Monday, March 23, 2009

Twilight Release Party? Not For Me!

So everyone seems to have had a blast this past weekend because they got to attend a fabulous release party.

Now, when Kaleb Nation posted a blog about how a Twilight star could be coming to my town, I scoffed and called him a liar. Seriously, who was going to stop by Rapid City, South Dakota when they're a part of a huge franchise? Um... Maybe Amber the Waitress? I'm pretty sure even the guy who played the teacher was too famous for that. So I didn't expect to see anybody cool from the movie at my Borders.

However, I did expect to go to a party.

My best friend Christianna dragged me along with some other people over to Borders a little earlier than planned. She was going to finish the latest House of Night novel and I would read up on the Twilight Director's Handbook (or notebook or whatever; not as interesting as I anticipated) while we waited.

We did wait...

For an hour...

And then a woman announced over the intercom that there would be no Twilight release party, sorry for the confusion. When asked about this, she said it was only the big corporate stores that were being involved. I was devastated.

Before we left an hour later, though, we were told of a party over at Hot Topic. Um, okay. Let's just go there instead. So we traveled to the mall down the street and waited in line for a half-hour. Robin (one of the workers) took a picture of me and said that I should sign up for the autograph of Taylor Lautner. I was ecstatic.

We were one away from the door. The woman at the front asked if the people before us had their invitations. They produced them promptly. That set off alarms automatically. "Invitations? Hm... Well, maybe that just means you get special privileges..." We get there next, she asks, and we reply that no, we don't have any invitations. Her response was an awkward, "Um... Oh... Well... I can't... let you in... then..." We stood there for a second, not comprehending what we had just been told because this woman obviously doesn't speak English. We can't go in? But... But... TAYLOR LAUTNER AUTOGRAPH! MUST HAVE! I!

Once we realized we'd just been shafted ("But you can still buy the DVD at midnight!" "Eh. We don't have any money."), we found we were still allowed to have cake and punch, took some, and sat on the floor like rejected puppies.

That's what I get for not being a mall rat anymore.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I'm Baaaaack! (And the Wolf Boys Have Been Found!?)



It's been a little over a month since my last post. No, I didn't forget about this. To be honest, I became re-obsessed with X-Men, and it's pretty usual that I can deal with only one obsession at a time. However, I'm going to try to balance out the two. Rogue can live with Bella and vice-versa.

I thought a great way to approach this blog's reestablishment would be to talk about the recent casting of the wolf pack. If you haven't figured it out yet, I am obsessed with the pack. I'm usually a vampire fan, but the Quileute's stole my heart in Twilight, and I was really excited to find out that they'd cast most of the wolves.

Before the excitement came a bit of heartbreak, though. I've been a supporter of Solomon and Krys since the very beginning, and I was rooting for them to be cast again as Sam and Embry respectively. Via the Team Solomon Facebook Page, I was directed to an interview where Solomon finally told us that he was not going to be back as Sam. Every part of me was devastated. Summit said that all of the cast was back on. Sooooooo, what? Sol and Krys were never really part of the cast? I mean, okay, the actress that played Amber the Waitress was technically part of the cast, too, and I'm pretty sure she won't be back, but there's a difference between her and our two boys: her part never shows up again; Sol and Krys were playing characters who appear throughout the series.

Still, I will respect the decision to re-cast them. There's nothing we can do now. Maybe it was, according to speculation, an attempt to bring in hunkier actors. Maybe it was just that they didn't want to pay Sol and Krys to fly out to BC. Whatever the reason, it's happened, and I'm sure all of the actors -- including the replacements -- are just lovely.

NOW ON TO MY PERSONAL ASSESSMENTS! (Taylor Lautner not included)

Chaske Spencer as Sam Uley
This is definitely the one that hurts the most. Solomon just looked like Sam to me. Not only that, but he worked his butt off for the part and cut his hair. Anybody who's read or heard this kid speak about his hair knows that's a frickin' big deal. So naturally since I've got my mind on Solomon, my idea about Chaske playing the part is going to be skewed.

From a biased point of view, Chaske looks all wrong. While the picture was loading on the TwiFans social community, I was thinking, "Why the hell is an asian playing the part?" Yeah, yeah. I know the argument: Native Americans are descended from Asia. Still, when I saw his eyes, the first thing that came to mind was Korean. That hardly matters, though, since I'm an ethnically uneducated white girl. I'm just hoping that all of the other ethnically uneducated white girls will be able to see my point of view so that I don't sound like such a douche. (I realized my mistake once the picture loaded completely, by the way.)

Anyway, since I don't like the look of him from the very start, I decided to take a more professional approach and look at his IMDB page. For all of those who were worried about the Dakota casting starting a trend, don't fret. Chaske seems to be, like most everyone else, a relatively unknown actor. He's been in only four projects, most of which seem to be television episodes (though he was apparently the lead in Skins). The guy's so well under the radar, there's no other information about him.

Which is why I just Googled him. The first article about this Native actor is very intriguing, and I find myself really liking Chaske. He's very humble and remarks about some of the mistakes he's made while acting. He's a Guns 'N' Roses 'fanatic'. He's even hoping to branch out of the Native stereotype.

Okay, let me get one thing out before I'm flamed: there's nothing wrong with having some pride for who you are. I enjoy watching movies that focus around traditional Native American roles. (Pocahontas and Imprint come to mind.) Still, I think it gets a little old when every Native actor you see is playing a nature-connected, talking-in-riddles, many-moons-ago character. Are Native Americans not capable of being spiritual and traditional and integrated into contemporary society? Do they all lecture you about the dying trees and dance around bonfires? Their culture is definitely interesting and I love it, but there is more to a Native actor than just his or her ancestors' customs. They are people just like us. I feel like a lot of movies and television shows create such spectacles out of them, like they're almost alien. It's ridiculous.

Back to Chaske: I approve.

Tyson Houseman as Quil Ateara
Oh. My. God. HOW CUTE! At first, I was taken aback by the almost nerdiness of Tyson, but he's so ADORABLE! He is definitely not how I pictured Quil, but I'm extremely excited to see him with Claire in Breaking Dawn. That scene is going to be SO epic. I can actually picture Tyson being the sweet, caring guy that will do anything for this little girl, no matter how ridiculous.

Now, this guy is even more unknown that Chaske. Tyson doesn't even have his own IMDB page. I did find a resume of sorts. It appears that New Moon will be his first television and movie production, but he's been on stage quite a few times -- The Laramie Project and Romeo & Juliet being just two of the shows he's done. It also looks like he has a pretty good grasp on training, and he likes to snowboard. Awww! CAN I HAVE HIM!?

Approve.

Alex Meraz as Paul
I'm just...going to stare and giggle like a little infatuated school girl, okay?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm done.

First of all, I don't really have an opinion of Paul. However, somebody over on the TwiFans social network commented that he would be perfect because he has a menacing look to him, or something like that.

Alex is certainly the one getting most of the attention out of the new pack cast. Girls everywhere are fanning themselves (and with good reasons). He also seems to be one of the most experienced thus far. On his IMDB page, Alex's filmography lists five productions he's been in, one for which he was nominated for an award. True, most of those parts don't even have names (a common theme being warrior and dancer), but he's making his way up on the charts.

Little else is revealed on his IMDB page (except that he's 5'11", was born in '85, is from Arizona, and likes to paint), so I turned to Google yet again to fill in the gaps. The only really useful link on the first page ended up being his MySpace. What we learn from there is that he's highly artistic (and rather inclined to paint the female form) and trained in martial arts. Who wants to see a fight between him and Taylor? ;D

Approved.

Kiowa Gordon as Embry Call
This kid is the least known of them all, apparently. There is one picture that was available, and it was used in a collage.

Like with Chaske, I'm a little biased when it comes to the fitting of actor to character for this part. Krys didn't have any lines, but I'm a firm believer in sticking with the actors you choose. However, I'm not as torn as I am with Chaske because holy crap, Kiowa is fucking CUTE! Man, if he had gone to my school, I would have been crushing on him.

Just like Tyson, he doesn't have an IMDB page. I also didn't get much from Google, but I managed to find out that he might be 18 and from Arizona. Hmmmmm.

APPROVED!

Bronson Pelletier as Jared
I also don't really have an opinion on Jared. As far as Bronson, he's a cutie. :)

Looking up his IMDB page, his filmography currently includes (without New Moon) two other television shows. It also has a little trivia, like he enjoys snowboarding in Alberta and is of Plain Cree descent. The kid's off to a good start so far. He's been nominated for three awards -- 1 Gemini and 2 Leos.

Google offers little more. So, with not a lot of information, I'm really antsy to see how he'll do!

Approved.

And then we get to another Quileute member:

Tinsel Korey as Emily
This choice is definitely a fan-favorite. Since shortly after Twilight's release, fans have been questioning questioning which actresses should play Emily and Leah. The fans were pretty much set for Tinsel to play Emily and Q'orianka Kilcher to play Leah.

We got our wish.

By far, Tinsel is probably the most experienced Native actors to be cast. Not including New Moon, IMDB lists that she has been involved in 18 projects, often reappearing in episodes of television shows.

She also gets the most useful links out of Google. Tinsel's official website tells us quite a bit about her. She's been a performer since day one, singing and acting for as long as she can remember. She worked on "Into The West" with Chaske.

Here is also a link to her MySpace music page. Maybe she'll make it onto the NM soundtrack... :3

APPROVED! APPROVED! APPROVED!

In closing, all I have left to say is THANK GOD MICHAEL COPON DIDN'T GET IN!