Eat, Pray, Love

Something to look forward to!

Julie and Julia

First and foremost: I dedicate this post to my Fabulous Friend and Food Blogger: Vanessa! (Whom I haven't seen in weeks, but really need to do so! Will call her tomorrow, if not sooner!)

Won't waste my time giving you a review of Julie and Julia. But I WILL tell you what I loved:

• seeing Paris in all of its beauteous glory! (THERE's an old-fashioned adjective for ya!)
• the emphasis placed on the craft of cooking (I DO love some careful measuring...)
• the fact that this movie DIDN'T take place in Manhattan (although I do LOVE Manhattan)
• the emphasis placed on FOOD! (I know it's not polite, but YUM! Mastering the Art of French Cooking is now on my Christmas list... along with a La Creuset cast iron pot...)
• Meryl Streep. Stanley Tucci. I need NOT say more... but I will... completely believable... chemistry... Oh yeah... I think Stanley is a Hottie...
• Self-discovery process of Julie... (life is not about my work...)
• what else... oh yeah... this movie is about blogging!

When I went to see this movie with my girls tonight, I had no CLUE that it was about a Blogger turned author before I got to the theater.

Now, every Blogger DREAMS of this, including me... I'm not gonna lie...

I must admit that I've struggled with the blogging/commenting process.

I've run red lights dreaming about about how to create posts that would attract readers who would actually leave comments. I've missed meals (surprising, yes... I know) trying to figure out how to get more hits... but in the end, blogging for the sake the blogging is for me.

I've quit checking my sitemeter (okay... I just check it occasionally[1X/3 months]...), and I post when I want to post. I write what I want to write, and I do it for ME. Right now, THIS IS IT. I am sharing the extent of my creativity, thoughts, insecurities and dreams with YOU. I don't hope for fame, money or book deals (good thing!), and I will not be a slave to my blog.

However, in the end, I hope you feel that this is time well-spent... time that makes you feel a little better, and a little happier (most days)... and (mostly) a little more comfortable being you...

Favorite Things I Did This Summer

Click here to see a video of pictures of my favorite frames from this beautifully wonderful, never-long-enough summer!

New New Moon Trailer

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT "THE TWILIGH SAGA," JUST STOP HERE AND COME BACK TOMORROW! If you do, just keep on readin'!

If you've read my other posts about Twilight (I have a subject tab for them, 'cause there are a few...), you would know that I'm a bigger fan of the books than the single movie that is currently out...

It's not that I don't like the movie Twilight... because I do. It's just not nearly as rich with detail as the book. (But I have a passion for the music on the soundtrack!)

Anyway, being in the Twilight doldrums that I am... having read all for books and the partial draft of Midnight Sun (twice!), listened to the audio versions of all four books (I did a lot of driving this summer), and now choosing favorite chapters to listen to repetitively... I must say I'm really looking forward to the release of the movie version of New Moon... (Junkies like me can check the counter below to the right to see just how long we have to wait!)

I've watched the first trailer about a hundred times, and am tired of it. It's been spoofed and re-spoofed, but at least it provides a glimpse... The new one, however, really focuses on Bella's developing relationship with Jacob. And it is hot! I am now more excited than EVER to see the movie on November 20... it's a date!

Don't let my excitement fool you into thinking I'm on Team Jacob. In my opinion, Jacob's appeal grew on Bella mostly as a foil to Edward's absence. I don't believe there is ANY circumstance she would've chosen Jacob over Edward. And I don't believe she would've ever had the depth and inensity of relationship with Jacob if she hadn't been reeling from Edward's loss. At some points in Eclipse, I feel that Jacob gets down right unlikable. But he is oh-so-real as a character. We've most all been torn apart by loving someone who didn't return our affections, and I truly feel for him (yes, I know he's a fictional character...) and want to pat him on the back and give him a hug, and then kick him in the butt and tell him to go and watch the movie He's Just Not That Into You.

So there you go. I hope you enjoy the trailer. It made my heart race with anticipation... Taylor Lautner's hot body had naught to do with that... (;

HYSTERICAL: Twilight Parody

What a cynic wishes Bella WOULD'VE said...

I LOVE this and think it is too funny... lots of talent here...

Twilight - Fantasy Cast by Swestie

I promise I'm not going to keep posting about the Twilight Saga. However, I couldn't resist just one more... Let me give you a little background...

I hadn't really heard anything at all about Twilight - books or movie. Then my husband told me that his mom had read them... hm... I thought. She doesn't do a lot of reading. This is very interesting.

Then a girl in my book group suggested that we read Twilight. Collectively eye roll... it appeared none of us wanted to read a book for young adults. When I went to my local used bookstore, just four days before my club meeting, I was surprised that they didn't have Twilight. The squirrely lady behind the ancient, cracked counter told me that she couldn't keep them in stock. Hm. I wonder what all the fuss is about!

So I watched the movie the night before my book club meeting. I figured it would give me enough information at least not to feel left out of the discussion with my friends. And it did! I really enjoyed the movie. Furthermore, I was intrigued with the passion that the girls who had read the book spoke of each individual characters... like they were real people... even the peripheral characters... hm... and these were the girls who didn't even want to read the book in the first place!

So I borrowed Twilight and New Moon from my mother-in-law and plunged in, subsequently neglecting hearth and home for the better part of ten days, as I zipped through those two, and then greedily purchased Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, wolfing them voraciously as well. It's a good thing my kids were out of town at the time and that my husband can fend for himself, cause if it didn't HAVE to get done, it DIDN'T. I plowed through the entire 2200 odd pages of the four books in record time, enjoying every suspenseful second and feeling bereft when there were no more pages to read.

Then I watched the movie again. I was shocked by how little I thought of it while reading the books. Then I was, of course, dismayed that it wasn't as faithfully rendered as a fan could've hoped. Then I was bewildered by the choices of actors to play the roles. So here's how I would've cast the movie version of Twilight.

Bella: Kristen Stewart - no change; I thought she played a perfect awkward but thoughtful teenager girl.

Edward: Rob Lowe as he was in his 1980s Brat Pack perfection. To me, he is eternally beautiful and seems to have more of the build that Stephanie Meyer writes about in the books... Bella was always talking about his beautiful face and his perfect chest... Robert Pattinson doesn't have much chest at all...

Esme Cullen: Elizabeth Reaser - no change. She fit the bill of doting (vampire) mother perfectly.

Carlisle Cullen: Simon Baker; I must admit that Peter Facinelli, the actor who played this role in the movie, IS quite beautiful and had the right presence to play Carlisle. However, in order to stick to the book's descriptions, they bleached his hair blonde which made him look strange to me... Simon Baker is just as pretty, with an even more suave manner, and also already has the requisite blonde hair.

Alice Cullen: Ashley Greene - no change. Spritely, beautiful, graceful. A better than perfect Alice. I especially loved her speaking voice.

Jasper Hale: Jason Lewis (of Sex and the City fame); I really think that Jackson Rathbone fit the bill perfectly, except for the hair. He has dark hair, and Jasper is supposed to have light hair. The color change looked strange to me... although I do love this guy in the baseball scene. Anyway, Jason Lewis is vampire hot and already has blonde hair... but like Rob Lowe, we'd have to reverse-age him a little for him to fit the bill.

Emmett Cullen: Ashton Kutcher - let me 'splain. In all of the books, I feel like Emmett has this wacky sense of humor - like Ashton Kutcher... and the wicked good looks - like Ashton Kutcher... and also the suave factor - like Ashton Kutcher. Kellan Lutz, the guy in the movie, had the same light dark hair problem that makes our vampires even deader than they really should look, and he really didn't do much for me looks wise. He wasn't vampire beautiful. I do love it though when he runs up the tree, sticks the landing and lobs the baseball back to the infield... "monkey man" that he is...

Rosalie Hale: Portia de Rossi/Nikki Reed. Again, lemme splain. Reed, who played Rosalie in the movie, is drop-dead, knock-out GORGEOUS. But not as a blonde. I felt like there was no point in the movie that she could've been considered the prettiest girl in the room...not even next to "plain" Bella... maybe the craziest dressed (and I like some daring clothing!), but NOT the most beautiful. Hair and makeup people, sorry, but you did her WRONG. So I would either choose her with a more flattering hair color, or Portia de Rossi, again a natural blonde and certainly often the most beautiful woman in a room...

I liked all of the other characters as they were played, especially the goofy school teacher. What a riot he is! However, HOW they are going to beef up Taylor Lautner to 6'5" and still growing stature for the future movies is beyond me!

*Note: my second choice for Edward is below: Gilles Marinia (below). Hot! Hot! and Hot! Maybe even too hot for vampires... but probably so brown he'd be too hard to pale down to vampire-level pallor.

**Second note: when I started to actually consider who I would choose, I realized that casting these roles must've been a real bear. Most of he characters had to both beautiful AND young. For my part, I don't know many young actors and actresses. So that's why I called the cast I assembled above a Fantasty, oops, I mean Fantasy Cast. =) Happy movie watching!