Saw Twilight again! Yikes.

Don't know whether it was 5 or 6. Doesn't matter anymore. For my age group (40+) I'll bet I would win the prize. I just keep agreeing to go with any one of my friends who wants to go. The girls are laughing. And I'm not really a Twilight Mom, as my girls are in their 20s, and one will not go see the movie till its on DVD. (Doesn't like theatres....)

There are some universal reactions from all my friends. All have said how handsome Edward Cullen is. Not sure that translates directly to Rob Pattinson, as he looks different in person. (The hair.....)(the youth...as I have said before, he is younger than my youngest..) Everyone likes that the action is not too intense, no swearing, they like the "sexual" undertone (that one is hard to quantify, isn't it?) They like Bella. Most identify gaps in the story line that leave them a bit out in left field...but you cannot in 2 hours take hundreds of pages and cram them into a story line. People universally like the shots in the forest and in the meadow. Also the bedroom scene.....(we are all married women, some for several decades, and it brings back that memory of hot passion of the first romance/liaison...)

So this is a great love story. Hope the new director gets it right when they start on New Moon, which promises to be interesting. I'm wondering how they'll do the Italian portion, how they'll explain the Volturi -- it's a leap. That movie will have modern vampires, ancient vampires and the Quileute wolves to deal with. Hmmmm.

But many of my friends, all over 40, have bought New Moon. Will New Moon earn Summit another big bag of cash?

Personally, I liked Midnight Sun a lot, and think it could or should be finished (Go Stephenie) and either could have scenes cut into upcoming movies or done on its own, if she did finish it. Give her the money, someone. And release the DVD, Summit. Good Christmas present for us.

Rob Pattinson and Heath Ledger

I worry about Rob Pattinson, in a motherly way. He's younger than my youngest child. He's handsome, creative, musical, and by his own account, anxious. He describes getting sweaty palms when he thinks about the crowds he's facing in his new found fame and adoration. There is already a cult behind him. He's also a Brit in the American movie machine and in Los Angeles, where the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, River Phoenix and countless others lurk. There are also many walking wounded, as Robert Downey, Jr., Kiefer Sutherland, Brittney Spears and Amy Winehouse attest to us every day on the covers of magazines. I worry about new-found fame and wealth, and what bad things will happen to Rob, because I remember Heath Ledger well. They seem to have the same intensity and hyperfocus. I saw a column somewhere that asked, "Is Rob Pattinson the new Heath Ledger?" Let's hope not. Heath was chewing on anti=anxiety drugs, oxycontin, oxycodone and other things in an effort to medicate himself against something. What was it? Anxiety that he wouldn't perform to the standard he wanted to? Against expectations of the industry of hangers-on who are dependent on the continuing light of the stars? Against his own personal demons in addition to all this? I hope Rob Pattinson has a good head on his shoulders and careful advisors. It would be heartbreaking to see it all go wrong, as it has so many times before.

A word about Twilight

I admit it. I love the series of books and the movie Twilight. Why? Who knows. I'm a Master of Arts student in political science doing a public policy thesis on nursing. I've been in the military, a civil servant (now retired) and have worked in the private sector as well. This is something COMPLETELY different for me. I enjoy all the hype that has been generated around the movie - love the capitalist marketing machine. It's a prime example of making something out of not much, not to say that the movie is irrelevant. Our lives must be at some kind of low level if we thrive on this stuff, but here I am admitting that I am enjoying it all. I have to laugh at all the magazine articles about Rob Pattinson and Kristin Stewart and the other cast members, who are probably horrified at some of the things that get written. The hype machine. But I'm all for entertainment and I enjoy the soundtracks of movies when they introduce new material. I'm enjoying the Paramore and Muse music, as well as Rob Pattinson's songs. And I say to my friends, there was no swearing and less sex than one would see on afternoon television. Bravo. I've gotten so that I just don't go to movies any more - I'm done with war, horror, chase, shootemup, etc. It leaves me with little but foreign movies and Twilight. And it's nice to watch a love story, even when the stars are younger than my kids. I may just go for the third time.