One of my favourite shows of the moment.  Stupid Twilight.

Well, I never liked JJ much anyway.  I bet she’s exactly the type of person who WOULD read Twilight. 

Though Reid’s “…Colon…?” line made me laugh.  That’s what my sister thought I said at first too when she first heard about the Cullens, and I’m glad that Reid at least has no idea what they’re talking about.

Thanks to the user HeartkillerHIM on Youtube for posting this and behindgrey_eyes on the Twilight_sucks community on livejournal for mentioning it.

In future…

Dear Twilight,

Please refrain from making “pop-culture” references in my favourite shows.

Even if they are making fun of you, it’s still annoying.

kthnx,

– Antitwilighters across the world

I was reading through a blog post today about the world of a fifteen-year-old as expressed metaphorically in young adult literature. There’s a brief mention of Twilight, towards the end, which is why I’m sharing this:

The creepiest baby in all of young adult literature, of course, is the one in Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn, the final installment of the Twilight vampire saga. Protagonist Bella is all about physical transformation. For her, death is a consummation devoutly to be wish’d, because it will entail eternal youth with forever-love Edward. But after the wedding she finally consented to in order to get some sparkly loving, she discovers an impossibly fast-growing pregnancy—a vampire spawn that kicks her still-human ribs apart, gives her internal bleeding, breaks her spine, and requires a gruesome Caesarian-by-teeth. (I am so looking forward to seeing how the movies handle that.)

The horrific pregnancy and birth, however, is followed by Bella’s own birth into her new life as a dazzling vampire, with self-control and abilities even other vampires find impressive. And, bonus, her child is also perfect: never cries, always loving, rapidly growing, and walking and talking by two months. The wages of sin might be death, but the wages of post-marital sex seem to be nightmarish pain, followed by eternal life blessed by a wonderful child.

Bella is often accused of passivity, but although there are certainly faults to be found with her fixation on romance to the exclusion of all other interests, she doesn’t actually lack forward momentum. She’s the sexual aggressor and instigator of change in her relationship, hurtling through milestones at breakneck speed—first love, first soul-crushing breakup, marriage, sex, childbirth, and motherhood in less than two years—before achieving her goal of eternity in a fairy-tale cottage with her loving family. Her transformation is agonizing and traumatic, but, aware of the risks and owning her choice, she pushes unrelentingly for it anyway. Although I do wonder if Bella’s really considered the ramifications of repeating high school over and over again, as her husband and new siblings-in-law do—after this ultimate transformation, she has perfection, but a static and essentially unchanging one.

The writer goes on to say that she prefers the sorts of books most of us seem to like, where the problems the characters faced were real in a way that they didn’t necessarily all end with “happily ever after” like twilight did. I can’t tell what Karen Healey (the author of the article) actually thinks of twilight in terms of her fan/anti-ness but it’s an interesting point none the less.
I think one of the biggest differences between twilight and some other YA lit I read is that I think the way Stephenie Meyer writes is an unintentional metaphor. When she has her characters do something, she thinks literally, but we read the undertones and don’t appreciate it. It is this that I think makes her seem so misogynistic, etc. to us. The fact that these crazy, unintentional themes are entwined with the reality of our world is confusing to us, especially at whatever age we’re at where we’re trying to figure out who we even are.
I agree with the author of the article in the sense that I personally prefer the more realistic versions of the stories. Life isn’t perfect now, and even if we get married and have kids, and live forever, it’s still not going to be perfect.
We realize that, and that’s why we’re more drawn to the more gritty, imperfect stories where people are flawed and where they triumph nonetheless because they’re normal like us. In Bella’s case, she was “special” to begin with, due to forces outside her control. She was saved by a beatiful stranger and her transformation into adulthood was either already there, or at least eased up a bit due to the fantasy she lived in. Her vampire transformation is the symbol of her transition into adulthood. It was easy for her, after the whole gruesome birth scene. Her rebirth showed her as the dream person, perfect and special in every way now that she’d grown up.
But we don’t want to be told that everything is perfect if you act like a stereotypical housewife. We want to be shown real, fantastically flawed, lovable in their own way characters!
Is that where Stephenie Meyer fails?

Haha, wow.
Tangent much? =P

Anyway, here’s the whole article if you want to read it. Please note: It mentions assorted other YA novels, and is more about the metaphorical hardships in YA novels than anything I just said.

So yeah.

Thoughts?

From “Sorry, ‘Twilight’ fans, some experts say vampire love isn’t healthy” article on Kansascity.com:

There are moments in the books that are troubling even to those who enjoyed the series.

One is about a character named Sam who, when he was turning into a werewolf, loses control and hurts Emily, the young woman he desires. Later, he apologizes profusely. She forgives him because he was out of control and didn’t mean to hurt her. The two get together, but Emily is left scarred forever.

If you subtract the werewolf element, such scenarios sound all too familiar to experts such as Mitru Ciarlante, the youth initiative director for the National Center for Victims of Crimes in Washington, D.C.

“This pattern of the ‘werewolf’ losing control sounds like a dynamic we’ve heard in abusive relationships,” Ciarlante said. Stalking is also “very much an element in teen relationship abuse and a precursor to sexual violence.”

Suzanna Narducci, a co-founder of TweenParent.com, a Web site for parents of 9- to 13-year-olds, said she wouldn’t forbid kids from reading the books or seeing movies, although she admits that when Bella makes a choice about college, “that killed me,” and the relationship between Sam and Emily “reeked of domestic violence.”

“It’s a matter of using it as a teachable moment,” Narducci said. “Romance means something so different for them. It’s important for parents to use it as an opportunity to have an open dialogue about what romance is like and about the difference between fantasy and reality.”

Read the whole article here and here (page two).

It focuses more on the Sam/Emily relationship, but it offers some insight on why people like it and concerns about whether this should be okay or not.

It also helps that the writer of the articles seems to reside in Connecticut, like me, Lizzy. I guess smart people live here? =P

Thanks to Jamie (JaToTheMe) for the tip!

That is just creepy.

Source: Here

Seriously, it’s awesome. =)

Thanks to Twilightsucks on livejournal for the link!

Creation is launching a 20-date series of TWILIGHT conventions, writes Geoff Boucher at the LA Times:


The three-day weekend fan conventions will tour around the country and internationally over the next three years, with 20 stops already announced and one scheduled in the Southland at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel on March 12-14, 2010. 

“Twilight” fans will have the chance to meet and get up-close and personal with “Twilight” cast members, including Kellan Lutz (Emmet Cullen) and Ashley Green (Alice Cullen), with additional guests to be announced. No word on whether Robert Pattinson (who plays Edward Cullen), Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) or Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) will show up yet.

The conventions will feature exclusive footage sneak-peaks, panel discussions, photo opportunities, contests and parties. There will also be wine and cheese parties for the actors and nine fans lucky enough to win an auction for the private event.

It’s a clever move on Creation’s part. The idea is to lure the rabid fans of the Vampire Romance series into their own containment area so that their cooties will not spread to other, healthy fandoms. Once in lockdown, the Twilighters can be isolated and subjected to reprogramming so that they won’t bother us any more.
 

Sounds to me like the writer of this article is an anti. =)

To read the source article, click here. 

Thanks to Buffy-Boards.com for the tip!

I’m not sure if I should be laughing or crying right now.  The irony of this is too much.

I’d buy this product.  =P

Anyway, if you’re interested in seeing the source page, please click here. 

Thanks to Twilightsucks.com for the link.

Take a close look at the picture to the left? Can you make out the “Team Jacob” and “Team Edward” carvings in the corn fields? The corn art comes from Black Island Farms in Syracuse, Utah in tribute to the November 20th release of “New Moon.” The farmers have made the art into a maze encouraging guests to make their way from one side to the other. The Black Island Farmers say, “If you’re really good, you can get through the main maze in about an hour.” What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to show your excitement for the movie?

Okay, WTF??? A freaking MAZE? This is just ridiculous.

This gives getting lost in Edward or Jacob a whole new meaning…

Get the full story at the source’s website.

Thanks to Twilightsucks.com for the story.

Okay, so remember that Smeyer comic I posted about back in August ?

Well guess what…

From Bluewater Productions:

Her name is forever associated with a certain boy wizard whom she created while waiting for a delayed train. Now, nearly half a billion books sold later, J.K. Rowling will be the subject on an upcoming issue of Bluewater Productions’ Female Force biography comic series.

Female Force: J.K. Rowling, scheduled for release in December, follows Rowling’s rags to riches story of a woman receiving government financial assistance through her ascendancy in becoming one of the world’s most recognizable writers.

“J.K. Rowling created a renaissance in children’s and young adult literature. She inspires a legion of fans and it will be fascinating to follow how many future writers will point to her work as their original source of inspiration,” said Bluewater’s president Darren Davis.

The comic, written by Adam Gragg examines Rowling’s middle class upbringing, her time in Portugal teaching English, her meteoric rise with seven immensely successful books adapted into several high-grossing Hollywood blockbusters, and her post-Potter endeavors.

“She is a remarkable and multi-dimensional woman,’” Gragg noted, “Learning about who she is and how she struggled to become a success was a truly enlightening experience. Twelve publishers turned her down. If it weren’t for the daughter of a British publisher who liked Rowling’s first chapter of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, we might never have met Harry Potter.”

Female Force: J.K. Rowling will give readers two options: a standard 23-page version and a double-sized collector’s edition that contains a variety of extras.

The title is being drawn by Matthew Filer (”Masque of the Dragons”) and Joshua Labello provides the cover art. Filer said, “”I’ve been a fan of the Potter books for many years. It has been fascinating discovering the parts of her life that inspired her to write one of the most inspired book series of the modern age. It’s been an honor to pay tribute to a writer I truly respect & enjoy. “

“Rowling is truly a female force. She is responsible for millions of children (and some adults) picking up books and getting hooked on reading,” Davis added.

Female Force offers a broad examination of strong and influential women who are shaping modern history and culture. The Rowling biography is part of the Female Force sub-series called “Best Sellers.” Along with the previously announced biography of “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer, Rowling will join two other prominent female authors to be announced next month. Those currently under consideration include Toni Morrison, Ayn Rand, Margaret Atwood, Ursula LeGuin, Harper Lee, Anne Rice, Beatrix Potter and Virginia Woolf.

Davis notes other prominent and influential female politicians, business executives, entertainers, journalists, authors and activists are currently in development.

The suggested retail price (SRP) for the upcoming issue is $3.99 for the standard 23-page version and 6.99 for the expanded collector’s edition.

They also included this:

MY LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE. <3

Source

Is Twilight Bad For Your Love Life?

One of Glamour’s female dating bloggers gets on the “Twilight” train and finally reads the book everyone’s been talking about. But what they aren’t talking about is the not-so-great romantic role models in the book …

Add page to favoritesBy Erin Meanley

[Editor's note: Erin Meanley represents the female perspective in "Single-ish", a blog for Glamour.com ... this is an excerpt from that blog.]

Some of you told me I wouldn’t like Twilight, but I bought the book anyway just to see what all the hoopla was about. Well, I finally finished it, and … I appreciated the romance-factor, but I couldn’t help thinking it was giving girls the wrong idea about love and relationships. I did a feminist reading of Twilight and here’s what bugged me:

1. Bella has no outside hobbies.
After she moves to Washington, Bella makes a few friends, but she’s not interested in them. Mostly her life is about Edward, Edward, Edward. But what relationship can survive that? Take it from Simone de Beauvoir, who writes about this in The Second Sex: “Two lovers destined solely for each other are already dead: they die of ennui, of the slow agony of a love that feeds on itself.” (658)

Outside interests breathe life into a relationship. If you want a healthy one, you better get a life, whether you’re a dead vampire or not. On the other hand, Romeo and Juliet were teenagers obsessed with each other, so I don’t know what to make of that.

2. The guys are totally unrealistic.
Women are always writing male characters how we’d like guys to be — not how they really are. We’re setting up expectations. In Twilight’s beach scene, Mike Newton brings Bella “sandwiches and an array of sodas to choose from” (118). Excuse me, but a teenage boy at a beach is either going to be goofing around with the other boys, throwing marshmallows, or spending hours in the water.

3. Bella is brainwashed.
Bella tells us repeatedly that Edward the smug vampire is “too perfect,” (256) “flawless,” (261) and has an “angel’s face” (262). I nearly got brainwashed. But it’s like, he could kill her at any second, yet she continues to trust and lust. Of course he doesn’t kill her, so we’re supposed to be grateful and think highly of him. Such manly restraint!

But he is always talking down to her about her safety, like she’s a porcelain doll. He tells Bella he can’t leave her alone for a second. Even doing laundry, he speculates she might fall into the dryer. Really? There’s nothing wrong with being a klutz, but even joking like she can’t possibly function … well, that doesn’t do wonders for a girl’s confidence. It turns her into a dependent. And as my mom says, no one loves a helpless woman. Obviously, for the story, it’s the knight in shining armor thing, I get it, but I don’t have to like it.

4.Bella is a domestic diva.
She cooks for her bachelor dad every night. (Okay, I guess cooking is technically a hobby. But she doesn’t do it out of joy, really. It’s more out of a sense of obligation.) Bella does laundry, too. But I think we only see her do homework once. See, she’s too busy feeding a man to stop and feed her mind. There’s nothing wrong with cooking for a man, but doing it in tandem with constantly getting saved by a guy and worshipping said guy … it’s just too much. At least Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast loves to read, right?

But! I am not saying I didn’t enjoy the book at times, and that I wouldn’t have swooned at 13. I just worry that some people will read it without a critical eye (I know, it is just a story). Some girls might expect their love life to look just like Bella’s. Now that’s what I call scary.

Source

Thanks to Twilight_sucks on livejournal for the tip!