1) Steve and I stopped by our local comic book shop on Saturday, and with one brief exception (that I'm pretty sure was an accident) I went completely unacknowledged by the people behind the counter! Rudeness! They small talked to Steve, but when I'd make a comment about something they said, they seemed to pretend I wasn't even there.
I hate going in there, because it never fails that I can't get anyone to speak to me unless it's the owner - and I think that's only because Steve kind of knows him through some friends we worked with at the SpRocket (ptooey). Even then I have to pretty much get up in his face and ask a pointed question. Please don't get me wrong, I don't go in there for attention or be flirty or anything like that. If we go there, it's just to pick up the comics we subscribe to, and Steve tends to look around for a while, so I'm just hanging around trying not to stare at the people playing RPGs, or whatever it is they're doing with the cards and the little figurines, and I've tried in the past just to strike up a conversation with someone to pass the time and they just ignore me! Every. Dang. Time. I'd love to think it is because I'm so bodacious that they are just too intimidated, but yeah...no. I'm fairly certain I'm par for the course as far as women who go in there, except that I don't tend to wear anime shirts and kitty-ear headbands. Maybe I should! :) Either that, or I'm going to have to resort to a full on Wonder Woman costume.
I actually joked about this on Twitter when we got home, and I said "If I'm that ugly, please someone tell me so I can go into hiding." I wish I'd reworded it, because I know it came across as "pity-fishing" for compliments, but I promise I wasn't. I did get a reply that it wasn't that I was ugly, just that comic book guys don't know what to do with girls, so I'm going to go with that.
2) An Atlanta production company is going to be shooting a movie here in Huntsville! Neato, huh? I saw a news story about it this morning and thought that it might be fun to see about being an extra for it if I could. It's a bucket list thing, you know. The last time a movie was filmed around here, they had a cattle call, of sorts, for extras. I didn't do it then because I had a real job and couldn't take the time off. The information they had for that movie said you had to bring a picture and fill out an application, and that was pretty much it. The website the news site sent me to for this new movie doesn't mention anything about extras being separate from the cast. It says you have to come in and audition. Wha? The casting list mentions extras, but you still have to audition for the parts. I've only auditioned for one thing ever, and that was a hundred years ago! I tried crowd sourcing on Facebook (because I have friends who act) to see what I'd need to do for an audition, and it seems I'd need a headshot, a resume, and I'd have to read lines. Yikes. I'm not looking to become a movie star, because hell, I've never acted outside of a church play or two, I just want to say I've been in a movie.
I'd love to do this, don't get me wrong, but I'm afraid I'm too much of a chicken to audition. I want to, really badly, even if I just got to play "lady at the counter #4" because I'd be able to say I had. The auditions are this weekend, so I've got the rest of the week to waffle. I wish I wasn't such a chicken-dog.
3) I've finally, finally, finally made myself buckle down and start reading "Twilight." I know I've talked about it for a long time, and I might have even tried to start it a couple of times, but I've never gotten anywhere until this last try. I am making myself read it because I don't think it's fair to dislike something blindly, and I needed to see if, in fact, I didn't like it. I think I'm probably on chapter four or five right now, and I can say honestly that I don't care for it so far.
First off, the writing itself if kind of bad. Maybe I'm wrong, but is it supposed to be written in a stream of consciousness style? I mean, it isn't really that I suppose, but the writing doesn't seem right to me. It's all out of whack because it seems that a lot of it is expressed in incomplete sentences and fragments. I think at one point I could actually hear William Shatner reading it in his. Signature. Style. However, I'm sure not every writer who becomes popular is a whiz at grammar and structuring, so I'm going to let that part slide for now.
The story isn't even that terrible. Please take that observation with a whole handful of rock salt, since I'm still at the beginning of the book, but the premise isn't totally uninteresting. Far fetched, and a bit immature, yes, but then a lot of things I like are.
I think the thing I absolutely don't like about the book is the characters. In fact, I kind of hate them all so far.
All the secondary characters I've been introduced to are so thinly sketched out that they could be invisible. The absentee mom, the clueless dad, the "friends" she makes that either fawn over Bella or hate her. It's sad.
Edward is an ass. He actually reminds me a lot of two boys I dated when I was a teenager. Seriously, he could be a hybrid of them: One was good looking, sweet, but had a creepy, over-protective, romantic thing going on where he'd try to fight other guys who he thought liked me (they didn't), he'd write me kind of unsettling poetry, and he promised to "love me forever." He also had some rage issues that scared a lot of people, but I don't think he would have ever turned them on me. He was way too protective of me, but then again, who knows? I'd like to think he got most of that out of his system and is now a happily married and stable adult, but he was way, way too intense for me at 15 years old. The other guy was smug, very much a jerk, emotionally and borderline physically abusive - and he used to bite me. I don't mean that in a kinky way either, he'd bite me and leave rings of bruises and teeth marks. I think he thought he was being affectionate, but it hurt. To this day I don't understand why I liked him, but I assume it was because he was an amazing kisser. I'm not proud of that, but knowing what a festering scrotal boil he turned out to be kept me from dating anyone else like him, so...silver lining! I see all of those kinds of weirdness in Edward, which is why I have the creepy crawlies when I think about the guy in this book who is supposed to be the epitome of the perfect man. No one who behaves like that should ever be considered a romantic example for teenage girls. It is wrong and unhealthy and gross. What makes it even worse is that grown ass women are all swoony over this sparkling douche, and they should know better!
Oh, and Bella. BELLA. I want to climb into the book and punch her in the face until she dies. She infuriates me. She moves to a new town, which would suck for any teenage girl, but she doesn't even try. She's obvs too smart for the new school, so she already knows everything they try and teach her and she's soooooo bored with it. (Mope) All the kids are actually interested in her and want to be her friend, which must totally suck because...I dunno why. Maybe because even Bella knows she's just the worst and can't understand the interest. (Mope) The boys all think she's pretty and want to get to know her better, but instead of being flattered (at the very least) she insults them in her head while being barely nice to them outwardly because why should she be glad that people are being nice to her? I mean, they're just small town boys, after all. (Mope) Then of course, the only person she seems to be interested in is the one freaking person who either behaves as if she's a walking cloud of scabies, insults her, or -truthfully- behaves like a creepy, stalking weirdo. (Mope) And, OK, maybe every teenage girl has to date guys like that to realize who they DON'T want to be with, but not our Bella. She loves it. She's the kind of girl who is a couple of insults and a dog collar away from being chained in someone's basement of her own free will. She makes me mad. The fact that she is a fictional character that I can't physically slap across the face only makes it worse.
However, I'm still just at the beginning of the book. Maybe by the time we meet Jacob, I'll love it. We'll see.
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