Amy J. Bennett

Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life

Thankful Thursday

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Wow, what a crazy year since last Thanksgiving!  So many fun things happened and so much to be thankful for!

  • One Tree Hill Blog and all of its crazy success.  Hard to believe it hasn’t even been a year since it started.  So many things I’ve learned, so many people I’ve met and some pretty decent side income to boot.
  • Hot Blogger Calendar.  So much fun to be nominated.  Got an amazing girls-only weekend to New York and got to meet some great people.
  • Trip to Wilmington for my birthday with my family.
  • Wonderful and much needed anniversary trip to Asheville.
  • All the fun Twilight stuff I won.  And yes, I’ll be cheesy and say I’m thankful for Stephenie Meyer and all this is Twilight.  It’s made me happy.
  • All the great coupon/sales I’ve done at the stores.  What a blessing to our family and many other families.
  • Our jobs.  So many people are struggling and ours have remained steadfast.
  • My friends.  Those IRL and online.  I seriously get emotional when I think about all my friends.  They mean so much to me and when I’m lucky enough to spend time with them, I’m so thankful.  This year I’ve been able to do quite a bit of it and loved every minute.
  • My girls.  Another precious year with them.
  • My family.  I’m so thankful that I have a family that loves God and loves me and my family.  I really do not know what I would do without them.
  • My husband in particular.  He’s a good man with a good heart that loves God and I love him for that.  So thankful we’re on the same page.  Not every husband and wife are.  And yes, I’m even thankful for his OCD tendencies that drive my batty.  It keeps the dishwasher going.
  • All of our worldly goods (you know, those worldly “needs” that Scott endowed to me during our wedding vows).  This year we have been able to buy and do so many things.  It’s kind of ridiculous…hardwood floors, cars, washer and dryer, all kinds of electronics, clothes, furniture.

I hope you see how good God has been to us.  As I said in another post, I don’t know why He’s picked us to give all the fun stuff to but I’m so thankful.  Don’t forget to give thanks for whatever God has given you even if it doesn’t make sense right now!

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Chris Evans – New fake boyfriend material

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Since being at the theater three times in the past week or so not only have I been watching Twilight, I’ve been seeing the same previews over and over.  And one I always look forward to is the upcoming movie Push starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning.  Let me just say here that if the Cullen family (Twilight) went and did a superhero/sci-fi movie, this would be it.  Chris’ character can move things, Dakota’s can see the future, one guy is a shield.  I actually wondered if it was a rip-off.  ANYWAY.  I thoroughly enjoy seeing Chris Evans, formerly of Fantastic Four, which I never saw.  And he has the potential to be on my fake boyfriend list.  A few pictures should rest my case.

Um. yeah.

Thanksgiving Weekend Plans

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Today I was so happy to get off of work at 2:30 and started my four (and a half) day weekend early.  Scott had gotten the Christmas stuff down today so we spent the rest of the day doing that.  It feels really good to have everything up and now I don’t have to worry about it during the weekend.  Although I have to say it feels a little weird to be looking at my Christmas tree even before Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow morning Heather and I plan to start our shopping early as CVS opens at 7am and is starting their Black Friday sales early.  I spent a good part of this evening clipping and printing coupons and they are all nicely stacked and ready to go by the door when I sleepily roll out of bed to meet Heather.  This better be some good Colgate toothpaste I’m losing sleep for.

Lunch will be spent at Mom’s and dinner will be at Scott’s family’s.  I’m sure I will be on family overload by tomorrow evening.  Plans are sketchy for the weekend as Scott is working.  I do know I didn’t go to see Twilight tonight with Scott’s cousin and she wants to go this weekend so surprise, surprise, I might spend some time at the theater this weekend.  Melissa and I also have plans to meet up to talk about our books at some point which I am completely looking forward to.

So basically I don’t have anything spectacular (family and friends, not that YOU’RE not spectacular) planned and I think I’m a-ok with that 🙂

Book Meme

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Did someone say Twilight?  Oh, I think Sarah did when she tagged me for this book meme!

The directions on this one are very unique directions: find the book closest to you, turn to page 56, and type in the fifth sentence plus a couple more after that.

She guessed I would have Twilight closest to me but in fact, I had Stephenie Meyer’s other book The Host closest to me (well, TECHNICALLY I had a stack of about 10 children’s book closest to me but they have no page 56).

So I hope I don’t spoil myself by reading this since I’m still on page 1

Laughing at me.  I turned my back to her and concentrated on calming myself. I tried to pretend she wasn’t there.  That I was all alone in my austere kitchen, staring out the window into the little patch of night sky, at the three bright stars I could see through it.

Oh, I just love Stephenie and all her tiny details!

Chat with Twilight Director Catherine Hardwicke

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Chatting with catherine hardwicke!! on TwitPic OK, that’s a really bad picture of what I was doing this evening.  And if I could ever find my Flip video I would have recorded the whole thing for you but I’ll do the best I can.  I do have about 2/3 of the audio recorded that I can post as well.

We had I think 37 people in the chat.  Several web site operators, several winner and then some Summit people.  Catherine got on about 7:20 and stayed until about 8:05. She seemed genuinely sad that her time was up and even looked at her watch and asked that another question be allowed.

She was very, very down to earth.  She was eating a “celebratory cupcake” when she first got on.  You could tell she really wanted feedback from the fans and felt like she was talking to herself.  She even suggested they use Skype next time.  She seemed really into interacting with the fans.

So here are the questions as best as I can (this is DEFINITELY summaries and DO NOT QUOTE ME):

I want to be a film director, what advise do you have? She stressed a lot of research and a lot of filming.  Shoot a film and do everything even adding a title, doing the credits, etc.  She also suggested UCLA where she went, UT, USC or NYU.

What went through your mind after the success of this weekend? She said her smile just got bigger and bigger.

Why did the I love you between Bella and Edward get cut? She said they did have a scene where they said it but it got cut.  But she feels like they said it in so many other ways…”you are my life now”.

How many takes did the kissing scene take? Eight total.  She mentions that it was steamier than what Stephenie wanted and that’s why they ended up using the closeup scenes.  Also she mentions Rob ended up looking like he was in excrutiating pain at times and had to tone him down.

Why did they shoot the ballet scene first? Cam (James) got another job and they only had three weeks.

What is the most extreme thing she has seen a fan do? She ran into someone on Saturday at 5 who said she had already seen the movie eight times.  She told her to go home!

What scene from Midnight Sun is on the DVD? She wanted us to guess but it is partly in Midnight Sun and partly in Twilight where Stephenie describes what Edward wanted to do.  (we were assuming when he wanted to kill everyone in the classroom)

This was one of my questions!!  Why didn’t you let Rob use his British accent? Because Edward didn’t have a British accent and Rob does an ok but unique (can’t remember her exact description) American accent.

Team Edward, Team Jac0b and Team Switzerland? She was Team Jac0b while reading the books because she was fighting for the underdog but once she started the movie, she switched to Team Edward so she could really get into it.

Why is Radiohead in the movie but not the soundtrack? They had already released it for free so they didn’t see a need.  She answers another question later that it is her favorite song from the movie as well.

Was the book on hand during the movie? A resounding yes!  She had lots of stuff marked and flagged.  They referred to it all the time.

Whose idea was Stephenie’s cameo? She mentioned getting the idea from a previous movie she had done and she felt like Stephenie had to be in there because she is the Queen of Twilight.

Were you there when Stephenie saw it? Yes and she was very nervous but Stephenie liked it a lot.

They had heard about Edward initially having long hair.  Why? She says she finds men with long hair sexy.  It was going to be long and wild and crossed timelines. [amy here – I heard that Rob fought this and it was left out–thank goodness]

How many takes did it take for Stephenie’s cameo? Two or three but only because they had to move the cameras and work on the timing.

What future film do you want to do? I think she talked about having a lot of stuff she’d like to do but mentioned The Monkey Wrench Game

Why wasn’t the blood type biology scene included? She said they considered it but they already had two biology scenes so it would have been repetitive and Edward had already rescued her enough.

Who will be at the UK premiere? Rob, Kristen and her.  She seemed really excited and wondered who else would be there.

Why didn’t you actually use the Town of Forks? She seemed really heartbroken about this and said she visited there and ate there and loved it and the high school was so great about sending jackets and stuff but ultimately it was cheaper to film in Portland, Oregon.

Were there any accidents during filming? Yes, Rob hurt is groin.  They had to get a professional masseuse on set [amy here – where can I get THAT job??].  She laughed and said Rob said “it was a very sensual massage”.  Also the stunt guy who fell down into the floorboards in the ballet studio suffered a concussion.

Whose idea were the owl wings behind Rob in Biology? Hers.  She had seen a picture of a boy and an eagle flying behind him where it looked the same and used the same idea.

What was her favorite line from the movie and book? Both were “Don’t Move” from the kissing scene

Were there any threats that the film would be leaked and how were they handled? Yes, there were.  She said normally they get a group of about 300 people to view it and give feedback but this time they did a few small “friends/family screenings”.  They all had to swear to secrecy and leave a drop of their blood (she was joking about all they had to do ).  She had them write down their feelings and she took that back and figured out how to change the film to make the experience better.

How does she feel about the adult fanbase? She feels like age doesn’t matter.  Romeo and Juliet wasn’t written just to be enjoyed by people their age.  Anyone can appreciate a love story.  She told a story about a a 90 year old woman at her mom’s church says Edward is her new beau. [so cute!]

How did the DVD commentary go on Monday? She put her head down and said it was a disaster.  She says they all had no idea what to talk about and were just making fun of each other.  She apologized and hoped it wasn’t too bad for the fans.

What about deleted scenes for the DVD? One is one of Kristen’s favorite scenes where she asks about her number being up and he says your number was up the first time we met.  [squeeee]  Also there are some sexy scenes with James and Victoria.

Someone heard there were scenes with Bella, Rosalie and Alice in the bathroom..are they on the DVD? She said they ran out of time and didn’t even get to film that.

I was really happy with all the questions even though only one of mine got answered!  I think she did a great job getting through so many!  I will work on getting the audio uploaded!

Sorry, had to remove the audio.

My non-novel

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OK, I’m writing a book.  There.  I said it.  I blame it solely on her and I’m sure she’s very happy about it.  I could write a novel about my non-novel…why I actually call it my non-novel, how it started, what it’s about, the scene that started it all, the post the sealed the deal for me, the characters, the brainstorming plot sessions with Scott of all people, the writing session Melissa and I had that was so much fun and all the other ones we have planned, the late nights, the research and all that.  But then it might seem like I’ve put too much on my plate again and partially explain why my blog has been so slow lately and I wouldn’t want to fess up to that.

So for now you just get that I’m writing a book.  Like, I actually have the whole story in my head and I honestly think it has the potential to be a really good dramatic story.  So much so, that I don’t feel like I’m a good enough writer to tell the story.  And while I don’t expect to get published (although I do want it bound if I ever finish it) or any movies to get made out of it, I am looking forward simply to the satisfaction of typing in the words ‘The End’ on that last page.  Or maybe I’ll take a page from one of Emma’s reading books and type “STOP.  This is the end.”  In fact, I think I will just because I can.  Cause guess what?  I’m writing a book.