I survived it, but...

So... In keeping with the time-honored tradition of spoiling my little sister, I sucked it up and took her to see Twilight, this evening, because she really wanted to see it and had just become free from a grades-related grounding. It actually was not as horrible as I thought it would be (I suspect because I didn't have to put up with Meyers' prose, which from what I've seen of it is... not to my taste, let's say...) It was rather like the above picture--fluffy, cute, and about as vampiric. Pretty visuals, lots of eye-candy of both genders. I generally liked the interaction between the characters, though there are a couple of things...

1. (And I know a lot of you are with me on this one...) Oh, the sun doesn't kill 'em? Just makes 'em shiney? Um... NO. Nonononono... No. Everybody say it with me... VAMPIRES ARE NOT SPARKLEY!!!

2. The whole love portrayal... Not really workin' for me. Yummy scent=/=Love. Yummy scent=Pheromones. Phereomones=Lust. Lust=/=Love. Lust=10 minutes of squelching noises (if that). And then, of course, there's the whole vampiric thirst for blood. So, essentially, he wants to hump his Big Mac, and his Big Mac thinks he's pretty fine himself, but of course that would make the Big Mac soggy and too-salty and nobody wants that.

Lust is what happens when you see a person a couple of times in Biology Class and think about their pretty eyes, have wild monkey-sex fantasies about them, and want to ask them out (or, you know, stalk them). Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with lust (aside from the stalking). It's a healthy, human thing (when it doesn't involve stalking). It's just not Love, is all.

When you know a person, right down to their birth-date, their allergies, their strengths and weaknesses. When you have seen them at their best and at their very worst, and either way are still happy to be around them and want to see them happy and fulfilled... That is Love.

Distinct difference.

Now, I'm not saying lust can't lead to love, given the right circumstances. But I really get tired of people thinking the two are instantly equivalent. That's not the way it really works, and--not to sound like a fogey, here--I think it's a bad idea for it to be promoted as much as it is among young people. How many people (guys and girls) never grow out of buying into it, even as they get hurt again and again? It also bothers me that almost every one of the Lust=Love movies out there ends in Happily Ever After. Again, not realistic. Things like that have all of these people growing up thinking:

a.) If I Lust/Love them, they must Lust/Love me.
b.) If they don't, or if it doesn't work out, there's Something Wrong/I'm a Failure as a Human Being, etc.

And I'm not saying "they can't make movies like that anymore!" I don't believe in censorship. But it does worry me that this kind of thing has saturated our culture so completely. You want a romance that's actually likely? Go watch Annie Hall.

...Which I'm going to have my little sister watch as soon as I get a copy...

New niftiness

A few weeks ago, when branadain and Rachel came up to visit last, we went looking at shops, and I snagged a cool bracelet with an octopus on it. (I call it my Lovecraftian Bling.) I don't really have much by way of bronzish things. (Nearly all of my jewelry tends toward silver.) So, I made a necklace to go with it. The pic isn't good enough to really show it, but some of the beads have a decidedly tentacle-ish design to them. ^_^

Hmmm...

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Research by forensic anthropologist Martin Jarvis suggests that Johann Sebastian Bach's wife probably wrote some of his music. Anna Magdalena didn't get the recognition she deserved because "women were not allowed to take credit for composition" in the 18th century. I expect a comparable theme to emerge in your own life, Pisces. A source that has operated behind the scenes may come forward. A helper who has not previously been given proper due could be acknowledged. A woman whose good work has been obscured by sexism or a man whose efforts have been distorted by injustice might rise up and claim her or his rightful place.

Well, this'll be interesting to watch unfold... There are a couple of situations where the woman could be me, but beyond that, this has my curiosity up... :-?