Seconds

Saw Star Trek for the second time, this time on an IMAX screen. If possible, it was even more awesome than before. The score was phenomenal. Again, Sylar stole the show, but Chris Pine was equally wonderful. And the scene where we see seven of the starships docked together, and then catch a glimpse of the USS Enterprise for the first time? Gave me the chills all over again.

At the movies

We saw I Love You, Man this weekend. It started out slow, but ended up being very sweet. Paul Rudd is a cutie. But what I was really excited about were the previews - so many awesome movies coming out in the next few months! X-Men Origins on May 1, Star Trek on May 8, Terminator Salvation on May 21, and the sixth Harry Potter on July 17. Star Trek especially gave me the chills, particularly when they showed Spock (hey there, Sylar!)

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).

Twilight Tuesday

The release date for the Twilight DVD is here! March 21, 2009 - I've started a countdown clock on the left. It will be a 2-disc special edition, with these features:

SPECIAL FEATURES — DISC ONE

• Five extended scenes with director introductions
• Audio commentary (Catherine Hardwicke, Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart)
• Three music videos (Muse, Paramore, Linkin Park)

SPECIAL FEATURES — DISC TWO

• Five deleted scenes with director introductions
• Seven-part documentary: "The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen"
• Comic-Con Phenomenon featurette
• And more!

And according to a Catherine Hardwicke interview, the deleted scenes include more kissing and biting scenes, a scene where Edward and Bella say "I love you" to each other, and a scene from Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun!

In addition, the latest rumor about New Moon is that Vanessa Hudgens (of HSM fame) is auditioning or being considered for the role of Leah Clearwater. Since I only know Vanessa Hudgens from the gossip blogs and have never seen any of the HSM movies, I can't judge if this news is good or bad, so I guess we'll just have to see.

Twilight Tuesday

The first big and very exciting news of the day is that Taylor Lautner probably won't be back to play Jacob Black in New Moon (sucks for him), but the incredibly hot guy below, Michael Copon, is the favorite to replace him. His filmography includes playing the blue Power Ranger and was also in Scorpion King 2, but, more exciting than those is the fact that he is half-Filipino. A Filipino Jacob Black! Represent!

I mean, if this dude ends up playing Jacob, then I am hard pressed to confess that Edward will have some serious competition for my affections. For the first time ever, I may have to be on Team Jacob. And get a "Team Jacob" necklace. Uh oh...dilemma...

Also, Ben Barnes - of Prince Caspian fame - is rumored to be a contender to play one of the Volturi - Aro, to be exact. That would also be a very cool thing.

And lastly, they announced that New Moon has a tentative release date of November 20, 2009! In my excitement at the news, I started a New Moon countdown clock on here, but then decided to take it down for the time being until Twilight closes in theaters. Didn't want to seem too obsessive.

Twilight Tuesday

I had the awesome luck of seeing Twilight back-to-back this weekend (I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop), and on the second showing, I had more of an opportunity to study the things that were on the periphery. In doing so, I noticed a few things that bothered me. Doubtless they might fix some of these for New Moon, as I expect them to have a much bigger budget the next go-around after all the money they've made (and will be making), but in the meantime, here they are (and as a warning, this post will probably be interesting only to my fellow die-hard Twilight fans, as I discuss the minutiae of things from the movie):

• The white makeup on the Cullens needed to be more subtle. I did read that they toned down the white on Edward's face to allow his natural skin tone to show through (and thus allowing his beautiful face to show through) - but, there was still a problem with his makeup because in the biology lab scene where Edward finally starts speaking to Bella, his neck isn't as white as his face.

• In an extreme close-up of Edward's eyes to highlight the fact that they are butterscotch gold, you can briefly see the outline of contact lenses. Oops.
  

• In the book, Edward is supposed to be super graceful, but in the scene where Edward sort of drags Bella in the forest in order to run her beyond the cloud cover - right before he shows her his glittering body (aw yeah), he looks a bit clumsy trying to navigate the terrain.

• I don't know, but when I pictured Edward in my head while reading the book, I pictured him as super smooth all over - doubtless because Meyer keeps referencing him as being as cold and hard as marble. And like marble, I imagined him to be just as smooth. But in the movie, Edward has a shadow of a stubble in several scenes, which makes him look rakish and really hot, but not consistent with how I imagined vampires (or at least these vampires) to be. Should vampires display facial hair? Technically their bodies have frozen at the time of their transformation, so they shouldn't be able to grow any more hair, right? You can see Edward's (yummy) chest hair, which is fine, but stubble implies hair growth and that doesn't seem right. The bad vampire James has a goatee, but depending on when he was transformed, maybe he's always had one, and so that's okay. I may be over-thinking this too much but I was just a bit discombobulated when I saw the difference with the Edward in my head vs the Edward as realized in the movie in regards to his facial stubble. Should they CGI this out for New Moon?

• The iconic silver Volvo that Edward drives only has 2 doors in the movie, which wasn't how I pictured it, especially as I saw the real one that Meyer had in mind through her website. I don't think all five of the Cullen "kids" would fit in a 2-door Volvo, but the movie solves this by never showing them all riding in that car. The movie Volvo is cool and sporty, but it does not look like a Volvo!

None of these, however, change the fact that I loved the movie. And I close by posting some yummy scenes:

Black tourmalines

Continuing with my author naming trend, these are the Maxine earrings, named after Maxine Hong Kingston. Black tourmaline rondelles hanging from vermeil links, they are a sophisticated addition to any wardrobe - and so versatile, as black pretty much goes with anything.

Also, my bribe worked! Mr Hazel has agreed (albeit reluctantly) to accompany me to another showing of Twilight this afternoon. Yay! The movie opened at #1 this weekend, which means they can move ahead with the sequel, New Moon - and I just read that those plans have been confirmed. This is great news and I am very excited.

I also posted a new book review at Paperback Musings!

Twilight movie review

I think I got pregnant at least five times during this movie.

Seriously. Edward? Super, super duper, super hot.

My expectations were sky high going into this, and my cousin Leslie (who loved it) warned me that I should lower them. I tried, really I did, but I don't think I tried hard enough. Sky high expectations, and I still loved the movie. LOVED it.

Okay, I'll amend that. I initially expected R-Pattz-as-Edward to be super hot (judging from the previews), but R-Pattz the actor hasn't been looking stellar lately during his press appearances, due to his crazy, nutty hair and looking exhausted all the time. So, my expectations of his hotness were muted a little bit going in. But when I finally saw him on screen...! I felt faint. He was so charismatic, so charming, so incredibly beautiful. The chemistry between him and K-Stew was sizzlin' to the point where I was surprised the screen didn't burst into flames.

Edward's first appearance on-screen was a dramatic build-up, much more so than in the book, and I clapped in excitement when he finally appeared. It was a thrilling moment.

K-Stew-as-Bella was a lot less annoying than Bella in the book, and she was definitely not whiny whatsoever, but K-Stew's seriousness was such that it bordered on sullenness. She was really frowny the whole time; I don't think I remember seeing her smile even once.

However, their kissing scene was combustible (I didn't breathe that entire scene) and the final prom scene was so, so romantic. The sexual tension was so thick you could cut it with the proverbial knife. The use of the music from the soundtrack was very well done, and the incorporation of Bella's lullaby throughout really worked. I also liked that there was a lot more diversity and personality in the local kids - Eric as a hip, cool Asian and Mike as funnier and more endearing than he was portrayed in the book.

However, there were things that were different from the book that I didn't like:

1. Bella wasn't wearing blue during dinner with Edward in Port Angeles.
2. The meadow scene wasn't as pivotal in the movie, and our initial glimpse of Edward's glittering skin merely looked like he had a sheen of perspiration on his face.
3. Not one scene where they showed Bella cooking for Charlie, but at least a couple of scenes where she and Charlie ate out.
4. The Cullen house was gorgeous, but it wasn't white with a wide porch. The exterior was ultra modern.
5. Jasper looked dazed the entire time, and wasn't given much of a role except to stand there and gape. He was supposed to be a tall, leonine man but Jasper here looked about twelve years old wearing an awful wig. And Rosalie? Didn't work so much.

I won't be seeing this again until next weekend with Alissa, so I'm trying to bribe Mr Hazel into going with me tomorrow. I went with my coworker Tameka and two of her friends today and we were noting that the audience was mostly made up of grown-up women like us - and some even had husbands/boyfriends with them - with teenage girls few and far between.

I definitely wish the movie was longer.

Douchebag wannabe vampire boner

Okay, it's the eve of my seeing Twilight (finally!) and so I am posting this awesome, awesome South Park parody. This is the quote from Comedy Central's piece on the episode:

So Twilight is like a huge cultural phenomenon. You knew that right? You didn't just learn of its existence this month, did you? I mean, what are you, some kind of 30-something blogger with a sudden, startling and involuntary detachment from the fast-changing world around him? Either way, Twilight is all the rage. So much so that it's fodder for this week's season finale of South Park.

The full episode is called The Ungroundable. They burned down Hot Topic!

My cousin Leslie went to the midnight showing last night, for which I was extremely jealous. She said lots of people were wearing Twilight shirts, and there was even a guy wearing a "Team Edward" t-shirt. However, she won't discuss the movie with me until after I see it.

The initial opening stats have been staggering. Also, the Smart Bitches compiled their favorite reviews here.

Twilight Toooosday

We interrupt our regularly scheduled jewelry programming for some much-needed Edward eye candy. Hey Twilight fans - two more days! Are you excited yet? I just realized that this is a pivotal Twilight Tuesday post because it's the last one before the movie opens.

Check out this interview by BuzzSugar where R-Pattz sounds all kinds of adorable, especially when he says (and imagine this with a British accent):

Being too polite and being too much of a wet blanket is just, like, not sexy at all, and so I kind of strayed a little bit in the movie away from being too gentlemanly.

Looking forward to seeing how not too gentlemanly he is this Saturday!

And I present to you Edward Cullen's Guide to Vampire Dating.

And now, for that eye candy!

These are all from their In Style photoshoot. The last picture is kind of what I imagine K-Stew-as-Bella would have looked like in her "after" lifestyle (don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read the entire series yet). Except not quite so blase or ambivalent. She's horizontal with Edward, for chrissakes.

Twilight Tuesday

Exactly one month from today until the movie opens!

Here is a wonderful still shot of the Cullen family from the movie. I have to say, the actors look a lot like how I pictured the characters in my head, except for Emmett, who I thought would be bigger and more muscular than Kellan Lutz. And I had a harder time picturing Carlisle because Meyer didn't really provide a detailed description other than he looks like a blonde male model. Otherwise, the rest are pretty close.

From left to right: Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, Edward, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper.

And for pure eye candy, Here is Rob Pattinson looking all kinds of hot attending a movie premiere.

Twilight Tuesday!

So many things going on for today's Twilight Tuesday, mostly about the movie coming out next month.

First, I was telling my coworker Tameka, who is also a fan, that I really want to buy an Edward t-shirt that I saw at Borders, but felt a little too embarrassed to actually do so. Today, however, she sent me this picture that she took with her camera phone of the Twilight display table at Borders. The fact that she actually took this picture made me laugh so hard.



My cousin Leslie, who is an equally obsessed fan, told me that she did buy a t-shirt online. I may have to do the same to protect my anonymity and to keep secret the fact that I am not a 12 year old girl.

Also, the final trailer for the movie just came out! It looks wonderful. My SIL Alissa and I were squealing over the fact that they showed Edward and Bella kissing. Squee! Apparently this has been already watched an insane number of times.



And finally, the soundtrack list for the movie has been revealed, and there is a song there called "Bella's Lullaby". I'm a little apprehensive because it might not live up to what I think of as her lullaby (Schumann's Widmung), but I will try to keep an open mind. Also Robert Pattinson (the actor who plays Edward, who was also Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter) sings a song on the track, so I am excited for the CD to come out on November 4.

Twilight Tuesday

Mr Hazel and I were watching tonight's presidential debate, but he kicked me out because I kept yelling at the TV and he couldn't hear what the candidates were saying. Since I decided a while back that this will be a strictly non-partisan blog (I don't want to alienate past, present, or future customers) - though I have to admit that remaining non-partisan has its challenges because I am a very loud, very fierce member of one of the political parties - and this election has threatened to give me an aneurysm every five minutes - I'm now going to move to a much more fun topic.

To wit, the newly-released movie poster for the Twilight movie. I think Edward looks smokin' hot here, though my sister-in-law Alissa wasn't so sure about what she called his "cat's eyes." Still. He's smokin'. Alissa also sent me a whole barrage of Edward pictures from various scenes from the movie, where I proceeded to salivate my heart out.

How could I have forgotten?

...about these heroes...

13. Jake Ryan (hello, did I really forget Jake Ryan? He made girls swoon in the 80's, including yours truly, with his iconic role in Sixteen Candles)

14. Ben Covington (Scott Speedman in Felicity - thanks to my sis for reminding me - I was in love with him all throughout my college years)

15. Sir Percy Blakeney (The Scarlet Pimpernel - the epitome of the dashing French Revolutionary secret agent)

16. Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz in Some Kind of Wonderful)

17. Marius Pontmercy (Les Miz)

Robot love

We just saw "WALL-E", and it was wonderful. The sweetness of it made me cry. I loved how the girl robot, WALL-E's love interest, was totally kickass. Capable and competent. And she had an equally kickass weapons system that the audience kept cheering over.

I must say WALL-E is quite possibly the sweetest robot ever, sweeter even than R2D2.

In addition, the special effects were amazing, the plot highly clever, and the animation sheer genius.

It was a breathtakingly lovely film.

Sex and the Suburbs

Over the weekend my sister and I went to see Sex and the City. However, we did not see it in the city. We went to the deep 'burbs. In a minivan. I was mortified, but as it was a free ticket and a free ride, who am I to complain? (Thanks, sis!)

We both ended up loving it, despite the host of mixed reviews. I thought Samantha threatened to steal every scene she was in. She was absolutely delightful. But note to Jennifer Hudson: stick to singing!

One scene was particularly bittersweet to me because it reminded me of the time I moved out of my bachelorette pad in the city. It was an exciting time - moving in with Mr Hazel (to the 'burbs, but still...) and starting new adventures together. But it was also sad because I loved my apartment and leaving it signaled the end of my wild and wacky girl bachelor days.

Watching a similar scene in the movie made me tear up in nostalgia.

And my favorite montage? Why, the wedding gown photo shoot, of course!

Aqua earrings

Faceted aqua quartz rondelles with hammered vermeil squares and earwires. This one is "Carrie," named after Carrie Bradshaw and in honor of the new SATC movie!

Carrie is now up at the shop!

Important public service announcement: whatever you do, refrain from seeing the new Indiana Jones. Unfortunately, that was two and a half hours of my life that I'll never get back.

Night at the (terrifying) movies

Mr Hazel and I saw Cloverfield last night. In a word: WOW.

I mean, WOW.

It was an intense, lean-forward-the-whole-time, never a relaxing moment kind of movie. It was really good. And the lead guy had a sort of Michael Vartan look to him, not surprising since this was a J.J. Abrams movie.

And speaking of J.J. Abrams, they showed the new Star Trek prequel during the previews, the one with Heroes' Zachary Quinto playing the young Spock. It was a true teaser and they didn't show much, except a darkened scene with a bunch of airplanes, a slowly-moving closeup of a ship with the "U.S.S Enterprise" written on it, and then the voice (that sounded strangely like Captain Picard's) saying the famous opening lines, "Space...the final frontier."

I got chills, I tell you! I am so excited for this movie!

Yes, I am a nerd.

They also showed previews for other movies I am excited about, namely: Hellboy 2 (I loved the first one), Iron Man (it looked great), Jumper (this one looked awesome), and the gambling movie about the infamous MIT card counters in Vegas (I'm not as excited about this as Mr Hazel is).

Though they didn't show the previews, I am also looking forward to the new Batman (Christian Bale: yummy) - especially because Katie "Crooked Face Zombie" Holmes won't be in it this time. Also, I got word that they are making a fourth Terminator movie, this one also with Christian Bale playing the old John Connor. They're going to show him actually sending the first guy back to protect Sarah Connor in the first Terminator movie, thus coming full circle.

Great movies coming up and I'm looking forward to them all.

The Golden Stinker

I saw The Golden Compass tonight. It was...how shall I put it? A dud. A major stinker. A ridiculously contrived fantasy wannabe. A miserable bomb with stilted dialogue, a meandering plot, stupid names, terrible acting (especially Nicole Kidman, who was so annoying playing the part of the villain that all I wanted to do the entire time was punch her in the face), and horrible world-building.

Lord of the Rings, this ain't.

In fact, it was so bad that we almost walked out in the middle of it, except I didn't want to compound the waste of the $17.50 we spent on the tickets. It's very rare when I feel like I have nothing to lose by walking out in the middle of a movie, so when I do feel this way it's gotta be pretty bad.

It was so much worse than Chronicles of Narnia, and that's saying a lot, because Narnia sucked butt big time. At least Narnia had an interesting warrior queen villainness and a cool final battle scene. Golden Compass had nothing redeeming about it except for the fact that it ended. Oh, and Daniel Craig, but he was only there for a total of five minutes and his plot had no resolution (I guess they left that for the sequel) so even Daniel Craig failed to lift this stinker bomb dud into the level of the tolerable.

All ten fingers and all ten toes thumbs down!

Ringing in the holidays

Mr Hazel and I bought our Christmas tree this weekend. The cats loved it. On Sunday I turned off all the other lights, turned on the Christmas music channel on cable, sat and looked at the Christmas lights, listened to the music, and got into the holiday spirit.

Christmas music always makes me sad for some reason.

We also took out the beautiful menorah that we got as a wedding gift. Hanukkah is super early this year; I'm not ready yet!



10 Things I Loved About August Rush

1. Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing his own guitar.

2. Jonathan Rhys Meyers singing his own rock songs.

3. Jonathan Rhys Meyers wearing ripped jeans and a leather jacket.

4. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and his Irish accent.

5. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and his hair.

6. Felicity playing the cello (hah - fooled you - you thought I was going to say Jonathan Rhys Meyers again, didn't you?). I was impressed - there were shots where a real string musician would be able to tell the flaws in her technique (for instance, she played with her bow too close to the fingerboard, and her bow was crooked when she drew it across the strings). But, with the way they shot those scenes, she sold me on her cello playing abilities.

7. Felicity absolutely glowed in this movie.

8. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and his vivid, soulful green eyes.

9. The music. I definitely want the soundtrack to this movie.

10. Freddie Highmore, playing the titular character August Rush. He was sweet, luminous, almost ethereal. I loved him.

My sister and I cried buckets. The only thing we both didn't like was there was no payoff. It left you wanting. But that's all I'm going to say about that because I don't want to give away spoilers.

And finally, I wanted to give a shoutout to my aunt, who had surgery today. She is one spunky lady!