disclaimer: i do not own the article the excerpt below is from neither do i own twilight or any other movie/book mentioned here

just as a warning here. for all those who are deeply in love with the twilight franchise be it the books, movies or characters, should not continue for i fear the excerpt below might just break your hearts.

so anyway, i stumbled across an article the other day, which i found deeply amusing. it was called The 5 Things You Need To Know About Twilight. below is the excerpt containing the important bits (practically the whole thing, but still not all of it, basically just missing the intro and pics.)

(excerpt begins here)

1: The Books Are Popular. Very Popular.
Sure, we're not talking Harry Potter levels yet - despite the many comparisons that Twilight has drawn to the wizarding series, mostly because it's a popular young adult series of novels that's transcended its target audience - but 17 million book sales in the three years since the release of the first book is still nothing to be sneezed at, and the books have collectively topped the New York Times bestseller list for close to a year. Face it; more people have read this than anything that inspired Iron Man.

Not to put to much pressure on the movie, but people are already writing about the way in which Twilight The Movie unites women of all ages in their lust for the franchise:

Let me introduce you to one of the most powerful new groups in Hollywood. It's not a group of actors, producers or directors. It's the rather interesting hybrid demographic who are getting their knickers in a twist over Twilight, due to be released in the UK next month... Teenage girls, young female adults and their mums converged at the Twilight conference at Comic-Con back in July, filling Hall H to capacity and rupturing tonsils at the appearance of their hunkalicious hero.

Believe me, this demographic is out there. They just don't have a name yet.

They're naming themselves, however; there are fansites called Twilight Moms (and its related site, Twilight Teens - and also Twilight20Somethings, just in case you don't fit into either of the previous two) as well as Team Jacob, Team Edward, Team Switzerland and even Team Twilightist amongst many others out there, each one a demonstration of obsession with the novels' familiar tale of a boy, a girl and the unspoken love that dare not speak its name.

2: The Books Aren't Very Good.
Critical reception to Twilight, the first book in the series was marginally positive (Booklist's "There are some flaws here—a plot that could have been tightened, an overreliance on adjectives and adverbs to bolster dialogue—but this dark romance seeps into the soul" being essentially the tenor of most mainstream reviews), but each successive book received poorer reviews, with Breaking Dawn, the final book getting drubbings from the LA Times ("The problem is Stephenie Meyer is no J.K. Rowling... We would have much preferred the whole thing to end in book three, "Eclipse," with yes, some happiness for Bella, but also some angst, some heartbreak, and a dark, ominous future looming"), Publisher's Weekly ("[G]randeur is out. This isn't about happy endings; it's about gratification") and Entertainment Weekly ("[You'll] abruptly lose all patience when... Meyer takes her supernatural love story several bizarre steps too far"). We may be biased, but sister site Jezebel came up with our favorite review:

It's 754 pages long, its heroine's dominant personality trait is low self-esteem, and, as Amazon reviewer Eventide points out, nobody really has to give up anything. Even the tedium of immortality is glossed over — these vampires just keep busy with their hobbies. If I had an eternity to read, I still might never pick up this book again.

3: The Writer Can Be A Bit Of A Prima Donna.
Although the Twilight series officially finished with the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, there was a fifth book planned, Midnight Sun, that would've retold the events of the first book from the hero's perspective. But then a first draft of the book's opening appeared online, and author Stephenie Meyer posted this response on her website:

I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being... So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely.

(She's since recanted slightly, telling Entertainment Weekly that "[t]he funny thing about that statement is I didn't actually write the majority of it... in the end only the one or two sentences written by me seem really jarring [compared with everything else], and people didn't get that there was sort of a joke in there." Midnight Sun, however, is still on hold.)

Nonetheless, she's kept a tight hold on the movie, only agreeing to the project in the first place when teeth size met her approval, and having final say on casting and the length and passion of final clinches. "It's been good for me just in general to have to speak up because I am so invested in this," she's explained.

4: VINOs: Vampires In Name Only.
The vampires in the Twilight books don't have elongated teeth, and they have no problem going out in daytime in their Pacific Northwest hometown, because it's so foggy (I can't tell if that's actually funny or just a kind of crappy dodge). They also, as almost every example of vampire fiction since, what, Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire (or maybe Marilyn Ross' Barnabas Collins?), are tragic souls afflicted by a curse that don't really want to sink their teeth into humanity - and so, they eat animals and go on "hunting trips" to take care of their bloodlust. Yes, it's the Pacific Northwest Hipster Rural Lifestyle turned goth. Whatever happened to the good old days of Nosferatu and vampires who were unafraid to be vampires? I mean, if they have his pallor, why can't they have his mannerisms?

5: Remember The Golden Compass.
Summit Pictures, the studio behind the movie may be nervous about saying that they've got a hit on their hands ahead of the movie's release, but the movie is estimated to make somewhere between $20million and $50million in its first weekend, depending on how optimistic your sources are. It's worth remembering the fate of The Golden Compass, however; last year's "The New Harry Potter" had a similar amount of buzz pre-release, and a similarly impressive opening weekend... before audiences realized that the movies didn't live up to the books. Ultimately, the movie wasn't successful enough to warrant filming the second of the three His Dark Materials novels. The same thing may happen to Twilight. The figure to keep in mind is rumored to be $150 million; if Twilight makes less than that, you can forget about seeing New Moon, Eclipse or Breaking Dawn in theaters anytime soon. We can only hope.

(http://io9.com/5080617/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-twilight)

(ends here)

so this article is basically just criticising twilight, but strange enough i loved it, not that i'm a twilight hater or anything, i really love the books, but i'm just tired of people talking about it as if it's completely flawless. if anyone has been keeping up with the movie, like i have, they would have realised that the 5th one has actually been proven wrong and twilight hasn't gotten the fate of the golden compass and we are all expecting New Moon soon (the second instalment) (yippee. plenty of sarcasm here), though it hasn't gotten terrific reviews i must say. plenty reviewers have been saying that readers would be disappointed with the movies, but we usually are when books are turned into movies, so we'll live.

right now i should apologise to anyone if they were offended by this post or something, but i just felt that some might find it interesting to say the least. hopefully i don't get sued or assassinated for posting this article that criticises twilight. but even though i did add that excerpt in, in no way do i hate twilight and am actually as in love with it as every other one of its readers.

lots of love,
mun

p.s. don't hate me

disclaimer: i do not own the poem below

poetry is a special thing. very few people are able to truly appreciate it (not saying that  i am one of them, though i do enjoy it) and even fewer are able to use it to showcase their innermost feelings.

i am more than certain that everyone has heard of and read some of shakespeares work and some may have even read (and enjoyed)  poetry by other well known poets like robert frost and emily dickinson. but don't you think it's a pity that some heartbreaking poetry by gifted individuals are never given a second glance.

i recently bought a new book (surprise surprise) which is actually a compilation of the best young writers and artists in america. its a collection of essays, stories, poetry and even artwork which are all hauntingly beautiful. all of these writers write about such original things that i have never even dreamed or dared to write myself. below is a poem i found wonderful, beautiful and unique.

Disclaimer

No one knows why Samson fell
for Delilah, why we stand in sandstorms
mixed warm with rising air, believing the surface
soft enough for bare steps when all I
feel is grass weed ripping through my ankles.

We don't remember why Samson slept
in Delilah's lap, why clouds kept reeling in
streams of moisture so that the static
atmosphere stung and why I awoke
with the stars gyrating, gyrating.

No one knows why Delilah didn't care
why eleven hundred shekels was
enough for desert heat to crack
ground into pieces, dust left
on our lids and granules embedded
in the walls of my throat.

We don't know how Delilah felt
when she shaved Samson's braids to the floor,
how the blackness hurt, lights
infiltrated the sky and why I exhale minutes and
sit here still, alleging I see your face

-Ashley Chow

i doubt i'll ever come close to understanding the true meaning hidden deep within these lines but i hope out all of you at least one of you might understand and love this poem as much as i did. still i hope you guys enjoyed it.

lots of love,
mun

p.s. so sorry that when i finally post it's about poetry hope none of you mind.