A Very Kiwi Christmas

Merry Christmas twitards!

On this occasion I thought it appropriate to show you my Christmas, kiwi style. I've had two winter Christmases in my life, both in the north of England, one of which was white - and magical. Although I've grown up with summer Christmases, I must say it felt 'right' to have Christmas in winter, all the traditions I'd had growing up just seemed to 'fit'. Nonetheless, I love a good kiwi summer Christmas and I'm gonna try and recreate it as best I can for you now.

Firstly, picture this. It's warm (about 25oC today, which is about 77oF, I believe). We're wearing shorts, t-shirts and jandals (I know, you call them flip flops or thongs) and just about melting running around the shops and sorting out last minute presents and groceries. We finish work on Christmas Eve eve, and start the long, hot car journey down to Mum & Dad's place. Usually it takes about 2.5 hours, this time it takes almost an hour longer thanks to heavy Christmas traffic. The A/C is blasting, as is the Eclipse soundtrack.



I live in Auckland. My parents live in Tauranga. It's about 220km.

We pull into their suburb and are greeted by this sign. Who wouldn't feel at home?

Hmm, the sun was shining in my eyes when I took this.

Mum's had the decorations up for a while now, so we're greeted by this:

Come on in!

This is the view as we arrive at 6.30pm. I never get tired of it.
 

Mt Mauganui and Tauranga harbour

 Inside, the tree is up and this year, for the first time, it's raised up on the coffee table, so that Caesar doesn't eat the decorations. Or, the presents. We've learned this from experience. He's only 11 months old.

Tomorrow, Christmas morning, we'll have a leisurely breakfast that'll probably involve pastries and bacon, with all the trimmings, before sitting down to open presents, with glasses of champagne & strawberries.

If the weather's fine, we'll mostly likely move the dining table under the tree for some decent shade, and have lunch out there. Lunch usually consists of cold ham (or turkey) and salads, and (of course) lasts all afternoon. There's nothing different about that particular tradition.

Hoping for fine weather tomorrow - it quite often rains. J/S.

Early evening, when we're so stuffed we're uncomfortable, there's usually a vote. Half of us tend to go to sleep, the other half (and the dog) will go for a walk. You can probably guess which half I'm usually in, especially now that a 'nap' usually involves reading fic on my phone...

The walk will probably involve the beach. I went down there this morning to take some shots for this post - unfortunately it was overcast. Just picture this, with blue skies:

Mt Maunganui beach

And that's about as energentic as Christmas is around here. There are massive sales on Boxing Day, so if we've recovered from Christmas, we'll likely hit the shops with the other kazillion people trying to spend their vouchers. Refer to my earlier comment about the intense heat and stress of shopping at this time of year.

Just as a bonus (because it's pretty) this is a view from a rest stop on the road back to Auckland. I can't help but stop and take it in, it's so lovely.

Waikato plains from the Kaimai Hill Rd

So, there you have it. Your (probably) first kiwi Christmas. Did you enjoy yourselves?

It wouldn't be a proper TwiKiwi post without some mention of something Twi-lated. I stole this via a google image search and I am still wiping the drool from my keyboard. RC+S, people.

Let me take a wee moment to get a little sentimental. Thank you all SO FUCKING MUCH for everything you do for me. I laugh out loud on a daily basis at some of the conversations we have on twitter, I drool over Robp0rn that you feed me (she said that) and mostly, I just really really appreciate the amazing women I've met down this rabbit hole - more than you can know.

I still hold out hope that a FOOOOORRKKSS trip just MIGHT happen during the month-ish that I'm in the USA next year - AUGUST, please! - but hey, even if not, I hope to meet as many of you as possible. It's time for some hardcore trip planning, methinks. But hey, I've got a Christmas to get through first. It's pretty stressful, you see.

Have an absolutely amazing Christmas ladies - eat, drink, be merry, and most importantly........Be Safe. ILYSFM.

Oh Cullen jarmies, how I want thee!

Ok so hopefully now you must know that I_heart_Fifty (IhF) and I live in New Zealand, Godzone, the land of the long white cloud, that place where The Lord of the Rings was filmed, Aotearoa.... And while I love it here, we are miles away from everything and everyone else. It's true, we did get the Eclipse DVD 4 days before the rest of the world, but when it comes to Twilight that is our only claim to fame. We had to wait ages for the DVD release of New Moon, it was so hard not to be a total spoiler h00r and ruin all the excitement around it.


As you know from my last post, IhF and I are permanently on the lookout for OKP. While my twidar is permanently switched on, it does get tricky if OKP are actually OKP and don't publicly show their love for all things Twilight.

In fact I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that those who wear obvious Twi merch out in public might actually not be OKP....... *audible gasps*............. yes, yes I said it.

I actually own very little merchandise, in fact the only thing I own was a 30th birthday present from IhF, it is an apple charm for my Pandora bracelet and I love it, understated yet to someone in the know - it is perfect for me.


While I am not one to have my bedroom decked out in an Edward duvet cover…


...or wear a replica of Bella's ring (which in my opinion is truly hideous), I would seriously LOVE some Cullen jarmies. Not sure how my husband would feel about them but i guess i can keep them for post-nightshift sleeps, or if push comes to shove, I can always just distract him with sex!!


We don't have Hot Topic here, which from what I can tell is the mecca of all Twilight merch. You could buy Cullen jarmies online when they actually were for sale - but sadly they don’t ship internationally and by the time I pay for shipping and take the exchange rate into account, not gonna happen.

I mean, I want some Cullen jarmies badly, but not badly enough to pay $130 for them.


I did see some Cullen crest socks at the Eclipse midnight screening triple feature premiere - maybe they will have to do.

So, how much Twi-merch do you have??

Note from I_heart_Fifty:
I recently became the proud guardian of Kiwi-Ed. I’ve been wanting him to make his debut on the blog for a while now, but he’s a fussy bastard and refuses to be photographed or interviewed until I buy him a new outfit. There’s a specific shirt he has in mind and we’ve not been able to find it in the shops. So, until then, this pic is the best I can do.


I’ve been fortunate to receive loads of tips from LivingwEdward about how to manage delinquent mini-E’s, for which I am extremely grateful!

You're kidding me, right?

Note: Before I start I need to preface this post with a disclaimer. If anyone reading this has a large, not-coverable, Twilight-related tattoo, please don't take offense. I'm simply making an observation, here.

So, I recently read TexasKatherine's kick arse post at Twitarded about bad Twilight art.... and, it got me thinking. There's some fuckawful Twilight tattoos out there.

Now, I'm not anti-tatt (ooh I just had a fangirl moment thinking about Tattward and Inkella in CW&IA...) by any means. I don't have ink myself, but would very much like something, some day. I'm keen on subtle, able to be hidden, tatts with personal meaning.

I love Twilight as much as the next fangirl, but I don't think I would EVER go to the extend that some of the following people have. Good on you if you have, each to their own and all that, I just realise that one day, for me, this bubble's gonna burst and I'm not sure I want permanent, extensive (&expensive) leftovers!

I am in a position where I employ people. First impressions are important, people. I will notice an obvious tatt, piercing scar (especially on lips or eyebrows) and it will make a difference of what I think of you, in a professional capacity.

You've possibly seen these before, indulge me in our shared horror!

Firstly, we have back/chest 'art':

Let's hope your significant other is cool with your obsession, or methinks you'll be forever *ahem* missionary styles. J/S.

So, she doesn't want to wear tank tops? Or, she lives in the North Pole. Hey, I'm allowed an opinion.

Then, we have limbs:

I have no words for this one, except I hope you're a KStew fan.

Wowsers, that's a large crest you've got there.

Now, I've always thought I'd like a 'Be Safe' momento. But probably on a keyring or on my wall, not my wrist.

Then there's the downright ugly:

Shiver. I've heard of being a cutter, but displaying your intentions to the world? No thanks.

Now, it might just be me, but if I was gonna get a sleeve, I'd make sure that the Edward I chose actually resembled Rob. Just a tiny bit.

And last but not least, there's this diehard fan who got Rob's autograph tattooed. I know we all talk about how much we lust after him, wanna have his babies, yadda yadda... but would you do this? Seriously? For the rest of your life? Wowsers.

So, do you have a Twilight tatt? Details in the comments please! (and please, refer to the disclaimer above!)

Are you OKP?

Hi all! Long time no see!

I grew up in a small town. And by small, I mean 1200 people small. If you come from a small town you will know that this does not really produce any amount of openmindness. The town where I grew up is 40km from the nearest big city, and really only exists because of the ability to grow good grapes for wine and other fruit for export, plus a very large number of cows for milking. Yep I grew up surrounded by farmers but that's not really what I'm here to tell you about...

Due to the large range of seasonal work in the area in prime picking season, we would have loads of travellers coming through, looking to make a bit of extra money. This is how my sister and I picked up our favourite phrase. No, not from the (usually foreign) workers but from my grandmother. God bless her, she is - to put it bluntly - a racist. It was not uncommon for us to hear in our childhood that "they're not our kind of people....." always said in a loud whisper, with an accompanying hand gesture.

As we got older my sister and I would jokingly apply it to people we met in our lives. "Oh, you aren't going to the A&P show? Not our kind of people." "You can't make biscuits from scratch? Oh, not our kind of people." Just lately it has crept into my work life too. "Who's working in the room next door to you? Oh, Stef, she's our kinda people."

When I_heart_Fifty and I first became ensnared in the twitrap, I must admit out twidar (like gaydar but for twitards) was a little rocky. We would sometimes think we had found a fellow twitard, only to be bitterly disappointed. We needed to know - were they as into this as we were?

The question we needed answered was - were they our kind of people??

Just because someone had read the books, didn't mean they had a love. Just because they loved the books didn't mean they liked to oggle paparazzi shots of Rob. Just because they liked to drool over Rob, didn't mean they were into blogs or fanfic. We needed to know if they were as far down this rabbit hole as we were.

I_heart_Fifty and I frequently tell each other about newbies we have embraced into the fold and the first question out of our mouths is always "are they OKP?" The answer is usually "yes, but not into fanfic" or "yes, but not into blogs."

I work with a few girls who are into Twilight in a big way. We went to the midnight screenings together, we counted down the days 'til Eclipse came out on DVD, and we frequently email each other hot pics of Rob to get us through the night shifts - but are they are not really all the way OKP.

I have only told two of them I write fic, and the same two have read this blog but I just don't think the rest would understand...

[Note from I_heart_Fifty: watch this space. I think we have ensnared an OKP who may become a TwiKiwi contributor! Squee! She is reading this right now, thinking - oh shit, what have I gotten myself in for... tee hee hee]

he he how some people feel about fan fic....

The question I ask you is - are you our kinda people?

My Eclipse review part 2 - Behind the scenes doco

03/12/2010 - UPDATE: This post was just pimped on TWITARDED. Like, my whole reason for even being in Twi-land. The holy grail of Twi-blogs. I am currently on my knees (not like that, durrrty girls) kissing LatchkeyWife's feet. If you're here because of her post, PLEASE leave a comment and let me know! Thanks!

Me again! Two posts in two days.... aren't you lucky! I apologise in advance for how epic-ly long this post is, BTW. (and, if you haven't read the first one, click here.)

So, today I watched the six part Eclipse behind the scenes documentary - eighty-three minutes of awesomeness. I had to watch it twice, just to be able to bring you this post. I'm sure you'll appreciate the sacrifice I made for you. I wasn't gonna write a whole post about this but as I tweeted all the new fun things I learned, I realised I best consolidate yesterday's offering.

This post should be subtitiled "David Slade is a fucking genious."

 Naturally, there are spoilers ahead...

1. Introducing David Slade
This man is a fucking adorkable inspirational piece of awesomeness. For real. It's evident through all six parts of the doco that he kept the fans' interest and expectations at heart, and I personally think he delivered. Let's just leave the wig *issue* out of this, for now. 

2. Pre-production: Setting the stage
Actors' fight training FTMFW! Loved watching them with their aerobics classes, choreographed right hooks and karate kicks, etc. JRath and PFach look the cutest, I reckon - and of course there's hobo Rob (natch) who wears a beanie when working out. Sweaty much, Rob? Especially when he's running on the giant 'hamster wheel' in a full body harness. And boy, can these guys move! Kellan explains how hard it is to run as fast as you can without appearing to be breathless, given that vamps don't need to breathe. Tricky!

Then, we fast forward past some house building, mountain top setting etc... to the next interesting bit. The ring. The fugly bloody ring. SMeyer is interviewed, saying how it needed to be 'just so' and they show the two previous prototypes, which I thought were SO much nicer than the end product! Which, BTW, is 14ct gold with cubic zirconias.

3. The heart of Eclipse
So this is all about Bella and Edward and how they got this far. First we get a bit of a recap of Twilight and New Moon. Then SMeyer & MRose go on and on about Bella's choice, yadda yadda... to cut to the chase, this is the bit where Kristen and Rob are interviewed! Squee! Fairly similar to stuff we've seen them do in press junkets, nothing earth shattering. A couple of minutes in, Rob's velvety voice just melted me, FTR. Who even knows what he was talking about. Emotions for Bella and shit... While he's being inteviewed he has the shirt and tie from graduation on.... hawt. Oh yeah, sorry, about the doco... There's also some interesting stuff about Jasper and Rosalie's backstories.

4. The dark side of Eclipse
All about Victoria, Riley and the newborns. I learnt a fair bit about David Slade in this bit too, and how much his ideas influenced the outcome of the film and how closely he worked with SMeyer. Most interesting bit is BDH's idea to put on a 'little-girl voice' for Victoria. Nice. I love getting a chance to hear the actors with their real accents and (apart from Rob, of course) the greatest example is Xavier, with his Aussie accent, I have so much respect for how they put on different accents for characters.

5. Lights, camera, action
David Slade starts this section by talking about how epic Eclipse is and how it was a massive challenge. He describes lots of the themes, technicalities of colours, etc. We then progress through the film in chronological order with a few tidbits here and there. Highlights: the newborns all wore wetsuits under their clothes to try and keep warm when they were wet. But it failed, they were freezing. Kristen says that she and Rob laugh more in the serious scenes that when they're supposed to be 'light and funny'. Wyck reckons R&K are so comfortable in their characters now that they just 'zip on their Bella & Edward suits'. Ahh, yeah, that could be it. But I have a better idea about why they have such good 'rapport'...

Duing this whole section of the doco it keeps flicking on to 'Taylor time' a segment during which we see Taytay doing various random shit such as throwing a football, and randomly having David's assistant throw grapes into his mouth from a distance. On more than one occasion. Ohhkay. Cos that was neccesary. These guys must get REAL bored onset.

I didn't say he wasn't talented.

Then we move to the wolfpack at the scene at Emily's. Bronson was eating a piece of chicken, and for consistency, had to keep that piece of chicken for 25 takes. He knew it was his fault for choosing to eat chicken in the shot, but ended up being sick from too much. Ewww. Then there's some shit about the Volturi blah, blah, blah. Oh, and the next interesting thing. Taylor carried Kristen, for real, in that whole scene in the woods. ALL DAY. That deserves some credit. There was supposed to be some fancy seat thingy for her but it 'didn't look natural enough'. Poor guy!

Fast forward to the mountain top scene and we see some stuff about the winches and hoists for the fight. It's really well done and quite interesting. Quote of the whole doco, BDH: "Just had my neck bitten off by Edward Cullen. Sad day for Victoria, wonderful moment for Bryce Dallas Howard, with Robert Pattinson's lips on my neck... umm, I'm married." Brilliant. Lucky bitch.

6. Post-production: leaps in technology
This section goes over all the CGI, and fancy imagery shit. Interesting, but the bit I liked the most was how they did the 'magic carpet' running in the ravine scene, and also the fights. The highlight of the whole documentary, however, is 75 minutes in to the doco (if you 'play all') here we have.... Dancing Rob! He's off camera while the Cullens are fight training and he's goofing off with Kellan. Hawt. Had to watch that a couple of times...

Source

Not too long to go now before you all get your grubby little hands on your copy of the DVD... enjoy!

My Eclipse DVD extras review. Squee!

*SPOILERS* - natch, cos I'm a Spoiler h00r. But, you knew that...

03/12/2010 - UPDATE: This post was just pimped on TWITARDED. Like, my whole reason for even being in Twi-land. The holy grail of Twi-blogs. I am currently on my knees (not like that, durrrty girls) kissing LatchkeyWife's feet. If you're here because of her post, PLEASE leave a comment and let me know! Thanks!

So today was the day I've been waiting for for AGES. Like, months. Eclipse released!

Before I go on, I want to get it out of my system that for once, something Twilight happens in NZ before it does in the States. Please remember this has NEVER happened before. We don't have the cool merch, we don't have the twi-cons, the chances to even been in the same airspace as the stars etc, so let me have my moment in the sun here, peeps. I know you've all been sick of me tweeting about this, but hey, it's just this once...

I pre-ordered online some time ago, and I always get anything bought online delivered to my office, since I'm never home during the day. So I was waiting with baited breath when the courier arrived! Practically snatching the post from the receptionist's arms, I tore at the packaging. If only it wasn't 1 o'clock in the afternoon and a whole eight hours (I worked late today) before I could get home to fully appreciate the Precious.

I know you're all dying to hear my thoughts on the commentary, extended scenes etc. I've only watched once, with the importance of posting before bed tonight weighing heavily on my mind, but here goes nothin:

Commentary with Rob & Kristen:
Or, as Kristen says at one point... "The musings of R-Pattz in the commentary of Eclipse"

To clarify between their ramblings and mine, I've colour coded Rob's text in blue and Kristen's in purple.

Oh. My. God. Right from "I'm Robert Pattinson".. I was hooked. They played up some hilarious accents and talked smack the whole time. Right from "Xavier would make a wonderful hamburger" in the first scene, to Rob mocking a Southern accent in the meadow "You're gonna need that ring."

I've taken some quotes from the commentary and added my two cents worth. Hopefully this will give you an idea of some of the stuff they're on about and give you a taster for Friday when you can watch for yourselves.

"You do a different thing [different to Riley] when you get bitten by a vampire... and it's a LOT sexier."
Ahem... yep. We've seen the feathered hand, and we CAN. NOT. WAIT.

"What are you gonna look like when you turn into a vampire?"
"I'm gonna be really white... I'm gonna be...the best one!"
Hellz yeah you'll be a good vamp, but the BEST one, I'm gonna reserve judgement on that.

"That's a weird sideburn. I always have some kind of... follicle issue" 
Rob talks about his hair ALOT. Like, obsessively. Although, it is very nice hair. I can see his point.

This comment is followed by K discussing the fact that she feels she looks like Jacob in Twilight with her Eclipse wig on... whilst Rob compares it to Damien Marley!

Rob thinks the Jacob/Renesme imprint will be the best scene of Breaking Dawn. Really Rob, better than Isle Esme? I think I know a few people who may disagree with you there. 

"Why do you care if these two kids have sex?"
They get into a discussion about why it should bother the fans if Edward and Bella are bumpin' uglies or not, and Kristen gets REALLY deep. Seriously, love, it's fiction. And surely you know that everyone loves a lemon. Deal.

"I like that little bow in her hair"
What. The. Fuck. Surely I am not alone in hating on Alice's look at the party. Reminds me of the horror story that was Volterra Alice and the stripey grey tent. Ewww.

"Peter also uses his wig as a cereal bowl, it's completely solid"

This was fucking hilarious. They take the piss out of the wigs. ALOT. Although, strangely, they never talk about Jasper's, which I thought was weird.

Rob keeps referring to this movie being so full of kissing. So much kissing. He thinks he's a prude! Oh, no... bb. Pop into Twitardia, we can help you out with that shit. Maybe it's because he was self-conscious of talking about kissing Kristen... when we're all thinking what he's thinking. Or perhaps I'm overthinking. Gah.

During the bit when Jacob carries Bella through the forest, Rob does this hilarious impression laugh that sounds like Gargamel from the Smurfs, IMHO. Hilarious.

"I gotta hitch my leg and everything!" 
"The leg hitch scene? What are they talking about? Was it called that before the movie?"
You didn't know it was called the leg hitch scene? I really could educate you more on the series, Rob. In fact, hows about you come over to my place right now for a 'lesson'?

There is some heavy breathing and throat clearing between R&K during the leg hitch make out... followed by "let's see some of that chest hair". Nice line. They also discuss the fact that it's very awkward for them to watch and comment on the scene... oh really?

When Edward stops Bella taking her clothes off, you can tell that K really wanted to say something like "you cockblocking son of a bitch" but clearly had to watch her language. Then they lead into some deep 'power struggle' discussion... blah. It's about the smut guys, you know it.

During the 'Bella wipes her blood on the trees' scene, Rob goes off on this rant about this story reflecting real life, when "some little punk with no shirt gets all up in your business" and K just shoots him down. It's fucking hilarious. The boy can do a mean accent or two, fuck I'd love to see him to do stand up... and he does hate on Jacob a fair bit here, not that I'm complaining. You know my rule, no dogs allowed.

"I can kick his arse in two seconds. He's, like, the worst guy in the world."

Turns out Rob is a funny bastard, with the one liners:

"Kellan and the wolf, there's the sequel. that's gonna be a magical relationship."

"I don't need a six pack, or a wolf pack, just need my little wristband!" [referring to the cuff]

She giggles so much at things he says, it's so sweet and so fucking obvious these two are mad for each other. Talk about audio sexual chemistry. Good thing they were in separate places recording this, they may well have jumped each others' bones halfway through otherwise...

Did you know?

*Kristen filmed the whole 'third wife' sequence, complete with 'tan', and it was replaced. Rob never saw it and wishes he had.
*It was really hot in the tent scene, which made Kristen feel quite unwell as she was covered in so many layers for 'warmth'.
*The 'snow' on the mountain was made of slippery wet paper and they had to rearrange the choreography for the whole fight because everyone kept falling over.

Extended scenes:
There are six extended scenes - most, if not all of which have been floating about on the interweb. I've avoided them until now (!) but in my opinion, they were all cut in a good place, except 'We're creating an ahhhhmy' - Emmett has a rockin' line at the end of this one: "But, we're still gonna kick someone's arse, right?" LMAO. 

Deleted scenes:
There are two deleted scenes. One with Ange & Bella, talking about jealousy. Quite good, added some depth I think. The other is with Charlie & Bella after graduation - they did well to delete that one, IMHO.

I have yet to watch the six part making-of doco, but you can bet I'll be watching that sooner rather than later.

And... my Hunger Games boxed set arrived yesterday. It's a big ol' SQUEE fest around here right now. Good thing I've got a day off tomorrow to watch DVDs, lick my television, and read....

Hope you enjoyed my little round-up, and I look forward to hearing your impressions after Friday! xxx

UPDATE: You can find part two of my Eclipse review here.

P.S. I'm on a mission to get more blog followers. 31 of you amazing godesses already follow me, I'm hoping there are more lurkers! You know you want to follow too... go on... :)