The Twilight saga: the official guide pgs. 68-84

by: Stephanie Meyer

The section after Stephanie Meyer's interveiw is her interpretation of Vampires. She talks about why her vampires sparkle in the sun light. She also explains how, once transformed into a vampire, every imperfection that you may have had will completely disappear and be replaced with nothing, but complete beauty. She also talks about a vampire's supernatural abilities. In her world, all vampire's obtain the abilities of unnatural beauty, speed, and immortality, but only a few get "special" abilities. The vampire's that do get these excess abilities often get them because they were used quite often in their human lives. For example, Jasper can control people's emotions. This is because he was very caring and really cared about people's emotions when he was human.
  After she talks about her vampires characteristics, Meyer goes into detail about the Vampire history. Apparantly, the oldest vampire's are the Romanians. They ruled for a long time, until a trio known as the Volturi rose to power. They have been in power since 500 a.d. The Volturi have establised a sort of kingom, with themselves at the top (the Kings basically). To maintain order in the Vampire world, the Volturi came up a few laws that every vampire must follow. Thei biggest rule is to keep their existence a secret. The only other major law is that no vampire is to create an immortal child. This is because once transformed, you are stuck with that level of maturity.
  The last section in this "Vampire" section talks about what is a vampire Myth and what is true in Stephanie Meyer's world. According to Stephanie Meyer, the Volturi created the myths of burning in the sun, no reflection, sleep in coffins, etc.., to keep the humans from figuring out how similar real vampires are to humans (besides the blood-thirst and extreme beauty).

This section of the guide was very interesting to me because I have been interested in the Volturi's background ever since Edward mentioned them in the second book. It was cool to read that all of the myths that we have grown up hearing about vampires, are actually really myths (well, it's all just one big myth since Vampires aren't real, but I think you guys get what I mean) and that real vampires actually aren't all that different from humans.

Best Commercial Ever!

Oh my Goodness!...this commercial came on while I was watching Raising Hope last night. I think it is the best commercial ever!

Ipads, Laptops, and Wiis Oh my!

I think it is just ridiculous that nowadays people think that the only ways to have fun are if you're playing with the latest downloadable app for your ipod or smart phone. Don't get me wrong, I love technology; I go to my Facebook account almost everyday. I just look back to the good ole days when my family used to have "family Game night" and play our favorite board games after we finished dinner. Now our usual post dinner activities include: my dad checking up on his fantasy football stuff (it's not even football season!), I get the laptop so I can do my blogging for etymology while listening to my ipod, and my mom and two sisters either watch TV or wait until it's their turn for the computer.
  I don't think that all this technology is simply ruining family relationships, I think it also is ruining people's overall well being. I mean if you think about it...why is the obesity rate so high? It sure wasn't back in the 40's and earlier when kids actually had to go outside and play to enjoy life. I mean think about it, if you were given the option to go out and play soccer or sit inside and play Angry Birds on your ipod touch..Which would you choose?
  I think all of this new technology is great and really fun to use, but I think our nation would be a lot better off if these new inventions were used in moderation. Why waste your life away starting at a computer screen when you could be out in the world looking at life for real?

Here Comes the Bride...well, not yet

It's 4 in the morning on a day that is going to make history...and I get to watch (on my TV that is)! So far it's been pretty slow. Of the many channels that are showing this wedding, I have chosen to watch the Today shows channel and I am recording the coverage of the wedding on BBC.
 The main newscasters are spread out and located in various parts where the wedding will take place. Matt, Al, and Laura are outside Buckingham Palace, Michelle is outside the hotel where Catherine Middleton and her father will leave in a very fancy car and drive to Westminster Abbey, and
  The one thing on every one's mind is what will Catherine's dress look like? People everywhere are trying to guess just what her dress will look like. Some think she will wear something sweet and conservative while others think she will become a fashion icon and wear something more flashy and modern. Also, others wonder if Queen Elizabeth will offer to let Catherine wear a tiara, a lot of the women want Catherine to wear a tiara (I want her to wear a tiara!)
  Another thing that I've noticed is that everyone has seemed to stop calling Kate Middleton Kate. They all refer to her as Catherine now. I just thought it was interesting :) Now that she is about to become a princess, everyone has gotten so formal.

  Well, the ceremony starts at 6am so I am going to have to record most of it (stupid school), but I am so so excited! :D

This is West minister Abbey, the place that is holding hundreds
of guests awaiting the arrival of Prince William and then
princess to be Catherine

This is Buckingham palace, the place where Prince William and
Princess Kate will share their first public kiss as husband and
wife.

The Twilight Saga: the official guide pgs. 32-65

by: Stephanie Meyer

Stephanie's interview continues with her thoughts on how she handles readers and critics critisms. I learned from this that Stephanie is actually pretty self-concious about her writing and it pained her to know that there are people out there who do not like her series. She said that it really bothered her in the beginning, but as she wrote more of the novels she stated to accept that some people are just not going to like her books and that she can't impress everyone.
  Another major thing that was talked about in this interview was how Stephanie Meyer took themes and concepts from books that she loves and incorporated them into her own story...I guess they're kind of like allusions. Some of the specific books she used and talked about incude: Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, Merchant of Venice, and A Midsummer's Night Dream. It was really interesting to hear how these books inspired her and how hse hopes that her novels will inspire others. As she was talking she started talking about she kind of used the novel Jane Eyre in the Twilight Saga.
  Stephanie Meyer also discussed how much her life has changed since her books became a worldwide phenomenon. One thing that she found hard to do was how she had to create two different personalities. She said that there was Stephanie: the loving mother and wife, and then there was Stephanie Meyer: the author of these really popular books. The one who has to go to book signings and do interviews. She als says in the interview that in the beginning she had a pretty hard time balancing life and writing. She said that when her children were little she would put everyone in a room and the kids would play while she wrote, but they were all together so if anything happened she was there. One thing that Stephanie Meyer said she is grateful is the support that she gets from her kids, husband, and friends. She said that her kids know that if she's working on a novel they aren't allowed to bother her unless someone is bleeding.

Response:
I am learning so much about Stephanie Meyer as an author by reading this...I'm also learning a bit of information about writing novels. I want to be a published children's book author when I get older (along with being a teacher), and even though Meyer does chapter books for teenagers, the writing process is pretty much th same. I have been getting some great tips on how to write good things! :D

A Royal Wedding is only days away!

aren't they just the cutest?!?!

Yes, Prince William and his fiance Kate Middleton are getting married on Friday! A lot of you guys probably don't really care about what is about to happen in only two days, I mean they live in a whole different country, but I don't really care what you think, I'm excited!. I am so so so into weddings in general, but can you imagine how amazingly beautiful this ROYAL wedding is going to be!! I have been keeping up with the royal couple for a few weeks now, and I must say, I have learned a lot about the royal family and their history.
 The other day lifetime did a 5 part documentary that talked about how William and Kate's relationship went from college friends to the most talked about couple in the world. I did in fact watch his whole thing, it was so good :) Lifetime also made an original movie that was about how the pair met, became friends, and eventually fell in love. The actors that played both Kate and William did a great job of portraying the royal couple :D

   Be sure to DVR the wedding on Friday...it will be on like every major news channel and it starts at 4a.m!!!!

this is the trailer for the lifetime movie...check it out! I also suggest watching the movie (you can find it on lifetime.com...it's only like an hour and a half long)

Vote for Tales of a Bibliophile!

I voted for the blog Tales of a Bibliophile. http://123tidbit.blogspot.com/2011/04/neato.html <--- this link goes to one of her posts where she has a few really cool pictures. these pictures were both cute and gave me a good little laugh. I love the variety of each of this person's posts. Keep up the good Work!!