I considered burying my review in the middle of the blog, just to make you all read the whole thing thoroughly to find it....but, here it is..... It didnt suck, but it wasnt awesome either.
I'm giving it a generous 5.5/10. Now remember, I have NEVER READ THE BOOKS!!! So dont gripe at me with "oh, they forgot this" or "the so & so scene was ruined because this pointless background detail wasnt there". I dont care. I graded it as a movie, and not as a comparison to a piece of literature. It is a movie, I graded it as a movie compared to other movies. I was pretty worried it was going to be gawdaful after hearing responses from people I knew. Of the 6 people I knew in person who saw it prior to me, only ONE gave it any type of positive review. The rest were trashing it hard. Sites like IMDB & Rottentomatoes were in agreement with this assessment of it as well, so I was truly expecting garbage. Maybe thats why it rated higher than 5, because I went in with such low expecations & it overshot them. To me the film has several good pieces which are wrapped around a pile of really dull, dragged out scenes. Some of the smaller characters are a bit too dorky for my liking. Just them saying even a couple words made me roll my eyes. The pudgy little school kid that has a crush on Bella might be the most annoying of the bunch. They shoulda scrapped him all together. I personally did not have the same problems with the acting of the big 3 that others have stated. They arent going to win the academy award, but its fine. I mean if Sean William Scott or Hugh Grant can continue to find employment doing the same character over & over again in movies that arent even connected to each other, than whats the problem with these 3 acting the same as they did in the first film? The supporting cast did a decent job IMO with the limited screen time they generally had. The Volturri looked good image wise, but Michael Sheen & Dakota Fanning were the only two that really made a positive impact on me. If Jamie Campbell Bower had more of a role, maybe he coulda done the same. The rest however... I found most of them too rigid & not smooth enough in delivery. The fight scene was too sped up to enjoy. They needed to slow it down a bit. I realize they are vampires & are really quick, but the audience is only seeing minimal glances of the action & its really frustrating IMO. It was certainly fascinating to see scenes in places I knew, or had been to. That might have given it an extra .2 or so just for the Vancouver element? But overall, it wasnt terrible. I wont go spend $12.50 to see it again, but I could see me watching it down the road again if someone rented it. Its certainly watchable. So that is essentially my review of the movie, spoiler free I hope. Of course Twilight Saga: New Moon is a film that was a big deal to me, as I hounded this film pretty intensely compared to the efforts I usually put in to celeb hounding. Here is a list of top 10 things I learned/appreciated/enjoyed about the New Moon phenomenon being here. - Jackson Rathbone. The man who plays Jasper turned out to not just be a wonderful surprise for interacting with, but perhaps the nicest celeb I have ever met. After 1 of the 100 Monkeys perfornaces here he talked in chilly spring weather for like 15 minutes about anything & everything. Awesome guy who even after that first encounter, kept up his good guy images all the way thru Eclipse even. - Sam Bradley show at Richards On Richards. It was my big payday of the event. It nabbed me my first ever celebrity photo run in a national magazine (sure, it was OK Magazine & I would later blast them for being idiots...but still, it was groundbreaking for me) I also learned to enjoy Sams music leading up to the show & the short amount of time I got to enjoy his performance. It also lead to a cool impromptu sing along by Sam on the street after the show that I thought was all too cool, which later lead to getting a couple Pattinson autographs. So all in all, a very productive night. - Spencer Bell discovering. One of the things Jackson Rathbone told us about that night was Spencer Bell & asked us to donate to his site (link is in my twilight autographs section). It took me awhile after misplacing it, but I finally found the site & have since then enjoyed quite a bit of Spencers music. Sad that there cant be anymore. - Meeting Rob after filming in New West. It was the only set hounding I did in New Moon & it nabbed me the nicest Rob autograph I obtained the whole shoot, and to top it off he did in despite his driver trying to deter him from signing for me. At 6 AM, after a long night of work, Rob came over to a fence & signed for the 5 or so fans who waited it out, while his co-stars left with little more than a wave from a distance. - How it revitalized my celebrity hounding. Because of New Moon, I started hounding celebs a fair bit more over that run, and it still lingers some now. I met a lot more stars in that few months it was here that I had probably met in the past 5 yrs (minus my time at Toronto Film Fest a couple yrs ago) because I just rarely bothered going out. - Twitter strategizing with others to prevent chaos during the Blue Water Cafe cast dinner. After the shenanigans of Punkd images & Lainey Gossip to try & ruin the casts party at the Blue Water Cafe, several of the regulars who were at the scene took action & banded together despite all having different interests in being there. The one thing we all knew was, if it wasnt stopped now, chaos was going to ensue. Within 10 mins of Laineys tweets, 2-4 people had shown up, but no one else did after that & for that, the credit mainly goes to the few fans & myself who worked on creating a smoke screen to assure no one else would try coming down & making it a mob scene. - All the new hotspots I never knew about before. I pass places like Chill Winston often & have occasionally passed Glowbal & Blue Water Cafe, but never really though of them as anything special. Since then I have learned just how often they really have housed notable celebs. - Celebs twitter updates. Before New Moon I barely knew of Twitter. Within a week of it, I had signed up for an account & was using it daily to keep up to date on where people were & more importantly, celebs who tweeted about their every detail. It was vital in giving me good, solid info more times than I probably confessed at the time. Fan updates were 1 thing, but celebs updates were 5Xs better. -The day Kristen Stewart told my friends & I "I dont care". Outside of the Loose Moose one night we chatted with her for a few mins. One of my friends apologized for being there, which Kristen responded that she didnt infact care, understood we have a job to do. She respectfully asked us not to do 1 or 2 things, so we didnt. But for the mostpart, she was understanding that we had a job to do & was fine with it. - The fans. Sure, there is a large portion who are batshit nuts. Odds are a few of you will even read this & say "well, he cant be talking to me". When I see a 40 yr old woman nearly in tears because she met Rachelle Lefevre or a girl probably no older than 12 telling Kellan Lutz she wants his body...well, yeah, THEY are nuts. But I also met quite a few cool, laid back people whow ere just fans & who just wanted to soak up a bit of the experience of them being here. Some of the regulars were the most normal people of the bunch. It amazed me every time someone told me they were from Brazil, Texas, Minnesota, Belgium or Japan. I was just like "wow, you spent your vacation time to come here in the HOPES of seeing one of the cast?". Now granted, I have considered the same thing for my favorite TV show...but I also can combine it with work to offset some of the costs, as well I have a fair bit more knowledge & experience in finding them than Joe fan. But I admired their commitment to an entertainment medium & most of the time, I found most of them to be normal. For all the frustration the New Moon filming here brought me at times, the entertainment, money & memories likely outweight those frustrations greatly. Thats it on New Moon I guess. Next up is Eclipse.....which as we all know, I have a less fond memory of.
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Last week, Eclipse, the 3rd film in the Twilight Saga series, wrapped here in Vancouver. To be brutally honest, I was relieved.
Lets take you back to the beginning when the cast was first in town for New Moon, the 2nd film in the series, coming out in theatres everywhere November 20th. I started this entire venture, NOT LIKING the idea of Twilight. I had never seen the movie & vowed I wouldnt. In the first couple weeks, I even found it easy to justify my disdain for it as the stars we were seeing were few & far between & had been to say the least, unwilling to interact. From KStew staring at us as she walked into the hotel ignoring our requests to RPattz speed walking by us when we picked him out in mid day, they were giving us a negative vibe. The first turning point came when meeting Taylor Lautner for the first time. He was extremely friendly, pleasant, signed everything that was asked of him & I watched as he talked on a fans phone to her friend in another city, just because she asked him to. I wasnt about to run out & see the film just because of that, but I was about to start softening on this cast. Over the next while a variety of actions happened. I called out KStew publically, and she responded by becoming more cordial, cast members befriended the locals, and in general, cast came across as extremely friendly & easy to deal with. We liked them and they seemingly liked us (compared to other entertainers we encounter often who dont show any respect without any prior reason.). After I got my first Kristen Stewart autograph, I conceded that I would infact give the film a chance. She was the one hold out of the primary cast for signing at that point, and now she had signed & in fact done a 180 from what she was like in the early weeks. I rented the film, watched it with a couple friends. Not exactly Casablanca, but a moderately entertaining & watchable movie. I stated at that time I likely could see myself going to see New Moon when it comes out. By the time the filming for New Moon ended, we were seeing the cast almost every couple days, Rob here, Taylor there, Kristen here etc. They were exceptionally good to us & on more than 1 occasion, 1 of those 3 said "I dont care, I know you have a job to do" when we asked for more autographs or a photo. They were finally understanding they had reached a certain level of fame, and had found a happy medium in their lives with dealing with it. I was pro-Twilight by the time they left here at the end of New Moon. In the time between the end of New Moon & the start of Eclipse, a LOT happened in their lives (mostly with Rob & Kristen) & to be brutally honest, I had no idea how much it clearly affected them till I had to deal with them again. They went to Italy where they got their first true big time encounters with paps since their fame had skyrocketed. Oddly enough days before leaving Vancouver, many fans who were not actually here constantly were saying "cant wait for them to leave Van, so they can get a break from all the crazy fans there etc etc etc" only to learn it actually is worse everywhere else. Italy likely stressed them some, but it was NOTHING like what they endured in NYC & LA where they were under 24/7 surveillance. At least in Vancouver, we were only on them at major events & some weekends. The fact that Rob had gone to the same bar about 8-10 times before we ever actually saw him going there tells you just how much they were going out here undetected. They didnt have that luxury anymore. It changed them for the worse. When they came back for Eclipse, we again had a small slump at the beginning. Cast were being elusive. But this time it was not so much because of dumb luck as it was with the crowds waiting. Summer time in Vancouver, and growing hype around this series meant much larger crowds. To top it off, the mentally challenged gerbils in charge of Summit decided in their infinite wisdom to book the ENTIRE cast in 1 place. Imagine whatever your idea of hell is. This is surely what Rob & Kristen felt, if not, the smaller cast members as well. By the 2nd week of production there was about 25 paps in town & on average 30-50 fans waiting in & around the Sheraton Wall Centre hotel. Cast were becoming elusive & quick. Regular casual castmates like Nikki Rieed, Kellan Lutz & Peter Facinelli were out far less this film than the film prior, and Nikki opted to move away from the hotel with Elizabeth Reaser to a different hotel. I never got a chance to ask them why, but by Nikkis new "dont look at me" attitude she spawned in this film, I am guessing it was obviously a "I dont want to be around the hype" change of address. They wanted quiet, so they moved away. My question to Summit. Why the hell didnt you do what you did from the beginning? 3 hotels= moderate crowds most days. 1 hotel= everyone at the same place. It was literally ground zero & the cast were prisoners of their film companies incompetence. It made the fans more desperate, it made the paps more desperate, it made us autograph hounds more desperate. So what happens when you have that much desperation building? Stupidity. With 20+ out of town paps here, the first real uh oh was the night they went to a sushi bar for a cast party. Upon their return, Robs cab went underground, and without hesitation, the out of towners with nothing to lose since they dont live here, followed them in. This was a no-no amongst the regulars, but these out of towners who would onyl stay here for a week or two did not care. This action made the cast even less willing to go out. Soon, sightings were quite rare & it was usually the same couple guys. Kellan in full sprint for a jog. Xavier for a walk. Peter Facinelli out for a short stroll. The big 3 were hiding. Rob, Kristen & Taylor were practically ghosts except for group functions or at the set. Eventually the crowds died out. Ironically it came in the form of Summit growing a functioning brain cell, and it had the added luck of falling right when school was starting. They moved a large chunk of the cast out of the Sheraton to a small, still not completed apartment building a few blocks away called Level. I still remember 2 days before the first people would stumble across it saying to a couple people "I think they have moved them out of here" because it was so rare seeing anyone there. Within a week, all the regulars that were in the know had the new address. Only ones left without that info were the obsessive 24/7 "I cant live without seeing Rob/Taylor" fanatics that were still lurking around the now nearly ghost town like Sheraton. For a couple weeks, there was still moderate crowds around the Sheraton, while us regulars were finally getting a cast that was far more relaxed signing & posing for pics coming out of their new residence, they would sit around there on weekends hoping to see cast when there was only 3 elusive regulars there & occasionally a couple part time cast members. Eventually, even the die hards gave up. For the past month or so of filming the place had practically no one waiting there 5 out of 6 times.... Ironically, it coincidentally was around the same time a few fans were figuring out where the residence was. Soon there was crowds of 8-10 at the residence on any given day. It quickly became the end of the cast going out as often as they were those first couple weeks there. While the focus shifted to the smaller cast members, the likes of Rob & Kristen were finding it easier to get out & were seen often out on the town by fans. Thats something they had not enjoyed since as far back as New Moon production. They had to endure being "caught out" a handful of times, but for the mostpart, they went out with little fanfare... which brings me to why? Why with so much freedom suddenly were they so put off when they were found out? It wasnt just some paps they were trying to evade. Even in moderately calm settings where they would have signed or taken a photo with in NM, they were speedwalking/running away from now. They made people more desperate, and because of that. Stupid actions like the elevator incident happen. I dont endorse what my friend did. But in the same breath, I get somewhat why he did it. Rob & Kristen were giving him no choice. A reasonable reaction to us being there would have been a short, head down walk into the hotel, isntead of the Usain Bolt impression Kristen was trying to pull off everytime she came in. If they had casually walked in, like they had dozens of times in the past, there would not have been the panicked desperation of someone to follow them inside, because they would have been satisfied enough with the 2-3 seconds of them walking in, like the dozens of encounters prior. But when you hastily try to run away, all it does is incite panic into the others. So they feel they need to get something out of this, so they follow inside. Its sort of the same philosophy of what happened at the sushi place weeks earlier. They made a big production about getting the cast out of the restaurant, which included calling in police to escort Rob & Kristen to the garage... a private underground secured garage. They called POLICE in to help them escort them TO A PRIVATE SECURED UNDERGROUND GARAGE??!!!!, because there was 10-12 paps waiting 200 feet away on a sidewalk in the dark. I didnt even get to the pathetic part of this.... THEY WERE IN A SECURE BUILDING!!??? There was no need to drag officers off the street for this. All it did was again, like elevator gate, incite panic in those involved, and when panic is brought in, stupid decisions happen. So what did they do? Panicked & ran in after the cab to the underground. Every stupid action could have been prevented. That includes last weeks cab fiasco (which I still laugh at all the comments of people who have adapted the story to fit their own needs & act like there was a Fast & The Furious type race thru the crowded streets of Vancouver or something). Illogical actions lead to illogical actions. So, the last few memories I have of the Eclipse cast, are primarily negative. Much of the respect I gained for Kristen in New Moon, was lost in Eclipse. I had respect for Rob, now, I am unsure. The rest of the cast became less pleasant as well, with the likes of Kellan literally ignoring 3 girls as he returned to his hotel & not even making eye contact with them, Nikki leaving her place in hoodie tied up and sunglasses at night & giving a shit excuse like "I cant right now" before I even asked her.... which I would have understood if she was late for something. But she literally brushed off 3 people to go across the street & grab groceries, which of course meant she couldnt when she returned. I think much of her attitude comes from Paris though. Others who saw her occasionally when he wasnt around said she was her old friendly self still. I never had such luck after pre-production. It also was not helping sell the movie on me when certain minor stars tell me "I am only allowed to sign 1 & I have to put your name on it". Now if your Rob Pattinson, you can get away with that type of demand without raising red flags. But when you are Cameron Bright, well I really dont find that level of ego acceptable. Of course, its not entirely his fault. Most of it, is the people around him implementing such levels of narcissism. I wont name names, but a certain PARENT to him is a bitch...and its not just me and the regulars here who thinks it. I recently recieved an email from a fan who met him at a function overseas and she was with him there too, and she was no less pleasant to PAYING fans at an official function. Cam is gonna grow up thinking his shit doesnt stink because of his family, and one day hes going to learn they were wrong. The most disturbing part of this is, people from his school who were over here tell us he has the ego at school even. Its cast members who sell the movies....and unsell the movies. Even family members can help unsell a movie. Dont get me wrong. Eclipse still had some class in the cast. Bryce Dallas Howard, Xavier Samuel, Peter Facinelli & Jackson Rathbone were all awesome when they were seen around. Booboo Stewart, Jack Huston, Bronson Pelletier & Chaske Spencer were all great as well in the brief time I saw them. But just like I said during New Moon, when I said I wouldnt see Twilight till Kristen changed her ways. I wont see Eclipse because of the attitudes shown by them here. I'll still go see New Moon. I have good memories of that experience. But Eclipse, no. Its sad for Xavier & Bryce that I wont get to see the film that they did here, the one that they made such a positive influence on me with. For that, they can thank others, namely Kristen Stewart, Summit Entertainment, Stephenie Meyer, Kellan Lutz, and to a lesser extend Nikki Reed & Elizabeth Reaser. I absolutely hope they take Breaking Dawn to Portland. It will be a relief to not have it here. Dont be confused if it goes there either. Its NOT because of security/fans/paps because it will be considerably worse there obviously. It is because of the all mighty dollar. Which is fine, it is a business. But those of you who naively think the Twilight series is moving there because it will be calmer need to get your head checked. Anyone with an IQ higher than single digits & even a minor knowledge of Portland can tell you it will be far far far worse there with a region only about 1/2 the size of Vancouver, closer proximity to the stories roots, and closer proximity to Los Angeles, the media and fan attention on the area will be overwhelming for the cast. Just like when I told you all that Vancouver would be better than Italy, NYC & LA for their privacy, trust me when I tell you, Portland will NOT be better in that aspect. Its just not logically possible. But as we all know, Summit doesnt make decisions in the interest of their stars, they make it in the interest of their pocket book. Which like I said, is fine. it is a business after all. Too bad for them, their business model doesnt include a public relations course for the cast, that might help then sell the movie on possible fans on the fence. Its all fine & dandy to do a mall tour where the actors pretend for a couple hours. You should teach them how to pretend outside the mall as well. Thats where you actually do win over people. The ones lining up for 2+ hrs to see a star will likely go to see the movie regardless. The random encounter with someone at a hotel or restaurant on the other hand, those people likely have not made a commitment to see the movie & the stars can unsell the movie far easier than they can sell the movie to those same people. I started off as not a fan of Twilight, I was won over by the cast of New Moon, and was alienated by the cast of Eclipse. This month, I will go to see the LAST Twilight movie I intend to see from the series. Twilight Tidbits leftovers- Part 4- Kellan Lutz, Bronson Pelletier, and a bit of Pattinson10/29/2009 A few final pics I had lingering around that never got posted back when they were taken.
Kellan Lutz was caught at a different hotel one day. His excuse "I'm doing laundry" which we thought was BS at the time, till he left with 2 bags full of stuff. Apparently the Wall Centre doesnt have a laundry service, but the Sutton does, because thats where he went to do his laundry. This was cemented more later on when we saw the security guard Robert had for a bit walk out 1 day with laundry & came back without it at one point. Two of the hounds wondered if it was Robs laundry, or his own personal laundry. Guess we'll never know lol. Bronson Pelletier came out of the residence (which I guess I can now tell you was at the corner of Seymour & Nelson, called "Level") one day & didnt go anywhere. he literally came out, signed a couple autographs, chatted for a few seconds, then went back inside. Random, but it gave us a chance to get a few pics of him. I know this photo got published a few places already, but it was 1 of the few pics I had run from this shoot. It was Rob, Kristen (can only see her shoes) & Taylor at the Water Street Cafe before the Kings Of Leon show. Just thought I would throw it in there since a few of you wanted some Rob coverage & I had nothing really new to add. I have a pile of Jackson Rathbone pics I need to still sort thru to see what I might post. But essentially, this is the last of the Twilight Sage Eclipse pics. I will do a wrap up blog on this whole phenomenon & my partaking in it, both good & bad later this week or maybe early next week when I have some time. Probably start writing it soon, but it will take a few days to polish up. *SHAMELESS PLUG*- I will probably be posting some Twilight autographs this weekend on ebay, and with any luck, some new stuff not currently in my gallery may make it in there too. So the Twilight Saga Eclipse wrap party was Saturday night at the Vancouver Aquarium.
If it werent for the multiple sources & leaks stating that was the case, and seeing 1 of the 100 Monkeys outside later in the evening, you would never have known. No sign of high name celebs strolling inside thru the front & only minimal amount of fans waiting around the large city block sized building & grounds they had the event at. Security was tight. They escorted any cast that did show up, thru the back, along a massive long driveway that had a nice little tuck away spot at the end to prevent anyone from even seeing who got out of the 3 SUV style trucks that escorted them there. The details on who was in the specific SUVs is unknown by anyone but those in them & any security working right at the doors. Party goers likely didnt even know, till they saw the cast in there who was showing up. I originally stated KStew was there. Conflicting reports have said she was not. I will concede that its POSSIBLE I was wrong, but without verification from someone actually in there who saw everyone, I still stand behind my statement based on what we know from afterwards. I wont get into detailed specifics, because a couple things we learned thru the night might be useful somewhere down the road. But what we can state is, an SUV left the party & returned to the Sheraton, where it unloaded the people that were in it (believed to be 2, possbly 3). My driver, who has eagle eye vision, was certain he saw a w0man with short dark black hair in the side closest to us as it pulled out. I trust his instincts on this, which is why we were certain it was KS, especially considering later events. Later at the hotel, not long after the SUV left with no one in it, a cab left with again, someone fitting KS decription. The cabbie was clearly being instructed to lose us, as he made unneccesary & probably illegal moves in the crowded downtown streets, then did excessively over the speed limit across a bridge. We eventually caught up, only to have the cab stop in the middle of the road & pull a sharp u-turn. We were now convinced the woman we saw in there had to be KS & because of the timing after the drop off from the party, that it had to be the girl my friend saw upon the departure from the party. Is it possible it was 2 different people? A random girl leaving the party with others and going to the Sheraton, then KS coincidentally leaving the Wall shortly after that in a cab? Yes. Logic would dictate they are related events though. Of course, logic isnt always right. While we went on this adventure, our back up team followed the 2nd & 3rd SUVs to leave. He followed them into downtown core where they split up. The one he evetually stuck with, went back to the apartments where Bryce Dallas Howard emerged from it. Who was in the 3rd one?? No one knows. Where did it go?? No one knows. So this was why, I stated KS, BDH & Jackson were the only cast we could confirm. BDH clearly was there. Undeniable, unless she has learned how to teleport. Jackson played with his band there, so that too is undeniable. Was Kristen there? We believe so, but reports claim she wasnt, while others say she was. Was Rob there? Again, conflicting reports. I suspect they were both there, and people only saw 1 or the other at any time, and maybe a couple people saw both & thus why all the confusion with the various claims from the event. Anyways, it was an entertaining evening as I got to speak with a few of the fans & had a few laughs. But productivity wise, yeah, it was bad. Barring any miracles, especialyl since I am fighting off a shoulder problem right now that has me resting as much as I can, that is probably my last hurrah at Eclipse. When I am feeling more up to it- I might put together a quick blog giving my opinions & input on various things about this adventure. Till about 6-8 months ago, I had never heard the name Ted Casablancas, or "Ted C" as others refer to him as. Now, I hear it far too much.
For those who somehow dont know who he is. He is a celebrity blogger for a website called "e online", and one of his staple topics to discuss is Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart. Fair enough, they are hot news & thusly, you would be a fool to not discuss them when its relevant, or factual. The man better known to his friends & family as Bruce Bibby writes stories that he claims "sources" have given him the details on. He will try any angle to get sources too. I should know. An assistant for him named Taryn contacted me once looking for info to confirm details on a story thru imdb. I told her straight out that anything I already have posted on the site she contacted me thru is public knowledge, but that there was nothing more to add privately. It was the last I heard from her. Guess not giving juicy details factual, or exaggerated, didnt sit well with them. Which brings me to my point. Who are their "sources"?? I can vouch that they do infact look for sources. But I cant vouch for the sources they do have. In fact, I question some of their claims & call others outright lies. The blog that has brought up my ire currently is his new insanity filled rambling claiming that he chatted with a Summit source who says the cast is hating it up here in Vancouver because they are stalked relentlessly. Someone is lying here. Its either Mr. Casabibby. Or its "Summit source". One or the other is lying. Has the cast had considerable attention here at times? Sure, compared to you or I. But compared to if it were filmed ANYWHERE else, no. They coulda filmed it in the middle of Northern Saskatchewan. There would only be moderately less attention than its drawn here. In fact, small towns are worse on average. Theres nowhere for cast to hide & everyone in the town is aware they are there, as opposed to bigger cities where only a fraction are aware. After seeing what Mr. Pattinson endured in New York City its undeniable they have it far easier here than in NYC & certainly in pap heavy Los Angeles (where the majority of the paps for this film came from). Perhaps Ted is spot on? I mean his credibility cant possibly be questioned TOO much. I mean this is after all the same person who came to Vancouver on a fact finding mission & JUST HAPPENED to go to a restaurant where Ashley Greene had left her coat the night before & overheard two servers talking about it at a place that they allegedly all go to all the time together. He clearly would NEVER exaggerate anything for a few blog hits. Nope, not at all. Back to the insane bedlam these poor cast members have to endure in the horribly dangerous streets of Vancouver.... Just tonight, I saw 2 Eclipse cast members. Outside of us (5 of us, only 3 with items) wanting autographs as they were leaving, I would wager heavily they didnt even so much as have 1 other person ask them the rest of their night for anything. That means, they endured a total of probably 45 seconds of dealing with fans/paps/hounds. Sure, if was Rob or Kristen, there would be more demands on their time. But as has been attested to by twitter, and news stories, the pair has gone out MANY times in Vancouver, nearly unnoticed. It would NEVER happen in LA or NYC. They would undoubtedly be on 24/7 watch. Thats just how they do it. Early on in the production, the claims of large crowds was valid. The first month of filming, I can verify that crowds sometimes reached 40+ people waiting around the hotel that Summit foolishly booked the entire cast in (doubt they make THAT mistake again). It was a perfect storm. Entire cast in 1 location + great weather = large crowds. Once they moved the cast minus Rob, Kristen & Taylor to a new locale, the crowds died out...conveniently, as school started as well. Now, there is NO ONE waiting at their hotel & often no more than 2-4 people at the rest of the casts residence. Hardly rabid crowds of fans & paps that the blog claims are tracking them down. When Rob was in NYC for Remember Me, I recall hearing countless reports of crowds far larger than that waiting at his hotel & places to unwind there. Kristen had some attention while she filmed The Runaways in LA as well. Infact, Vancouver has been, well, quiet. For the mostpart. They have been here around 3 months. Out of that 3 months, LESS THAN TWO WEEKS did the paparrazzi tally reach double digits. Sure, for a few days it was bedlam with 25 or so paps there & 20+ fans around. No denying that. Even 1 specific cast member who braved it & went out one day told us they were told not to go out if they didnt have to because there was so many people. But, that only lasted for so long. By week 3, the pap total was back under 10, the fan total was on weekdays down to 3-5 & weekends maybe 10-15. By the start of September, when school was back in & summer vacations were over. The pap total was dwindling more & some days you could walk by the hotel & see no one waiting. These days, theres nothing more than the regular hounds & paps out. The same regulars the cast freely wandered by without concern during New Moon production...but because of hysteria set on them by whoever (maybe Summit?) they opt to hole up in their places of residence still, despite crowds usually numbering in totals that could be counted on 1 hand. I have walked by the Taylor, Rob & Kristen hotel several times in the past few weeks. With the exception of ONE time that I saw 2 girls hanging out there who were clearly fans, I dont recall seeing ANYONE who I clearly without question was sure were there for the purpose of seeing cast members. The place is a ghost town. Rob & Kristen go out often now. Its just rarely known because no one is there detailing every moment. We as a whole, have better things to do. Is Rob & Kristen worth chasing? Sure. Reality is though, there is smaller fish, who are easier to catch in town. With hockey season on, more than 1/2 the autograph community has dropped Twilight hounding all together, and the few of us that still do, only do it as secondary stuff when hockey isnt on. Theres also other productions going on with Supernatural, Fringe, Smallville, A-Team, Sucker Punch & various other productions in town that are far more accomodating. So people opt for those instead. Rob & Kristen, for the mostpart, go unnoticed now compared to 2 months ago. This article Ted wrote is either complete bullshit that he made up so that he had something Twilight related to blog about. OR. Its on information thats 2 months old. Two months ago, some of these claims were valid. Now?? Its not. Maybe Teddy boy should have verified the info. With the exception of a couple events where the regulars expect the cast to be, rarely do people spend their nights waiting around for the cast to go out anymore. Last couple weekends I havent even left my house, because there was no hot tips to check out. Its not worth the time to most, especially in this weather, to sit outside for 2-10 hours on a hope of seeing them. The absolutely outrageously ridiclous suggestion by Mr. Bibblanca that the production for Breaking Dawn will leave Vancouver, Canada for Portland, Oregon (where things will obviously be worse...and if they DONT realize it still, Summit is run by morons) because of the attention they are getting here is to say the least, stupid. BD wont leave Vancouver for Portland because of a desire for privacy, because we all know it will be much worse. They are going to leave because of MONEY, the only thing Summit has & ever will care about. If it is in Portland, things will be 10Xs worse, its simple logistics, smaller town + growing hype + no borders for a larger section of fans to cross + closer to LA = MUCH smaller fishbowl for the fishes....and Summit (should) knows this.... and so should Ted. Apparently, Ted doesnt. Which really, seems to be the problem with him quite often. His sources, at least for Twilight, are crap. Obviously by now, you have all seen the Rob & Kristen argument vid. If you have not, then I dont know how or why you came to find my blog.
The night starts further back. It starts back at like 7 PM when 3 or 4 hounds & paps were waiting at the residence with myself. At that time we were considering going to check out a red carpet event for the VIFF that apparently Jodelle Ferland & Daniel Curmore were scheduled to attend. This was the plan for a couple hours, infact it was the plan right up until I was ready to leave when things changed. Before we were about to leave I went for a short bathroom break. While doing so I got a call telling me Sam Bradley, Robs good friend was playing a short set at a fashion show, and that this was going to happen in less than 20 mins. I got back to where I was & was simply going to tell my friends "I gotta go" since theres an understanding that sometimes, no matter how good of friends you are, you cant share certain info if its someone elses. Ironically this would bite me in the butt again a bit later. So guess turnabout is fair play. Before I had a chance to leave I found out they too had the info. So with the cat out of the bag, we all left for this event. When we got there we found out the event was small & frankly, not a Rob type of environment. But, we sat on it incase. Afterall, this was Sams last night in town before he started a large 2 month tour. & we suspected Rob was going to see him at some point. The show ended & Sam left with his gf. No Rob. We then decided at that time to see if we could generate any leads & left the scene. Shortly after, I got a text from one of the various fans that ask ME for info usually. In it she asked if I had heard anything of the cast being in Kits. I had not & phoned her back to hear if she had more info on it. But got no reply. So I decided it wasnt overly worth pursing yet since thats a large area to cover & with no exact lead, not enough to go on. We decided to break into 2 units out of the group I was with at the time. We scoured the Gastown & Yaletown areas & some of the other notable hotspots. We were still empty & my friend decided to take a chance & check out the Kits lead. We scoured the area. Ironically, we didnt plass the 2-4 block stretch where they would be. After deciding there was nothing to go on immediately, we sat down & grabbed a bite to eat when we got a call from the other car "hey, have you heard of a place called Pinkys" he asked. The guy I was with, living near there had & we headed out for it immediately. Upon arriving I saw all the familiar faces there. Including someone who I had tried calling a couple times to see if he knew something, only to get his answering machine (remember the whole turnabout fair play thing.?). It was definitely the place. The place, Pinkys Steakhouse. We didnt have long to wait as we were some of the last people to show up for the event. Shortly afterwards Sam & a female were leaving. Got to admire Sam. Super class act. Even though he KNOWS why everyone is there, he still treats everyone with respect. Lots of friends of major celebs would scowl & look down at you. He truly is a great guy & its for this reasoN I actually hope he succeeds. Because he deserves it. We had a short chat about his tour & going overseas & he was excited to be going. Then he gave one final nod & left in a cab. Not too much longer after, John came out. Again, breif chat. He said their night was going well, chit chatted about the weather breifly, then it was time. The cab arrived & Rob would lead the charge. I had a great position & if I would just get it thru my head that situations like this are likely to generate little ot no autograph possibilities, maybe I would eventually clue in & just photograph or videotape. But I went for an autograph again. It wasnt going to happen. They beelined for the cab. Rob, Kristen & random woman who I have seen various people ID as Stephanie Ritz, but I myself cant confirm this, since I dont know what she looks like. The cab was leaving & the parade of vehicles were in pursuit. My driver was the lead car & had them from the word go till the final destination. On the drive there Kristen was repeatedly checking to see who was following. I've never seen her act so off about this. My friend even said during the drive "shes never like this". It was odd. Eventually we arrived at the hotel. We pulled over hastily & got out. No less than 4 people follwed up onto the property. Myself & my driver were a bit back & breifly caught them going in, while the other driver followed them right in. I'm not going to get into a 10 paragraph debate on right vs wrong of the situation. He even admits he hated doing it, so the level of unacceptable has certainly been set. My driver & myself went no closer than the doors, while he went right in & videotaped them waiting to get ont he elevator & of course, having the breif argument. The argument. Its why some of you are reading this. So here it is. It had nothing to do with the two random people that were there around the same time. Frankly, no idea what they were doing there. 1 of them gets in with R&K, so I dont even know if they were together, since the other one appears to leave. Quite weird & random & more importantly, irrelevant to the discussion. What you hear Rob say is "I'm sorry I paused.." This was undeniable. Oddly, I dont think I saw a single person say that in all the replies I saw places about the vid. Probably because people wanted it to mean more, or because arguing about pausing seems odd. Kristen replies "Can we just wait..". the second part there was disagreemnt over. " & do this in the elevator please?" or "till these people are on the elevator please?" I'm convinced it was the first, one of my friends thought it was the latter. In either case, kristen is basically saying in her own way "not right now Rob, people are here". It took awhile to figure it out, because we didnt get what they were talking about. What was he apologizing for? Perhaps we are wrong is our assumptions about the arguing point, but the dialogue was clear. Our assumption (all assumption at this point) is Kristen was annoyed at missing an elevator because she did her best Usain Bolt impersonation, while Rob casually looked to saunter at first, then realized he was supposed to be running. Seems silly by itself, but you can see Kristen was apparently in a bad mood & this annoyed her. When I posted that I called it "interesting material" people jumped to all sorts of conclusions. It is interesting, because you never see them publicly aruging like this. Personally, I was uncomfortable with seeing it because it was too personal of a moment. The videographer as well was unsure what to do. But he opted to sell it, as reality is, money is money. I can tell you he certainly does feel bad about it & I know many of you will debate how he can feel bad if it he did it blah blah blah etc. But people do things everyday they might not be happy about, have a choice NOT to do it, but still do....including most of you. The video will likely be spun by everyone to fit their needs. People who are pro-Robsten will say how its proof they are together because only people dating would argue over such a small thing. People anti-Robsten will say its just two friends having an argument. People against paps will point how this is an invasion of privacy. People who hate Kristen will say its proof shes a bitch. People who hate Rob will say how hes a pussy for letting Kristen walk all over him, blah blah blah. Stark reality is, NO ONE but Rob and Kristen...and maybe the other person that was with them in the cab, knows what the entire dispute was. Did we literally just hear 2 lines of a 10 min argument? Or was it literally a 5 second letting off of steam & forgotten by them? More importantly, who cares? I'm only discussing it because I was there & saw the vid before it was released & we debated over whether it should be put out or not. Otherwise my blog would have ended 4 or 5 paragraphs ago. Its not like they were arguing about a drug deal or where they hid a body. It was about "pausing". Seems really pointless, and if it were not for the over-analytical fanbase of this couple, it would be NOTHING. But because so many fans live vicariously thru "Edward & Bella" this matters to them...and because of that, this video is out there. Gossip cop & whoever else runs it are even MORE to blame. They bought it. They paid money for the material. Sorry this wasnt posted sooner, but I really didnt think there was anything profound in it worth rushing to get it up. Its a few seconds ro Rob leaving in the cab at the Backstage Lounge show where Bobby Long was performing last week. Early on you hear the now infamous "Kristen you're a bitch" comment. Hearing it from where I was standing NOW, I have no doubt Kristen might have heard it as well. I was on the opposite side right near the drivers window & you can hear it quite clearly on my audio. Anyways, nothing overly amazing about the vid outside of that & the breif blips of Rob you see when he was lit up. But I know you all wanted to see some Rob...so here it is. |
About meI occasionally argue with inanimate objects, but I usually win. So its all good. Archives
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