Twilight Tuesday

My hate for Kristen Stewart continues. While watching the Comic Con segment included in the special features of the Twilight DVD, I noticed that everyone who was with Kristen Stewart on the panel (RPattz, Taylor Lautner, Stephenie Meyer, Catherine Hardwicke, Rachelle Lefevre and Cam Gigandet) all addressed the obviously excited fans, except for Kristen Stewart, who instead rolled her eyes, fidgeted, and didn't say one word. She looked absolutely disdainful of the whole thing, and was a contrast to RPattz, who was everything that was charming and gracious. As if those weren't enough to escalate my disgust, she was also quoted on US Weekly bragging about how so many girls are in love with her now, and implying that she's too good for college. I hate this girl. I wish they would re-cast Bella. Begone from my beloved Twilight, Kristen Stewart!

Despite my hate, I was nevertheless excited to see these pictures of Bella and Jacob filming some La Push scenes. I wonder what scenes these are! I'm apprehensive, though, about Edward going missing from the whole middle of the movie. I read that they're filming some dream sequences with Edward in them, so I'm crossing my fingers. Defying rational logic, New Moon is actually my favorite book in the series (it was so wonderfully poignant and sweet) but I hate the fact that Edward disappears in the middle.

New at the shop

I had the hardest time photographing this new pair of Adelaide earrings because the sun would wreak havoc on the glass brios, making them look almost black (or at the least, opaque). But in reality they're about as clear and transparent as you can get. I imagine them either worn by a bride to her spring wedding, or by a wedding guest in a bright yellow dress.

Blooming

One of the hyacinths has bloomed! I have beads the exact same shade as this hyacinth that I'm going to put to good use.

Looking for birds

Now that spring is here, little Moxie has been stalking the window for the return of birds and squirrels.

Twilight Tuesday

I am so glad to finally get my hands on the Twilight DVD (3 million copies sold this past weekend!). I got up extra early on a Saturday morning - an anomaly for me - so I can get the Target edition, which reportedly is the best version of the DVD. It includes not only a third disc with 45 minutes of extra features, but it also has a free iTunes download of the movie and all the extras. My cousin Leslie and I each ordered the Borders online special edition and we both were frantically trying to stop them from shipping the DVDs after we found out about Target, but we were too late. They shipped. So I'll have to return mine to Borders, even though it comes with sparkly Edward postcards.

Anyway, some thoughts on it. One extended scene should've been included: in the diner after Bella's first day of school, Charlie establishes that he eats there everyday, and Bella responds that she could cook instead. I remember having issues with the fact that they didn't show, let alone mention, Bella cooking in the movie when it was such a pivotal part of the book. There were two or three other extended scenes that were really cute and should've been included in the movie (except the one where Jasper is holding a parasol to protect his awful wig - seriously, a Civil War hero and dude needs an umbrella?). I was disappointed to find out that the deleted scene from Midnight Sun was so quick that I almost missed it: of Edward thinking about biting Bella in biology class. No Alaska. No Denalis. Boo.

And let's establish the fact that Kristen Stewart is a pretty bad actress, but I tolerate her because she's Bella. But from now on she should just shut her trap during press conferences. No one wants to hear her bitching and moaning about her lot in life. And what's with the fact that she doesn't close her mouth all the way? Reminds me of Ali Larter - both of their front teeth poke out, making them look like rabbits. Really bothers me.

Lastly, RPattz is at his best during the prom scenes: looks absolutely gorgeous, his makeup is subtle, his hair is great, he is at his most charming, and his smile is just devastating. My favorite scenes, especially the gazebo kiss-in-the-neck. Absolutely awesome.

And now I leave you with two new production pictures from New Moon: the motorcycles! On Bella's truck!

New work

Here is the Patricia necklace, with peach rice pearls and a sterling silver circle pendant. I didn't make the pendant myself, though I could now that I have the skills to do that (hmm...weekend project, maybe).

At the ballet

Last night the girls in my family all went to see the Russian National Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty. A-mazing! Princess Aurora was magnificent dancing the Rose Adagio, but perhaps my most favorite was the Lilac Fairy herself, and even though Aurora was amazing, she had nothing on the Lilac Fairy. I'm not sure which dancer was on last night (there are several who dance the part of the Lilac Fairy), but she had the longest neck and arms and legs I've ever seen. They went on and on, maybe for another 50 miles. Talk about swan necks! And her arms were so graceful whirling across the stage; she was magical to watch. This performance was the first professional ballet performance I've seen since taking adult ballet classes (the last one I saw was A Midsummer Night's Dream in high school, which still remains my favorite ballet) and I loved the fact that I recognized many of the steps and knew the names of them - attitude, attitude en pointe into an arabesque, pirouettes en dedans and en dehors. And I could appreciate how difficult the pirouettes and chaines turns were (because I could hardly do them in class!), but the dancers made them look so easy and effortless.

A-twittering

I've decided to join the world of tweets, so now you can also find me on Twitter. There are articles on Etsy about ways sellers can use Twitter to promote their products, but right now I'm still feeling my way around it and seeing how well it works for me in general. So far I've found it to be pretty fun. I'm thinking when I actually get myself organized enough to start having special promotions at my shop, Twitter would be a good vehicle to keep people up-to-date on these. So anyway, see you there!

Go Eagles

Rooting for my alma mater, American University, against Villanova in the NCAA Tournament. It's a very close and exciting game. Point guard Derrick Mercer is only 5'9", but he jumps and runs like a firecracker and has already scored points early. Go Eagles!

Elephants on parade

The circus is in town, and yesterday they had the annual Pachyderm Parade where the elephants arrived by train and walked the rest of the way into the city. There were five of them, walking a lot faster than I was expecting, with each elephant's trunk clutching the tail of the elephant in front of them. I had mixed feelings about watching the animals because on the one hand I felt sad for them - they should be free to roam where they wish (or at least safe in zoos not performing for an audience). But they were so cute, and so amazing, that it was a privilege to be able to see them up close. I really hope they're happy and well taken care of.

More information on elephants, as well as resources, opportunities for volunteerism, activism, and donations can be found at Defenders of Wildlife.

Twilight Tuesday

Well, whew. So much going on in the Twilight world. Reports are coming in fast and furiously from the New Moon set in Vancouver. Filming started this past Monday, and so far we have: a glimpse of Jacob Black's wolf pack (thank goodness they replaced the original ugly boys from Twilight), a promise that Edward's sparkle will be better (holding my breath), Bella's cliff diving will be CGI, what is believed to be Jacob's house and shed where he fixes up the motorcycles, a whole slew of set spoilers where we find out that virtually all the cast members smoke (RPattz you break my heart!), and revelation that the Italy scenes will not be filmed in Volterra, but in a town called Montepulciano.

RPattz is also going to be on the cover of April's GQ magazine and the outtakes are hotness personified. I mean, seriously.


Lastly, my friend Sarah works across the street from Summit Entertainment, so I asked her to take a picture of the building for me as a sort of vicarious Twilight experience. I totally love this!

I also ordered my copy (or I should say copies) of the Twilight DVD that's coming out in just three short days: the Borders special edition, and the iTunes version (so I can watch it on the train, over and over...and over).

On chickens

For dinner tonight I'm roasting a Cornish hen. Cornish hens are tricky because they're so small that cooking just one doesn't seem enough, but two is too much. In the past, I thought Cornish hens were a special breed of tiny chickens grown in Cornwall. But then I read somewhere that they're actually just baby chickens that hadn't had a chance to grow yet. And that made me feel bad. Poor baby chickens! Until I remembered that I love eating balut (a Filipino delicacy) - and then I don't feel as bad (if you don't know what balut is, I don't suggest finding out). But can anyone tell me what I'm supposed to do with the doodads wrapped in plastic that's tucked into the cavity of the chicken? I just throw them away, but I think I'm supposed to save this for something. Tonight I threw in a few cloves of garlic, white wine, and chicken stock on the roasting pan, sprinkled seasoning on the chicken, stuffed some chopped onions into the cavity (a lemon is also good here) and voila - the whole house smells heavenly.

A peek

At one of several things I'm working on. Happy Ides of March!

A-sproutin'

My purple hyacinths are finally coming out of the cold, muddy winter ground. They are usually my personal harbingers of spring, so when I see them start to peek out I know winter's almost over. Next come my neighbor's pink tulips, then our cherry blossom tree, and by the time the blossoms turn pink and drop to the ground like snow, the weather has turned balmy for good.

Twilight Tuesday

And so it begins. Rehearsals for New Moon started this weekend in Vancouver, where the whole gang started assembling, with filming to begin shortly after. Lainey Gossip had all the play-by-play of arrivals and sightings of the actors, including one of RPattz with his hair dyed an "Edward red" (though still a little bit too short). Also there are pictures of Taylor Lautner (boo!) learning to ride a motorbike for what are perhaps some of my favorite scenes from New Moon (my two most favorites being the gut-wrenching breakup scene and Volterra). Eeek! I'm excited!

And now here are two deleted scenes from the Twilight DVD (ten more days!) that were leaked out. My fellow Twihards and I have been in a tizzy all week over them. Consider this one. So hot that I almost fainted. I'm mad that they deleted this scene in the first place.



And then this bit of naughtiness here. I can see why they deleted this scene - they probably didn't want to give the tween fans a collective heart attack.

Commuting cartoons

Because I've been in raptures over my daily commute to and from the city - enabling me to come home at the end of the day in a great state of mind - I thought I would pay homage to how much the train has improved my quality of life by sharing some funny cartoons that I found. The first one is especially apropos.

This is what 72 degrees looks like

Nomad is enjoying the lovely weather this weekend.

And Moxie is hard at work being a board game spectator.

Collage

Some time ago my friend Protege suggested making a collage of my jewelry photographs to turn into a poster, and I really loved the suggestion. So I decided to play today to see what possibilities I can come up with. Here's one idea. I'm thinking this would also make for great postcards.

Rejoicing

This is more like it! From my newspaper ~

How sweet it is: Daylight savings time arrives at 2 a.m. Sunday. (That means you need to turn your clocks forward one hour before bed Saturday night.) And we're gonna get a heck of an extra hour of daylight Sunday evening with temperatures likely to be in the 60s at sunset (7:08 p.m.) -- after afternoon highs in the mid-70s!

Happy weekend, everyone.
(photo credit)

Tools of the trade

Chemicals for metalsmithing: paste and liquid flux, pickling solution, and liver of sulfur.

Bittar favorites

Looking through Alexis Bittar's collection is both fun and depressing. I salivate, yet I despair. He is just so good. Below are some of his pieces that are my favorites, taken from the three different collections. The blue flower bracelet is perhaps my favorite of all - so opulent and lush. The lucite pieces are all painted by hand, and some of his metal jewelry truly look like miniature sculptures. His style is big and bold, nothing timid or dainty about any of these.

Twilight Tuesday

So much news for Twilight Tuesday...first, did you take a look at the DVD release countdown? That's right - seventeen days.

Eclipse news: the opening date for the movie has been released! It will come out on June 30, 2010. So many countdown clocks to maintain. Also, there was talk - awful, sacrilegious talk - that Drew Barrymore (of all the random people!) might be tapped to direct Eclipse. First, I can't stand her as an actress. As a producer she's all right (Charlie's Angels). But apparently she hasn't directed anything except for a couple of recent, no-name movies, so I foresee disaster if this rumor turns out to be true. I really hope this rumor doesn't turn out to be true.

Breaking Dawn news: Summit Entertainment has finally acquired the rights (optioned property) from Stephenie Meyer to film and distribute Breaking Dawn. Finally! I was getting worried. Production won't begin until 2010. This will be challenging to film with all the special effects needed so I'll be following its progress very keenly. My only hope is that they don't show too much of that disgusting birth scene, otherwise I'll be watching with my legs firmly crossed.

And now, for some eye candy. I was told this wasn't anything official for New Moon, but feast your eyes anyway! It reminds me of what Edward would have looked like in Volterra, right before stepping out into the sunlight (notice the no chest hair? Uh hm).

March's lion

I will grudgingly admit that this is really pretty. For now.

Wintry gray

It's a gray, wintry start to March today, and we're hunkered down waiting for a big snowstorm. It's supposedly the biggest one in three years. Figures! Just as I was thinking we're finally in the clear for spring's arrival. So I thought it would be appropriate to post these new Kelly earrings, as the whole wintry gray color scheme matches today's skies. The hoops are hand-formed and oxidized for a vintage finish.