Okay, my brother insisted I watch this the other night & I have watched it multiple times now. I'm impressed by the trailer. Looks like it will be great! HJ looks very much the part (as always) but is also totally ripped! And could that be Dominic Monaghan in that fatsuit? I read that he's in the movie, but I don't see where. Check it out...again & again...here... 

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/wolverine-trailer.html

So at 5pm on Saturday we went to a friend's house whose girls go to school with Autumn & Willow. There were several families invited to bake cookies, watch Christmas cartoons & generally eat, drink & be merry. It was a lot of fun with about 10 wee ones making cookies & singing songs. The playroom is in the finished basement with split level, carpeted stairs, so the kids were up & down stairs all night. These stairs were a curiosity to Willow, who wanted to go up & down & up & down constantly.  In addition to me & Josh, the other parents were more than willing to play with Wil & bring her back & forth, too.

Well, just before 8pm Willow decided to go back up the stairs. One of our friends was guiding her, but she actually fell UP the stairs & caught her head just right on the corner of the wall. I heard the thud. I heard the scream. I dropped my egg nog & ran for the stairs. There was my friend, handing me Willow with blood dribbling down her forehead.

I shouted for Josh & ran her into the kitchen where I was suddenly surrounded but all the other parents (and even some kids). Everyone was so awesome & helpful. No one panicked (though Josh was looking a little green at one point before he understood what was going on.)  She had a pretty deep gash on the corner of her head above her right eye. It was gaping, so our friend (who was hosting the party) graciously drove Josh, Wil & me to the Urgent Care Center near his house. Autumn was happy to stay behind & play with the rest of the kids (and I was glad she didn't have to sit around waiting with us).

We were hoping that because of Willow's age & the type of gash that they would take us right in. But because she was so calm & the blood flow had all but stopped, they decided we could wait with all the other patients. They said it would be at least an hour. Ugh. Don't get me wrong, I'm SUPER THANKFUL that she didn't have a concussion, but it sucked to have to wait with the poor thing. Good thing she was so chill about it all. Josh ended up going back to our friend's place to make sure Autumn was okay & I told him I'd call him when we were ready to get picked up.

An hour & a half later, Willow had 3 stitches in her little forehead. She was a total trooper! I can't get over what a tough cookie she is. I was so very proud of her. She even thanked the doctor & said, "Thank you. I go home now. Bye-bye!" They gave her a ton of stickers & she was happy as a clam as we drove home.

So, it was an eventful Saturday night. Not at all how we thought it would turn out, but I find myself thankful to have such wonderful, supportive friends & beyond happy that Willow is okay. When she woke up this morning, she didn't even mention the "boo boo." She only wanted to know if we brought any cookies home.

WOOT!!!

Twilight Sucks in Fanggirls for $70.6 Mil Weekend

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Now that's buying power.

A female-dominated audience drove Twilight's opening weekend to among the biggest in Hollywood history: a $70.6 million Friday-Sunday gross, per studio estimate. 

"This is a game-changer. This is an industry-changing performance," Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock said today. "…With the success of Sex and the City, and Mamma Mia!, we've awoken a sleeping giant at the box office."

Exit polling showed 75 percent of Twilight's audience was female. Box-office stats show the movie is the biggest opener for a movie directed by a woman (Catherine Hardwicke).

The vampire romance also played well to the young—overall, 55 percent of ticketbuyers were under age 25.

More Twilight factoids, sequel news and other highlights from the weekend box office after the jump:

  • Going into the weekend, Twilight was expected to make, at best, a big $60 million. Where did the extra $10 million come from? Word of mouth, said Summit Entertainment distribution president Richie Fay, who talked of teen girls catching the Friday midnight screenings, and then deciding they had to see the movie again—and again. "It turned out they really liked the movie," Fay said.   • Of the top 30 openers of all-time, of which Twilight is now one, only seven cost less than $100 million to produce. And only one, The Passion of the Christ, cost less than the $35 million Twilight.   • If Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had opened Friday, which, as its fans can attest, it didn't, then Twilight would have opened in December, and, Bock thinks, it would've opened smaller. With Potter around, he said, Twilight "just wouldn't have had the opportunity to open on as many theaters."

  • Thanks to Twilight, Hugh Jackman's unbeloved Van Helsing is no longer the top-opening vampire movie of all-time, per the stats at Box Office Mojo.    • Twilight didn't just sell tickets; it sold tickets fast. At one point Friday, Fandango reported selling five Twilight tickets per second. (Fandango and E! Online are both owned by Comcast.)

  • So, when's the sequel opening? Fay said he guessed an official announcement, detailing a release date and principle players, could come this week. 

  • For movies that weren't on Team Edward, dethroned champ Quantum of Solace ($27.4 million) and the debuting Bolt ($27 million) did okay.   • On the upside, the latest James Bond is making money faster than the last James Bond, Casino Royale. Quantum's already made $109.5 million domestically.   • On the downside, the new Bond is fading faster than the last Bond. Casino Royale only fell off 25 percent in its second weekend compared to Quantum's nearly 60 percent plunge.    • Slumdog Millionaire is the one weekend movie that outdid Twilight. The India-set fantasy averaged an apparently weekend-best $31,063 at each of its 32 theaters. Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

  • Twilight, $70.6 million

  • Quantum of Solace, $27.4 milliion   • Bolt, $27 million

  • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, $16 million   • Role Models, $7.2 million   • Changeling, $2.6 million   • High School Musical 3: Senior Year, $2 million   • Zack and Miri Make a Porno, $1.7 million   • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, $1.67 million   • The Secret Life of Bees, $1.3 million (Originally published Nov. 23, 2008 at 9:28 a.m. PT)

David Carr, a writer for the NY Times, tried to describe the mayhem & excitability of the fans at the Twilight Tour in Philly a few nights ago. Judging by my own experience meeting Robert Pattinson in Boston on the 14th, I think he nailed it...

In collective pitch, frequency and volume the sound would make a shuttle launching seem demure, a Jack White guitar solo retiring, a jackhammer somehow soothing. To reach into history, it may have approached Beatles-at-Shea-Stadium loud, replete with the weeping, swooning and self-hugging, and only the ambient flutter of cellphone cameras and furious texting by way of modern update. All of it was arrayed over a mostly unknown British actor who plays a character in a movie that will not be released until Friday.

“What is with all the screaming?” Mr. Pattinson asked when he came out. He absently ran his hand through his hair. Pandemonium ensued. He tugged at his white T-shirt in response, ever so nervously. Oh, boy. Then he laughed good-naturedly at the absurdity of it all.

Robert was absolutely gracious, a bit shy & very friendly with each of us as we approached him in Hot Topic for a 12 second discussion & an autograph. We were constantly reminded that we weren't allowed to take pics or touch him & in the end, it didn't matter. When he spoke to me, I lost all train of thought. At first I was fine. I said "Hello" & started to ask how Boston was treating him when he looked at my chest & read "Geek is sexy!" and smirked at me. That was it. I was dazzled (as Bella would describe what Edward does when he speaks to her in Twilight). After that I just smiled & he asked how I was doing. I told him I was doing very well at the moment & thanked him. He handed me my poster, smiled & I walked over to Jen, where she was smiling & looking dazzled herself. (She at least spoke to him & made him laugh by telling him how we took a nap in the back of our cars so we were awake enough to see him!)

All & all, we sat for over 14 hours for our shirts & bracelets to meet him & then napped in our cars for 2 hours. We had lunch with a friend who lives in Peabody & then went back to the mall to await the magic 6:00 hour when we'd be taken indoors to meet Rob. It was absolutely worth it & I'd do it again in a second. To hang out with Jen, doing something so outrageous & fun was worth it alone. But the fact that we were both together & as giddy as 14 year olds meeting the man who brought Edward Cullen to life...just fantastic!! What more could a fan girl ask for? (Accept maybe having Robert declare "Geek is sexy!")

Gee, I wonder if she realizes this is exactly the kind of effect that her Twilight Saga has had on so many of us??

People often ask me for reading suggestions, and I'm always happy to share because books are exciting things to me. My latest excitement is this: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished, I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it. I've been recommending it to total strangers in Target. And now to everyone who reads my website. The Hunger Games is amazing.

--Stephenie Meyer

So about 45 minutes (or so) later, my tattoo was complete!

Here is the original art that I brought in. It's Autumn Elan & Willow Inara in Tolkien's Tengwar Sindarin (a form of elvish):


Here is the tattoo above my left ankle:

Autumn


Elan



The willow leaf in Fall colors to reprensent Autumn & Willow



Willow Inara



So, a big thank you to everyone for the b-day gifts that allowed me to get this awesome piece of art on my body! I couldn't be happier with the results!

Oh, and I found it pretty fitting that the tattoo is centered around my kids & I got it on Mother's Day. It's been a great weekend!

I'm super psyched to say that Josh, Doug U & I went to the theater this morning and saw IRON MAN!!

It was very good! Without giving a single thing away, I will say that it is very spiffy from start to finish. Snappy dialogue, good story, cool action. There isn't a minute in the movie that I didn't enjoy. I'd certainly go see it again.

Oh, and remember to stay after the credits, boys & girls!! ;-)

Yey! Joy gave birth on Earth Day to little Eowyn Lily! Lou did a great job supporting her & I am so grateful that they asked me to be there as their doula. She arrived at 5:27am & weighs 6lbs exactly. She is a beautiful little peanut with dark, fuzzy hair.

Joy did an amazing job! I can't wait to see them all again & to hold little Eowyn.

WOOT!!!!

As found here...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_en_mo/people_ian_mckellen

McKellen hopes for role in `Hobbit'

Top 5 Zombie Movies from Entertainment Weekly...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1119669505/bclid1219795788/bctid1453516593

I have to say that I agree with his first two picks. I absolutely LOVE Shaun of the Dead & Dawn of the Dead (Romero). Return of the Living Dead is cool, but I dunno about it being on the top 5 list. I supposed I'd have to watch it again. (It's been years.) I can't say enough how disappointed I was in the Dawn of the Dead remake though. Yes, fast moving zombies are wicked scary, but I hated the story. It wasn't Dawn of the Dead! It was completely different except for the fact that it took place in a mall.

Off the top of my head, if I had to name my Top 5 Zombie Movies (in no particular order), I think I'd choose...

1) Shaun of the Dead
2) Night of the Living Dead
3) Dawn of the Dead
4) Cemetery Man
5) Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

(You could argue that Evil Dead isn't a zombie movie, but it has undead in it & it is one of my favorite horror movies ever.) And for those of you who would say that I forgot Dead Alive, I'm actually embarassed to say that I haven't seen it. Poo-poo on me. I keep telling people I want to have a horror movie marathon, so let's add that to the list.