HAR HAR HAR!

So guess what Internet! Most of you know this because I can’t shut up about it everywhere, but last Wednesday there was an EARTHQUAKE in CANADA and I FELT IT.

Here is my story:

I woke up and I was in my bed and then my bed started shaking–like little vibratey shakes–and I thought two stupid things 1) that a big truck had gone by outside or 2) it was me that was shaking (I DON’T KNOW) and then it stopped and then I went on Twitter and everyone was talking about this earthquake in Ontario and I was like oh how interesting and then I got up and then I was like

OH MY GOD THAT WAS IT!

And then I told my dad about it but because he was on the road when it happened and it hadn’t hit the news yet HE DID NOT BELIEVE ME but then my brother-in-law also experienced the same thing at the exact same time AND IT WAS TRUE THAT I FELT THE EARTH QUAKE and I have always wanted to experience an incredibly mild, non-destructive earthquake so there you have it. That is my story and I think it is a pretty great story, personally.

In other news, Fall For Anything is available most places online for pre-order! Active pre-order links are on the book’s page if you’re into that sort of thing. I will be getting copyedits for it sometime next week. I have bought myself a pack of these for the task:

While I wait for copyedits, I have been writing (while listening to a lot of Fiona Apple–God, she is so great) and reading this book:

I actually bought this book and started it last year, but for some reason couldn’t get into it. I think I tried reading it outside of a reading binge (I am a binge-reader) and that is why. So I decided to give it a go again because I am dying to see the movie–and refuse to until I have read the book–and OH MY GOD YOU GUYS IT IS SO GOOD! I am only about 250 pages in (it’s like 600 pages) and it is just deliciously thrilling and hard to put down and SO VIOLENT and what can I say, I am enjoying the violence very much! There is a girl character in the Program with a SICKLE and she is A RUTHLESS KILLING MACHINE and she is awesome and she would totally kill me ASAP if we were in the program together but oh well.

In other news I watched Doppelganger, another Kiyoshi Kurosawa film and I LOVED IT. I think it displaced Retribution as my second favourite of his (Pulse is always in first place), but I’m not sure. I just can’t say enough good things about Kurosawa’s films. I want to write books like he makes movies. JUST LIKE THIS:

I look for that in books too; books that just say it! No hiding behind prose, those ~twenty dollar words~. Just saying it. JUST SAY IT! That’s what I like. And that’s what I like about his movies. He just says it. Anyway, all that’s left for me to see is Charisma and that’s on its way to me in the mail now. Dear Internet, tell someone to distribute Loft so I can watch that too. I am so sad Charisma will be my last Kurosawa film until more are released in North America. I guess I’ll watch the ones I have over and over again until this situation changes. Sigh.

ANYWAY.

Now I am going to get back to reading Battle Royale. I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend! As you can see, I am having quite an amazing weekend myself, what with the reading and the movie-watching and the earthquake that led up to both. My weekend is WAY more amazing and exciting than the weekend everyone at the ALA conference is having, I AM SURE.

ALSO did I tell you there was an earthquake in Canada and I felt it.

I DID.

But not as much leisure time as I would like, sob.

But still.

Leisure time for me is spent reading books and watching movies and trying not to move around too much while I do either.

I’ve been pretty fortunate in all of my selections recently, so I thought I’d share ‘em with you. Here’s what I am surrounding myself with as of late:

1. The films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Lots of J-horror here. Kairo (Pulse) is my favourite of all his films. It’s about ghosts and the internet! Avoid the terrible remake. I could watch Kairo over and over again. It’s incredibly slowly paced, but that’s a huge part of its charm and when it really gets going it’s like someone has their hand inside your stomach and is squeezing your guts, which is exactly how you should feel when you’re watch a good movie, in my humble opinion. IN PAIN. Kairo also has parallel storylines, which always makes me want to experiment with the ways I write my own novels. Retribution is my next favourite Kurosawa film, then Cure and Seance. Tokyo Sonata just came in the mail and I have heard incredible things about it. I’m going to watch it TONIGHT! Also on my To-Watch list: Charisma, Doppelganger and Bright Future.

2. PONTYPOOL.

3. Good books!

I’m on a roll!

The Lighter Side of Life and Death: This book was WOW. This book is WOW. C.K. Kelly Martin is one of my favourite YA authors. Her novels are so significant and important and everyone–EVERYONE–should be reading them. The way her characters experience all of these firsts is so thoughtfully and sensitively handled. As an author, she shows respect for her readers and her books are so incredibly realistic. The way she pinpoints emotional truths makes her narratives so universal and so special. What she is doing is not something you see in YA novels every day and anyone who wants to write a YA should read one of her books before they even attempt it.

One Bloody Things After Another: This is AMAAZING and it is so worth your time. Joey Comeau’s writing so understands, well–people! He gets the way they have secrets and that gets me right in my ol’ ticker. And then he sets his novels in these fantastical, strange, unsettling and practically impossible situations and presents them in a way that makes them seem possible! This is a zombie/ghost/coming of age novel that feels POSSIBLE. IT FEELS LIKE MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOURS! Also one of my favourite things about his work is the way his characters are violent and the way they internalize and process violence. I’ve said this of his work before and I will say it again: he doesn’t waste a word.

Stolen: This book blew me away. It is absolutely stunning. What a beautifully intense book. Incredibly vivid setting, but not overwritten. This novel is brilliant. Like I said–STUNNING. That’s about all I can say. Every mind-blowing and positive adjective that is out there applies to this book. That is how I feel about it.

Shit My Dad Says: I like the twitter but I loved the book. The relationship Justin Halpern has with his father is clearly a loving one–not that anyone is debating that because if they are, they’re stupid. Heartwarming and hilarious.

Dirty Little Secrets: What a sad, good book. This is a very consuming, intense read with what I think is a very fitting, perfect ending. And the pacing was just spot on. Omololu frames the story over the course of twenty-four hours and it doesn’t drag at all. It’s just fantastically done. I am sometimes disappointed with novels that have incredibly heavy subject matters–the ones that only want to skim the surface and not really delve right into it but can still claim the edge and importance of the subject they’re writing about; books that don’t look directly at the very thing they’re about! This was not the case here. Dirty Little Secrets looks directly at the topic of compulsive hoarding and forces you to do it too.

Books I am in the process of reading: Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly and Making the Run by Heather Henson, both of which I’m early into but am having difficulty leaving alone for extended periods of time.

Movies I’m spending my Friday night with: Tokyo Sonata (eee!) and Splinter. And probably Pontypool again because DID I MENTION IT IS AWESOME.

Have you watched or read anything worthwhile THAT I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?

For my leisuring, I mean.

I guess October is a pretty good month for watching horror movies. Why is this, I wonder? Please note: that’s a joke. I thought I should clarify because some people still occassionally ask me if I was really serious when I publicly declared Salinger listened to Lady Gaga a lot when he wrote Catcher in the Rye, which he totally did, but anyway.

I love watching horror movies year round, but I must admit THE NEED gets greater when the weather starts to change. I inevitably find myself buying scary movies recklessly and feeling no buyer’s remorse later even though I really should (my last purchase was Voices about uhm, an hour ago and I hope it is good).

Anyway, I threw some suggestions Emily’s way and then I shook my fist at her because I decided I wanted to write a blog post about the horror movies I think people need to watch in October or really any month and here we are! This said, does anyone have any absolute horror (or horrorish) movies they think MUST be watched in the upcoming grand month that is October? PLEASE put them in the comments! I want to hear them! Unless they are torture pr0n (ie Saw et al), in which case forget it. I really do not like torture pr0n at all.

Here are mine, in no particular order:

ONE MISSED CALLED

This was my first J-horror! So It has a very special place in my heart. It’s about people who get a phone call from themselves in the future at the moment of their death. And involves a vengeful spirit. This movie really creeped me out. It took me over a month to finish it for some reason. Probably because it really creeped me out! The hospital scene is terrifying and I remember feeling like I could not trust one corner of the screen. And I was right! Avoid the remake.

JU-ON: THE GRUDGE

I think this was my second J-horror? It’s about a haunted house full of vengeful spirits (I love vengeful spirits!) and an inescapable curse, told in a compelling, non-linear fashion. This movie scares me every single time I watch it and I watch it a lot. The first five times I watched it, I kept noticing things I hadn’t upon initial viewing. Scary things! Either I am really unobservant (possibly) or this movie is a work of SUBTLE GENIUS (definitely). I love it. Very high on my scary list. Avoid the remake.

SHUTTER

The first time I saw Shutter, I watched it with one hand over my eyes and one hand over my mouth. It’s about a photographer, his girlfriend and a REALLY SCARY VENGEFUL SPIRIT that turns up in his photos but whatever, that’s what you get when you shoot with a Canon (Nikon: Ghost Free Since 1917). I still watch it through my fingers. The scene in the hotel room is the bestest thing ever and there is one moment that gets me every time, provided I have the nerve to watch it. This is also very, very high on my personal scary list. As always, avoid the remake. Even if it DOES star Pacey Witter. Trust me.

THE CHANGELING

It’s my personal belief that The Changeling is one of the best and scariest–if not thebest and scariest–ghost stories out there. The seance scene is a work of art. Also: GEORGE C. MOTHERFN SCOTT is in it. I am not going to say anymore than that. Except 95% of my viewings of this movie take place in the day because watching it at night is sometimes more than I can bear. Also: creepiest ghost voice ever. Seriously, if you watch any movie on this list, MAKE IT THIS ONE. THIS ONE I TELL YOU.

THE CITY OF THE DEAD aka HORROR HOTEL

My copy is called Horror Hotel. Okay, this movie is not scary per se, but it’s WONDERFUL! It’s about a college student who is writing a paper on witches and she goes to this old witch town and there are witches there and BAM! WITCHES! I tend to think of these movies as like, feel good horror. You watch them with a big bowl of popcorn and a comfy blanket wrapped around your shoulders and enjoy.

BLACK CHRISTMAS

I love this movie with my whole heart. I can’t stop buying new editions of it every time they come out. It is about a psychokiller who kills a group of sorority girls on Christmas Eve, but it is also so much more than that. I think Black Christmas is pretty unnerving and the ending is PERFECT and I first saw it when I was like, thirteen and what a great memory of my youth! Also, the tagline is: IF THIS MOVIE DOESN’T MAKE YOUR SKIN CRAWL, IT’S ON TOO TIGHT! Where can you go wrong? Exactly. You can’t. Also: AVOID. The remake.

DEAD MEAT

What a great, great, great perfectly low-budget Irish zombie movie. When I first saw it, it vaguely put me in mind of Night in the Living Dead. It veers more into campy territory, but the production values are similar and I guess that over-riding feeling of isolation and trying to make it work is too. Now, this is not a direct comparison–nothingbeats Night of the Living Dead!–but I found Dead Meat pretty dang satisfying for a (kinda) zombie movie. Objectively, I am not sure it’s good, but personally, I liked it a whole lot.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

I don’t think there will ever be a zombie movie that is better than this one. I saw Night of the Living Dead in my early teens and I wanted to curl up in a ball and give up on everything, it bothered me so much. I felt like I had survived something but there was no point; it was so grim and senseless and exhausting. Those quickly became the same reasons I would love the movie and turn into a big zombie fanatic. The sheer poetry of survival! It’s all here in this movie, which is always brilliant and always scary. And because it fell into the public domain, you can watch it here.

28 DAYS LATER

The opening of this movie is basically a good argument for why PETA will cause the end of the world. It’s about a rage virus that turns you into like, a rage zombie in less than a minute (again, entirely thanks to a PETA (like) organization tsk tsk). And a guy that wakes up from a coma 28 days after it has spread all over England. 28 Days Later is so fantastic and bleak and hopeful and TENSE. This movie gave me a stomachache the first time I watched it, I found the idea so distressing. And I dreaded every scene that took place at night. Aaah, dread. Delicious dread.

THE MAD

This is a zombie comedy starring BILLY ZANE. It is hysterical and campy and fabulous. BILLY ZANE (his name should always be capitalized just because) plays this former rocker turned uptight doctor, who is on a road trip with his new girlfriend, angry daughter and his angry daughter’s idiotic boyfriend. When they make a stop in a small town… ZOMBIES abound! And absolute hystericalness. Hystericalness that involves a raw beef patty that attacks people. Yes, A RAW BEEF PATTY THAT ATTACKS PEOPE (see above).

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

I judge people who don’t like this movie now that it’s all cool not to like. I judge them HARSHLY. Because The Blair Witch Project is amazing, dammit. AMAZING, DAMMIT. I love the way it exploded onto the scene and I love that it holds up as a good movie even now. I mean, how horrible would it be to be lost in the woods with this possible evil witch stalking you? Horrible. Every time I watch this movie I have a complete understanding of how horrible it would be. And I’m impressed. Rock on, Blair Witch. Rock on. Haters to the left.

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HOCUS POCUS

That’s freaking right. It ain’t the time of the season until you’ve watched this movie at least ONCE. And if you haven’t, you miss out. YOU DO YOURSELF AN INJUSTICE. Hocus-freaking-Pocus. Bette Midler. Kathy Najimy. Sarah Jessica Parker (okay, not so much Sarah Jessica Parker). Witches who are accidentally resurrected on Halloween night by OMRI KATZ and THORA BIRCH. An immortal cat. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MOVIE. IS PERFECT. If you don’t watch it in October, then, I don’t know. You should be ashamed. ASHAMED! Because being a fierce witch STARTS with these witches and don’t you forget it.

SGA was also listed in Publishers Weekly’s Spring 2010 Sneak Previews, along with quite a few other books I’m really looking forward to reading.

Meanwhile, I’ve been in creative limbo, slowly trying eke out words while stuff goes on around me that demands nearly all of my attention and emotional energy but I guess that’s life and that’s the way life is sometimes. I will say this: it’s VERY frustrating when your heart is in something, and the rest of you is being pulled in all different not-awesome directions.

Sooo I’m hoping to level off enough to focus soon. Or else. And this basically means I’m currently in a weird position of trying to recharge my batteries and give myself a break without taking a writing break because taking a break from writing is pretty much impossible for me to contemplate (I know someone who can attest to this coughLoricough).

Mostly I have been attempting battery recharging by watching horror movies and waiting for a shift and trying to be content with an output of like three words a day*.

Anyway.




* I AM NOT CONTENT WITH AN OUTPUT OF THREE WORDS A DAY.

image via my confined space

image via wikipedia

image via google

Fun Fact about this Canadian: I did not always say “eh,” but my friends did. And I wanted to be just like them so I forced myself to say it until it finally became second nature. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if they decided to jump off a bridge? Probably I would have done it with them while screaming, “EEEEEEH!”

And they would have thought I was so cool and finally accepted me for the person I pretended to be when I was around them. *sniff*

I am celebrating Canada Day with this movie:

jerk

Also I liked how many artful Jason Vorhees shots it featured:

True story: this part of Friday the 13th Part 2:

IT’S TRUE.

Anyway, sometimes I look at where these blog entries begin and where they end up and I am amazed I write books.

So a recent comment on one of my older blog entries led me to discover something interesting. HEY GUYS, LOOK AT THIS:

But can I say, as much as I sometimes dislike my asymmetrical eyelids and tire of opening my eyes REALLY WIDE for photographs just to even them out, it makes me sad that this is considered a correctible problem. Enjoy the novelty of being able to have two different expressions at once, people! I KNOW I DO.

So is it egotistical when you want to make a photograph of yourself your own desktop background?

Let me explain: when I was teeny, my mom took these three pictures of me JUMPING OFF THE COUCH in quick succession. I often refer to these photographs as, “The last time I was happy.” I don’t know why, since I am generally a content person. Maybe because I like to see my mom roll her eyes when I say it?

Anyway, regardless of whether it’s egotistical or not, these photos make me happy when I look at them, so I scanned them in to make them my desktop (so I could be happy all the time!) and then I decided why not show the interwebs because HEY GUYS, LOOK AT HOW CUTE I WAS:

Okay, now let’s bring the mood down a little and watch the first official trailer for New Moon together:

It has been A Time. In two words. Handed in round two of revisions for Some Girls Are last Monday, and now I’m very slowly working on catching up on like, everything, while I anticipate round three. Please be patient with me while I do this (but since when have you lovelies not been patient with me?)! March is mostly a blur of re-writing and coffee, but I will try to think of some things that happened and then proceed to share them with you in a hopefully entertaining way before I kill my web presence completely. Because THAT IS WHAT BLOGGING IS ABOUT.

First: I got the Twilight DVD on Saturday. The 3-DISC HMV EXCLUSIVE, which I guess has some extra-special features on it that I will probably never watch, though I did watch the movie itself.

Lest I OD on Emo Edward Cullen, I’m putting the Twilight Saga aside for a little bit and got some new books to read: The Season by Sarah MacLean (finally!), The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp (for some reason I keep calling it The Impossible Now even when I am looking at the cover and it’s going THAT IS NOT MY TITLE, COURTNEY), and Wake by Lisa McMann. Has anyone read any of these? Let us talk about them! Here are my initial thoughts on all three:

1) I am strangely attracted to Sutter in The Spectacular Now and kind of want to date him even though I wouldn’t want to touch his emotional baggage with a ten foot pole. If he gets rid of the later, we can TOTALLY do the former, but I have this sneaking suspicion that ain’t gonna happen.

2) The Season is super-charming and Lord Blackmoor is hot. I have a feeling he’s-a-gonna end up with another character, so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself not to be super jealous when that happens. If I am wrong though, I will be thrilled because that means if I ever acquire the ability to become a fictional character that can visit the pages of any books I would so TOTALLY have a chance with him. Incidentally, Sarah agreed to an interview on my blog (eee!!) and that’s my first question: “If I acquired the ability to become fictional etc…” Let’s anticipate her answer now.

3) The possibility of a Janie actually ever existing is precisely the reason why I will never fall asleep in public anywhere. I look at Wake as less of a story, and more of a warning. NOBODY FALL ASLEEP IN PUBLIC. ODDS ARE GOOD SOMEONE WILL HAVE THE FREAKY ABILITY TO SEE YOUR DREAMS, OKAY. God, imagine if someone found out about my dream where I wash RPATTZ’s hair while he’s sleeping. That would be absolutely mortifying.

In other news, the lovely Adele over at Persnickety Snark (a book blog you guys need to watch), sent me some photos of Cracked Up to Be in Australia! So cool, you guys. I have some very close and dear friends in Australia and I get such a thrill thinking of my book being where they are. And then I get super jealous of my book for getting to Australia before me. Unfair!

I have no regrets.

Adele also interviewed me, which was super fun. Check out the first part here!

ALSO (you guys still with me?): a shameful amount of time ago, I asked Steph aka The Awesome Reviewer X about her thoughts on online marketing based on a post by Author Extraordinaire, Sarah Prineas. So Steph totally made a great blog entry about it and I was like !!! THANKS STEPH and then I was like I WILL COMMENT SOON and then my revisions became Tremors and ATE ME… so I never commented. :( And it was a GREAT discussion. And I still feel bad–like I am so ashamed I can barely @reply Steph on Twitter, actually–so I’m hoping talking about it in my blog will redeem me a little (will it Steph, will it?!).

Anyway, Steph’s post is fabulous and I thank her for addressing a hot-button topic among authors in the fantastically candid way she addresses, well, everything, and for hosting such a great discussion in the comments. I have lots of strong feelings about online marketing and summed up, they are basically: I LOVE IT.

Although online marketing efforts can not necessarily be quantified in sales, the opportunity to connect and reach people and let them know HEY I’M OVER HERE is one I really can’t pass up (as M.J. Rose often says, “No one will buy a book they don’t know exists.”). If only one person looked at Cracked Up to Be’s book trailer and made a mental note that the book is exists, I’m very satisfied with that. I’ve really enjoyed the online promotion thing, and I think I’ve made some really strong and lasting connections and friendships and that’s worth its weight in gold to me.

Incidentally, along with my amazing publisher’s efforts to get word out about Cracked Up to Be, and my signing at OLA earlier this year, all of my promotional efforts have been focused online. ALL of them (seriously, I’m a hermit). I’d say most of the buzz Cracked Up to Be has received has been created online by you wonderful book bloggers and online friends, who took the time to get excited about it and say you were looking forward to it, to reading it, to reviewing it, to inviting me into your space to be interviewed. I got word not too long ago that the book went into it’s third printing, and while I can’t say this definitively, I have gut feeling that you wonderful people on your computers that were hooked up to the internets played a large part in making that happen. Thank you for that.

So yes. Online marketing! Whooo!!!

Finally, this is the best song in the world:

WHOOO TOTO’S AFRICA BEST SONG EVAAAAAH.

And that is what the rest of this epic blog entry is going to be about. I am only going to give you the opportunity to click away once if you haven’t seen it yet. Here’s yer warning:

Oh, snap.

I was supposed to go see Twilight yesterday but it didn’t end up happening but that was okay since we all know the TRUEST Twilight fans actually go the day after the release date, of course. I took my sister as her birthday gift because I like giving people things they don’t want for their birthdays. And since I see a movie–in theatres!–an average of once a year, Twilight required a certain amount of prep. Things I know about movie theatres despite the fact that I barely step foot in them: they are COLD. Too cold!

… So I wore a t-shirt, a sweater and a hoodie, thick socks and uhm, long johns under my pants which I then proceeded to tuck my socks into. Laugh all you want, biatches, but I was very comfortable for the two hours I was stuck in that icebox. Anyway, after I was dressed, the ~*sparkling*~ commenced, and by that I mean my sister brought down some sparkly cosmetics and we rubbed them all over our faces. After my face was good and sparkled, I felt a peculiar sensation.

me: uhm, my skin is burning.
my sister: oh yeah, this sparkle stuff has alcohol in it.

This also makes me a truer Twilight fan than any other fan. Like, I may have come to the Twilight game a little late, but I wore like 70 layers of clothes and burned my face off with sparkles just to see the movie, which puts me way ahead of the rest of the fandom, in my opinion. On the ride down to the theatre I asked if anyone happened to remember Lisa Nowak and me, my mother and my sister had a fantastic, philosophical discussion about the logistics of determined stalking and bathroom breaks. Probably the best way to go about it is to be a vampire. Edward Cullen never has to worry about the later when he’s doing the former.

ANYWAYS. I did not end up getting a cell phone so I could live tweet the experience (thank God), but as I did with the Matthew Good concert back in May, I took a notepad and I pen.

I am such a dork, I know.

The cost of movies and popcorn and soda is ridiculous these days. I didn’t write this down, but it is still true. So anyway, after we got the tickets, the popcorn and the soda, me and my sister sat down and waited for the movie to begin. I made an f-ton of notes during this time because there was nothing else to do. Good God, it was boring.

And I am only happy to say that because I love being right.

Seriously, the movie took FOREVER to start:

After the lights went down, I could see nothing. From that point on my handwriting got way worse. It was hard to find the paper. I wrote on myself a couple of times.

In the science lab, look for ~*RPATTZ*~ strategically placed in front of a stuffed owl with outstretched wings. It makes it look like Edward IS AN ANGEL. Oh, symbolism.

(Other things to look for: Stephenie Meyer’s really obvious cameo and the Little Brown link on the Google Book Search page.)

Bwahahaha.

I was shocked at what happened next. Edward saved Bella from the car and then they went to the hospital. The whole movie I have only had eyes for ~*Edward*~ and then who walks onscreen…?

Let’s take a moment to appreciate how tough that kind of existence would be.

Least of all because there seemed to be like, 9-year-olds in the theatre.

PS: When Bella and her friends go and buy prom dresses, the camera angles TOTALLY reminded me of Hardwicke’s earlier film, Thirteen. Very reminiscent. Just thought you all should know.

I LOVED Edward’s constant glowering. It was seriously a thing to behold. When Edward saves Bella from a bunch of thugs who want to do unseemly things to her? HE GLARES THEM INTO SUBMISSION. That’s all it takes. It was amazing. I can’t even do it justice. Edward glared at everything. He glared at everything so much, it scared the hell out of me when he smiled. ~*RPATTZ*~ totally played Edward like a manic depressive virgin who hated himself and it. Was. Perfect.

And then came the scene I have been waiting for. The ~*Sparkle*~ Reveal. This scene was a Big Huge Deal to me. You know how much I love ~*sparkles*~. I wrote to Summit Entertainment and told them to use a disco ball as a sparkle reference and if they half-assed it, they’d be hearing from me. They sent back a restraining order.

Jerks.

Anyway, this is all I can say about the sparkles:

It was like someone made him sparkle with a ~*Home Sparkle Kit*~ that you buy on the As Seen On TV store. :(

I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED.

Although, when he sparkled the second time–laying in the grass with Bella–I swear there was this sparkly musical cue (it sounded like this: ~*SHIMMER SPARKLE SHIMMER*~) that made me and my sister laugh so hard we cried and I appreciated that taking the edge off my MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT. And then the Twimom and her daughter were like (O_O) at us. And I was like, God. These poser-fans don’t even know who they are (O_O) at aka me the Truest Fan of them all.

After Edward reveals his Epic Sparkle Fail, he says: “This is the skin of a killer, Bella!” or something like that. I felt this line could have been much improved and made note:

idk.

The baseball scene was AWESOME! I thought it would be terrible because they were wearing baseball uniforms and when I saw the previews I was like seriously? VAMPIRE BASEBALL UNIFORMS? But it was REALLY COOL. And I loved the song playing when it happened. So if anyone wants to tell me what that song is, I would be okay with that. (It was Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole). And while the Baseball Scene didn’t quite make up for my Sparkle Disappointment (SUCK!), I watched it with a huge grin on my face.

And then James and his Posse showed. Can I just say how confused I am by the random shirtlessness going on with James and his Posse? It’s like Laurent and James had this agreement where they each get to be shirtless in every other scene, but never shirtless in the same scene TOGETHER so their magnificant abs could be appreciated individually or something. Like… the hell?! Did the actors who played these guys have a clause about this in their contracts? “He’s not allowed to out-ab me!”

But I’m cool with built dudes walking around shirtless, so maybe I shouldn’t question it.

Actually, it would be awesome if the New Moon movie started that way, omg.

Hmmm…

Dear Summit Entertainment…

And then my sister and I fled the theatre and marvelled at the huge line outside waiting for the next showing.

Overall: the book >>>>> the movie.

Also, I have succumbed to the Twilight Franchise if you can believe that hasn’t happened yet! New Moon is in the mail and I’m PSYCHED to read it.

So today, when I was google-stalking myself (FROM BED), I came across a really nice review for Cracked Up to Be from Ingram Library Services’ K-12 MediaShelf and it made my whole day. Which means my whole day was made BEFORE I EVEN GOT OUT OF BED. Seriously! Invest in laptops! I’m telling you, they’re going to be big.

Anyway, here is a snippet from the review:

“The strength of Summers’ novel is that the narrative is told from Parker’s point of view [...] making her a very sympathetic character despite her misanthropic actions. Parker’s angst is well justified as the plot and back story unfold, giving the novel a highly compelling quality; teens will be hard put to put this one down before the denouement.”

You can read the whole thing here. The closer Cracked Up to Be’s release date gets, the more nervewracked I get. Early response has been heartening and thrilling and seeing that was definitely both. To sum up the experience in three words: oh em gee!!!

Then I got to have a Moment with My Mom, in which I showed it to her. It went EXACTLY like this:

me: hey, Mom! check this out.
mom: [reads]
mom: that is a really nice summary of your book.
me: O_O
mom: o_o
me: …
mom: …
me: it’s a review!!!!
mom: OH! is it?
me: yes! and it’s a good review!
mom: I need to stop skimming the things you show me! *chuckles*
me: O_O
me: did you skim my book.
mom: O_O
me: …

And then she actually read it and it was grand. Did I mention that I am going to Twilight with both my mom and my sister (my brother-in-law BACKED OUT because he just can’t handle the ~*sparkles*~). They act like I am not doing them a favour whenever I am like EEEEE WE ARE GOING TO TWILIGHT TOGETHER JUST LIKE THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD WOULD DO at them which is every five minutes. I mean, seconds. I am seriously contemplating buying a cellphone just so I can tweet the experience from the theatre.

That is a BAD reason to want to buy a cellphone.

And besides, I’m sure when I get to the theatre and ~*RPATTZ*~ comes on and ~*sparkles*~ for the first time onscreen I will just like BLACK OUT in my seat because it will be so magnificent. And you can’t really tweet when you are unconscious, I guess.

So no cell phone for me.

:(

And now back to revising!

(Can I just say I feel kind of funny telling people to check out The Swivet, though, because I’m pretty sure the entire internet already has that covered because it is so awesome.)

Also head’s up, peoples: the fab Little Willow wrote the most wonderful entry about Banned Books. I love it when a blog entry makes you nod your head from the first word to the last and then the last word actually makes you do that whole fist-pumping thing where you are like YES THAT’S HOW IT IS and then everyone looks at you funny and then you show them your computer and they read the blog entry and then they do the EXACT SAME THING. Because also it is like, “I told you so,” and I love telling people so.

In other news, I spent all weekend watching J-Horror. And uhm, writing. Do you know you miss A LOT of movie when you cover your eyes?! One Missed Call keeps scaring me in new and different ways each time I watch it. And then I also watched One Missed Call: Final, which… actually–the concept was REALLY COOL, but the execution was only sort of okay (it had it’s moments).

In One Missed Call: Final, these awful teenagers bully this girl to the point she hangs herself (but survives) and then the girl starts sending the death call to her classmates as revenge, BUT–unlike the other movies–if you forward the call, you’re exempt from being killed by the scary ghost-girl responsible for them, Mimiko (who really likes killing people in the most horrific ways possible, just fyi). And the person the call is forwarded to does not get the opportunity to forward it themselves. So basically you have all your teenage friends who want you to die–and would help make that happen–rather than have you forward the call to them and this really scary ghost girl that is going to kill you if you don’t.

How mind-blowing is that concept?! It’s like phone Survivor WITH PHONE DEATH.

OK ARE YOU STILL WITH ME OR HAVE I BORED YOU YET.

Because my question to you, my bbs, is:

EVERYONE WINS!

Except maybe Edward. That Mimiko is terrifyingly fierce. But then Edward does sparkle.

idk. Too close to call, probably.

If you feel uncomfortable answering a question about possibly sentencing someone to death, then answer this one (I am so ~*curious*~ tonight!):