Revelations

I've discussed "Twilight" at great lengths with a friend of mine who started as a super-fan and has recently realized that she doesn't like it. I'm quite sure we've both spent hours discussing the subject at random intervals, the most memorable occasion being in a Target store. God, I loooove Target. Anyways, I am seriously needing to blow of some steam regarding Stephanie Meyer and the Twilight series. But it has been bugging me and Christy as to why we began to hate it so much.

I just figured it out and feel compelled to add this post. It took 4 books and countless wasted hours, but I now understand why I dislike the Twilight series so much. It is the author's complete lack of skill in creating multi-dimensional characters.

First let me explain that I continued to read the series in part, because I have a hard time quitting a book. To top it off, each book ended on a cliff hanger so you felt compelled to find out what happened. What a waste.

Anyway, the author creates a 17 year old character, Bella, that acts and thinks like a 30+ year old. That's conveniently explained away by saying she's an "old soul." My belief is, this adult author didn't have the skill to write a first person story from anyone else's point of view but her own. Then in the 4th book of the series this 17 year old, now a 19 year old becomes a vampire. That's a major transition. Most vampires in this series go through a year or more of being completely feral. Besides that, immortality and almost indestructibility would bring some major changes to the psyche. But no... Bella makes the transition almost wholly herself. This is written off as a unique skill to Bella. Again, my belief is, the author didn't have a clue how to write any other character than herself so she basically used dues ex machina... the lazy writer's tool. It's a miracle... no change.

And in my view, those beliefs were solidified on page 674 of "Breaking Dawn"... the 4th and final book of that series that I will ever read since I've been told it doesn't end on a cliff hanger. On this page, Bella, the 19 year old girl who was not a particularly fine student or ever went past high school, had this thought. "Edward and I had not had a last grand farewell nor did I plan one. To speak the word was to make it final. It would be the same as typing the words The End on the last page of a manuscript."

How is it that she would know what typing The End on the last page of a manuscript would feel like? Unless you've done it, it wouldn't resonate with you and therefore you probably wouldn't think to use it as an analogy. As I suspected the main character is nothing more than a projection of the author.

Whew! It's been eating me up why so many of my peers think this is the greatest series ever and I can't stand it. Character and dialogue are my strong points and what I value in a story. In Twilight the characters have no depth. They have no dimension. This is why I dislike these books so much.

This is Not Happening

It's no secret that I love CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It's also no secret that I am a hardcore 'Grillows' (Gil Grissom / Catherine Willows) 'shipper. I've been watching CSI for quite a long time - almost the entire nine years, and loved almost every second of it.

CSI defined quite a bit of my personality for awhile. It made me find the uber-geek inside of myself, and I 'shipped for the very first time. That's right, folks, Grillows was my very first 'ship.
Unfortunately the writers had other plans. While many saw the amazing chemestry that the actors had together and wrote that into the show when they could, others decided to attempt to hook Grissom up with another co-worker instead.

Sara Sidle.

Words cannot begin to describe how much I hate her. Not just because she is/was Catherine's competition for Gil's affections, but of who she is. She is a whiney pile of walking angst and the world must always revolve around her. 'Oh noes my boss won't return my advances or go out with me cry cry cry.' She seems to be a very static character with little to no death at all. Eather she's 'Lovesick Sara,' 'Sad Sara,' 'Angry Sara,' 'Angst/Emo Sara,' and on very, very, rare occasions, 'Happy Sara.' She also seems to have a thing for being a total bitch to Catherine all the time.

I also hated her because of who Gil Grissom turned into when around her. In the first few seasons of CSI, Gil Grissom was a cute but geeky CSI guy. In season three to season six, he had somehow turned into this devilishly sexy bearded badass that just so happened to have a geeky bug thing. But then Sara comes along, shaves his beard, and makes him wear the ugliest purple shirt I have ever seen, and the infamous straw hat.
My hero, almost overnight, turned into a wimpy looking turdface.

One thing I noticed during these hard times was that Gil and Cath rarely had any scenes together - or even made any eye contact. My fellow shippers quickly came to realize that the writers must have realized the natural chemistry that Marg Helgenberger (Cath) and William Peterson (Grissom) had, and forbid them from making eye contact.

Anyways, on to the true reason of this blog.
William Peterson decided after nine long but fun years acting in CSI, it was time to move on. His final episode was tonight, actually, and minus the last scene, it was a great episode. There was lots of what us Grillows fans call 'eye-sex' between Gil and Cath, so we had predicted the episode to end with Grissom just walking out of the lab.

Oh, but the writers couldn't leave damn well enough alone.

They just had to bring Sara back, didn't they?

Somehow I both did and didn't see the last scene coming at the end. I was already in tears as Gil was leaving the office and then when the GSR happened the sad tears turned into tears of fury.
The damage has been done. A song came to mind after the episode had ended... it's called "White Flag" by Dido.


I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love and always will be

I don't think I will ever stop shipping Grillows. I will fight it to the death; I will go down with my 'ship. I will never surrender to the GSR (Grissom-Sara Romance) fans. You will never see me back down. I'm in love with the relationship between Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows and nothing can ever change that.