Donna Freitas: July 2008 Archives

We've barely one day left before the much-awaited release of Stephenie Meyer's book four in the Twilight Series, "Breaking Dawn." (!!!!!!!!!) I've taken the liberty of drawing up a pre-lease "To-Do" list for all you "Twilight" fans between now and tomorrow, midnight.

Top 5 Things To Do If You Love Twilight As Much As I Do:

#1: Um, you've reserved your copy of the book right? If you haven't, get to your local bookstore ASAP.

#2: Make sure you know which midnight party you are attending. There is a handy-dandy Twilight Series "Breaking Dawn" event locater to help! Click here to find a midnight party near you.

Well, when you are finished with "Breaking Dawn" (sniff, sniff--what are we going to do when it's over?), you've gotten through all the Buffy DVD's (which, if you are a vampire fan, are a must), you can tune in this fall to HBO's new series "True Blood" premiering September 7th and starring Anna Paquin.

Strange advertisements have been popping up everywhere in magazines for the series--without actually mentioning the series title. My favorite that I've seen so far is the one that says "Vampires Are Immoral" under a photograph of, what I assume is, a vampire (he's quite good looking). The copy underneath reads "Support Human Rights. Say NO to the Vampire Rights Amendment."

Then it directs you to this website (which is a marketing ploy for the show, of course): FellowshipoftheSun.org

You can read an interview with the show's director, Alan Ball (of "Six Feet Under") here. The show is apparently based on a series of vampire novels I have actually not read (and I thought I'd read them all) by author Charlaine Harris. Since the CBS series "Moonlight" got cancelled, I'm hoping that this show will fill the vampire void left in my heart post-"Breaking Dawn"...

After declaring it officially Vampire Week on Beliefnet yesterday (even though we really know that it's Vampires 4eva and I will have to continue posting after the release of "Breaking Dawn"--because won't we all want to discuss?), I was happy to see that I am definitely not alone in my obsession.

Phew!

In fact, thanks to several comments from yesterday, I was made aware that there are a large number of Twilight fans who are all about family values and fangs: "

Okay, so maybe it's a little more than a week and maybe I don't really have the authority to do this, but I am singlehandedly declaring it Vampire Week on Beliefnet. (Or, um, Vampire 10 Days? But don't you think Vampire Week has a better ring to it? And I just can't wait any longer--I mean, can you?) This is, of course, in honor of the approaching release (!!!) of Stephenie Meyer's fourth and final (nooooo!) installment of the "Twilight" series, "Breaking Dawn," on the evening of August 1, at the stroke of midnight! And I'm kind of excited about it. Can you tell?

Definition of Vampire Week: It's kind of like Holy Week, which is the week leading up to Easter if you're Catholic, but Vampire Week does not end with the resurrection of anyone's savior, unless, that is, you consider getting to read about our glorious and shining hero, EDWARD once again (thank God for Edward!) rather salvific--and you might. I wouldn't make fun of you if you did. So anyway, Vampire Week is the period of time leading up to the release of "Breaking Dawn," and I declare it both a time of joy--when Stephenie Meyer fans can unabashedly wax on giddily about their fandom of all things "Twilight" and perhaps, even share your favorite "Twilight Imitation" novels with us (You all know what I'm talking about right? All those angsty vampire novels that have come out trying to hit the same nerve that Meyer did, but never coming close. But we'll read them to tide us over, right?!)--and it is also a time of mourning, as we all prepare for the reality that once "Breaking Dawn" is over, once we rip through it's pages, we are done with the series. (sniff, sniff!)

The New York Times Style section devotes an entire article to the question "Tattoo or not Tattoo?" if you are young and Jewish. Reporter Kate Torgovnick investigates what the Torah says about body art:

"Jewish law on tattooing is slippery. Leviticus 19:28 states, "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead nor incise any marks on yourself: I am the Lord." For Rabbi Washofsky, it's unclear whether the passage strictly outlaws tattoos that refer to a god, or whether it generally condemns any personal adornment. Ear piercing, he added, is not controversial. For [Marshal] Klaven [a rabbinical student], historical context is key. When Leviticus was written, tattooing was largely a pagan practice, done to mark slaves or to show devotion to a pharaoh, Mr. Klaven said. Since tattooing has evolved, he thinks the rule may be outdated. Not all scholars agree. Rabbi Alan Bright, a spokesman for the Jewish Funeral Directors of America, dismissed the cemetery adage as "a load of rubbish," but he said that tattooing was a no-no. He quotes Deuteronomy 4:15, which commands Jews to take care of their bodies, as evidence."

For more discussion about tattoo taboos, including a variety of opinions about whether or not a tattoo would preclude you from being buried in a Jewish cemetery, check out Torgovnick's full article, "For Some Jews, It Only Sounds Like 'Taboo'."

The long-awaited sequel, "The Dark Knight," to Christopher Nolan's wildly popular "Batman Begins," is well over two hours of white-knuckled, grip your seat, hide your eyes, action and suspense. Without going into specifics (I really don't want to spoil anything...

I feel a certain amount of pride that I'm one of the folks who jumped on the Mormon Mom Stephenie Meyer "Twilight" bandwagon back when the very first book was still in galleys. I remember getting the bound paperback ARC...

Esquire Magazine's August 2008 cover is of none other than the king of comedy (at least according to me), Stephen Colbert, posing as a jolly St. Sebastian! St. Sebastian is the Patron Saint of, among many other things, athletes, and...

Last week, Mata Amritanandamayi, known popularly as Amma, or the "Hugging Saint" sponsored a three-day hugging marathon in New York City as part of her U.S. visit. The lines were astounding--people waited upwards of seven hours for their hug--reports April...

Last week the New York Times Style section did an interesting feature/exposé on the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health--a popular New Age retreat destination in Massachusetts that attracts "30,000 guests a year" and "bills itself as the biggest retreat...

I finally watched episode one of "The Secret Life of an American Teenager," the new, much advertised and talked about television series that premiered on ABC Family last Tuesday. I know my fellow Idol Chatter blogger Kris is rather outraged...