On the seventh day of Sparklemas...

[cleolinda]

...my blogger gave to me: seven mobs a-mobbing!

So. I was having a mild panic attack earlier, but I think I've pulled myself together now. These are really a pretty recent thing; I don't even know. I will say that our fridge has died, our grill has died, and this morning, there was a carjacking in my old (but still pretty near) neighborhood. The slats fell out of my bed, three pairs of jeans spontaneously died (two of them sprang holes of varying sizes in the left knee--which is weird, that they both did. Denim sabotage?--and the third's zipper just came out, like, overnight and I didn't even do anything to it, I don't even KNOW), and I have no idea what I'm going to wear this evening when we go to the movie. It's like, I don't want to end up in freakin' black dress pants and a v-neck t-shirt, but so help me God, I will if I have to. And let's face it: none of these girls are going to be looking at me.

However, the third of the three articles I was interviewed for is up: Living (make that undead) dolls. Because on the Venn diagram of "Talks too much about Twilight on the internet" and "Is a stan for Tonner dolls," there is only one overlap. *hangs head*

(Notice, however, the reason given for my pseudonym, which, in context, is kind of hilarious.)

(I will however, clarify that I did not buy the Prom Bella. I bought the outfit, secondhand and on the cheap. Because the leg cast is, in fact, hilarious.)

Meanwhile, Eclipse is, predictably, wreaking havoc. Nikki Finke reports that "theaters are mobbed by Twi-hards at Wednesday 12:01 AM screenings in Boston, NYC, Washington DC, Paramus N.J., Detroit, Cleveland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Bellevue WA, as well as in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Africa, Hungary, and Finland." You also discover at that link that it has the widest U.S. domestic release in history--that is, released in the greatest number of theaters. And they seem to need them.

@alexdrovna: @cleolinda i wish u had been @ the 12am #eclipse i went to. the movie started 30 mins late. there was almost a riot. i was scared.

@alexdrovna: @cleolinda really, it was frightening, there was yelling and chanting and possibly Piggy's head on a stick

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Sets New Midnight Record. Keep in mind that sometimes, $30M is a #1 movie's entire take for the weekend.

(Also, today I'm posting a few of my favorite Twilight things--like comics panels and macros--on Tumblr (scroll down). The queue will probably be autoposting long into the night. Also-also! Edward Cullen Cat's adoption is slowly finalizing, it looks like! He may have a home by the end of the week!)

By contrast, there's... The Last Airbender. For starters, there's an ICE-COLD HALF-STAR BURN from Roger Ebert. Meanwhile, the movie has risen from zero to an impressive six percent on Rotten Tomatoes (the pull quotes are delightful). The interesting thing about Ebert's review is that his primary problems with the movie don't even involve the racial controversy (although he linked on his Twitter to a "devastating" blog entry about that); to hear him tell it, the movie isn't even competent filmmaking.

@ebertchicago: Frustrated by Airbender's lousy 3D, Peter Sobczynski took off his glasses & guesses roughly 2/3 of the footage was in 2D!

And yet, my mother still wants to see it. Really, really bad. So we're going on Sunday, I think. I really, really doubt I can take two Things Of Which We Do Not Speak at once (Dayna, DON'T EVEN SAY IT), so I promise nothing. I think we are recording a new Made of Fail on Saturday, though.

Comments

[queenanthai.livejournal.com]

...say what? *completely innocent*

[piccgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, good luck. I'm not even going anywhere near a movie theater for about a week, just so I don't get swept up in the madness.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. I think I was at the most civilised midnight screening for Eclipse EVER. I was the only one wearing sparkles (I CAN WEAR SPARKLY PYJAMAS IF I WANT TO!) and nobody said a thing about them, and then there were a few cheers at the trailers, and then everyone was on good behaviour.

I went in expecting some kind of batshit, and what I got was...disturbing amount of normalcy from everyone.

And then the movie turned out to be good, and that's when my brain died. This was a marathon, so I had the first two movies to actually compare it to, and honestly, I think Eclipse is the best of the lot. I don't understand! How did this happen? What. *cries*

[glenvorian.livejournal.com]

Sparkly pjs is hot, yo.

[cupcakery.livejournal.com]

Now I want to see a Survivor: Twilight Fans edition. It would be the only Survivor I would ever watch.

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

And now I want to see a Survivor: Twilight Cast edition. The challenge would be walking across a rolling log; Bella would start to fall, Edward would flash-dash to cushion her before her bum made a pit in the sand, and Alice would all, "Whatever, she's getting immunity tonight anyway."

[sualocin.livejournal.com]

Summit nixed the baseball outfits for the dolls? You have got to be kidding me. I would have so bought Baseball Alice, but nooo Summit thinks they are smart.

Stupid Summit.

And I want to see Last Airbender, but I do not have high hopes.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Summit hates baseball. And America.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

GODSPEED CLEO. GODSPEED.

[emmy-scarlet.livejournal.com]

They aren't kidding about the mobs, you know. I went to see Toy Story 3 last night, and there must have been (at least) a hundred and fifty people camped outside the theater waiting for the midnight showing. And I do mean camped, I'm pretty sure I saw at least one tent, and almost everyone had chairs and so forth. And one girl had a Twilight blanket, some Twilight board game I didn't stop long enough to see, and a cardboard cut-out each of Edward and Jacob.

In contrast, there was hardly anyone seeing Toy Story 3, but as I told my parents "I'm sure everyone knew there'd be no parking with all those Twilight people here."

Also, my dad thought it was kind of cool that so many people would wait so long for a movie. I kept my real opinion to myself, and just said "Yeah, but it'd be even cooler if it was for a good series."

Also also, I found it interesting that of the t-shirts I could see, both store bought and homemade, the majority were "Team Jacob." Apparently southern California is werewolf country.

[aranel13.livejournal.com]

What I want to know is what do people do with their junk when they go in for the movie? Backpacks? Telekinesis? Run really fast back to the car and hope you get good seats?

[karintheswede]

There was applause at the end of the showing I went to. And a big ooooh when poor little Taylor Lautner took his shirt off (the first time). That's about it.

[munin-and-hugin.livejournal.com]

This was bout the same for me. Except people went "whoo!" every time Jacob was shirtless, and applause when Victoria got dead. Otherwise, fairly sane overall.

Saw this, thought of you

[saoba.livejournal.com]

http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/colorado-woman-claims-she-crashed-car-while-fleeing-vampire/19537527

Pretty much what it says on the tin. No word on whether it sparkled at her.

[shoiryu.livejournal.com]

Man, I'm sorry, I LOL'd a little at the OMG 129 DOLLARS? bit. Cheapest doll I ever got was like 300 bucks all told, and yeah, most of mine are modeled off celebrities too. :| (Not loling at you because man we are THE SAME ABOUT DOLLS, JUST DIFFERENT KINDS, just the whole sticker shock people have that OMG PEOPLE SPEND LOTS OF MONEY ON THEIR PASSIONATE HOBBIES? which I first typed as "hobbits". It's been a day.)

[flamingo-bandit.livejournal.com]

Passionate hobbits?

[greyduck.livejournal.com]

(Dayna, DON'T EVEN SAY IT)

Thanks, I had to make up an excuse to my boss explaining why I started busting a gut laughing...

Yes, apparently, today I'm a teenager. *snicker*

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

Fingers crossed for Edward Cullen Cat. Like everybody else, I would adopt him if I lived anywhere near Seattle!

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

Icon love!

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Piggy's head on a stick, hee.

OOOH HALF STAR BURRRRN.

Avatar

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

AUGH. You poor thing!

The original cartoon is great, though. In my opinion, the single best animated series ever aired on US TV.

Re: Avatar

[reticent-lass.livejournal.com]

I could never do that to something so influential on my future tastes as Gargoyles--they're both firmly tied for first place, to me.

(Sidenote: I hope they never try to make a Gargoyles movie because it would be utterly dreadful.)

[flamingtoilet.livejournal.com]

Last night my wife and I were at a nearby mall. She's blind, so we had her guide dog with us. He's usually really good at following directions and making sure she doesn't run into things. For some reason, as we passed the movie theatre, the dog felt a MIGHTY NEED to lead my wife into the line for Eclipse. Even when I tried to steer him right, he kept trying to head back for the damn line.

THIS IS A THING THAT IS HAPPENING AND IT IS INFECTING OUR ANIMALS, Y'ALL.

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

That just makes me think of the Bum Review for the first movie: "I smell pretentiousness! She must be over there!"

[padimus.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I was kidnapped & forcibly taken to see Eclipse at midnight, and man, was it entertaining. The Twihards I mean, not the movie. Needless to say, it was complete chaos, & I enjoyed every minute of it. (My trolling probably didn't help.)

But damn, our theater had all FOURTEEN theaters filled, with a completely booked second showing at three in the morning. the $30 million in the first night sort of, well, doesn't surprise me.

a knitter's take on Twilight

[witchcat07.livejournal.com]

http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2010/06/proof-that-no-matter-how-bad-it-is.html

Admittedly, several are jokes only knitters will get, but I'm sure there are some of you here. *waves* I also like his tags for the entry. ;~)

[mycenae.livejournal.com]

I went to a midnight showing last night at the local multiplex and they had Eclipse on ELEVEN screens. Everyone was lined up outside by theater number. The lines had taken over the entire plaza. I think the manager of Island's was freaking a bit because there was an Edward Cullen cutout blocking access to the restaurant. There were two local news vans. (It was crazier than I expected, probably 1,500-2,000 people, but still not like, Comic-Con panel (6,500 people) level of concentrated crazy.)

In my theater at least, there was so much audience screaming/participation. It was awesome. Except for this one middle aged lady a few seats down from me who yelled back "Shut up!" every time the audience screamed. Total funsponge. There was way more screaming for Jacob. Like, everything he did prompted some sort of reaction, ranging from excited murmuring (Jacob said something flirty) to full on "oh, shit it's the Beatles" level of screaming (I can count all of Jacob's muscles in this scene!!). Also inappropriate laughter at srs bzns Edward/Bella moments.

I love active audiences. Even though I'm not a serious Twilight fan, the communal aspect of the midnight showing just makes it more fun. I think that's a big part of the franchise's success- the way it functions as a shared activity/experience.

[linda-lupos.livejournal.com]

I love active audiences. Even though I'm not a serious Twilight fan, the communal aspect of the midnight showing just makes it more fun. I think that's a big part of the franchise's success- the way it functions as a shared activity/experience.

Thiiiis. :D My brothers didn't get why the hell I wanted to go to a Twilight marathon. But it's simply for the joy of seeing it with 500+ girls (well, and a handful of guys) who will scream and laugh and cheer and just EXPERIENCE the movie. :D
Sadly, for Eclipse I was sitting next to a 'funsponge', as you say, who wanted me to just SHUT UP, and that rather ruined my evening. >_>

My audience was Team Jacob too. :D In fact, the only cheer Edward really got was his very first appearance in Twilight, and that was more of a "we cheer because it's Edward and we kind of have to" than out of genuine enthusiasm. And it was quickly followed by louder laughter at the cheering. XD Jacob's shirt removing in New Moon got a HUGE squealing, but Edward's didn't get any cheering at all, just some giggling that nobody cheered. :p (The only real screams Edward did get was at his proposal at the end of New Moon, which confused me because surely they'd all already seen it?!)
And same with Eclipse. Jacob's kissing scene with Bella got loud squeals, but most of the romantic scenes with Edward and Bella got silence or some mild giggling - and an aw at Edward getting on his knee to propose. Mostly he was being laughed at, for example when Carlisle kicked his ass. :p

I'm going to the premiere again for Breaking Dawn, just seeing it with so many people is so much fun!

[fading-october.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Tonner Edward is wreaking havoc on your clothing?

[skysong6161.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wanted to see the crazy in person, so I tried to get to the midnight screening. Silly me though, I get off work at 10. Everything was sold out. Even the 12:50 release. And the fans had spilled into the parking lot - the movietheater's lobby (and we're talking a massive movietheater that had about 12 different screens running at the same time, with a lobby my house could fit into) didn't have room for them all.

Hooo boy.

[unicornluvr.livejournal.com]

Yeah. . .didn't they start selling tickets for this like six months in advance? Lords. It probably sold out a month ago.

[darthtall.livejournal.com]

Watching the terrible reviews for The Last Airbender come in today have been filling my cold, dark heart with glee.

Dear M. Night Shyamalan,

YOUR MOVIE IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.

xoxo,

Mel, who will be cheerfully rewatching Season 1 of the show this weekend.

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

Safety reasons? HA HA HA

Also: I want more interviews! These are awesome.

And I find it entertainingly ironic that a chunk of the Twilight movies' box office comes from people who don't even like the series yet go to the movies anyway. (How substantial do you think that chunk is? Because now that I think about it, most Twilight fans probably see the movie multiple times.)

Also, Eclipse had a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes' top critics section earlier today. This is an alternate universe.

[jackofice.livejournal.com]

I was dragged against my will to see Eclipse, paying ticket and all. Do I count? D:

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

not going near a movie theater. just not

but its been an interesting post! i like the links....

[sertcake.livejournal.com]

WHY would they call you by Cleolinda then take it back and mention your real name PLUS the fact that you had changed it for a reason??? BAD JOURNALISM

[elbales]

It's the last name that is a Sekrit. LIKE BATMAN'S REAL IDENTITY, Y/Y?

[cleojones.livejournal.com]

*sympathetically back-pats you*

Seriously, whatever low expectations you have for Airbender, lower them further.

It's the only way you'll survive with your sanity intact.