Preempted

Tonight's episode of American Idol has been preempted by President Obama. Therefore, tonight's regularly scheduled American Idol blog post has also been preempted.

Mrs. Greene has been sick for the last few days. I, apparently, have not been very helpful. Today I made a pizza at home and when she caught wind of this information, she wanted some. Unfortunately, pig that I am, I ate it all. There was none left to share.

So I'm trying to think of a good way to cheer up a sick friend. I sent her some flair on Facebook. I've sent funny text messages from the next room. But none of this is epically funny enough to substantially cheer someone up. So maybe I'm coming at this all wrong. Maybe I shouldn't go with funny.

A few days ago, I came over to the Greenehouse to watch a movie that Nicole had been eagerly anticipating for several months. Saturday arrived and she was able to get Kevin to go out and buy it. The movie in question? Twilight.

That afternoon she was wanting me to write a review of the film adaptation of what could be her current favorite book. It's possible she likes one of the sequel novels more than the original, but that's not the point. The point is that I wasn't sure I wanted to review this movie knowing just how obsessive people are over it. What if I said something wrong? What if I offended one of those crazy vampire lovers? Wait... that was probably offensive, wasn't it?

If you want to know what I thought of the book, go here.

The movie itself was pretty good. As with any movie based on a novel, it was difficult to watch it without trying to pick out the differences between the two versions. It would be nice to be able to just watch something and take it for what it is. It's just too tempting to scrutinize every detail. I realize it's nearly impossible to translate a novel to film without making a few cuts here and there. Otherwise we'd have six hour long epics that no one will have the patience to sit through. Though in Twilight's case, I'm sure you'd find a few exceptions.

I can say that a lot of the places and people were just as I had pictured them in my mind. Honestly, I had seen movie posters before I read the book, so the actors playing the main characters of Edward and Bella were already in my head as I read the book. What I hadn't been prepared for was the nauseating stare downs that went on between Edward and Bella throughout 75% of the movie. I put up with that sort of behavior from a lot of couples in college. It's almost sickening. Don't they realize that there's a whole world going on around them that doesn't take place within their significant other's eyes. Both the book and the film make a big deal about how much of a klutz Bella is. She should take her eyes off her pasty boyfriend before she trips over her own feet again.

Another problem I had was the climactic fight scene at the end. While it was great to see what was described in such detail in the book put into action on the screen, it just seemed to go by way too fast. The most intense part of the book takes place over several chapters. But when that intensity becomes an action scene in a movie, it moves very quickly and is condensed to roughly ten or fifteen minutes.

I'm making it sound like I didn't like it. I did. Am I going to rush out and buy my own copy? No. But would I complain if I sat through it again? No. I will say this, it somewhat inspired me to go back home to get back into the sequel, New Moon. I've had that book sitting on my coffee table for over a month and had been stuck on chapter three. I just couldn't get into it. Now I'm curious as to what happens next. So it was a pretty good movie, definitely worth seeing. Happy viewing.

Nicole is probably watching it again while she's lying sick in bed. Get well soon.