Traipsey Turveybecause I love

With the recent release of Twilight in the movies last Friday, it was quite appropriate that I was hightailing it to the theaters at the earliest possible moment. In fact, my head is still stuck in twilight. There is good news to all Twilight fans out there since Summit Entertainment has already announced that New Moon is in the works. I don’t know about you guys but I am quite interested to see how they will show the film since it is quite…Edward-less most of the time with Bella acting like the world has ended…but that is another story. Twilight has already raked in $70.6 billion in sales surpassing Quantum of Solace who is already in its second week.

The film stars Kristen Stewart (she’s the kid in Panic Room…yeah I was surprise, too!) and Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in the HP GOF & HP OOTH) as both Bella and Edward respectively.

My View
It is quite tricky how to adapt a book into screen and in most cases, the film usually ends up as a disappointment. However, with that in mind, I was prepared to leave my book knowledge and view Twilight without any preconceived notions.

I found it quite hard to separate the film and the movie. I’m not saying that the movie wasn’t good but it just lacked a few details that I thought where integral to the whole movie so that it would tie in with the book. I also saw a few modifications of the story and some that weren’t included that I felt should have been included.

For instance, Bella was unnaturally clumsy but in the film, there was only a subtle reference in that. I thought it was important to show it because it was one of the things that Edward was drawn to. You see, in Midnight Sun (Meyer’s unfinished book), Edward was in a dilemma: was he a predator or a protector? So adding this element in the film would have added a whole new dimension which would tie it in with the book. I did ask someone who hasn’t read the book and she did mention to me that she didn’t see Bella as clumsy as all.

The was also the “asking to the dance” thing which was not included in the film. I thought it would have been nice to see Bella’s expression and add another thing that Bella would be suspicious about. This would include the searches she did on the Internet and walking alone in the woods to think about how the new knowledge she found out about the Cullen’s would affect her feelings for Edward.

I know it’s hard to fit a book into a two hour movie so I can let the modifications and the parts that were not included in the movie slide. I’ll probably wait for the DVD release and check out the deleted scenes to see what they cut out of the whole film.

All in all it was a surprisingly good film and I loved it! I guess you could say ALL the male vampires where GORGEOUS! hahaha yup, I’ve got my head stuck in the clouds this time! Oh, let us not forget my favorite character Jacob, he was gorgeous, too! I do recommend, however that you read Twilight then Midnight Sun, in that order, first before seeing the movie. Why? Because I think that reading them first would make your brain fill in the cut out parts and make you appreciate the movie more. I think this movie was made with that in mind: people have read the book first.

So while I give it three point five stars, I still loved the movie immensely and will definitely buy the DVD.

I finished the third book, Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, after a few days of reading it. This time I thought this book had promise. It’s basically a continuation of New Moon and is packed with a little bit of action.

Plot
The Twilight series is basically about star-crossed lovers; Romeo and Juliet, if you will. The twist is that the male protagonist, Edward Cullen, is a vampire while the female protagonist, Bella Swan, is human. That explains why both of them can’t be together. This time, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. This book is more about choices and another love interest is introduced in the book.
Synopsis
It is almost graduation and Bella Swan had already asked the Cullen family to vote for her being a vampire. The family already decided to turn Bella into a vampire after graduation although no exact date had been set even though Edward wasn’t too keen on this idea.

Bella already decided to be transformed into a vampire because she knew that if she would not become one, the Venturi would be after her. Sure enough, there was a crime spree in Seattle that had the Cullen family worried. They had already decided that the crimes were due to newborns (recently transformed vampires) where being made because of an impending war. Alice, Edward’s sister who can see the future (sort of), had already foreseen that the new coven would attack them.

Because the coven had already assembled an army of 18 newborns, the Cullen’s had no choice but to ask for help from the werewolves in La Push. At first, they thought that the Volturi where after Bella but Bella realized that it was Victoria who was the mastermind of the whole attack. The werewolves and the vampires formed a truce and decided to work together to eliminate the army while keeping Bella safe. The werewolf pack had already increased adding two new wolves to the pack, making them 10.

They had devised a way to trap the newborns and split them in two, while Edward and Seth, one of the new wolves, where to guard Bella in a place where they thought she would be safe. The battle ensued but Victoria and her accomplice caught Bella’s scent and attacked. A fight ensued and her accomplice was killed by Seth while Edward eliminated Victoria.

My View
This time, I enjoyed the book. It wasn’t the best, mind you but it was pretty good, especially when the fight ensued. I enjoyed the graphic description of the fight and could easily picture it in my mind.

I loved the part where Bella finally realized that she loved Jacob and was torn between him and Edward. Although she had chosen Edward over Jacob, I could see now that there is really love between them. I still thought that Bella was a tad weak, though. I guess it’s just her personality but I just hate that she closed her mind to other possibilities.

It was insightful actually, when Jacob kissed Bella and she reacted passionately. It was, as Jacob put it, her first kiss. Even if she had kissed Edward, they couldn’t explore their passion because he [Edward] was afraid of hurting Bella if he would lose control.

The epilogue of the book was all about Jacob. He had already given up his fight for Bella and received a wedding invitation between Edward and Bella. I found the epilogue interesting because it explored Jacob’s feelings for Bella. As my previous post indicated, I am all for a Jacob and Bella relationship because I can still see that Jacob “loved her more.”

I know I love vampires but the werewolf Jacob had an irresistible appeal to me. I know, I love bad boys!

I have heard quite a lot of hype regarding Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series so I decided to check them out for myself. I often do not rely on word of mouth when it comes to books; I just have to read them for myself to form my own opinion.

I decided to skip on the ebooks and borrow all 4 of Meyer’s books. Unfortunately Twilight, the first book in the series wasn’t available so I decided to skip it and start reading the second book, New Moon. Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea because I formed a different opinion regarding the protagonist, Edward.

Plot
The Twilight series is basically about star-crossed lovers; Romeo and Juliet, if you will. The twist is that the male protagonist, Edward Cullen, is a vampire while the female protagonist, Bella Swan, is human. That explains why both of them can’t be together. All throughout the series, I expect a lot of reference to Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.

Synopsis
New Moon starts with Bella having a dream/nightmare when she turned 18. This is important to note because Edward is 17 and will never turn 18. On her birthday, Bella doesn’t want anyone to celebrate her birthday, especially Edward’s family (a group of vampires are called a coven but in Meyer’s book, she refers to the Cullen’s as family). Edward’s family consists of six vampires, which is said to be the biggest coven outside that of the Volturi, the ruling vampires coven.

Alice, Edward’s sister, decided to throw a party for her but it backfired when Bella cut herself. It is interesting to note that the Cullen’s are what Meyer’s call good vampires because they refuse to kill a human to slake their thirst. From what I have gathered, all six of them have trained themselves to only hunt when they really need to. The party ended badly, with all five vampires leaving the room and Carlisle, the head of the family, stitching up Bella’s injury. This scene marked the end of Edward and Bella’s relationship because the Cullen’s have decided to move. Edward even told Bella that he didn’t love her anymore.

In the months that ensued after the Cullen’s left, Bella was like a ghost of her former self, a shell, if you will. However, she made a friend with someone interesting. His name is Jacob and he helped Bella get over Edward but there is a catch, Jacob became a werewolf, the sworn enemy of the vampires.

My View
Now, I will not continue to make my own synopsis of the book because it in this part that I definitely didn’t enjoy. Perhaps, it’s because I skipped reading Twilight and started on New Moon first. It’s just that as the story unfolds, I don’t see how Edward could have loved Bella. There is nothing in the book that shows his love to her, only that he says he loves her so much and he is protecting her. In fact, I can’t help on rooting for Jacob and Bella to be together and I believe that they are a perfect pair. Not that I have anything against Edward but I just don’t see his love showing in the book, even when he told Bella in the end that she was the light of his life, something or other.

There was a part in the book where Bella and Alice went to Volterra to save Edward from the Volturi when he learned that Bella died, when in truth, she didn’t. It was interesting to note that Bella is not receptive to the powers of the vampires. I also read in Meyer’s website that this was one of the reasons Edward fell in love with her in the first place. That and her scent.

Meyer fans would probably disagree with me but this was what I felt was confusing in the book. I know I need to read Twilight to get a clearer view on how Edward and Bella came to be in love. I also thought the Bella’s character was pretty weak. I am definitely more of an independent character than of someone who simply bows down to the wishes of others. What I find quite disturbing is also the fact that Bella seemed fickle. It is pretty obvious in this book that she seems like she is simply using Jacob to forget Edward and when Edward returns, she leaves Jacob so that she can be with Edward. I find that callous and cruel.

The book ends with a confrontation between Jacob and Edward and an understanding that they will not kill each other unless Bella becomes a vampire. A veiled threat, so to speak. Perhaps there will be something brewing in the mist this time because Bella has taken into her mind that she wants to become one of the damned.

I have the next book Eclipse and I am definitely planning to read the one next.