5 posts tagged “edward cullen”

I think I got about four hours of sleep last night, so these might be interesting, and not in altogether good way, but rather a sleep-deprived, random, scattered way.

Anyway.

1.  I'm watching Regis and Kelly, and they've got this 11-year-old math genius. I'm all about fostering intelligence in one's kids and encouraging advanced education, etc. That's precisely why, if I have kids, I'm going to homeschool them. (Well that, and the fact that I don't want the liberal-choked teacher's unions to warp their brains.) However, I think the parents of kids such as this 11-year-old math whiz are doing them a great disservice by not teaching them social skills. I'm not saying they should be all pop-culturally oriented or whatever. However, they should be able to carry on a freaking conversation and be able to, I don't know, emote. Seriously. This kid was a robot. Jimmy Kimmel (guest-hosting) and Kelly were being friendly and funny and asking him different questions, and he barely responded. Never cracked a smile or really even changed expression. It was kind of pathetic.

2.  I watched Grey's Anatomy last night because I forgot to cancel my Season Pass and honestly, I can't believe that a couple weeks ago, I was absolutely raving about its post-strike return and yet last night was ridiculous and uneven and pandering and did I mention ridiculous? It's pretty sad when a show I used to revere for its characterization has painted normal, sweet, emotionally stable characters like Lexie and Rose as being somehow, I don't know, abnormal or, in Rose's case, almost villainous. Cristina behaved so out of character last night I almost didn't recognize her. Don't get me started on the stupid, unrealistic and insipid Callie-Hahn storyline. The writers ruined what was an awesome storyline -- and Emmy-worthy performance by Elizabeth Reaser -- when they took the Rebecca-Alex story down the  ill-fated soap opera path it's on. I'm so glad Reaser is getting her own show in The Ex List next season, and am even more excited that she'll be playing Esme Cullen in Twilight come December. Steve Betz and I commiserated on the decline of Grey's recently and he made a point that I whole-heartedly agree with: the decline started as soon as the writers started trying to tell the stories of too many characters. Sloane, Callie, the despicable Hahn, even the Chief and Bailey -- they're minor, supporting characters. Frankly, I could care less about their personal lives. Perhaps Steve's best point was that Bailey was always the rock and I loved her unshakable, "at work" mentality and how she was such a stabilizing force for the interns/residents. Now that isn't the case. I don't want to see her fall apart. Anyway, I find I just don't care about this show anymore. At all. And though there are no details forthcoming, if ABC president Steve MacPherson's comments (and the analysis of those comments) are to be believed, Shonda's planning some drastically different directions for the show next season that nobody is all that enthused about. I'm glad to be getting off the train before it derails.

3.  The Office finale was probably the best episode of its season, and maybe the best since "Casino Night." I loved it and didn't even notice that it was an hour -- and I'm one of those who believe super-sized episodes are too much of a good thing. The cold open was HILARIOUS, and my obsession love for Jim Halpert (and John Krasinski) has been heightened. If that is possible. (Is cloning really so immoral if it's used for good -- namely so that Cori and I can both have him?) I wasn't spoiled, but I figured that Jim and Pam wouldn't get engaged, only because we knew it was coming, and so how would it be a surprise or somehow shocking if it happened in the finale? I am so glad the writers have fixed Pam because as I've said before, my love for her has returned to Season 1 and 2 levels and I'm happy to forget Season 3 Pam. Also, how great is Amy Ryan as the very Michael-like Holly? I look forward to seeing more of her next season.

4.  The penultimate episode of Bones was beyond awesome. Best this season, and that's saying a lot, because Bones is one of those shows that -- almost non-traditionally -- has gotten better with each season. I am regularly amazed at how frakking funny David Boreanaz is. His comic timing is unbelievable. And it goes without saying that his chemistry with Emily Deschanel is fantastic. I am so excited that John Francis Daley has been brought on as a regular cast member instead of just recurring. It's so weird to see him all grown up after watching him as the tiny, adorable Sam Weir on Freaks and Geeks, and I now have a ginormous crush on him. He's so very Acronym-y.

5.  The first part of the House finale -- "House's Head" -- was phenomenal. As with Bones, best this season, even topping the awesome post-Super Bowl episode. Hugh Laurie is bound to get yet another Golden Globe and Emmy nomination for this performance alone, and gee, maybe he'll even win the Emmy this time. It's long past due. The man is brilliant. Also, as an unimportant aside, I can never call Thirteen by her real name. The first and last names don't go together. At all. And her first name is...weird. So yeah. Thirteen it is.

6.  No, I haven't watched the first part of Lost's three-part finale, because there's just the little matter of the four previous episodes I still have to watch. And I know, as always, I'm setting myself up to be spoiled -- and I already know a couple of things -- but I'm looking forward to diving face-first into, like, five (what better be) spectacular hours of the best show on television.

7.  If you didn't see my previous post, you must check out the bits of Fringe and Dollhouse that have leaked. They both look awesome -- especially Fringe -- and I expect Fringe alone to replace a woefully derailed Heroes as the sci-fi cult show of the moment. It could possibly reach Lost heights.

8.  And because I wouldn't be my obsessive self without a mention, I thought I'd post a yummy Edward Cullen picture. Because last night in my four hours of sleep, I dreamed that he turned me into a vampire. It was...lovely, and I definitely didn't want to wake up. Would that any boy (especially one this dreamy) look at me like this...

I knew it would begin with the end, and the end would look like death to these eyes. I had been warned.

Not these eyes. My eyes. Mine. This was me now.

Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host, dropped Tuesday. I put myself on the waiting list at the library a few weeks ago, and I was perfectly okay with being 11th. I mean, I admit, I wasn't all that enthused to read it. After all, this was wholly separate from the Twilight series. No Edward. No Bella. No impossibly, epically, gut-twistingly angsty romance. No life-and-death situations whereupon death would be more welcome than spending eternity without the one your heart yearns for...

Wait...where was I again?

Oh, yeah. The Host. So anyway, even though I'd heard really good things about it, I still was leery. I mean, it's being described as sci-fi-ish. I'm always leery of the sci-fi genre, even though I have discovered jewels like Battlestar Galactica and Firefly amidst the weird puppet-y Farscape stuff.

And then I got to work, sat down to count drawers and compile the morning deposit, switching on Glenn Beck as I always do. Five minutes after I did this, he starts raving about Stephenie Meyer. His daughters love Twilight, and so he's become quite familiar with the series as well, and then he proceeds to read the first few paragraphs of Chapter One of The Host, including the above excerpt, and I stopped everything I was doing to listen.

And then instead of going to the bank, the other store, and back to the main store to continue about my day, I made a quick detour to Barnes and Noble to pick up my own copy.

I am hooked. So yeah. There will be no vacation recap, no pictures -- I probably won't even unpack (!!) until I'm done.

I'm only on Chapter 2 and although I already know it won't top Twilight -- I'm not sure anything ever will -- it's going to come dang close.

"Oh, come on," I said dubiously. You have to know the effect you have on people."
He tilted his head to one side, and his eyes were curious. "I dazzle people?"
"You haven't noticed? Do you think everyone gets their way so easily?"
He ignored my questions. "Do I dazzle you?"
"Frequently," I admitted.

I'm pretty sure that Kevin convinced his mom to take him to Target to buy Twilight after we were done with Keenan's game today. He once told me that if I read Cirque du Freak, he'd read Twilight, and when I told him that I had the first book ready for pick-up at the library, he turned to his mom and told her she had to buy him Twilight.

This will be the longest book he's ever tackled. And I think the first one whose protagonist is a girl. But he's psyched to read it and already thinks Edward is cool.

I can't say I blame him. Edward Cullen, fictitious or not, pretty much dazzles me, too.

Logan: I thought our story was epic, you and me...spanning years and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic...

Veronica: Come on. Ruined lives? Bloodshed? You really think a relationship should be that hard?

Logan: No one writes songs about the ones that come easy.

It was one of my favorite quotes -- and one of my favorite scenes -- in all three seasons of Veronica Mars, and it kept running along the bottom of my mind, like a news ticker, throughout my consumption of Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse.

Before I continue, let me issue this disclaimer, in case it wasn't clear in past posts: I love Harry Potter. I have loved that series since I first discovered it on a plane to Chicago in September of 1999. I waited with eager anticipation for each volume thereafter, and inhaled each one in one day. I have seen each of the movies the day it premiered -- in fact, it's become quite a fun little tradition for myself, Kevin, and Mia. I have taken them to see every one, even when they didn't weigh enough to hold down their seats in the theater for ...and the Sorceror's Stone. I continue to anticipate the releases of ...and the Half-Blood Prince and ...and the Deathly Hallows. I never thought another series would be able to come along and have the same impact.

Until Twilight.

I've been trying to determine exactly why Bella, Edward and Alice have trumped Harry, Ron and Hermione in just three books' time. While I feel Stephenie Meyer is overall a better writer than JK Rowling, especially when it comes to evoking emotion and creating very complete, very layered, very realistic characters (seriously, when Bella was curled up on the forest floor, numb and practically catatonic, I was there right along with her -- I've been there), I think it ultimately comes down to what I've mentioned in earlier posts: Meyer's world is more realistic than Rowling's. And also? The epic, rip-your-heart-out romance between Edward and Bella.

Now, when I say the word "realistic," I am not implying in any way that I believe vampires and werewolves are any more realistic than witches, wizards, and trolls. However, when I suspend disbelief enough to make those worlds realistic, it is far easier for me to insert myself into Forks, Washington, than Hogwarts. It is easier for me to identify with Bella (and Alice, and Edward, etc.) than Harry.

Like Joss Whedon did when creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, Meyer writes about characters who just happen to be vampires. Yes, their vampire status defines their world and creates a number of conflicts and complications, but -- again, like Whedon -- Meyer's creations are very human. They strive to retain their humanity. They want to fit in with society.

Harry Potter exists in a separate, secret reality, where nobody can know about them, and there's this underlying, catastrophic battle always lingering on the horizon. On its own, the series is quite exciting and interesting. But at the end of the day, I can't see myself in that world the way I can in the Twilight books. That is how I determine what books (and movies, and TV, etc.) with which I fall in love -- if I can imagine myself inserted into those particular settings and scenarios.

I finished Eclipse last night (about five minutes before I passed out -- the meds my doc prescribed to help me sleep worked far more quickly than I anticipated) and it was all I could do to pick up The Lovely Bones on my way to work rather than grabbing Twilight to begin the, well, epic experience all over again. (Yes, I have since purchased all three books. I can't not have them in my collection.)

Edward Cullen has ruined me for, you know, non-fictional men. Steph (who I am happy to say is addicted right along with Erin and me, yay!) said she was trying to remember if there had ever been another relationship quite like Bella and Edward's, and I have to say, I don't think so. Sigh. Romance and love like that does not exist outside of fiction.

And it sucks.

Pun not really intended.

ETA: Eight hours, 45 minutes, and 498 pages later, I'm done. So. Amazing. And now I'm irritated that I've got to wait for the next one, especially when the third one is already sitting on my shelf...sigh...

So a few months ago, Erin recommended a particular book series to me. I remember thinking it sounded really interesting, but I always have a pile of books that I'm in the middle of reading, or need to read, or whatever, so I kind of filed her recommendation away in the back of my mind for a later date.

Then came my recent reintroduction to the public library. I was looking for titles to put holds on -- I love using the internet to hold books and then run in and out in five minutes to pick the books up off the hold shelves and check them out myself -- and I remembered Erin's suggestions.

The first book of the series, Twilight, arrived at my local branch yesterday and I picked it up this afternoon. Originally, I wasn't going to read it. I was going to merely tuck it away on my library book shelf, along with The Lovely Bones and Nineteen Minutes and House of Sand and Fog, while I finish Atonement. (WHY is it taking me so long to finish? Ian McEwan is a fantastic author, and Briony Tallis has quickly become one of my favorite protagonists this side of Scout Finch. And yet, it's taken me two weeks and I'm only halfway through. Sigh.)

But Erin's veiled (okay, not-so-veiled) hints at how awesome Stephenie Meyer's series is, coupled with my discovery that the movie version of Twilight, starring one of my favorite actors, Kristen Stewart, is due out this December, prompted me to preempt Atonement.

I meant to read a couple chapters while I ate dinner and then move on to other tasks. Namely, cleaning my apartment, packing up some more of my belongings into Chick-fil-A Waffle Fries boxes, and oh yeah -- watching "The Constant," the newest LOST episode.

And yet, until five minutes ago, I was still reading Twilight.

I am completely besotted with this novel. I admit -- I heard "Young Adult" and "vampire" and thought that, while it sounded interesting, it couldn't be all that masterful. And yet it is. I love Bella, the main character. She is written so well, and even if I hadn't already known Stewart had been tapped to play her in the movie, I would've probably imagined her anyway. It is so the type of role at which she excels. I am also a bit in love with Edward. You know, the fictional -- and immortal -- male protagonist. (He's being played by Robert Pattinson, the (hot) guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.) Holy crap. I think my breath actually quickens when I read the scenes of the two of them together. It reminds me a great deal of Season 1-2 Buffy-Angel interactions. So incredibly, incredibly -- and epically -- romantic.

I am afraid, though, that people my age -- you know, "grown-ups" -- will be disenchanted, or just plain turned off, by the notion that this is technically a Young Adult series, and that there are characters who just happen to be vampires. (And, I think, werewolves -- I haven't gotten that far yet.) It's kind of the same prejudice that caused people to miss out on the brilliance of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I am willing to read anything, whether it's intended for high schoolers or adults, as long as it's well-written and involves compelling plots and engaging, relateable characters. Meyer delivers in spades.

She really is an excellent, very descriptive writer capable of evoking a great deal of emotion. She's a better writer than JK Rowling, I must admit, and while I will always be enamored with Harry Potter...well, I can't wait to read the entire Twilight series. According to an interview I read, KS said there would be a fourth book coming out soon, and that she's hoping they shoot all four (or however many there are ultimately) and that she's excited to be involved in all of them.

I'm only 160 pages in, and I'm already willing to go out on a limb and highly, highly -- and unequivocally -- recommend this series.