Quote 12 - July 23:

Edward: “Do you want me to sing to you? I’ll sing all night if it will keep the bad dreams away.”

See, this is why all the girls are just fawning over Edward. ;)

New York Magazine has a sneak peek of the soon-to-be released Sandman 20th Anniversary Poster. The poster is a collaboration of all the artists who have worked on Neil Gaiman’s award-winning Sandman graphic novel series.

Gaiman also spoke with NYMag about how he managed to get DC comics to publish Sandman even if he was new to the comics industry, and how he got them to terminate the series after he was finished telling his stories and not assign the project to another writer .

Absolute Sandman #4 is due to be released on November 2008.

The poster will be available for sale at the San Diego Comic Con.

Link: NYMag interview with Neil Gaiman

Photo: 20th Anniversary Special Edition poster (Source: NY Magazine) | Who’s who in that poster and who drew which character?

Hat Tip: Neil Gaiman’s Journal

Cross-posted to NewWorlds.ph

p.s.  If there's someone out there who's going to Comic Con and is nice enough to offer to buy one for me, please leave a comment.  ;)

Quote 11 - July 22:

Renee: “Alice wouldn’t let us do anything else. Every time we tried, she all but ripped our throats out.”

More wedding talk?

I'm subscribed to The Guardian's Books section via my Google Reader, as it's a good place to find news about Brit authors, and a good source for stuff to post over at NewWorlds.ph. Today, Google Reader had this article waiting for me: "Mormon who put new life into vampires". It's an article originally published in The Observer, and is about, who else? Stephenie Meyer.

Apart from the mention of J.K. Rowling in the same article (gah, what's new?!), the other noteworthy thing about this article is this part:

On Saturday, 2 August, thousands of Meyer's fans, many clad in the outfits of her characters, will gather at midnight parties at more than 4,000 bookshops in the US to grab a copy of Breaking Dawn, the latest and final part in Meyer's vampire series, The Twilight Saga.

The novel promises to bring to a close the story of ordinary high-school girl Bella Swan and her fellow student and love interest, 'vegetarian vampire' Edward Cullen. Internet chat speculation about the direction Meyer will take next has been fevered and the scale of the launch event echoes the launches of the last few Harry Potter titles.

In May, as a teaser, Meyer released a preview chapter from the new book. This was a typically breathless fan web posting: 'That first chapter gave us such a big insight on what's going on through Edward's head, and it gave me a much better understanding how hard it must've been for him to resist Bella's blood.' A fellow fan, Vampgirl9, replied in what must be called a similar vein: 'That single chapter let me know him so much better. I can just imagine how hard it was for him. I cant Wait!!'

Errrr... The fan comments they got were probably for Midnight Sun, as I don't recall Edward making any appearance at all in the first chapter of Breaking Dawn. Is it too difficult to do research for Twilight properly? *sigh*

Then a bookshop owner was quoted in the same article saying:

'They read as books that are very clearly aimed at teens, so there is no crossover appeal. You can't imagine a parent reading them to an eight-year-old, as was the case for the early Potter books.'

Ha Ha! No, they don't read Twilight to their eight-year-olds. The parents lock themselves up in their rooms and read Twilight themselves! So, no, it doesn't have quite as broad a crossover appeal as Potter, but the books have been known to appeal to readers aged 11 and older.

~*~*~*~

Here's another golden nugget that Google Reader coughed up today.

I love reading the blog posts of critic Eric D. Snider. He also happens to be Stephenie Meyer's favorite critic, but I already had him on my RSS before I found out Steph liked him. His "Snide Remarks" posts are really fun to read. Along with Maryann Johanson, he's one of the few critics whose reviews I find myself agreeing with most of the time.

Today's "Snide Remarks" is entitled "The Fanboys Respond to 'Romeo and Juliet,' 1595" and it is hilarious. Here's an excerpt:

forsooth, b****es, methinks Romeo & Juliet hath replaced Taming of the Shrew (I mean LAMING of the Shrew) as the vilest concoction mine eyez have beheld upon the london stage... methinks seriously, WTF?

LOL! Hit the link above for more fanboy-ing.

~*~*~*~

Because I don't have an Internet connection at home, I missed seeing "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"... all 3 acts.  Someone point me to a YouTube recording!  Pretty please?

Quote 08 - July 19

Bella: “Why am I covered in feathers?”

Feathers, huh? Perhaps Alice has gone overboard with the wedding gown? :p


Quote 09 - July 20

Alice: "No one will dare to call you plain when I’m through with you."
Bella: "Only because they’re afraid you’ll suck their blood."

*Alarm bells, sirens, flashing lights* Stephenie's warnings about the quotes! Tsk tsk. Wicked, that one.


Quote 10 - July 21

Edward: “Oops.”

Edward saying "Oops."?! Now that's a teaser quote.

It’s been an awesome week for Twilighters, so once again, if you’ve been hearing a lot of squeeing over the web, it’s probably just us.

A little more than a week ago, Stephenie Meyer started putting up quotes for the day from the upcoming book, Breaking Dawn.   There have been 9 quotes so far, and they have all been really intriguing.  Twilight Coven Philippines has all the quotes archived here.  Breaking Dawn hits Philippine stores on August 4.

Summit Entertainment has released a new trailer for the Twilight film which debuted on Entertainment Tonight.  Yahoo! Movies now has the trailer up in high-def here.

Official merchandiser, Twilight Teez, has also released the replica of Bella’s Engagement Ring, and it’s now up for pre-order here.

Finally, MTV’s Twilight Tuesday this week features Robert Pattinson, as he talked about the similarities between Twilight and Harry Potter, how he brought Edward to life, foreign accents, and chanelling Pacino.

Cross-posted to NewWorlds.ph

July 18th:

Edward: “You’re awfully small to be so hugely irritating.”

Maybe Edward is speaking to Jane here. If that is so, then Edward has graduated from his hesitation to piss Jane off. Go Edward!  Or maybe it's Alice.  I'm sure Alice can irritate the heck out of Edward without even breaking a sweat (because vampires don't sweat, haha!).

~*~*~*~

The 2nd trailer for Twilight was released through Yahoo! Movies last night... on high-def! This is the same trailer that Entertainment Tonight aired on July 15th.  This is a real trailer and not a teaser.  Although there's nothing much to really get excited about here, I'm happy that Summit Entertainment decided to show more of the story and more action scenes.  Non-Twilighters are beginning to think they'll see nothing but Edward and Bella saying silly, mushy things to each other.  At least this gives people a more concrete insight into what the story is about.

Observation #1:  Cam Gigandet rocks! 

Observation #2:  The more I see of Kristen in Twilight, the more I think she isn't perfect for the role after all.  It pains me to write that.  Yes, physically, she is the perfect Bella.  But her delivery is so bland and just generally off, that I'm starting to think maybe Catherine Hardwicke should have cast someone else.   From what I've seen of her performance, if feels like George Lucas is directing her.  And it pains me to say that, too!

Confession #1:  The "I Approve of Robert as Edward" Meter has dropped from around 90% to 85%.

Quote 05 - July 16th

Bella: “Jasper? What do vampires do for bachelor parties? You’re not taking him to a strip club, are you?”

Well, duh, Bella. Normal vampires probably go to strip clubs to drink blood and not to party. :p

Oh, alright. A blood-drinking party, then.

---

Quote 06 - July 17th

Charlie: “Bells, we’re up to bat.”

No, I don't believe this has anything to do with vampire baseball.

Quote 03 - July 14th:

Tanya: “Ah, Edward. I’ve missed you.”

Quote 04 - July 15th

Emmett: “Oooo, scary.”

This is fun.  :)

When Quote 03 hit the web yesterday, I swear, you can almost feel the searing waves of hatred towards Tanya.  It's almost akin to all the Harry/Hermione shippers' hatred towards Ginny Weasley.  While I feel very strongly about the books and the characters, and of course, I would like to see Edward and Bella together, I really don't understand the Tanya bashing.  I think it's cool that we get to see her (and hopefully the rest of her Coven).  We keep hearing about her and her sisters but we've never actually "seen" them in the books.  Maybe they'll be at the wedding!   Ooh, spice!

SIRIUSly, though, fans should really have more faith in Edward.  Tsk.

July 13th:

Bella: “Oh, Mike! How will I go on?”

The impact of "How will I go on?" is a bit dampened by "Wait, Mike?!"

On second thought, maybe this is not emo!Bella. Maybe she's being sarcastic about something Mike said to her. Ah, well. Bring on Quote #3!

<begin rant jargon>

Movie plans derailed.

Logging out of the office... at 7pm... on a Saturday.

Damned conscience.

Damned writer's block.

Monkey wrench in BD-related activities.  Damn, damn, damn.

<end rant jargon>

Stephenie Meyer announced that she will start posting Quotes for the Day again like she did before Eclipse was released. Of course, this time, the Quotes are from Breaking Dawn.

Stephenie has warned fans that:
1. The quotes are out of context
2. The quotes are out of order
3. Some are purposely misleading
4. She has a twisted sense of humor

So while the Quotes may not give us much of a truly coherent peek into what is really happening in Breaking Dawn, based on the ones she released for Eclipse, the next 20 days should be a lot of fun for Twilighters.

And so, on to Breaking Dawn QotD #01:

Alice: "I’ll play you for it. Rock, paper, scissors."
Edward: "Why don’t you just tell me who wins?"
Alice: "I do. Excellent."

I'm taking Steph's 4 warnings to heart, but this resulting banter is just brilliant, and illustrates something I really love about Twilight: the reflection of Steph's sense of humor and excellent comedic timing.  Plus, Edward and Alice's relationship, of course.  I'm excited to read the rest of the Quotes!  :)

During my usual morning trawl through my numerous RSS subscriptions, I came across this entry in one of my favorite film blogs, Film School Rejects.

There are many ways to describe this upcoming film known as Twilight. It has by all means a cult following, appeals not only to the TwilightMoms, but also to adult men such as our own Cole Abaius, and it is quite similar to Harry Potter in that tweens love it and it sells a metric shit-ton of books. One thing I did not think about was that there is some sexiness going on here. To illustrate my point, I present to you the upcoming cover of Entertainment Weekly... Unexpectedly sexy, indeed.

Erf. I knew it! My worst fears about the cover were realized. People who haven't read Twilight now think differently about it. There is no "sexiness" in Twilight! Curse that cover!

But this photo <<< looks great!  Not at all artificial looking, like that cursed Fabio-with-leading-lady pic.  Why didn't they use this for the cover? Thank goodness the actual magazine feature photos are better. Much much better.

Photo:  Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (Source:  Entertainment Weekly / Jeff Riedel)

I was supposed to blog a commentary on an article about Ben Barnes, but this is just too bad to pass up. The Ben Barnes entry is taking a back seat. That should clue you in on just how violent my reaction is to these stabs at two of my fandoms.

Entertainment Weekly is featuring the Twilight Saga this month. They have interviews with Stephenie regarding Breaking Dawn, as well as news about the upcoming Twilight film. Sounds good... until you see the cover for this particular issue:


*screams into a pillow* Sheeep! *insert further expletives here* What the heck is this?!?!

So the photographer probably thought, "Oh, wouldn't it be witty if we make it look like a romance novel cover?" Hell, NO! For one, Twilight is not a romance novel. Two, Robert Pattinson is no Fabio (although according to this photo, he is, haha!). Three, this is a novel and film for young adults. So as "witty" as the idea sounds to the people who conceptualized this shoot, to me, it's just plain stupid.

So the magazine wanted to focus on the main characters of Twilight, which are Edward and Bella. Okay. But what kind of message did they want to convey? Did they want to showcase Bella and Edward and their timeless romance? Okay. Cool. But they at least have to be faithful to how the characters are portrayed in the book. Edward is so conservative, he wouldn't pose for a photo with his shirt unbuttoned. Bella is an ordinary girl, she isn't glamorous or used to wearing dresses like this. So if the magazine wanted to show Edward and Bella and the spirit of the Twilight Saga, then they failed.

Sure, they can say this is a fantasy shoot but, for Carlisle's sake, Edward and Bella are fantasy characters. A vampire falls in love with a human, you can't get more fantastic than that! Putting them in this kind of surreal scene just sends a wrong message to people who don't know a thing about Twilight and who may be curious about it. This sure isn't a good invitation to come and explore the series further! I shudder to think about what the Twilight Bashers are saying now. They must be having a field day... and wow, I actually want to join in!

Thankfully, Kristen looks good in the photo. But, oh, Robert looks DEAD. Wait, he is supposed to be dead, haha! But come on, this is such an unflattering shot. Really. As joannaland  pointed out, Robert looks like he's sucking in his belly. Unflattering! And it looks so Photoshopped, it's just... ugh! I'd like to see a creative shot of Robert as Edward Cullen without all the editing. So that's a challenge for you, Vanity Fair! Do a Twilight photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz! That ought to ROCK.

As for the second thing that's triggering the currrsessss, it's this rumour report about a "plot twist" in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. With the Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour plotline cut and shoved down Moaning Myrtle's toilet, it appears that poor old Arthur Weasley is now the werewolf target. If this report is true, then not only was he mauled by Nagini, he will now also have the honor of being mauled by Fenrir Greyback. What did Arthur ever do to you, Steve Kloves?! I hope this does turn out to be a rumour.

^
^
If that was your reaction after reading the title, I really can't blame you.  After all, I'm not a good singer, I only sing when no one is listening, I can't play any instrument, heck, I don't even do videoke.  If I start a band, my career, to quote Ben Barnes, will only last four and a half minutes.

But fear not.  This is only a meme snatched from defune_hime   .  :p

---

1 - Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Random quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
If you want to do this again, you'll hit refresh to generate new quotes, because clicking the quotes link again will just give you the same quotes over and over again.

3 - Go to flickr's "explore the last seven days" http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Go to http://www.randomwebsite.com/
The first ten links you end up in (minus the .com’s) are your 10 song titles.

---

Here are my results.

My band name:  Mail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail

Title of my band's first album:  Less Than A Religion
from this quote from Margaret Cho - "Some people are that - more than a parent, more than a role model, more than anything less than a religion."

The album cover:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedro_neto/2619197629/
which is a photo of Big Ben.  i'm trying not to giggle out loud right now.

The album's track listing:  (looks like Mail is an alternative Brit band or something.  LOL.)
01 - Zentrifugal
02 - John Vander Slice  (who is an actual singer!)
03 - Unapologetic
04 - General Mayhem
05 - Squid Factory
06 - Ultra Shock
07 - Elvis News
08 - Enemy Hogs
09 - Not Brain
10 - Spy Mac

That was fun... and freaky.  Because just last night, I dreamed I was at the Breaking Dawn Launch, I was playing Twilight Jeopardy, and I was getting ready for my performance with my Twilight-themed band composed of Mabelle (keyboards), Daene (vocals) and Sheila (guitars).  I was playing drums.  This is Fandom Related Dream #3 (#1 involved gambling, Iron Man and George Lucas; #2 involved Ben Barnes haha!). 

OME!  I must be going nuts.

If you don’t like George Lucas’ movies, it really doesn’t matter. If I were to hazard a guess, he probably doesn’t care too much if you do or you don’t. See, there is something that sets GL apart from other filmmakers:  he can make the movies he wants to make and take risks to make these movies… just for fun. “I’ve got more shots,” he said. “I can go and make half a dozen ‘THXes.’ I’ll lose everything I put into them, guaranteed. But I can have a lot of fun doing it.” And how many other filmmakers can claim to be able to do that?  There are a few, but none that can do it in the scale that GL can.

Lucas takes another risk as he releases Star Wars: The Clone Wars in August. Costing almost a million dollars per episode, he has had to finance this one himself, selling licensing rights to Time Warner/Warner Bros. to distribute the animated film, which will make a transition to television via Cartoon Network later in the year. 

So if the film bombs in the box office and critic review meters as no other Star Wars film has bombed before, it will make a small dent on GL's fortune and his reputation, but he will still go on to make what he wants to make.  It would irritate the heck out of every Lucas critic, but I personally don't care.  In fact, it's going to make me happy to see his critics irritated... and most likely greener than The Incredible Hulk with envy.  *squee!*   Personal note to critics:  If you don't want to see Lucas make any more "terrible" films, then stop watching his movies, stop buying Star Wars merchandise, and convince other people to do the same -- because as long as you add to his fortune, he will continue to make his own visions a reality, and there will be nothing you can do about it.

Of course, I may personally criticize the decisions GL have made regarding Star Wars and Indy just like any concerned fan of those franchises as well, but that doesn't mean I've lost all my respect for The Man.  He can do what he wants, creativity-wise, just for fun -- I can't.  I admire him for what he's made for himself and how he's managed to push the boundaries of the film industry even as he pursues his own dreams.

Find out more about GL and The Clone Wars via the NYT’s profile of him by clicking the link below.

Link: “George Lucas, Free To Follow His Instincts Back to Star Wars” via The New York Times

The edited version of this post has been cross-posted to NewWorlds.ph

I prefer to get into a game without any help.  There's no fun in having walkthroughs on hand when you start playing. 

I remember playing Final Fantasy VIII and Resident Evil without any help, while my cousin was juggling through a thick pile of walkthroughs.  He did finish the game ahead of me and rarely saw the words "Game Over" on the screen.  I, on the other hand, caused Squall to die countless times, but I had a lot of fun discovering the little hidden secrets of the game and trying to figure out how to outwit the enemies. 

Don't get me wrong.  I do use walkthroughs, but only after playing and replaying the game.  It's more just to satisfy my curiosity and to find out which hidden stuff I missed and to see what the full potential of my character is.  Besides, does anybody ever really play Final Fantasy without looking at any walkthrough?  Ever?  Did anybody figure out the Queen of Cards sidequest without any help at all?  :p  And sometimes I do look at walkthroughs when I get hopelessly stuck at a certain point in the game. 

One type of cheat I don't approve of, though, is making your character "immortal".  If you can't be beaten no matter what mistakes you make, what's the fun in that?

Speaking of walkthroughs, if anybody out there in the wide wide web knows how to unlock Peter Pevensie's level in the Prince Caspian mobile game, I'll appreciate some help.  I am currently stuck.  My Caspian character is at Level 11 and I'm using version 1.0.0.   *sends S.O.S.*

Disney seems to be venturing into a unique way of marketing Prince Caspian in the U.K., what with the Prince Caspian Garden and the grand public premiere. This is sort of the opposite of the online viral marketing campaign that fueled Cloverfield and is generating buzz for The Dark Knight. It feels like Disney wants to bring Narnia to the real world. The latest addition to their interesting marketing campaign? A pavement artwork of Aslan on the streets of London. Disney commissioned artist Joe Hill to create this illusion of the Great Lion emerging from a Tube station with a Telmarine in pursuit.

I've posted about pavement artists before, specifically the works of artist Julian Beever. These artists create images on pavement in the trompe l'oeil style.

Very cool, Disney! Now if only you took a more interesting approach to marketing WALL-E... you know, like sending him to outer space with Buzz Lightyear... :p

Link: Narnia's Aslan Leaps Off the Streets of London via the Coventry Telegraph
Photo: The Coventry Telegraph

No question about it, I choose the ability to teleport. 

So many places to visit, so little time, so little money.  :p

On my Teleporting Priority List:
1.  Various places in the country:  Palawan, Bohol, Vigan, The Rice Terraces
2.  London (right on Ben Barnes' front door, please)
3.  Egypt
4.  Scotland
5.  Venice (as Indiana Jones said, "Ah, Venice.")
6.  The rest of Italy (priorities:  Lake Como, The Vatican, Rome)
7.  France
8.  Greece
9.  The Caribbean
10. Jordan (specifically, Petra)
11. The rest of the world
12. The moon