For the Love of Twilight

I didn't wait in line for hours to see a midnight showing, but I did make it out this past Saturday afternoon to see a matinee of the long-awaited "Twilight" movie. When I left the theater, I have to say, I had a feeling of bliss. Despite the teenagers a few rows behind us giggling at inappropriate moments and the loud voicing of "That movie totally sucked" from a few other audience members, I felt totally pleased with seeing one of my favorite books acted out on the big screen. Maybe it's because I went into it with low expectations. Every trailer I watched left me feeling like Kristen Stewart was going to fulfill the part of Bella quite terribly, but she did much better than I thought she would. I was still bothered by some of her unnatural stuttering at times, but other than that, I think she was quite all right. I also just loved seeing my favorite vampire family become real, despite their terrible blonde dye jobs and sometimes overdone pale makeup. Aside from Rosalie, who I felt should have been more goddess-like, I absolutely loved the casting for all of the Cullens, and I can't wait to see more of them in the upcoming movies. Casting also hit high marks with Billy Burke as Charlie and Anna Kendrick as Jessica. In fact, all of the extras really captured the essence of high school, in my opinion.

Then that brings me to Robert Pattinson. Though I have to wonder how a human being can look so friggin' great in a movie and so sleezy in real life, I really loved Edward in the movie. I thought his English accent made his lines come out a little funny in some places, but otherwise, I really believed his emotions and his feelings -- much more so than with Kristen Stewart's portrayal of Bella. I really can't imagine a more perfect Edward.

My only big critique of the movie is regarding the sparkling scene in the meadow. It seems to be the popular consensus that Edward was nowhere near sparkly enough, but maybe that will be improved with a higher budget in the second film.

I would highly recommend seeing Twilight, but I think it will be much more enjoyable if you've read the book, or even the whole series, first. Now I just have to sit back and wait until New Moon comes out!

Just a Little Shared Story

Guy just e-mailed me this story from work, and I thought it was funny, so I'll share.

"So, get this: I bought a pack of Pop Tarts from the vending machine using one of my "break bucks" ($1 certificates they gave to all of us when we moved here). After I punched in my order, the machine started beeping and then just said "WINNER!!!" It then proceeded to dispense not one, but two packs of Pop Tarts, and then spit out a Sacajawea dollar coin in the coin return!"


How cool is that? I wish all vending machines gave out Sacajawea dollars.

In other news, Guy and I are planning a return trip to Disney World in the end of January. I really wanted to go on a nice vacation together since our honeymoon kind of sucked, and there was a lot we didn't get to do last time we went to Disney, so I'm looking forward to going back. We'll actually be there for the Super Bowl, so that could be bad if the Steelers make it, but otherwise it should be a grand old time. So far we have dinner reservations at Citrico's, California Grill, Cinderella's Royal Table, The Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, Hollywood & Vine for the Fantastmic! package, and Jiko. We are staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort. If you have any suggestions of what to do, let us know!

Halloween '08

Yesterday, November 1st, Guy and I went to a belated Halloween party at the home of his coworker Kevin and wife Steph. It was a fun party, where we won the prize for Best Overall Costume and I played my first ever drinking game...with water. Yes, everyone was forced to play flip cup, which I found out I'm not so bad at, but I wasn't going to play with alcohol, so me and some of the other girls just filled our cups with water (or just pretended to chug air when the water ran out). Though our team lost, we had great team spirit and it was a good time. I also ate lots of good food and saw Guy's "boss"'s white pillars of man meat (how Jerod refers to his legs).

Here are some pictures if you're interested in seeing some of the good times that were had by all.

Halloween '08

Overkill

I cannot wait until Tuesday night at 8:00. Why? Because the polls will be closed. Even if the election takes a while to be decided, even if we end up with more hanging chads, at least this will end the swarms of McCain/Palin supporters calling our house four times a day and knocking on our door. The worst part is that Guy and I are already planning on voting for McCain. We don't need to be convinced! The Republican National Committee should really be spending their time and energy elsewhere. We literally received at least three prerecorded phone calls today, which we let go to the answering machine. We received a fourth call a little while ago, and it was a real person, so I decided to answer and tell her that we're already voting for the Republican candidates. She said she was "so happy to hear that," so at least I made someone happy in the process. We also had a few old ladies come ring our doorbell yesterday at 10:00 a.m. We didn't answer, so they went down the street and rang our doorbell again. We didn't answer this time either, so they just left us a pamphlet on the door handle. Not only are these kinds of tactics annoying, but I really think they're ineffective. Even if I wasn't sure who I was going to vote for, I doubt a phone call or a pamphlet would convince me one way or the other.

So...48 hours and counting...

Remedy

Good news: I eventually got a call back from the supervisor at Cash4Books, and he told me that they would be sending the book back to me at their cost. I received an e-mail with a tracking number and shipping confirmation, so I should be receiving it soon. Although the whole situation seemed like one of those things a supervisor does to just smooth things over, even though he didn't really agree with me, that's fine. I've upgraded Cash4Books from my "do not do business with" list to my "consider doing business with if necessary" list.