I made Jacksper smile

Alright I am just going to warn you right now this in essence is a Twilight post. I saw some friends were going to go see the band 100 Monkeys in concert here today. Jackson Rathbone aka Jasper Cullen is a member of the band, but since I am way to much of a music snob to go to a concert when I don't know or like the band I wasn't interested in attending. But I saw that they were doing a free show/signing at Zia records at 3 pm. And although I wanted to go and see Jackson smile in person I had to work. But Melissa's little sister Stephanie decided to go, even all by herself because she is that confident and cool. But sadly for Steph the band was TWO hours late & she had plans at four. But luckily for Melissa and I they were two hours late so we went down after work. Just in time to miss the band playing and get in at the end of the line for signings.
When we got up to the band the first guy who I was going to call mohawk but just looked up his name, Jared was waiting. I asked if they were ready for the show tonight, the confirmed they were always ready to rock. Jared then asked my name and I told him Connie, he asked how to spell it. I smiled and said C-o-n-n-i-e Jackson then said something about him not being able to spell. Then Jared said something about how he understands sign language so I spelled my name in sign language and Jared signed something to me and asked if I caught it. "Thank you?" I asked, he then told me he signed thank you & something else which I don't remember. I then told him that I knew how to sing Yellow Submarine as I signed it. Jackson's face lite up with a smile and he shook his head in approval and said yeah. Then Jared began to sign along with me as we sang "we all live in a yellow submarine". It was a cute little moment singing "Yellow Submarine" & signing with the boys. We continued down the line and realized I didn't really get any pictures so I went back in front to get some pictures and Melissa said we should have been recording so we could have got you guys singing Yellow Submarine. They then started signing "Yellow Submarine" so I could get a picture. Aren't they just so cute!

I am happy I got this picture of Jackson smiling and it has Melissa in it! We don't know what the other boy (Ben) was pointing at.
I am not sure what is going on in this picture but I love how interested he looks in what Melissa is saying. This is the first attempt to take the picture of them signing Yellow submarine
But they just held the pose for the second picture. They are cute boys huh.

I am only posting this video for Melissa & Stephanie...I was just trying to see which signature was Jackson's.

Giving Thanks

I went out early to go see if my mom needed any help with making dinner, I did help a little but got distracted with my nieces and nephews. I was outside with William and I was trying to get a picture of him but he turn and ran. I actually love this photo anyway...

Once William heard the door bell he was gone to see which of his cousins were there...
Here are William and Marie talking...I think William is showing Marie a toy spider...
Here are Anna & William hugging, and not because anyone told them too just because they are happy to see eachother...

Hugs all around, aren't they so sweet.

Grandma (my mom) did not only make an entire Thanksgiving dinner, turkey, ham, mashpotatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, salad, rolls, veggie tray, corn, green beans, mashed sweet potatos, apricot glaze for the turkey & all the pies (cherry, peacan, pumpkin, chocolate, & butterscotch). She also made sugar cookies for the grandkids so they could make Turkey cookies before dinner. (Does anyone doubt were Debbie gets it?)

Marie
William

Anna

Later I was watching Sleeping Beauty with Gracie. Of course during the song Once Upon A Dream we were dancing. After we sat down right in front of the TV. Gracie soon got up and climbed on my back and decided she wanted to watch the rest of the movie like this...


After awhile she did not get down so I called Debbie to come see. I eventually got tired so I slowly stretched my legs out and got a little more comfortable all with Gracie sitting on my back. I sure do love my nieces and nephews, and all my family too.


Just as a side not here are the Face Punch bags, you may have heard me talking about. My friends and I made them for the New Moon Premier. If you have seen the movie you may get what the bags are in reference to. But the real question is how did we know before the movie came out?
Here I am with my friend Melissa and her sister Stephanie waiting for New Moon.

Day One - Comic Con

We got to San Diego early Thursday AM to join the already long line for the H Hall. Thankfully I was able to get a couple hours of sleep thanks to an eye mask and ear plugs. What is crazy is we had to wait in two lines the first one (the one we slept in) was for the H Hall thankfully there was enough of us to split up and keep our place in line. The second was to get your ID badges that grants you access to the events. Here is the line to get our ID badges...can you see the line? I was hoping the sign that says The End Is Nigh was meaning the end of the line but sadly no.
I had wanted to take more pictures of people dressed up but I was never quick enough with my camera. Here is Zelda.
We were getting ready to enter the H hall when I spotted a guy dressed up as Edward, but when I got a better look I realized it was the kids who did one the Twilight spoofs I actually liked. You can see the spoof here. It was funny because I was moving in line so I only had a second I called Hilly (thankfully Mimi remembered her name) they turned saw the camera and posed in about 30 seconds it was great I didn't have to slow down the line.

The first panel of the day was...

Disney: 3D Panel— Patton Oswalt moderated the event (who was hilarious by the way, you may know him from King of Queens or the voice of Remy from Ratatouille) as the filmmakers presented their movies... A Christmas Carol, Alice In Wonderland and Tron. Special guests include Robert Zemeckis, Tim Burton, Sean Bailey, & Steve Lisberger.

First up was A Christmas Carol

The director Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future, Polor Express) showed us a clip of his new 3-D movie starting Jim Carrey who plays eight roles, Ebenezer Scrooge and all three Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Highlight: When Patton Oswalt asked the director if they have been sued for their characters looking like Flammer from Fantastic Four, I can't remember the other one but the last one was Amy Winehouse.

Alice In Wonderland with Tim Burton


This has a lot of the footage we were shown but the footage we saw was of course 3-D and was to the song Time To Pretend by MGMT...we actually got to watch it three times!
Highlights: After we watched it the first time Patton Oswalt said to Tim Burton, “Thanks, Tim. You know, I’ve always wanted to try PCP.”

THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT EVER!!!

Last was Tron

Which I was not excited about. Last year they showed a clip as a surprise, it did nothing for me. I am not sure if I ever saw the original Tron maybe when I was 5 or something. They did show another clip which looked better and we saw the same clip in 3-D which made it cooler.
Highlight: Cute boy to look at for the girls and a pretty girl for the boys to look at.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Next up we had another 3-D showcase with: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Hole, The Final Destination.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is an animated 3-D film...Highlight Andy Samberg who is one of the voices came out to say hi.

Director Joe Dante (Gremlins) makes his return to the genre he knows best with the 3D thriller The Hole.

Highlight: During the clip it had a little boy around 10 years old in a basement he hears something and begins to look around and you see this old creepy looking doll, everyone gasped (thinking no no not the doll) then it pans over to a even scary clown doll everyone even gasped louder (no no not the scary clown doll)

Then it was Summit Entertainment— which had sneak peeks of Astro boy—an all-new CG-animated feature film with cast memebers Freddie Highmore (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory & Finding Neverland) and Kristen Bell)

Highlight: When Freddie started to talk and everyone started screaming because of his accent. That is what happens when you get a room full of Twilight fans.

Sorority Row—Think I know what you did last summer set in a sorority. Highlight...it was fast the girls didn't even sit down.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon—

Taylor talking about transforming into the bigger Jacob Black. In case you don't remember here is a picture of Taylor just last year at Comic Con.

And here he is now...
Seriously!!!
I would just like to take this moment to say to all the fans who hated Jacob in the books... You are in for a surprise, it is going to be much harder to dismiss him on film than it was in the books. I said it months ago and I just want to say it for the record.

In case you are wondering about Kristen she is in the middle of filming The Runaways and is playing Joan Jett.
Kristen was asked if it was more difficult to prepare for New Moon than Twilight.

Rob talking about how little he had to do for this movie...I love when he says "that's the way I like it"

I would like to interrupt this blog to answer a question I have been asked several times..."Do I really think this guy Robert Pattinson is good looking?" The answer is yes I really do think he is good looking. Not that I have a huge crush on him, in fact I feel pretty sorry for the poor boy. But see look at that cute grin...

And sometimes he does this pouty thing with his lips... He is also very good at doing the whole smoldering eyes thing...
So yeah I think he is good looking...Ok back to Comic Con.

Besides the panel we were shown two clips one where Jacob was showing Bella how to drive the dirt bike and we got to see the phantom Edward, Jacob take off his shirt & Bella tell Jacob he is sort of beautiful. The other clip started off with Bella & Alice driving through the streets in Italy (it kind of looked a little like a soap opera, I am confident that it will look better in the movie) then Bella running through the square to save Edward.

Highlights: Rob gave this analogy about his life since Twilight. It went something about him walking along stepping on a rock it going flying and then him trying not to drown. I loved watching the clip of Bella running through the plaza and when she got to the fountain everyone screamed or clapped because it was from the book. Oh and when asked what they were looking forward to filming and Taylor said the sleeping bag scene.

Last Panel of the day for us Avatar
20th Century Fox and James Cameron present Avatar— In this first public screening of footage in 3D from his much-anticipated action/adventure/fantasy. James Cameron has been working on this film for years and were able to see over a half an hour of footage. The world he created was breath taking. This technology is going to be able to bring so many sci-fi novels to life. It was obvious that the actors themselves were proud and excited for the movie.
I knew about the movie before Comic Con because my new boyfriend is in it sadly he could not make it since he is busy filming but they did play an interview of him on location.

For more details on the Avatar panel go here

After we were all very tired so we made our way to our hotel in Los Angeles. Mimi was driving Shelby's truck (since Shelby was not comfortable driving in California) she got off the freeway so we could get dinner. Now Mimi was tired and I guess that is why she did not see the curb and drove over it. Then proceeded to park and cut off a mini cooper in the process. Britt & Amber where in the car with me and since we were behind Mimi we saw this all happen. All three of us were laughing and shacking our heads when we noticed the guy in the mini cooper looking at us. He was also laughing and shacking his head along with us. The guy also happened to be very cute which only made us girls laugh harder. When we got out we explained to Mimi why we were still laughing so hard we to call him Cooper, I then turned and yelled come back coup come back.

Dancing for your pleasure

I was so excited for November and now it is December so how did it pan out? Well first was the release of two albums Travis's Ode To J. Smith & Little Joy's self titled album. Both were great, and let's be honest I had heard most of the songs before they came out anyway. But it was nice to have the whole thing legally.

A friend was asking me my thoughts on Travis's album, I am not the person to ask I love them too much to be objective. But as usual Fran said it better than I ever could..."Travis are an organic band. These records decide for themselves what they will be. They come to us out of the blue. We will always endeavor to make timeless music. My message is either get on the bus or get off because this bus is moving. Where? We don't know... But that's the best part.
All I know is that stating your taste says more about you than about us. I'm glad you enjoyed one of our records. Cherish it.
However if you can hear some difference in albums and songs then you are not listening closely enough... Since the very first song we recorded together till the last one, if you listen close enough you will hear our hearts pounding with every note played. That is what a hard core fan hears. I am happy to state this is what I am. I don't hear music any more. I hear heart and soul. I hear blood rushing.
I am the number 1 Travis fan.
Challenge me if you dare :)" - Fran Healy
Here is one I really like that I already did not blog about.


This is one of my favorite songs from Little Joy. For some reason it makes me want to watch a Doris Day & Rock Hudson film.


Quantum of Solace was not as good as Casino Royale, a car, airplane and boat chase were a little too much for me. But for an action movie it wasn't half bad but it was no Jason Bourne.

Last but not least was of course Twilight. I want to start off by saying I have heard people complain that the movie did not have this or it did not have that. Yes I know because it is impossible to cram a 500 page book into a 2 hour movie. It is like Pride & Prejudice I love the book and I love the 5 hour movie with Colin Firth that is very true to the book. But I also like the 2 hour not so close to the book adaption, because it captures the heart of the book. And truth be told if I am in the need of a little P&P hit I throw in the 2 hour version before I do the 5 hour.

My point being that although I did not think the movie was perfect I still love it because it captures the emotions I get when reading the book. If I let myself stop wishing for things that are never going to be in the movie I easily get swept up and feel the torture Edward feels, the surety Bella feels about her heart and the happiness Edward finds from that.
If you hate the books or hate the movie, I really would not waste your time trying to sell me your hate. Asking why I like Twilight is like asking why I love Jane Austen or why as a little girl I pretended to be Cinderella twirling around the ball with Prince Phillip...I don't know why like I also don't know why guys like Die Hard movies, Halo or Firefly but I have tried to be more understanding, ask Russ I watched the new Hulk with him. I would also like to say concerns are not the same thing as hate. If you would like to discuss concerns that is fine. I don't think people realize part of the reason I love Twilight so much is because of the friendships it has brought me. How could I not always love it?

November Please

I am looking forward to a few things this November, the first being Travis's new album Ode To J. Smith. It comes out on November 4th along with another band who I am excited to hear more from, Little Joy.




I thought they sounded a little bit like The Strokes then come to find out it is a side project for the The Strokes drummer. You can read and hear more at their myspace page.

Then I have two friends B-Day's Mimi's is the 6th and not far behind Alexis will be celebrating hers on the 14th. The same day Quantum of Solace comes out. Now let me say no one hated James Bond as much as I did. Even when Casino Royale came out and everyone told me how good it was I could not bring myself to be one of those people who goes to see James Bond movies. But my brother rented it, I saw it, loved it and hope the second "new" James Bond movie will be just as good.



Then on the 21st Twilight comes out.
Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer

I want to be Kate...

Friday August 1st was the release party for the final book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn. After experiencing my first midnight release party I have decided they are a bad idea. I think I would have much rather started reading after a good nights sleep rather than 12:30 in the morning. I am not one for staying up all night, I rather like sleep. But I have this thing where I can't sleep until I finish a book the suspense kills me. So Mimi came over we changed into pj's had snacks & caffeine on hand and began reading around 12:30. We would be reading and one of us would gasp or laugh the other would ask what page, then when the other person caught up we would discuss or laugh together.

While at Barnes & Noble Debbie, Mimi, her mom and sister Britt & I found a corner of the store for us to camp out in. We were even able to help some teen girls with some of the trivia they did not know and they won a t-shirt. Look how cute they are.


I am not going to write anything about the book I know some who read my blog have not read the book yet so I will not be posting any spoilers yet.

Biggest Fan

Wednesday night July 23rd 2008 Mimi & I drove down to San Diego to go to Comic Con. Now if you are like me you probably do not know what Comic Con is. It is a comic book convention, you know where you see people dressed up like characters from Star Wars & Star Trek and Super Heroes. No I did not dress up as anything, those who do dress up are the minority. Thankfully there is more to it than comic books. They show Trailers or sneak peeks for up coming movies and then have panels with the actors, directors, and producers. Basically all day Thursday I got to watch movie trailers and then hear the actors directors and producers talk about the movies. It was almost heaven.

Here was the line up:
The first panel of the day was for the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still with actors Keanu Reeves & Jennifer Connelly, director Scott Derrickson, and producer Erwin Stoff.

Highlight: Keanu was actually pretty funny, he even made a joke about him playing an alien with little personality.

The second panel was for Max Payne with actors Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Ludacris, and director John Moore.

Highlight: Mark was also funny he cracked a joke about New Kids on the Block reunion. Later he had everyone laughing again and he was even laughing and actually snorted which only made everyone laugh harder.

Surprise Visit...Hugh Jackman flew in from Australia and brought some clips of Wolverine which they had just finished shooting.

Now I may have never read a comic book before, but growing up I did watch X-Men the cartoon. My sister Debbie would and I would watch it with our brothers and we all had our favorite characters mine was Storm. I love the X-Men movies they were my favorite super hero movies until Batman Begins came out. The clips I saw of Wolverine look amazing it should be awesome.

Highlight: Hugh Jackman coming out and saying "I know what your thinking this guy is way too tall to play Wolverine."

Next up Summit had three movies they did panels for the first was for a movie called Push with actors Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Djimon Hounsou, Camilla Belle and director Paul McGuigan.

Highlight: Chris Evans was answering a question about the kind of movies he had played in and he used the word "Fantastical" to describe Fantastic Four. Everyone started to laugh someone told him what he said and he started to laugh and said hey I didn't go to college. Then he smiled his hollywood smile and said I am really good at this press thing.

Their second panel was for a movie called Knowing—Director Alex Proyas appears in person to introduce never-before-seen footage for his new major motion picture starring Nicolas Cage.

And of course their third and last movie was Twilight. The panel consisted of Director Catherine Hardwicke, author Stephenie Meyer, and the cast—including Robert Pattinson (Edward), Kristen Stewart (Bella), Cam Gigandet (James), Rachelle LaFevre (Victoria), Edi Gathegi (Laurant), and Taylor Lautner (Jacob)









Highlights: When Robert Pattinson (Edward) was told by a screaming fan that she loved him his response was "good". Catherine Hardwick (director) announced that they did get a Muse song for the movie!!!

Disney: Race to Witch Mountain, Stars Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino and director Andy Fickman



This was a fun panel the director was very funny and Dwayne was hilarious and very charming.

Dark Castle: Ninja Assassin, Rain, Naomie Harris & director James McTeigue.

Since I had never seen or heard of Rain (Korean singer, dancer, model and actor) I did not know that I loved him but now I think I do. When asked by a fan why he decided to do American films he answered "the girls".

Rocknrolla staring Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven, Ludacris, Idris Elba, director & writer Guy Ritchie & producer Joel Silver.

Highlight: Gerard told a crazy woman dressed up like a queen or something that she was weird.

All in all the day was great there were two panels I did not mention because they sucked one was about a horror movie but at least it was short. The second was for a animated video called Wolverine vs Hulk. I don't know how long the video was but I honestly thought I was going to die, or at least wished I would. I now know how my friend Brent felt when we saw Enchanted and he said he wished he had brought his fork from dinner to gauge his eyes out. But I don't feel like I can complain too much about it since I was at a comic book convention. But it really was a great day and I loved to see the actors be nervous, tongue tied, gracious and just human.

Here are some pictures of people in costumes, because it just would not be comic con with out them. These are the ghost busters it appears they are having some sort of prayer circle..