Eclipse, Drinking Games and Hotel Romping w/ a Volturi…

Ok, not really, but I got your attention, didn’t I? Read on to find out what the fuss is about…

Today is the day! Today is the day! All that stands between me and an advanced screening of Eclipse is 8 1/2 hours. Yeesh that seems like an eternity right now. I am SO freaking excited. Obviously I won’t be able to post my feelings on the movie until later in the week, but in the meantime, a few random Twi-notes.

1. Last night I stayed up way too late re-reading Eclipse. I was on page 173 when I started and while I didn’t finish—eventually I just started re-reading scenes I’m looking forward to—I made a serious dent, which means I’m running on nothing but adrenaline (and a some delicious Dunkin Donuts coffee) today. Despite my lack of sleep I seriously cannot keep from bouncing in my chair, which I am sure my co-workers find totally normal.

2. Speaking of my co-workiers finding things totally normal, I brought the Edward doll to work today. Why? I don’t know. But I just felt like if ever there was a day to have him by my side—and look like a total psycho weirdo to those around me—today was the day! Right now, he’s overseeing product development. That Edward!

What a sick, masochistic knitted doll....

3. Saturday night, some friends and I hit up TwiNight for the New Moon screening. (NOTE: I do not condone open containers, underage drinking, drinking in public places that are not bars, or loud talking during Twi-films.) (ANOTHER NOTE: my friends and I ARE of age.) Now that that’s out of the way, I gotta level with you people: we made some delicious alcoholic concoctions and brought them in water bottles and enjoyed a rousing rendition of the New Moon Drinking Game under the stars. I have to say: I’ve never played my own game before. The Twilight game, yes, but I was much less Twi-Drinking Game savvy at the time and had yet to get rules from P-Fatch, so that one’s MUCH tamer than New Moon, which has over 20 rules. And I will tell you: that drink every time someone is wearing plaid rule is a killer! People wear plaid in that movie like people wear plaid on set in Vancouver! It’s crazy! Halfway through, the plaid rule became the most hysterical thing ever and our obnoxious laughter probably ruined the experience for some of the folks around us. That said, the ear-piercing screaming (mostly for Tay, interestingly enough…settle down, there, soccer moms, he’s jailbait) probably drowned out our obnoxious laughter.

Bella and the bottle: The New Moon Drinking Game.

4. And speaking of TwiNight, I had a little tete-a-tete with a certain member of the Volturi in a hotel suite before the screening. We all know that I am OBVIOUSLY Team Edward/Team Rob, with a certain sexual loyalty to Team Emmett/Team Kellan (especially dark-haired, non-bowlcut Team Kellan), but I have joined a new team: Team Felix/Team Daniel Cudmore. Holy effing nearly 7 feet of hotness. I went in there knowing he’d be attractive, but SWEET JESUS, I was not expecting the level of attractive my wondering eyes fell upon. Yeeesh. I mean. Yeeeeeeesh. And he couldn’t have been nicer! I’ll let you guys know when the full story is running in the paper and link you, after that I’ll be able to post our whole convo for you. I am almost scared to listen to my tape recorder because I know I spent way too much time giggling like a school girl and getting lost in the visible plains of his sculpted chest under his t-shirt. Sigh. Wait, what was I saying? Ah yes, super nice! We joked around a lot and he was really cute about the Eclipse Drinking Game rule question. He took it very seriously (as most cast members do. Seriously, I interview these people about real stuff and they fire off answers but when it comes to drinking game rules, they take their time.) He even put his head down on the table for some serious rule contemplation. In the end, he came up with a short and simple rule that he claims will have everyone on the floor very early in the film. I’ll post it along with the rest of the game this weekend after I’ve done my proper research. (Read: when I have seen the movie several times in a very short period.) And while I don’t often (ever?) post pics of myself on this site (anonymity is key when Twi-blogging), I feel the need to post the sheer hotness that is Dan Cudmore. Especially since I’m pretty sure my legit job will not. PS when I asked if we could take a pic together, he was super nice about it and even offered to hold the camera MySpace style AND posed us in front of the Eclipse poster in the room. I made some comment about with him holding the camera up we were going to look like giants (the man is 6’8″!) and he said, “did you just call me a giant?” I was like, “no, I mean, I did, but I didn’t mean it like that.” Awwwwwkward. But he laughed and was super nice. He also retook the picture a couple times because he kept not liking it, LOL. In the end I promised not to tag him in it. You know, like we’re friends on Facebook. Cause we could be, you never know. Also, in true A fashion, I dropped the cap to my water bottle as I was leaving. Since I was wearing a completely appropriate super-short dress and my highest wedges (to lessen the distance between our faces, natch) bending over to pick up the cap was a total loser moment. There was some bizarre squatting involved. Then he reached out to shake my hand and thank me and I shook his and said, “I have a cap in my hand.” Smooth, A.

It's like a prom pic. But without the formalwear!

Ok, so I’ll report back tomorrow with no actual information on Eclipse, just a regular old post that might mention how freaking awesome it is. Because we already know that much anyway. Ahhhhh!!! So excited!!!

We Need a Solar Eclipse

With Eclipse exactly one week away (say it with me now…..EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!) I thought it best to start posting again. ( And here I thought starting my new non-editorial job would make me a better blogger. Turns out copywriting is just as time-consuming as magazine writing.) Anyhoo, back to my point: ECLIPSE IS COMING!!!!! So how are you celebrating? Are you camped out in Hollywood hoping to catch a glimpse of the trilogy and maybe an early screening? Are you doodling your name + Edward’s name on your school or work notebook? Or maybe you’re doing what I’m doing…panicking that our opening weekend numbers aren’t going to be up to snuff.

Why would I worry such a thing, you ask? One word: summer. Every other Twi-film has opened during the colder months. I mean, let’s face it….the Twi-cast and the Twi-hards love a good hoodie. We love a lumberjack-style flannel. We can’t get enough of the controversial “Bella” jacket from BB Dakota. What happens when we’re forced to go against the angsty styles of winter and wear happy tank tops and flip flops to the theater?

It's too darn hot to keep this thing on!

Sure, sure, it gets cold in movie theaters. And with national temps at an uber-high, it would make sense that the fine folks at your local cinema would crank their ACs so much that the moments leading up to Bella’s leghitch aren’t all that’s giving you the chills. But donning your sassy summer sundress outside and covering up with a Hot Topic psuedo-goth hoodie inside is beyond a fashion don’t. And we know Alice would NOT approve of such a thing.

Not to mention, we love getting out of our cars in the packed parking lot and snuggling in our overclothes all the way to the concession line, knowing that we’re about to enter a world where only werewolves take their shirts off and that grey and drizzly is the best possible forecast. What happens when we leave the theater (and the worlds of Forks and La Push) expecting it to be cold and grey and it’s hot and sunny? How on EARTH are we expected to remain in the Twi-world when the real world feels more like a scene out of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth than our beloved Eclipse?

Plus! What about those poor campers I spoke of earlier? It’s one thing to camp out in November or December. Fleece Cullen Crest blankets and a thermos of hot chocolate are almost as effective as a werewolf in a sleeping bag when a gal needs to warm up, but those poor overnighting Twi-hards are setting themselves up for serious dehydration and heat exhaustion! Why wait hours to see the film when you’re just going to be taken out of there on a stretcher because you only brought one Team Edward bottle of water? (Not to mention, being carried out of a Twi-que for any reason-however medical-just makes you look like a passed out super fan who couldn’t control her excitement and makes the rest of us look even crazier than we already do…though we know we’re not crazy. Just crazy for Twilight! Crap, that sounded crazy in itself, didn’t it?)

Fill 'em up, gang!

What do you think, Twi-hards? Will the heat of the summer overshadow the heat between Bella and Edward? Will the fact that it’s hotter than a werewolf’s body temp keep us from getting ourselves to the theater on opening weekend and instead, wait for the DVD release which will ultimately occur in the cooler, darker fall months? Post your thoughts (and remedies for beating the pre-Eclipse heat) in the comments!

And check back all week and next week as I continue to post. I promise. Seriously. I’m gonna. I have been too inspired by my buddies at Letters to Twilight and their miraculous Steph Meyer meeting not to!

Twi-Hardcore

So get ready for some seriously shocking information, gang: A has been hanging out with a guy. Yeah. It’s like I have a social life or something!

Anyway, said guy—as is the case with most—doesn’t “get” Twilight. That’s fine. We don’t expect everyone to understand where we’re coming from. The guy is great, we have lots in common, but also lots not in common. (A combo that I think is good, for the record.) For instance, tonight he is taking me to a heavy metal concert. I’m currently listening to Taylor Swift. You see where I’m going with this.

Last night we were at a bar, where again he reiterated his confusion about my interest in all things Twi, claiming it’s for teenage girls (sha!) and that it didn’t make any sense for me to like it as much as I do. A few minutes later, this girl with tats and a black hoodie and skinny jeans (you know, very KStew) came up to talk to him. Evidently her fiance is the lead singer of a local metal band, so they chatted about stuff for a few minutes and I sat there feeling very prissy and out of place in my dress and boots, thinking that this girl must think I’m a total ahole or something. But then, she turned to face me and I saw it. On the bottom of her hoodie….a Twilight pin.

I almost squealed! But composed myself and said, “I like your pin.” To which she responded, “no, wait.” and unzipped her hoodie to reveal AN EDWARD T-SHIRT!!!!

Said guy was more than shocked. He was flumoxed. He was flabbergasted. The girl and I talked Twilight as he sat in disbelief. (PS her fiance’s name is Jacob and she’s Team Edward….oh the irony!) I told her that he was taking me to a metal show and that I fully intended to wear my Team Edward shirt to be sure I didn’t lose my identity. She said she was going to be at the show too and would wear hers as well.

She walked back to her table, leaving me and my completely disgusted date at our table. I was so giddy about the exchange I couldn’t stop giggling. Then she came back over and put a pin with Edward and Bella down on the table and said she wanted me to have it. I immediately put it on my dress and all was right with the world.

It just goes to show, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Unless that cover has a pair of hands holding an apple on it.

Twi-Bored….

(SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read Breaking Dawn yet, don’t read this post.)

Is anyone else feeling totally Twi-bored? Seriously. This lag time between New Moon and Eclipse is a killer. Sure, we have the DVD to look forward to (in March? Please?), but outside of that, all we have is a slew of rumors about the future of Breaking Dawn.

Here’s our deal on Breaking Dawn: Why does it have to be so darn tough? Firstly, make it into two movies. Come on. If you can end New Moon with the up-in-the-air (no Anna Kendrick pun intended) moment, let me paint you a picture of the final scene in Breaking Dawn I: Bella goes into labor, we use camera angles to avoid the necessity of some kind of creepy horror movie baby coming out of her body. (We know KStew is awesome at the screaming in agony thing, let’s play it up. Give the gal her time to shine!) This allows the producers time to include the honeymoon (see next paragraph), the pregnancy and Jacob’s side of the story all in one convenient 2 hour and 20 minute package. Easy peasy.

As for the honeymoon. We’re gonna go ahead and call in a favor from Summit right now. We figure they owe us for all the money we’ve put in their pockets. (Not to mention the great ideas!) Please make Breaking Dawn I and II rated-R. We know what you’re thinking: but what about the tweens? Know what we say? Screw the tweens! They’ll sneak in! That’s what they like to do anyway! We need some seriously hot and heavy pillow-biting scenes. Not to mention, the vampire sex scene in what will become Breaking Dawn II. Don’t you DARE take that from me. DON’T. YOU. DARE. Seriously, it needs to be full-on hot and heavy vampire sex. And if it’s not, I’ll throw my shoe. Seriously. I will. Maybe both.

The final scene of the film will be Edward injecting the venom into Bella’s lifeless body and looking exhausted and frightened. Maybe we close on the sound of a crying baby. (I’m pretty good at this, huh? I was a film major.)

We open Breaking Dawn II as Bella is waking up and seeing the world as a vampire for the first time. This also gives us additional time to work out the CG nightmare that is Nessie. How would I handle Nessie? Glad you asked.

In the beginning, we get cute babies/toddlers (think Olsens, but cuter) to play baby Nessie. All the child has to know how to do is put her hand on people’s faces. That’s way easier than what they do with those talking babies on the E*Trade commercials! Then, as Nessie gets older, hire a precocious 6- or 7-year-old to play her. It’s been done. Look at Dakota Fanning…how do you think she got her start? (Note to producers: do NOT cast Noah Cyrus. I will not allow a Cyrus to ruin the franchise.) No crazy CG necessary. Just a little bit of movie magic and camera trickery. And if you do need CG, hire the guys who did the E*Trade commercials. Or the Evian ads with the skating babies!

All of this back and forth with will they or won’t they be able to make the film, one movie, two movies, blah blah blah…it’s unnecessary. And it’s taking time away from what I really want to be doing: repeatedly playing the New Moon Drinking Game, analyzing any and all possible Robsten sightings (PS did you guys see THIS?? I can’t imagine it’s anything other than a real-life Robsten sighting! Look at her hair!!), and counting down the days ’till Eclipse.

Ok, Summit, there you have it. Problems solved. Get to work. I don’t want this kind of lag time between Eclipse and BDI (and seriously, how awesome does that look on a poster?). Oh, and BTW, you’re welcome.

Now She’s Just Messing With Us…

So you know the Bracelet-gate theory, Twi-hards: After their alleged rendezvous-es (most notably post Twi-Conn), KStew and RPattz like to swap this black bracelet. (If that’s what they’re really doing, we gotta say it’s kinda LAME!) Anyhoo, we have thought from the beginning they were doing it to mess with the press (and the devoted Robsten supporters), and now we think we were right all along. To make it even more frustrating for us playing along at home, KStew rocked about a thousand of the darn things last night at the Teen Choice Awards. Touche, Stewart. Touche.

 

Wonder where Rob was hiding his last night. Hehehe.

More on our TCA thoughts later. It’s a busy day at the ATWIM offices! Working on some drinking game quotes…keep your fingers crossed!!

What’s up, Doc?

Soooooooo, we don’t know if you heard, but yesterday was kind of a big deal for Co-Creator A. Sure, sure, it started like any other day, meeting M for java and “work” at the coffee shop. Ignoring photos from the “Remember Me” set (we just can’t get behind the hype for that one). You know…the usual. Then, the phone rang and the voice on the other line said A might have a shot at a celebrity interview before her official coverage of the Twilight Convention in Atlanta next week (and by official we mean for an actual publication. And us. Natch.) The voice on the other end said she wasn’t sure who…Peter someone. The entire neighborhood probably heard A’s response: “FACINELLI?????!!!!!”

When going through the possibilities for interviews, he’d been the last we thought to agree. Afterall, an independent newspaper with a circulation of 80k certainly doesn’t compare to People Magazine or US Weekly. We figured we’d get that creepy Solomon Trimble who seems to think he played Sam Uley. Silly boy. 

But no, it was confirmed. It was to be Peter Facinelli! Carlisle Cullen himself would be calling A at home for a chat! The shakes set in. As did the heart palpitations. And the yelling (sorry, fellow coffee drinkers).

Knowing a celebrity is going to call your house, but not knowing at what time, is a nerve-jarring thing. Not wanting to answer a call “Carlisle, is that you??” and startle a telemarketer, A alerted everyone she knew NOT to call her land line for the duration of the afternoon. Then, at exactly 4:04 EST the call came in. His agent was on the line asking if he could patch A through to “Peter.” Yeah, no big.

(I wouldn’t admit this to many, what with being a seasoned journalist and all, but while his agent was figuring out just how to patch P-Fac in, I totally grabbed a bottle of vodka and took a giant swig. I was hoping it would cure my shakes.)

We will post the transcript of the conversation as soon as we know what the paper is using and what we can run. In the meantime, we’re going to revolutionize the Internet by posting THE SAME THING ON TWO SITES! Intrigued? Well you should be. You see, the one question A knew she would have to ask P-Fac was for a little help on our patented ATM Twilight Drinking Game. And he was very willing to help. Stay tuned…

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Guess who we’re talking to on the phone today?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

Calling Dr. Cullen, Calling Dr. Cullen...

Trash Talking

As many of you already know, a woman in St. Louis recently found the scripts to New Moon and Eclipse in a dumpster. (What said woman was doing rooting through the trash, we’re not entirely sure.) Anyhoo, she reportedly wrestled with the idea of sending them to a tabloid (and making zillions of bucks, no doubt), but decided to send the scripts back to Summit Entertainment, which will not confirm nor deny if the scripts are authentic until the films are released. To thank her for her honesty, Summit is sending her to the premieres of the films. LUCKY, JERK!!

This got us thinking: maybe it would pay off to start scouring dumpsters ourselves. We live in a town with a decent amount of location shooting (Ashton Kutcher’s here this month), so maybe we would luck into some Twi-swag ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a script, it could be a used Rosalie wig or one of the sticks K-Stew keeps up her rear end (BURN, Stewart!!)

Ok, that was gross, but let’s be honest: we’d spend a week up to our eyeballs in last week’s coffee grinds in exchange for a night on the red carpet with RPattz and Taylor Lautner!

(PS shouldn’t he have his own nickname at this point? We now dub him Tay-La! Feel free to help us start that trend!)

Twi-entology

We’ll be the first to admit it: We’ve been known to give Tom Cruise a pretty hard time.  And while we can’t deny the fact that the guy is kookier and creepier than the Adams Family, we find ourselves in a bit of a proverbial pickle. You see, dear reader(s), we realized today that Tom Cruise is just like us. And not in the stars are just like us kind of way (we’re pretty sure he didn’t have to wait in line to ride Small World when he took the fam to Disney last week. Though Connor probably did.). No dear ATM reader(s), Tom Cruise is just like us (and dare we say just like you) because he too is obsessed with a book written by a devout religious figure.

Today, as many of you may know (Co-Creator M sure did) is L. Ron Hubbard’s (founder of Scientology, duh!) birthday. Sure the dude’s dead, but Scientologists all over the world are celebrating by continuing to avoid antidepressants and preaching the good word of Xenu everywhere they go. (Jada and Will, you can’t deny your involvement once you’ve inflated that L. Ron Hubbard bounce house in the back yard for the kids. Jayden, no bouncing til L. Ron’s head is completely full of air! Don’t make daddy go all Independence Day on you!) While normally we would mock this fact, we’ve come to realize there are many similarities between those who subscribe to the good book that is Dianetics and those who subscribe to the even better book that is Twilight (written by Mormon-at-large Stephenie Meyer).

Think about it, it’s pretty uncanny! Tom Cruise preaches Scientology every chance he gets. Meanwhile, Co-Creator A accosted a man carrying a copy of Eclipse at the dog park yesterday and preached Team Edward to him for thirty minutes. Tom Cruise went on The Today Show to denounce Brooke Shields’ use of anti-depressants when she suffered postpartum depression after the birth of her first child. We’ve made many a Flip camera video about why people who don’t read the series are glib. Tom Cruise doesn’t leave the house without a Scientology teacher by his side. We don’t leave the house without wishing that Edward was walking along beside us! Not to mention our camps are forever linked by one small thing: Dakota Fanning. After starring in War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise, he gifted her an iPod and her first cellphone. Now, the pint-sized pixie is set to play Jane, a member of the Volturi, in the movies!

We share so much with Mr. Cruise that from now on, we promise to be nicer to him. We take back all of the jive talking and the nay-saying and we will officially adhere to a peace treaty—just as the wolves and the Cullens do—and refrain from making fun of his beliefs.