Back from an extended break.  Too much pumpkin pie and way too much work to catchup on.

I am such a crankypants during the holidays!  Honestly; the hustle and bustle of things.  The annoying people at the mall.  Ugh, don’t even get me started about the mall.  I don’t know about you, but our local mall has kiosk people and store people stopping you every ten fee: “Miss, can I ask you a few questions about your hair?” or “Miss, can I tell you about the product for your nails?” or “Miss, can I talk to you about your cell phone plan?”  No, no, and no.  I’m in a hurry.  I wear my hair in a ponytail, I don’t paint my nails, and I don’t really care about my cell phone plan.  You’d think looking mad and walking fast would stop them, but no.

See?  Crankypants.

Lets see, updates.  Well, yesterday I entered Nathan Brandsford’s first paragraph contest.  Fabulous prizes, lots of competition.  I doubt I’ll win, but I figured I might as well do something with my novel other than edit it.  The link to his blog is on the sidebar.  The contest ends at 4pm Pacific time TOMORROW.  

And speaking of editing, on a whim I decided that my 1st person narrated novel should be a 3rd person narrated novel.  I spent all Thanksgiving break changing “I” to “me” and ”my” to “her.”  Fun!  I think it flows better this way and think maybe–just maybe–I like it.  We’ll see.  I’m a harsh critic.

My most recent literary foray was a monsterous book that everyone is squealing about: Twilight.  Yes, Twilight: of vampires and clusmy girls and the gloomy northwestern United States.  This also encouraged me to see the movie Twilight, for free, thanks to my dear friend Verity who procured advanced passes.  But more on that in a minute.

Ah, what can I say about Twilight?  I think the draw of Twilight is Edward Cullen.  Obviously.  Edward Cullen is every girl’s dream, fantasy.  He is the knight in shining armor.  He saves Bella; he loves her unconditionally.  There is nothing unappealing about Edward Cullen, not even the fact that he is a vampire.  That, it seems, is part of what makes Edward so attractive.  It’s the danger of it!

A word on Bella.  I, personally, do not like Bella’s character.  As a reader, I feel sympathetic for her and cheer for her, hoping she and Edward would just STOP toying with me and do it already–but anyway.  I digress.  To me Bella seems like a one sided character; without Edward, she is nothing.  She doesn’t have hopes.  She doesn’t have dreams.  She has insecurities, but they also are related to Edward.  She’s not pretty enough for him, she’s human and will eventually die.  As Verity pointed out, she’s also a tad bit anti-feminist.  She takes care of her father, always cooking and cleaning–which is nice, but is it realistic?  When I was seventeen, I didn’t even know how to do laundry.  Anyhow, I just don’t care for Bella.  She doesn’t seem like a fully developed character to me; maybe just more of an extreme.  You may not agree, but there it is. 

That said and out of the way, I really enjoyed Twilight!  It was hard to put down.  I was rooting for the characters and I absolutely loved Edward’s family.  I liked the backstory on Edward’s family, which was sadly lacking in the movie.  Do I recommend Twilight?  Yes.  Do I think it’s a literary masterpiece?  No.  But, regardless, it was an enjoyable book and, Bella aside, was a fun world to immerse ones self in.

Now the movie.  Ah, but what could have been!  The movie was cute.  I liked it.  I will most likely be owning it on DVD as soon as it is available.  However…well, I don’t know, movies made from books are always a disappointment.  You go in expecting one thing and you get another.  I missed certain aspects of the book, especially when Edward saves Bella in Port Angeles and Jasper’s abilities (but I loved Jasper, let me tell you).  I was disappointed by the sparkle.  But, I loved the baseball scene and thought James was the fantastic; a standout.  And Robert Pattinson has magical hair. 

So the standings on Twilight:

Book: recommend!  It’s a fast read and what all the cool kids are talking about these days.

Movie: wait until dvd.  Look out: Robert Pattinson and his magical hair are about to be everywhere.