Starstruck in Vancouver - Twilight Weekend (April 17th-19th, 2009) - Part 2

Steph, Drew, Vicki and Lisa had the Spaghetti and Kobe meatballs, which happens to be Rob Pattinson's favorite thing to order at Glowbal. I had a bite and must agree that it was very good. Though so was what I ordered (the Glowbal Benedict). That night we went to the 100 Monkeys Concert at the Rio Theater. There were a few groups before them (Tripsonic, The Mediators and the Sandman) who were pretty good, but I was too excited to see Jackson Rathbone and his band play again. I read somewhere that Jackson is preparing for his role as Sokka in a movie based on a cartoon series called The Last Airbender. This may explain why he was able to do this with his hair: He doesn't quite look like Jasper in these pics, lol. But he was still hot! Now, my FAVORITE character in the Twilight series is Alice Cullen (Edward's sister who has the power to see the future). By this point, being that we were gonna have to head home right after the concert, I was pretty sure that my chances of meeting the actress, Ashley Greene, who plays Alice were slim to none. But then Steph saw her and Rachelle Lafevre (Victoria) heading to the backstage area!
And then, as if to top off my "Twilight" weekend, Ashley had to make her way through the crowd to head to the ladie's room. As obsessed as I am, I did not follow her into the bathroom. I did get a pic of her as she was coming up the aisle, but my absolute favorite moment was getting to meet and take a picture w/ her when she was heading back to the backstage area! Ashley was so awesome! Right after the concert, Jackson came out to sign autographs and chat w/ the fans. Just like Selena, Rachelle and Ashley, he was also incredible! And here's the C.D. that he and his band had signed on Saturday night. Their music is really cool and there are a bunch of videos up on Youtube. Now, I can't wait until August when the filming for the third book, Eclipse, is supposed to start. I think that some more trips up to Vancouver may be in order... :-)

Starstruck in Vancouver - Twilight Weekend (April 17th-19th, 2009)

The friends I had mentioned in my previous post (Steph and Vicki), a few of their friends (Drew, Felicia and Lisa) and I decided to make a trip up to Vancouver because they were in the process of filming the next installment in the movie version of the Twilight series. Of course, the main purpose of our trip was to see some of the filming locations and try to meet some of the cast. Stephanie actually spearheaded the trip by doing all of the research, planning and driving. She also arranged for a free place for us to stay via this couchsurfing website. Steph, you're the bomb!

Now, when I say that she had done some researching, I mean it. Steph compiled an entire list of places the cast had been seen at and the hotel majority of them were staying at. So, our first night, our couchsurfing host (Dave) helped us find a couple of places on her list. We had dinner at the India Bistro, which is downtown Vancouver on Davie St. Awesome place!
Then we went to this place called Chill Winston where Kristen Stewart (she plays Bella in the movie) had been the previous week for her birthday.

The next morning we went to the Ridge theater that they were using for some of the scenes in New Moon.
Then we went to the hotel where Steph and discovered that several of the cast were staying. Later that day, I found out from some fellow fans that we had gotten there about 15 minutes after Kellan Lutz (Emmett) and Ashley Greene (Alice) left for breakfast and we left the hotel a little bit before Taylor Lautner (Jacob) came by. Anyway, after stopping by the hotel for a bit, we roamed Robson St (a shopping district in downtown Vancouver where several of the cast have been spotted), checking out the stores and keeping our eyes open.

I stupidly wore the wrong shoes for the weekend and ended up w/ monsterous blisters on both feet. So, that afternoon, I split of from the others to keep my feet from screaming at me. Well, then I realized that I didn't want to miss out on anything, so I left a note stating that I was heading back to the hotel where some of the Twilight cast were at, but ended up meeting up w/ Steph and the others there anyways. We were chatting w/ a couple of other stalkers...whoops, "pursuers", when one of them all of a sudden says "Oh, there's Kellan." I was so excited, it was our first siting of the weekend! Unfortunately, he was hurrying to get into a vehicle that was waiting to take him to the airport, so no pics of him (he's already in the jeep and the driver was loading his luggage), but he at least waved. What a cutie! :-)
A litte while after that, Rachelle Lafevre who plays the fiery redhead, Victoria. Despite the fact that she plays one of the evil vampires, she was just as sweet as could be. She was on her way to go do some filming, but was nice enough to stop for a couple of pictures. Love her!

We already had tickets for Jackson (Jasper) Rathbone's group's (100 Monkeys) concert for Sunday night, but we found out that they were doing a mini-concert/autograph signing that evening at Neptoon Records on Main St. They're actually an awesome group and Jackson is so talented!

On Sunday morning, Steph, Drew and I decided to hang out at the hotel again in case any of the cast emerged for breakfast. We didn't see anyone from Twilight... But at one point, Steph quietly brought to our attention that Selena Gomez (Disney channel's Wizards of Waverly Place, Another Cinderella Story) and her mom were walking by. Selena was in Vancouver filming a movie adaptation of a Beverly Cleary book, Ramona and Beezus. I happen to love the show Wizards of Waverly Place and think that Selena Gomez is a good actress and a doll. So, I couldn't help blurting out hi to her and asking for a picture as she passed by. Just like Rachelle, she was a total sweetie and happy to stop for a pic.

That afternoon we went to lunch at Glowbal Grill and Satay Bar on Mainland St where Rob Pattinson (Edward) and others are know to frequent several times a week. This place was great and I totally recommend it!

The long awaited Twilight entry....

Okay, it's really only been a week. So, I finally have something exciting to blog about. At least it's exciting to me, others may not find it to be, but that's their problem.

Several months ago, I was visiting my friends, Steph and Vicki, up in Seattle. Steph happens to be a very avid Twilight fan and insisted that I should start reading the series. I had heard a little bit about Twilight and thought "Why not?". Unfortunately, at the time, I think I was just kind of passively reading it. Well, I went to visit them again a few weeks before the Twilight movie came out in theaters and this time had become more aware of the hype around the series. So, that night at their place, I started reading it again with a more vested interest. Let's just say, I could not put the book down. I stayed up most of the night and then woke up early the next morning to finish it. And then, I couldn't wait to start on the next one, New Moon. And then the next one (Eclipse) and finally the fourth one (Breaking Dawn).

I know that the idea of a series about a romance between a vampire and a human sounds kind of silly, but the way Stephenie Meyer writes it is so addictive. And I always tell people that if there were a such thing as Christian vampires, these would be them. The Cullens are "vegetarian" vampires, they don't eat people and fight against the evil vamps. The only problem is that if you're single and reading the series, it can be rather depressing. Because you wind up moping around your house wondering when your Edward is gonna show up. Yes, speaking from personal experience... Okay, I'm gonna end this particular blog post to avoid writing a massive one. My next entry will be about my crazy Twilight weekend in Vancouver :-)