Breaking Dawn ~ 1 Day Until 'Breaking Dawn Pt. 2'

"You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers – the monsters, the enemies. When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?" 

— Stephenie Meyer (Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4))

See also: The Best Parts of Breaking Dawn (Pt. 1) and The Ultimate Twilight Fan Linkup Post

Movie poster



Trailer


The Forks High graduates

The wedding

"Flightless Bird"


The honeymoon

"Why am I covered in feathers?" 
— Stephenie Meyer (Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4))

"Sister Rosetta"


Pregnant Bella

"It Will Rain"

Eclipse ~ 2 Days Until 'Breaking Dawn Pt. 2'

"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."

-Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice."

Eclipse movie poster

"He's like a drug for you, Bella." 
— Stephenie Meyer (Eclipse (Twilight, #3))

Riley

Trailer


"I am Switzerland. I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures." 
— Stephenie Meyer (Eclipse (Twilight, #3))




"I coveted you. I had no right to want you--but I reached out and took you anyway. And now look what's become of you! Trying to seduce a vampire." 
— Stephenie Meyer (Eclipse (Twilight, #3))



"Heavy in Your Arms"


The newborn vampire army

New Moon ~ 3 Days Until 'Breaking Dawn Pt. 2'

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume."

-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene VI

See also: Twilight Fans Want to Know: Is St. Marcus Day Real?

New Moon movie poster: the love triangle

New Moon movie poster: the wolf pack

"Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. ...And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason, for anything." 
— Stephenie Meyer (New Moon (Twilight, #2))

New Moon movie poster: the Volturi

Trailer


"Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me." 
— Stephenie Meyer (New Moon (Twilight, #2))

The humans

Volturi

"I honestly have no idea how to live without you." 
— Stephenie Meyer (New Moon (Twilight, #2))

Bella in Volterra

Edward in Volterra

The kiss

Twilight ~ 4 Days Until 'Breaking Dawn Pt. 2'

As we count down the last week until the premiere of the final Twilight Saga movie, Breaking Dawn Pt. 2, I look back at the first four films.

"About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him." 
— Stephenie Meyer (Twilight (Twilight, #1))

Original 'Twilight' movie poster

Trailer


Bella Swan meets Edward Cullen in biology

"I decided as long as I'm going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly." 
— Stephenie Meyer (Twilight (Twilight, #1))

In the meadow

The bad guys: Laurent, James and Victoria

"Supermassive Black Hole"


"Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved." 
— Stephenie Meyer (Twilight (Twilight, #1))

Bella and Edward at the prom

See also: The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause v. Twilight

That Which Maketh Me Happy (NSFW)

First, that Barack Obama was re-elected president of the United States. I don't care for Willard Mitt Romney. Not because he's a Mormon - I don't care what religion (or lack thereof) someone is. I just don't think he's ever been to the U.S. - he doesn't seem to know anyone here.

Second, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Besides Small World, the other bookstore I went to in L.A. was Piccolo's, the one at the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, an outdoor mall in Culver City. All the books are used, were donated and cost $1, with proceeds benefiting a literacy project. Surprisingly, I had a hard time choosing a book there, perhaps because they were only loosely organized. I remembered discussing Anne with Jenny Shaw over at Well Shut the Front Door, and I got it to read on the plane.

I didn't read it on the plane. I watched The Real Housewives of Atlanta on those little TVs Virgin America puts on the backs of everybody's seats. In my defense, I don't have cable at home, so it's not like I regularly veg out to Bravo.

But I'm reading it now. I don't plan to read the whole series, though. It's much more than a trilogy; there are at least 8, from what I could tell when I was searching for this cover. It's a good book, though. It teaches children that if you accidentally get one of your friends drunk by mistaking wine for a nonalcoholic beverage, you can make it up to her parents by saving their youngest daughter's life.

http://www.athousandbookswithquotes.com/2012/02/208-anne-of-green-gables.html

Another book-related thing that made me happy was listening to Dr. Oliver Sacks talk about his book Hallucinations on yesterday's Leonard Lopate Show. I don't think Leonard Lopate asks the most astute questions, but it's nonetheless an interesting, fairly brief (about 25 minute) interview. Listen here.

I was also excited when I returned The Lucky One to Netflix and got back The Raven (starring John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe), the red envelope was decorated with Twilight: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 imagery.

The other thing that makes me happy is Crystal Marie's blog A Word or Three, which I just discovered yesterday (while attempted to watch the now-deleted Twilight-related videos on this blog, The Latter Days. Of the posts I've read so far, two of my favorites are:

I'm Liberal Because Jesus Said So
Women on Women Crime (How Twitter Made Me a Feminist)

Oh, and then there's this: a version of "Bad Romance" in homage to the 20th-century U.S. women's suffrage movement. New legislation, baby!

Now, the NSFW part:

A few days ago, I discovered that people on Tumblr had vintage nude photos of Burt Lancaster. This made me incredibly happy.

http://goldenhandcuff.tumblr.com/

http://las3nochesdeeva.tumblr.com/ 

http://movingmen.tumblr.com/

A few snaps from my trip to Los Angeles

On of the first things hubby and I did in Los Angeles? See the Pacific Ocean - my first time, his real first time even though he may have seen glimpses when he was a truck driver. We walked from Venice Beach to the Santa Monica pier on Sunday. We saw a pod of wild dolphins - I never saw wild dolphins before, either, not even in Key West.

Here I am having a beer at the Sidewalk Cafe on the boardwalk in Venice Beach. I also had a cheeseburger and fries. The menu has a "Bookshelf" section, which includes sandwiches named for the Iliad and the Odyssey, the thesaurus, Daniel Pinkwater, Mario Puzo, Henry Miller, and Ernest Hemingway. Why no female authors, I wonder?

The street art outside the cafe was also bookish: this is Edgar Allan Poe with Alice Cooper-esque eye makeup. Why Poe? I wonder. I would think John Steinbeck would be more California's style.

Next to the Sidewalk Cafe was Small World Books. I bought a blank journal there, and was sorely tempted to buy the latest Lemony Snicket volume, Who Could That Be at This Hour? I also wanted to buy - but didn't - The Dial Press trade paperback of From Here to Eternity:

...and The Thin Red Line:

...although I cannot for the life of me figure out why The Dial Press has not released a new edition of Whistle. My book obsessiveness demands they complete the trilogy. My favorite part of Small World Books? Petting Conan the Librarian, the bookstore cat.

You can't see it because he's sleeping, but he has a black spot on the nose. He's almost, but not quite, a Cat That Looks Like Hitler.

Venice, California, is named Venice because of its human-created canals. They're quite beautiful.

It's nice to just wander around in the canal neighborhood and sight-see, and then come out and have a beer at the Baja Cantina or another place. Next time I come to Venice Beach, I am definitely renting a wet suit and a surfboard. (This time, we rented a tandem bike. That was fun, too.) I still contend that if I can stand up on a paddleboard, I could totally learn to stand up on a traditional longboard. 

Winners of the Coffin Hop 2012

Happy November! I hope you had a happy Halloween/Samhain (happy new year, my witches!). Hopefully, you took some time to hop around and enjoy this year's horrortastic Coffin Hop.

I'd like to thank http://coffinhop.wordpress.com/ for hosting me and all the other horror/speculative fiction authors who took part.

As chosen by Random.org, the five winners of my Coffin Hop giveaway - e-book copies of The Spell You Cast by Rushmore Judd and Erin O'Riordan - are as follows:

1. Gina
2. Jolie
3. wwe
4. Liese
5. Paul

Congratulations! I'll e-mail you all with your e-book, and I look forward to your reviews.

I wish I could've spent more time hopping around, seeing what the others were up to, but I had taken off to L.A. and didn't get much Internet time over the past five days. I'll probably write more about my California experience later.

And now this.

1. If you could punch ANY celebrity in the face, who would it be and why?

Chris Brown - the why should be obvious. It would have to be a guy - we women ought to stick together.

2. If you could go streaking anywhere and get away with it, where would you do it?

Key West. It's warm there, and I don't think the locals would mind.

3. What's more important in a relationship: common values or commonalities (like tastes in music, interests, etc.)?

Common values are more important - you don't want to spend all your time arguing about the latest Supreme Court decision. You should have some commonalities, though, or you'll spend all your time arguing about what to get from Netflix.

4. Would you rather be insane in a functional society, or one of the people running a dysfunctional society?

Insanity does not sound like very much fun to me. I'd rather be partially responsible for a dysfunctional society - maybe I could steer it back toward some semblance of sanity.

5. What's your favorite type of pickle?

I like those dill spears that come on the side of hamburgers and other sandwiches. When I was a kid, I loved sweet pickles, but I've completely lost my taste for them. I can't stand them anymore.