Twilight Crazy

It wasn't something I planned. I was going to be a sane person. I was going to go at a reasonable time of day at some point this weekend. After all, am I a psycho, crazed fan? Am I prone to extreme obsession and fan-girl behavior? Of course no-oh who am I kidding? If you know me at all you know that, well, I'm the kind of girl who flies across country to attend a Lois and Clark convention. I'm the girl who spent an obscene amount of money on a pirate costume. My miniature Christmas tree looks like a tribute to Superman. Clearly fan-girl is among the many facets of Lauren's personality.

So, at approximately 11:00 last night, if you had been looking for this fan-girl, you would have found her standing in (thankfully a very short) line to purchase her ticket for the 12:01 showing of Twilight. As I said, it was not my plan to be among the first to see the movie. However, my sister and brother-in-law were going, and I just couldn't pass it up. After all, it's not like I had to be up early or anything. Why not go? I love the books, and this was a movie that I had been cautiously excited to see for several months. (What can I say, I jumped on the bandwagon a little late). I was certainly looking forward to it, but at the same time I knew that it could never live up to the book. I was a little afraid that it would would stray too far, take too many liberties, or change the entire feel of the story. Now, of course I was right on some of this. It is very rare to find a movie that truly lives up to it's book version. So much can be expressed and imagined in a book that can just never been properly shown on the screen. No actor or actress can be every person's imagined version of book characters. I must say though, that this movie far exceeded my expectations. It wasn't perfect. It didn't follow the story exactly. Not every line was delivered in the way I had imagined it while reading. It was not the book, but it didn't have to be. It was great at being what it was...a movie.

I must say, I am very glad that I went to the opening. Even if the movie had bombed, the crowd reactions would have been worth the price of admission. The cheer when the movie finally started, the collective squee when Edward first appeared on screen, the twitter and subsequent "SHUT UP!" that happened as Edward leaned in to kiss Bella for the first time, the captivated audience (myself included!) finding themselves quoting as one voice with Edward "sick, masochistic lion"...these things all added something very special to that opening night experience. There was a charged energy in the audience that greatly heightened the excitement for me. Being in a crowd of strangers who are all passionate (at least for the moment) about the same completely unimportant thing, is really a lot of fun.

I do feel the need to mention something here. (Rob fans, you may as well stop here. No need for you to read any further. You'll just hate me.) While I, like most of the rest of the female population, am a little in love with Edward Cullen (only a little mind you...he is not, after all, Will Turner or Clark Kent), I am NOT in love with this Rob Pattinson who portrays him in the movie. I think he did a fantastic job at playing Edward, and I'll admit that the sparkling thing was pretty cool; but my goodness girls, he is just not that wonderful! Also, that voice...I was so thankful that his singing was only used in the background of the movie. If he had actually been singing to her in the course of the film, I probably would have used that time to take a bathroom break.

Now, as I look back at how much I have written on such an insignificant subject, I think to myself, "Wow, Lauren, you really need to get a life!"