Twilight Eclipse

They say truth is stranger than fiction.

I am in the car contemplating the rain that seems to instantaneously clog the road with traffic on my way to Carib Theatre, when on the radio from BBC I hear Parasailing Donkey. Huh? It seems some idiot(s) strapped a donkey into a parasail as an advertising stunt, suffice it to say the authorities are looking for them.

I apologise to all the Twi-hards before I write this.

Now for the bombshell, I have never read a Twilight book nor seen a Twilight movie. There I said it, well actually typed it.

A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go see Eclipse. Now I am not a vampire fan, love fantasy, but just not vampires. I figured with all the hype that I should see what all the fuss is about. So I was going to read the books, because they are usually far superior with a few exceptions to the movies, but I was surprised when she said the movies are better.

Now unto watching a movie with Jamaicans, it is a truly interesting experience.

One thing you learn quickly is, whether they like the movie or not, they are loud! The audience was mostly female, so you know they went wild when the scene cut to Jacob leaning against the car shirtless, you couldn't hear yourself think, and then when all the vampires were walking together in black etc.

The second thing you learn is Jamaicans love their food and bring whatever they feel like into the theatre. I mean, what are suitcase handbags for anyway! During intermission we smelled patties. As far as I remember patties are not sold in the lobby. What is even worse I once saw a woman take out rice and peas and chicken out of her "suitcase" at a movie.

The third thing is that Jamaicans let their feelings be known by making comments, sometimes shouting them at the screen, like when Edward and Bella are on the bed kissing. Unfortunately I can't repeat the comments that were made around me.

Well I must agree Jacob is hotter and Edward is cooler. Hmmm... Jacob is a real *******, my ideal man is Jacob's body with Edwards personality. The movie was a light romp. A chick flick with not much substance, the intensity and depth I expected were not there. However, I liked it, it was a good popcorn movie. I will see the others, maybe even borrow the books because I was instructed not to buy them, especially at those exorbitant prices.

One note I must make is that the casting was excellent for the movie and, after the previous movies together, everyone appears comfortable with each other and their characters. Good acting.

I went to see The Last Airbender last week. PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR TIME. Just letting you know I watch the "cartoon" and I love it. This was a travesty, as two of my friends described it and I had to laugh, then after seeing the movie unfortunately agree. One said the acting reminded him of the old Japanese Kickas (old Japanese martial arts movies that Jamaicans love so much). If you have ever seen one of these then you know how bad the acting really is. The second friend said the airbending was like looking at vacuum cleaner special effects. Now I was told all the sequels were made already, I hope for their sake that isn't true.

I was made aware of all this before I went to see the movie but I honestly thought it couldn't be that bad, after all, the trailer looks good right (they took the good parts). It was a legacy they had to live up to and they failed miserably. I was hoping for another Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter no such luck. The best acting is from Dev Patel who you might remember from Slumdog Millionaire, which was a good movie, but I wonder how many Indians watched it? Remember "things that make you go hmmm..."?

What I don't understand is why Jamaicans are still flocking to see The Last Airbender. After so many weeks there are still no complimentary passes and when we went to see it, after it had been out for awhile, it was sold out from the day before so we had to buy tickets for a later show. If you check out www.boxoffice.com you will see after the opening weekend the box office sales for the movie died rapidly.

Surprisingly or not Japanese Animation (JapAn) like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and animated series like them have a very large following in Jamaica. I remember when Dragon Ball Z first came out my friends were telling me they had to get home to watch the show (we were in school then). You can even see the anime themed shirts being worn here.

I was reading an article the other day saying that Japan had outsourced a lot of the Anime production to China and now China is up and coming because the Japanese taught them how to do it. Check out the article "Japan anime industry facing rising challenge from China".

I am sitting in front of my computer trying to figure out what to name and then put in this blog. I am currently doing a writing course at CARIMAC where one of our assignments is to create a blog. This whole social media thing, putting your life out there for all to see scares me that is why I haven't been what is called an early adopter (to use a marketing term -someone who tries new technology when it first comes out) rather I am a laggard (someone who tries new technology last). Don't ask how long it took for me to get a cellphone. :-) Please remember this is Jamaica and we got cellphones late, I am not that old. ;-)

I created a Facebook page quite a while back because I had broken up with my boyfriend and a friend was encouraging me to try it out so I could meet people and reconnect with old friends. I put up the page and months later I still had not checked it. I must admit though, I have tried it a few times since and I have "seen" people I haven't "seen" in years so that has been fun. As for this Farmville phenomenon ??? Yeah, it's fun but where do people find the time?? I work full time, I have a child and family to care for; I guess I am not their demographic. I know people who are addicted to it though, again I ask where do they find the time?

Talking about addiction. There is a "Craze" and I do mean "Craze" called a Crackberry in Jamaica which most people might know as a Blackberry or BB. I mean I understand it has internet and Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and you can go so far as publishing magazines etc. with it but IT'S A TOOL PEOPLE! You see people at parties all night using their BBs, go figure, there are people all around you to "interact" with. Is technology slowly but surely taking away our one-on-one interactions and the only time we will "see" each other is through a camera/computer screen or "talk" to each other is through a keyboard/mic?

I was reading an article the other day, "Tech firms aim to keep cell phone users from walking into things while texting", cellphone manufacturers have to be putting safety features in cellphones because people are walking into traffic etc. while using their phones and getting seriously injured???????????? HUH???????? Emergency rooms are reporting increasing incidents of this happening.

All that being said social media can be a very useful networking, public relations and marketing tool. You just have to watch where you walk :-) and what information you put out there, lest you get fired, get in trouble with your girl/boyfriend or friends etc. Also I have been meeting people who use social media and are very excited by it so that is getting me excited.

Anyway, back to my dilemma what to put in this blog? My teacher said choose a topic and run with that, something I am very interested in so I would keep posting and people would follow me. Well I have decided on "My Jamaican Experience" that just about sums up everything. That way I can talk about any and everything and not limit myself to anyone topic, keep it interesting and lively. It has the added bonus of being able to share Jamaica and all it has to offer with a very wide audience