura got sick. Really sick. About to throw up and pass out sick. Poor girl. So we sat on the steps in front of the theater and people watched. There were 1800 people there. Most of them young girls but there were a lot of Twilight Moms (An actual online group of fans. We’re thinking of starting our own group so stay tuned.) and there were quite a few guys there. They were attached to girls of course whether they were dads, boyfriends or sons. Once we got into the theater it was set up to look like the book ends of all of the books with the center one saying Breaking Dawn Concert Series. (Sorry the picture isn’t very clear. You get the idea though.)

The one thing I did not prepare myself for was the screaming. The three of us assumed erroneously that everyone would be calm like us and politely clap at appropriate intervals. Holy crap, were we wrong. Dead wrong. They screamed when the doors to the lobby opened. Screamed when the doors of the theater opened. Screamed when the lights went down. Screamed when the MC came out on stage. Let loose when Justin Furstenfeld came out. Screamed through his songs. Screamed louder when they were done. Then all hell broke loose when Stephenie came out. I honestly thought I was going to fall to pieces it was so loud. Imagine how Laura felt. She totally had her hands over her ears. The part that made me mad though is that they would scream during the interview and Stephenie wouldn’t be able to speak. I’m pretty sure they got through all the questions though.

So this is how it went down. Justin came out and played three songs acoustically. Then Stephenie and the MC came out and did a Q & A. Among the questions was what the cover of the book meant. She said the pawn was the human Bella, the weakest player on the board, turning into the queen, the strongest player on the board. And I’m sorry to say I can’t remember any of the other questions except that Jacob and Nessie will both be immortal since Jacob doesn’t age as long as he keeps phasing. Which she said wasn’t a problem for Jacob. (Sorry I can’t remember more. It was a really long day and night.)

Then Justin came back out and he played some of the songs from Stephenie’s play lists and Stephenie introduced them. My favorite of his is “Hate Me”. It’s from the time when Edward left Bella after Jasper attacked her. I really can relate to and get that one in this context. It just makes sense. The rest I had to try really hard to concentrate on. There was one really annoying point where she said this song “My Never” off of Justin’s next album reminded her of page 355 of Breaking Dawn. Everybody got out their phones and their books and started looking for the page. So it was annoying two fold. First that Stephenie didn’t give a better explanation (though the song really did speak for itself if you paid enough attention, which I had a hard time doing). Second that everyone had their stupid phones out distracting me from the song.

If I’m remembering correctly Justin left the stage and the MC came back out and her and Stephenie closed up the show. At that point Stephenie thanked Justin for being there and said he made doing this fun and that she usually hated her book signings. To which quite a few people made disappointed noises. I don’t blame them but I can understand Stephenie’s side too. I think if I was in her shoes I would hate that part of my job too.

I’m going to hopefully put a link in a future post so you can go to iClips and see the concert on their archived footage. The concert was totally worth going to. In fact I think I’ll watch it again just because my memory is so bad. It was a lot of fun. My favorite part being when Justin and Stephenie were on stage together.

I’m going to write about actually meeting Stephenie in my next post. I know this is taking a long time but all I wanted to do was spend time with Scott when I got home. Reading these books makes me love him even more than ever. Man, I love this series!

Edward + Bella 4-ever!!