I think part of the attraction is that the main character is such a huge MarySue that every teen girl who reads the books thinks that she is Just! Like! Bella! Plus swooningly gorgeous vampire who is tormented by his attraction to you Bella, yet loves you Bella SO MUCH that he doesn't eat you. Her.

Honestly, the books are poorly written, and I'm very confused as to why they're so successful. There are FAR better YA vampire novels out there.

I agree with Jilli pretty much down this line. Both of the main leads are incredibly insipid, but easy to insert into fantasy life. Really, it appeals to the same people that really bad fanfic does, only the audience is much larger because YA Fantasy Is Societally OK Now (thanks Harry!). I disliked the first book enough that I'm surprised I read the second, where at least they inserted a character that didn't glow, so I stayed on. And by then I was hooked to the bad.

The treatment of Meyer as the next JKR is understandable by the booksellers (the third book in the series is the one that knocked HP7 off the top of the Best Seller list) and by some fans who never get past the surface, but it drives me crazy. JKR has some writing issues, but at the very least her main characters have some dimension to them. And she's able to go 10 paragraphs without describing the hotness of Harry. Boringly.

...despite all this, I will definitely be reading the last book. Some types of crack are just too addictive/disastrous/freeing to give up. (To be fair, I also read 10+ books in the Gossip Girl series, so I may be extra-susceptible to this sort of trap.)

In other news, I want to see Wall*E and Hellboy II and I keep not having time to go to movies. Uggh.

Speaking of teen girls, we went with our niece to see Kitt Kittridge; American Girl. I really liked it! Very old-fashioned story-telling, but it had a believably smart and intrepid lead and the supporting characters were very well written and acted. Lots of fun, and if you know any kids, or would like a sweet, fun afternoon at the movies, go see it!

I've heard nothing but good things about Kitt Kittridge. Yesterday six girls and their dolls all came to see it.

I just went to see Iron Man, and even though it is not brand new it seems that most people didn't know about the extra scene after the credits because they left before it aired. I forget that everyone isn't us.

I forget that everyone isn't us.

I know this feeling.

Frankly, when I wait to the end of the credits, I expect a payoff, now.

Just got back from Hellboy II and loved it! Though I could shoot them for the Manilow - I can't get it out of my head now!

My question is wasn't Liz's fire blue in the first one?

I miss DHP's voice as Abe but thought the new one was ok. But didn't Abe have to always wear the breathing apparatus when out of his tank? Even when he was within the compound headquarters?

I saw Wall*E and Hellboy II today. I liked them both quite a bit, though I wasn't quite as blown away by Wall*E as I sort of hoped to be. The Incredibles still trumps it in my Pixar list.

Awesomely, movies before noon at AMC theaters in NYC are only $6, instead of $11. This was a nice thing that I learned today.

Saw WallE, and I can I just say, I called it: [link]

I saw both Wall-E and Hellboy 2 and loved, Loved, LOVED them. The short Presto was made of awesome as well.

A couple of random thoughts.

Wall-E: The malfunctioning robots were GREAT! Especially the hyper one that looked like just a pair of arms and took out the security 'bots. Also, Wall-E and Eve 4EVAH!!! Ahem, anything more coherent than that is not forthcoming at this time.

Hellboy: The crying-in-our-beers scene was one of my favorites, as well as the one where Krauss shows he can take Hellboy (and I rather liked Seth MacFarlane, which surprised me as I very much loathe Family Guy), and, of course, the Goblin Market ("I'm not a baby, I'm a tumor."). The story was kind of pro-forma, but given all the eye candy, more story would have almost been a distraction. The only thing that bothered me a little was the actress who played the princess (who I liked otherwise) bore a distracting resemblance to Calista Flockhart. Oh, that and the fact that they had Roy Dotrice in the same movie with Ron Perleman and didn't give them a scene together).

I didn't see a movie out in a theater today, but I did re-watch a couple of great movies during my daughter's long naps (she slept very poorly last night, and probably napped for something like 7 hours total today): High And Low and Aguirre, Wrath of God. It's been at least ten years since I watched the latter, and as much as I loved it then, I like it even more now. The former, of course, is one of the all-time great detective stories that's really about something else. I have a couple of movies on the tivo that I haven't seen before, but these were calling to me.