Beatlemania, NYC, 1964. Some things never change.
In 1964, I was crazy over one boy – well, he was a young man then. I lived and breathed for Paul McCartney. That year, on Aprils Fools Day, my mother woke me up for school, screaming excitedly - “The Beatles are coming to school today! Get up, get up!!!” Sad to say, I truly believed her and jumped up, got dressed immediately, plotting out ways I could impress Paul enough to get him to marry my 10 year old self. I still, to this day, almost 45 years later, remember EXACTLY how I felt when she told me it was an Aprils Fools joke.
Twihards, 2010
Fast forward years later, through all kinds of obsessions with singers, books, and movies and here I find myself a Twihard. It’s truly embarrassing to admit this, but yes, I am a Twihard, a serious devotee of Stephenie Meyer’s books, the Twilight Saga. I don’t know how I fell into this (well, I really do know) but when I fell, I fell hard. It’s not like I don’t appreciate fine literature – my cats names were Quilty and Humbert, for God’s sakes!! But, I am, at the age of 55, in the grips of a series of books written for teenaged girls.
So, people, I confess here, publically, to you that tonight at midnight – my daughter and I, along with every other teenaged girl in Houston, will be at the movie theatre attending the Twilight-Eclipse premier. Something tells me we’ll probably return tomorrow for a second viewing. Well, I will – not sure if Elisabeth will want to go again so soon.
I’m not THIS bad off that I would tattoo a famous line from the book/movie on my arms. Not yet at least. The actual quote from the book is:
"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb..." he murmured.
I looked away, hiding my eyes as I thrilled to the word.
What a stupid lamb," I sighed.
“What a sick, masochistic lion."
I guess this poor girl didn’t have enough room on her arms for the entire quote.
Edward and Bella at their junior prom where she begs Edward to change her into a vampire. He refuses, of course. He’s too much of an old fashioned gentleman from the early 1900s to ever do anything inappropriate to Bella, like have sex with her for instance! The Twilight Saga is definitely smut free. Stephenie Meyer is a devout Mormon and her values on premarital sex are woven into the plot.
Even more embarrassing about my obsession is that I almost escaped the phenomenon altogether. Oh, if I only had. I had heard about the Twilight Saga but never really paid any attention to it. I wished I had continued to ignore it – it would save me all this humiliation. Until last year, I didn’t even know who Robert Pattinson was, nor did I care – but boy, has THAT changed! I laughed at all the endless TV promotions for Twilight and it’s sequel New Moon. Laughed. I’m not laughing now, I live for those commercials! My fall into the abyss occurred when the first movie, Twilight, came out on DVD. Elisabeth of course was already involved. She had a slumber party where she and her friends watched the Twilight DVD all night long. I snickered at them. It looked so boring! The acting was so stilted! Everyone looked so pasty!
Pasty??? Robert Pattinson aka Edward Cullen, the gentlemanly vampire. His career is huge now thanks to Twilight – he has two major motion pictures coming out next year. He is the the Marlon Brando, the James Dean of youngest generation. He made the Forbes List. And he is just 24 years old.
Ok, I can’t resist another picture of this gorgeous man. That hair! It has a mind of its own.
Maybe just one more peek. hehe. Brooding Rob. I’m Team Edward all the way. Elisabeth is Team Taylor. She even has a life size cutout of Taylor Lautner. We argue about who is cuter – Edward or Taylor. It’s all so ridiculous – I KNOW THIS!!!!
THE END OF LIFE AS I KNEW IT: I don’t know why I actually chose to sit down one night to watch the Twilight DVD, but that’s where this all started. I’ve probably seen the movie about 30 or 40 times since. Elisabeth has watched it probably over a 100 times. Plus factor in New Moon, the second Twilight movie on DVD – we watch that one too, but it’s not as good as the first one. Since we’ve seen Twilight so many times, we know the dialogue and can recite it, word for word. It’s not a great movie to be sure, the acting is bad (except for Pattinson who steals every scene he is in), the script is worse, but it sucks you in all the same. It’s no To Kill A Mockingbird or Gone With The Wind, but it’s a sweet story of first love, if your first love is a vampire, that is. When you are hooked you actually wish there were vampires that you could fall in love with. How sick is that? But, what is so wrong with never dying, never getting older, never sleeping, having brute strength, incredible vision and hearing, and gorgeous good looks (all vampires are gorgeous to lure their victims in)? Plus, the Cullens are GOOD vampires. They only drink animal blood, not human blood. I know, I know, this is all so STUPID!!!!! But, what confession is easy?
The famous school cafeteria scene in Twilight. Here Edward sits with his “family” – the Cullens. He is the only one without a partner, so he is lonely and brooding. The “fragile human” Bella has a special scent that attracts him like his own “personal brand of heroin.” He can’t be with her or without it. It’s all so tortured!!!! In real life – Bella (Kristen) and Edward (Rob) are also romantically linked.
After watching the movie, I read the first book in about a day, then promised myself - I was through with all this nonsense. Except there’s that pesky thing called Kindle. Kindle makes it too easy to buy a new book at 3:00 a.m. In shame I tell you, that within just a few days, I had read all four books. Twice. But it doesn’t end there. It’s just the beginning. After you have read all the books, there is this weird thing called FanFiction. What is FanFic exactly? Well, it’s where people write long stories (as long as books sometimes) online. These stories are their interpretation on the plot - they may rewrite an original book with different endings, or different beginnings or even different plots altogether. Sometimes the FanFic story will just takes the characters names and it will have nothing to do with the original book. FanFic is not just about Twilight – any book or movie can be rewritten. For instance, fans of the book To Kill A Mockingbird have written over 350 FanFics, retelling that book in their own way. There are 607 FanFics for Gone With The Wind. For Twilight, there are over 150,000 FanFic stories. Harry Potter has over 450,00o FanFic stories. So far, I have probably read more than 100 Twilight FanFics in my spare time. Some are actually fabulous books – change the characters names and they would have nothing to do with Twilight. Many of the more popular FanFic stories are even better than Stephenie Meyer’s original books. It must kill her to read the better FanFic. Still, FanFic is a mysterious and strange world, but a highly addicting one.
While I am bad off, I’m not this bad off that I would camp out for days for a glimpse of the Twilight cast. At least I don’t think I would, but it sure looks like fun!
So, this is my confession to you. I’m not just about decorating and French antiques. I’m a Twi-Mom. And yes, there are a LOT of us out here. I won’t admit this to you in person, nor will I talk about this addiction with anyone that knows me except my poor long suffering husband and daughter. It’s my secret. Until now. I might need an intervention. I’m sure there must be a 12 step program out there for people like me who are hopelessly lost in the world of Bella and Edward. Knowing Twihards though, it would be a 3 step program that would sound something like this (taken from an important excerpt in the book):
About three things I am absolutely positive.
First, Twilight is just a book.
Second, there is a part of me that will always be addicted to this book.
And third, I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with it!
hehe. You need to read the book for this to make sense!
Cote de Texas on her cell phone at the premier of Eclipse.
If you are going to see Eclipse tonight or tomorrow or the next night – be sure to wave if you can recognize me. I’ll be the one in disguise wearing all black.
If you want to see what all the fuss is about – I suggest you read the Twilight Saga books first. Then rent the movies Twilight and New Moon. And then, and only then go see the movie Eclipse. OR you could do what I did and see the Twilight movie first, then read the books, then see New Moon and Eclipse! Either way. If you are already a Twihard and have never heard of FanFic, email me – I’ll give you some great stories to start out with.
Amazon: HERE
Twilight FanFiction: HERE