Ladies and gentleman, today is a very important day. Today is the birthday of my dear friend Buttons!! Buttons is not her real name, of course. Every time I try to text her name the autotype function on my cell phone decides that I’m trying to talk sewing instead, hence a nickname was born. I don’t really use this nickname much, but since this blog is all about anonymity, we’re going to use it today.
Let me tell you a little bit about my friend Buttons. I have known Buttons for almost 15 years and she is the nicest, most caring, compassionate girl on the planet. She is beautiful, hilarious, fun, affectionate, dedicated, hard-working, incredibly intelligent and an amazing listener. One of the things I enjoy the most about Buttons is that she is the least judgmental person I know. I can tell her anything, no matter how nerdy, gross, embarrassing, whatever and I know that she will never turn her back on me, will always be my best friend, and will probably even love me more for whatever I tell her. My other favorite part about Buttons is her ability to obsess over something. I love this because she’s exactly the same as me. A lot of you may be the same way as well. Once we get started on something, there’s no stopping us. Through the years we’ve gone through all sorts of obsessions, from Green Day to NSync to Russell Crowe to Harry Potter and now Twilight. Sharing these obsessions with her is the BEST and she is the reason I started this blog. I still remember the day she told me over the phone that she had finally read Twilight and loved it. It was so exciting to know that she was going to be with me on this. Since then we’ve had an email Midnight Sun Book Club, smoked cigarettes (my first) while listening to Johnny Flynn (hoping that Rob would walk by at that very moment, being within 100 miles of Vancouver at the time), created our own unconventional “teams” (Team Six Pack, Team Green Sweater, Team Port Angeles, Team Creeper, and my favorite, Team Mike Newton’s Mom), taken a day trip to Forks (discussing every possible aspect of all four Twilight books along the way), and answered the age old question “If you were dying of cancer and could get a wish granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, what would your Twilight wish be?”
I can’t say it enough Buttons, I love you so much and am so thankful you are my friend. SO! What would you like for your birthday??? I have some ideas, I couldn’t pick just one, so you’re getting them all! First, of course, just some nice pictures of Rob. I know you like smiley, giggly, Rob, so I tried to pick out ones that best represent that side of him for you. Like this one:
Also know you like babies, so I thought you might enjoy this:
I’m actually kind of hoping you don’t like that because I think it’s weird and creepy. Here, this is better:
Now since I’ve been gone for such a long time from this blog because I’m such a jerkface blogger, you may have missed out on some recent Twilight gems. Which works well for me, because I this way I can call them “gifts” for you. You like Disney movies, right? Go here. (I know, I know, I still haven’t figured out how to put videos in here. Jerkface blogger, I get it!) Next, you need to see this. It’s a little boring at first, but then it gets real good and fun. Now, what’s that Buttons? For your birthday you want nothing more than a new Johnny Flynn song?? As you wish, my darling. He just posted a new one on his myspace page for your birthday listening enjoyment. I had to “do” a few “favors” for Johnny in order to get him to share this with us, I hope it’s worth it. (j/k, even if you don’t like the song, it was totally worth it.)
And if that wasn’t enough, I have one last present for you. Even though we’re besties and more importantly Twilight besties, I can’t remember if you are on Team Robsten or Team Nonsten. But since you’re so sweet I’m going to assume it’s Robsten and therefore I have the best present ever for you. Apparently, over the New Years holiday, Rob and Kristen were spotted on the Isle of Wight in England together. It started with a couple pictures from a preteen girl:
And then another picture appeared that apparently shows Rob, Kristen, and the majority of the Britpack:
Here’s one without the writing if you want it:
I have no doubts that that’s Rob and Kristen, (and Tom Sturridge in the back to the right), but I’m not convinced about the rest. They’re all so bundled up, looking like a hobo gang it’s hard to tell. That’s not really the point though, is it? The point is that Rob and Kristen are vacationing together, which to me, means they are in fact, a couple. I know I’ve been very hesitant to believe in any of this without REAL proof, but I think we have it now. I don’t know anyone else who vacations halfway across the world with their non-boyfriend buddy for the holidays, do you? No, no, I didn’t think so. So there you have it. I’m officially declaring them a couple and officially declaring myself on Team Robsten. BTW, there have been lots of other reports about this, like which bar/pub/beer garden they were at on New Year’s Eve, and about TomStu’s grandmother owning a house on this Isle of Wight, but it’s all hearsay and we’re better than that.
So I guess that just about does it… One more time Buttons, I love you so much and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
PS I realize you may not read this until maybe tomorrow or even the next day or even the day after that. But know that I did officially finish it on your birthday, so it still counts. I LOVE YOU! And so does Rob!
The Reluctant Twilighter 
I’m No Hater: Kristen Stewart Edition June 29, 2009
Tags: Adventureland, Bella, Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz, dvd commentary, fluttering eyelids, golden popcorn, Kristen, Kristen Stewart, Kristen-haters, MTV Movie Awards, New Moon, Panic Room, Rob, Robert Pattinson, Robsten, Team Kristen
"I'm really not an a-hole, I swear..."
Today I wanted to write something nice…in defense of our dear friend Kristen Stewart. She gets a bad rap sometimes, and I am here to declare that I am, in fact, NOT a Kristen Stewart hater. A lot of people I know are, for various reasons, but I’ve decided I’m not one of them. At least not anymore…mere months ago I had the same feelings you might be feeling about her right now, but I’ve changed my mind and I’m asking you to give her a chance. Let’s jump in, shall we?
(NOTE: I decided the original draft that I wrote for this topic was not nice enough, so I had to kind of start over. I hope my love for her comes across a little better this time around.)
I’m going to start with her acting, because that’s what she does for a living. Or at least that’s what she’s getting paid for…oops, wait, I’m supposed to be nice here. (Sorry Kristen, but this is the part of you that I’m still not sold on.) I’ll admit I don’t have much to go on. I saw Panic Room a long time ago, the only thing I remember about her is that she had short hair like a boy and asthma. Obviously I’ve seen Twilight and I also saw Adventureland, and I’m sorry to say I’m just not impressed. She’s always making that same face, the same f-ing, fluttering-eyelid face in every scene and it drives me nuts. But let’s stop right there. Really, is this her fault? If she’s filming a scene and the director says, “Cut! Perfect! That was great, Kristen!” when it was, in fact, NOT AT ALL great, who is to blame? I say the blame goes to the director. (Catherine Hardwicke, I’m talking to you.) I’m really hoping that now with Weitz in her corner, she hits it out of the park in New Moon. It’s my favorite book and I would LOVE to see Kristen do an awesome job. I have high hopes. I’ll get back to you on that in November.
Moving on, next on our list of reasons people seem to dislike her is her extremely odd behaviour in any interview, public appearance, behind the scenes featurette, etc. This was my major issue originally because I thought she was thinking she was better than everybody else, and I was not down with that. But I think it’s just that her discomfort in interviews unfortunately often comes across as arrogance. It’s amazing how feeling shy and awkward look exactly the same as bitchy, don’t you think? For awhile I thought she was ungrateful, but the more I see of her, the more I’m convinced that she really is thankful for playing Bella and for the dedicated fans. And let’s be honest, if you were in her position, do you think you’d be all poised and confident? I sure know I wouldn’t. If anything, it’s kind of a relief to see her (and Rob, by the way) not really sure what to do with all this fame. If you think about it, being completely comfortable with all this attention from the media and those wacky fans would be SO weird. I know she doesn’t smile much, but I really think most of the time she’s just kind of in a bewildered sort-of daze. Also remember that she’s only nineteen! This is a lot to take in at her age.
Of course my favorite awkward-Kristen moment is at the recent 2009 MTV
Movie Awards. This was the turning point for me. She wins Best Female Performance, give a touchingly gracious speech, and then is so overwhelmed with gratitude that she DROPS HER GOLDEN POPCORN!!! So. awesome. But the best part comes next, when she says, “So I was just about as awkward as you thought I was going to be! Bye!” And then runs off stage. You guys, she knows! She’s in on it! She understands that we all think she’s a weirdo! That makes it all okay! Poor girl. I wore a pair of Converse with a dress that next day as a sign of solidarity. (BTW, if wearing Chuck Taylors with dresses is wrong then I don’t want to be right. I’m just saying…)
I’m not going to talk about any of the druggie pictures, you can make up your own minds about that. And I’m not going to talk about all the “Rob and Kristen are in love” rumors either. If that’s really true and that’s what he wants, then so be it. (But for the record, I don’t think it’s true.) So why else do I love Kristen Stewart, you ask? Well, here’s a couple more reasons:
Look at how pretty she is!
I LOVE her style. She’s young, she takes risks, and I like it. Her dress at the Twilight premiere was beautiful. I’m pretty impressed with her choices at every premiere or event. (I just went to Google and did an image search of “Kristen Stewart fashion” just to make sure that last statement was really true. It is. Oh, and PS, amongst these pictures I saw a few of her smiling. So there.)
I also really enjoyed her contributions to the commentary on the Twilight dvd. Once I learned how to tune out Catherine’s whining, I found Kristen very charming. She was joking, laughing, embarrassed at herself, making fun of Rob…not at all like the person I thought she was. I think this is one of the few times we get a chance to see (or hear, I guess) what she’s really like. When she’s not surrounded by cameras or screaming girls.
The point of these ramblings is to basically ask that if you are a Kristen-hater, take a minute or two and put yourself in her position. It’s not easy being Bella, so try and give her a break. I don’t think she’s the jerkface you may think she is. And if you already love Kristen, well done! I’m very happy to make the switch over to Team Kristen and I look forward to a long and happy life together with you all. Once again, thanks for reading!
**This post is dedicated to one friend in particular, you know who you are, so I hope you were paying attention!
UPDATE: I wrote this quite a long time ago, if you want my more updated opinion on Kristen, go here!