New Moon Monday

Here is our 3rd installment of New Moon Monday. I wanted to shout out the 2 sites that generate most of the information that I share with my readers. The first is TwilightMOMS.com. Now, some of you may remember that I did a review and giveaway for TwilightMOMS back when Grab Bag was just getting it's blog legs. We had alot of fun, and I saw then how many of you are Twilight Fanatics! I'm a member on the forums and love the quality info and the grip on reality that they have (all while having their heads in the clouds at the same time!)

The second site is NewMoonMovie.org. Not all of their information is official, but if it's not confirmed, they let you know. Daily there are numerous updates, so if you need a Twilight Saga fix, that's where you need to be!

Now, onto the show.... Ashley Greene (Alice) is reporting that they have hit the halfway mark in the filming process. Sometime in May they will be headed to Italy!

More big news for the Twilight Saga... Summit has set a release date for Eclipse! “Eclipse,” opens June 30, 2010

Vacinity Alley got some great shots from filming. This looks to be the scene where Bella, Jacob, and Mike all head to the movies. There are also a few of when Bella and Jessica head out for their first girl's night. This is the first time in the books when Bella hears Edward, but RPatz was nowhere to be seen.

Original Poster for Bella & Jessica's Zombie Movie Scene

Bella, Jacob, and Mike at the Theater

Summit has set a release date for Eclipse! “Eclipse,” opens June 30, 2010

New Moon Monday... er, Thursday

Yea, I really do suck, I know. But we have had such an incredible amount of garbage going on since Tuesday of last week that New Moon Monday completely slipped my mind. How could I forget, you're thinking. It baffles me too. So here we are, mid-week, and I have you a little New Moon fix. Better late than never, right?

Robert Pattinson made People's 100 Most Beautiful People Issue. Surprised? I think not!

New Moon Monday

My love of the Twilight Saga has been kept pretty much under wraps here on the blog, but all of that is changing. I am starting a new weekly feature, New Moon Monday, where I will tell all of the latest New Moon movie news that I have found throughout the previous week.

Today I am kicking us off with the FULL cast, all confirmed by Summit, and a behind the scenes teaser. It's sure to be delicious, and I plan to leave you thirsty for more every week. Be dazzled (Not to be confused with Bedazzling)!

New Moon Cast Yearbook - Courtesy of TwilightMOMS
(click the picture to view full size)



And now for the teaser. This has a few clips from shooting New Moon in it, with details on where and when to see more!

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/04/72839/index.html

TwilightMOMS Website Review and Giveaway!!!

Who would have known that a teeny bopper vampire book would reach the mini-van set? The book and now movie that spans the age gaps has inspired an in depth website expressly for the Twerds who have the privilege of answering to the name "Mom". TwilightMOMS is a website dedicated to the Twilight books and Twilight movie(s) for mother's, from the perspective of mothers. The information on the website portion of TwilightMoms is always up to date with the latest book/movie scoop and they have even scored some much coveted interviews with the cast members from the Twilight movie!

The forum portion of the site is truly a comprehensive Twilight world! The site is so easy to navigate and no matter what you're looking for it's here. There are in depth discussions of each book, individual chapters, and the series as a whole. You can marinate over the symbolism kept up through out the series, or play one of the many games and adopt your favorite character, scene, or quote. The movie discussions are always a buzz, but the moderators are very particular at keeping things clean and family friendly. This is one place where you won't find the stars being bashed or their personal lives scrutinized. And what a relief! If you want smut, read a tabloid, if you want good hearted discussions with other moms who have fallen in love with Twilight, head over to TwilightMOMS! It's the mature way to be a Twi-Hard!

TwilightMOMS has been getting noticed on a rather grand scale of late! They were mentioned on the red carpet at the movie premiere of Twilight by Jennie Garth, the wife of Peter Facinelli who plays Carlisle in the movie. She was quoted as saying "There is a whole club called Twilight Moms. I feel like a junkie that's about to get my fix of Edward and Bella right now." This quote was later featured on the In Style website. So, go ahead, it's COOL to be a TwilightMOM!

The TwilightMOMS was world started a little over a year ago by mom Lisa. She was desperatly hoping that she wasn't the ONLY TwilightMOM and so the journey began. The site has grown fast and strong, and I attribute this to the professional manner in which the site has been operated. Well, all the pretty pictures of Robert Pattinson aren't so bad either. (Can I just say I swoon for his fwoopy hair? *insert school girl giggle*) This Wondermom went from knowing Myspace and Google at best, to now operating one of the TOP Twilight websites!

With their name in lights, their own list of Twilight gear, and even the cast of the Twilight movie sending them "Happy Birthday" wishes, there is nowhere for this wonderful site to go but up!

GIVEAWAY! TwilightMOMS is sponsoring this giveaway. One dazzling Grab Bag reader is going to recieve a TwilightMOMS tee shirt!! (logo says "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is the Hand That Rules the World"


How to enter: Head over to Busy Mom and enter!

Movie Review: Twilight

What do you get when a lion falls in love with a lamb? One of the most complicated and compelling love stories since Romeo and Juliet. In the movie Twilight a young "vegetarian" vampire named Edward finds his greatest temptation and greatest love in Bella, a klutzy girl in the middle of a life changing situation. Twilight the movie is based on the first book in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.

Anytime you are bringing a book to the big screen there is a lot of worry from the fans. Twilight fans are no different, and could, in fact, be a lot worse. I am a self proclaimed Twerd (Twilight+Nerd), and so I had very high expectations for the film as well as my own versions of the characters in my head. It was tricky business for this movie to be cast right, and even more tricky for the actors to capture the essence of the book.

I'm going to be honest. The first time I saw Twilight at the midnight release, I was at a loss. I felt like something was missing and the story was too rushed. I didn't feel the same emotional investment in the characters that I had in the book, and I was resentful for the fact that I wasn't seeing the carbon copy of MY Twilight on the screen. I went home, ranted to my husband about the discrepancies, and then let all my Twerd friends know exactly how I felt. Throughout all of my complaining I maintained that it was still nice to have a visual to reference against the book. So for 1 full day I pouted, nay, brooded, over the "flop" that was Twilight. And then on day number 2, the strangest thing happened. I was missing the movie! I had an urge to go see it again, to see this movie version of my Twilight. I coerced DH (read: bought him a box of baseball cards) into letting me see the movie again and off I went.

The second time around was a completely different experience. All the expectations I had, all of the preconceived ideas of what the movie should be, all the hype and speculation were gone. I was just a woman going to see a movie. When I was able to let go of all the ideas in MY head and appreciate the film it was really an excellent movie, as well as a great interpretation of the book.

The love story is a complicated one and Robert Pattinson (Edward) and Kristen Stewart (Bella) play it out beautifully. There is wonderful chemistry between the two of them and the romance is absolutely believable! Robert Pattinson as Edward is the perfect self loathing old soul. I felt of all the characters his was most true to the book. Kristen Stewart brought the clumsy, reserved Bella to life. The supporting cast was great and really set the tone in a lot of the movie. You get it all in Twilight, romance, action, suspense, mystery, drama, and comedy. As movies go this one is the jack of all trades. At time the directing and editing leave something to be desired though. The feel of the movie can be choppy at times and some of the grimaces leave you with the instinct impression that the directer was standing off camera saying to the effect of, "More... look like it hurts MORE!"

Twilight started out as a low budget film that was fairly unheard of. It quickly gained a cult like fan following and with that came a rush of Hollywood publicity. It has been sitting at the #1 spot since it's release and has to date made more than $70,000,000! It did so well it's first night that the green light was immediately given for the 2ND book, New Moon, to brought to film. Released by Summit Entertainment, Twilight is my new favorite movie and I hope it becomes yours too!! This is a definite must see for movie goers and a definite must see twice for Twilight fans (once to let go of your preconceived notions, and twice to enjoy the film).