Thank you

As many of you will be aware, New Zealand has this week suffered one of the worst tragedies in our history. 29 brave men were confirmed perished yesterday in our country's worst mining disaster in 96 years, leading to today, 25 November, becoming officially a national day of mourning.

May they rest in peace.

Today also marks the Thanksgiving holiday for many of my friends in the United States. I don't know a lot about your history in relation to this day - in fact, I know little more than it involves eating large amounts of turkey - but what I do know, is that today I give thanks.

I give thanks for my family and friends. Due to this wonderful community of bloggers, tweeters and lurkers I have a lot more laughter in my life and I thank you for being there for me. I thank you for welcoming me into this crazy twi-world and I thank you for your hilarity on a daily basis.
I don't want to be all sappy in this post (although I fear it may be too late) but it's at times like this, when you see how easily dreams can be shattered and lives ripped apart, that you appreciate what you have in your life, and I don't think we stop to appreciate how lucky we are enough.

So today, as we fly our flag at half mast and stop to think about the 29 families who will never see their sons/fathers/husbands again, we give thanks.

I especially thank she who brings me ice cream in my hour of need and watches bad movies with me. You know who you are.

Addit: I just wrote an entire post without mentioning the precious. Naturally, I give thanks for him too. :)

Farewell, Emancipation Proclamation [no spoilers]

Calling all fan fic h00rs! You may or may not have heard of a lil' fic called Emancipation Proclamation, or EP for short...

In my humble opinion, EP is one of the best fics, ever. I've been heard to say it's my all time favourite, but I tend to whisper that incase Fifty is listening.

So, the final chapter and the epilogue just posted in the last few hours. I haven't read them yet, I'm about to... but first, I just wanted to ask you all a favour.

For all the EP fans out there - would anyone like to be involved in an EP review/tribute post? I'd like to post something that tells the overview of the story - clearly not the juicy deets - but just enough to encourage people who aren't too sure whether or not they really want to read EP.

Kharrizzmatik has done an incredible job with this story and I know there's a few people out there who aren't too sure about starting it due to some of the themes discussed.

I've had a few people say they're keen in previous post / comment conversations, but would love for you to let me know on this post if you're in or not. I'll work on something over the next few weeks, and get in touch with you for your help then.

Thanks so much!

Happy Birthday Tongue-Twied!

This is one of a series of blog posts today celebrating kiTT's birthday. Surprise!

kiTT - of Tongue-Twied fame - has been nothing but encouraging to me since I stumbled upon the bloggy world and decided to start TwiKiwi. So this is my little way of saying thank you and taking part in a fantastic group posting!

Feel free to play along... the game begins here, and ends at with a special surprise for TT!

Answer the Twilight Trivia question and if correct, you will receive a clue to guide you to the next question.

So TT, without further ado, here is your fourth question:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

oh, and here's something else for you:

Courtesy of Robzsinger

Oh my!

In case it's not obvious, *SPOLIERS AHEAD*

So, I've been a little out of the loop a in the last wee while. I've wondered what to put it down to... work stress, long early summer evenings pulling me outside, and other RL stuff... and I've decided the main reason I haven't spent hours on Blogger of late is because I've been far too busy.

I've been trawling... trawling the internet that is, for ALL THE NEW ROBP0RN in the world! Oh yes, I am going full steam ahead as a massive...

Oh yes I am. I wasn't around for Twilight (the movie), when I fell down the rabbit hole it was already out on DVD. I saw New Moon the day after it came out (blasphemy!) and was kinda ho-hum... it wasn't until the buildup to Eclipse that I got all twitchy-palmed. I was a fence sitter when it came to Eclipse spoilers, I couldn't decide how I felt. I didn't go all chastity-belt, but nor was I actively searching spoilers.

Well, all that's changed now! With another YEAR to wait - how will we cope? - I decided I'd go all out. I've seen everything from airport shots (you'll note by now that my 'I don't know about the paparrazzi shots' standpoint has gone well and truly out the window) to that sneaky Brazilian video from the TV crew who broke in to the Isle Esme house. I don't approve of that, FTR. There's a big difference between long lens cameras from far away to actually breaking in to a closed set.

So, here are my highlights from the last week or so. I would love to share some awesome Jumping Rob manips of my own here, but as my technical skills are severely lacking, I'll leave that to your imagination. I would seriously recommend you go here, though, they're fucking hilarious. Twitter has gone insane with Rob jumping all over the place these past few days. This is one of my faves:

Stolen from here.

Firstly, how amazing is the Isle Esme location! I still maintain they should have come to New Zealand, and since I never miss an opportunity to skite about our amazing country, please picture shirtless Rob jumping here:

Abel Tasman National Park

But seriously, on to the real scenery now. I am really happy with the styling etc... might save the deets for a future post. Let's just observe and enjoy, shall we.

I give a crapsten, BTW. And how hot is her dress!

Hello, biceps...

Breaking Dawn sex walk FTMFW

Umm, Kristen? Look out behind you! *thud*

*this pic removed on 22/01/2011 after I saw other blogs were fined for using images of R&K at the waterfall*

Here, take this tissue and wipe the drool from your keyboard. What's your favourite BD spoiler so far? Are you a Spoiler h00r too? Embrace it... you know you want to...

P.S. Feel free to borrow my Spoiler h00r avi above - spread the good word!

What pushes your buttons?

I've been in a shitty-arse mood the past few days. I'm fairly sure it's a premenstrual thing (even if not, the excess chocolate and wine consumption can't hurt, right?) and every time this happens, thanks to the gods of the fucking lunar calendar, I turn into someone you don't wanna mess with. Not quite werewolf styles, but you get the picture.

So this week I got to thinking about all the things that piss me off in the world of Twilight. Trust me, there are plenty. I'm about as a big a fan as you can be - seriously, I love the saga, and everything it's introduced me to. For goodness sake, without Stephenie, I wouldn't have discovered the Twitards, and wouldn't spend every spare waking second attached to Twitter and Blogger and FFn....

Anyhoo I digress. I get a little ranty, you see. So here are a few things, in no particular order, that piss me right off - from the books, movies, fan fiction... but mostly movies. You have been warned.

1. Lack of continuity in the hospital scene in Twilight. I know that as a health professional I may be quite specific about these things, but surely anyone with eyes could see the issues with Bella's oxygen tubing going up and down everytime the camera shot to her. Seriously, one minute they're in her eyes, next halfway down her cheek. Now I have a lot of respect for Catherine Hardwicke, after all, we have her to thank for casting the Precious, but surely she could have sorted out something so obvious!

Continuity. It's NOT overrated.

2. Jacob's height. So Sparkly Jul already vented her opinions on this topic in this post, but I have to agree with her. I appreciate Taylor is a good fit for the Jacob character, and good on him for getting in shape as he did, but he's supposed to be gigantic! Says Bella, "I threw my arms around him instinctively, wrapping them around his waist and pressing my face against his chest. He was so big, I felt like I was a child hugging a grown-up." 

Surely, if they can make Elijah Wood and his mates look like four foot hobbits, and Hagrid the giant can be, well, a giant, they coulda magically made Jacob a little taller....

Jesus Jake, did you shrink in the rain?

3. Before I move on to this next topic, please let me make it clear that I have the utmost respect for anyone who writes fan fiction. I haven't ever tried writing a lemon, but I can only assume it's a very challenging task. I would like to sincerely thank all of your amazing writers, BUT, please let me get this wee gripe out of the way first. 

At some point, in every piece of fan fiction I have read, Edward, in the heat of passion, does something with his hands that pisses me right off - and not just through pure jealousy. Now there are PLENTY of things he does with his hands that I am very very happy with *ahem* but that's not what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about the circles. He either 'traces patterns', 'rubs circles', or similar, almost every time. I'm so over it! I'd love some variety here people!

You'd be amazed what else I can do with these puppies...

4. Marcus's lack of appropriate footwear. In New Moon, when Edward stands before the Volturi, Marcus doesn't have any socks on and it drives me wild. And NOT in a hot way, in a 'put some fucking socks on you imbicile!' kind of way. The dude has had thousands of years to learn how to dress himself and yet, no socks. No socks is on a par for evil with guys who think it is acceptable to wear white socks with black shoes and black pants. Let's not get me started on that one... I'll save general non-Twilight rants for another day.

Just as well your feet are hidden in this still, Marcus.

To get back to the point, Marcus really grinds my gears. The Volturi are supposed to be intimidating and worldly. The only thing I'd be thinking if I were in Edward's position would be that I could give Marcus some serious fashion advice. Which brings me to my next point. Why does Alice say nothing? She of the fashionista persona? Oh wait, she's got enough to worry about wearing that fuck-awful stripey grey number. Ewww.

You deserve to be strangled for that outfit, IMHO.

So yep, some shit pisses me off. And I needed to get it off my chest.

What grinds your gears about twilife?