Hi everyone.
I'm probably not gonna do too much responding to individual posts, since there aren't too many here and I think that I have a lot to say to about a few things to everyone here. I'll get the bad and the ugly out of the way first, and leave plenty of space for the good. I just have to get a few things off my chest, be it bad, ugly, or even good. And there will be plenty of good, and even cute LOL, even if I have to make this message a damned novel.
Kristen and Rob, the Today Show, and the media: This'll be a bit ugly, but I also hope to be funny and entertaining at times, too. I already posted my feelings on how Kristen responded to the Robsten relationship question here yesterday and how she was annoyed and testy, but tried not to be too uncivil. Well, Rob was Savannah's victim today, and here's basically what he said:
"What I want to ask is - we get asked it all the time and it's funny, because everyone always asked for like four years - who is actually asking? Is it in your contract?"--Rob Pattinson.
He seemed to maybe be a bit more diplomatic than Kristen was, but his annoyance was pretty thinly veiled and his "who is actually asking? Is it in your contract" was going for the throat in my opinion. I'd like to say that Rob was trying to go for the throat in as diplomatic way as he possibly could. However, that's perhaps a contradictory statement--that's just like someone saying "I'm gonna kill ya', but I'm goin' to be civil 'bout it"--like that statement makes a lot of sense? Odd duality I suppose. Anyways, I think that Rob's pissed-offedness was said though his teeth. The words were diplomatic, but the message was a clear as it was yesterday with Kristen: We're here to promote a movie, not our personal lives.
I personally have to question how smart Savannah is, or if her bosses at NBC Universal/Comcast/General Electric were trying to pressure her to try and get "the scoop" on Kristen and Rob as far as their relationship status. But the precedent was set for the previous four years with Kristen and Rob--hands off our relationship, perceived or real. Why would Kristen and Rob change the rules now? Savanna knew what their game is, and I firmly believe that she knew what she was trying to do, and her bluff IMO was called both times. Kristen may've been a bit of a smart a$$ and beat around the bush, while Rob was cool, but went for the throat.
One theory I heard is that because Savannah is a news journalist, she tried to get the "inside story" from the "horses' mouth". That seems to run to the polar opposite with say Josh Horowitz or Ben Lyons, both of whom have friendships with R&K, and know how to get the best answers out of them, because Josh and Ben are entertainment reporters, not news journalist. I have a friend who works for the local newspaper, and she has rules that she has to follow that aren't just set by the paper, but based on her own journalistic integrity. But saying that, Sav should've stayed on topic and not crossed from film promo into K&R's personal ground.
That's what pissed me off with both Kristen and Rob more than anything. Kristen could've been more diplomatic like Rob was (remember the "rape comment" crisis), and both should've known that there was a good chance that the question would eventually get asked, but at the same time, in defense of both Kristen and Rob, Savannah, based on the past four years, should've known better herself than to stray there, because they'd both turn that question against her in their own ways. We can argue and disagree on which method was better at the goal that K&R wanted to achieve, but I think that both comments were deserved by Sav. I personally hope for this and other reasons (which I'll get to soon) that Kristen and Rob stay far away from the Today Show as possible, at least until the current hosts of the show get fired or quit their jobs. Just my opinion.
K&R and the fandom vs the media (Or me vs the media): My big issue over all, and it's not just with Kristen and Rob and the Today Show, is just how the media conducts itself as a whole. I just feel that it too often plays down to the lowest common denominator and often doesn't stay "true" to itself, if you know what I mean. It's all money driven. I don't see money as evil (coming from someone who doesn't have any), but it's the want for money and power and what people do with it that's the bad and ugly part for me.
It's like when NBC Universal too over controlling interest in The Weather Channel, and it went from being all about weather and some educational programming, to being mostly about prime time reality shows with weather tie ins. And if you think that this is a rant about how I think that NBC Universal, Comcast and GE are evil media companies, they're not alone. I truly hate what Fox did to Speedvision/Speed Channel after they bought it. I loved the racing history programs, varied racing coverage, and aviation shows that it used to have on. Now it's almost a 45% NASCAR/F1 channel (ironically, NBC's Sports Network on Cable will now have F1 coverage next year), 45% reality show, and 10% motorsports channel. I truly despise Fox for that, let alone other things that Rupert Murdoch has done.
I won't crap on people who like reality shows, but they're not my thing, and I don't like it when I feel that they're in places that they really shouldn't be in my opinion. I nothing against them aside from that, I just don't like them very much. But it's the corporate greed that makes people do some really butt-brained things that ticks me off, and it's that appealing to the lowest common denominator deal I mentioned earlier. That will only take you so far for so long, especially if it alienates long time fans of something, such as what's happened with NASCAR the past few years. They're now listening to long time fans and newer fans who want a lot of what the old guard wants. There has to be a balance there. So is it little wonder why I don't really like network TV LOL?
The way that Kristen and Rob were treated on the Today Show, past and present (short interviews that often strayed off topic too much too fast, the relationship questions, and pissant attention to details in the questions about their films) is just one part of what I don't like about the media, but it is an avatar for my dislikes and grievances. Rant over.
Now the good and cute (laughs will abound here): In this section, I'll be talking about food, my cat, my "cuteness/sweetness" vs my "A-holiness", and what's perfect as far as a setting for my writing.
Food (prepare to be spoiled): Wanna know what goes good on a winter night? Any of you have any of those Banquet Homestyle Bakes? Sort of a casserole that you dump into an oven-safe dish and bake. I love these things during winter because you can sort of set 'em and forget 'em in the oven, and when eating them, they hold in heat well. Perfect for winter IMO.
Also, I love lemon drops, Lifesavers mints, chocolate covered nuts (cashews and almonds especially), Skittles, ice cream with tons of stuff in it, fried chicken, pizza, mashed potatoes and gravy, steaks, buttery corn, flavored coffee, tea, diluted coffee (a lot of water in it--it tastes like fast food coffee), hot chocolate, marinara sauce, breakfast sausage, bacon, pancakes, waffles, and even more.
I hope that I've spoiled you there, because now I have to admit that I like diet Coke, diet Mountain Dew, the Blueberry Voltage and White Out Mountain Dew, Mello Yello, and other weird things as far as drinks.
Cat update: Our cat Ted is now big enough to go outside, though he's not outside for very long most of the time, but he's found out how to get on the roof of our house like our older cats do. He's now fairly good sized and fat, though not as big or as fat as the appropriately named Tubby, which is a huge hairy black cat that visits us every now and then. He looks like a giant four-legged tarantula with a tail and a cat's head--that also weights probably 15 pounds.
My duality: Tracy commented on this yesterday, but I think that I should elaborate more on what I meant by my "duality". As I said, when I'm answering the phone at work, I use this calm, cool, almost "sweet" voice. But yet, away from work, I curse more than R&K, the late George Carlin, and Robin Williams doing stand up combined, and my "normal" voice, IMO, doesn't sound "sweet". To me, Sharon den Adel and Lia Gocer have "sweet" almost angelic voices, but they sing metal songs, so what do I know? LOL.
But that I guess is me maybe being more in touch with my feminine side than a lot of other guys I know. An office is often a female dominated environment (I only work with like 2 other guys in the entire building--the rest of women), and I think that a job such as being a receptionist can use a "woman's touch", even if it's a guy doing the job. My "feminine" side is the side of me that's calm, analytical, introspective, introverted, so I'm far more like my mother personality wise than my father a lot of of times, who is outspoken, somewhat rough, and a jokester.
I guess that you can say that I'm pretty odd--I'd love to do my GF's hair and nails if I had a GF, but yet I'm a bit history nut and interested in firearms, military weapons and history, and cars and auto racing. I'll read the Twilight Saga novels and other similar novels, but I'll also recount watching
Bio-Booster Armor Guyver cartoons from my youth and my research on the manga and its story.
I guess that I have a masculine side that's kinda into "guy" stuff, and a feminine side that makes me "sweet" and all that other stuff I talked about. I don't know if you sense all of that when I'm writing here or at the FBHH or when I chat with some of you on FB. But I do feel that I have a sweet side to me, a feminine side to me, and a masculine side to me. They all have good and weak points to them, but I draw from the strong points of them to try and be the person I want to be. And I think that being here and my fan fic writing and my job allows me to do all of that. Hell, it's gotta be doin' somethin'--I'm a hell of a lot happier than I've been in quite a while over the past couple of months.
Now some comments (finally you say LOL):
Sonbird (serious note to start out with): Sorry to hear about your friend's father. I saw on FB that he passed away a little while ago. I hope that your friend will pull though this and that you can be there for her, since you two seem pretty close.
On a lighter note, it sucks that you don't get a lot of the interviews until later and that lot of them are embargoed until a later date than in the US. I know that Marielle gets Top Gear episodes fairly soon after they air in the UK, but here in the US, we have to wait sometimes several months before new to America episodes show up on BBC America.
Brenda: Long time no see here (I know that you're fairly active at the FB HH). I don't think that Kristen needs to tone down the warpaint, as long as it suits her, and she smokey eye thing works as well for her as it does Cher or my friend Lia. Maybe a different color other than Ford blue would've helped, but it wasn't that bad IMO.
Caryn and Brenda: As far as Rob vs Volvos, I do believe that Volvos are conservative cars often for conservative people (odd since the cars are built mostly in moderately liberal Sweden--and yes, I know that Volvo was owned by Ford and is now owned mostly by a Chinese company), and I know that Rob has owned an Audi S4 and a Chevy Nova, and an old BMW 3 series from the late '80s that he had to partly rebuild to get running. I'd love to see Rob in an Aston Martin, but I do believe that there's a part of Rob who would think that an Aston would be a bit flashy and show-offy. An Audi or a Beemer or maybe a Mercedes-Benz, or one of the newer Fords (Focus, Fiesta or Fusion/Mondeo) or a Hyundai or Kia (Sonata or Optima) would be a better fit--the perfect combination of fashion and practicality.
Everyone: I'd like to conclude this novel (it may as well be one for how long it is) by saying that I'm about to make dinner--a chicken alfredo oven back deal--and probably will spend a while playing VGs, eating, maybe sneaking in a nap, and hopping back on here later to maybe write a new chapter for an existing story or getting started on the much anticiapted (or maybe not LOL
) Bio-Booster Armor Twilight when I get MS office reinstalled on her later on.
And BTW, I'm feeling a lot better today--maybe that's showed up in this message?
I hope that I left something for everyone to enjoy or ponder upon.
Oh, and lest I forget, Rob will be on Jimmy Fallon tonight, not that I need to remind anyone here, but I'll be watching, and trying to guess what Jimmy will con Rob into playing tonight
I'll be back later
) and my Algebra book.
) "A guy won't buy the cow if he gets the milk for free!" Of course I didn't' subscribe to that, but now looking back on it all, I wanted something more and the guys I was dating just wanted the one thing, so I was always disappointed. I wish I would have abstained a bit more, and then I wouldn't have gotten hurt. 
