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27
Nov

Happy Thanksgiving

categories Thanks    

I do not know how it is in other countries, but in the United States the Christmas holiday season more or less causes mass chaos for the general public.  This is because the general public has toe moss for brains.  If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is enter into any major toy store and watch full-grown, normally mentally stable adults shopping for Christmas presents for their children.  The adults will do everything in their power to ensure that their children have the latest in child entertainment technology, including but not limited to cold-blooded murder.  This in spite of the scientifically-proven fact that your regular average child installed in your average American family prefers playing with the packaging that the toy came in over the toy itself.  Just ask anyone above the age of forty to recount "The Cabbage Patch Kid Hysteria of 1983". You will get war stories so terrifying and unbelivable you would think you were listening to a work of fiction.  But you wouldn’t be.  Those things actually happened.

To this day, I fear the Cabbage Patch Kids because of the flashbacks.

Still, there is one becon of opportunity for those of us here in the United States which, if we are lucky, allows us to redeem ourselves, if only by the fact that it allows us to draw our attention away from buying stuff for others and focusing completely and solely on ourselves.  That becon of hope is, of course, Thanksgiving.  Not many people realize this, but the term "Thanksgiving" has its roots in the latin terms Than, meaning "appreciation", and ksgiving, meaning "for all the food that someone else prepared and on which we are about to gorge ourselves".  Of course, only in America could we come up with a holiday that actually encourages us to become slovenly pigs (as if we’re not that way any other day of the year).

Some people have become transfixed with the idea that Thanksgiving is an opportunity for us to sit down and ruminate on all of the blessings that we have received throughout the year.  To not only ponder those blessings but be thankful for them as well.  Then gorge ourselves on turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Even if you aren’t the type to consider your gifts, most of us do take this opportunity to express kindness and goodwill to one another.  We would like to continue with that particular tradition.  From all of us here at Twilight Teez, we wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving.  We do hope you will take this opportunity to consider everything that you have received and to take special care to thank those who have made an especially considerable difference in your lives.  We want to take a moment to thank in particular those who are currently serving our country in one capacity or another and may be away from their families as we head into this holiday season.  You have our honor and our support.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and no matter where you are, we hope that you will be safe and always remember that Slovenly Pigs would be an excellent name for a rock band.

-Brian

25
Nov

What Twilight Character Are You?

categories Twilight Books, Twilight Movie    

Find out here.

I’m Emmett.  That’s way cool because Emmett is my favorite out of the guy vampires.

-Brian

24
Nov

Twilight Teez Movie Pictures

categories Twilight Books, Twilight Movie    

As I said earlier, Mrs. Schadeboy and I went to go see the Twilight movie during a midnight showing last Thursday.  We went to the Megaplex 20 in the Salt Lake City area (can’t remember exactly which city we were actually in).  Here are some photos from the event.


The theater in which we witnessed history.

Here is a photo of some of the peopel waiting to get into the prom party that was being held prior to the movie showing.  Notice the Twilight movie poster in the back.  You could have your picture taken there for a mere $10.00.  Like a sort-of red carpet thing, you know?


More folks waiting in line for the prom.  Note, not everyone wore prom equipment.

 


The two images above show a group of folks who were selling a number of Twilight-related items, and had several contests going.  The prizes included Bella’s Engagement Ring and Bella’s Bracelet.


Mrs. Schadeboy happily shelled out some dough to sport the latest in Twilight-related apparel.

So that was our experience.  As we said, we loved the movie.  Mrs. Schadeboy has been listening to the soundtrack over and over and over for the last four days.  She and I have already made it our intention to take our two oldest children to see the show very soon.  Maybe even this coming weekend.

I’m glad to hear that New Moon is being made.  That will only serve to keep the Twilight phenom going for at least another year.

-Brian

21
Nov

Twilight Movie Update

categories Twilight Movie    

My wife and I had the opportunity to attend a midnight premiere of the Twilight Movie.  I don’t have time right now to post anything significant about it right now, as I am about to go to a conference.  But I do have time to say that the movie did not disappoint.  I’ll post a complete synopsis of the event leading up to the premiere (with photos) along with my commentary on the movie itself later.  There will be no spoilers, and I ask that we hold off on posting spoilers here until everyone’s had a chance to see the movie.

Update: I’m sure this doesn’t come as a shock to anyone, but I thought I’d mention that New Moon has been officially green-lit by Summit Entertainment.  I’m sure you already knew about this, but as with many things like this, I don’t care.

-Brian

6
Nov

Remembering Michael Crichton

categories Not Twilight Related    

I am sad to report that on November 4, 2008, one of my favorite authors passed away.  Michael Crichton is responsible for such bestsellers as Jurassic Park, Sphere, Congo, and more recently the mesmerizing novels Prey, State of Fear and Next.  I understand he has a new book that is slated for release soon, but I’m not sure about the title. 

I credit Mr. Crichton for helping me to revitalizing my interest in reading as an adult.  I would say probably his most famous and well known title is Jurassic Park, thanks in large part to the blockbuster movie of the same name.  My interest in his works came from this movie as after watching the film i wanted to read the novel that inspired it.  About this same time (1993), I was working for a medical imaging firm which had me flying all over the country.  Long flights (before the days of portable media players and high-end notebook computers) meant I had to wile away the hours by sleeping, watching the in-flight movie (if available), listening to my portable CD player (no MP3s or iPods back then) or read a good book.  I figured since I enjoyed Jurassic Park  (the novel) so much, I’d see what other books Mr. Crichton authored.  I blazed through nearly his entire collected works during those flights.  I’d pick up one book at the Tucson airport for my outbound flight and have it read by the time of my return flight, at which time I’d get another one of his books and read it on the way home.

Michael Crichton was a viscious story teller.  I am using the word "viscious" as I would use the term "amazing".  His yarns of well-researched facts combined with just the right amount of fiction would enthral me, and often times I would finish his books wondering if the story I just read could actually happen in real life.  Indeed, his stories are often so realistic that you worry that maybe they actually give people inspiration to TRY what he just wrote about.  Genetics, nanotechnology, bio-engineering, time travel, industrial espionage and even global warming were often topics of discussion in his books.  He introduced me to the Techno-thriller genre, and has inspired me to incorporate a level of realism in my own stories that I had never aspired to before.

Mr. Crichton died on November 4, 2008 after a courageous battle with cancer.  He was an advocate of knowledge and research.  Many of his novels, even his works of fiction, are often accompanied by pages and pages of cited works showing the research that he did on the topic in the book.  He was also an advocate of Global Warming, although not necessarily in the way you might expect.  As his book State of Fear suggests, and as I myself tend to agree with, Global Warming is happening.  However it is not the sole responsibility of mankind but a natural part of the Earth’s cycle (indeed, there is evidence that suggests that the Earth is entering a state of "Global Cooling").  Michael Crichton was a doctor of medicine as well as an engaging story teller.  He was the one of the creators of the hit television series ER, and many of his books have been made into movies.  A complete list of his works can be found on his web site at www.michaelcrichton.com.

I encourage anyone who enjoyed Stephenie Meyer’s work to take a look at Mr. Crichton’s work as well.  I’ll admit that some of his novels are not good reading for anyone under the age of…oh…80 (Rising Sun and Disclosure), but most of his works are pretty tame.  He does have a tendancy to use profanity, but I don’t feel that it is over the top or out of place considering that it’s only in dialog.  Nothing that one would not hear in your day-to-day activities.

And so I bid one of my favorite authors a fond farewell.  Thank you for your contributions to our world, Michael Crichton.  You will be missed.

-Brian

1
Nov

Advanced Tickets On Sale!

categories Twilight Movie    

Tickets for TWILIGHT are now on sale!  Buy them now on Fandango.com, and you’ll get a code for a free, exclusive iTunes download of "Bella’s Lullaby (Remix)".*

Click on the banner above or to the right (at the bottom of the page) to look for showtimes and buy advanced tickets, then follow the simple directions to redeem your free remix.

Showtimes will continue to be added to theaters in your area, so check back if you don’t see any at your local theater.

*Offer available through 12/7/2008.  Codes expire 1/7/2009.