September 2007 Archives

I'm slowly catching up on the stuff I wasn't able to watch during the week. The series premier for Moonlight just happened to be one of them.

Moonlight is a new series in which the main character, Mick St. John ( Alex O'Loughlin ), is not only a crime-solving detective, but a vampire as well. You can forget everything that you already know about vampires. He isn't scared of crucifixes or garlic. He doesn't sleep in a coffin. Instead he sleeps in a freezer. And it's not one like you might store your spare t-bones in.

He doesn't need to hunt young women in their sleep or prowl the night in search of fresh blood. He gets his from his own supplier. Although, other myths remain true. While he can roam about during the night, sunlight is something that sucks the power from him. He can heal himself as most vampires do recover from their injuries. He does have super-human strength and will most likely kick your ass if you piss him off enough. The only thing that will destroy him is separating his head from his body or fire.

Sophia Myles plays Beth Turner, the meddling reporter / web-caster. She has the right mix of good looks, curiosity and pushiness to get the scoop. Oh, and did I mention she's kinda hot too? It seems like her and Mick are gonna be paired up a bit as the two try to solve crimes. It's quite natural for them to end up together. He saved her a long time ago when she was a child from another vampire. The premiere leaves you wondering if Mick's "real" identity is going to be revealed to her or not as we see history repeating itself when he saves her from the killer they are after.

Last fall I suggested that mainstream audiences might not be ready for a show like Heroes. Boy was I wrong. I'm almost tempted to say the same thing about Moonlight. I like the show and I'd like to see more of it. It's something fresh, something new, and as Mick says, "Vampires are coming back into fashion." But, will mainstream viewers accept it and like it as much as me? I don't think having the premier on Friday night is going to really help it's success. Time will tell.

How about you? Do you think it will last?

Since it's Friday and I really don't have a whole hell of a lot to say about much . . . I wanted to blog about the season premiers if The Bionic Woman, The Office or My Name is Earl today, but I haven't watched any of them. The episodes remain on my DVR just waiting for me to play them. Hopefully I'll catch up on them this weekend ( Sunday excluded due to soccer league play in Olathe ).

What do you do when you are a cop accused of a crime you didn't commit and imprisoned unjustly? Charlie Crews ( Damian Lewis ) is that cop in the new series, Life.

He could have gone insane being locked up in solitary. He could have wallowed in a pool of self-pity. Instead, he decided to read about Zen. When he was finally exonerated for a crime he didn't commit, he walked away from prison and back into crime with a shiny, new detective's shield as well as a truckload of money as compensation.

You might think that Charlie, being the recipient of enough money to buy a super-expensive sportscar, mansion, and a big, red tractor, wouldn't have any desire to go back to the thankless job of law enforcement. You might even believe that he harbors resentment and hostility toward his brothers in blue. I'm quite comfortable in saying that it is probably there, just below the surface. But Charlie isn't going to let us know. He now lives in the moment.

There's also little doubt that he's looked upon by other cops as an outsider. To them, regardless of his innocence being proven beyond the reasonable doubt, he's still a convict. Dani Reese ( Sarah Shahi ), is the one unlucky enough to be his partner. She didn't want the job, but being at the bottom of the list has it's drawbacks. She's had her troubles with drug and alcohol abuse, but is "working the program." By the end of the first episode we see that although she may resent being Charlie's partner, an unlikely alliance has already been forged between them.

This is the one premier that I was really looking forward to. I won't say that I was disappointed. Charlie is a little quirkier than I expected he would be. But, I suppose years in prison will do that to a guy? If you believe you've seen Damian Lewis before, that's most likely because of his compelling role as Major Richard D. Winters in the production, Band of Brothers. This is one series I plan on recording so that I don't miss an episode. I fully expect that we'll see his character's intensity grow as the story progresses and he digs deeper into the search for those responsible for his unjust incarceration.

Did you watch it? Is this one on your, "must see" list?

I love this time of the year because it's great for giving me content for my site. I caught the premiers last night on NBC for Chuck, Heroes and Journeyman. I'm already a dedicated Heroes fan and I'm always looking for new shows to record since I'm home intermittently through the evenings. So, here's my thoughts about the premiers last night. I must admit, Chuck has a bit of an endearing quality about the show. The main character, Chuck, an underachieving Stanford grad, played by Zachary Levi, is sent an email that contains sensitive, government intelligence encoded in images. After reading the email the information is contained in his brain and only seems to seep out from time to time. Governmental agencies, such as the CIA and the NSA, are hot on the trail of the data and track it down to Chuck, the lowly fix-it geek at a local big-box, discount knock-off of Best Buy or Circuit City. For the time being, Chuck will be babysat by two agents: John Casey ( Adam Baldwin ) and Sarah Walker ( Yvonne Strahovski ). I only got to watch Chuck in bits and pieces. From what I did get to see, it seems like the type of show that I could easily enjoy. The "unlikely hero" storyline has so many possibilities that it should make for interesting plotlines. My only criticism, and I chose to do this sparingly since I haven't watched the entire episode yet, is that I hope Chuck will grow rather than being a stereotypical, shy and reserved, underachieving caricature. I imagine this will happen, but once it does will the show jump the shark? We'll see what happens. Luckily I recorded it so I can watch the whole episode, uninterrupted, later this week.

Heroes came out the gate this year and ended the premier as it usually does - with plenty of new questions and cliffhangers compelling us to watch next week. There's a few new characters as the primary ones are getting on with their lives. Claire's family tries to pick up the pieces and start their lives in a new place. Of course, Claire being a teenager, has a hard time doing this without calling attention to herself. Meanwhile, her dad plots to bring down the company with Mohinder's help while he lays down the law at his new job. Hiro has a new quest in ancient japan. The whole deal going on with Nathan and Peter has me stumped as to what's going on. Two new characters, a brother and sister from Mexico, are on their way to New York to get help. Evidently the sister, Maya, has some incredible power that is exceptionally deadly. I think this season of Heroes is going to be a good one.

Originally, I was a little skeptical of Journeyman. I'm still kind of sitting on the fence as to whether it will stick around or not. I like the whole idea behind the story. Kevin McKidd stars as Dan Vasser, a San Francisco reporter who begins to mysteriously travel through time. Yes. It just happens. It's as if some kind of portal opens up and only swallows him, transporting him to various points in time. It seems he has to set things right before he can break free from the force that keeps transporting him. Of course this plays havoc with his real life because in this story, when he goes back to 1987, for example, he's gone for nearly two days in his real life. This leaves a lot of explaining to do since he previously had problems with substance abuse. But that's what makes this character so cool. He's flawed. He's not some super-cool, techno-geek that builds a time machine and travels by choice. It's another flawed, yet endearing, unlikely hero here to save the day.

Any thoughts from you? Have a favorite?

I received this lame phishing attempt in my email today. I just had to share because it's pretty humorous.

I know I've been mysteriously absent the last few days. It was for a good cause. My son's soccer team, The All American Patriots, had their first soccer tournament since reforming and creating a team to compete in a premier league. It was a weekend of driving to Olathe and back Saturday and Sunday, getting a bit sunburned, and watching the boys play their hearts out. Going into the tournament, my expectations ( admittedly ) were not exceptionally high, but I figured it would be good experience for them. They needed to get "clicking" and working together.

Since the team consists of boys who have played together for about a year and a half and a bunch of new kids, communication is very important as well as getting a good feel for knowing where your teammates will be when you need them. They lost their first game. A couple of the players got lost on the way to the tournament, but showed up in time to sub in the second half. A few more straggled in, but it was too little to late. The other team had worn them down and scored too many points for the boys to recover.

Since they now had plenty of subs, they won the second game after a six hour layover between games. My son ate too much before the second game. He shook it off by the second half thanks to some pepto-bismal. That second game really, really was a demonstration in poor officiating. I won't complain too much, since our boys won. But there were a plethora of bad calls for and against us. A note to soccer officials: I'll get up on my soapbox just for a second.

You are supposed to be objective. The decisions you make and your behavior really tell a lot. You would expect that 12 year-old boys will make mistakes from time to time. Most of them are not intentional. However, when you consistently call against one team and the other team has absolutely zero calls against them - well, it looks a little suspicious at the end of the game. Throwing our coach out of the game on top of it all because he called you out on your lack of professional ability to officiate a game was merely an act of vanity on your behalf.

Like I said. Our boys won that game in spite of poor officiating. So not only did they beat the other team, they beat the officials as well. The second day they tied. This put them in line to play for the championship. The team they played for the championship is a team they'd faced before - twice. They'd beat them once and lost to them once. Another thing . . . and I won't let this digress into a rant . . . the other team's parents are not my definition of good sports. They bitch about every little thing. Every call. Every time a kid trips another player regardless of whether or not it was accidental. I had the misfortune of sitting near this team's parents at a previous game. It took every ounce of restraint I had to keep myself from going off on them. I wanted, so very much, for these kids to beat this other team into the ground. I know they most likely couldn't hear the parents criticizing them unless they were on that side of the field. But it didn't matter. I would know. And a few other parents knew as well. I wanted my son, and his entire team, to be able to feel that sense of accomplishment that comes from pouring your heart and soul into something and emerging victorious. I wanted them to be rewarded for having the courage to go out there and leave nothing behind taking home their pride.

And they did. They blew them out 3 to 0. The All American Patriots were victorious. U12 Kansas Rush Autumn Festival Soccer Champions!!

I didn't get to watch the whole thing this season, but I did catch a few episodes. Most importantly I was able to catch the finale tonight of Last Comic Standing. A fantastically hilarious guy by the name of Jon Reep won. You might recognize him from a few things on TV. You might remember him from the Dodge commercials. His line was, "That thing got a hemi?"

I just finished reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld the other day. Under normal circumstances, this book is a pretty far stretch from my normal reading habits. But this book caught my interest as I was browsing through Hastings. It also came highly recommended by the girl working that day. I'm not one to turn a blind eye to recommendations. So naturally I decided to give it a try.

Uglies is a book about the future. In the future people will undergo extreme plastic surgery at the age of 16 that will dramatically alter their bodies. Everyone will become pretty - or at least the definition of pretty that is imposed at the time. Everyone will want to be pretty. It is everyone's rite of passage, the defining event that marks the passage from youth to adult. Once you are pretty you are brought into mainstream society. Until then, you live with all the children - the Uglies, play tricks and get a basic education. You learn about the rusties. The culture that drove metal cars, raped the environment and wasn't concerned with everyone being different.

The story is about a young girl about to turn 16 and can barely wait until she is to be made pretty. Her boyfriend, who is a few months older, has already been made pretty. She sneaks out of her dorm and goes to the community where all the pretties live to see him. While avoiding trouble along the way she meets another girl who shows her how the rusties lived. Before her birthday ( she shares her birthday with her new friend ) she is invited to go away and avoid being made pretty. Her friend, being quite satisified with the fact that she is different, has no intention of conforming to the status quo and would rather live on the fringes in a society called the smokies. The smokies, or at least a handful of them, know the evil secrets about what else happens when you are made pretty. Twists and turns are abundant and you're left wondering how things will turn out. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Uglies is a good read in the first of a series of at least three books that I know of.

I'm trying to write tonight ( fiction - not for this blog ). It's very difficult to do this because I know that whatever I write, since I haven't done it for a while, is going to be garbage. I don't want to spoil any good ideas I have by writing crap. However, my efforts may be in vain. I'm pretty rusty. Waiting for a good block of uninterrupted time is the hardest part. I suppose I could go lock myself in the bedroom, but I doubt that would go over too well. The kids are still up and soon I'll be announcing, "It's time to get ready for bed," which is always followed by their reading time until 10pm. Then I may be able to get some decent stuff put down.

I've been recording and watching the series, Murder, lately on SpikeTV. When I first saw it coming, I imagined it might have a chance of being a relatively interesting show. It's set up like most "reality" shows. Two teams of three people compete to solve actual crimes previously solved by real detectives. The crime scenes are portrayed just as they were when police arrived on the scene - with bodies, evidence and all the accompanying gore.

The teams, consisting of people from all walks of life, are expected to collect the evidence, develop theories, and solve the crime by presenting their theories to a real Texas detective. As with so many of the reality shows, there is plenty of drama to go around when personalities clash. No two people ever have the same perceptions and when theories collide, so do people.

Just like several million other people, I enjoy watching CSI and other crime dramas. These shows demonstrate that crimes can be solved so easily when in actuality it isn't quite as easy as it looks. It is kind of fun to watch some of these contestants fumble around and get their ass chewed a little bit when Tommy LeNoir, the Texas detective, points out their mistakes.

Aside from a few things like the limited amount of time they are given to collect evidence from the crime scene, the limited information they have to start out with and the melodramatics when they disagree, it's not a bad show. To be honest, it is kind of interesting to see if you can solve the crime before they do. The only problem is that I have all kinds of questions I think they should be asking - and they don't. For example, in the last episode one of the suspects, a convicted felon who was seen in the vicinity of the crime scene, had an alibi. But both teams never asked if his alibi checked out. What's more, the detective never said if it did or not. It's hard to rule suspects out when you don't have all the information. I'll keep watching though.

Have you watched it? What do you think?

As I've pointed out in the past - I read a lot of blogs. I comment very infrequently ( I know I should do more ) and seldom trackback unless the urge to comment is so overwhelming that self-restraint eludes me and a flash of inspiration compels me to say something. Perhaps it was the asparagus last night? I don't know. Regardless, I came across David's post, Not a Destination, today and I had faith in the possibility ( no matter how remote ) that I could somehow expand and add value to his concept. In his post he talks about how the "web as a platform" concept applies to libraries.

Before web 2.0, people came to the library to do stuff at the library - they came in to check out books, read magazines, do research, etc. Even with computer use and the "old web," they still came to the library and probably thought they were doing stuff at the library. The library was a destination - a place to visit.But with the advent of web 2.0 and especially with the concept of web as platform, this has changed. Now, people come to the library to access the web... and then go somewhere else.

David says that they come to the library to use the computers to play Runescape, access their Facebook accounts or watch YouTube. But I have to ask myself if this is really the defining concept of the "web as a platform" that libraries really need to address? Before I go any further I should point out that I know David, I read his blog and I think he has a lot of great things to say. This isn't a rant - it's more of an exploration into areas that I think libraries need to address in order to win back people that are migrating to social sites or using google to find whatever it happens to be on any given day.

I know I've already raved a little bit about how much I missed until I finally broke down and bought an iPod. But I never really remarked on why I find it to be that great of a gadget. For me, it's all the free stuff. Yeah, sure . . . I could spend all my hard-earned dollars buying music. I've found all kinds of albums on there that I either used to have on cassette ( I never splurged that much on music once CDs came out ) or wanted to get at any given time. Eventually I'll probably buy them either on CD and rip them or straight from the iTunes store.

For now, however, I'm really enjoying all the podcasts in both audio and video format. I never imagined that so much quality stuff could be found. I'd never even downloaded iTunes and installed it. My son did, but he doesn't have an iPod yet. ( Hmmmm . . . maybe Santa will bring him one this year if he's really, really good ) My favorites right now are Good Morning America, WebbAlert, WebNation and a few others that I watch or listen to when, technically speaking, I should be working.

Don't tell my boss. Okay?

I'm sure this new found obsession with the podcasts will fade a little over time and I'll get back to actually getting something done bright and early in the morning. So, as far as I'm concerned, what really makes the iPod so great is the fact that there's so much content out there and how easy it is to manage that content through iTunes. It really makes it much easier than I thought it would be.

I wish I had something insightful, profound, inspirational or enlightening to post tonight. But I don't. Sometimes things just work out that way. Perhaps tomorrow will turn out differently.

Ok . . . Ok . . . I give in. I now realize what I've been missing. I should have listened to my son when he begged for one last Christmas. Then again, perhaps he should consider himself lucky.

If I would have bought one for him it most likely would have gotten swiped by me.

My iPod Classic arrived today and I made a special trip home to go get it, bring it back to work and spend an hour or so getting music for it. Apple makes it way too easy for me to buy music from their store.

Surrender . . . Surrender

I'm jamming to Cheap Trick's Surrender in case you haven't figured it out. How in the hell did I manage to get along without one of these? I must admit this is one of the best purchases I have made in quite a while. Too bad the kids will have to go without shoes this winter as Daddy will need to fill all 160 gigabytes with music.

Sorry kids . . . Santa came early and he didn't bring nothing for you two.

Since I'm a big fan of several TV shows ( I know it rots the brain, but at this point what have I to lose? ) I look forward to the new fall season. I have a lot of fun watching the shows' pilots and writing reviews. Last year I even tried to pick the one's I thought would stick around. I didn't do too bad. I'm going to try and do the same thing this year. With the new season coming up here's what the big three networks have in store for us - as far as new shows are concerned. I don't watch a lot on Fox so I'll probably catch up on that one later. Of course, I'm not going to make any predictions until I get a chance to watch the first episode, but some do have promise as far as I'm concerned.

CBS

• Big Bang Theory - 9/24 - Looks like this one will feature two geeks and their endless pursuit of women. I can relate to that.
• Cane - 9/25 - Features Jimmy Smits as the heir to a sugarcane empire. I don't know. Maybe. Jimmy Smits is cool and all, but this one doesn't leap out and grab me.
• Kid Nation - 9/19 - Yet another "reality" series where kids run the world. Isn't that the way it is anyway?
• Moonlight - 9/28 - So a guy who is a vampire and about a century old solves crimes on a weekly basis. Hmmm . . . that's something new, I might check that one out.
• Viva Laughlin - 10/21 - Some guy opens a casino in Laughlin Nevada in pursuit of the American Dream. I don't know - not extraordinarily compelling.

NBC

• Chuck - 9/24 - An average, everyday computer geek is a government agent by night. This just might have a chance if it doesn't rely on too many stereotypes.
• Life - 9/26 - This one, I'm looking forward to. Damian Lewis plays a cop that was sent to prison for life, learns Zen, and is then released due to his innocence and becomes a cop again with a different view on life. This guy was great in the miniseries, Band of Brothers. I have high expectations.
• Journeyman - 9/24 - So a guy travels through time and changes people's lives while the whole time attempting to explain to his wife ( and others I assume ) why he didn't come home last night. Been there, done that - just kidding. This one has little appeal to me.
• Bionic Woman - 9/26 - While I'm sure the cool new special effects will really do well resurrecting a show I used to watch as a kid, I have to ask, "Can't we make new stuff instead of trying to breathe new life into what was a lame series in the past?"

ABC

• Samantha Who - 10/15 - A woman gets hit by a car, ends up in a coma and wakes up 8 days later with no memory of her past and has to start over again. I like the idea. I'll probably tune in.
• Cavemen - 10/2 - Please tell me this isn't true. A television series based on a TV commercial? What's next? A series in which the main character provides comic relief by uttering, "AFLAC!!" every 5 minutes?
• Carpoolers - 10/2 - Four guys carpool together everyday and talk about their lives, dreams, families, etc . . . I can't help but wonder if this show's foundation is much like Seinfeld - a show about nothing. Could end up being pretty funny if it's done well.
• Pushing Daisies - 10/3 - A guy who not only makes great pie can bring dead people to life for a short period of time and helps a private investigator solve crimes. Oooooooooooo K.
• Private Practice - 9/26 - Grey's Anatomy. Different people. I didn't watch Grey's Anatomy. No more to say.
• Dirty Sexy Money - 9/26 - Yet another lawyer show about a lawyer who caters to wealthy people. We have enough lawyers in real life.
• Big Shots - 9/27 - A bunch of CEOs hang out at the country club and whine about their tough lives and count their gold. Art imitating life? No thanks, I can read the news and see this kind of crap.
• Women's Murder Club - 10/12 - A woman assembles a team of expert women to climb to the top of the crime solving club. Whatever. Not my cup of tea.
• Cashmere Mafia - 11/07 - Executive women struggle through their day to day lives trying to tough it out in the corporate world. Can't relate unless I see boobs. But this isn't cable so change the channel.
• Eli Stone - Mid Season - A cut-throat lawyer decides to seek his spirituality by answering to a higher calling. The only way this could be believable is if he abandons all his worldly possessions. I can't see a lawyer doing that so I'm skeptical.
• Miss Guided - Mid Season - Her high school past comes back to haunt her when she becomes the guidance counselor. Simple. Could be something there.

Quite a few of them look like they could be of decent substance - hopefully. Since I have all kinds of stuff going on Monday through Thursday I'll do my best to watch and write my reviews. Do you have any thoughts on the upcoming season? Put them in the comments. I'd love to read them. Read my tv reviews.

I'd like to be able to say I am, but that's not the case. I love a good t-shirt that allows me to express myself and the things that I do. For that reason I found this contest being thrown at Everybody Go To a pretty good deal. They're giving away free t-shirts and I'm certainly hoping I'll be one of the lucky one's who'll get one.

It's quite simple . . . write a post with a trackback to this url http://www.everybodygoto.com/category/shopping/ and they will throw your name in a hat and draw some lucky winners. I almost forgot - make sure you use the "funny t shirt" keyword. Here's a link directly to the post. Just in case my name gets drawn - I'm kind of partial to the index.tshirt - if you happen to have a large.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably aware that Apple has inroduced a new and improved line of i-pods. I neither own a Mac or an iPod. However, I've been thinking about getting an iPod and I'm glad I waited. I'm eyeing the 160 gb iPod classic. Before today I was thinking about the 80gb version. But, since they decided to double the storage and not do anything with the price . . . well that pretty much seals it for me. While the touch iPod seems pretty cool, I would rather have the storage space of the classic versus the wifi of the touch iPod.

I had a professor in graduate school that was really proud of his ability to diplomatically insult someone. You know the type of comment. For example, everyone knows the guy who tends to get on your nerves, provide utterly useless input or is just a generally disliked person. But, you wouldn't want to trash talk someone at work either to their face or behind their back. You never really know if that trash talk will get back to them. And heaven forbid you trash talk your boss and it get back to him.

So what do you do? You say something like, "Oh yes, he's an interesting person," or perhaps, "He's very unique." Those are socially acceptable ways to neither degrade nor compliment someone and remain, for the most part, neutral. Of course you know that the context implied to interesting or unique is comparatively applied to the freak show at a traveling carnival. But that's okay! As long as you didn't say something like, "Oh yeah Bob, he's a real jerk-off!" you'll be alright.

Today I became the unwilling recipient of unwanted information so mundane and positively boring that it immediately crossed my mind to blurt out, "You should blog that!" Of course I didn't. But I should have. I think it's much more subtle than the, "Well I'll sleep better tonight knowing that," or, "That's more information than I needed," responses that are often accompanied by laughter. You want people guessing. Is he serious? Is he joking? Is he making fun of me? So from now on I think that's how I'll respond when someone tells me something I would otherwise ignore completely. I'll tell them, "You should blog that!"

Of course the secret is to use it sparingly. Use it like a master chef uses his secret spice to make each recipe a savory delight. Do you have a better or favorite one? Leave it in the comments . . .

It's about 10:40 and here I sit.

The kids are in bed and the wife has gone to work. The TV's tuned to Spike and CSI is on. I'm not sure what the episode is about since I'm only glancing at the it every now and then. My attention is really focused at looking at sites that may have feeds that interest me. I've had to do everything on my laptop this weekend since my desktop decided that it wanted to get all fussy.

Something has gone wrong with the video card - at least I think that's the problem. I suppose it could be one of the RAM sticks, but I don't feel like tearing down the machine and investigating it. I'll take it in to have it looked at Tuesday. Thank goodness the weekend is actually going by nice and slow - I still have one more day off before I go back to work. The most I've done so far this weekend is wash the Jeep, clean the garage and do a couple loads of laundry today. All in all it's been pretty boring. I'm thinking about starting another novel. So far I have a couple good characters, a decent plot line ( with a nice sub-plot ) and a very basic outline. Some authors don't use outlines. For example, Stephen King doesn't use them. In his book, On Writing, he even makes a compelling argument against them. He likes to allow the story to develop as it moves along and allows the characters to reveal the story. I've tried that approach and it works ok, but after researching Stephenie Meyer a bit, I can see the benefit to outlining. She likes to develop a rough but organized outline so that she can write the scene of her choice without disrupting the rest of the story. That's pretty appealing to me since I frequently have trouble starting the story. While I may have lots of great thoughts about individual scenes, new characters and twists, sometimes getting the ball rolling can be difficult. later . . .

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical when I picked up this book. Even though I read the reviews stating that this series was very good, perhaps even a "Harry Potter killer", it's just that I've just never been into vampire books. But, I was pleasantly surprised.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, is about a young girl, Bella, living with her mother in Phoenix, AZ. She's nothing special; not exceptionally pretty or athletic, but smart. Her mom has a relationship going on with a minor-league baseball player and wants to follow him as his career is perhaps starting to take off. She decided to make the decision easier for her mom to handle by moving to Forks, WA, a quaint little town where it rains a lot and seeing the sun through the clouds is a bit of a surprise, with her father. There she falls for a guy whom she believes is perhaps the most beautiful guy she's ever seen. One drawback - he's a vampire. He reluctantly falls for her too since in reality, young, defenseless women are generally on the menu for vampires. But he fights his urges.

The book is a pretty quick read with a few slowdowns until excitement ensues as a rival clan of vampires makes an attempt to not only avenge a historical spite, but also to provide the thrill of the hunt one vampire in particular. The story is told from the perspective of Bella. There's a bit of a twist on the legend of vampires in this book, so be ready to have your conventional wisdom of vampire lore tested.

This book is the first in a series of three books so far. The next in the series is New Moon (Twilight, Book 2) followed by Eclipse (Twilight, Book 3). I haven't started New Moon yet as I'm looking at another author currently, however I'll probably read it in time.