I Love My Friends Even if One is Team Jacob

I’ve written about my love-hate relationship with the Twilight series. Thanks to two of my friends, I have another chapter in my love-hate relationship. This time it’s with the movies.

Last night my crazy friend Mandy (@fouragainsttwo) and our other friend (@outnumberedmom) stood in line (with Mandy’s mom and two of her guests) for the New Moon premiere. I should start out by saying that I still haven’t watched the first movie (due to a broken DVD player and the mental incapacity to remember that I can watch DVDs on all of our computers). I should next state that out of all four books, New Moon was my least favorite. By least favorite, of course, I do mean that I loathed it with all of my being. On top of not being vampiric enough and stinking of wet dog, the second book contained Meyer’s worst attempts at writing (in my opinion). I just hated every single page of it. Except, you know, when Edward was around. I digress.

I’ll admit to having a nice evening into early morning. We ate at the Olive Garden, got kicked out of Starbucks (why do they close at 9:30 on a weeknight?), found out that Kohl’s is currently open until 11:00pm due to the holidays, purchased things we didn’t need and then made our way to stand in line. Mandy made us goodie bags with Twilight candies, calendars, the New Moon soundtrack and other things that made me feel even dorkier than usual as I found myself far too excited over teenage movie stuff. Alas, we were not the only adults in line. In fact, one of my Facebook friends, upon reading my status when I returned home from the movie adventure at 3:24 IN THE MORNING said this, and I quote:

Were the Cougars as bad at your showing as they were at mine?! They were worse than the teenagers.

There was a WINNEBAGO full of them in the parking lot!

I laughed. Out loud. There were quite a few “Twilight Moms,” as an article in our local newspaper put it yesterday. The crowd was comprised of a lot more teenagers than I expected (didn’t they have school today?) but the “cougars” were out in full force. I do suppose that our group qualified as such. Great.

As for the crowd, they weren’t too obnoxious while we were waiting though I do admit to thinking that anyone who left their water/pop/juice bottle and other assorted pieces of trash on the floor needs to be taught a thing or two about manners. In the theater, there was the initial squeal of delight when Edward, the vampire everyone seems to adore, came on screen. A similar gasp of approval came when Jacob, the werewolf, was first seen and, of course, again when he took off his shirt. I still maintain that his head is too small for his body and shoulder span and do not see the attraction. I prefer my men to be thin and rather pale. (Have you seen FireDad? I mean, honestly.) Also, head proportion is key.

The movie? Oh yes, we were there to see the movie and not just experience the crowds and stay up way, way past my bedtime. I liked the movie. Hush now, don’t judge or flog me. I liked the movie more than the book, which is something I rarely say as I almost always hate book-to-movie adaptations. This is the rare exception as I so thoroughly hated the book that the movie simply had to be an improvement. It was greatly improved in the fact that it flowed better and didn’t drag on as unnecessarily as the book did. There were bits of annoyances for me, however, including the very awful sparkle-and-dazzle effect for when the vampires hit sunlight. It’s worse than a 1980’s special effect. Very bad. Some of the acting was annoying. I love Bella but if I had to listen to her breathe one more time I was going to laugh out loud.

All in all, I had a thrilling time. I still don’t see what my one friend sees in Jacob but I love her all the same. Mandy owes me some coffee and a nap for dragging us out. (Just kidding, I think.) All that said, I really don’t think I’ll be making the midnight premiere for Eclipse. I might go see it in the theater but on a Tuesday afternoon when swooning teenagers are in school or still sleeping (as I think it’s planned as a summer release). I’m still tired as I write this at 2:17pm. I’m just grumpy because I’m sure the teens that were in attendance last night are up-and-at-em today while I feel like I got hit by a truck. Cougar, maybe, but I’d allow Edward Cullen to bite my neck if it meant I never again felt this old and tired and would never need sleep again.

You can read Mandy’s thoughts on the whole event here. But really, she owes me coffee.