New Moon

What I really wanted was a picture of me at the movie theater, hugging a poster for New Moon. There wasn't one, anywhere. Sad, huh?

I LOVED it! I thought it was awesome! Better than Twilight. Better acting, better special effects, better make-up and costumes, better flow to the story ... just all around better. I loved Twilight, don't get me wrong, but it seems most of the rough edges and kinks were smoothed out in New Moon. Parts of the movies moved faster than the book, which I appreciated. Less of Bella sitting around and crying. Less of her moping over Edward's gorgeous face and never getting to see it again. Good job on the werewolves. And the Volturi. Those red contacts were creepy! And what a cliffhanger of an ending (well, for those few people who haven't read the books). Well done!

We drove all the way to Rochester to see it on a humungous screen, since theaters around here suck. Cory, being such a good sport, came with me. He estimated that about 10% of the theater was male. The baby cooperated for the movie, for which I was glad. We enjoyed dinner afterwards, which I promptly threw up in the parking lot. I guess dinner and a movie was too much to ask. But at least I saw the movie without incident. Now I'm ready to go again!

GAH!

Look at this!!! Yea!!! Oh, I seriously can't wait...

Twilight ... the movie

Well, since people are asking me ... yes, I loved Twilight! We saw it Friday afternoon and I really enjoyed myself. I even took my camera, hoping to get a picture of me and a cardboard cutout of Edward ... but no luck. Sometimes New York theaters are so lame.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. You all know how much I LOVE the book and so when I went to the movie, I went with the idea that I wasn't going to compare every piece of the movie with the book - that's a sure way to set yourself up for disappointment. I thought they did a pretty darn good job of getting all the key elements from the book into the movie ... let's face it ... it can't be easy turning such a large novel into a 2 hour movie.

I loved the baseball scene - I thought it was perfect. And I thought the scene in the ballet studio at the end was pretty good - the actors all did a good job of playing their parts without coming off really cheesy. I did think the flashbacks of Carlisle biting Edward and Esme were a bit cheesy ... but other that that, I thought all the actors did a tremendous job bringing these beloved characters to life. I loved Charlie - thought he was perfect. Bella was really good too. I wish we could have seen more interaction with the Cullen family - but I'm sure they'll put more into the next movies (YEA!) I thought Jessica was also perfect - she sounded just like she did in my head, when I was reading the books. Prattling on and on ... oh, and Mike was pretty good, too. And Edward playing Bella's lullaby on the piano ... aaaaah! So good! I liked the prom scene, too. And how Edward "sparkled" in the sunlight was pretty well done, too (thought it did kind of look like he spilled glitter on his chest).

I thought Edward was a bit too intense at times ... he needed to lighten up a little more, like when he put his arm around Bella and they were walking through the parking lot with him wearing those shades. Just a little less angst would have been good :) We didn't get to see too much of the relationship between him and Bella develop, since a lot of their dialogue from the book was cut and things there seemed a little rushed. Still, there was a lot to fit in, and they did get some of the book's most famous lines in there ... like "You are my life now"... my personal favorite line from the book. Could you get any more romantic? Yep, I swooned at that one.

Oh, and just a little bragging ... I have the best husband in the world :) He went with me to the movie, which was really special for me, getting to share something that I was really looking forward to with him. He's listened to Twilight and New Moon on CD, so he's familiar with the story. I didn't have to drag him kicking and screaming, either. He was looking forward to going (granted, not as much as me) and enjoyed the movie. Probably not his favorite movie ever, but he liked it and I got to share it with him. He's the best!

So yep, I really liked it. Twilight (the book) has this magical quality that just sweeps you away when reading it, and you get totally sucked into the story and the characters. The movie didn't quite pull that feeling off ... but they did a pretty awesome job. I definitely think I am going to re-read Twilight ... and definitely see the movie again.

Thoughts from you guys?

Oh yeah, and it made about $70.6 million ... wow! (see here)

Fantastic weekend

After our disastrous attempt to go last week (read here), we finally made it to Six Flags. We went on Friday and it was perfect! Weather was gorgeous, lines were short, and Cory is my all-time favorite person to spend time with. Plus, I LOVE roller coasters. LOVE them! We rode everything 2 or 3 times before we were "funned" out and we drove home. A perfect day!

We also finally made it to see "The Dark Knight." Of course, I loved it. It was masterfully done. Health Ledger did make one heck of a Joker, and I loved everyone else in the cast. Excellent movie, though definitely not what I would call uplifting. It was totally worth our drive down to Ithaca so we could see it in a real movie theater (the theaters closest to us are not stadium seating and have small screens ... ) Plus we were treated to one awesome lightning show on our way back from Ithaca. I wish I had my camera with me ... it was a sight to see!

We had one of the sets of sister missionaries serving in our ward over for dinner last night. Dinner was delicious, but my favorite part of the night was when we broke out the ice cream and had an ice cream feast for dessert. I counted and we have 8 open containers of ice cream! It was good we had some company to help us eat it. Everyone had a bit of all of the flavors and it was tasty!

And this has nothing to do with anything ... but we live in upstate, western New York ... and if I have to read about one more friend who came to New York to see all the Mormon church history sites and didn't stop to see me, I am going to cry. When we moved out here, we figured we would have tons of people come to visit us - I mean, we're in "the cradle of the restoration." We attend church every Sunday at the Peter Whitmer Farm, in Fayette, the very place where the LDS church was organized back in 1830. Palmyra is only a short drive away. We love having company (and I don't mean it as a cursory polite offer). Cory & I mooch off of other people all the time when we travel, by staying with people we know - and we would love to "pay it forward" and let people mooch off of us. So if you are planning on being in upstate New York, please come by and see me. I'll make you dinner and I won't even charge you for it :) Maybe I'll even throw in some ice cream.

Ooooh and did you fellow Twilight fans see this? http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20215228,00.html
AWESOME!!!! I'm totally on "team Edward" and I can't wait to see the fairy tale wedding come true! Plus I am also a hopeless romantic (like Stephenie) and so I know it's going to be awesome. I CAN'T WAIT!

A really good story

Cory had no classes yesterday, due to the fact that registration for next tri was taking place. Given that a weekday off from school is very rare, we thought we would take advantage of it and do something fun. I took the day off from work and we planned to go to a Six Flags. The nearest Six Flags is between Rochester and Buffalo – about an 1 ½ hours of a drive. We packed our lunch so we wouldn’t have to spend tons of money while in the park, took a book (for me) and homework (for Cory) to read while standing in line and left our house. We were only 10 minutes away from the park when Cory noticed that the check engine light was on … and the temperature needle was buried. AGH! We exited the thruway and pulled into a gas station. By this point, smoke was pouring out from under the hood. We popped the hood and … drum roll, please … there was a big crack in the radiator. Antifreeze had spewed everywhere … all over the engine, the windshield, the passenger-side window. We called my dad (of course) and called our mechanic from home (home, in this case, being Farmington). Editing out some of the more boring details, we found a guy who specialized in radiators only 10 miles away from where we were. We filled the radiator with water … and it took us 45 minutes to go 10 miles. We had to stop twice to put more water in and let the engine cool down. We finally got to the shop and the guy put a brand new radiator in while we sat in his dingy waiting room and ate our sack lunch and read our book/homework. I was very glad we had thought to bring something to do, though we had no idea our radiator was going to explode. He got it fixed, we paid and we drove off, laughing at our situation. This always seems to happen to us whenever we are not close to home. We were 100 miles from home in a very unfamiliar place … last time something this catastrophic happened, we were in West Virginia and the muffler and all the piping just fell off the undercarriage of the car … and made the most awful dragging sound you can imagine. Plus, the muffler was no longer attached, so the car was sooo loud – it sounded like something right out of “Pimp my Ride.” My point is, things never seem to happen to our cars while we’re home … but when we are miles away, that’s when things go junk. Aaaah, don’t we have the best of luck? We managed to salvage our day by stopping in Rochester at an IMAX/3D movie theater. We saw Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. We even got our own 3D glasses that we got to keep. It was pretty cool seeing the movie in 3D. So all’s well that ends well … we were fortunate that nothing worse happened and that we could get everything fixed and arrive safely back home. Even though bad things always seem to happen to the car when we are miles from home, we always have been able to make the best of the situation … and for that, I am grateful. I wish I had pictures to post, but we didn’t have our camera with us, since we thought we were going to be spending the day in an amusement park and we didn’t want anything to happen to it. Oh well – use your imaginations :)

"Twilight" movie trailer!!

Okay I know I just posted something about our amazing trip to D.C. ... but this warrants posting since I am sooo stinkin' excited about it. It's for the "Twilight" fans out there. It's a trailer to the movie, along with a movie poster (which I promptly made my desktop background). It looks AMAZING! I seriously thought I might die of excitement ... I have never looked forward to a movie this much ... as much as I disliked this past winter, I find myself looking forward to December ... AAAHH!
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/?s=twilight

Harry Potter Movie #6!

Some trailers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have hit the internet. Check out this one -- it looks awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skTs8ErDbKk
And this one is good -- but it makes me want to cry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF-38DTHUqo&NR=1

Man, I can't wait for November 21st!!

Some good movies

Cory and I went to see 2 movies over the weekend. We drove up to Rochester where they have nice theaters, with stadium seating and large screens! These theaters do not exist here in Seneca Falls, so a one hour road trip was necessary. We saw “Stardust” & “Hairspray.” Both were excellent movies that I would recommend! “Stardust” was cleverly written – not your run-of-the-mill sappy love story – though it did have a really cute love story and ended happily ever after (the best kind of ending). “Hairspray” was tap-my-toes and groove-in-my-seat fun. If you haven’t seen these movies, go out to see them – or rent them when they get to DVD. I know I will be watching for them to come to DVD so I can buy them!