Podcast anyone?

Hello internet, long time no blog. [This entry was updated 9/6/10]

I don't know what you're doing during this lull in the fandom but I'm either reading Twilight fan fiction, working, or listening to podcasts. Usually I'll read and listen to podcasts at work.

Anyway, I'm pretty much addicted to fan fiction and podcasts and I was wondering if I can combine the two into an awesome project. There are plenty of Twilight podcasts out there, some better than others, and a few fan fiction ones (Twi Fic Pimps, Temptation Twilight, Twigasam, etc). So it got me thinking...

Could I do Twilight Fan Fiction podcast? What would it feel like? What would I say?

Here's what I'm thinking. I don't want it to be too long because I want to keep it snappy and filled with content. All of the podcasts I've been seeing are hovering around the 1hr mark. I'm thinking of 30 minutes for each episode. I want to play music in the background that's featured in the story, taken from the author's playlist, or captures the mood of the story. Basically a fan fiction recommendation podcast. I want to summarize the story, what kind it is (AU/ AH/ WIP/ Completed/ etc.) and do a round table of why we all like it or not. There's a lot of stories that a lot of people love but then a lot of people can't get into. So I think having different opinions are important as well. I want to read an excerpt from a chapter to give the listener a feel for it as well.

I'm a fan of themes as well so if there's time, to do more than one recommendation per episode but have them relate to one another somehow. Or not. It might also be fun to feature two entirely completely different stories for contrast.

It's one thing to read recommendations but you become more interested when you hear it from someone. Do you have a friend in real life that will wave their hands about raving about this story that you have to read and you think to yourself, "Wow, that does sound really good. I think I'll give it a try."

This is what I hope to create. So what's this got to do with you? Well, I'd love to work with someone(s) as a collaborator. I'm a fairly prolific reader but there just so much out there, I really don't consider myself an elite fan fic reader. I'd love to bounce ideas off of another person. Any takers?

OR you can send me your story recommendations. Do you know of a little fic that should get more attention or think it isn't talked about enough?

I'd like to pursue AU, AH, OOC, Canon, different 'shipping, different lifestyles, paranormal stuff, etc. I want a little but of everything and not solely Edward/Bella High School stories where she's the outcast, he's the popular kid, and they normal each other out (though I make no promises =D)

Rochelle Lefevre and me

I had a day off today and it's a pretty lazy day. I woke up at noon, checked my e-mail, listened to some NPR, etc. After reaching the end of the internet, I decided to check out what's going on in Twitter land. I'm scrolling through various tweets when I see Rachelle Lefevre's (who plays Victoria in Twilight and New Moon) tweet:

When I read this tweet, it was about 10 minutes old. I live about 12 minutes away from Mission Hills so I'm thinking "If I leave the house and head over there... I can probably meet her!" I was delayed from leaving the house but I leave and make my way over there. In my head I'm thinking of things to buy so I'm not obvious in my Twilight cast stalking hobby.

I enter the store, very nonchalant, grab a basket and notice that there's a little crowd by the express lane. "Great, she's still here," I think to myself. I grab some pears, a coke, Ritz, oatmeal and some Boysenberry jam (snacks for work tomorrow) and make my way over to the express check out lane.

She's there at the end, autographing someone reusable bag that she's helping to give away. I've actually brought my own bags but my purchases and my bags are packed away in these bigger and nicer ones. I notice that she's got her stuff slung over her arms and her group that she's with is packed and ready to leave. I have my stuff in one hand and with the other I'm pulling out my camera. Meeting "celebrities" never gets any easier. My heart is pounding and my palms start to sweat. 

I make eye contact with some of the people that she's talking to and sheepishly smile at them. I go up to Rachelle and ask, "Um.. Rachelle? Can I bother you for a moment? Could I take a picture please?" Cue blush, more palm sweating and apologetic smiling. 

She's still talking to her people. I've no idea what she's saying. I'm focused on not looking like a complete idiot and failing miserably. She puts her stuff down on the counter. I ask the guy she's talking to, "Could you.. uh, take our picture?" He chuckles and says, "I was waiting for you to ask me."

We stand next to each other and I've got a shit eating grin on my face. He takes a picture but my camera decided to be a ninja that afternoon because it doesn't beep and I can't hear the shutter. We're asking.. "Did it take?" Rachelle and I giggle and take two more pictures for 'just in case'.  Here's the result:

Rachelle Lefevre and me with a WeeGee face =D

I then asked her about the reusable bags that Vons was giving out (which was why she was there in the first place). She told me that the bags were designed by Homeboy Industries and were bought by Vons to give out to promote their efforts of "jobs not jail" and to promote Rachelle's effort to support a nation wide ban of plastic bags from supermarkets. I'm in favor of this idea. She praised me for the bags that I brought in myself. Cue more smiling.

She was really nice, friendly and articulate. I had a really great experience and it completely made my day.

This is how the Saga will end

We're several hundred days away from the release of the first part of Breaking Dawn. I imagine that this, right now, it was it's going to feel like when the entire Saga is done. It's a bit... boring in the fandom right now.

I can't remember what I did pre-Twilight. I read a lot of different books than I do now and I think I watched a lot more television. I don't watch any now and I read a lot of Twilight smut fan fiction.

Anyway, I joined a Twilight forum and I'm chatting with other Twilighters. We share Rob porn pictures, we joke, and right now for the summer, we're banding together to loose some weight. I've never met these ladies but they encourage me to eat healthier and get outside and exercise.

I also got addicted to another book series complete with fan sites, podcasts, fan art, fan fics, etc. What am I reading? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This is a great series and I'm anxiously counting down the the third, and last book, in the series.

I think, when all is said and done and I still feel like blogging, I'll probably turn this into a Twilight fan fiction blog because I love it so much =) If you haven't read any or maybe you have and didn't like it, I highly recommend you give it a (second) chance. Head over to my fan fiction links on the right (--->) and find a story that strikes your fancy and tell me how you like it. I love talking about fan fics.

My Eclipse movie review

This is going to be very long and very picture heavy. I'm putting it all after the jump.

Basically, I enjoyed it. I give it 4 out of 5. It was exactly what I expected to see so I didn't leave the theater gasping muttering ohmygodohmygod. I had very very high standards and the movie met all of them. It had all of the and important parts of the book and then some. I think that this movie could stand on its own. Non-Twilight fans won't leave the theater that it was a complete waste of time.

After the jump is really detailed re-cap and review of the movie.

Rob and Kristen at the AMC in LA

This 4th of July weekend, several cast members showed up to theaters across America to say hello to the fans and introducing Eclipse. I was fortunate enough to attend one of these...

Ok, so it's hard to contain myself even hours later but literally a few hours ago after watching Eclipse in IMAX, Rob and Kristen walked into the theater. We knew before hand that "talent" would be at our theater but we didn't know who would show up. I was thinking Peter, Charlie and/or Jackson. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that Rob and Kristen would show up. But they did!

Cue freak out.

It's so crazy how this never gets easier with practice. I've seen them three times before but adrenaline is funny, it keeps flowin'. I'm chanting "ohmygod ohmygod" the entire time and panting. I have my video camera in one hand and my still camera in my other hand just holding them up and snapping photos every second. They say hello, thanks for making Eclipse have such a great weekend, and bye. There were there a total of approximately 2 minutes. I'm shaking for the next 15, still freaking out.

There was theater security, Summit security, and personal security (Rob doesn't go anywhere with out Dean). We could tell which way they left by the mob of security guards blocking an exit.

I'd have awesome pictures and video if I wasn't such an epic failure. My video camera didn't have its memory card (so I was holding it up for nothing) and my still camera didn't have the flash on so 80% of the photos I took are trashed. I managed to take 6 ok-ish ones. Still, I'm so thankful for a room full of other fans who managed to not be such big failures as I am. New pictures and videos are popping up all over the place.

To see these, I recommend you heading over to Robert Pattinson Life. I think they hire minions or something =D

Eclipse... let's see that again!

4 days of camping out in Tent City, catching a 7 am flight the morning after the red carpet premiere, going to an all night birthday party, driving to Forks, coming back to work then immediately to the theater to see the Eclipse midnight showing left me exhausted but it's amazing what the combination of sugar, caffeine and adrenaline can do for your system.

The movie went above and beyond everything I had hoped it to be. Sure, it cut out a few things, mashed up some details to make the story travel faster, but DAMN Rob is so freakin' hot. Bella who? Taylor huh? Seriously, he is un-freakin-real. He keeps looking better and better. Sooo many money shots. Once I get the book leg DVD I'm screen caping the shit out of it and my desktop backgrounds are going to change every 5 minutes.

And Jackson! Gah!

I've only seen it once so far so I can't go into the details of my favorite parts or the parts that I wished they didn't change/leave out. But I'm happy to say that it got all the important ones. The tent scene read like it was verbatim from the book. Brilliant! I have to give it up for Taylor. He's acting his broken little heart in this movie. Bella's wig wasn't a complete disaster, it was mostly forgettable except in a few scenes where it looked like her hair lines was made out of hair plugs.

So, I saw New Moon in theaters seven times... I think I'll see Eclipse more even though NM was my favorite =D

Also in theaters is Jackson Rathbone's new movie The Last Airbender. If you've never seen the cartoon show, watch it! It's really really good. Not just for kids. I'm really excited to see this. I think I'll catch a double feature tomorrow Eclipse/Airbender.

I just started listening to the Eclipse soundtrack today and I really enjoy it. I have the deluxe version but there remixes aren't worth it and the bonus tracks aren't spectacular either so if you just have the "regular" version, you're not missing out on much. My favorite tracks is a toss up between Florence + The Machine's Heavy In Your Arms and Sia's My Love. I'm a huge Florence fan. Her album, Lungs, is suberb. I love the track Howl and of course Cosmic Love.

I'm also listening to Howard Shore's score for Eclipse. It's very... Shore-like: brass and string heavy - grandiose. The New Born theme sounds a lot like Shelob's (Lord of the Rings reference). The eerie violins scraping against the strings in disharmony is pretty creepy for a bloodthirsty vampire or a giant spider. I can also definitely hear Howard's influence in Metric's contribution to the soundtrack.

Premiere camp - Day 4

The Big One!! (that's what she said)

Risin' an shinin' at 8 am. I wake up to my friend saying "Kai came last night?" Apparently around 1:30 in the morning, Kiowa Gordon (Embry) came by Tent City with his band Touche. He and his band were doing a gig down in Spaceland but we missed it because we were too busy sleeping. Oh well.

The day before we were watching them set up the black carpet and barricades and noticed a big problem. The wooden boards that have the Eclipse logos on them were about 18 inches away from the metal barricades holding back the fans. I don't know about you but the average fan doesn't have an arm length that long. How are we going to get autographs and pictures?? It's not cool. Summit and their planning crew just keep failing the fans at every turn.

We check out of the hotel at noon and make a quick run to Target for batteries and silver sharpies. I bought 4 but only came back with one. I was lending them out to people around me whose pens were running out or dry and never got them back. =T

Around 2 pm, they're starting to line us up in sequential order according to the number on our wristbands. You really didn't have to camp out once you got your wristband, you just had to be in line on time. While waiting in line we met Ian, he's a writer but is moving to Forks and setting up a Twi-shop because it is uncanny how much he looks like Rob (see picture).

We're waiting within the barricade for about 2.. 2 1/2 hours before the first celebrities start to show. There are three areas of the red carpet. It starts off with the pappz on one side and fans on the other side. Then it loops around to the TV channels (MTV, E!) and Ryan Seacreast. Then it turns and there's more media (radio, internet, and television) on one side and fans on the other side. After they pass the media it's a short trip inside the theater.

I was in the middle of the fan area across from the media section. Not a great spot. They spend most of their time on the other side taking pictures and signing stuff for fans there and on our side, they're busy doing interviews. I have lots of pictures of their backs and hair. Some took the time to sign stuff and take pics which was really nice and appreciated. I got everyone's signature that I wanted to get except for Robs. He practically ran past us because he was taking too long and his entourage were hurrying him inside. Boo!

After everyone went inside, they were handing out tickets to the fans to get into the  theater to watch the movie. I didn't want to go and neither did my friends. Yea, sounds awesome but I was exhausted, the seats were probably in the nosebleed section and I had to catch a 7 am fight the next morning and it was already 8 pm-ish, so that wasn't happening. I have midnight showing tickets to a theater that has reserved seating so my seats are great and I can relax and enjoy the show there... fully rested and not starving. Did I mention that we didn't eat this entire day?

I did my best. I got a few good photos. I haven't looked at my videos yet but once I do I'll post them to my YouTube channel. Subscribe and be the first ones to know when I've uploaded them. =D