Another Royal Wedding Post or Why I'm Watching

I never put a pillowcase on my head and acted out my dream wedding when I was a little girl.

I did wear my mother's nursing cap with dreams of being a nurse one day, and I also dreamt of being a princess. So far one of these two has come true, and I am left with my childhood fantasies of becoming royalty.

My sister managed to marry a Prince, and I did marry my Prince Charming (after kissing my share of frogs) but somehow missed out on that tiara.

So this brings me to my blog topic, (que the trumpets), The ROYAL WEDDING!!

Okay, so some of you are immediately clicking out and moving on to something that applies to our country and doesn't include an out dated, essentially powerless monarchy.

If you are still reading at this point it's because you're either a hopeless romantic like myself, or you are a family member who feels compelled to read my blog out of loyalty. And maybe both.

I was 4 years old when my mom woke me up in the middle of the night and sat with my sisters and me on the folded out hide-a-bed to watch Prince Charles marry Diana. I remember fighting to stay awake, and I remember that everyone exclaimed about her dress and it's 25 foot long train.

I remember that the newlyweds kissed on balcony.

I was in awe of this beautiful woman who found love and with it became a Princess.

And I remember wishing, as a 4 year old girl, that I could be a Princess too.

Unfortunately, royalty didn't go so well for Princess Diana, but she left her legacy of two handsome young men who carry her good looks and are the future of Britain's royal family.

And now, 30 years later, I am still enthralled with this family, these young men who are trying to have some level of normalcy by attending college and joining the military, yet carry the title of Prince, the burden of one day being King, and live in the world's spotlight.

Enter Kate Middleton. Beautiful, sophisticated, stylish, daughter to millionaires, and (gasp) a commoner!

There is a list of things I love about this couple. It was romantic that William gave her time to understand what she was getting into. She seems similiar to Diana in her simple yet sophisticated style. The couple looks adorable together. She is keeping her dress a secret until the last minute. And lets not forget that I feel more a part of it because I watched Charles and Diana's wedding 30 years ago.

But I think what I love the most is the idea that this woman was once a little girl, who like me, probably dreamed of one day becoming a princess. And for her, the dream came true. This is the magic that makes this wedding appealing to me.

Adlai Stephenson once said "In America, any boy can grow up to be President. And that's just the risk he takes". This is one of the things that makes America great.

But the happenstance, the coincidences, the glass slippers and fairy god mother that can turn any girl into a Princess, that is what makes a royal wedding, and especially this royal wedding magical. At least for me.

Alice in Wonderland, a Review

I was able to see the new Alice in Wonderland in IMAX 3-D this weekend with my family.

My personal experience was that it was a delightful, visually delicious, modern remake of a very old story, written by Lewis Carroll in 1864.

This creative story has been through it's own rabbit hole of evolution since it was first told as a bedtime story. From verbal tale to book, to cartoon movie, to 3 dimensional film, this one time children's story has taken on life and adventure of it's own.

As with any book made into a movie, those who have been fans of Alice and her experiences in the rabbit hole for years may be disappointed by the changes in the story line and the calignosity (it means darkness, look it up) of parts of the movie. Not to say that it was gothic or had a dark mood, it just wasn't luminous and bright in every scene. If you are familiar with any Tim Burton movies you should expect that darker element.

Part of what made the movie so visually captivating was the changes between the bright and colorful scenes and the grayer, starker scenes. I found myself waiting anxiously for the brightness again. I have always felt that the books had a slightly dark side. I remember being terrified of the Queen of Hearts when I read the book at the age of 8.

The characters were bold and entrancing throughout the film. Alice actually seemed a little boring to me, although she had some really great outfits. My personal favorite was the dress made out of curtains while at the Red Queen's court.

(Not the one pictured below.)

Let me clarify that I have never been a die hard Johnny Depp fan, like so many females, but in this movie, any time that he was not on screen was just not as engaging. From his first appearance as the Mad Hatter when he walks the length of the table at the tea party, to the very end when Alice bids him goodbye before returning to her world, I enjoyed the movie more when he was in the scene.

My favorite scene in the movie was a relatively short bit where the Mad Hatter is walking through a tulgey wood with Alice on his hat and he quotes a bit from the poem, the Jabberwocky:

"'Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimber in the wabe: all mimsy were the borogroves, and the mome raths outgrabe."

One critical addition to the plot of this movie was the integration of Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky.

(Thanks to aeromental.net for the picture.)

(You can learn more about Jabberwocky by clicking here.)

I particularly enjoyed this addition as I have always loved "Jabberwocky". I recognized that this would be an element from the first time a character referred to the "Frabjous Day".

With the release of Avatar a few months ago, we have entered a new generation of film making and viewing. Use of computer animation, special effects and 3-D has taken movies into not a new chapter, but a new book in film making history.

Movies will never be the same.

Many of us tell our children about the days before cell phones, not so long ago. I believe our children will be telling their children about the days when we watched everything in 2-D.

Alice in Wonderland will be to our children what The Wizard of Oz was to children a few generations ago and moving pictures were to their grandparents.

This movie was not just a retelling of a classic tale, it was a recreation of a story in a form never seen before.

Even if you are not interested in Alice's plight I recommend seeing this movie, and the film Avatar if you haven't already, for no other reason than that it is unlike any movie experience you have ever had and you will be witnessing movie making history.

Enjoy! And pour some m&ms in your popcorn just for me.

A Few Jokes

Readers Digest this month has a selection of jokes that were voted to be the best joke in America. . Here are a few of them: .

A ventriloquist is performing with his dummy on his lap.

He’s telling a dumb- blonde joke when a young platinum-haired beauty jumps to her feet.

"What gives you the right to stereotype blondes that way?" she demands. "What does hair color have to do with my worth as a human being?"

Flustered, the ventriloquist begins to stammer out an apology.

"You keep out of this!" she yells. "I’m talking to that little jerk on your knee!"

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A guy spots a sign outside a house that reads "Talking Dog for Sale."

Intrigued, he walks in.

"So what have you done with your life?" he asks the dog.

"I’ve led a very full life," says the dog. "I lived in the Alps rescuing avalanche victims. Then I served my country in Iraq. And now I spend my days reading to the residents of a retirement home."

The guy is flabbergasted. He asks the dog’s owner, "Why on earth would you want to get rid of an incredible dog like that?"

The owner says, "Because he’s a liar! He never did any of that!"

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A turtle is crossing the road when he’s mugged by two snails.

When the police show up, they ask him what happened.

The shaken turtle replies, "I don’t know. It all happened so fast."

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Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He’s not breathing and his eyes are glazed.

The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls 911.

"I think my friend is dead!" he yells. "What can I do?"

The operator says, "Calm down. First, let’s make sure he’s dead."

There’s a silence, then a shot.

Back on the phone, the guy says, "Okay, now what?"

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A priest, a minister, and a rabbi want to see who’s best at his job.

So they each go into the woods, find a bear, and attempt to convert it. Later they get together.

The priest begins: "When I found the bear, I read to him from the Catechism and sprinkled him with holy water. Next week is his First Communion."

"I found a bear by the stream," says the minister, "and preached God’s holy word. The bear was so mesmerized that he let me baptize him."

They both look down at the rabbi, who is lying on a gurney in a body cast. "Looking back," he says, "maybe I shouldn’t have started with the circumcision."

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You can >>>click here<<< to read the rest and vote for your favorite.

Got any other favorites?

Great Poetry

I got some really great responses to yesterday's post. I highly encourage you to go back and read the comments from that one as several people left some wonderful poems. So I decided to share a couple of my personal favorites.

I once memorized an amazing poem by Robert Service. You may have heard of it.

It is called >>>The Cremation of Sam McGee<<<, and you can read it by clicking on the link. (It's too long to retype, though doing that might refresh my memory of it).

I love almost every poem written by Shel Silverstein, and have many of them memorized. But if I have to pick one favorite, it is probably this one:

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THE GARDEN

Ol' man Simon, planted a diamond,

Grew hisself a garden the likes of none.

Sprouts all growin', comin' up glowin',

Fruit of jewels all shinin' in the sun.

Colors of the rainbow,

See the sun and rain grow

Sapphires and rubies on ivory vines,

Grapes of jade, just

Ripenin' in the shade, just

Ready for the squeezin' into green jade wine.

Pure gold corn there,

Blowin' in the warm air,

Ol' crow nibblin' on the amnythyst seeds.

In between the diamonds, ol' man Simon

Crawls about pullin' out platinum weeds.

Pink pearl berries,

all you can carry,

Put 'em in a bushel and

Haul 'em into town.

Up in the tree there's

Opal nuts and gold pears-

Hurry quick, grab a stick

And shake some down.

Take a silver tater,

Emerald tomater,

Fresh plump coral melons

Hangin' in reach.

Ol' man Simon,

Diggin' in his diamonds,

Stops and rests and dreams about

One....real....peach.

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Any more good ones you can think of?

One Trillion Dollars

There has been a lot of debate over the stimulus plan recently passed by our new president. Many like it, many don't. I don't think I agree with all of it, but whether or not I think it is the best way to do things, it is the approved plan to help our economy. And unlike some people, I don't want it to fail just to prove a point. I am hoping and praying that it works. That it does help our economy, and that all of the good intentions that it was written under become fruitful.

After all, if we are investing ONE TRILLION DOLLARS that we don't even have, some thing good better come of it right?

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Do you know what ONE TRILLION DOLLARS looks like?

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Here is a regular One hundred dollar bill.

We've all seen this.

We've all had one in our pocket or purse at some point.

If you stack 10,000 of these together, you get

One Million Dollars.

It looks about like this:

It's impressive in the amount, after all, it would take the average american 30 years to earn that much money. But it's still small enough it would probably fit in your purse and you could carry it around.

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Take that amount and multiply it by 100, and you have

One Hundred Million Dollars.

It looks about like this:

And I am pretty sure I will never make that much money in my lifetime. Not even before taxes.

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But we hear people talk about One Hundred Million Dollars all the time.

Didn't AIG recently misplace about 165 Million Dollars?

That's more than 1 and a half pallets of money!

"Gee, honey, have you seen that pallet of cash I put in the attic? Did it get put in the boxes marked 'Christmas' again?"

Seriously?

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Okay, so what about a Billion?

That's another term that gets thrown around a bit.

I mean, Facebook (you know, that little networking site that even my Mom joined?) was bought out over a year ago for 4.1 Billion.

4.1 doesn't seem like too much right?

Except that this is what One Billion Dollars looks like:

It's a good thing that transaction was electronic, because it might have taken multiple semi trucks to move 41 pallets of money.

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While this stimulus plan was in committee, a lot of numbers were thrown around.

It started as low as 500 Billion Dollars, but slowly grew as more and more "divinely qualified" plans and special interests were added.

Finally the number reached

ONE TRILLION DOLLARS

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The human mind can't even comprehend that number.

If you started counting now, and counted one dollar every second, it would take you 31,709 years to get to ONE TRILLION DOLLARS.

Even if you counted by 100's it would take over 300 years.

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ONE TRILLION DOLLARS is a Million Million dollars.

ONE TRILLION DOLLARS is a thousand Billion dollars.

ONE TRILLION is a 1 with 12 zeros behind it.

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1,000,000,000,000

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ONE TRILLION DOLLARS looks like this:

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Notice the pallets are double stacked.

Can you see the little man with the red shirt standing in the corner?

No?

Apparently neither can Congress.

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ONE TRILLION DOLLARS is a whole lotta money.

Money that our country doesn't have.

Lets hope and pray together that good comes from this. That our nation can heal and rebuild itself. That one day we can pay off our debts and truly be free.

In the mean time, lets at least be realistic and honest with ourselves and each other.

We need each other, and we need God more now than we ever have.

-Della

More Good Stuff

Because the majority of this blog is merely me sharing random things that I enjoy, I feel compelled to clue you all in to a blog I found recently.

My Real Life Was Backordered is seriously one of the funniest blogs I have ever read. DeNae has a witty way with words that I can only envy.

Go check her out.

Her latest post An Epistle to the Roamin's had me laughing out loud.

Any one who has ever 1) read any scriptures or 2) ever had a child vomit during the night, will feel that you have found a kindred soul.

-Della

Sheriff Joe Does it Right

You've all heard of Sheriff Joe, right? who painted the jail cells pink and made the inmates wear pink prison garb. Well.........

SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN!

Oh, there's MUCH more to know about Sheriff Joe!

Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.

The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows.

The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him. Cost us $78.

The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.

I have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand.

He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.

Yup, he was reelected last year with 83% of the vote.

Now he's in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a 'Git-R Dun' kind of Sheriff.

TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO

HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF

AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (In Arizona ) who created the ' Tent City Jail': He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights Cut off all but 'G' movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.

Then He Started Chain Gangs For Women So He Wouldn't Get Sued For Discrimination.

He took away cable TV Until he found out there was A Federal Court Order that Required Cable TV For Jails So He Hooked Up The Cable TV Again Only Let In The Disney Channel And The Weather Channel.

When asked why the weather channel He Replied, So They Will Know How Hot It's Gonna Be While They Are Working ON My Chain Gangs.

He Cut Off Coffee Since It Has Zero Nutritional Value.

When the inmates complained, he told them, 'This Isn't The Ritz/Carlton.......If You Don't Like It, Don't Come Back.'

More On The Arizona Sheriff:

With Temperatures Being Even Hotter Than Usual In Phoenix (116 Degrees Just Set A New Record), the Associated Press Reports: About 2,000 Inmates Living In A Barbed-Wire-Surrounded Tent Encampment At The Maricopa County Jail Have Been Given Permission To Strip Down To Their Government-Issued Pink Boxer Shorts.

On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 Degrees Inside The Week Before.

Many Were Also Swathed In Wet, Pink Towels As Sweat Collected On Their Chests And Dripped Down To Their PINK SOCKS.

'It Feels Like We Are In A Furnace,' Said James Zanzot, An Inmate Who Has Lived In The TENTS for 1 year. 'It's Inhumane.'

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: 'It's 120 Degrees In Iraq And Our Soldiers Are Living In Tents Too, And They Have To Wear Full Battle Gear, But They Didn't Commit Any Crimes,So Shut Your Mouths!'

Way To Go, Sheriff!

Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.

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It makes me wonder how Sheriff Joe would fix our economy.

We need more guys like this in office.

A Dellaism

A lot of random things go through my head. Many of which I would be embarrassed to repeat.

I had one thought the other day, however, that I thought might bear sharing.

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It is important not to confuse "standard of living" with "quality of life".

They are not the same thing, and often do not even go hand in hand.

Decide which is more important to you, and seek after that one.

From my Generation to Yours

The purpose of today's blog post is twofold.

One, to illustrate how things in our society are passed from generation to generation.

Two, to share with you what may be the coolest music video ever.

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You, of course, learned the kids phrase "Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire" when you were a child.

You probably did not teach this line to your children. Never the less, one day they will come home from school singing it to a sibling, and you will wonder "How the heck did the learn that and how is it possible that kids are still saying it?'

The truth is that while we don't know why the pants are hanging from a telephone wire, children will be singing this verse until they don't know what a telephone wire is.

Our culture has it's own form of natural selection in what is passed on to the young generations. The things that are passed on are not always the highest caliber of ideas that we would like our children to learn, which is evidence of the imperfection of our society.

None the less, many of the best and worst traditions are shared with the up and coming leaders of tomorrow's world.

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One such example, this time of one of the greatest things, was made shared with my children yesterday, through a cartoon.

First, in order to understand the greatness of what is being shared, please watch the following video.

This is Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice", starring Christopher Walken.

(I apologize for the poor video quality, it was the only one available to embed. But please check out the related videos if you want to watch one that is better).

I truly think this is one of the coolest music videos ever made.

And I must not be alone, because last night, while my kids were watching a cartoon called "6teen" this came on:

The guy in this video is called Ron the Rent a Cop.

I was thrilled to see that one of the greatest moments in music and dance from my generation was passed on to my children, albeit through a cartoon mall security guard.

This only serves to illustrate that while the generations carry on what they find valueable, they also manipulate these things as it serves them.

What things from your childhood have your children picked up, and what elements of our culture are you trying to pass on to your children?

I'm Sick, and I'm Not Happy About It

I've been kinda stressed lately.

I was glad that I didn't get a cold sore like I usually do when I'm stressed, but then I got a sore throat, which led to an achy back, which led to a stuffy nose, which led to a runny nose, which led to a cough, which led to sneezing.

All of which in general led to me feeling pretty cruddy.

Which naturally led to Chris feeling the same way.

So it was no surprise when J and C started feeling cruddy too.

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But I'm not trying to complain about that.

This is what I'm complaining about:

Do you remember when Nyquil used to be the "Night-time, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine"?

Well it's not anymore.

They had to change the ingredients in order to stay on regular store shelves, so now its just the "Night-time, stuffy head, aching, fever, so hopefully you'll be deep enough asleep to not realize how crappy you feel" medicine.

And I'm irritated about it.

I'm doing my best to medicate myself and my family members often enough for us to get as much relief as possible, (with Nyquil and with other meds that have more ingredients), but I'm bugged that I can't just have my good old Nyquil.

Now someone is probably going to comment about how they changed the law and the ingredients to keep people from abusing it, yada yada yada.

I know.

I just don't care right now.

I want to feel better. I want my Nyquil.

The Dalai Lama's Instructions for Life

At the end of this year here are some good words of advice.

I love you all.

Thanks for sharing in my life and letting me share in yours.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

-Della Hill

Shooting Yourself in the Foot - Beyond the Cliche

In case you haven't already heard, Plaxico Burress, wide receiver for the New York Giants, (who won the Superbowl last year), shot himself in the leg over the weekend.

Giants #17 was at (can you guess?) a nightclub "early Saturday morning" (Which means after midnight on Friday night).

The details are somewhat unclear, especially since the shooting wasn't reported to the police until way later.

As I understand it, his gun, (which he doesn't have a license for) started slipping down his leg. He tried to grab it and inadvertently squeezed the trigger, resulting in a gunshot to his right thigh.

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So lets analyze this.

This idiot is at a club till the wee hours of the morning. Do good things happen in night clubs after midnight? I can tell you, No.

(Do you notice that celebrities never have shootings at the 9:00 showing at a movie theater?)

Good old Plaxico has had a few drinks, is dancing, and guess what? His firearm, that (again) he has no license for, starts to slip down his leg. Which means that it wasn't even in a holster, just jammed in the waistband of his jeans.

When it starts to slide down he gropes for it and accidentally pulls the trigger, firing a bullet into his right thigh.

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Lets focus on some specific factors of this incident. We have:

-Idiot

-after midnight in a nightclub

-alcohol

-unregistered gun

-unsecured gun, no holster

-safety OFF

Hmm.... Anyone surprised he got shot?

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To add to the situation, when he went to the hospital he tried to cover the whole thing up.

The police, who were finally notified later in the day, are now doing an investigation into the whole thing which has included a teammates car (If you guessed it was an Escalade, you're right!) being impounded, and the doctor who treated him being suspended from the hospital.

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As a consequence Mr. Burress has been suspended from playing football for the rest of the season, (as though he could anyway with a bullet wound), is facing fines of about $800,000.00, and legal charges for carrying an illegal weapon, which could land him in jail for 3 1/2 to 15 years.

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It absolutely kills me that guys like this, (because while he may be an idiot, he's not the only idiot who has done something like this), are making millions of dollars a year playing a game, and apparently think they are above the rules.

They carry weapons illegally, they run dog fighting rings (that's a different idiot), they do all kinds of things that leave common sense way behind, and are suprised when something goes wrong.

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We all make mistakes. We all screw up. But with a little common sense, a little planning, and maybe (just maybe ) a little adherence to the laws that are intended to keep us safe, we can hopefully make mistakes that cause us to lose a dozen eggs, a few bucks, or a little sleep, not millions of dollars, use of our limbs, and our personal freedom.

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(Idiot!)

Twilight Movie - A Review

I took myself on a date last night and went to see Twilight.

(For some reason my 5 sons weren't interested in seeing it).

My official review is that the movie Twilight is exactly as good as the book.

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See the movie trailer here

What I mean by that is that if you loved the book you will love the movie.

If you thought the book was so-so, the movie will be too.

If you were too disinterested in a human girl falling in love with a vampire to bother to read the book you probably shouldn't bother with the movie either.

(Yes, I can hear some of you gasping and mentally preparing your angry reply already).

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In total and complete honesty (here come more gasps and accusations of sacrelidge) I didn't love the book.

I thought it was good. It was a good story. But while the action began early in the book it took a little while to fall in love (no pun intended) with the characters.

But before you skip to the bottom to leave me and angry and indignant comment, let me add that by the second book (New Moon) I was completely involved in the plot and totally absorbed by Bella, Edward, Jacob and the rest of them.

It got even better as the series wore on, and I loved book 4, (Breaking Dawn).

In fact, my favorite moment of that entire book was when Jacob went down the stairs. ('Nuff said). I almost dropped the book and shouted out in the middle of the doctors office waiting room where I was sitting at the time I read it.

Back to Twilight.

The movie had a few issues. For one thing, when Edward and the other vampires were running, jumping, attacking etc. it looked more like they were flailing their limbs while being strung along on harnesses than actually using those rock hard muscles to propel themselves gracefully and artfully the way the book described.

Next, when the sun hit Edward and he got all glittery-like, it really just looked like he had built up a sweat and got a good angle from a clear sunbeam to make him shiny. It was not the prismatic diamond like burst I had been expecting.

Also, (and I know you die hard Twilight fans are going to scorn me for such a petty critique), any time Jasper (far right in above picture) was on screen for the first half of the movie all I could think was "Oh look! Edward Scissorhands has a little brother!" The pale faced, wide eyed silence was oh so Johnny Depp, and seemed to interrupt whatever else was going on. Note: It did get better later on when he started speaking.

But my review is not meant to be completely negative, only honest.

On some good notes, the movie stuck 98% to the story from the book.

Most of the characters were pretty much exactly as I had pictured them.

I really liked Bella. Cedric Diggory, I mean Edward, was believably torn by his attraction to Bella.

I must add that a few of the characters were exceptionally attractive -as fits with the storyline. I especially liked Carlisle Cullen.

But the one who -yes, literally- took my breath away was Jacob, (played by Taylor Lautner). There is one queilute I could go for (were I younger, unattached and a fictional character as well).

But then again, I've always been nuts for guys with long hair.

So, if you loved the book you'll love the movie. Mostly because it animates the characters and story that you have only been able to create pictures of in your mind heretofore.

If your wife/girlfriend/sister/mom is a Twilight fan and you want to seem supportive without wasting 2 weeks reading the book, go see the movie. You will get the plot and be able to follow her continuous chattering about the vampires with only a 2 hour investment.

Better yet, take her to see it. That will definitely earn you some brownie points. And you might even like it.