Who has your blood? True Blood vs Twilight

OK...I must admit, or it may seem obvious that I am a diehard TWIHARD. I was resisting watching True Blood, the new vampire series on HBO based on the novels by Charlaine Harris. After watching one show, I am mildly hooked and read the first book. I do see some similaritites between the two stories.

The vampires in both want to fit into mainstream mortal cutlure, are good-looking, and defintiely love the girls. The girls, however are different. Both have some type of gifit which is interesting to me....Bella blocks everyone from reading her mind, while Sookie reads minds. Weird, huh? While Bella is a teensager in the throes of first love, Sookie is a woman from Northern LA, who is having her first love experience, but she is definitely not in the throes of love. It is more like stubborn pride which is so annoying. This is where the similarity stops and where my venting begins.

What is great about Twilight is the strength of Bella's and Edward's love for each other. There is no wavering, no bickering - maybe this is an ideal, but it sure is nice to read. The irritating thing about Sookie is that she CANNOT commit to her vampire boyfriend and likewise for him. After reading Twilight, I just want to scream: make a decision, you are either together or not. And the other annoying thing is that Bill the Vampire is never around to rescue Sookie from distress; now, Edward excels at this and this is part of his idealized appeal. All girls want to be saved at some point, sorry feminists, but it is true, admit it. Even Sookie in her stubborn feminist head, is thinking, where is HE???

I think the Charlaine Harris book and the HBO series are a great filler till the Twilight movie comes out, but I am still a TWIHARD.

Is Sarah Palin Really Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis' character on Commander in Chief)?

Did you see this show? Or, do you remember this show? It was on only one season on ABC and Geena Davis did such a great job and was so believable, that she got the Golden Globe that year.

Despite the similiarity in facial features (you can take a look yourself), the storyline is just about the same. So, did Hollywood, in the tricky, cosmic sense foretell the future?

A primer on Commander in Chief: President Tyler selects Mackenzie Allen to unify the soccer mom vote as he rides out the reminader of his term that he had to assume from the previous president. Unfortunately, he dies while still in office and she is asked to step down to allow the Speaker of the House to assume the Presidency since he embraces the party's ideals and she is an Independent.

What I see is the following:

1. Republicans ask Palin to step in to ensure that McCain looks hip and is appealing to the younger soccer moms and also the emerging Gen XY and Millenials. The drawback of this choice is that she has ZERO experience with foreign politics. See the Charlie Gibson interview where she stumbles all over the Bush Doctrine question.

2. Will Palin be a mom or VP first? The controversy over her daughter's teenage pregnancy is polarizing. Especially in this day and age where there are a number of high profile young mother pregnancies, the expectation is that this woman, holding the 2nd highest public office, will be the pillar of moral standards. With a pregnant teenage daughter, the question that comes up is that if she cannot teach the very baisc safe sex to her kids, then how will she deal with tougher issues? Will she react objectively?

3. What will happen if McCain croaks and she has to step in? I don't think the populus is thinking this far ahead. McCain is in his 70's and although he looks spry, like President Tyler in CIC, some freak medical problem could happen and Sarah could step in as the role of president. In this case, a soccer mom from AK, with less than 2 years experience in a state governorship, have enough experience to run the US and represent our interests abroad? I will take a moment for you to think about this...

4. As a woman, the fact that she is pro-life, is alarming to me. I always feel that it is a woman's right to choose.

I think the choice of Sarah Palin, like the choice of Mackenzie Allen, was a savvy political choice to ensure that the McCain campaign had steam till the election. It was also a reaction to Obama's choice of Biden in light of the Georgia conflict that arose during the DNC, instead of a hoped for Obama-Clinton ticket.

IMO, Mr. Obama, please make Clinton a ranking member of your cabinet....should you get elected. There will be a long haul to November.

Midnight Sun leak - Conspiracy theory - This was a plubicity stunt

By now, the news has already gotten out that Midnight Sun has been erroneously leaked all over the Internet. In a hearfelt post, Stephenie Meyer posted on her site that she was disappointed and can no longer write Midnight Sun to this injustice and she posted her draft on her site.

So, as a fan of Twilight, I feel cheated, because the first 12 chapters she had were actually very good and made me fell in love with Edward all over again. HOWEVER, as a reader and the super buzz center for all things Stephenie and Twilight, I am saying publicly that this is a publicity stunt for the following reasons:

1. Announcement of the leak was done right before Labor Day weekend. With gas prices up and Labor Day as the last hurrah of the summer, a lot of people were spending the holiday at home this year. I bet that if someone did some type of web site analytics on stepheniemeyer.com, there were a lot of downloads of that pdf the minute the news broke, especially when other fan sites picked it up.

2. There were only 12 chapters. This is enough to drive the most ardent fans crazy. Spoiler alert! The story was really getting really good from Edward's point of view and we could see how obsessed he was with Bella, and then she cuts it off. It's like me with my kids....right at the good part of the movie, I turn it off and tell them to go to bed. They whine and complain. Now I am doing the same thing. Except, my language is much worse. To Stephenie - WTF???? The number of chapters and where she left it hanging was enough to get everyone's hearts racing and create buzz...about this manuscript, the movie and Robert Pattinson!

3. Catherine Hardwicke even said herself that the movie could take care of 25 pages in 10 seconds of film. If this is the case, then Summit/Stephenie had to manage fan expectations. I could totally see that some of the scenes from Midnight Sun would be included in the film to provide texture and bulk to the story.

4. Ironically, just the previous week, we heard that production resumed filming a few more scenes. See #3....interview with Peter Facinelli revealed that there would be a new scene with Carlisle and Edward....perhaps when Edward approaches Carlisle in the hospital, or maybe a flashback scene?

5. HP moving to Spring 2009. This is huge and now that the movie is opening sooner, they have to bulk it up and continue the momentum to the new date.

6. Comic-con debacle and Breaking Dawn backlash. OMG. Please read my previous post about this. The cast was not prepared for the fandom and they sounded super inexperienced. Also, with Breaking Dawn dividing the fans (you either love it or hate it), Summit and Stephenie Meyer needed a reuniting force to bring the fans back, and sorry or not so sorry to say, this is Edward.

So, given all of this, you can make your own assumptions. This is what I think. The most honorable thing for Stephenie to do with the manuscript at this point is to finish it off and give it away for free on her site, or revise it and properly publish it. Her fans, including me, will no doubt buy it.

Open letter to Summit Entertainment

So...this is the 3rd time that I have posted an open letter to someone. At least this one actually DID go to Summit Entertainment, albeit it was sent to an resume mailbox. I was so disappointed in the answers from the cast, which I refused to believe was an example of their intelligence, that I begged Summit to properly prep (brain wash) the cast before the went out in public again. Or, if this is not possible, then the alternative would be for them to keep their mouths closed and Rob can just rock his hair all he wants.

Now that we know that Breaking Dawn has mixed reviews and my fave entertainment magazine, Entertainment Weekly, gave it a D, Twilight the movie is now in even more trouble. Let us hope that the movie "dazzles" us. In some respects, I wish it was a TV show like Supernatural or something like that....22 episodes of Edward...

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Dear Summit Entertainment:

I am hoping that this makes it to the proper group that handles Twilight. This is not fan mail, but an email of concern about the panel from Comic-con. I apologize for sending it to this email box, but this was the only one that I was given.

I attended the Summit Entertainment panel yesterday at Comic-Con. Like most people in the audience, I was very excited to see the Twilight cast, Catherine Hardwicke and Stephenie Meyer. I was also very interested in Knowing and I am now equally excited about
Push.

What prompted me to write this email to you is that these set of books, as you well know, are very beloved and have a huge fanbase that is driven by every bit of news that is on the Internet. I, like the others, have read the books many times, stood in line for Hall H since 8:30am, and I was a little dismayed by the panel.

I thought that Rachelle, Edi and Stephenie did a great job of fielding the questions. However, the 7K people that were in there, wanted to see the young cast, mainly Rob and Kristen, and they were not well-prepped for that level of impromptu questioning by such a large audience comprised by fans. They are superb actors in the footage that we saw yesterday, as well as in the trailer that was a lead in for the Dark Knight (congrats, by the way for getting that in), but the answers they provided were stilted if anything and they could not string two words together. Contrary to this, Kristen and Rob can do great if there is scripted content or if there is a 1:1 interview.

I lead a team in a competing, larger entertainment company, and they constantly have to present to executives (which is a harder sell than a fanbase that already loves a book), deliver bad news, and get stakeholders emotionally invested in a project. I am sure that this all sounds familiar. What I constantly remind them for any presentation, whether it be kicking off a concept, presenting creative, or letting the business unit know that there is no money, is WHAT IS THE STORY?

For Twilight, the fan base is looking for the nugget of information that can be relayed to friends through message boards, Facebook, My Space and then it takes off through word of mouth. I know that you are monitoring the message boards and the fan reaction today and you should know that negative news spreads much faster virally than something good. The LA Times interview with Robert Pattinson after the panel had 13K hits at 8:30am this AM and it has not been 24 hours since the slight debacle at Comic-con.

Using the Comic-con as a benchmark, please, please, please prep Kristen and Rob before they go on the junket or other interviews. I think Summit Entertainment, as well as the actors, underestimated the intensity of the crowd and the moderator did nothing to get the panel back on track.

We all want to see this movie succeed. Their success is also the success of Summit Entertainment as a brand, which cannot afford to lose credibility by young actors’ inexperience in dealing with the public. It is the responsibility of your publicity/public relations department to make this happen.

Rob and Kristen are talented and we want to see their stars rise as well as the success of Twilight.

Thanks for your attention on this.

San Diego Comic-Con Thursday - Recap

For those of you who want to know what happened, here it is from my point of view. Please note that the others with me, may or may not agree with this. To get the full understanding and experience of what happened, you need to know everything from the beginning.

Wednesday night

Meggan and I went to my sister's house in Fallbrook to stay the night so we can go to CC early the next AM. We knew that this was a good choice, but we had no idea how good it was till the next AM.

My sister's house has the best pantry, chock full of every kind of junk food imaginable, and there is also a microwave in there so you can cook up your Easy-Mac without every leaving...

Thursday

We got up the next AM and made the decision to leave at 6:30am so we can beat the traffic and get there by 8:00am. And, here is the validation of our decision to stay in Fallbrook the night before. There was a major accident on the southbound lanes of the 5 Freeway, which SHUT DOWN ALL LANES both northbound and southbound since something caught on fire. At 6:30am, the traffic from OC was already 5 miles long anf building. So all of the OC and LA folks who thought that they left early enough were screwed because now they were stuck on the freeway. As we were leaving, we saw that I had a nail in my tire which threw a glitch in all of the planning. We had to take my sister's car, and because of this, I had to move everything from my to her car, and I FORGOT MY CAMERA. Not only that, because we were so happy that the convention center had wi-fi, I drained my iPhone battery, so there are not so many pictures (since I wanted to save the battery for EDWARD) and the one we do have our kind of crappy. Just a forewarning.

We get there and park and start seeing all of the weird people. We got our badges and went to the bathroom and in true CC form, there was a sign posted outside of the bathroom:

We get in line for Hall H. We found out that crazy people got their badges the night before and CAMPED out from 8:30pm to ensure that they were in the front of the line. That line wrapped around like DLR fashion and then around the building. At least we were waiting in the shade.



I was trying to get some information from the line holder guys and you know, how much do they know? NOTHING! We opted to stay in line and not go for the autograph drawing since we would lose our place in line and we had no idea how it would work. The most interesting thing was a guy walking towards the back of the line, and he was talking on the cell phone to his friend. He was clearly there for the Keanu Reeves movie: "There are all these people waiting in line for some movie called Twlight." WHAT? He is clearly living under a rock.

We got into Hall H, which, BTW, holds 7K people. We wait and wait. And then the back curtain of the hall that is 30 feet tall, starts to fall ON TOP OF THE BACK AISLE AND LAST ROW of people. No one got hurt, but they delayed the program by at least 35 minutes so they could fix the curtain and the side curtain.

Here is what you have been waiting for. The Fox panel starts with the "The Day the Earth Stood Still." In the panel were Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, some director and producer for the movie. THEY WERE SO BORING! They damn near put me to sleep. I am sorry, but Keanu is not the most articulate guy and she is just as bad too. And, as my sister put it, she is really freckly. Verdict: Thumbs down. Will not see the movie NEXT!

Next was "Max Payne." In the panel was Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Ludacris, and John Moore (director guy). They were totally entertaining. The marketing tag line of the day: It's not low pain, it's not medium pain, it's MAX PAYNE! The movie looked good. I think I will have to see it, because this is up Mr. Wong's alley.


Then, the moderator announced that there was a surprise Guest, who just flew in from Australia: Hugh Jackman! My sister was soooooooooo happy and she loves him. I think his appearance made everything for her. He showed a clip from X-Men Wolverine. That looked great!


OK..now the excitement is building for the Summit Panel.


First movie was Push. In the panel were Djimon Honsou, Camilla Belle, Chris Evans, and the director. Dakota Fanning was supposed to be there, but she was stuck in the major traffic jam that I referred to earlier. She did show up at the very end. For someone so young, she is unusually eloquent and poised which will be in sharp contrast to other actors later described. The movie looked great. We saw some great clips. It looks like Heroes, but on steroids. Verdict: Thumbs Up. I will see this.

The next movie was Knowing with Nicolas Cage. Only the director showed up and he is the same director for iRobot. I will see this...looks good.


OK THIS IS WHAT WE WERE WAITING FOR. The panel was huge...Catherine Hardwicke, Stephenie Meyer, Robert, Kristin Stewart, then the bad vampires. The clip that we saw was the last scene in the ballet studio, that was more extended from the ones that we saw before, so really nothing new. Rachelle La Fevre and the guy who plays Laurent, were very articulate. The disppointing interviewees were Cam (the guy who is James), Rob and Kristin, and even Catherine was a little loopy. Meggan thought that Robert was totally intoxicated/drunk. I have to agree with my sister:

• They were not properly prepped


• They were overwhelmed and nervous with 7K screaming fans


• They were overwhelmed with the labels - hot vampire, etc

My sister thought the above because of they were constantly playing with their hair and Kristen was chewing on her nails. For both Kristen and Rob, they are NOT seasoned actors who are able to answer impromptu questions in a highly disruptive and charged environment. All I said to Meggan and my sister that if they worked for me, I would have taken them in the back and chapped their asses. They did not represent the movie or Summit entertainment well.

SUMMIT entertainment - if you are reading this, I am more than happy to give Rob and Kristen a crash course in protecting and conveying the brand to the public. I am more concerned that their answers will provide more negative feedback. Thank god that Stephenie's book comes out next weekend, so hopefully this will sway the negative tide.

However, contrary to their horrible answers, they are great actors. I think that they do well when there is scripted content or an interview that is one on one. See the link that JSJ provided that already has 13K hits on You Tube: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/07/twilight-1.html. BTW, the boxers or briefs question was asked by a Twilight Mom. Embarrassing. I could have asked better questions, but in my 13 year old mind at the moment, I could not think of anything.

Will I still the movie? Absolutely. Do I still love Rob Pattinson, absolutely. His hair was so f-ing perfect and he should really do advertisement for the hair wax that he uses.

I thought that the trip down was worth it and I loved the experience. My advice to Rob and Kristen and the folks at Summit - PLEASE PREPARE before you do the junket for the movie. My God....Dakota Fanning is kicking your asses.

3 days till Comic-Con

What can I say? We are going for Edward!

We have it all scoped out and we will be in line bright and early for Hall H. Preceding the event will be a road show for the new Keanu Reeves movie. Should be a fun event. I HOPE that we can meet the stars of Twilight in person...stay tuned!

An open letter to the Smith College Class of 1991

Hello Class of 1991 Smithies:

I just read the latest Class Update from Claudine Friedberg, who is doing a great job by the way, and I was surprised to see how little news that we have to share with each other.

I know that we are all busy with our lives, our work, our kids, our partners. However, this is a momentous time for us. We are approaching our last year in our 30's. Things are so different now from how they were when we graduated. We now have the INTERNET (gasp!), EMAIL (WOW!), and various social media networks with which to stay in touch. Gone are the days of typing, or even WRITING an actual letter and posting it to the Class Secretary with no guarantees that she got it. At least, there is a sent items folder that you can retrieve your sent emails.

We have probably survived marriages or unions, maybe more than one, children, maybe more than one, illnesses, losses. We have been challenged, overcame seemingly insurmountable circumstances, and had great successes.

In the spirit of Twitter or Facebook, just take 5 minutes from your day and submit 140 characters or less to this question: WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

I am challenging the Class of 1991 to flood our column with the most posts. Are you up for the challenge? The deadline is August 1.

If you are on Facebook, then please join the Smith College Class of 1991 20th Reunion group. Let's start connecting now!