Trailer Thoughts

Speaking of which...



Spoiler Alert! That highly motivated running may in fact be the most action that occurs in this entire story. (Part of me really hopes they kept Stephenie Meyer's weird allusion to The Merchant of Venice, re: the minimal-action conclusion to this story's central conflict.)

So, I didn't really realize it until Entertainment Weekly posted their gallery of stills last week, but I kind of forgot how totally insane this book is. Something feels leaps-and-bounds more insane about actually seeing the "It's a Small World"-esque cavalcade of international vampires and Taylor Lautner-as-Jacob interacting with his child soulmate. So weird. Too weird? Awesomely weird?

I also totally forgot that Wendell Pierce had been cast in this until the appearance of his hand in this trailer. (His hand feels distinctive to me - I guess between Bunk's cigars on The Wire and Antoine's trombone playing on Treme, David Simon's made it at least cult-TV-prominent.) People always say such super-rational stuff about Twilight, The Wire and respective fans of each, so I'm curious to see how that plays out.

OMG You Guys: Part V*

Needs more Lee Pace. And telepathic wolf communication.

*There was no post for Part IV, but I felt like it would be weird to say Part IV for the fifth movie. 

Screened: July 2010

Working my way through the backlog!

July 2: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Screened: In the theater

As I'm sure is fairly obvious, a lot of my enthusiasm for the Twilight phenomenon has waned, but I can still recognize that this was by far the best film overall and the best adaptation of the three released so far. There's a lot going on in Eclipse, but David Slade and Melissa Rosenberg did a great job of condensing the book, especially the flashbacks focused on Rosalie, Jasper and the Quileutes. It was also Taylor Lautner's best outing so far as Jacob; I'm still skeptical about his chances as far as successfully communicating the whole teenager-in-non-pedophiliac-love-with-a-baby deal, but he does seem to be growing as an actor.

July 6: Remember Me

Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix

I was spoiled on the "big twist" of Remember Me back when it was out in theaters, so I was anticipating the film's dramatic trump card. I think there's probably a good film to be made around everyday lives interrupted by tragedy, but Remember Me piled so much moody drama on its protagonists prior to the climax that it was hard to appreciate the things that it did well.

July 10: When in Rome

Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix

There has to be a resurgence on the horizon for romantic comedies, right? Where the powers that be decide to trust the chemistry between a given pair of actors rather than strained contrivances? It would just be too grim if this was a portent of things to come.

July 15: Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Screened: At home, on TCM

July 18: Inception

Screened: In the theater

There's no question that Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors working today at executing intricately designed set pieces. At its best, watching Inception was like watching a complex puzzle putting itself together. It was a nail-biter - I literally chewed off one of my fingernails while the film made its way through the tense segment of layered dreaming. I can't help but wonder whether Inception might have been even better as a second film - I keep wishing that we could have seen more of "extraction" before we got to "inception." A film focused solely on extraction could have established all the exposition that Inception's universe needed and given more depth to the characters, while the themes that shape the idea of inception could have more room to breathe, and the ultimate ending to Inception wouldn't need to be different. This is all purely speculative, of course, just sort of thinking "aloud."

July 22: The Runaways

Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix

A good movie, but trying to do too much with too little time kept it from being great. The film had a sense of not knowing which of its interesting subjects to follow, which wouldn't have happened if whoever was in charge had decided to focus the film specifically on Cherie Currie rather than "The Runaways." Still, solid performances from Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon, and probably the one role in her filmography that's best-suited to Kristen Stewart's particular persona.

July 22: The Prestige

Screened: At home, DVD from Netflix

July 24: I Capture the Castle

Screened: At home, Netflix Instant Watch

I started watching Memento, but found myself dozing off about 45 minutes in, and that's really not the kind of movie that forgives a brief nap in the middle. So I switched to that old reliable standby of drowsy weekend nights, the Brit-lit adaptation. A lovely little movie that shows economy in adaptive storytelling and gets at the heart of Dodie Smith's wonderful novel.

July 27: Good News, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Big Chill

Screened: At home, personal collection

A trio of rewatches perfect for puttering around the apartment, crossing items off my to-do list and knitting gauge swatches. Good News is climbing up my list of favorite musicals - the "jock falls for smart girl" story is one of Hollywood's favorite tropes, but I love that Good News gets resolved without the heroine having to change anything about herself. It's probably as feminist as 1940s MGM musicals ever got.

July 29: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Screened: At home, on HBO

My thoughts haven't changed much since my initial impression, but I will say that Emma Watson's performance improves upon repeat viewing. Hopefully, the degree to which she's tapped into the emotional core of Hermione's relationships with both Ron and Harry will enhance the Deathly Hallows detour into Melodrama In The Woods.

Week in TV: August 15-21

True Blood

- It's time to pull the cord on both the "What is Sookie, really?" story and the "What's the deal with Jason's girlfriend and her weirdo relatives?" story. They passed suspenseful a few weeks ago, and we're heading into "audience impatiently twiddles their thumbs" territory. Having read the books just means that I'm that much less interested in the overplayed mysteriousness of it all. It's answer time.

- I understand why, narratively, there's no incentive for the characters to all go to therapy, no matter how much they may need it, but I was glad to see Tara going to the rape survivors meeting this week. I like that the writers have imbued her with a new sense of perspective in the aftermath of last season and the Franklin debacle. Heaven knows, someone in this story needs to make strides towards consistently embracing logic.

- Denis O'Hare's agent must've clapped their hands with glee upon the conclusion of this episode - that last scene is one for the reel.

Mad Men

- A great episode, well-directed by John Slattery. I particularly liked the way he utilized the show's set to give a sense of layout to the new office - Pete's office, Peggy's office, the setup of the focus group, the shot down the hallway as Allison finally snaps and yells at Don, the hilarious shot of Peggy peeking into Don's office after the fight, the final shot of Peggy and Pete looking at each other through the glass wall. SCDP is finally starting to approach the familiarity of its predecessor. Slattery also got the best tandem performance from Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser since "Meditations in an Emergency."

- There's something very satisfying about seeing Peggy make friends with other people her age who work in creative fields. Where it was once a radical step for her just to be a woman copywriter at her firm, now she has to decide whether she wants to become a radical woman in her 1965 milieu. Weiner willing, this will coincide with a decreasing interest in tolerating Don's shifty bullshit. I hope we'll see more of Joyce - I really liked Zosia Mamet in United States of Tara and The Kids are All Right. I'll also say that I loved Joey's "yeah, duh" reaction to Peggy asking if he'd heard about Malcolm X being shot. She's still got a ways to go.

- So, a Gen-X Campbell in the pipeline. I can't be the only one imagining a St. Elmo's Fire-style preppie nightmare, right?

Rubicon

A good episode, in that it stepped back from the conspiracy a bit to tell the audience more about the analyst group - a necessary, but deftly executed expository episode. The discussions among Will's co-workers reminded me a bit of The West Wing in the pure wonky delight of watching a debate play out.

Huge

- After watching the pilot weeks ago, something prompted me to dive back into Huge with a Hulu/On Demand mini-marathon. I'm glad I did - it's in the same camp (no pun intended) as other well-written, well-acted ABC Family shows like Greek and 10 Things I Hate About You. It's refreshing to see a show where the writers understand how teenagers speak and interact with one another, and that features a varied ensemble of characters without valorizing or demonizing any out of proportion.

- One of the best things about the Twilight phenomenon? Satiric fake Twilights in teen shows. The girls-bunk hysteria over "Phantasma" (about a girl who moves to a new town and falls in love with a mysterious boy...who's a ghost from the 1700s. They can never touch! It's so romantic!) was pitch-perfect and completely hilarious.

- I'm pretty sure me as a tween is encapsulated by some combination of Becca from Huge and Alex from Modern Family. As someone who once got called "that girl who reads" by a contemporary, I identify so much with the shy girl who keeps her head in a different book every day. True Confessions of Nerdy Youth: Once upon a time, like Becca, I went through a period where I wrote my journal in runes as an extra privacy safeguard. I know.

Also Watched: The Big C, Top Chef, Degrassi: The Boiling Point

Ongoing:

Deadwood, Season 3, Episodes 8-12

- A good run up to the end, though you could see the effects of the show being written without its creative team initially knowing that they weren't getting a fourth season. However, the episodes did a beautiful job of showing the sense of community that grew around the characters of Deadwood. There was something oddly touching about the scene of Al's men standing sentry in the street as Alma completes her walk to the bank post-shooting in "A Constant Throb," and the sense of grief around Ellsworth's death in "The Catbird Seat" made up for the loose ends remaining in the finale.

- I've got other shows in the pipeline, but I wouldn't be averse to someday taking on John from Cincinnati. Certainly this new acquaintance with the David Milch oeuvre makes me more interested in checking out Luck when it comes along.

Rewatched:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2, Episode 17, "Passion"

- Now that I've finished my month-and-a-half race through Buffy's entire run, I can pick and choose among the reruns aired daily on Logo. In retrospect, this may be my favorite episode of the series. I had enjoyed the show up until this point, but this was the first one that I watched where at the end I couldn't wait to start the next. The episodes I liked best were the ones that clearly demonstrated the stakes involved in challenging whatever villains were at hand - a necessary part of building tension over a 22-episode season is talking (a lot) about the threat, but the moments where that threat really lands are the best. "Passion" is an exquisitely tense episode - it's clear that the newly de-souled Angel is going to do something terrible, just not where or when. The episode's use of a particular piece of vampire mythology - the need for an invitation into a home - only heightens the sense of creeping menace. (It's in episodes like this that you can really see what Stephenie Meyer lost in discarding traditional vampire mythology for Twilight - if I were doing work on either one, I'd definitely try to remark on the polar opposite ways the whole "vampire boyfriend watching you sleep" thing works in this episode and that universe.) The scene where Giles discovers the horrifying tableau set up at his house is one of the series' best. By adding a familiar face to the list of Angel's terrible deeds, the show dramatically underscored the stakes involved in him losing his soul, which would resonate through both Buffy and Angel.

- I'll probably talk more about Bones once the regular season starts, but I will say that watching Buffy and Angel has made me appreciate Bones more. Bones managed to find the happy medium between David Boreanaz's performances as good Angel and bad Angel - Booth is driven and principled, but also has the joie de vivre that makes Angelus kind of fun, even when he's being evil.

Books Read: June 2010

June 5: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, but a solid companion to the rest of the Twilight series. Certainly, given her tendency to pull her punches in confrontational situations it was good to see Meyer communicate a degree of authorly affection for Bree Tanner's characters, considering that the vast majority are dead upon the story's conclusion. She also didn't shy away from the newborn army's capacity for out-and-out carnage, coming perhaps the closest she's ever gotten to more traditional vampire fiction.

OMG You Guys, Part III

My enthusiasm for the series has waned a lot in recent months, but I can still get excited about the new movies. And Eclipse is my favorite of the books, so I was really looking forward to this. However...

...this trailer is super-bland, right? There's no big moment here like Twilight's "Edward saves Bella from the Van of DOOM" or New Moon's "Birthday Party of TRAGEDY," but there should be some interesting little scenes they could pull from the story. No Rosalie/Jasper flashbacks? No Vampires vs. Wolves Smackdown? (Okay, there's probably effects work that still needs to be done for that. But this movie is coming out in, like, three months. Get it together, people!) There are snippets there that look good - Bella reckoning with having to leave her parents behind, Jacob generally being all up in everyone's business - but I was hoping for a little more awesomeness all around.

Also, when they had the first full shot of Kristen Stewart (about 0:30 in), I was like, "Oh, right. That's a wig." I know they had to go that route after she got her Runaways mullet, but the shots here are not making it look good at all.

10 Things I Hope Will Be Awesome about Eclipse

It's like an annual tradition! I know Eclipse is already in the can, but it's my favorite of all four books and I'm admittedly already excited about the June movie.

1. Rosalie's backstory

Eclipse's seventh chapter, in which Rosalie's backstory is detailed, is probably my favorite of the entire series. It's as dark as Stephenie Meyer ever gets, delving into the brutal circumstances that led to Rosalie being changed into a vampire after she was attacked by her fiance. Watching Eclipse director David Slade's first film, Hard Candy, left me hopeful for a well-crafted portrayal of the revenge Rosalie takes against her attackers post-vampire transformation. (I'm also hoping for at least a brief shot of Rosalie saving Emmett from his fatal bear attack.) This particular backstory gives needed depth to a character who previously came across as a one-note bitch, and is a fundamental part of the Breaking Dawn plot progression.

2. Edward and Jacob's Big Emo Talk About Their Feelings (a.k.a. Chapter 22 - "Fire and Ice")

In Eclipse, the rivalry that has heretofore only been hinted at in narrowed-eye glares comes to a head, and somewhat fabulously so. Trapped together in a tent on a snowy night and under the impression that Bella's asleep, Edward and Jacob hash out their emotions in a conversation that somehow manages to be mutually self-aggrandizing and whiny, each lamenting what the other can do for Bella that they cannot while simultaneously laying out the chief arguments for their eponymous teams. All that, plus Edward's mind reading allows for some creepy oblique references to Jacob's masturbatory fantasies regarding Ms. Swan. It is ridiculous and awesome, and New Moon gave me faith that Taylor Lautner and Rob Pattinson will give it their all.

3. Jasper's backstory

Another stretch of storytelling that adds needed depth to a character who mostly resides in the background of Twilight and New Moon. Jackson Rathbone's been mostly hovering intensely in the first two films in a manner that unfortunately comes across more funny than serious, and Eclipse should offer an opportunity for the filmmakers to give Jasper, his decently sized sub-fanbase, and his portrayer their due. Jasper's origin story showcases a decidedly bloodier and more violent side of vampire life, which may serve to address some of the criticisms of those who find the Cullens too goody-two-shoes. It also culminates in one of the series' most unabashedly cinematic (and, in my opinion, most swooningly romantic) moments when Jasper and Alice meet in a Philadelphia diner in the 1940s.

4. The Clearwaters

Eclipse serves as the formal introduction for two of my favorite characters of the series, Seth and Leah Clearwater. The new additions to the wolfpack may be Meyer's most dynamic characters - Leah's unapologetic anger calls New Moon's wolfpack-as-brotherhood into question, while Seth's happy-go-lucky attitude provides a welcome counterpoint to what can often seem like unceasing misery. Breaking Dawn is really the Clearwaters' showcase, but both characters have the potential to be scene-stealing roles for their actors beginning with Eclipse.

5. The second proposal

Chris Weitz and Melissa Rosenberg provided a great setup here by making Edward's initial proposal New Moon's cliffhanger ending. (When I saw it at the midnight show, some girl stage-whispered "Yes!" after he asked Bella to marry him. I'm not sure whether this was a case of getting too involved in the narrative, or just an expression of joy at the proposal's inclusion in the film - some fans feel very strongly about that sort of thing - but it was delightful regardless.) The first half of Eclipse features an extended argument between Edward (pro) and Bella (con) regarding whether or not they'll get married, which A) includes a line that I fervently hope made it into the screenplay, in which Bella expresses her disinclination to be "like some small-town hick who got knocked up by her boyfriend" and B) drags on way too long and becomes seriously irritating. It's almost worth it, though, for the scenes leading up to the second (and final) proposal, in which Bella essentially tries to seduce Edward into giving it up while she's still human. If Kristen Stewart taps into her god-given endearing awkwardness, it should be a moment so vicariously embarrassing that members of the audience will watch through their fingers like they're at a horror movie.

6. The newborn battle

Unquestionably the place where the film can benefit from being a visual medium and getting outside of Bella's head. Done well, the massive clash of Cullens and wolves versus Victoria's army of newborn vampires could make Eclipse the series' best film.

7. Alice's sleepover

The circumstances surrounding Alice's sleepover are troubling, to say the least - Edward bribes his sister to keep Bella under house arrest while he's out of town, without informing Bella of any of this beforehand - but I'm charmed by Alice's fascination with the trappings of humanity.

8. The soundtrack

While New Moon didn't have the same moments of perfect union of image and song that Twilight did - namely, "Supermassive Black Hole" and vampire baseball and "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" and prom - but the soundtrack still worked well and evoked a sense of dreamy melancholy. I will give credit to New Moon's scenes with "Monsters" (Edward's slo-mo introduction into the film), "Possibility" (Bella's lost months), "Shooting the Moon" (Bella and Jacob's growing friendship montage) and "Hearing Damage" (the wolves chase Victoria). It's just that none had quite the same kismet feel of the scenes from the first movie. However, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas continues to do a great job fitting songs to the films, and there doesn't seem to be any reason to think Eclipse should be different.

9. The humor

New Moon shared a distinguishing quality with screenwriter Rosenberg's credited episodes of shows like The O.C. and Dexter - a wry sense of humor that is well-served by increased familiarity with the actors she's writing for. Though New Moon is a fairly morose story, it still felt wittier and lighter than its predecessor. (The hilarious sendup of male-dominated blockbuster culture in the heard-but-not-seen Face Punch is just one example.) The increased presence of the Cullens and the wolfpack in Eclipse should offer more opportunities for the kinds of lighter character-driven moments that made New Moon as solid as it was.

10. The setup for Breaking Dawn

BD still hasn't been formally announced, but it's almost certainly coming, if for no other reason than the fact that the major actors have to know that if there is no Breaking Dawn film, they will likely have to answer questions about it in every single interview they have from now until they die. One of the interesting things about reading BD was the illumination of various Eclipse plot points as laying groundwork for later developments. Eclipse features a chain of events that begins with Bella punching Jacob in the face and ends with her insisting on getting laid while still human, which in turn sets the parameters for the conception of her improbable monster baby in BD. Additionally, the aforementioned dive into Rosalie's backstory gives Bella the necessary set of information to know that Rosalie is the person to ask for help keeping her improbable monster baby against all rationality and medical advice. Meyer also presents the first detailed explanation of the wolves' imprinting, as told by Jacob, in what is clearly a not-entirely-successful attempt to make the whole thing seem less creepy. If Eclipse flows well and introduces these plot points with a degree of subtlety, it should leave the masses clamoring to see BD on the big screen.

Team "Sit on the Sidelines Having Drinks and Making Snide Observational Comments with Leah and Rosalie"

It'll be a little while before I get my thoughts organized on New Moon ($140 million? MADNESS!) but in the meantime I thought I'd share my t-shirt that I decorated for the midnight show. I don't want to be self-aggrandizing, but I am fairly proud of the job I did, as it was completely freehand.

Mood Music XXIII: 5 Songs that Are, Like, So Twilight

In honor of the week's big pop culture event (I'm going to a midnight show! I decorated a t-shirt! I'm so excited!) I thought I'd share 5 songs that don't appear on any of the soundtracks or Stephenie Meyer's playlists but have this excellently vibe that for some reason or another made me go, "This song is so Twilight."

"Dressed in Black," the Shangri-Las

The version of this song I'm familiar with, from the girl group box set One Kiss Can Lead to Another, is sung by a different group. It doesn't change the spectacularly over-the-top nature of this song, especially the spoken portions. I love "And no one...can hear me cry."

"Alone," Heart

The lyrics of this song, especially the chorus, are kind of like the first book if it were set to music.

"Romeo and Juliet," the Killers

I love Meyer's literary allusions, even when they're somewhat lacking in subtlety - as trite as New Moon's references to Romeo and Juliet, they somehow make Bella seem more real, as it's totally the kind of thing that idiot teenagers do in real life. (I like the Killers' version better than the Dire Straits - I feel like Brandon Flowers gives the vocals a bit of a desperate edge that serves the song well.)

"I'm Waiting for the Day," the Beach Boys

A song that feels appropriate for poor, sad Jacob. I can't remember whether I've said so here before or not, but listening to Pet Sounds made me think that there's a commonality between Stephenie Meyer and Brian Wilson - both have a knack for expressing a sort of teenage ethos. (I feel like some music lover/Twilight hater is going to pop up out of the Internet ether and ask how dare I compare the two.)

"Without You," Nilsson

The anthem of emotional overinvolvement and codependent fallout, which is truly the essence of Twilight. (And especially New Moon.)

OMG You Guys, Part II

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON trailer

I thought that I wasn't that excited about this movie, but I was lying to myself. I totally am. In a concession to my epic nerd-dom, I'll just add that six months ago (#7), I totally said that the birthday party would make a good trailer if well-executed, and I was so right.

Fandom

I like the question at the heart of this Washington Post piece by Hank Stuever - do overinvested fans interfere with the production of quality films? - but I would have liked him to interrogate the idea a little more. He never quite lays out his rationale for what makes a film successful or not - it seems to be connected to box office numbers, but he never makes that explicit; to take it further, what about a film like The Golden Compass, dismissed as a flop in the U.S. but vastly more popular overseas? What about the involvement of creators? The two franchises where he cites manic fandoms are Harry Potter and Twilight, both of which have their creators actively involved in the book-to-film process - J.K. Rowling's outing of Dumbledore came due to her correcting some script reference on Order of the Phoenix, and Stephenie Meyer has stated that her sale of the Twilight rights to Summit contained a guarantee of some measure of story fidelity. (Not to mention that after Chris Columbus left the franchise the Harry Potter movies became much less beholden to their source material.) Is the fact that Gene Roddenberry is no longer around a factor in Star Trek's ability to play with his characters and mythology? What about the fact that even though J.J. Abrams has admitted that he wasn't a Trek fan, the screenwriters are? Or that Abrams has his own fanbase? Admittedly, it's not quite as crazy as, say, Joss Whedon's, but I was a huge, huge Alias fan (and Felicity, Lost, and Fringe in varying degrees) and that absolutely played a role in my wanting to see Star Trek - it is always thrilling to me to see the Bad Robot logo, and I totally laughed a crazy little laugh of recognition when Amanda Foreman showed up on the bridge.

Ultimately, it's a tough line for studios to walk. Aim for the biggest audience possible, and you risk not even bringing in the one group who should be automatic. Make it too niche, and that built-in audience is all you get. Personally, I'm a big fan of faithful adaptations, but there should always be room for some improvisation.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

I have a bit to say about a few things, when I wish I had a lot to say about one specific thing. I suppose they can't all be treatises.

- I can see how this song wouldn't have fit on Hot Fuss or Sam's Town, but it is almost certainly too good to be a B-side/remainder:

- Looming end dates have made Lost, Battlestar Galactica and ER all fairly awesome this season, with returning classic characters on the latter and massive explications of mythology on the two former. Without the specter of Nielsen ratings looming overhead, their only incentive is to please viewers and go out with a bang. How novel.

- I can't say I really see the BFD in this new New Moon logo. You know what would really be newsworthy? An actual cast list instead of the asinine rumor-mongering that's been going on for months. Summit needs to stop jerking the fans around and just get down to the business of actually making the movie.

Why I Disagree With Stephen King

In the past day or so, Twilight fan sites have been all a-flutter with the news that Stephen King told USA Today that he thinks Stephenie Meyer is a terrible writer. Not only that but apparently, he also calls out other compatriot in commercial literary success James Patterson, while commending J.K. Rowling and Jodi Picoult as "terrific." Now, what's been posted is just a sort of "coming attractions" post. I'm curious to see whether any article space is devoted to what criteria he uses to evaluate what makes writing good, but in the meantime I thought I'd discuss why I disagree with King.

All four authors cited are ones whose work I've read and enjoyed. My parents are big Alex Cross fans, and during one school break sometime over the last few years I plowed through that series. I read a number of Picoult's books this past summer while I twitchily waited for Breaking Dawn to come out. I was a Harry Potter devotee from early on, from the time that I originally received Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as an Easter gift in seventh grade (so early in the craze that Chamber of Secrets hadn't even been published in America) to the midnight release of Deathly Hallows. And my enjoyment of Twilight is well-documented. None of the four is the kind of writer who's going to win a Pulitzer Prize. (Nor is King, for that matter.) I'm not a big enough fan of Patterson or Picoult to mount a coherent defense of their work, but I have very clear opinions about why I think both Rowling and Meyer are good writers, and what that means to me.

I can be a critical reader (like, copy-editing people's work without being asked to critical) but I'm not the kind of reader who places a lot of emphasis on technical quality. Obviously, grammar is important, but I don't know that I find it absolutely vital in narrative fiction that is centered in storytelling. Both Meyer and Rowling have strengths and weaknesses as writers, but to me, the fact that those strengths are being expressed through words makes them good writers. As a reader, I think that Rowling is an unparalleled plotter. She knows how to pace her stories expertly, and deftly built seven nail-biting climaxes. Conversely, I think that this is one of Meyer's weakest areas. Her pacing can be somewhat schizophrenic, with chapters and chapters devoted to action taking place over a few days, then significant time jumps that get glossed over. I'm interested to see what Chris Weitz and Melissa Rosenberg do with the bogged-down middle section of New Moon in adapting the story for the film.

What then, in my opinion, is Meyer's strength? Contrary to King's assertion about those readers who enjoy Twilight, not everyone who loves the books is thrilled by the swoony descriptions of Edward's icy skin. To me, Meyer's characters live and breathe on the page, distinct and vibrant personalities. Both Meyer and Rowling imagined fictional universes filled with a number of characters, and while I don't doubt that each character is clear to their creator, Meyer can communicate who they are to the reader in a way that Rowling does not. After Deathly Hallows, there was an interview with Rowling where she discussed the decision to kill Fred rather than George, saying something to the effect of Fred being the more lighthearted of the two. This surprised me, since nearly a decade of reading and re-reading the books had never revealed any substantive difference between the two to me. The run-up to the release of the film version of Half-Blood Prince has also made me realize that Ginny is still kind of a non-person to me, character-wise. The last few Potter films have diverged dramatically from the books, largely because the story can be formed around the plot and characters can appear extraneous or unimportant in the bigger picture.

Additionally, (and Stephen King would probably find this totally sacrilegious) I think Meyer's skill in writing is similar to that of Brian Wilson. Both understand how to vocalize emotions the way that a teenager does. Sometimes I find Bella unbelievably annoying, but I also find her voice totally authentic as a teenager, and am positive that if I went back to my journals from high school I would find similarly embarrassing odes to whatever guy I had a crush on at the time. This is something that I don't think Rowling has ever done well - Order of the Phoenix remains one of my least favorite of the Harry Potter books due to Harry's constant immature whining. He never seemed authentically teenaged to me in that scenario, just like a petulant child.

Some of my favorite authors are wordsmiths, some are storytellers. To me, they're all good writers, all for different reasons. I hope that as I continue to write, and look ahead to my thesis and dissertation, that I, too, can find a voice and play to my own strengths, writing as well as I know how and not trying to be a writer I'm not.

Hmmm...

This is not inspiring confidence.  Personally, I'm reserving judgement on the whole director switch - I like Catherine Hardwicke, but I also understand how it makes business sense to Summit.  Changing it up increases the likelihood that those fans who were unhappy with Twilight will be willing to give New Moon a chance.  I'm planning to Netflix Chris Weitz's oeuvre if he gets picked officially - About a Boy seems promising, The Golden Compass seemed to have a lot going on that was out of Weitz's hands.  New Moon comes in with significantly less controversy than The Golden Compass, and it would be nice to think that he's learned from the difficulties with that film.  I'm not a person who thinks that it has to be directed by a woman, I'm willing to wait and see.

Mainly, what's troubling is the tone being used to discuss the movie, and the seemingly speedy timeline.  This time last year, Kristen and Rob had been cast and the movie was heading forward to start filming in February with a December release date.  Now there's no director, Volturi and Quileutes (vital to any potential future films) yet to be cast, and apparently they're going to start shooting in March and plan to get all the post-production work, including the giant wolves, done in time to hit theaters on the same November weekend next year.  The statement about a "guaranteed $100 mil. gross" shows a lack of understanding of the fan base - there seems to be an idea that the success of Twilight is tantamount to a carte blanche from the fans for future work, which anyone who's spent any time on a fansite for the series knows is grossly inaccurate.  Summit only got to their $70 mil. opening weekend with a healthy respect/fear of the fans.  Assuming blockbuster status is counting chickens before they've hatched.  As one of the crazy bitches who love and obsess over this series: we're fickle and easy to anger - failure to respect us could blow up in their faces hardcore.