The Discerning and Rob-Assessed News Update

Welcome to my little version of Fandom news…I have no idea if I’m qualified for this position at all but I guess time will tell, right?  My plan is to discuss all the little things about the Twilight Fandom that catch my eye…The books, movies, fanfic, Contests, Rob, and other stuff (oh yeah, AngstGoddess wants it to be clear we will discuss Jacksper.)  

Movie to Fic Review: How To Be Geekward

So to start it off I wanted to do a review of How To Be which I watched last weekend. For a little personal background ,my friend and I planned a whole night of pizza, beer, and Rob with our husbands. The ulterior motive was to prove to the guys that:

1. Rob can actually act.
2. He is not just a pretty face (snort).
3. That we could sit though a movie where Rob is a nerd and pretend like we weren’t turned on. 

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing How To Be, I went to IMDB.com and located this summary (as it will be much better than any summary I would give): 

At first fancying himself an "enigmatic poet", twenty something Art gradually realizes that he must take action if he's going to escape his depressed life as a struggling musician in London. A solution comes in the shape of a book titled "It's Not Your Fault". Not content to just draw inspiration from its pages, however, Art invites the elderly author of the book to come live with him and his parents, which quickly becomes a painfully funny journey about dysfunction and growing up. 

I’m going to be straight up about this. I really liked this movie. And I normally am not into artsy, independent films. Most of them make me want to run a bath and take out my package of straight razors and end it all in one quick stroke. But not this one. It was funny, awkward, and disturbingly realistic. Rob portrays Art, the main character, in the most odd, graceless manner. Art is the total opposite of Edward Cullen. At times I would get a rush of giggles because it was so uncomfortable and I had nowhere to hide. But the oddness was wrapped in a sharp humor by the friends and family that surround Art in his journey and that makes it bearable and very amusing. 

From Teen Vogue

Under a mop of nerdy, shaggy, hair you can barely see the bone structure of the Rob we all lust and love. As odd as Art is you can’t help but see a little Rob in all the scenes. Not the sex-on-legs Rob we see on the red carpet. Nor the cigarette smoking, skinny tie wearing, perfectly disarrayed man the media has sunk their teeth in.  You see these glimpses when Art erratically drives a Camaro with the goofiest grin, or attempts to get in a drunken brawl, long arms flailing around the room, connecting with nothing of importance. All of these silly moments helped us understand that this boy was lost and confused. Which is similar to the many times I feel like Rob is lost and confused. 

So, did this movie meet my challenge? Did I convince my husband that Rob is more than an inappropriate crush? Yes and no. 

1. Rob proved he can act. My heart broke for him as he performs his songs for a crowd of special needs adults who heckle him and when he attempts to hug his aloof mother in the middle of an appliance store. There is a painful breakup scene, a spastic basketball game, the funniest crawl into bed moment I’ve ever witnessed and the parts where Art interacts with best friends is creepily real. 
2. Sigh…well, Rob is more than a pretty face even though you can still see flashed of his beauty in the middle of all the gawky, bizarre moments. Oh, and don’t get me started on the hand/finger p0rn.
3. I’m not gonna lie. The RobEffect was in full force for me. Take this as you will.

From Teen Vogue

How to Be is painful, and real, and goofy. I truly enjoyed it and I suggest if you can find it, rent it, download it, OnDemand it or whatever go for it. It effected me in that Napoleon Dynamite kind of way. On the first viewing I was a little bewildered and definitely uttered, “What the fuck?” more than once…but now, a week later, I am craving to see it again. 

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How to Be got me started on the idea of how goofy, nerdy Rob is so loveable I wanted to pimp a couple of current fanfics with our very own Geekward.

Beauty and the Geek by Vixen 1836 
Expanded One Shot. Originally for Jayeliwood's SE Contest. Edward Cullen is a painfully shy 'geek' desperately in love with his quiet, beautiful classmate Bella Swan. What happens when they have a mid-term project together? RATED M FOR ELOQUENT LEMONS. AH.

Resident Geek by Cdunbar 
Geeky Edward thinks he has absolutely no shot with the popular, beautiful Bella. Is he right, or will she be one of the many girls who thinks geeks make for better lovers? M for language, sexuality, and some underage drinking. A little OOC...ok, a lot OOC.

Bella and The Billionare by nashstheory 
Edward Cullen is a reclusive computer prodigy who needs a personal assistant and Bella Swan is a single mother that needs a job. What happens when these two are brought together and can they both find what they need in their lives?

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FanFiction.net Adds New Features

Surely you have already noticed that FanFiction.net has had some new additions to their control panels. The most notable of these being that users now have control-panel based inboxes. Gone are the days are having to click profile links in emails and sending semi-obscure replies!

From the FanFiction.net Home Page: April 29, 2009 -- We have just launched a redesigned Private Messaging (PM) system. In addition to email delivery, messages between site members are also accessible through an "Inbox" in the login area. Please note the new PM system is threaded meaning replies/conversations to the same subject is grouped together. In order to reduce inbox clutter, we highly recommend all users to utilize the threaded feature and to always use the reply link to respond to PMs.

May 5, 2009 -- Members now have the option to remove messages from their Private Messaging (PM) Inbox. Please note the old review reply feature has been replaced by the new messaging system.

If you are a member and is currently experiencing issues with receiving email alerts, please login and visit the Alerts section for tips. We have put up configuration guides for Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and GMail users to ensure alert emails are not incorrectly filtered by your email provider.

You can find this by logging into FanFiction.net and clicking on the top-most tab for "inbox."

There are also some nifty new reading options:

From the FanFiction.net Home Page: May 2, 2009 -- In addition to story font size, style, and alignment, readers now have a new customizable option: line height/spacing. Readers can increase/decrease the spacing between sentences to satisfy every personal preference to enhance reading comfort.

May 3, 2009 -- Readers can now toggle a "light" or a "dark" theme for the story pages. The dark theme can offer enhanced eye comfort when reading for an extended period of time.

Aside from the familiar "Font Size" and "Story Width" options, we are also granted "Story Line Spacing" and an awesome new "Dark Theme." The dark theme is comfortable, as it is a soft black background and very easy on the eyes. Story line spacing is a cool feature as well. I can totally see these things making epic readings more comfortable.

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"10 Reasons" with Angel and Friends: The Rob Effect

The Rob Effect: Of or pertaining to Robert Pattinson. Anything he is, says, does, plays, thinks, touches, feels, projects, gives off, etc. etc. will forever be hot, amazing, to die for, Guh-worthy, Gah-worthy, etc. etc. in the highest levels possible. Even when it really, REALLY shouldn’t be. 

I asked Debussy_This to share ten reasons why this photo falls under the RobEffect. And then I added my ten. Why? Just because it makes me happy.

Angel (I organized mine head to toe)

1. The slight taunting of hair from under his dirty cap.
2. Guh. The fingers.
3. Smirk.
4. His face. Side burns, jaw, eyes, eyebrows, and lips (and yes, I can count those all as one).
5. 2 jackets.
6. Does that shirt look familiar?
7. Plaid undies hanging out.
8. Skinny, skinny hips
9. Ummm yeah, I’m not sure what that is.
10. His scuffy brown boots that aren’t scuffy yet.

Debussy_This 

1. Well obviously, the first thing that drew my attention was his fingers.  Look at how long they are!  That just isn't fair.  Gives me hot flashes just thinking about it. (Sidenote- notice how dirty and unkempt he is, but how clean and neat his fingernails are.)
2. The smirk.  Le sigh, the smirk.
3. His smolder sets my panties aflame.
4. His jawline is so sharp he could cut glass with it.  Sharpen knives.  Its a complete right angle, I'm sure of it.  Look at the shadow it casts.  Holy moley.  Want to bite it.
5. That effing beanie.  Its a gigantic, thick thing and it STILL can't control all that wildass hair.  God, its so ugly.  I love it.
6. Sigh.  Chest hair.  There is no way he's actually 22.  He is AT LEAST 35. [AG says: Dream on you pervy wannabe cradle-robber.]
7. Plaid.  He's wearing a wrinkley plaid shirt that he possibly got in a lost and found bin at the train station.
8. He's wearing a grey SUIT JACKET that he wore to the MTV movie awards (See photo on right).  All of his clothes are either given to him by his publisist or picked up at the godwill.  This turns me on.  Don't ask why.  Its just superior. (Angel note: check out the boots…)
9. He possibly has dried jizz on that front of those pants.  I'm pretty sure he has dried jizz on the front of ALL his pants.  I'm gonna say jizz one more time.  Jizz.
10. Shoes.  Where would one even GET a pair like that?  All scuffed up and glorious.  Cover 'em in mud and its a dream come true.

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Fandom Events and Community News

 Contest, challenge, and exchange reminders.

1. *New* The Twilight Body Swapping Contest has no posted deadline, but as the creator says, the possibilities are endless. Prizes include a custom made video of the winner's chosen theme.
2. Twi-Con's Happily Ever After Contest is open until May 30th.
3. Nominations for the 'You're never too young to start writing' contest end May 21st.
4. If you've entered The Twilight Gift Exchange, entries are due by June 1st.
5. *New* Alice/Jasper Lemon Competition from ThePeenaters. Deadline for this is May 30th. One-shot and must be song-based.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21 - #3	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30 - #2 #5
31	1 - #4

If you happen to catch wind of any intriguing happenings, send your contest, exchange, and community news to angel@tlydf.com.