It's been kind of a crazy week! I didn't realize I'd written so much. I'm sorry if I have been killing your tense, brooding eyes. Or maybe your eyes brimming with optimism but also worry. I'm seeing a lot of emotion in people's eyes lately, I wonder if that is somehow related to what I have been reading? It has all been worth it, though. I feel like we're coming up on something good soon.New Moon has sort of been gradually revealing itself to be an episodic novel. I was not expecting that, and I'll make an argument for it later if you don't believe me. But for the third or fourth time in this book, the game has changed. A Cullen is back. Does that mean we can stop learning gradually about the werewolves? I hope so. Not that the last two chapters were that bad. Or maybe they just seem better compared the the evil abyss of Chapter 14, "Family." The wolf pack is a family alright. Like the family from that joke "The Aristocrats."
"Who's Afraid Of Virgin (Yeah) Wolves?" (Chapter 14)
"Bella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down" (Chapter 15)
Meanwhile, I complained a lot about Jackson Rathbone's slight and stupid torture-porn flick, Dread. For the next entry in the Biterion Collection we're doing something happy. We deserve it.
And there has been a whole bunch of press for Eclipse, so I have culled bits and pieces here. We all weighed in on Robert Pattinson and Ashley Greene on Jay Leno; the general consensus seems to be that Pattinson is equal parts charming and awkward and Greene is equal parts tits and ass. So much so that sometimes people forget to point their cameras at her face. I'm not sure when there will be another notable TV appearance; Kristen Stewart has yet to make the rounds, correct? So there is that to look forward to.
I just read an endearing article about Taylor Lautner and how much he loves The Olive Garden, which is kind of great. Similarly, Dan Kois somehow simultaneously praised The Cheesecake Factory and Toy Story 3 in The Awl this week, in an article that is worth a read despite the fact that it seems to spoil a few minor plot points (for the film, not The Cheesecake Factory). Dan Kois is not only a great writer, but I also sort of feel like he adheres to my tastes EXACTLY, which is a great thing to find in a critic. I'll pretty much see anything Dan Kois tells me to see. If you haven't read his review of Babies for The Village Voice you really should.
So, discussion topics are as follows.
- I don't know if we should re-hash the domestic abuse imagery thing, but I am feeling conciliatory. If anyone can justify the whole Emily thing to me, I am willing to hear it.
- I found out this week that Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter of the Twilight films, is also a writer for Dexter, a show that grapples with the moral ambiguity of being a vigilante. The question: Has S. Meyer ever considered any of the themes explored by Dexter, or in her mind is killing non-innocents a totally normal and acceptable thing to do?
- What is the deal with this strange, blood-shot-eyed picture of Ashley Greene? What is it?
- I agree with everyone, by the way, that Ashley Greene is maybe not the most compelling presence on a comedy talk show. And I was very happy that last week everyone elected to fuck her and kill Emma Roberts. Though it sounds like plenty of other people are laying on the hate nice and thick IRL at Emma Roberts, so maybe we should lay off. Or not. My question, though, is: are these late night interviews even supposed to be compelling? Are they just filler surrounding a promotional clip? I've already forgotten most of what they said. Is that the idea? Is Ashley Greene actually good at this? For the record, here is a marginally more insightful interview with Greene in which she briefly opines about her chances to acting success post-Twilight.
- Last week, Kira proposed a great game, which is sort of a variation on finding TWSS-worthy lines. You find some of S. Meyer's fantastic descriptive phrases that also happen to describe your ideal mate. As in, "Jacob's voice was wild with anxiety," just like how I like my women. So look for some of those, or good old fashioned TWSS-worthy lines from the last few chapters.
- Rewrite a classic story until it resembles one of Bella's extended metaphors. Like: what if Gatsby was in love with Daisy, but she was way on the other side of the lake and he also had a best friend named Jacob who he kind of loved in a different way?
- Harry Clearwater died this week, so eulogize him in preferably as many words as S. Meyer used writing about him in this book. So, about ten or fifteen words. RIP, Harry Clearwater, ?-2006. He liked fishing.
- Okay, an actual question: were you as shocked as I was that Bella actually came close to making a pass at Jacob? It seemed abrupt, but maybe only because I've been riding her so hard for being such a tease for so long that I failed to see where this was (almost) heading. That whole chapter, insane Romeo & Juliet-themed ramblings aside, was much different from what I've come to expect. Bella deciding to settle in to what is left of her life - is she Jim Halpert now or something?
4 comments:
This week's homework is too hard! So I'm only doing 5,6,7,8 because it also allows me to pretend I'm counting off before starting a dance routine.
5) This is more complicated than I seem! Okay, here are a few:
I like my faces how I like my men, scarred into a permanent grimace.
I like my fun how I like my men, barely comprehensible and bizarre.
I like my delusions how I like my men, there.
That was more fun than I anticipated!
6) What if Jane Eyre were in love with her much older vampire employer, who was kind of a lying, manipulative dick, but then her cousin, a pious werewolf asked her to marry him and run away to India (or somehwere) because she had left her employer after public humiliation due to all his lying to her?
7)I keep thinking of Spoon River Anthology, here. This is from Thomas Rhodes' headstone:
How hard at the last it is
To keep the soul from splitting into cellular atoms.
RIP Harry. We really hardly knew ye.
p.s. I kind of think I wouldn't mind that as my own epitaph if I have one. Even if it is taken out of context.
8)Yes and no. I didn't buy her character transformation as shown by SM to be at that point. But, as we know with Bella in this book, what her brain says and what her body does are two very different and misleading things. Jacob was very persistent and wore her down. And, you know, her delusion didn't actually save her life, Jacob did. Finally, pragmatic as it sounds, Jacob was there. Despite her undying (get it?)love for Edward, he dumped her, was gone, and never coming back. It makes perfect sense that she would consider the next best thing eventually. But I don't think Stephie led us very well to this point with Bella.
When I first read it, I was pissed that Bella would even consider Jacob as a possibility, fickle bitch. But now, I almost wish she had given it a shot here with Jacob while Edward was gone.
um, for number 5 I meant to say "this is more complicated than it seems." I don't think it was a Freudian slip, but who knows.
RIP, Harry Clearwater, ?-2006. He was an okay guy, i guess. i've heard good things.
i'm weeks late, i can't remember all the assignments and i don't have my book w/me, but i'll try to muddle along.
1)there's no justification for the emily story line. i can accept that stephenie meyers is so naive that she didn't mean for these connections to be made but that doesn't mean the connections to domestic abuse aren't pretty obviously there and also barfy. apparently true love means never having to face prosecution for assault.
2) i think it would've been AWESOME if edward had to grapple with some genuine moral dilemmas, like if he'd killed willy-nilly for a while and had real things to feel guilty about. maybe i am a heartless robot but i feel like killing bad guys is barely even a blip on the moral radar. not like shooting viet cong who may or may not be bad guys but being able to read people's minds and see they're garbage monsters for sure and then killing them. it seems like a total non-issue to me.
3) that picture of ashley greene seems pretty standard to me. like a terry richardson, modern day CK One ad. no biggie. what's that called now? not heroin chic. meth chic?
4) i think that the purpose of the talk show circuit is to allow people to see a different, more "real" side to actors, right? so if actors are awful at interviews or idiots, or just super boring, that seems to work against the entire purpose. probably not all people decide they dislike boring/unfunny celebrities after their talk show appearances, but i do.
5) i don't have my book for a good 'how i like my men' but you had a good one in your last post, i think, when bella was soaking wet and weak, which is exactly how alice likes her women.
6) what if harry had decided that even though cho chang was sort of an idiot, who needed to get her shit together and stop crying all the time about cedric diggory because that is a total bonerkiller, he wasn't going to pursue ginny weasley because she was dating that other guy from ravenclaw anyway and probably wasn't available? (what? i don't know how to play this game, i think.)
6) harry clearwater: he made a good fish fry. (right? that wasn't his wife, was it?)
7) i didn't read the chapter because this book is killing me and i can't remember how i felt about it at the time, but nothing that bella does in this book surprises me at all because she's so awful and self-centered.
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