The time I went to that vampire movie all by myself

Just waiting for the movie to begin

I had this epiphany one day. I thought, you know what would be totally (as my mom would say) bitchin'? Going to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 all.by.myself. Firstly, because I didn't want to have to drag my poor husband to the movie, and secondly, because I didn't want to wait for the rest of my typical Twilight  viewing group (i.e. mom, aunt, sister and future SIL) due to an irrational fear of all types of spoilers. And it was kind of totally perfect that on opening night there was literally ONE seat on in the very middle-est part of the theater that happened to still be available. I was experiencing Edward and Bella-type fate here, and who was I to mess with that? 

So off to the theater I went, during the height of date night movie time, wondering who I'd have the pleasure of sitting next to. On my right were the, "Our moms dropped us off at the theater... well actually our moms are sitting a few rows back after pretending to drop us off at the theater" group, and to the left the, "We're going to cheer when the new Hunger Games preview comes on, when we see Jacob's abs, when we see Bella et. al. crack a smile... and we're all over 30" group. Harmless enough, I wagered. Though cheering in a movie really works its way into my last nerve. Most of the time. Especially when a certain breed of cougars are involved. (But that's a separate post for another day.)

All was warm and fuzzy until the faint whining of a newborn began to reverberate in the hallowed pantheon of vampirism. That's when things got a little cray cray. Choruses of, "Oh my [insert your favorite expletive here], take that baby out already!" began peppering the theater, which was followed by the, "Why don't you come up here and tell me that to my face!" retort, all of which served to startle the baby further and caused it to begin wailing. Which made my tender mother heart all sorts of sad. I wanted to take that baby home and put it to bed. Because that's where it should have been in the first place. In my opinion. Though I couldn't dwell on that thought too much, because the "ladies" to my left were among the hecklers. And I did not want to get in the middle of a girl fight. Thankfully, it didn't come to that.

The movie itself was entertaining. Decapitations! Bad wigs! Vampire Bella! Sparklegasms! And overall (in spite of all the cheering) I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The end. 

yup, i saw it again

and i liked it better the second time.

A. Flawless. Day.

Saturday was an amazing day in the life of husband and me. It was one of those rare days where everything worked out perfectly (yes, even with our colds) and we had copious amounts of fun together.

Up first was Twilight, and I'm happy to report that I didn't hate it. (I didn't love it either, which is just further substantiation of my belief that a movie adapted from a book is never as good as its inspiration.) That being said, I found the chemistry between the two leads to be enough to allow me to ignore (for the most part) that Robert Pattinson can't really act, and that most of the peeps didn't really get the essence of their characters. Nor were they in any way beautiful enough. (Some of it had to do with the creepy white makeup they used... low budget for sure.) But if you liked the book, you should probably go ahead and see the movie; it's a decent representation of the essence of the book. And then just read the book again, because it's better.

The Utah/BYU game was soooooo incredibly satisfying this year. We didn't go to the game this year, but got together with some of the fam and watched the Utes emphatically triumph over the Cougars. I wanted to kiss (or, at the very least, chest bump) Max Hall for choking so bad. And it is always lovely to see some of the more sanctimonious BYU players make dumb penalties when they get frustrated. Lovely, indeed. I'm proud to say that I bleed red, and thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Last, but certainly not least, we went to the Coldplay concert. And I have to say that this concert ties for first (with Radiohead, naturally) for being the best concert I have ever attended. Coldplay has a special meaning to me, for multiple reasons, one being that they reminded me of husband long before I ever thought it was possible for him to become husband. So it was rather enjoyable for me to be at this concert with my incredible husband, enjoying the flawlessness that is Chris Martin and company. The stage was really unique; the sides ran down into the floor seats, and the band utilized these bits a lot during the performance. One of the highlights for me was when the band performed IN the crowd about ten rows up and just kitty corner from where we were sitting. It was then that they performed an acoustic version of "The Scientist." (I will post a clip of that later, I just have to compress the size.) I about fainted from the sheer joy of it all. They played a perfect amalgamation of their body of work, including most songs from Viva la Vida. During "Lovers in Japan" a bunch of butterfly confetti (that glowed btw) fell from the rafters, creating this beautiful effect and feel. Their encore was a simple, but wonderful, performance of "Yellow." I know this sounds cheesy, but it felt like we were a part of something special. I always find it refreshing when a band interacts with the audience and makes them feel like they are a part of the show. Coldplay did just that. They were worth every penny.

Super sick but super excited for the show

Just performing in the crowd, nbd

They're a lot closer than they look in this pic

"Lovers in Japan" confetti extravaganza

Taking a bow

I'm baaaaaaaaaaack

Let me preface this by thanking those of you who commented on my last post. My self worth has improved exponentially, and my vigor for blogging has returned. (Or something like that... but for reals, thanks.)

I'll admit that during my hiatus, I had various ideas for posts, some of which ended up on my work blog (click on the link, go to lab, blogs and then "musings from the front desk" if you're interested) and others that I have merely forgotten about.

But I promised dear Kenna a post, and a post she shall have.

Since it's a popular topic, I'll start with my perception of Breaking Dawn. (Which means if you haven't read it yet and don't want it spoiled, you should immediately skip to the next paragraph. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.) First of all, I am slightly abashed to admit that I did show up at Barnes and Noble very near to 9:00 on Saturday morning, August 2nd, to procure my reserved copy of the novel. And I have to say, I have never seen so many teenage girls at the mall so early. As well as moms in their mid-30s. I had to giggle at myself and at the sheer absurdity of the fact that I was really, REALLY excited to read it. So I sat down and read it in a straight shot... which is how I like to read anyway. I was expecting main characters to die and for the ever-irritating Edward/Bella/Jacob love triangle to get even more convoluted and ridiculous, but was happy to discover that this was not the case. I have read the reviews of others who have absolutely slammed the book, claiming it was poorly written, boring and a disservice to the series. I personally think those people need to chill out. This book was an ending, which by definition means that things get wrapped up, that most of the hard-core character development has been established in the books leading up to the finale. I personally loved the fact that Bella became a strong woman (and vampire... yaya) instead of a bratty, weak girl. I thought that Edward was perfectly believable and not transparent. I was RELIEVED that Jacob finally imprinted, and was not in least bit turned off by the fact that it was to Edward and Bella's daughter. (It kinda makes sense in a weird way, and hellllo, she's full grown in seven years.) I thought Meyer was clever and in many ways unpredictable, and I think she sought to end the story in a way that would do justice to the mythology she has created. And seriously, Meyer is basically writing to teenage girls, so to expect in these books the literary prowess of a Rand or a Fitzgerald or another seasoned literary genius is slightly (or thoroughly) ignorant. I think that people had in their own minds how the story would end up, and in many cases, this perception didn't jibe with Meyer's ending. Which is understandable. But it's her story, so she can end it any way she wants. Perhaps it is because I went in with no expectations that I was pleasantly surprised, but I think it is more than that. I appreciate her style, that it's not horrendously explicit, but still thoroughly (if not at times more) effective. I have enjoyed the series and am glad that it ended in a happy way. I give her kudos.

Moving on, I am sad to say that SYTYCD has ended. Though I am still utterly bitter over Will's early departure, I have to say that Joshua is a deserving winner. I still would have loved to see Twitch win (I voted like 100 times... hey, Greg was at a Bachelor party, what else was I supposed to do?) but the fact that a street dancer won the competition is really cool. And it's lovely to see real people do extraordinary things and then be humble about it. (It's such a rarity these days.) I desperately wanted to attend the SYTYCD tour, but was too late to secure any decent tickets. And evil companies like StubHub are seriously trying to charge up to FOUR HUNDRED dollars for floor seats. For tickets whose face value is $55. I am bitter about this to be sure. There is no way I could legitimize spending that much money, or even a fraction of that much money on any concert or performance. It's just ridiculous. And not fiscally responsible.

And for the record: random, Thurl Bailey liked my husband's tie; no, I am not pregnant; yes, I've been on the line with various dumb callers this morning, one of whom I had to ask the same question to 5 times before receiving an answer (and oh, was my patience tried!); and yay, we're leaving for Newport on Friday.