Love the "I know what you are" bit..


PS~ In case anyone is wondering - yes, I've seen New Moon. And it was awesome. Like, really surprisingly good. Give it a chance.

(As Howard Tayler put it, via Twitter, "In case anyone is wondering, "Ninja Assassin" is not worth seeing. It IS worth aggressively NOT seeing. Men, if your lady-friend offers you the choice of seeing "New Moon" with her or "Ninja Assassin" with the guys, GO SEE NEW MOON.")

Btw, the other day I came across a bunch of photos from New Moon, and I thought I'd share. Volturi and key scenes, etc.

Wow, I'm so disappointed in myself. No matter how distanced I may be from the Twilight fandom, I still had a weird jolt of shock/delight/anticipation/fangirlism/whatever when I saw this on my Twitter just now:



It kind of took me by surprise, though.. I knew they'd started filming Eclipse (my coworker's brother lives in Vancouver and sent her an article about it from their news paper this morning), but for some reason it took me a few seconds to make sense of the Tweet.

-____-



PS~ I just found this Twilight comic strip, and it's a gem. A hilarious, truthy gem. YOU MUST READ IT!

There were boys at my new place when I got home last night. They're my next-door neighbors, and they're pretty fun. So far, so good!

Also, I was just informed that there's a new "New Moon" clip. You can watch it here. ^_^


Anyway, the real content of this post is actually about a freelancing enterprise I thought I might try - coloring books! There are some crappy, crappy coloring books out there, you know? I thought: I do a lot of lineart, and I don't completely suck, and I like drawing princesses and fancy dresses and stuff, so there's surely a chance I could get published doing it, too, right?

I've been doing some research over the last week or so to see what I can find out about the coloring books business. First of all, it's not listed in the Artist's and Graphic Designer's Market, unfortunately. Also, the only publisher I could dredge up in my online research is Dover, and they focus on educational-type coloring books. Their website wasn't very helpful, but this morning I got a reply from their Customer Service department about submission guidelines, which is under the cut - I figure some of you might be interested in learning about this niche too.

In the meantime, I decided the best way to find out about publishers of coloring books is to go to a store that carries them and actually write down all the publishers I see, then look them up individually from there. That's a goal for the next few days, I think.

( Here's what Dover said. )

So, yeah. It's a place to start! I guess I should go through Dover's stuff, too, and see what I could add. (They have a coloring book of angels, and one of fairies, and one of dragons and stuff.. so maybe there's room for me there, somewhere..)

So... They unveiled a trailer for "New Moon" on the MTV Movie Awards last night (and apparently "Twilight" won a whole bunch of awards, too). Here it is.




Personally... I'm not a fan of this trailer. A lot of that, probably, comes of my disciplined practice in describing New Moon without giving away spoilers. This is FULL of spoilers; like, all the best parts (especially the scene with Laurent) are right there in the trailer. I guess if you're trying to advertise what the movie is actually about, instead of expecting people to come see it on faith or whatever, it would make sense to put some tidbits in there. But I think they could have kept a little.. I dunno, mystery? I think they could have done it better. (Edward feels very flat, but that's how he's supposed to be. I guess there's nothing to be done about Bella's perpetual bored acting, though. A shame. You'd think she could be happy or flirty or something.)

Check out the Twilight movie site - they've got it switched to New Moon now. :D

I like the poster. Kind of a lot.

First of all, check out this new Transformers trailer. It looks amazing!

Second, I am now following Nathan Fillion on Twitter. And he sounds just like Nathan Fillion! (Note to self: catch up on "Castle" - you're an embarrassment to the Nathan Fillion fandom.)

Last night I went on Marvel Digital Comics (I got a subscription last fall), found they had some of the Marvel Illustrated: the Iliad, and read Issue #1. Diomedes and Ajax are both in it. XD But they look ridiculous (actually a fair amount of the art looks ridiculous), and I'm totally awesome. And by "I" I mean "Muse."

And here are a couple of Twilight links.. Five Reasons "New Moon" Might Be Good (check out the photo on number two), and Meet the New Faces of Twilight: New Moon (the Quileutes are on the first page, and the Volturi are on the second page).

Also I have just remembered that "Dollhouse" is on tonight. I really like that show.


Also also, here is a fun tutorial on how to make planets in Photoshop that Howard Tayler linked on Twitter. :3

So I was browsing the Lexicon today, and I came across a really interesting article about a woman who wrote a book-length fanfiction "tribute sequel" to the Twilight series, and the rigmarole she's caused with her marketing campaign. Yes, that's right - she's been trying to sell her Twilight fanfic.

There are tons of links in the article (and you should definitely check them out) to her defenses and explanations on why she should be able to [self-]publish this. One of my favorite bits of her argument is, "The characters in SM's novels were not copyrighted because she never drew them or hired an artist to draw them." Hahahahaaa!!!!

Oh, and here's another one: "When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define. This is especially the case when actual cities like Forks and Volterra are used as the novel's settings. Such settings are not copyrightable, as they are considered public domain. Similarly, the Quileute Nation is also not copyrightable, and neither are vampire or werewolf legends. Copyright laws protect writers from unauthorized reproductions of their work, but such reproductions only include verbatim copying. Characters are only copyrightable if their creator draws them or hires an artist to draw them."

Anyway, it made it into the Lex because she issued a press release yesterday, an interview with one of the Twilight fansites. Here are some of my favorite parts of the interview:

F: A lot of people are scared if you will keep all of the characters the same way, the original way or not.
A: No, all the characters undergo some type of a transformation. The characters are in a constant state of becoming.
F: Could you give me a hint?
A: Well, for instance I’ll be exploring Rosalie’s character a great deal, also Alice will become sick. [Note: Isn't their inability to change.. uh.. kinda A MAJOR POINT of these books?]
...
F: Do you feel like your work its more like a regular book or a fanfic in a bigger scale? Cause some people say it is.
A: I believe I have more training and education than the average fanfic writer, so that’s the only reason I wanted to release it as a book, but I guess it’s been turned into a huge moral issue.
...
F:...But you are a big fan right? How would you react if the book was made by someone else?
A: Yes, a big fan. The author is just a medium. So the story and the characters are more important to me than the author. They definitely have lives of their own once they’re created.

Watch out, my writer friends! Your characters can become too real for you to keep legal hold on! Don't forget to hire an artist to draw your characters, so you retain copyright!

EDIT: I forgot to mention.. This publisher she's been working with, to produce the book... is a publishing house that SHE CREATED HERSELF. So all these press releases where she talks to her "publishing team" are third-person self-references..!

I ran through the Lexicon today to see if there was any news. It looks like they're keeping the "New Moon" filming locked up tight from onlookers this time - shooting in remote areas surrounded by trees and blocking off roads and stuff. I doubt we'll get much inside info this time around. That's fine.

I also found one post on the Lex about a research project a couple of people are doing at the University of Missouri-Columbia, on the Twilight phenomenon. They're conducting an anonymous survey about different aspects of the fans' involvement with the books/movies/fandom. Here's a clip of their note on the Lex:

On the survey, you will be asked to answer questions regarding your personality, relationship history, your interpretation of the characters and relationships in the Twilight saga, your fan activities, and finally your basic demographics. The entire survey should take about 20 minutes to complete. Your participation is voluntary, and you are free to withdraw at any time.

I spent some time taking it this morning (I'm between projects at work today) and it felt kinda good to actually tell people what I think about stuff. It's pretty thorough. (I took me longer than 20 minutes to do it, but my internet was slow and I ended up writing a lot of "essay" answers.) But I think a lot of you have opinions that they definitely could use. If you're interested, you can find the link here on the Lexicon.

I was NOT going to do this again. I was going to wait patiently and just go enjoy the movie when it comes out in November. I was NOT going to get involved this time...!!!

But how does one refuse information that's right at one's fingertips..? ^^;;;; I'm not going out of my way for info on this movie, but some of you might still be curious, so I'll pass along whatever I do learn that I think you might want to know.

Starting with a photomanip of the actors cast as the Quileute wolf pack. I got the link from the Lex.

I also heard that they're starting filming in the next week or so. I believe they're filming both "New Moon" and "Eclipse" together. Chris Weitz (director of "The Golden Compass") is directing this one, and someone else is directing the third, but so far there are only rumors as to whom. Also, Kristen Stewart said that this movie's going to be more stunning than the first - the vampires, she said, are even more beautiful than they were in the first movie. It's anyone's guess what she meant about that, at this point.


As far as the "Twilight" DVD.. it's coming out this Saturday, and the Lexicon linked us a great video on who has what version of the DVD release. Personally, I'm going to pick my copy up at Target on Saturday.

Despite starting out a little melancholy (I mostly blame the fact that I'd left off at a melancholy part of The Blue Sword when I went to bed), Thanksgiving was a blast.

Dinner was at 2, and it was amazing. Sanzo did her famous potato rolls and the turkey à la Alton Brown, and a French silk pie. Duo made green bean casserole (which I had for breakfast this morning) and a cranberry-orange jello. Fi brought deviled eggs and five bottles of assorted Martinelli's, and her sister brought mashed potatoes. Ki brought stuffing, and apple and cherry pies. I provided gravy and the relish tray. Everything tasted fantastic, and we had a lovely time eating and chatting and snacking.

Ki and I subjected the rest to the pilot episode of the BBC "Merlin" series (which is very fun - see sarahtales's delightful review here for more info!), and later, Ki and Fi and I talked about writing (with random interjections from Duo and Sanzo). They got me talking about Muse for upwards of an hour, I'd guess, and I always get really excited when I talk about Muse. (The best part is when people ask me questions about this or that aspect of the world/story/characters, and I actually have answers to give them!)

We all hung out until midnight, and I slept in Friday morning til 8:30 or so. I bought a new iPod at Circuit City (the new 120GB Classic), and I'm thrilled at how much space I have after adding all my music. I'll actually be able to put audiobooks on it and take it on roadtrips - yay!! And I took myself out to see "Twilight" a third time - the more times I see it, the more I seem to like it; I'm getting better at separating Kristen Stewart from Bella, and therefore seeing Bella more objectively, and she's not so bad this time!

Today I read until I finished The Blue Sword, played my Rogue until she finally got out of Hellfire Peninsula (ugh!!), then watched last week's "Legend of the Seeker" and two episodes of "The Mentalist," divided the revised version of Muse ch.1 into pages (all the additions, and I'm still short! but will rearrange when I get to actually drawing the pages (SOON!), did the rest of the Thanksgiving dishes and wiped up the kitchen, and came upstairs to putter around on the internet some more.

Now I'm going to make the program for Church tomorrow, and then probably play WoW some more. (Also, Death Knights FTW!!!!)


OH~ And PS~~ My 16-year-old brother texted me and said that he'd seen the Twilight movie. "And?" I said. He told me he loved it. It was way cheesy in some parts, but overall, he really liked it. He said he found himself explaining to his friends things that I'd read to him from the books. (!!!?!!?!) During our discussion, he commented that the special effects could have been better, and I told him that it was a pretty low-budgeted movie, but since it has made bank already, I'm sure the FX in the next movie will be better. His reply? "I hope so, cuz I'll definitely be seeing it." XDDDDD MY 16-YR-OLD BROTHER!! Wow. There are not words to explain the absurdity and amusement I feel.

until I see the Twilight movie!!

I checked the Lexicon today and got caught up watching interviews (Edi Gathegi (Laurent) and Michael Welch (Mike Newton) remain my favorite *actors* from the cast), reading about the Premier, and looking at stills from the movie.. (Though I'm still trying to stay relatively spoiler-free, and I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job.)

I'm getting so excited, guys. I don't know if I can contain myself!

So I made a 1024x1280 wallpaper collage with some of my favorite shots. :D You can find it here. Also, I finally made a new Twilight icon! ^^;

TWO DAYS, guys!! Or for those of you who are seeing the midnight release, TOMORROW NIGHT!! XDD

I swear this is my last entry today. Or at least before lunch.. ^^;;


THE FINAL TWILIGHT TRAILER WAS UNVEILED LAST NIGHT!!

HERE IT IS!!

Seriously, best so far. I'm *way* stoked for this movie now... cuz I wasn't before, right?

Link to the full version here

In the Twilight area.. Stephenie Meyer posted a Breaking Dawn FAQ on her website, which is very in-depth and answers a lot of questions about the series as a whole, as well. You can read it here. (There's also a link to it on the front page of the site.) She also posted a partial Midnight Sun playlist to go with the partial Midnight Sun draft she's posted. Which I still haven't read.

Regarding the movie, they've been refilming a few scenes, and I'm kind of excited about what they're putting in. "Icing" is what the director called them, for the most part. Here's a link to the article about it.


In non-Twilight.. okay, in Dr. Horrible news, the SOUNDTRACK is now available on iTunes!! I'm going to download it when I get home. Probably. (I may wait until I get paid again, though, because I'm picking up my car from the mechanic after work, which is costing me about $400. >_<) You can find other fun stuff on the Dr. Horrible website.

I've just found out that there was recently a leak of an unfinished draft of Midnight Sun, which is the events of Twilight from Edward's point-of-view rather than Bella's, onto the internet, and Stephenie Meyer gives us her official response here on her website.

Since I'm starting to realize that most of you don't follow my links, the gist is that she's feeling extremely hurt and upset and betrayed by this copyright infringement. She didn't want fans to read it as it is now; she wanted us all to wait until it's been finished, edited, and published.

Quoted from the website, emphasis added:

So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.

But even though she didn't want us to read it until it was finished, she also doesn't want the manuscript being redistributed dishonestly, and she doesn't want us to have to miss out on Midnight Sun for being honest.. so she provides a link to the partial draft on her website.

I'm very saddened by this display of the bad side of fandom. It's like peeking in your parents' closet to see your Christmas presents, and then having your parents decide to take them all back to the store. No more Christmas. Except this is worse, because you could always buy those presents later, and Christmas will still come around the next year.

I don't know if I'm going to read it. But I do want to say, to those who couldn't just be patient and honest and let things happen when they're ready - thanks for ruining this brightest star of the whole Twilight universe for all of us. Thanks a lot.

Btw.. It's just been announced that the Twilight movie is being released to theaters three weeks earlier than advertised. Instead of coming to theaters on December 12th, it's coming November 21st. (Methinks it's filling the gap left by Half Blood Prince, which is sadly being pushed back to next summer.)




(Dragon Cave seems to be down right now, but here are my dragons anyway.)

MSN Today features an article on whether Twilight sucks teenage girls' brains dry, which was written before the fourth book came out. As with most articles I've read about the pros and cons of the series, I found both sides pretty silly.

I felt strongly enough about it to reply:

What I find most interesting about this article is that almost all the points the Cinemama brings up, about why Bella is a bad role-model, are made null and void - completely solved! - in the course of the final book. It's pretty unfair to look at a series like this while it's unfinished and judge what the themes are ultimately going to be.

Anyone who looks at the crafting of the Twilight books critically will tell you that they don't follow the standard accepted conventions of novel writing. I mean, in the first book, the "plot" doesn't even break out until three-fourths of the way through when the hostile vampires show up! That's why the James & co. are given so much bigger a role in the movie than they had in the book - there needed to be a stronger conflict than just the "falling-in-love" story. There's also no clear objective in the books - except for the questions of who Bella will be with in the end, and whether she will be a vampire - like there is in Harry Potter, where you know from day one that Harry's ultimately going to face Voldemort.

With that said (and keeping in mind that I personally am a huge fan, own all the books (half of them autographed and some even in other languages), was at the Eclipse Prom last year, and have read them all half a dozen times), the real question is how the books are so popular when they often read like fanfiction and ignore lots of the conventions of novel writing technique. And whether this kind of writing-from-the-hip will revolutionize the idea of what's "good writing" because of their popularity.

(My answer to the first is "great characters," and my answer to the second is, "We'll have to wait and see.")


( As for my thoughts on the fourth book, I'm going to say that for the most part I enjoyed it. )

EDIT: Here's an interview on EW.com with Stephenie about Breaking Dawn, where she can finally answer questions without worrying about spoilers. Yay!! I need more of this sort of post-Twilight Saga discussion with her.

So I finished Breaking Dawn last night. And today I'm having a lot of trouble seeing straight. I only went to bed at 1:30.. I slept more last night than I did the night before..

Even though I got off work at 11:30 and didn't get to bed until 1, I totally couldn't sleep last night. It felt like Christmas, knowing that when I woke up, I would go get my book. XD Probably because it's been a few months since I've read any of the books, the fact that we get to finish the story didn't finally hit until I was lying in bed, trying to sleep.

And so here I am, August 2nd, having worn my Eclipse Prom t-shirt and cheerily bought my book. I'm working right now, and it's in the car. (I knew I couldn't work if I brought it in with me.) The plan is this: pull a couple of hours until I finish (I'm nearing the final hand-off of my part of the set, and once I hand it over, I can join the rest of the team on the next stage and not feel so much individual pressure), then go home and enjoy!!!!

(Except.. My rogue is almost out of Rested XP, and is currently in the harsh north of Winterspring, so maybe I'll finish the quest she's out there for and get to an inn to rack up the Rested again. Because I know once I get into the book, I won't be playing for a while. ^^; THEN I can read!)

I also bought a fun new journal, because my current purse-sized writing notebook is nearing its end. :)

EDIT: Also, I just realized that I never told you guys what I've actually been working on all summer, even though we announced it to the public a few weeks ago. New cartridges coming this fall (I think): "Hello Kitty" and "Sesame Street" (our first non-Disney licensed cartridges), and from Disney, "Tinkerbell" (from the straight-to-DVD movie that's coming out soon) and "Cars." I worked only a little on Hello Kitty and Sesame Street, and I worked on Tinkerbell at the beginning, but Cars has been my life for the last two months. I've done almost all of it myself, and it's even more complex than the Princesses from last summer. Also, I've had to redraw several of the characters from a 3-D rendering, because we didn't have vector art of them. :) All of the new licensed cartridges are stinking *adorable* and I can't wait to see them on the shelves. (Particularly Tinkerbell - there's a feature on there that's the characters in silhouette, but with filigree cutout wings, and they're SO COOL! I want to put them on my car, on the windows in my room, make a night-light or some other stained-glass-type deal with them.. There's SO COOL!)

Btw, I'm not sure I mentioned this.. Since we had so much fun with it last year, Stephenie Meyer has been giving us a Breaking Dawn Quote of the Day as we count down to the book's release. There are some fun ones in there.

You can read them here on her website.

Yesterday's "Twilight Tuesday" is a list of "10 things we learned at Comic-Con," and frankly, I'm glad I wasn't there because of how embarrassing Twilight fans (and fans in general) can get. But it's a mostly amusing article anyway.

Also, on Monday Stephenie released an official spoiler to Entertainment Weekly, but I don't want to know what it is. So if you're interested, head on over to their site yourself.