As far as the movie is concerned, I actually really enjoyed it. Yes, there were laughable parts (that weren’t meant to be laughable), but I still liked it. It’s the closest movie to its book, which I think has to do with Stephenie Meyer being a producer now. And, I’m really excited for the second one because I think they’ll do a good job with it (and add more action than the book has).

Before I talk about all the things that I loved, let’s get the few complaints I have out of the way.

• At first, I really liked the scene in which the wolves spoke to each other. I liked the disjointed images Jacob saw as he was running through the forest and all the other voices in his head. But, as soon as Sam and Jacob started speaking to each other, the voices sounded weird, kind of like Darth Vader meets Optimus Prime. And, the voices sounded overly dramatic.
• The imprinting scene was … awkward. But, honestly, I don’t think there was any other way to do it and it’s a little creepy in its own right anyway.
• The dream sequence, like all the other dream sequences in the movies, was weird. It’s not how I pictured it and I didn’t like that they used the wedding guests instead of the immortal children.
• The makeup and wigs are still awkward and fake-looking. Poor Carlisle and the blond Denali vampires (other than Irina). Although, I did think Jasper looked better in this one than he has in the others, which is a plus and a miracle.
• I’m one of the fans that actually enjoyed the book. But, I knew the story was very cheesy and seeing those scenes on screen made the cheesiness more real.
• The wolves seemed less real in this movie than in New Moon and Eclipse. I’m not sure why, but the animation didn’t seem as refined. But, at least it wasn’t Lupin terrible.

Not too shabby, right? I honestly don’t have a lot of complaints as you can see because I thought they improved on a lot of things this time around (especially the acting). I absolutely loved the following:

• Even though the birth scene was extremely gruesome, it was actually my favorite part of the entire movie. It was seen through Bella’s perspective which gave it a disconnected feeling. I knew it was described as that bloody and horrific in the book, but seeing it come to life was a little surprising because I guess I didn’t picture it that horrifically in my mind.
• I loved Bella’s transformation. Watching the Photoshopping happen on screen as she turned from a mere mortal into a beautiful vampire was just so cool! It was really well done.
• They did an awesome job making Bella look as emaciated as she did while she was pregnant with Renesmee. I wish they could’ve applied that makeup awesomeness to some of the vampires.
• Normally, I hate added scenes in movies. But, I actually really enjoyed that the Cullens and wolves fought after Renesmee’s birth. It gives me hope that there will be fighting in the second movie instead of just talking and diplomatic solutions.
• I like who they got to play Renesmee and can’t wait to see how her aging process works in the second movie.
• I told my friend Debbie that I haven’t liked Robert Pattinson as Edward. He just never sat well with me. But, in this movie, whatever they did to his makeup or hair made him more appealing. Now, if only he’d shave his chest, then he may be perfect or as close to perfect as an actor can get to Edward.
• Aro became my hero in the short scene during the credits! He’s a grammar Nazi like I am!
• I loved Bella’s wedding dress.
• And, of course, as always, I loved Charlie. Billy Burke is the best thing that happened to these movies.

Overall, I was very happy with the film. It did as good of a job as it could with the storyline the book had. So, if you’re like I am and you liked the book, then I think you’ll like the movie. But, if you didn’t like the book, then I doubt there’s a chance you’ll like the movie either.

Unfortunately, I can’t embed it. But, here’s the link to the spot. (There may be a geographic redirect for people outside of Utah–annoying–so you may need to scroll down to the Live Interviews section and click the “What’s Next for Twilight Fan Club?”) My friends Danylle and Jamie were able to be there live this morning to answer questions after the spot aired. They represented our group well.

Once you watch the segment, come back and tell me what you think. I’ll tell you what I think right now, but don’t read it until after you’ve watched the clip. (I don’t want to taint your view, lol.) After seeing this, I feel like Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove. “Is that my voice? Is that MY voice?” Seriously, is that how I sound? I think I may need to invest in a voice coach so I don’t sound so annoying. And, I may need to take a public speaking class so I can learn not to “um” as much as I do, lol.

It was fun and I’m excited that our group got our 15 minutes of fame and that we could mention and promote other local authors too.

PS–When I was being interviewed, I mentioned how we had the chance to meet other fans around the country and that we’re friends with much more than just our local group. But, it didn’t make it into the segment.

Once upon a time, I didn’t like to read books but I decided to read a little-known book (at the time) called Twilight. The story intrigued me so much that I wanted to know more and I wanted to talk about it a lot. I couldn’t find anyone to oblige me–my husband couldn’t have cared less (not that I blame him) and my co-workers and friends liked the book but not as much as I did. I noticed on the back of the book that Stephenie Meyer had a website so I decided to check it out. From her website, I was introduced to the Twilight Lexicon, the premiere online fansite for the Twilight Saga.

I had never been compelled to find people who shared the same obsession as me before. I had never wanted to join an online fandom, not even with Harry Potter. (That was probably because I had people in real life to discuss the books with.) I decided to join the Lex thinking that I’d be bombarded by a bunch of tweens and teeny boppers and stop frequenting the fansite after a week or so. To my surprise, I found that there was a fairly large adult presence and many of them were from Utah.

About four months after joining the Lex, I was invited to meet some of these Utah women. We got together at a restaurant and I felt like I had met my kindred spirits. They aren’t kindred spirits just because of our connection through Twilight; Twilight was merely a vehicle that moved us all to the same point where we could meet. We’re kindred spirits because we were each looking to fill a void in our lives. We all have fulfilling lives through our families, school, jobs, church, etc. But, we needed something more … a way for us to be ourselves without wearing the wife, mom, student, and employee hat. This group gave us that.

We’ve now been together for a little over four years. Their friendship, love, and support has meant a lot to me. We’ve helped each other through different trials and adventures in each of our lives. I honestly don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t found these wonderful ladies. My life definitely wouldn’t be as fulfilling as it is with them.

The reason for this post is that my friend Danylle was contacted by our Channel 5 News. Stephany Beshara, the producer of the morning show, is planning to do a Twilight week during the week Breaking Dawn, Part 1 comes out. She wanted to interview people who are fans of the franchise and who have had their lives significantly impacted by these books.

On Saturday, part of our group got together and three of us were interviewed by Stephany, including me. It was so much fun to talk about how we met, how our lives were changed by Stephenie Meyer’s books, how not only our group has become fast friends but how we have made friends from all over the world through the Lex and other fansites that we still keep in contact with, and what we’re doing now that the franchise is coming to a close. (We’ll be featured on November 14 or 15 at 6:00 am. I plan to TiVo it so I can download it and post it on my blog.)

Many members of my group have moved past Twilight while others, like me, still enjoy the Twilight Saga (mostly in book form). But, none of us can deny the impact these books have made on our lives. I’ll always be grateful to Stephenie Meyer for facilitating a way for me to meet these wonderful ladies.

(Fortunately, when I met these lovely ladies, I had just started blogging. I’ve been able to document most of our adventures, including our trip to Forks with other Lexicon members and our many author parties.)

Last weekend, my book club had the amazing opportunity to host Ally Condie in celebration of the release of her book Matched.  When we invited Ally to come to our party, she told us she didn’t do many of these anymore because she just didn’t have the time.  But, since we were the only book club to ever invite her to celebrate her book Freshman for President, she wanted to come back.

My friend Debbie and I planned the party.  We wanted it to be big and to embody the essence of Matched as much as possible. I think what we came up with did a really good job!  We decided to have dinner and that the dinner would be served in tinfoilware and to have a dessert buffet.  When Ally came in, she said, “It’s my final banquet.”  If you’ve read the book, you’ll understand. ;) I was thrilled that she got what we were trying to go for.

We decked our friend’s house in green and silver balloons to match the cover of Matched.  We had bowls of red, green, and blue jelly bellies and M&Ms to represent the pills.  (Debbie did a great job of finding them! The colors were perfect!)  We even had green cups, napkins, and plasticware.  Debbie put together two posters representing the 100 list of poems and music that were approved by The Society.

At the party, we had everyone bring a memento and explain why they’d choose that item as their memento.  I had mine all ready and ended up leaving it in my purse in my car.  I got a ride from Debbie to the party, so that’s why it was such a big deal for it to be in my car.  It was really fun finding out what people would choose as their memento if they had to live in Cassia’s society.  After we shared our memento, we decided that some of the ones we had chosen wouldn’t have been allowed because they were too valuable (e.g. wedding rings, ivory necklace, ruby ring).

Afterward, we spent about an hour or more just asking Ally questions.  She answered some and held back on others, not wanting to ruin our anticipation of the other two books in the trilogy.

We wanted to thank Ally for taking the time to come to our party, so I had the idea of having a vinyl lettered sign made with the quote, “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas because that poem was a big deal in Matched.  I just didn’t know how to have it made, but my friends Nancy and Shelli offered to handle the logistics of the gift and it turned out absolutely fabulous! They even gave her a little bush of roses. (Again, if you’ve read the book, you’ll know why that’s important.)

After we had given the gift to Ally, Nancy gave each one of us a box to open at the same time.  We had no idea what it was or that it was even coming.  When we opened the box, we were all stunned to find a beautifully jeweled compact.  Ally was shocked and said it was the perfect thing to get.  She told us that she had told her husband she wanted to find a compact to commemorate Cassia and her memento.

The party was so much fun! I was so glad Ally took the time to come.  But, it wouldn’t have been nearly as great if it hadn’t been for my friends.  I’m always amazed at the things they can pull off to make our parties so much fun!  They’re such an awesome group of people and my life is definitely better for knowing them.  It was a night to remember! :D

As usual, we just enjoyed each other’s company with lots of fun conversation.  We talked about books we recommend and we even made plans for almost the entire year, taking a lot of the guess work out of our get-togethers. We have some fun things planned in the next few months so stay tuned for the recaps. I’m very excited!

*****

Saturday felt like a big day of nothing, honestly.  I didn’t get up until late because I didn’t get home from the party until around 1:30 am.  And, Corey and I just hung around home for most of the day.  We cleaned, I did some homework (very little), and we went to Office Max to buy some Post-its to help me with annotating for my summer term class.  Wait … what?  Summer term class? You probably thought summer term didn’t start until June 21st. You’re right. It doesn’t, but I already have homework for that class. :?

I received an e-mail from my summer term class teacher last Wednesday.  Here’s a little tidbit of that e-mail:

Welcome to English 295 for the summer term! This may seem a little premature, but I wanted to give you a heads-up as to what we’re doing. This course is on “writing literary criticism,” … and so I’ll be asking you to examine texts from the inside out, moving from basic summaries of the text you choose to work with to a critical examination in light of a theory or issue which you find particularly prevalent in the text.

… [I]n the event that you aren’t aware yet, the set of texts we’ll be working with for summer term is (drum roll, please) The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. … I’m telling you this now because within the first week of classes, I’ll have asked you to finish reading all four books and make a decision about which of the [four] you want to focus on during the term….  I think it’s fair to give you all a chance to start reading now so that you won’t feel overwhelmed by reading in the first week.

There you have it. 8O I not only have to keep up with my full-time job, church calling, and homework for my current class (which isn’t light I might add), but I also have to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the next five weeks and remember enough to be able to critique them using different literary criticism theories. It was nice of my teacher to give us some time to accomplish this, huh?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve always wanted to read these books.  I even tried reading The Hobbit seven or so years ago.  (I couldn’t get past page 42, but I wasn’t an avid reader back then.)  I’m just stressed to the max with trying to make sure I get them done in time.  Luckily, I don’t have to go to Girls’ Camp anymore so I’m going to take the time off work that I would’ve taken to go to camp and use it to read!

*****

On Sunday, Corey and I went up to Aymee and Dave’s, my niece and nephew-in-law, so Corey could watch the LOST series finale with them.  All three of them are huge fans, Aymee and Dave since day 1 and Corey since this January.  (Corey watched the first five seasons on Hulu in January to gear up for the final season.  I would’ve joined him if I didn’t have as much homework as I did/do.  I did see a few episodes here and there so I knew enough to get by, but not enough to have a firm grasp of the show or all the characters.)

I really enjoyed the series finale.  I thought it was well done and I cried several times.  Corey sent me this link earlier today.  It’s a guide to the series finale and helps you understand what happened and how it affected the entire series.  I think it’s quite insightful.

We went to Iggy’s Sports Grill last year and we went to The Mayan the year before that.  This year, we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Yes, I ordered the 1600-calorie slice of carrot cake for dessert.  But! I didn’t eat the entire thing all at once. To be honest, if I hadn’t been so full from my meal, I would’ve eaten the entire thing right then and there.  It’s so delicious!  (It’s out of my system now for another six months so I can go back to eating healthy again. ;) )

It was a little harder this year to find a time when all of us could get together.  We actually had to reschedule three different times because of things that kept coming up.  But, it was worth the wait and all the schedule juggling that took place because I always have such a great time with these ladies, and I love spending time with them.

Anyway, on Saturday, my friends and I threw a party for Bree Despain, the author of The Dark Divine.  I feel like Bree and I are BFFs now, she was that personable.  She was so much fun to get to know and I loved hearing about why she wanted to become and how she became an author.

Not only was meeting Bree a lot of fun, but so was the party.  My friend Debbie was the one with the idea and once conceived, she and my other friends hit the floor running to make everything a great success!

Most, if not all, the marketing for The Dark Divine has included the color purple because of the gorgeous cover.  (At some of the book events, they even had custom nail polish named after the book.)  Because of the cover, we decided to decorate with purple balloons and other purple and black decorations and most of us wore purple to the party.  (I have to say that color wise, this was definitely my favorite party.)

The Dark Divine takes place around Thanksgiving so we had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  It was so yummy! (I love being able to eat Thanksgiving dinner more than once a year. I used to request it for my birthday meal when I was younger.)

We had prizes too.  I was excited for the prize given to the person who wore the most purple.  But, alas, that game/contest was canceled a few days before the party because not everyone in the group had something purple to wear. Instead, a prize was given to the person with the best manicure or pedicure.  (Debbie knew I was disappointed about not being able to win a prize for wearing the most purple so she gave me a prize anyway–lavender bubble bath–because she knew it was inevitable that I’d win. The bubble bath is “divine” as I’ve already taken a bath with it.)  Another prize was given to the person with the best story about a time when they wished they had a cell phone, but didn’t.  (The main character, Grace, wished she had a cell phone more than once in the book.  But, her parents wouldn’t let her have one.)

My group of friends and I can get a little crazy at times.  We’ve been known to scare away people or make people nervous with our laughter and overall joviality.  Before we started to ask Bree questions, I warned her about our group.  Of course, I made it seem like I was innocent and wasn’t part of the devilishness to which most of my friends protested and corrected me. I only mention this because of the inscription Bree left in my book when she autographed it.

To Jennifer-
Thanks for the love & support. I had a great time laughing with you all. You’re right; this is a crazy bunch.
<3 Bree Despain

I laughed when I read it and I was happy we had made such a good impression on her.

It was a very fun party!  If you ever have the chance to meet Bree, I definitely recommend that you do.  She’s very down-to-earth, sweet, and funny.  And, as I stated in my review of The Dark Divine, I definitely recommend that you read it.

PS–For the record, I know I didn’t wear very much purple to the party.  But, in my defense, if the prize for wearing the most purple would’ve still been available, just trust the fact that I would’ve won.

When we walked into the party, we noticed a cardboard stand-up of Taylor Lautner, the actor who portrays Jacob Black in the movies.  Christie and Cami bought it for Danylle because she loves Jacob Black.  They even wrote a fun poem to go with him.

I had my second experience with a cracker since Danylle gave each of us one.  I got another green hat, but Sue was kind enough to trade me. It might have something to do with the fact that she hates purple. ;) I also got a yo-yo in it and a joke. “Q: Where do sick gnomes go?  A: To the Elf Centre.” 8O

We had Cafe Rio style salads with real Cafe Rio tortillas and dressing.  It was really yummy!  But, we always have good food at our parties.  Christie found an ice cream cake decorated like New Moon so she bought it for the party.  It was very neat!  The things you can do with cakes.

After dinner, we had a gift exchange.  It was lots of fun.  It seemed that everyone was in sync with who they were giving to because everyone loved their gifts.  Luisa had me and I never dreamed she’d get me the thing I wanted the most for Christmas–a slanket! :D I’ve already put it to good use at work because the air conditioner blows right on me. 8O

The party was a lot of fun.  Cami and Christie did a wonderful job of putting it together!  I love these women so much and I’m so glad they’re my friends.  I look forward to another year of great fun! :D

I actually only have four complaints about the movie, but they’re super small, which is a miracle. The first, what the heck did they have Alice wearing throughout that entire movie?  Her outfits were so unflattering and made her look frumpy.  The second, the circling around Bella’s room during the months she was a zombie made me car sick.  The third, the new Volvo.  It’s not silver.  The fourth, the flashback with the old Volvo added to the inconsistency with the new Volvo.  However, all of these complaints are made better with the addition of Jacob’s smoking pecs, abs, and hip dents!

I didn’t get a chance to go to a midnight showing.  I decided to be responsible and go to bed so I could go to work the next morning.  (However, I didn’t end up getting to sleep until 4:00 am on Thursday night anyway because of the antibiotics I’m taking. Grrr!)  But, I’m glad I waited so I could go with my niece Megan.  We had fun at the movie together, which made all the difference.  (Pardon the pictures.  They were taken with my crappy phone camera.)

On Saturday, I went to the Twilight Lexicon New Moon Movie Event with my friend Ali.  Corey and I hang out with the Vigues all the time, but I’ve never really just hung out with Ali.  It was a lot of fun to go to the movie together and we’ve decided to hang out with just the two of us more often.  (Also, if you’re wondering, neither Ali nor I won any of the raffle prizes.  We’ve decided we’re just unlucky.)

It was fun to see the movie with all my other friends too.  We have so much fun together and we always look forward to our get togethers.  This time around, it was a little crazy because we were trying to help Lori and Laura with everything for the movie event, but it was still good to see them and all of our out-of-town friends too.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie a third time next week with my in-laws.  And, I’m actually trying to talk Corey into seeing it tomorrow.

All you Twilight haters need to see New Moon because it’s better.  It also captures the essence of the Twilight Saga almost perfectly so you’ll understand better why the fans enjoy the stories so much.  Plus, there’s a lot more action for you manly men.

The nine of us ate at a not-so-good restaurant on Main Street.  We were trying to find something that all of us would enjoy and that wasn’t too expensive.  Unfortunately, in Park City, there isn’t a lot of inexpensive, good restaurants to choose from.  And, most of the inexpensive restaurants are fast food joints and we definitely didn’t want fast food.  However, even though the food wasn’t spectacular, the company was awesome and I’d eat there again if I was with the same friends.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel.  We were planning on playing some games, but we ended up just enjoying each other’s company by talking and taking pictures with my computer.  We laughed a lot and had a ton of fun.  Around 10:30 pm, Christie and Emily went home because they had other plans.  The rest of us stayed up until around 2:30 am talking and having a good time.

Today, we went shopping at the outlet stores.  I didn’t get anything and neither did anyone else really.  I guess it was between seasons and there wasn’t much to choose from.  Plus, I’m really anti-buying clothes right now.  I don’t want to buy something I’ll only wear for a little bit.  Corey thinks I should because I can’t keep wearing clothes that are too big for me.  Maybe, once my pants won’t stay up, I’ll go buy some new clothes.

It was so much fun to spend the evening and day with my friends.  I’m so lucky to have them in my life.  And, the trip was a much needed break from reality.