"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Politics is Perception

I put up the second banner after I heard Obama speak about the BP oil spill. It doesn't really matter in the political world what a leader does; it matters how he is perceived doing his job.

That's why the demagogues in politics spread lies fast, get them out in front, get them covered and spread even farther and then have their opponents play "clean up."

Knitting Friday - A Day Late
Yesterday, I worked on my newsletter. Every month, I think: I'm sooo bored with this. But then it comes together so fast and smoothly that I just trudge along. I'm waiting for a resident to say: Hey, Getting the newsletter out each month. That sounds like fun. I'd love to try it..... And I'm still shoveling the shit looking for the pony.

What a frustrating knitting week! Take a look at this shawl:


This shawl is part of my $50 spree at KnitPicks when I bought 1 skein of each color in their $1.99 lace. I've made two shawls as triangles with one skein each but my goal was to make a rectangular shawl knitted on the diagonal in only one skein (431 yards.)

This one is my first. It'll be about 58" x 18" and it's been a bear to knit.

Apparently, this simple lace pattern has "real" lace knitting in it. It's a pattern I've posted before: Row 1 and 2: stockinette st. Row 3 & 4: first row: *YO, K2tog*; second row: *YO, P2tog* (With the appropriate number of edge stitches.)

It's Row 3 and 4 which are the real lace knitting since there is no resting row (all K or P) separating them. Whoopee! That also means when you slip a stitch off the needle, it just heads south. I think for every 10 rows worked, I've pulled out two rows. This damn thing has taken forever.

But, in spite of the grousing, I really like the shawl. I'm using US 10.5 which is way too big for lace but it achieves a lovely, airy look and feel. Plus, no way was I going to get any usable size with typical lace-sized needles. I've been weighing the yarn so I would start the each side decreases section while I still have enough yarn left. It looks like I'll have more than enough (does the decrease section take less than the increase portion?) so I'll do some type of small edging.

As I'm typing and knitting, I'm also making the biggest mistake yet on this shawl. Somehow, I got the working yarn laced into the shawl itself. What a mess!

I have only about 25 stitches to bind off. At the rate I'm going, that should take a week.

I'll leave you with a picture of Miss M from last week. Remember, you're looking at a just 4 month old dog. No CGI here. This is going to be one big dog. And adorable!

Happy knitting.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Website Wednesday

Some good news: Miss M no longer wears the "cone of shame." Whether it was a false alarm or the antibiotics are kicking in, her butt problem (really butt appearance) seems to have disappeared and she is devoting all her spare time to growing at a phenomenal rate. At this point, she's pulling me down the stairs when she's leashed so that I have to grab the railing. That is one strong puppy!

Second good news: I think I have a handle on the article I'm writing on our new Property Manager. This assignment is a bear since she's brand new to the community so praise can come off as fulsome. If our President only wanted a straight news article - no problem; but he wants personal details so it's the dreaded news/feature article. Start the molasses machine!

My website picks are rather frivolous this Wednesday. It's going to be 92 degrees today (it's 78 already) and I'm thinking summer carefree:

http://www.scoutingny.com/

This blogger scouts NY: I work as a film location scout in New York City. My day is basically spent combing the streets for interesting and unique locations for feature films. In my travels, I often stumble across some pretty incredible sights, most of which go ignored daily by thousands of New Yorkers in too much of a rush to pay attention.

Take a look because she shows you some really neat locations and makes you think that perhaps you should be paying more attention during your travels. Plus, she's an interesting writer.

My second pick is all fluff and all girl (I think):

http://www.holidaymatinee.com/2010/05/10/one-girl-one-dress-one-year-and-infinite-reasons-why-this-project-is-great/

You probably have to be a girl (woman/female/whatever) to enjoy this project but the blogger took one dress and wore it for a year with different accessories. You get to see each day and you can stop the video to examine any of the 365 days for inspiration. This project was done for charity, which makes it even nicer.

Now, I'll admit this "one dress all year" has not been my quest (I'm more into getting the perfect outfit to wear to work so when you're told "There's a mandatory attendance fancy dress party right after work." your work clothes are capable of a presto, change-o into party wear. However, I really liked looking at all the outfits she managed to come up with and I thought: Imagine the permutations she would have with three basic dresses. No more clothes shopping ever!

After you're finished viewing the dresses, go to the main site:

http://www.holidaymatinee.com/

It's an active website which says: Holiday Matinee began in a bedroom and then outgrew it. It started in 1999 to get recognition for talented friends – musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, people doing cool stuff. Ten years later it’s a mission-driven company specializing in good design, creative consulting, a trendspotting blog and philanthropic efforts. Holiday Matinee’s formula is simple: we only partner with people, projects and revolutions we give a damn about. Then we go to work. (And we don’t sleep much).

You may get inspiration for your hidden muse here.

See you next Wednesday.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Movie Monday Postponed

On the left is Miss M about two weeks ago.

On the right is Miss M yesterday.

I think this is a geometry lesson because in the earlier picture she fits in three tiles and in the newer picture, she sprawls out over 5 tiles.

The excitement for the day is that she had an emergency visit to the vet last night with a possible prolapsed rectum - poor, poor puppy.

Right now, we're on a "wait and see" + antibiotics watch. She's wearing a neck cone right now (probably so she's doesn't do what comes natural to dogs - licking their asses.) I have a picture of her in the cone but while it's a .jpg and it copies, it won't paste. So just imagine an unhappy puppy wearing a neck cone. It slips on very easily and ties with a ribbon. However, when I put the cone back on after her meal I must have allowed the ribbon ends to hang down for I turned back and the ribbon was laying on the floor and the cone was still in place.

Apparently, dogs hate these cones. Whenever I was in the kitchen she would bang the collar against me. I finally just sat in a straight chair and massaged her head. She seemed to like this and her eyes started to close.

What we do for dogs! Oh, the vet weighed her; she's 26 pounds.

Right now, I'm pretty wiped out. Too wiped out to review two movies which were pretty much wipe-outs themselves.

I'll save them for next week. See you then.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Knitting Friday

OK, I totally missed Website Wednesday. You see, I had three nights out this week and Wednesday night included my hosting our annual New Year's Eve after-dinner dessert party. What?, you say, NYE in May! This started a year ago when the real December 31 festivities were postponed due to sickness. Then we started to think: Why do we have to celebrate NYE on NYE? That time of year can be very problematic in terms of weather. Plus, have you seen the jacked-up prices they charge for even an early dinner on NYE?

That's how a springtime celebration began and I think it's going to be our new NYE dinner out.

We're four couples so every four years you get your turn to host the dessert party (because restaurant desserts are always very pricey; not to mention the price of a cup of coffee.) I think this is the second time I pitched in when the scheduled party host had a problem so I think I've gotten to clean my place more than just once every four years - which isn't the bad thing. The bad thing is that my loft-type living means I have to clean the whole place.

Anyway, the good thing is that I was proven right: adults like a "make your own ice cream sundaes" bar. I got a lot of sophisticated turned up noses when I mentioned I was having one but it was the hit of the party. The cheesecake (The Cheesecake Factory makes an excellent frozen one), the chocolate-dipped cream puffs (excellent from Sam's Club; tiny, real cream, yummy - I added the chocolate) and the cookies were eaten; but the ice cream bar was devoured. Everyone made a sundae; even I.

So with the meetings, cleaning the house, the kids, I never got to Website Wednesday but I will give you a fun site to visit:

http://www.freegamesjungle.com/

I'm playing Skull Island. It's like an open space room escape game variation. I like the fact that "Help" brings you to "Walkthrough" although Skull Island is more convoluted than complicated.

Now, on to Knitting Friday. As you can imagine, I got very little knitting done this week. First, I had to clean and then I had to sleep. So my window for knitting was just before I fell asleep - a dangerous time for lace knitting. And that's what I seem to have been making this week. First, the Goddess Mystery Shawl on circs. That's coming along very nicely but you must be so careful. I'm not using a lifeline because I think that's a bear with circs. We'll see.

But my other lace project is worth a posting. Some time ago I spent $50 (the free shipping threshold) at Knitpicks on 26 skeins of different colored lace skeins. My objective was to take each 431 yard skeins and make shawls in all the colors. That project has been on the "drawing board" all this while because 1) 1 skein is not enough for a good sized shawl in crochet - even with an N hook and 2) a knitted shawl may work as an triangle,

http://simpleknits.blogspot.com/2007/08/296-triangle-shawl-patterns.html for great ideas

but I always seem to make mistakes with lace and small needles (except my Mystery Shawls); and I'm not wild about triangle shawls.

So, then I started a foulard, which is lace yarn on US 11:

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/knit_a_handy_scarf_with_case.php

and I'm tooling along in my garter stitch, liking the stretch, hating the garter stitch. Rip it. Rip it.

But this got me thinking: What about larger needles and a real lace pattern? I wasn't ready to start a complicated pattern so I'm working my old reliable:

Row 1 & 2: Stockinette stitch

Row 3 & 4: *YO, K2tog* - with the appropriate border stitches, of course.

I'm knitting diagonally for the stretch but you don't have to.

It's working well. I'm already past the increasing to width section and on the straight length section. Having only 1 skein and this being my first try, I probably stopped at too few stitches for the width (52) but this a learning curve.

Next week, I'll post the finished shawl; I hope.

Happy knitting.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Movie Monday: is taking a break this week because no new movies “grabbed” me

But this may interest you:

On Monday, April 19, 2010, Chris Christie, R-Gov of NJ, accused public school teachers of using their students as drug mules when the kids staged protests about his proposed school budget cuts.

On Friday, May 14, 2010, during hearings re: school vouchers in Trenton, news shows panned the crowd outside the State House supporting this measure. I’ve never seen so many Catholic school girls in their plaid skirts and Hasidic students in traditional garb in one place.

I’m just waiting for the Gov to address these kids, supporters of his policy and also absent from school, as drug mules. I’m sure it’s coming........Wait for it.....

While researching to be sure I had my facts right re: the dates of the drug mule comment by the Gov, I came across this site about NJ:

http://www.bluejersey.com/

Now, you probably know by just looking at my banner that I think this state (and country) is more interested in: lowering my property tax, income tax, and every damn tax I pay than in civil rights, the poor, good quality of life for all, etc, etc.

I read some of the bigoted, crass, uncaring comments to columns in The Record or The Star-Ledger and I cringe.

It can be discouraging but then I stumble across Blue Jersey and that old song phrase “And when I'm gone, there'll be one child born in this world to carry on” metaphorically takes on its most promising meaning.

There are people out there who care. There are people in NJ who care. Wow!

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Knitting Friday

First, you should take a look at this column in The Record (northern NJ newspaper):

http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/93656724_Democrats_can_blame_themselves_for_Christie.html

for the best explanation on how a blue state (NJ) elected a red Republican governor. The reasoning is rather shocking: Dem legislators were annoyed that the Dem incumbent candidate was not throwing them the patronage they wanted so they (wait for it) decided not be believe the Rep candidate meant what he was spouting and .......well read the column.

How can people be so stupid? Noam Chomsky takes up the same theme in an AlterNet column but I'll leave that for another day.

I have knitting pictures! First up is a summer cardigan which I have been knitting for a month, which in dog knitting years is a very long time for me.

This pattern is my old reliable: 2 rows of stockinette followed by1 row each of *YO, K2tog* and *YO, P2tog" The yarn is Luxor in 50% cotton and 50% acrylic. It's very soft and very splity. Also, the pattern is very, very stretchy since this picture looked like a toddler sweater laying on the table but it definitely fits an adult. The sleeves are about elbow length; finished in a row of crab stitch. The length is below the waist.

I'm planning to wear this in the summer over a sleeveless top. It should look airy and cool. Would I make it again? Yes. Use the same yarn? Maybe, with a smaller needle (I used US 6) or maybe only in crochet where the splits would be easier to fix.

My second picture is a throw away project (throw away in that I used Caron One Pounder - lousy yarn; but a keeper in that I need a house shawl - this place is cold.)

This is the pattern:

http://www.yarnmarket.com/generate/print_pattern.cfm?product_id=2271

This is the shawl so far:

I'm really confused about the shape of this baby. Am I making a square? Did I mess up royally at the beginning so that now I have a top and bottom point? Unfortunately, I can't get a picture of the top of the shawl from the site and the Ravelry link has no projects.

So, I'm using a N hook for the shawl proper and a P hook for double crochets along the neck and sides (not the bottom) edges. That way when I fold the top for a collar, it will be edged - not ruffled. If I have enough yarn, I'll work 3 dcs each stitch along the bottom with a P hook for a ruffle.

I think this will work with a shawl pin. (Edit: I tried it on. It looks good with the "collar" but I think I'm going to pick up the stitches along the bottom with US 13 or bigger needles and work the bottom ruffle in garter.)

Once this is done, I have to get ready for my needlework group on Monday. I think I've figured out how to work the top down shell in crochet and in a crocheted yoke and knitted body so I can have a lesson on that. More on this next Friday.

Happy knitting.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Website Wednesday

Some random wacky thoughts and a sort of segue:

Don't ask me why but last night I awakened in the middle of the night with the clocks flashing which means we had lost electricity. So as I'm going around setting clocks I started having these retail thoughts.

You see I live on the East Coast at a zip code which is apparently the retail star of the entire country! So with such a background I have never bought retail. That is sort of a religion around here. And you just don't buy on sale; you buy an item which has already been reduced with a discount coupon. Of course, that means you are shopping at the end of most seasons and can wind up with 80% off high-end items. Which is fantastic when you play the "Guess how much I paid" game with friends but no so fantastic since you can wind up buying some wacky colors and items. But I have been pretty lucky since I stick with basic black under the wackiness.

So here I am in the middle of night, having these crazy retail thoughts when I get this epiphany: Maybe I should pay retail.
Well, I don't mean full retail but like retail at its first reduction of say 20% and not wait for the final reductions and the dregs.

I may try this and I'll let you know how it works. And don't laugh about these late night musings, Stephanie Meyers got her idea for Twilight from a dream. Just think how much better written those books might have been if the idea came to her while she was fixing the clocks at night.

Which will segue me into my Website Wednesday pick:

http://applesparkles.wikia.com/wiki/Frozen_Apples

I'm really cheating this Wednesday because this is funny site but it's also about movies. So I'm really pulling a Movie Monday on a Website Wednesday. But it's worth it.

I can't find an "About" on this site but I think this is the entertainment section of Wikipedia. If you click on the top left "Wikia Entertainment" you'll get sent to other movie entertainment sites, seemingly sites praising the movie.

However, with Frozen Apples you get an anti-Twilight site that's funny. No nuclear physics here, just good jabs at poorly written books turned into hugely successful (and lame) movies. I've always loved the Internet because you get to read some really clever writers who would otherwise languish unknown and unappreciated.

Take this as my April Fool's choice since I didn't blog that day (it was a Thursday.)

Enjoy.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Miss M and a Cake

I didn't forget Miss M yesterday. I just didn't have the pictures on the computer. Here she is:

She's pretty pensive. Probably mulling over what that red banner above her means and wondering if the "Reading for Dogs" course is worth the time and money. No, she isn't alone since she ate all her toys and her stomach is bothering her. But she did get her rabies shots so she may be pondering just what cheery phrase "Hey, we're going to the vet!" really means.

There's a math lesson in this picture since you can probably figure out her size (big!) from this picture by measuring the standard tiles.

And now for the cake:

I thought this cake was worth showing since it came from Costco which is not a place I would visit for a birthday cake. But I was wrong. This was a Marquita cake, probably made for Cinco de Mayo. The icing was whipped cream but the real treat was that the the cake was moist and lime flavored. I expected to bite into your typical artificial tasting packaged cake but I was wrong.

So, if you go to Costco, try their cakes. Oh, and this one was on sale for $10. (No, it wasn't on sale because it was after May 5; it was on sale because of May 5.)

Cheers.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Movie Monday

No Knitting Friday last week, if anyone noticed. I was in a real curmudgeon state by Friday ("Hey kids, get off my lawn!) so I just growled around the whole day. What caused my Pollyanna personality to take a dive? Well, the furnace (it's called a boiler really but I still can't wrap my mind around that name) broke. It just up and broke. No warning cry. No farewell note. In the morning, I got a warm shower; by evening, nada.

Well, we do have the Worry Free PSE&G contract and they did show up right away. (No, that does not convince me of the existence of God.) They showed up last Wednesday that is (this saga took a few days), and told us that the furnace and hot water heater were as healthy as that proverbial horse but the "guard dog" switch to prevent problems like flooding, was itself the problem.

For joy! The service man was able to bypass the guard dog but couldn't fix it since the "P" in PSE&G does not stand for plumbing and if they were to bring in a plumber it would get pricey. So, the furnace was working (warm weather, don't need it) and also hot water heater (needed it) with this temp fix.

We called the plumbing company (who was also the installer of this 4-year boiler) and got an appointment for Friday. That's why this saga played out for a few days. And that's why I was anxiously awaiting the plumber and not writing Knitting Friday on Friday.

Oh, the angst! The guy didn't show up until 4 p.m. and almost $500 later we had a replacement guard dog. It looks the same as the original and will probably last as long.

So that's why I got into the curmudgeon mood for the weekend which manifested itself in my immediate disdain in looking at personalities (yes, I do cruise gossip sites) in torn jeans. You know, the rich wearing ratty clothes at exorbitant prices so they can connect with the poor. Or my disdain at those cheery shoppers at Wegmann's carrying in scads of environmentally-friendly shopping bags just after they park their SUVs.

But this mood has almost passed and I do have some movie picks; though not particularly cheery ones.

You Don't Know Jack, an HBO movie on Jack Kevorkian (the assisted suicide MD.) Kevorkian, in real life, comes across as an angry old man. (And let me add, an angry old man who is a personal hero for me.) I hope everyone (except, Savonarolas who seem to exist in abundance in this wacky country) is in favor of assisted suicide since death with dignity is really a no-brainer.

Watching this movie, I realized for the first time that the typical way of assisted suicide in this country (withdrawing feed tubes, etc.) is inhuman. Listen to Pacino (who plays Kevorkian) talk about this in the movie and you'll understand this. I also learned that Al Pacino has deep acting skills which shone through here. He was a Kevorkian with a depth and compassion which never translated in his headlines. I was able to re-appreciate Danny Huston, Brenda Vaccaro, Susan Saradon, John Goodman - the acting was stellar.

It's not a happy movie. The outcome wasn't "happy" as it played out in real life. But you have got to see this movie. You'll get to know Jack and his important cause which still has not come to a successful conclusion in the US.

And then there is that old chestnut, The Last Picture Show. 1971! That was the Dark Ages.

Roger Ebert once said that he used to go to the movies to find out how to act with girls. If you think back, even those hokey Andy Hardy movies showed how teens interacted. Today, with grossness like American Pie or contrived maturity like Juno, that's all changed. Even Towelhead, which deals realistically with the sexual awakening of a young teen mixes in pedophilia as a hook.

But take a look at The Last Picture Show. It was not made during the time of mythical "Mom and apple pie" US society (1971 was sex, drugs and rock and roll) but it captures realistically the awkwardness of teens dealing with sexual pressures as they enter uncharted adult seas. For example, take a look at Cybil Shepherd's consecutive scenes; first, as a tease in the car and then at the indoor pool as she strips on the diving board. She moves from a sexual confident woman back to an awkward teen in minutes. These understated scenes speak volumes of the complicated rite-of-passage that the teen years are.

That's it for now. Enjoy your movies.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Website Wednesday

I live in a community where if Hitler shaved the mustache, lost the uniform and the accent and walked through the door promising to lower property taxes, many would follow him.

No stinking concern here about civil rights, human rights, decent working conditions, the poor, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Hey, I care for my family, most of my community and my religion. WTF more do you want?

So I guess to prevent massive alcohol consumption, I've adopted a pretty jaundiced look at the world. But I still hope.

That's why my pick this Wednesday is about human experiences and empathy.

You can just read them or add to them at ("Anonymously connect with people who share your experiences") at:

http://www.experienceproject.com/index.php

The Experience Project says about itself:

experience project is the place where passionate people live!

As the world's largest living collection of shared experiences and the premier passions-based network, experience project is a comfortable and supportive place for individuals to share and connect with others around the things that matter to them most. With over 24 experience categories, experience project is the definitive online social conversation destination for people to connect with others who really get "it" -and them.

With millions of experiences shared, experience project caters to a ubiquitous audience of people who are growing, learning, educating and supporting each other each and every day.

Since the site's launch in 2007, has been widely recognized for the company's unique approach to doing good while doing business too. With praise from ABC's Good Morning America, The San Francisco Chronicle, Wired Magazine and beyond -- experience project is putting the meaning back in social networking.

We believe that real meaning and true connections can't occur in 140 characters or less. Don't believe us? Don't take our word for it -- see what our users have to say in one of our many groups: I Love Experience Project.

EP seems to be a compilation of stories from around the world. Sad ones, happy ones, thoughtful ones, fictitious ones (I'm sure), but all worth a look. Categories include: Arts and Entertainment (I Watch Documentaries), Family and Friends (I Ended a Friendship), Culture and Religion (I Am An Atheist), Current Events (I Have Been to Another Country), Education (I See the Education System Leaving People Behind), Jobs and Personal Finance (I Need a Damn Job), and more.

As I mentioned, I can't vouch for the veracity of the postings but the ones I clicked seemed genuine; but more than that, the comments they generated were thoughtful and helpful.

So maybe I can't change my community from ultimate capitalistic thinking but this site is heartening because it shows me there's empathy out there on the net and you don't have to join a social network to find it. I've always thought that empathy could change the world.

Go take a look.

"Capitalism is the Predatory Stage of Human Evolution"

Movie Monday - from Breaking Dawn, the novel, to Lady Chatterley’s Lover, the novel, and a lot of stuff in between

And, of course, Miss M, who is apparently eating the purple ribbon she won for growing so fast:

Just a little background before I discuss BD and LCL: Some of you may remember that I maintain a small lending library at our Association’s clubhouse. We have about 2000 books and I arranged them into non-fiction, fiction, and mystery. We survive on donations and we get some interesting ones: Austen, Shakespeare, books on the Hudson Valley in NY, an excellent bio of Hitler. It’s a pretty dull job except when someone stole our copy of Obama’s bio (no, the donor did not take it back.)

About twice a year I have to cull the shelves and I take books to local libraries for their book sales. At those times, I’m amazed that, outside of cast-off book club choices, most of my fiction is the Nora Roberts type. (Side note: Read her bio in Wikipedia for a look at the chicanery in the romance novel business, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Roberts )

Romance novels are hugely popular so I was not surprised at the reach of the Twilight saga. Since Meyers was writing this romance for a wide chronologically-aged audience it also didn't surprise me that she always stayed in the "romance sex" zone. You know, the fade-to-black type sex scene.

So, with the girl's interest in Twilight, posters everywhere, and with a possibility I may be the parental chaperone at the midnight showing of Eclipse (NO! By all that is holy, NO!) I read Eclipse and then I read Breaking Dawn, too, too many times.

This was supposed to be a Movie Monday discussing Breaking Dawn, the novel and how it could or couldn’t be made into a successful movie(s). I even got as far and writing the following as background:

A couple of plot points in the Twilight saga which I think were crucial for the story although they might go against my philosophical grain:

1: Edward and Bella had to wait for sex until marriage. Apparently, Bella is quite fertile (I think Meyers gives us enough information to even figure out her cycle but I’m not going there) and she gets knocked up the first time she and Edward cohabit (How is that for Victorian?) Can you imagine if Bella went through her vampire/human pregnancy unmarried, under Charlie’s care (OK, she had reached majority but what was she going to say to Charlie: Hey Dad, Edward knocked me up and I’m going to go live with the Cullens. Don’t call.) So I get the chastity before marriage.
2. Nessie had to be born. Although Edward and Carlisle wanted to perform an abortion, Nessie was essential for the final show-down with the Volturi since they came en masse to destroy the Cullens because Irina told them that the Cullens had committed the unforgivable sin: creating a newborn vampire, Nessie.

But then before I had to wrap my brain even more around BD, I found this site:

http://www.thetwilightforums.com/

which will probably tell you all you want to know about the Twilight saga. It seems to be well-moderated so that the comments are informative and entertaining. After I found this site, everything changed.

It was here I read a fantastic suggestion for adding a battle to the Breaking Dawn movie (except for Irina’s death, BD has no violence.) The suggestion was, and I paraphrase:

When Alice returns, Aro takes her hand and sees the battle which may be their future. Since both Aro and Edward will be able to read her mind, there could be a great battle scene here: the battle shown and Edward telling the story. This may be a scene not in BD but one which would be definitely in the spirit of the whole saga.

And then there was this review of the saga on this site:

It's... pretty shittily written. I mean really Stephenie Meyer kind of phones it in. I didn't spend money on them (borrowed from a friend), and the lasting impression I have is just that Meyer basically wrote an impossible love story with weird fantasy elements, and that of course teenage girls everywhere love it - it's about a guy who loves you to the point of obsession with all your flaws and all the insurmountable differences, etc etc. It's the kind of shit teenage girls dream about (myself back then included). - Laurasaurus Jezebel

So, after finding this forum, I decided it was redundant for me to pursue this topic: Breaking Dawn, from book to movie. I still think this last novel has a lot of problems: no violence, lousy descriptions of a lot of sex; bloody birth; and boring. But you will get a lot of possible “fixes” on this site; plus, much, much more.

So there I was on last Saturday morning, not having a review for Movie Monday and overloaded on lame romance sex scenes in BD.

What to do? I wanted to cleanse my mind. I wanted to read in the grown-ups' world. I wanted Lady Chatterley's Lover.

OK, I guess I'll give a little background on this also. I had first read LCL and a young teen - for the sex scenes. Hey! Kids do that. (I’m amazed I had the balls to check this book out of my small hometown library.) I don’t know if I read the expurgated or unexpurgated version but after reading it again this weekend, I know that I sure missed a lot - except the sex.

So, this weekend I remembered I had a hard copy of the unexpurgated LCL. (Yes, I grew up and got to buy my own books.) and I started reading it, again Wow! I discovered that this is a great book beyond the explicit sex. It has dated features (we call it an orgasm, Lawrence calls it a crisis at times) but it thoughtfully addresses the role of sex in the relationship between men and women. It explores the "coming of age" of Connie Chatterley and how her relationship with Mellors takes her from her zone of passive indifference into living. It examines the poverty of the working class and the arrogance of the rich. It tackles the relationship between Clifford Chatterley and Mrs. Bolton (something I definitely missed the first time) It examines the modern novel, the arts, the brittle sophistication of the cultured rich, the Lost Generation of the 1920s. And it's chocked full of metaphors.

So I guess, LCL was my reward for plowing through BD. I felt like I was back in the land of real living.

I have no problem with teens swooning over the Twilight saga though I do feel sorry for the movies’ stars and the adulatory frenzy they are greeted with each time they make a public appearance. What a crazy way to make a living!

I do have a problem when these “rite of passage romance” books are adored (not just read for entertainment, but adored) by older teens and adults. Go read better books. LCL or Sons and Lovers by the same author (D.H. Lawrence.) Or try Edith Wharton or Kate Chopin; women early in the 20th century who presented strong and tragic situations between men and women. Closer to this time period, Anne Tyler, Earthly Possessions is a great book about a woman’s reexamination of her marriage after her life takes a bizarre turn. And don't forget, A Handmaid's Tale. Now there's a cautionary tale.

But I'm going to end my posting on on a fun note. What did I get out of the Twilight saga? How about this “chocolate” game? (I’m making it a “chocolate” game because of the age of the intended book audience – but “wink, wink” for all you older readers who may have played this game without a different type of “food” product.)

Here’s how you play: (You can add your own rules.)
For chocolate overload:
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella and Edward lock lips.
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella describes Edward’s perfection.
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella or Edward say “I’m sorry.”
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella refers to Jacob as my “best friend”, etc.
Eat a piece a chocolate each time Nessie appears and she is not described in some terms of perfection.
And for those on a diet:
Eat a piece of chocolate each time Bella or Edward’s hands roam past the waist.
Each a piece of chocolate each time a vampire is described as less than perfect.
Each a piece of chocolate each time Bella, as a human, uses the bathroom.
Eat a piece of chocolate each time you read a realistic sex scene.

Enjoy.