Breaking Dawn Trailer…..Duh Duh Duuuuuuuuunh!!

After dealing with all the heaviness of national publications attacking books we love and Summer Reading Programs starting all over the country, we all need a little bit of levity right now.

So…….here is the first trailer for Breaking Dawn Part One.*  I happen to be in the camp of people who adore Breaking Dawn (hey, Jacob got his happy ending, that’s all I wanted….I don’t care how gross it is) and the Twilight movies always make me happy, so I am super excited about this.

I really love the way it starts out with everyone receiving the invitations.  And the wedding itself looks gorgeous!!!  I just can’t believe they revealed so much of the plot.  I guess most people who will be seeing the movie already know what is happening, but still…..they could have left a little to the imagination.

I am really excited to see what the fancy pants director does with the impossible-to-adapt material in the book.  Is anyone else looking forward to it?  At least it will give me something to do after the last Harry Potter this summer.

Jen

*Sorry, I couldn’t get it to embed and I was too lazy to devote time to making it work.

 

Jen’s Review of Eclipse (Spoilers Ahead)

So I went to the midnight showing of Eclipse last night after working for 11.5 hours and doing 4 programs at the library.  I honestly didn’t know if I would even make it through the movie.  Luckily, Eclipse was FREAKING AWESOME, so I had no worries about staying awake (although I did rest my eyes for a bit while we waited in the theater for three hours).

I was a little nervous about the crowd in our theater because some of the people were exceptionally annoying during the wait.  There was a group of 5 Twilight Moms who literally stood in the center aisle for two hours.  We were sitting in the first row of the back section, so they were right in front of us.  I now know enough about all of their kids from their very loud conversation that I could buy them all Christmas presents.  I finally asked them to sit down because they were being rude and they looked at me like I was an idiot.  There was also an annoying girl who kept going to the bathroom and then shouting at the people behind us to tell them all how it was in there…….really?

But once the movie started, the crowd was great!  We all laughed at the right times,  screamed at the hottie werewolves and cheered after Bella finally said she would marry Edward (I could have done without that last one though).  There was one line that Jacob says as he enters the tent where the crowd just roared with laughter and then cheered…..it was a fantastic moviegoing moment.  I think Taylor Lautner has done a helluva lot for the Team Jacob movement.

Here are some of my favorite parts from the movie:

*The makeup and hair in this one is so much better than New Moon.  The vampires no longer look so pasty and Edward has thankfully lost his glossy lipstick.  Rosalie’s hair is fabulous compared to both previous films.  Thank God they finally got that right.  The only complaint I have is that Jasper’s hair is still hideous, but I guess that is to be expected.

*Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!  Billy Burke is phenomenal as Bella’s dad.  Everything he did and said got such a laugh.  There is one conversation between him and Bella that got almost as many laughs as the previously mentioned Jacob line.  I was a little upset when he was oringinally cast because he looks nothing like My Charlie (I always pictured him as kind of pot-bellied and balding) but now I know that he is perfect for this role.

*I LOVED Rosalie and Jasper’s backstories.  The final shot from Rosalie’s backstory is pitch perfect!

*I thought the battle was really well done.  The special effects that are used when a vampire dies are really great and there was a lot of cheering during the fighting, especially Edward vs. Victoria at the end.

*The training scene where Alice is fighting with Jasper might be my favorite scene in any of the movies.  It unfolds exactly as I remember it from the book and the two of them are SOOOOOOO adorable with each other.  Bravo Ashley and Jackson!

*Speaking of Jackson, I was really happy to see that he had a lot more to do as Jasper.  He was really funny and he did such a great job that I completely forgot how hideous his hair was for the last half of the movie.

*Another thing that was great about this movie was all of the scenes lifted right out of the book.  The other movies have stayed very close to their source material, but Eclipse seemed to have several conversations play out almost word for word from the book.  I love it when screenwriters do that!  And this wasn’t the cheesy “And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…” crap, I mean things like the tent scene and the very last scene of the movie.  (TENT SCENE! TENT SCENE!)

*Did I mention the tent scene with Jacob and Edward is fantastic?  My favorite parts of the series are when Edward and Jacob hang out with each other, and the tent scene totally lived up to my expectations.

Look at us! We are all emotional and angsty!

There are a few things that disappointed me, but they were very minor.  I wasn’t a huge fan of all the extra newborn stuff, but I know it was necessary to move the plot along and explain what was happening without having scene after scene of exposition.  I also wanted more werewolves!!!!  But it could have been a 2-hour movie of nothing but werewolves and I would want more.  I could have done with a few less angsty looks between Bella and well, everybody, but I guess that is to be expected.

I would like to see more wolves please...and why are you wearing a shirt?

Anyway, the movie totally kicked ass and I WILL be seeing it again multiple times.  I hope all of you Twilight fans rush out to see it and I think even some non-Twilight fans might like this one.

Jen

My Top Ten Young Adult Novels

I am fully aware that the following list will horrify most librarians.  There isn’t a real award winner in sight and every book has come out in the last five years (I didn’t actually check, but I am assuming that is true).  Also, they are really popular titles.

This is the list that I submitted to Persnickety Snark.  The post describing the poll does specifically say “favorite” books, which I took literally.  I completely understand that these are not the ten BEST YA books ever, but they are certainly my favorite.

Now, there is an absence of classics (no Judy Blume or anything like that) because I just didn’t read YA until I went to grad school!!  Also, the what most people consider to be the “best” YA book ever is one of the books that I loathe the most (stupid Holden Caulfield….I would totally punch him in the face if I met him on the street…..big whiner baby).

So without further ado, here are my favorite young adult novels…….you’ve been warned.

10.  Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock–I love this book even more now that I have read all three.  It feels like such a realistic story to me (even the this-could-never-happen final football game).  And I love that fact that it is set on a dairy farm.  I pretend now that all of the milk I drink comes from Schwenk Farm.

9.  Chalice by Robin McKinley–I think I am including this on the list because I felt so accomplished after I finished it.  It was tough going at the beginning, but by the end I was ripping through it to see what happened.  And the Master is totally one of my favorite guy characters ever.  He is smokin’!  (Okay, that is a really lame joke that nobody would get unless they read the book.)

8.  Unwind by Neal Shusterman–I love this book because it has a mind-blowing concept.  Not only that, but Mr. Shusterman knows what to do with it and doesn’t let the book lose steam at all.  Great plot, great characters.  Also, now that I’ve read this book, I look at certain kids and say, “Man, they would have totally been unwound…”  Yeah, I’m cruel like that.

7.  Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle–You might have noticed that most of these books (probably all of them) are ones I have mentioned on this blog before.  There are very few books I get more pleasure out of reading than this one.  I don’t think I need to justify it more than that.  JUBILEE!!!

6.  Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer–I literally kept thinking about this book for several weeks after I finished it.  It was so haunting and perfect.  Now that it’s already out, I am disappointed that there was a sequel about Miranda.  I really loved the vagueness of the first book’s ending (something I usually hate).  This book also caused me to eat lettuce for a month, even though I hate lettuce.

5.  If I Stay by Gayle Forman–I loved this book so much.  This is another one that made me really think.  I cared about the characters so much and cried though the last half of the book.  Oh, man this was fantastic!  Am super pissed that there is going to be a book two……really?  Sometimes people need to look authors in the face and say, “Hell to the No!”

4.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins–I totally had a conversation with this book while I was reading it.  Throughout the course of the novel I continually said things like, “WHAT!!!  OH NO!!!  DON”T DO THAT KATNISS!!!  Awwww, Peeta!  WHAT!!!”  I even did a little bit of talking the second time through as well.

3.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling–I like the sixth book better than the seventh book, but I think that the final one needs to be recognized on this list.  The HP books were such huge events in my life, and there was nothing better than getting on the phone with my sister and my dad after finishing this one.  Other books since the HPs have offered similar bonding opportunities, but none of them as strong as this one.

2.  Twilight by Stephenie Meyer–I will admit it, I love Twilight.  I adore the books.  I literally have to hold myself back from reading them every other week.  I can’t explain why I adore them, especially since I have so many problems with them (creepy stalker Edward, whiny Bella, etc.), but they will always have a special place in my heart.  (Moment of honesty here: I totally wanted to put Breaking Dawn on here in place of Twilight, but I was too embarrassed.)

1.  Forever Princess by Meg Cabot–This is my favorite young adult book because it is literally the perfect end to a wonderful series.  Meg Cabot knew exactly what her fans wanted and she gave it to them.  (Authors take note: we like this!!!!!)  I think I have read this book 4 (maybe 5?) times.  It’s my favorite because it is everything I want a YA novel to be: happy, frothy, funny, romantic, and with a happy ending.  I don’t usually go in for angst, drugs, dead people, or too much relationship drama (but sometimes I make exceptions: see above).

So there you go, that’s my list.  Just writing this made me want to run to my shelves and reread all of these books.  Then I realized that I only own six of them!  Eeeep!  To the bookstore!

Jen

P.S.  You may think from looking at this list that I place HP below Twilight and The Princess Diaries.  This is not true.  When taking the series as a whole, Harry Potter is always first for me, followed by Twilight and TPD tied for second.

So, Yeah…..There’s a “New” Twilight Book Coming Out

So, Stephenie Meyer has written a 192 page novella (since when has almost two hundred pages been called a novella????  Is there a real definition for what that word means???) about Bree from Eclipse.  Most of you (even some of you Twihards) are probably saying “Who the hell is Bree?”  Well *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER* Bree is one of Victoria’s minions who chooses not to fight the Cullens so is spared by Carlisle the pure of heart, but is then executed by the Volturi anyway.

Why would I want to read a book about a girl who is just going to die???  Which isn’t really a spoiler becuase the title gives it away.  I mean, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner does kind of give away the ending.

Now I am a huge Twilight fan.  I love Stephenie Meyer’s books.  I am just not a real big fan of Stephenie Meyer herself.  She went on and on and on about how she wanted to distance herself from Twilight and she needed to do something different after what happened with the Midnight Sun debacle.  Well, apparently she was ready to come back, but did she go back to Midnight Sun???  Nope, she decided to write a stupid book about a character no one cares about.

What really makes me mad is that she has the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun written…..in Twilight there are only 24 chapters and an epilogue.  That is only about 240 more pages since the books are basically telling the same story.  That means she could have easily finished Midnight Sun in the amount of time it took her to write this 200 page book (now I know that different books take more or less time to write, but this is just an example).

So she was ready to go back to Twilight, but she didn’t go back to Midnight Sun, even though her fans are DYING for it.  You know why?  Because she is still all pissed off that the chapters got leaked.  Well, she can’t blame anybody but herself for that.  She willingly gave out copies to people and one of THOSE people leaked the book (or lost it and then it got leaked, who knows).  She shouldn’t punish her fans because her friend screwed up.

Anyway, rant over.  One good thing about the book is that some of the proceeds will go to support Haiti.  Then it will be available online for free a few days after it goes on sale (why?  who knows?).  I think I am most mad at the fact that I will go out and buy this book so I can put it on my shelf with the others.  And I will read it, and I will love it.

But the whole time I will be wishing it could be Midnight Sun.  Also, think about how much more money she could have made for Haiti if she’d finished THAT book.

Jen

New Eclipse Pictures!!

So the internets are all abuzz with excitement over three new pictures from Eclipse.  There is one of Edward and Bella, and one of the monster love triangle (yawn!  soooo boring, nothing new there).  But the third one, OH THE HORROR!!

Now most of the disturbing things about this picture were things that I noticed while watching the 7-minute Eclipse preview on my DVD.  I vividly remember watching it and saying, “Holy Crap!!  They replaced Jasper with Renee Zellweger from Chicago!!!”  Good lord, I don’t know if I have ever seen a worse wig.  Poor guy.  At least he gets to hide in the back.

Same length, same loose golden waves...

Also, the bad hair day seems to be catching because, ummmmm, Carlisle, what’s up with yours??  It was fine in the first two movies!!!  What have they done to you??

I must say that I do love Rosalie’s hair!!  So much better than New Moon.  Now how is it that the same hair and make-up people can make Nikki Reed actually look like a blond, but they make two very hot gentlemen look laughable (and when I say laughable, I mean that I will literally laugh whenever Jasper is on screen).

And Alice, did you buy your pants in 1989??  I know that you could have, so I just want to know if you did…

And where is my boy Emmett!!!!  He is my favorite Cullen after Alice and by far the best one to look at (and yes, I am including Edward in both of those rankings).

Anyway, the movie is right around the corner!!  I am going to try to avoid most spoilers from here on out so no more pictures or video clips until the movie!!!!

What do you guys think?

Jen

My Thoughts On New Moon

Okay, so I will admit that New Moon has only been out for like 11 days or something like that and I have already seen it three times.  But in my defense, one of the times was free, so that really doesn’t count.  Needless to say I totally loved it.

Here are some of my favorite (and not so favorite) parts of the movie.  Things will be a little spoilery from here on out.

*First of all….this movie was made for midnight shows…….seeing it with the opening night crowd was amazing!!!!  There was ooooooohing and aaaaaaaaahing, squealing, and lots of cries of “take your shirt off!!”  (I will admit that even I yelled out “Why are you wearing a shirt?” at Jacob during the scene at Emily’s house………oh funny story about that……apparently my sister yelled out “Who gave him a shirt?” during the exact same scene when she first saw it.)

*I liked Kristen Stewart so much more in this movie!!!!!  Even though she was all angsty and totally lacking in any girl power or sense of self, that is totally in keeping with the book so I could ignore that.  I think I am just really annoyed by her acting when she is around Edward……so that didn’t happen very often in this movie.

*Ummmmmm, Charlie is like amazing!  I totally love him a little bit more each time I see the movie.

Oh Charlie!

*Speaking of non-monster characters…….how about them humans???  Mike and Jessica stole every scene they were in!  Mike was fantastic in the movie scene (man, can that boy play sick!) and Jessica can take a line like “movie night with Bella” and make it the funniest thing ever.

*I am not going to talk too much about how awesome the shirtless werewolves are because it’s kind of creepy.  I’ll just say that Paul was really hot because he is 24 so that makes it a little more okay.  And Jacob was awesome.  That is all.

No Shirts, No Problem!

*Michael Sheen as Aro was the greatest casting in the history of all movies.  I love the fact that he is this super important well respected actor who has been in Oscar winning movies and yet he is not afraid to do stuff like New Moon for fun.  He played Aro pitch-perfectly.  No one else could have done it better!

*I adore Alice…….I also adore Alice and Jacob interacting……….I have such high hopes for the vampire/werewolf interactions in the next movie!!

*I thought they did a MUCH better job of doing the vampire running thing in this movie.

Now on to the things I did not like so much.

*Ummmmm, this is not a high school play……so could you at least get some decent wigs.  Jasper looked hideous….there is no other word for it.  People literally laughed every time he came on screen (and that was before he even started speaking).  Also, Rosalie’s hair was TERRIBLE!!!  I know that she has brown hair in real life, but really…….SNL has better wigs than that.

Yeah, we are scared of your hair too

*Too much lipstick on Edward!!!!!  Also, he looked like an undertaker in that suit.

*I HATED what they did with “The Phone Call.”  In the book, Jacob doesn’t know that it is Edward on the phone and innocently answers “Carlisle’s” question when he asks where Charlie is.  In the movie, Jacob knows it is Edward on the phone and obviously phrases his response to make him think Bella is dead.  Yeah, Jacob hates Edward, but it really pisses me off that they made it a deliberate action on his part.  It is literally all his fault that Edward almost dies.  I’m kind of mad at Taylor for this one because he’s been talking so much about how he really studied the books, and anybody who has looked at Jacob’s character closely would have caught that and fixed it.

All in all, I thought it was a great adaptation of the book.  One of the things I really don’t like about the movie being so popular is that is brings out all the haters.  For some reason, people just cannot leave the movie alone.  Everytime I read an article online about the movie, all the comments are filled with vicious and hateful people just ripping Twilight to pieces.  I understand it is not for everyone, but please…..leave my guilty pleasure alone!

Jen

Are You Ready For New Moon??

I think this should totally be the official poster

In less than 24 hours I will officially be waiting in line with a bunch of 12 year old girls and TwiMoms to see hopefully my new favorite movie The Twilight Saga: New Moon (I think it is really funny whenever people on tv use the full title…..it sounds so corny).  I am uber-jealous because my sister is going to see the movie sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow morning because she works at a theater and they got their print of it today.  She called me just to gloat about it.  Did I mention I was jealous???

I am all set to go tomorrow.  Snacks for waiting in line….check.  Blanket to keep warm on cold floor….check.  Pillow for my old lady butt…..check.  Team Jacob shirt….check.  Headphones to block noise of annoying tweens….check.  Deck of cards for Jessi and I to ease the boredom….check.

I am going to be bouncing around all day tomorrow at work trying to contain my excitement.  Now some people think it is silly and even pathetic to get so worked up about something like a movie…..or even worse, a Twilight movie.  My response to that is that EVERYBODY gets excited about something.  No matter what it is, everyone gets all worked up about either sports, videogames, the first snow of the season, or pickles, etc.  It is a healthy way to let off energy.  So I just happen to get my kicks squeeing over book releases and movie releases based on books.  Feel free to mock me if you want.

I have been getting ready for tomorrow by re-reading the whole series over (including the first 12 chapters of Midnight Sun), watching the movie again, and watching the cast work their way through countless tv interviews.  Now it doesn’t surprise me that my two favorite interviews so far are from Kellan Lutz and Taylor Lautner.  Emmett and Jacob are two of my favorite characters in the books and the movie so that makes sense.  (Full list of favorite characters: Jacob, Alice, Emmett, Seth, Angela and Garrett.)

Here is Kellan Lutz on Ellen.  He is so adorable when he talks about his dog…..and oh man, when he starts doing push-ups!  Good lord!  Also, P.S. don’t you think he would make a fantastic Peeta??

Taylor Lautner was on the Jay Leno show the other night and it was super adorable (in an awww that’s cute kind of way, not in a creepy old lady kind of way).

So I am all set to see the movie.  I am pretty sure that after I do I will want to read the books all over again…..stupid crazy addictive books!  I will try to take pictures at the midnight show of all the crazies in line with me (and don’t worry, I totally group myself in with the crazies).

Jen

I’d Like To See Edward Try To Move Like This

Vodpod videos no longer available.

God bless Entertainment Weekly and their neverending obsession with everything Twilight related.  The upcoming issue of the magazine will feature Kristen and Taylor on the cover, which will be probably the 4th Twilight related cover this year and there hasn’t even been a movie or a book out yet!!!!!!!!!  I can’t tell if their editors are the ultimate fangirls or if they are just trying to reach out to the fangirls.  Either way I don’t care, because it leads to videos like the one above.

Ms. Stewart is her usual quirky self (*cough* probably on something *cough*) but the reason to watch is the wonderfulness of Taylor Lautner.  Not only is he not afraid to frolic in tall grass (BEWARE OF TICKS!!!!) but he can do crooked backflips!!!

I am soooooooo excited for this movie!!!  With all the hype surrounding Taylor before the release, he better be in the movie for more than 15 minutes, because I can totally see them condensing the whole first 250 pages into 20 minutes (10 minutes of course, being reserved for the infamous paper cut scene).

TEAM JACOB Forever!!!!

Jen

Hot Boys and Cute Puppies, Or the New Moon Trailer

I saw this last night on the MTV Movie Awards (and come on, who didn’t see it?) and I have watched it many times since.  The Edward/Bella stuff at the beginning kind of makes me gag, (You’re my only reason to stay……alive……if that’s what I am. Gag, hack) but I loved seeing all the Cullens (most dramatic paper cut ever!!) and Jacob, the werewolf, and Jacob.  Did I mention I loved the Jacob part??  I thought the werewolf looked pretty good.  Nothing like how they are described in the book (or maybe just nothing like I pictured in my head) but it did seem relatively realistic enough for me (very reminiscent of the wolves in the first Narnia movie).

Anyway, here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it, or for those of you who just want a place to watch it over and over.

Jen

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Pattinson Music

I must admit — and I know I will probably be banished to the ends of the earth for this — Robert Pattinson never really did it for me in Twilight. Don’t get me wrong. Yes, he’s certainly attractive, um, hello scene when he steps out of his car wearing those sunglasses, and yes, he’s British, so obviously the accent helps immensely, but I don’t know, usually he’s just too scruffy for me or something.  Plus I think I may have a secret thing for Emmett, which might have begun when I dressed as Rosalie for ICPL’s teen Twilight viewing.

HOWEVER

Oh. My. Gosh. How much do I freaking love Robert Pattinson’s songs “Never Think” and “Let Me Sign” from the Twilight soundtrack? Answer: SO, SO, SO MUCH!  And since I am a big music nerdgirl & a huge sucker for a boy with a guitar, the amazingness of these two songs alone make me love him. “Never Think” is my current favorite of the two because it’s so simple and beautiful with just the acoustic guitar and his voice. Of course, it’s kind of hard to understand what he’s saying, but whatever, he’s totally forgiven. And “Let Me Sign” is completely haunting and incredible.  Hands down the best haunting song I’ve heard since “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap.

So basically, I’m a Robert Pattinson convert thanks to these two songs. I need more!

*Gasp* I just remembered that Robert Pattinson plays “Bella’s Lullaby” in the movie, and according to what I read online, it’s actually him playing the piano!  Guitar AND piano?  Wow!

– jill