— witsandnuts

Archive
Twilight Peeks

creative swap goodies from bembites

Wednesday of last week started so right. The creative swap haul sent by my partner arrived. Immediately I munched on the galletas (that little pack of bread-crackers, that’s how we call it in Laguna). It reminded me so much of my late grandparents. I remember they normally dip that in black coffee. I also got banana chips, a tri-color yarn, handmade stickers (I’m using soon), and of course that neatly wrapped big surprise. When I read her letter, I really thought she read my mind.

letter

She wrote,

“Since you love to travel and you love shoes, I made a shoe bag for you to put your beloved shoes inside when you are on the go….

shoe bag

…and to make it more special, I also made a shoe stuffer so your shoes won’t be deformed while traveling.”

As I told her (in the email), I was thinking of making/buying a shoe bag and stuffer. These came just in time.

shoe bag 2
(The shoe bag and shoe stuffer. Minus the shoes. I was just trying to fit in my current favorite pair.)

Further, she wrote,

I hope you’re a Twilight fan because I named this “The Twilight Shoe Companion”.

Ang galing! The color and fabric aptly matched my Twilight shoes. Yes, this pair is still alive. :)

twilight companion

Thank you again, Bem. And it made me feel more special and luckier when I learned who became your assistant while working on this one.

Creative Swap is hosted by Caryn.

Share/Save/Bookmark

Read More

Twilight comparison
(At first glance)

I bought the Twilight DVD from a record bar in Abu Dhabi a week before the package came. Included in the package is a surprise Twilight DVD my closest cousin got from one of the record bars in Metro Manila. I watched it as if that’s the first time I’m seeing it. Lol.

But the moment I opened it and rolled the first disc for the first 10 minutes, that’s when I concluded something’s wrong. What you don’t know won’t hurt you. But because I happened to have a basis of comparison, I thought “bakit parang clear copy lang at hindi DVD copy yung nirelease ng Viva?” Aside from the inclusion of advertisements (i.e. Volvo, Choco Mucho, etc.) in the one released in the Philippines, the following discrepancies were glaring:

(a) Viva-released cover is better. At least. It has a cute cut-out packaging. The back cover is practically just the same, except for the promo lines:

Released in the Philippines
The immortal romance based on phenomenal bestseller.

Released in UAE
The most epic romance since Titanic. – Hollywood.com

Cover a

But the rest of the discrepancies, I’m not sure you’d like to know if you are planning to buy a DVD from the Philippines or if you already got one.

(b) Absence of Scene Selection mini-poster

First turn_UAEa

(c) Absence of disc separator and censor’s rating indicator

Flip a

While those are tolerable, I think these make a big difference:

(d) Missing Audio Commentary. This is a significant portion and generally a standard feature.

Audio Commentary a

(e) No option for subtitles and spoken language selection . Isn’t this standard?

Subtitle and Audio Commentary a

(f) 6 out of 7 portions in the documentary The Adventure Begins are missing! How come? That’s equivalent to at least 54 minutes missing scenes. To simply state it, it’s not worth the price.

The Adventure Begins a

Here’s an excerpt from the statement issued by Viva Video:

The 1st disc contains the full feature or movie in its entirety. The 2nd disc contains the DVD extras or DVD add-ons licensed to us by the international licensor. Such content are confined and limited to the rights granted to us by Summit Entertainment. The release of the Twilight video is in accordance with the License Agreement between Viva and Summit Entertainment.

Ganun? Eh, bakit yung narelease dito complete naman. I was thinking of the aspect of censorship. Hindi pa rin eh. The regulators here are stricter with regard to the media being circulated.

Although there are missing parts in the Special Features in the DVD released by Viva, the entire movie (as shown in the cinema) came out as it is. BUT, the video quality is really inferior to the one I bought here.

If you’re planning to buy the DVD, the following should be included in the two discs:

* Entire film as shown in the cinemas
* Audio Commentary
* Muse music video: “Super Massive Black Hole”
* Paramore music video: “Decode”
* Linkin Park music video: “Leave Out All the Rest”
* Five extended scenes with director introductions
* Five deleted scenes with director introductions
* Seven-part documentary: “The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen”
* Comic-Con Phenomenon
* Theatrical Trailer and Theatrical Campaign
* A Conversation with Stephenie Meyer
* Music: The Heartbeat of Twilight
* Becoming Edward
* Becoming Bella
* Catherine Hardwicke’s Vampire Kiss Montage and Edward’s Piano Concert
* Catherine Hardwicke’s “Bella’s Lullaby (Remix)” Music Video

What you don’t know won’t hurt you. But whether you ignore it or not, you’d feel something half-baked. ;)

Share/Save/Bookmark

Read More

If I haven’t read the book,

Read More

Twilight December 4 UAE Screening

Oh, great. After the long wait and speculation, my favorite cinema in UAE announced that Twilight would be shown on 4th of December. It would be released in the US this friday and in the Philippines on the 26th. I.am.jealous. Meaning I need more patienceeeee (!) in the coming days. I promise myself not to peek on any reviews and other form of spoilers until I see this for myself. Huhuhu. What a test of EQ. Sige na nga, okay lang. At least, it’s still a better playdate. Sourgraping. Haha.

If you’re following my posts, you probably have an idea how I transformed from a non-fictional reader to a teenage series addict. I’ve managed to have kept a reasonable period to have this blog free from Twilight talk. But now, I really, really want to talk about it again. What’s the trigger?

It has been reported that President Obama is reading Twilight with his daughter.

President-Elect Barack Obama truly has a full plate. Revitilize a sinking economy. Energize a nation. Rehabilitate America’s fragile standing in the world. Oh, and get through four “Twilight” books with his youngest daughter.

Yes, according to the latest issue of US Weekly, Stephenie Meyer has a couple fans who will be moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a couple months. The magazine reports that the President-Elect and his ten-year-old daughter Malia often bond over addictive book series, “They read all the Harry Potter books together and have moved on to the Twilight series.”

If that’s true, I like him for reading the book. And again, only if that’s true, I don’t like him for allowing his youngest daughter to read Twilight. Too young to read it.

Read More

twilight shoes 2

Meet my newest pair of shoes. :)

Read More