I'm not lovin' you...way I wanted to...

Yeah. Kanye says it pretty well. "I'm in love with you, but the vibe is wrong and that haunted me all the way home." My sentiments (about the Twilight movie) exactly.

If you don't feel like reading a relatively long winded blog, then read this for a relatively accurate review. I agree with most of her thoughts on the film - but I think she's a BIT more hostile toward it than I am.

Really, I shouldn't get so worked up about a movie - I mean, not enough to blog about it in detail. But, seeing as how I've been obsessing over the books for the past...uh...week - I might as well go ahead and tell you how I really feel.

I'm glad I waited until today to write this rant - I'll rant a little less this way, since I got most of it out to Chance last night. I also told Chance I'd pay him $25 to read Twilight (at least the first book)...so I'm really hoping he'll read it. I'd love to discuss it with him. It's already hard enough to not discuss my other obsession (Grey's Anatomy), and not talking Twilight is getting to be too much. I've already spoiled quite a bit for him, but oh well.

If you haven't read the books, or seen the movie - you might not want to keep reading. **SPOILER ALERT**. Unless, of course, your name is Elizabeth Crockett and you really like to spoil stories yourself before you start reading them. (:

I KNOW the film was low budget (as if $37 mil isn't a large enough chunk of money to produce a pretty decent movie)...but most of my qualms aren't about the CG. I mean - yeah, when Edward sparkles he looks slightly like tinkerbell, and his jumping around from tree to tree like a monkey didn't exactly look the most realistic...but I don't care too much about those things. I'll forgive them that.

What I'm having a hard time dealing with is the MINOR details. I know they had to 'dumb' some things down for the audience...but they dumbed them down to a point where (and I've read this several places) non novel readers have a hard time following. Case in point: Chance. When we were discussing particular things after the movie, I'd say something like -"You know, when Bella went out of town to go dress shopping" - his response, "They were out of town?" - just to name one instance. Chance claims he was mostly lost for the first half of the movie. Can't blame him. The flashback scenes - those were terrible, as was the dream Bella had. I said I wouldn't dog effects - but...those were just bad.

I understand that they only had 2 hours to fit 500 pages into, but maybe they could have still had two dances (girls-ask and prom)- so that the dynamics of things with Eric and Mike could have been different - how they were supposed to be. Her group of friends seemed mostly shallow and immature - and they shouldn't have come off that way. Her friends in the novel were pretty cool, I thought. Even Eric - the nerd. (Newspaper? Really?)

I know to save the time of Jacob having to explain who he was when they met at the beach - they introduced him at the beginning of the movie. But that ruined a lot of their dynamic, I thought. He was over the top flirty from the beginning. Too much. It was things like that though - introducing characters incorrectly, having her first day of school all wrong (In the book, she got there early so people DIDN'T stare at her, and she felt more like she fit in than in AZ - in the movie, she got there and everyone was there - staring at her, then suddenly - she fit in *Chance was lost*), getting the van scene wrong (Edward didn't just jump up and leave her in the book), going on a field trip (what field trip?), using google to find out what Edward really was (REALLY?), and having her get ready at HER house WILLINGLY for prom, amongst a slew of other things.

Their conversations also really bugged me. Chance even went so far as to turn to me and ask me if Edward was supposed to be "special". And not the "chosen" or "awesome" sort of way. There could have been a lot more talking (like there was in the book) and a lot less of Bella's idiotic narration. Down with the screenwriter.

What REALLY irked me were the most miniscule details - the ones that could have been easily changed without throwing the budget. In the movie, Bella wears a sneaker to prom - whereas in the book she wears a heel. And Charlie changing the tires on her truck and telling her - totally made the viewer miss the sweetness of Charlie waking up super early to put chains on her tires, and her not noticing 'til later.

I also missed the things they left out: explanations of some of the Cullens' histories, more of the Cullens' house (Carslile's office in particular), Bella cooking meals for Charlie, the fainting scene, the lullaby - WOW. I really could go on for days about everything I disliked. I mostly enjoyed Rob P.'s take on Edward (besides the slow-talking nonsense, and some of his added-in lines - "Google it"), but Kristen's take on Bella was a bit too stammer-ish.

I've gone on long enough - but I could probably go on for a few days longer. I've talked to friends who saw the film and really did like it. I don't want to discourage people from seeing it, but I'd HIGHLY recommend the books over the movie any day. I honestly think (and hope) New Moon will be a better book-to-film translation, because I'm sure the budget will be much higher after this one's success. And I'll still see it. And I MIGHT even watch Twilight again (after it comes out on video, just to TRY to like it a little better). But for now, I'll stick with the books - they truly are magical.

**END RANT. END SPOILER**

Other than the Twilight disappointment, yesterday was truly excellent. Church was great, as usual. Anthony's sermon was good, and the boys in the band blew me away with their rendition of Be Somebody by Kings of Leon. It was really one of the best covers I've ever heard. Chance and I went to Borders so I could pick up Eclipse, and then headed to the Steeping Room for lunch. If you live in Austin and haven't been, you should. We forgot to take the camera, but maybe Chance will still review it in his blog. The feel of the place was very European-bistro-ish. It was well lit by a wall of windows, and the green fuzzy carpet made it feel as if you were outside in a park, almost. We shared a tea service - complete with two sandwiches, tea cookies, a scone, and a slice of lemon cake - and of course, TEA! We had their Beautiful Coconut green tea, and it was scrumptious. It was such a fun place, and a pretty good deal too - we're DEFINITELY going back soon. I have a lot of good things to say about it for sure.

Mid-afternoon we went to the movie (after going home and hanging with the pups for a bit), and we came home and enjoyed Chance's remake of my birthday salad. It was great - light and flavorful - just like the first time.

We decided to head out for the evening on our second coffee shop adventure. We went to Epoch first, one of the only (if not THE only) 24 hour coffee shop in Austin. It was jam packed. We found two chairs, but they were in opposite corners of the room (and couldn't be moved), so we decided to try the next place on our list - Genuine Joe's. They closed at 11, but that was no biggie. And there were probably only 4 other people there the whole time. We were able to sit on a big puffy couch and enjoy an Orange Mocha and a Pumpkin Latte while we read our books. We both really enjoyed it - the ONLY con was the bad music (but I'm sure that changes from time to time). They were playing some sort of cajun-louisiana-boggy sounding jams. I don't really even know how to explain it, but it was obnoxious. Just not bad enough for me to refuse to go back. We'll probably still try Epoch again - it had a good vibe, but it was just way over-crowded.

It was such a good day - it was a shame to ship Chance off to work today, especially since Monday is supposed to be a day off. I can't complain too much though - his thanksgiving schedule isn't TERRIBLE. Well, he might argue with me there. But it seems like he has more time off than normal (in a bizarre way). Today he's working 9-2, then 5-8, so I'll get to see him for a few hours (yay!). Tomorrow and Wednesday he works from 7:30am - 10pm, and Thursday he works from 7:30am -2ish. We'll have thanksgiving afternoon/evening together, then he's off Friday. He'll work again all day Saturday - then back to his normal schedule of having Sun/Mon off. Not terrible, but it could be better. Sure he's not ready for two 14.5 hr days in a row. Wish him luck!

I'm off to get some more work done now. Just thought I'd blog while I had it on my mind. And if anyone read that...I'm amazed, and sorry I'm so long winded.