Eclipse Counter

Yes, it's true. I'm a Twilight junkie. Just to prove that, look to your left on our blog home page and you will see a countdown for Eclipse, which is a little more than half a year away from release. Yep... running from reality yet again.

Deep Thoughts by Ignatius Plato

Driving in the car with my eleven year old is never, ever dull. Even if you wanted a quiet moment, it would not happen. Lately, I have been "torturing" him with what he calls "vampire music," aka the soundtrack from Twilight. It's really good, but, alas, I listen to it mainly through my iphone. Scott likens the experience to an AM transistor radio. :) Hey, I'm probably getting one of those little iphone stereo hookups in my car for my perseverance! Wise move. But I digress.

So, this morning I was torturing him for saying, "I didn't know you wanted me to get in the car," at 7:25 AM. Yes, we get in the car every morning at this time, yet this was his excuse for not having his shoes or coat on as his brother fought me over a Pop Tart that he did or did not want in a Zip Lock bag. (I KNOW it sounds confusing... it's my life, people.)

So, torture, anyway... I played the song, "I Caught Myself" by Paramore. After a moment, he comes out with, "I think this is a metaphor for addiction." Just about peed my pants with glee, being the English geek that I am. We had a brief discussion on his thoughts on this. So, here are the lyrics. You decide if the prodigy has a point. I think he brilliant, but I am a tad biased.

Don't worry. His next question of, "How did you push babies out?" was far more "sixth grade." Whew.

From Metrolyrics.com:

Down to you
You're pushing and pulling me down to you
But I don't know what I

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should've never thought
Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should've never thought

Of you, of you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want

You got it, you got it
Some kind of magic
Hypnotic, hypnotic
You're leaving me breathless
I hate this, I hate this!
You're not the one I believe in
With God as my witness

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should've never thought
Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should've never thought

Of you, of you
You're pushing and pulling me
Down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want
Don't know what I want
But I know it's not you
Keep pushing and pulling me down
When I know in my heart it's not you

Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should've never thought
Now when I caught myself
I had to stop myself
From saying something that
I should've never thought of you!
I knew, I know in my heart it's not you
I know, but now I know what I want! I want! I want!
Oh no! I should've never thought!

[Those who know Ignatius, how funny is it that the lyrics of this include "I had to stop myself from saying something that I should've never thought?" Life is colored with irony.]

This Woman's Review

Last Saturday, I went to see the Movie adaptation of Twilight. Here are my random thoughts for those who are interested.

At first, I was scratching my head at the choice for Edward, Robert Pattinson. The still photos of him that were used to promote the movie did him no justice. Edward was the larger-than-life gorgeous vampire, as described in the book. I think I was expecting that "drop dead" quality in the photos. They need to work on that for New Moon, because the man can have these types of photos taken, most definitely.

Well, after doing some of my own cyber-stalking, I realized that Pattinson, who loses his very charming English accent for the film, was the PERFECT Edward Cullen. Believably 17, believably a vampire, and believably in love with Bella, played by Kristen Stewart. I changed my mind very quickly. I think Kristen Stewart was a believable Bella, also.

The movie itself, however, made me scratch my head. Definitely low budget. Obviously, the producers were counting on the draw of the Twilight book fans (ahem) rather than the draw for any type of decent directing. I am hoping by Breaking Dawn they will have made the money to overcome this, because that adaptation of the last in the series cannot be done badly. I guess I just don't understand why some of the scenes were altered so completely from the sequencing in the book. Also, a great deal of the plot was rushed, it seemed.

I downloaded the soundtrack before I saw the movie, as the soundtrack was getting great reviews. They were all well-earned. I typically buy and play and soundtrack until it's a little maddening. Always have. I was fairly unfamiliar with the bands, except for Linkin Park. I thought the songs were great, particularly "Bella's Lullaby." Rob Pattinson even had a couple of songs on the album. He sounded... pained... and might want to just stick to acting. However, Muse is a band I have grown to love ("Supermassive Black Hole" is a great song). Just some good, alternative-like tunes for those who like that genre of music.

I also read Stephenie Meyer's manuscript draft for Midnight Sun, which is basically Twilight from Edward's perspective. VERY interesting read. It was sad to read on her blog that the manuscript somehow "got out there" and was being illegally distributed, but it figures with the popularity of her series that this occurred. Anyway, I had heard in an interview that Robert Pattinson read the manuscript as he was preparing to play Edward, and reading it made a lot if his acting decisions make sense to me.

Lots of craziness for a great set of books and an interesting series of movies (I hope). In all, I don't mind being wrapped up in the madness. It's so much more interesting than reality.

Obsessive

More and more, I lean toward a self-diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Now, laughing at me is not nice, for those who know me (and are probably screaming "YA THINK?!").

Seriously, lately, I just am able to clear up my mirror image of myself. There are some things that I am clearly not compulsive about (anymore). Laundry, for example, or keeping an overly-tidy house. School is also taking a back seat in my compulsion list. However, food and these stinking books by Stephanie Meyer...crazy compulsive.

On the food front, I finally realized that I am battling something far larger than just needing to diet. I have dieted, and dieted, and dieted. Over and over to no avail. I have been doing a lot of reading about compulsive overeating, and how a diet will not help. It seems especially related to PCOS, which I have. Anyway, more on that as I obsessively search the Internet.

What is with these Twilight books? At first, I scoffed. There was no WAY I was going to read a 500 page book for "fun," and there was NO Bleeping WAY I was going to read four of them. Lo, and behold. I just finished Eclipse tonight. That leaves Breaking Dawn. I will not open that thing tonight, I SWEAR.

SPOLIER ALERT. Do not read on if you intend to read the series.

So seriously, these books. They revolve around a main character, Bella, and her love interests. Her main love is Edward Cullen, your modern-day "good" vampire. She has some latent feelings for her "friend," Jacob Black, a vampire-loathing werewolf. Now, right there, reading the plot, one would think, "Why would JoLynn read this crap?" Seriously, I reread the sentences above, and they sound ridiculous. I think two vital elements bring these books to the level of addiction for me. First, I think all grown women like to think back to when they were 17-18 and had the whole world ahead of them. If there were love interests in their lives at the time, most women can really identify with Bella and her angst. Well, sort of, in a non-vampire way. Second, I keep shouting at the books. Meyer makes me mad with the plot in New Moon. Oooh, I was so mad. The depth of Bella's pain at being left by Edward... anyone who experienced a breakup when young knows the depth of that pain. Plus, it was Edward! He was not supposed to leave the love of his existence! I recall reading this late at night and just being ticked that I would not be getting any sleep. I could not "leave" Bella that catatonic. She had to dig herself out of this. Enter Jacob Black.

Poor, used Jacob. Bella... love the beautiful vampire or love the dorky werewolf... why was this a choice? Yet, in Eclipse, she claims her love for Jacob... and Edward? She made me so mad. BUT, that's the beauty of this writing. She's 18, not 39. She is seeing life as an 18 year old. And she's ticking me off.

Edward, on the other hand, has become my favorite character. He is the king of cool. Truly. I don't know if that was Meyer's intention, but she definitely makes Edward an absolute treasure of a guy. He is devoted to Bella to the point of being willing to give her up to Jacob if that's what she truly wants.

In Eclipse, Edward proposes to Bella... and she makes this whole big stink about not wanting to get married. Again, I am 39, she's supposed to be 18. What an idiot. Yet Edward is so patient and protective of her, killing an evil vampire who seeks her death. She is so not worthy.

OK, done with my fantasy world. Glad I got that off of my chest. What a nutcase!