More Eclipse Movie Stills...

Fight scene! What's with the zipper jackets? Is this what you wear to kick newborn vampire ass if you're a Cullen? Are they shooting a Gap commercial afterwards? What the hell is going on with Jasper's wavy mane?
Learning the legend of the Quiluetes and wasting her precious time with Jacob, when she could be leg hitchin' Edward.
Is Jacob looking a little pastey to anyone else? THE WIG still pisses me off, but Edward's v-neck is fits nicely!

New Eclipse Paperback Book Covers!

I obviously have a love affair with books, so the release of these new paperback covers for Eclipse are like a new pair of Manolo's to some of you! I have a copy of every New Moon and Twilight covers...my excuse is that I teach 8th grade Reading and can use them in my classroom, but even if I didn't teach, I would buy them! Check out these cool images of Bella, Edward, and Jake. Pretty cool.

Edward is the apple of her eye, I guess?
I like this one! Bella is lookin' hot, and I like the dueling hot boys in the background.

New Novella from Stephanie Meyer!

Stephenie Meyer must know that my birthday is June 6th, because she's releasing her new novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner the day before my big 30th birthday! I predict this isn't the last book released by Meyer in the upcoming year. Even though she has be quoted numerous times as "taking time off", writers NEVER quit writing. I bet she has a few more books up her sleeve and will release one this time next year and another during the release of Breaking Dawn, which hasn't even begun filming. Twilight Saga fans know Bree Tanner as the newborn vampire spared by the Cullens after they defeated Victoria's newborn army. She was spared, but the "Volturi don't give second chances" and she was killed by Felix for violating vampire laws. Here is an excerpt from MTV.com's coverage of the new novella! I can't wait to devour it!

An “Eclipse” Exclusive:
If you’ve only been watching the “Twilight” movies or read the first two books, don’t be shocked that you have no idea who Bree Tanner is. In fact, don’t be upset if you read “Eclipse” and still have no idea who she is. Tanner is a character introduced a startlingly short amount of time before she dies in “Eclipse” and could be considered (to everyone except Stephenie Meyer) to be a throwaway character.

A Short Life:
Tanner is only introduced 10 pages before she is killed off in Victoria’s war against the Cullens and the Quileute werewolf tribe. However, of all the newborn vampires discussed in “Eclipse,” Tanner was one of the few to be named and introduced to the readers. Unfortunately, it didn’t take very long after she was turned into a vampire for her to meet her end … again.

Dramatic Death Scene:
It turns out Tanner isn’t the best newborn vampire among them all, and she isn’t a big fan of killing innocents and drinking their blood. She tries to join forces with the Cullen clan and adapt to their “vegetarian vampire” lifestyle, but ends up being killed by Felix on the orders of Jane, a member of the Volturi guard (played by Dakota Fanning in the film), in the final battle.

Newborn Vampires:
A big part of the story in “Eclipse” surrounds the bad-girl vampire Victoria creating an army of newborn vampires in the Seattle area so she can wage war on Edward Cullen, who killed her beau James way back in “Twilight.” When a vampire is first created, it is at its strongest, so Victoria went around recklessly creating vampires so she could have an extremely powerful army behind her. Tanner was just one of the fatalities.

Seattle:
The trouble with the first-person perspective of “The Twilight Saga” is that the reader can’t read what is happening firsthand beyond what Bella Swan sees with her own eyes. Much like “Midnight Sun” gave (some) of the details behind what happened elsewhere in “Twilight,” “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” will show what happened in Seattle with Victoria during “Eclipse.” But since much of “Eclipse” is devoted to the characters wondering what exactly was going on in Seattle, seeing it through the eyes of a secondary character like Tanner is a smart companion piece to the book.

Unseen First Life:
Unfortunately for Tanner, the world will never know what happened to her before she became a vampire. She was introduced into “Eclipse” after she was a newborn and “The Short Second Life” will start off the same way. There is a chance of flashbacks telling about her life before becoming a vampire, but the way Meyer described the novella on her Web site made it seem as though Tanner was the narrator solely so the reader could see what went on in Seattle, not to learn her past.

In The Movies:
“Eclipse” director David Slade at least had more of a heads-up than fans and retailers did about “The Short Second Life,” and he cast 14-year-old Jodelle Ferland in the role. Slade and Ferland, as well as Bryce Dallas Howard (Victoria) and Xavier Samuel (Riley), were given advance copies of the book to read so they could have a complete knowledge of what went on in Seattle for the film.

The Last Song Author Featurette - Check Out Will! Hot!

A group of my 8th grade girls and I are going to see this film on Friday. I'm excited to see if it remains true to the novel, and for some odd reason, Greg Kinnear reminds me of my own father. I'm sure I'll be bawling like a big ole' baby by the end of this thing, but I really do love the story. If you come from a home with divorced parents, you can easily identify with Ronnie's plight. I also love that Will's character is a hottie. Can't wait to see the volleyball scenes, that's for sure! I particularly love the scene in this featurette where he is hosing off Ronnie after a day of mudding. Oh my!

This video just has a few more scrumptious shots of Liam Hemsworth. Mylie is a lucky girl!

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks...Oh, Yeah, and My Hatred of Book Snobs!

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I by day, I'm an 8th grade Reading teacher. Hence, the innumerable teen fiction reviews and Twilight-obsessed posts - 8th grade girls are to blame for my love of Edward Cullen! I had two students basically force me to read Twilight, and I will be forever grateful for their insistence. When my students ask me to read something, I obliged because throughout the school year they are reading works per my request. I have a group of girls that have become Nicholas Sparks addicts. I don't usually purchase Sparks books for my classroom because of the "adult" situations that sometimes crop up, (hello, did anyone read the scene in which Ally and Noah reunited from The Notebook? Too HOT for teens!) but this group have been buying their own copies and reading them during our independent reading time. These girlies challenged me to read The Last Song, so picked up a copy and did so over the weekend.

As for my review of the book, I enjoyed the story and can appreciate why my teens love it so much. It's a story about discovering true love, mending bridges with parents, and understanding why family and love is the only thing that matters in this world. It also helps that Mylie Cyrus is staring in the movie version of the book, which I think is the main reason many of my girls picked it up. No matter what turned them on to the book, I'm just excited that they are reading and sharing their opinions about what they read with one another. The story is simple and oh, so sad, but I love any book that makes my students discuss and rehash.

This brings me to my second point I'd like to discuss in this post: Book Snobs. I've talked about Book Snobs before in my posts concerning Twilight and books that aren't considered "good literature" by the elitist Book Snobs. What is a Book Snob, you may ask? Well, if you're a BS, you slam all mass-market fiction and label most best-selling authors as "crappy writers" or producers of works with "no literary value". Book Snobs insult, degrade, and rarely promote any book that isn't labeled a classic or a work that has won literary awards. Book Snobs usually have never written a novel, and if you are a Book Snob critic who is also an author, more than likely that author has only written works that are research-based or non-fiction. I rarely hear authors of fiction slam other authors of fiction because, well, they have first-hand knowledge of how hard it is to produce but how very EASY it is to critique. What makes my blood boil more than anything is when Book Snobs are TEACHERS who openly share their opinions of books that are not "worthy" to read with their students.

While browsing Barnes & Noble last night, I picked up an educational text written for teachers of literacy. Granted, this book wasn't written by a well-known author in my field, but what this author said about mass-market fiction really upset me because her opinion is being openly shared in schools everywhere. In her defense, I will totally butcher the quote that infuriated me since I do not have the book in front of me to directly quote what she said about popular books. The statement said something to the effect of "I read excerpts from mass-market books written by authors like Nora Roberts and James Patterson, so students can see how these books are not well-written." First of all, middle school students are smart and intuitive. They are not going to disagree with their teacher's opinion if they realize the intended result of the presented lesson should be them agreeing that the writing being shared is "bad". Just like adults in a room full of Book Snobs, most of us are non-confrontational and will keep our mouths shut if a Book Snob is slamming a book we happened to enjoy. Teens are no different than adults in that regard, and if their teacher is telling them that a book is poorly written then they will agree. Teens don't like to appear stupid to their peers or teachers, because the figure, what do I know about well-written books compared to their teacher who has her degree and has read tons of books?

The literary expert author also went on to slam authors (that I grew up LOVING) like John Grisham and Michael Crichton (God rest his soul). This slamming of entertaining and popular fiction just BUGS me. Why in the world would you make teens feel that only dumb people read mass-market fiction. Why would you slam a book that they might have enjoyed? I just don't GET IT. I've experienced this backlash of popular fiction after I began sharing my love of Twilight with other teachers in my field of study. I was completely appalled when some teachers told me that they think the book is "crap" and would never promote that "type of reading" to their students. WHHHHAAAATTTTT? You would possibly demean and slam the only book one of your students might have enjoyed? What does that tell a student? It tells them that they are a horrible judge of literature and maybe that this reading thing just isn't for them if they only book they like is "crap."

Book Snobs are a group of people I hate with a passion because they turn people off to reading. If you genuinely think that only good books were written 100 years ago, or to have subject matter that doesn't deal with love, science fiction, or humor, then Book Snob, you suck! Keep your sucky opinion to your sucky self and stop telling my students (and myself) that they suck because they like stuff that you feel sucks. I've read tons of literary classics (most English majors are required to do so), and I have many favorites in that genre that I come back to time and time again. I will read literary award winning works, and find the value in them, but most of them are hell to get through and are not books that I gravitate towards and end up loving and recommending. The Last Song might not be nominated for any literary awards, but it is keeping my 8th graders noses in books, which in itself is a huge accomplishment and doesn't SUCK by my students' standards.

Oh, and here's to hoping The Last Song movie doesn't suck! The trailer made me cry (because I know the ending) and I will probably being seeing it with a slew of 8th grade girls! Bring on the tissues!

REMEMBER ME? Uh, Heck Yeah!

I'm just going to say that Entertainment Weekly is on crack for giving Remember Me (the new flick with Robert Pattinson) a grade of D-. I was blown away by the movie, and didn't expect such depth and drama out of a film I was only going to see because of the eye candy. I'm not going to go into plot too much because I might spoil the dramatic ending of the flick, but Rob plays Tyler Hawkins, a guy battling several demons - mainly the loss of his beloved brother to suicide and his work-a-holic father who neglects him. He orchestrates a "chance" meeting with an attractive blonde from one of his classes, who also happens to be the daughter of the cop who through Tyler in jail after a bar brawl. Tyler doesn't expect to fall in love with Ally, but soon finds he can't control his heart, no matter how burdened and messed up it may be.

Even though my love for Pattinson was cemented with his New Moon appearance, I saw him in a totally different light in Remember Me. He is a good actor...no, check that, a great actor and it's sad that he won't get the credit he deserves because he was in a pop culture phenomenon movie. I see him having to travel the long, difficult road that Leonardo Dicaprio had to endure after his role in Titanic. If I do recall, Leo wasn't taken seriously as an actor for quite sometime after his Titanic success (no pun intended).

This film was surprisingly well-written, full of delicious scenes (Rob plays the bad boy SO WELL), and had some extremely heart-tugging, tear-jerking moments that left such an impression on me that I'm still mulling them over long after leaving the theater. I'm not sure teeny-boppers will understand the importance and poignancy of the ending, but Remember Me is a great film to see over your Spring Break if you want to be pleasantly surprised. LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT....and hated to see it end. You'll know what I mean after you see it. Trust me.

FULL ECLIPSE TRAILER!

Oh, Edward. How I wish to see you on the big screen in June. *SIGH* Enjoy the full 1:33 of Edward, Bella's nappy wig, and of course, Jacob with his shirt off...he's legal now, ladies, so I can finally say "Yummy!" without feeling like a totaly creep! ;)

ECLIPSE 10 SECOND TEASE!

I've already ranted about Bella's wig, so I won't go there, but OMG! I'm so freakin' ready for this movie! I'll have to admit, I'm rereading Eclipse for the fifth or six time right now (I've lost count), and it is still my favorite of the four. What I'm getting this time around is what a brat Bella can be, and I didn't really pick up on that too much before. I know people (feminists and such) are annoyed by Edward telling her what to do, but she really does treat him like total crap in parts of Eclipse. I'm TEAM EDWARD all the way, so I know I don't share her fondness for book-Jake. However, I do have a certain soft spot for Mr. Lautner. I wonder if I will be cheering Bella on (in the movie version of Eclipse) to sneak out to see Jake. The book Jake (in my head) still isn't as hot as Taylor. I'm not sure why I can't MAKE book Jake as hot as movie Jake, but it's like the image I created for Jake the first time I read the series is seared into my brain. I can't shake the annoying Jacob I'd conjured up during my first read through. It sucks. I would much rather picture Taylor Lautner trying to put the moves on Bella then the Sophomore-esque Jacob I'm projecting. I read Eclipse and think Bella's big ole' idiot for being "torn" between the two. June 30th can not get here soon enough! Tear me in two, boys!

Perfect for a Chai Latte

United Supermarkets carries the Silk brand of almond milk that I've been using to make my tea lattes. I'm not good with dairy, and this almond milk is a delicious and low calorie alternative. The vanilla kind is even yummier than the original, so look for it if you are a fan of that flavor. Almond milk has tons of nutrients that are heart-healthy, so for those of you who attempt to "eat clean", this stuff is awesome!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Awkward Family Photos Blog...LMAO!

As if the peopleofwalmart.com didn't give me enough to laugh at, now the blog, http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ is killing me each night! The picture above is just a small tidbit of the plethora of awkwardness this site has to offer.

Robert Pattinson, How Do I Love Thee?

You can sling me over your shoulder anytime, Rob....

NEW MOON Deleted Scene!

How many of you are ready for the New Moon DVD release? Stupid question! Target recently released this deleted scene to promote it's DVD release of New Moon in March. I'm stoked about the special features and CAN NOT wait until March. Do you know how many release dates I'm anxiously awaiting? I guess that just means I have MANY interests, right?

Mockingjay is Too Many Months Away!

Alright, forgive my cheesiness, but it really is too many months away for me to endure without complaint! At least the New Moon DVD release in March and the Eclipse release in June will pacify me for awhile. I also think the new seasons of Glee and True Blood will be starting soon, so I'll have plenty to keep me occupied. However, I can't help but anxiously wonder what will happen to my beloved Peeta. My students will begin reading The Hunger Games in March and I'm sure I'll have a slew of fans to read Catching Fire and discuss with me Peeta's fate before school is out in May! What would really satisfy me about the world that is Panem, District 12, and The Capitol would be some FREAKIN' HUNGER GAMES MOVIE NEWS! What the heck? Why NOTHING?! I know I've posed this question before, but it really is ANNOYING, the utter lack of information for this project. At least we now know the new title for the third book, MOCKINGJAY, and have a cover to drool over until August 24th. Let me know if you hear anything about the movie, peeps!

A few tidbits from Publisher's Weekly about the third (and final) installment in the awesome Hunger Games series:

Anticipation—and speculation—have been building ever since fans closed the page on the cliffhanger ending of Catching Fire, the second in Suzanne Collins’s bestselling Hunger Games trilogy. What will happen in book three? And what will it be called? Though the plot twists are top-secret, the book’s title has just been revealed by Scholastic: Mockingjay. It will have a one-day laydown date of August 24, 2010, and a first printing of 750,000 copies. (The cover, and title, refer to the hybrid birds that are an important symbol—of hope and rebellion—throughout the books; the mockingjay appears on the jacket art for all three volumes in the series.)

Scholastic will not be distributing advance copies of Mockingjay, though it did create ARCs for the first two volumes. (In keeping with the embargo, media outlets won’t be receiving the book in advance either.) According to a Scholastic spokesperson, because this book, which concludes the series, is so highly anticipated, the publisher wanted to give fans the chance to discover the ending at the same time and prevent spoilers."

Argh! It's hard to wish for August 24th to get here already (because I will be wishing away my summer break), but I need to know! This is about as bad as waiting on Breaking Dawn...let's just hope Mockingjay won't let me down like that little doosey of a final installment did! Oy Vey!

Must-See Movie: SHUTTER ISLAND

The previews for Leonardo Dicaprio's new movie, Shutter Island, in no way made me want to see the production. I'm a huge chicken and scary films are not my forte. My husband is a fan of Dicaprio and wanted to see it Saturday evening, so being the good wife that I am, I begrudgingly agreed to accompany him. I can't tell you very much about the film without screwing up what makes the movie AMAZING, but let's just say that the previews do not do this film justice. IT WAS MIND-BENDING AND, AND, AND.....JUST WOW!!! If you have the chance to see the film, take it. Trust me...it's that good!

ANTICANCER by David Servan-Schreiber

Cancer scares the crap out of me. Both of my maternal grandparents died from this terrible disease and my fraternal grandmother is currently battling cancer as I type. It's a disease that effects all of us in some way, either through people that we know enduring the illness, or God forbid, we face the disease ourselves someday. According to the statistics on the role genetics plays in certain cancers, I SHOULD be scared but I'm doing what I can to ease my fear of CANCER. Even though I'm known for my fondness of fiction and teen literature, I love reading nonfiction, particularly in the categories of health, fitness and medicine. While browsing through my mother-ship, Barnes & Noble, I picked up David Servan-Schreiber's book, ANTICANCER,the 2nd version and 2010 re-print of the 2008 original. I found myself sitting in the aisle, reading his work for nearly an hour before I gave in and bought the book! (My butt was going numb, so it was either by the book or give the old lady reading the Paula Dean cookbook the evil eye until she forfeited her comfy chair.)

What drew me in to Schreiber's work (a dedicated scientist and doctor) wasn't his premise (that diet can affect cancer cells) or his credentials, but the fact that he himself had been diagnosed with BRAIN CANCER fifteen years ago and is currently cancer-free. A feat he attributes to the diet and other methods detailed in the book.

David Servan-Schreiber, post surgery at the age of 31

BRAIN CANCER is a bitch. Sorry to put it bluntly, but it is a very deadly cancer. I know this from personal experience. My Nana, Mary, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor during my seventh grade year and passed away by November of my 8th grade year. To say it was a traumatic event for my family would be a gross understatement. The operation and treatment of brain tumors and cancer is barbaric and extremely painful for the patient to endure. Just knowing that Schreiber was able to overcome the odds and THRIVE for the past fifteen years was is an outstanding accomplishment in my eyes. I HAD TO READ MORE about this scientist and his findings. Finishing the book, I've vowed to completely change my diet and outlook on food. Food should be the "medicine" we give our body to function and flourish, not a means of entertainment or an outlet for stress relief. If you want to know what "super foods" help your body to fend-off cancer, and you want to pack your lunch with them each day, then checking out ANTICANCER is what you need to do NOW to protect yourself and your family.

David Servan-Schreiber today and cancer-free

The book doesn't claim to be the CURE for cancer, but the methodology behind it is sound and backed with Schreiber's own scientific findings. Cancer isn't a disease that discriminates, but I do want to give my body (the only body God will provide me this go-around) with the best defenses against this horrible disease.

ECLIPSE Movie Stills!!!!

What a wonderful Valentine's Day gift...Eclipse movie stills! I wasn't expecting to see anything from Eclipse for at least a couple of months, but this just might get me through until a trailer finally emerges. Even though I'm not disappointed in the images (enthused is more like it) I have a few beefs about certain aspects of the wardrobe and makeup. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. KStew's Wig - nearly as bad as Jacob's Twilight wig. Why in the HELL did she chop her real hair for The Runaways? The 80's mullet is easily found in every Halloween costume shop, but long Bella hair is hard enough to duplicate with extensions and down-right IMPOSSIBLE with a wig. The wig sucks. I'm sure this is the best Eclipse makeup and wardrobe could do with KStew's mutilated mane, courtesy of The Runaways. WTF.
2. I Will Miss Rachelle Lefevre - the images of the supposedly "new and improved" Victoria are not holding a candle to Lefevre's Victoria. Bryce Dallas Howard is going to have to pull out all of the stops to impress me, and so far, the curly-ass wig isn't cutting the mustard.
3. Edward & THE Bed - This isn't a beef...this is a "Hell Yeah!" for Eclipse fans. We all know about the wrought-iron bed in Eclipse. No, nothing R-rated went on (Steph isn't a fan fiction author), but A LOT went down dialogue-wise in the scene. Terms of marriage were established and big events discussed. They better leave EVERY MORSEL of the scene from the book in the movie. Every word. Every kiss. EVERYTHING!

We know where this is going...nowhere, but we can enjoy it while it lasts. THE BED SCENE with too much conversation, but hey, I'm looking forward to it!

Grabby Edward, take one.

Bryce Dallas Howard, you better not screw this up! No pressure, though. Do vampires get perms?

Just a hunch, but I don't think there's much acting going on in this still. You don't eat face when you act....just sayin'

Edward is lookin' good. Still not over the wig. WHYYYYYYY????

Edward is grabby, take two. I like it.

You can grope my muffin-top anytime, Edward. Anytime. It looks like you also have a bit of light reading going on over in this corner.

The wig doesn't look too bad in this scene, but the image of Rob on a bed is distracting me. Helloooooooo, biceps.

Yum. (Rob, not Kristen's nappy wig.)

If you look really quickly, it looks like he's making out with Jacob. I'm sorry, but I hate Bella's wig. I'll just focus on Rob's mouth.....there, that's better.

Another beef I didn't mention? Bella's skinny jeans. I hate them. I don't know why, but I do? Is it ironic that something labeled as being "skinny" makes people (who actually ARE skinny) look not so skinny?

Click on this one and when it enlarges you can see Bella's engagement ring! Awe! How cute!

Maybe we should print these images and make a flip book?

Edward. June 30th. Too long.

Take IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF! Nothing like wearing a flannel shirt to turn on your man!

I wish I knew how to photo shop better than a preschooler...I would totally but myself in KStew's spot...sans crappy wig.

'Bloodroot' by Amy Greene

Sorry to my regular fans who come to this site everyday. I've been M.I.A. lately, due to the craziness that is my job. The Spring semester always kills me for some reason, but I'm starting to pull my head above the water and will do a better job of updating! Speaking of updates, I've actually been reading BOOKS again. I know, craziness! I'm wierd and go through reading "spurts" that I can't explain. I'll go two weeks without touching one and then read three books in that same amount of time. My brain has been sluggish lately and I need a book that would lube the gears a bit more than my regular brand of teen fiction has been. I always try to stick to teen fiction during the school year so I can help my 8th graders find books they enjoy, but I needed a book with a bit more depth this go around. Everyone knows my love for Entertainment Weekly magazine, and I read a great review for the new novel, Bloodroot by Amy Greene.

Bloodroot is a perfect storm of literary devices and imaginative writing. Amy Greene may be a new novelist, but you can't tell from her debut novel. Using the perspectives of SIX different characters, Greene manages to conjure a consuming and devastating love story that kept me thinking for days about it's characters after reading the last delectable page. I know a book is good stuff if I'm running through the plot in my head while doing my grocery shopping or vacuuming my carpet!

This may be a story about love, but it is not LOVABLE or a tale that makes you feel warm and gushy inside. The synopsis from Barnes and Noble does a better job of giving you insight into what the book is about:

Told in a kaleidoscope of voices, Bloodroot is at once a moving exploration of familial love and the story of an incendiary romance that consumes everyone in its path: Myra Lamb, a wild young girl with mysterious "haint" blue eyes who grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain; her grandmother, Byrdie Lamb, who protects Myra fiercely and passes down "the touch" that bewitches people and animals alike; the neighbor boy who longs for Myra but is destined never to have her; Myra's children, who must reckon with all that they have inherited from their mother; and John Odom, the young man who tries to tame Myra and meets with disaster.

The love between Myra and John is a consuming one, and usually those relationships that consume us, destroy us.

Twilight Graphic Novel!

The artwork by Young Kim is beautiful!

I LOVE graphic novels. Maybe my Archie Comics collection in elementary school started me on the path to graphic novels, but I love how they tell a story with art and words combined. I have many students that live for graphic novels and rarely read anything else. When my Entertainment Weekly featured the cover and a few pages of the Twilight graphic novel, which will be released March 16th, I hadn't heard a thing about the project and was very excited by the beautiful pictures by artist, Young Kim. Stephenie also reveals that she worked very closely with Kim, who drew the pictures true to Stephenie's imagined vision of the characters. Here is a snippet of the EW interview with Meyer, but click on the cover above to read the accompanying article.

The text of your original novel is boiled down so carefully that it doesn’t feel like anything is missing. Were you the one who did that?

I was definitely involved. I didn’t do the original “script” for the book, so to speak. But when I got the dialogue with the images, I did a lot of tinkering. In a couple of places, I asked for missing scenes to be inserted. For example, the conversation in the car that Bella and Edward have after she faints in Biology.

How does the feeling of reading the graphic novel compare to that of reading the original? Does it bring something new to the experience for you?

For me, it takes me back to the days when I was writing Twilight. It’s been a while since I was really able to read Twilight; there is so much baggage attached to that book for me now. It seems like all I can see are the mistakes in the writing. Reading Young’s version brought me back to the feeling I had when I was writing and it was just me and the characters again. I love that. I thank her for it.

When this project is done, are you done with Twilight?

I can’t say that I am done with Twilight forever. I’m not working on anything new Twilight-related now, and probably not for a while. But there’s still a possibility that I’ll go back and close some of the open doors.

Even though these images supposedly mirror Stephenie's imagined Edward, I think Robert Pattinson is a much better and hotter Edward than this Ken Doll-lookin' EC.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

6th Grader Percy Jackson has had a rough childhood. Trouble has followed him to every school he's ever attended, and his dyslexia and ADHD haven't helped matters, either. Percy has never understood why he can see things other can't see and why when he's angry, he can do things that "normal" kids can't do...things that usually involve water. He finally feels like he may have found a place at his current boarding school, until a field trip goes awry and a Percy battles for his life and discovers his hidden lineage in the process. As a half-blood, or son of a Greek god, Percy must find his way to Half-blood Hill camp and learn what the gods have in store for him.

I saw the trailer for the new movie during the previews for New Moon, and I knew I needed to read the books. Not only have my 8th grade boys latched on to the series, but our school librarian has been pushing the Reading teachers to read Riordan's popular series. Action-packed and chock-full of Greek mythology references, I am very excited about this book. For one, I love having a series I can recommend to my students (especially boys), and two, I have to teach Greek mythology starting next year. This novel will be and excellent way to introduce Greek mythology, and the new movie will only help fuel interest in the series. I'm a bit concerned about them changing Percy in the movie from a 6th grader to a high school student, but we shall see if that altercation affects the plot of the movie. I'm hoping studio execs aren't tampering with a good thing by changing his age. Lord knows having Harry Potter in the movie version of the book remain young worked out well for that cinema series. I do know that the book is a worthy read, so if you want an imaginative and fast-paced series to dive into, then Riordan's series is worth a shot.

'Her Fearful Symmetry' by Audrey Niffenegger

If I had to make a list of books that I would bring with me to a deserted island, Audrey Niffenegger's first novel, The Time Traveler's Wife would be on that list. So when Niffenegger's (say that last name five times) second novel hit the shelves, I had to read it! I usually don't read reviews of books I've been dying to read, but I broke my rule and read the New York Times Review of Her Fearful Symmetry and it was quite positive and stoked my fire for Niffenegger even more...but don't run to your local bookstore to pick up HFS just yet.

I found the first fourth of the novel intriguing because I enjoy shifts in perspective by authors, and the novel shifted through a gamut of interesting characters. Mirror twins (meaning twins that are exact replicas of one another, but mirror images) Valentina and Julia inherit a London flat from their deceased Aunt, Elspeth. Elspeth and their mother, Edwina were also twins but hadn't spoken to one another in over twenty years due to the twins mother running off and marrying Elspeth's fiance, Jack. The terms of Elspeth's will state that the girls must live in the flat for one year before selling it, and both are up to the task since they've had a difficult time finding their niche in life. It also helps that Elspeth's ghost is still haunting the flat, and that her younger lover Robert occupies the flat above hers. There's also an OCD neighbor, Martin, who enjoys scrubbing things with industrial strength bleach and hasn't left his flat in years. You would think all of these factors would add up for a quite riveting novel, right? Right?

Ugh. No. Niffenegger displayed much knowledge about London's Highgate Cemetery, but let her plot take such crazy twists and turns that I would've much rather read Robert's lengthy thesis about Highgate. I understood why Valentina might feel trapped by her twin identity, but the lengths she went to escape Julia were absurd. It was dreary, slow, dull and completely far-fetched in the buildup and outcome, don't get me started on the ending. All of that craziness just to end the book like that, Audrey? Seriously? I was so pissed after that last page. I understand the irony behind it, but it was MADDENING. Anyhow, I suffered through Her Fearful Symmetry just to realize there was absolutely NO SYMMETRY IN PLOT or believability. INCONGRUITY RUN AMOK!

Now if you haven't read Niffenegger's first, DO IT! It's a great book and might've set up Niffenegger for failure from jumpstreet. I'm not sure how you equal or out-do this novel.

My Sore Ass Says It's a Keeper

I blogged the other day about one of my many New Year's resolutions (yes, I'm one of THOSE people), to steal Jennifer Aniston's delicious body. I do not bat for the other team, but I can appreciate another woman who has it going on, and Aniston is the #1 celeb body in my book. Aniston is a know follower of yoga and her trainer Mandy Ingber is partly responsible for Jen's enviable bod. I've done the workout three times and I'm sore in places I've never felt soreness before, but not a crippling, I-can't-sit-down-to-pee-without-crying-out-in-agony type of soreness. (Weight-lifting routines create that type of god-awful soreness for me. Ugh.) My inner thighs, abs, butt (every muscle in my gluteous maximus, thank you very much) and my arms and triceps were deliciously sore. Soreness tells me that my body is changing, and that is good because all of those tender areas NEED TO CHANGE before summer gets here. My plan is to do the workout four times a week and to do cardio every weekday in the afternoons. I've been waking up at 5:30 and it actually hasn't been too rough on me. The yoga wakes me up and I like how Mandy isn't a weird chanter and doesn't try to jazz you up, either. She's funny and very laid-back with a mantra that I don't mind chanting when I'm feeling the burn! Her person mantra that we chant during leg exercises is "I have a great ass, I have a great ass," and I'm hoping that's working! Time will tell, but my 30th is quickly approaching and I MUST get to work! Give the DVD a try if you want a challenging yoga workout, and want a booty like Jen Aniston's....that side effect is still yet to be determined!

RENE + ESME = Too Many Freakin' Syllables

It's not earth-shattering news about Breaking Dawn, but hey, at least it's something. The L.A. Times interviewed producer of the Twilight Saga, Wyck Godfrey and shed a teeny bit of light on the character that has most of us fans puzzled: RENESMEE, the inter-species offspring of Bells and EC. Will Renesmee be freakishly CGI'd to the point of giving us all creepy-kid nightmares, or will she look sweet and kissable like the pictures I found (made by fans, not myself) below? Read the article for more BREAKING DAWN movie dish, and enjoy the cuddly pictures of the youngest Cullen.

Not quite sure, but I don't think Renesmee's birth video will be making onto A BABY STORY anytime soon. Talk about "bloody show"!

From the LA Times:

Wyck Godfrey, the producer of all the films in the “Twilight” saga, admits that the creative team still doesn’t know how they’ll handle the character in the “Breaking Dawn” movie, but said that the plan is absolutely for the production to go forward — as either one or two installments — with an eye toward beginning to shoot in Vancouver this fall. All three stars are signed for “Breaking Dawn,” he said, meaning that Stewart and Pattinson will be dealing with the joys and woes of interspecies parenting and newly minted heartthrob Taylor Lautner will return as often-shirtless shape-shifter Jacob Black. "My Daddy is hotter than YOUR Daddy."

At the moment, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who’s penned all the “Twilight” movies, is working on the “Breaking Dawn” script(s). “It’s a work in process,” Godfrey said in an interview Friday. “The issue [of whether there will be one or two movies] is not going to be resolved until we get the full treatment and see whether it’s organic. If it’s not organic, I don’t think it will be done, and if it is, it will be. It really has to do with how much level of detail from the books there is, with all of these new vampires that appear in ‘Breaking Dawn,’ the whole section about Jacob… It’s a very long single movie if it does become a single movie.”

Although there’s been a great deal of online chatter about whether Chris Weitz, director of the second and most recent movie, “New Moon,” would return to helm “Breaking Dawn,” Godfrey downplayed that possibility, saying, “I think everyone would be happy and excited if he came back, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

He and the other principals are formulating a list of potential directors, “but right now,” Godfrey said, “we’re just focused on the treatment and getting that right. At that point, we’re going to see who’s available and who’s appropriate. It’s such a complicated book because you have the emotions and the intensity of the love story — so you need somebody who’s just a wonderful director of actors — and yet it’s really complicated from an action and visual effects standpoint. They’ve got to have both tools in their kit.”
Wyck Godfrey, one of the Twilight producers, had a bit to say about the final installment in the series, Breaking Dawn. Even though Eclipse is slated to release June 30, production has yet to begin on BD. Wyck spoke with the LA Times and attempted to answer the questions that all of us Twilight fans have had on our brain, "What in the heck will they do with RENESMEE?" Just saying her name is a mouthful of unwanted syllabals waiting to gag me at any moment. I found a few cute fan-made pictures that seem to resemble the interspecies tot to some degree.

A visual effects background might be particularly helpful when it comes to dealing with the character of Renesmee.

“I keep having visions of ‘[The Curious Case of] Benjamin Button’ in my head,” Godfrey said, referring to David Fincher’s Oscar-nominated 2008 fantasy about a man who becomes physically younger as he ages. “It’s certainly going to be visual effects in some capacity along with an actor. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being a full CG creation, but it also may be a human shot on a soundstage that then is used to shrink down. I don’t know. We need a director. When we get a director, that director will need to come with a point of view of how they want to tackle it.”

The third movie in the series, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” is due in theaters June 30.

Rob, Kristen, Jacob and Awkward Silences

This is an extended version of the Jimmy Kimmel Live interview with the stars of New Moon. I know it is old, but I just got around to watching it, so cut me some slack. For some reason I dread watching interviews with Kristen Stewart AND Robert Pattinson in them together. They may have chemistry on screen, but during interviews there is so much awkwardness...I feel like that time I rented The Forty Year Old Virgin, not really knowing what the movie was about, and watched it with my mother. Awkward.

This is Sad...

This is a very recent picture of stylist, Rachel Zoe. She's often been scrutinized for her thin frame, but has consistently denied rumors of an eating disorder. What I'm wondering is how in the heck does her husband not see that she has a problem and DO SOMETHING? My husband would start cramming Crisco down my gullett or commit me to a clinic until I understood that I needed to eat.

Rachel is obviously in denial, and has been quoted many times in the media defending her boney bod: "We've had Audrey Hepburn, we've had Twiggy, we've had Veruschka, we've had Kate Moss," she said. "I'm trying to figure out why I am to blame for skinniness.

"Truthfully, I've never seen myself as being too thin," she adds. "Sometimes I'll look at photos and be like, 'Oh, that's not a good look.' But generally speaking, I'm not too thin."

Honey, when we can see your STERNUM, you are indeed too thin.

Say Hello to My Little Frie-aaand!

Those of you who grew up with me and know my background will agree with me when I say that I've never been what one would consider a "spoiled little rich girl". I grew up in a trailer house for part of my adolescences for cripes sakes! However, since becoming a junior high teacher and rolling in the dough, I've moved up in the world. ;) I live in a home that doesn't have wheels, I drive a car that has never had a previous owner, and I now possess a REAL Coach handbag. Yes ladies, I own a purse that I did not purchase at Walmart, Target, or Kmart. The leather is real, the material supple and soft, and quite frankly, I'm loving this handbag almost as much as something I gave birth to (sarcasm, people) and let me tell you, it was a difficult delivery.

I lived up to my trailer park roots during the purchase of my new luxury item. The poor saleslady at Dillard's was very patient with my hillbilly-ass and didn't roll her eyes and sigh TOO much while I was swiping my three different gift cards, handing over a fifty dollar bill, and putting the remaining balance on my debit card! After enduring scathing glares from Elvira (do all Dillard's saleswomen have to spackle on so much make up?), I walked out of Dillard's as the proud owner of my very first Coach handbag.

It was a beautiful moment, but leave it to my husband to rain on my parade. He's always said that the reason he loves me so much is that I'm down-to-earth and not materialistic, so I guess my venture to the dark side annoyed him. He couldn't understand why anyone would pay so much for a purse when my Target bag "looked just like that expensive-ass bag you just bought." However, he shut his pie-hole after I told him that I would gladly return my bag and use only Target/Walmart accessories, if he would take back every dadgum, expensive golf club littering my garage and only use Walmart golf clubs from here on out! "Touche," he replied, "Touche."

The apple of my eye, the "Madison Op Art Sateen Claire"...isn't she beautiful?

I Was Having a Bad Day...

So I posted this, and now I feel better! How many more days until Eclipse, already?! Geez, I need a Twilight fix, and I need it soon. I'm almost tempted to see if the local flea markets have a copy of New Moon yet. It's not like the movie industry would be losing money if I buy a pirated copy, because I will inevitably buy both the BlueRay and normal DVD versions of the film when it is released in February. It better be released in February! Shouldn't we have some sort of Eclipse trailer by now, or are we going to have to wait until the Spring for that, too? I'm so whiny about Twilight today, but some days I just miss it and need a dose of Edward, and I usually start to feel like that when my "real world" is sucking....like today!

The Baby-Sitters Club is Coming Back! Kristy, Maryanne, Claudia, and Stacey...Welcome Back Old Friends!

You know you secretly wanted Claudia's awesome yellow jumpsuit and Stacey's fabulous tights.

I have been known to delve into literary greatness on this blog, but this post will take the cake. The Baby-Sitters Club was one of the very first series I ever owned and loved. I'm not kidding when I say I owned over a hundred of these books. (I think they stopped at 213 and were out of publication by 2000). Series creator, Ann M. Martin has written and Scholastic is releasing a prequel titled The Summer Before, along with the first two books in the series will be released in April. The New York Times reports that "Editors at Scholastic updated some of the references to technology and outdated fashions in the reissued books. So a “cassette player” has become “headphones” and a “perm” has become “an expensive hairstyle.” The graphics, cover art and packaging will also be updated. I'm so bummed that I sold my entire set in a garage sale when I was 14, because those books were too "babyish" for someone as cool as me at that age.

I had this book. Love the socks with the loafers, Stacey! And Kristy, your rolled up denim is FAB!

The Baby-Sitters Club series was definitely a catalyst that fueled my love of reading. Not only did I read the books, but my friends and I tried to start our own babysitting business in the fourth grade. We made posters and taped them up in my friend's parent's grocery store and were devastated that NO ONE called us on Thursday between 3:00 and 4:00 that first day. Why wouldn't you want a group of FOURTH GRADERS babysitting your kiddo? Ha!

After The Baby-Sitters Club, I moved on to other series, like R.L. Stine's Fear Street. I still have five or six of those books that my Mom socked away for me, and I have them on my shelves in my 8th grade Reading classroom. The kids still love them and are so mad when they realize that only a few are still in print. In 2008, Scholastic released some of Stine's Goosebumps series and had much success with them, but I'm still waiting on all of the titles below to be reprinted. I would love to read them again, for S & G!

Shea Cashmere Bubble Bath...OMG!

I will make you linger in the tub for hours!

Click on me for a link to buy at Amazon!

Being a teacher, I get all kinds of sweet gifts from students for Christmas. I have a plethora of coffee mugs (6 this year), teacher ornaments (3 this year), and loads of candy and cocoa mix (too many to count). However, this year a truly awesome student of mine broke the mold. I received an assortment of Bath & Body Works goodies, and my favorite of all of them was the Shea Cashmere Bubble Bath. I've used the entire bottle in two weeks just because I love the smell and how soft it left my skin. My husband was a little worried that I was taking two or three hot baths a day (not only because I was bored, but I just wanted to smell that luscious bubbly goodness). I love the lotion, too, and trust me, I had to use it to replenish all of the moisture lost from the constant bathing, but the Bubble Bath is the bee's knees. Get it. Try it. Thank me later.

My New Year's Resolution - Steal Jennifer Aniston's Sick Body

What?? You think you can snap your fingers and look like this?

Dream on, suckaaaaahs!

I might sound a little nutty to say that, but it's true. Jennifer Aniston has one of the best celebrity bodies around. She's not too skinny and she's not tricked out like a Playboy bunny with a pair of ginormous boobies or super fake skin and hair. She's lean, strong, and appears to be healthy. I know she's admitted to be a smoker, but her physique is what I'm basing my jealousy on, not her lung capacity. I'm not delusional. I know that working out and eating right are what stars are PAID to do, so they take that part of their job very seriously and hire the best personal trainers and dietitians to keep them in top form. Jennifer Aniston probably has every meal perfectly measured and analyzed for optimal nutrition, while I'm lucky to find enough milk to go with my cereal each morning.

Aniston's workouts include yoga and cardio, and her good friend and favorite yoga instructor, Mandy Ingber recently released her very own Yoga DVD workout. I'm sure you know what's coming next...I ordered it yesterday. Time will tell if this is the key to whipping my lack-luster physique into shape, but I'm well aware that only a good plastic surgeon can REALLY get me into Aniston-form! I'll let you know if the DVD workout is worth the dough!

Mandy says, "Click here, dreamers, for a link to my website and DVD."

AVATAR is Living Up to the Hype!

I will be the first to admit that I love science fiction and fantasy story lines. Heck, I'll even fess up that one of my favorite t.v. shows when I was younger was Star Trek...yes, I'm a closet Trekkie! However, my former football player husband DOES NOT do Sci-fi. I think it is a cardinal rule for jocks or something. They take an oath in junior high before they are issued their first set of pads, promising to abstain from using their imaginations and brains for anything other than drawing up or analyzing football plays. However, since I can pretty much badger him into doing anything that I please, I forced him to see AVATAR with me...in 3D, no less! He had to sit in the theater with all of the other dorks AND wear Buddy Holly-esq glasses. I soooooo wanted to take a picture to commemorate the moment but he would've punched me in the throat, so I didn't dare.

Anywhoo, back to the lecture at hand, AVATAR was amazing; the creme de la creme of Sci-fi films. The computer animation was out-of-this-world, and it still boggles my mind that there are people in this world who can actually MAKE stuff like this. It is mind-blowing, and I totally understand how it took such a long time to make - I think it was eight years in the making, or something outrageous like that! The storyline obviously parallels many conflicts Americans have created in the past and currently: the taking of land and resources from native populations. It is a great testimony for peace and understanding in this time of war. Now before I nominate James Cameron for the Nobel Peace prize, I will admit that there was a bit of cheese involved in the the plot, but not necessarily Velveeta. It was cheesy, but more like an expensive cheese you purchase at the deli to have with your sort-of-expensive bottle of wine. If you do plan on seeing the flick, take my advice and see it in 3-D. It is well worth the extra dough and you won't even notice the dorkiness of the specs after the previews start to roll. Go see AVATAR, then join me in recycling or possibly donating funds to the Aborigines or to Rain forest kittens.